14353/HYDRA and the Fall of New York

HYDRA and the Fall of New York
Date of Scene:	26 March 2023
Location:	New York City, New York
Synopsis:	HYDRA attacks New York City with giant teleporting super sentinel robots. The heroes are ready and they respond in kind.
Cast of Characters:	Lex Luthor, Natasha Romanoff, Jennifer Walters, Caleb Dykstra, Jean Grey, Diana Prince, Tabitha Smith, Donna Troy, Caitlin Fairchild

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Lex Luthor has posed:
Previously On Reign of Terror...

Pete Ross sits down with Clark Kent, his long time friend and a journalist. "I think there's a HYDRA mole in the government"

Space Lex 17 barely averted disaster today when heroes intercepted the space shuttle mid flight to orbit when an engine began to overload. The crew are recovering at the Moon Base today as investigations in to the incident continue.

Lex Luthor looked at the giant project underway at a secret military base. No one ordered this project yet they'd been working on it for months. The stench of conspiracy was overwhelming and even the base commander could see from the look of the President's face that this wasn't meant to exist.

Lex Luthor has posed:
... "It's powering up!" -- the giant robot, barely complete, came to life and attempted to assassinate the president, but the X-Men turned up just in time to save the day.

Pete Ross declared triumphantly, "I've figured it out. I know who it is and I have -proof-." Before he was suddenly teleported away. His Amazonian protection detail, including Wonder Woman, easily dispatched the HYDRA crew that teleported in to cover up the crime. Wrapped in Diana's lasso of truth the HYDRA agent confessed, "... we have a location on the docks where we teleport back to our base of operations"

The Titan's gathered up the remains of the satellite that almost destroyed Space Lex 17 and began their investigation. "It's some sort of dark energy capsule and beam weapon. Very hard to detect."

Batman and Donna investigate the facility where the satellite was constructed. "You have to help us - we're all grad students and they're forcing us to make weapons." As Batman detonated the explosives, the entire facility collapsed in to a void that opened briefly up to the stars.

President Luthor stood amongst the heroes assembled and laid out what the Government knew and what he expected of them when HYDRA attacked. "This is a dire situation and there's a lot we don't know. Including who is behind it."

The SHIELD and Amazon team moved in on the warehouse at the docks. The battle was on and several agents died before the team teleported in to the secret Swiss HYDRA base where they found the largest hidden HYDRA army the world had ever seen --- and ripped it to shreds. "Come with me Mr. Ross, we're getting you out of here"

Pete Ross stood in front of the large array of cameras: "Alexander Pierce is the current head of HYDRA and an enemy of the state."

Lex Luthor has posed:
And now... [ https://youtu.be/qGChJXejJtA ]

It's a typical day in New York City. The taxi's and cars are streaming along the streets. The bridges and tunnels are busy as usual. Helicopters hover about in the sky. Business as usual, and business is booming on wall street. The sky is blue with barely a cloud in the sky. Street performers are hustling for a living, dancers prepare for their next performance on Broad way. Students attend university. The city is alive, it thrums with life. Truly one of America's greatest cities up there with Metropolis and Los Angeles, but dominanting in pure size and population.

There is a crackle in the air as a gigantic robot, 30 foot tall, heavily armored and shimmering with a force field appears on Brooklyn Bridge. Another appears with a fwomp on Manhattan Bridge. A third appears Roosevelt Bridge. A fourth appears in the Financial district. A fifth on Bronx-Whitestone Bridge. The sixth appears amidst the Army Reserve base.

Up in orbit, satellites have spun in to action - the dark stealthy things begin to emit intense beams of energy down in to the robot receivers and their chests weapons begin to power up. In a matter of moments, energy lances from their chest and blasts across the roads, in to buildings, over cars and buses; and in the Reserve base, over the hangers filled with tanks.

Klaxxon's begin to fill the air across all of New York City. A sound that hasn't been heard since aliens attacked. But this isn't aliens. Not this time. These older era Sentinel Robots have been recycled, upgraded, repurposed. Those mutants unfortunate enough to be near them can feel their mutant suppression field starting to affect them already. They declare with loud horns of their own, "ENEMIES OF HYDRA DETECTED. SURRENDER OR BE DESTROYED"

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Ther'es only so much advance warning they have - if any. SHIELD can just put out a general distress call for any and all assets in the area to mobilize. Calling in airstrikes in the middle of the city is a thing of last resort. But if they can't slow this thing.. Then it may be one.

Natasha Romanova is one of thsoe assets in the city, having been watching a suspected MLF hideout. The observation hadn't turned up anything and she would immedaitely abort it for the greater threat when sirens rang..

<<All assets, converge on nearest threat. Engage at will.>> Those will be her instructions. More direct orders will come from whomever is in charge of this mess. <<Tacnets, coordinate all communications channels amongst teams. Encrypt and randomize signals.>> Yes, the various tactial networks amongst groups like the Avengers, SHIELD, whomever else might show up would be encrypted.. But with the levels of penetration Hydra had made they might be comrpomised. So Natasha races along on her motorcycle, heading towards the nearest robot. Still at least three kilometers away. Racing along the sidewalk, between cars that have gone to a standstill..

Jennifer Walters has posed:
    Even though Jennifer isn't officially a member of SHIELD, she has worked with them several times before, and when her phone goes off with a coded, encrypted message from them letting her know of the giant robot attacking the city, she moves into action. First she goes to the window of her corner apartment and, sure enough, there's the giant robot. Swell. Hydra. She quickly dons her Amazonian armor and grabs the sword and shield that was forged for her by the Amazonian weaponsmiths. This is only the second time her armor has seen battle and she just can't wait to test it again.

    She rushes out of her apartment and bounds towards the gigantic machine until she's within spitting distance, pulling up beside Natasha. Looking up at it she says, "Wow. It's bigger in person than you think. So. Nat. What's the plan?"

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
Well, guess who's here in New York City on an actual visit and break away from Gotham City's atmosphere in exchange for something a little more light-hearted? Caleb, all-around innocent bystander and commoner. And guess who else is here with him? Sheila, his kid sister, which he took on a weekend trip.

They're enjoying a snack in Wall Street - Sheila wanted to see the bright, shiny signs - when sheer terror descends from the skies. The image of the 30 foot tall robot makes the siblings' blood run cold.

"Sheila...", Caleb says, instinctively pacing backwards, clasping tightly on her shoulder.

"Y-Yeah...?", the young girl's voice stammers.

"...RUN!!"

His protective hand quickly shifts to her wrist, and he dashes as fast as humanly possible to find cover or get to safety, his sister barely keeping up!

Jean Grey has posed:
Fortunately, the response time for the X-Men to lower Manhattan is quite quick. In fact it probably takes them more time to board the Blackbird than it does to make the trip from Salem. An hour and change by car, but they can do it in close to a minute if they push it. In fact, the plane slows considerably as they approach the city, taking an approach over the water (first down the Hudson, and then turning to follow the East River), with the rear bay opening even before they arrive.

Flying mutants are dispatched all along the approach, some carrying teammates. They're not ready just to fight the Sentinels, but to handle any resultant collateral throughout the city.

Eventually, the plane reaches the airspace above the two bridges, going into VTOL at what one would hope is a safe-ish distance. Again, the rear bay descends, allowing the last few passengers to descend. Jean steps off, and there's clearly no illusions about the kind of fight this might be, as her yellow and blue X-Men armored bodysuit starts to burn away as she descends, transforming into the classic green and gold Phoenix bodysuit.

<<I am reaching out to all those involved in the defense, to make direct mental communication available as well, although I don't know if the Sentinel power-jamming may interfere. We're engaging those attacking lower Manhattan and the nearby bridges.>>

Which are full of people, at basically any hour. And that's a concern. Flying lower, outlined in a thin, crackling halo of orange-yellow energy, she reaches out among the minds of the drivers, doing her best to stem what must be rather untold panic.

<<If you're still on the onramps or approaches, abandon your vehicles immediately and move toward the pedestrian stairs. If you're on the center of the bridge, we'll provide for your evacuation.>>

How? Well, she can maybe levitate some down, but its a lot of people. Naturally, Jean searches among nearby minds. <<Diana? Can your jet help? The Blackbird isn't the best mass cargo vehicle, although we can carry a few.>>

Diana Prince has posed:
The Atlantic Starport was not lost to the Dark Elves, but it is not in great shape either.

But there is no rest for the weary.

Returning to New York City aboard the 'Invisible Jet', Diana is standing behind her two sisters piloting the jet. She's wearing her battle-scarred armor, her Golden Eagle helmet tucked under her left arm, when she hears the alarms and alerts going off. One of her sisters makes a sardonic comment about it, but Diana just tells them where to pilot the Jet to arrive at the situation unfolding.

It is moments later that the Princess appears in the sky, her blue and gold cloak fluttering in the wind around her form, as she free-falls toward the city below. Curving her descent at the last moment, Diana ends up landing with her armored boots upon the pavement, at a light jog to slow her momentum, her cloak falling around her body as she raises her helmet up to lower it down upon her head again, now holding her dissheveled wild dark hair down to further keep it out of her eyes. Her helmet locks in to place over her golden tiara, and she drops her hands down to her side, twirling her javelin out from behind her back where her sword and shield still reside mounted upon her leather harness.

The Princess of the Amazons surveys the situation, planting her javeling down upon the cement beneath her boots.

Wonder Woman's eyes go to the sky, she hears the voice of Jean Grey and she responds. "Yes, it can help." In her very recognizable voice.

And the Jet is doing just so, moving to help civilians in need on the bridge, able to morph in to different shapes to better accomodate for more passengers....

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabitha Smith has never really liked giant robots. The noisy they're clunky and they just never seem to like mutants. Then add Hydra and it's like racism squared.

So when the 'To me my X-men' call so to speak came out Boom-Boom might have had to leave some kid holding the pitchfork in the stables to finish looking after her Donkey at the school and haul ass to the Blackbird Hangar halfay.

Time is of the essence so the best she gets is the top half of her uniform on at home and her pants have to be done in the takeoff.

Black synthleather and yellow padding is the uniform when it's finally on. Red tinted Raybans on her nose and hair in a loose ponytail. <<Ugh, power dampening better not be a thing. Might as well be kicking them in the shins like a ten year old if I can't boom.>> she pouts.

Hands already glowing as she starts channeling plasma ready to start blasting. Jean can likely feel the massive anxiety building up under the surface of bravado.

Genoshan survivors never really liked giant robots.

Donna Troy has posed:
    A few hundred miles above Manhattan, a small rectangular satellite of somewhat less unconventional design but built with a very specific purpose, one of a small fleet of cheap microsats launched from the Titans' T-Jet over the last few weeks, detects a very specific energy signature. For weeks now, the Titans have been scanning for a particular type of dark energy emission, matching those of a mysterious satellite that was launched on the ill-fated SpaceLex 17 mission, and went into a critical cascade that almost destroyed the launch vessel and its crew. Now at last they have a hit.

    By the time the alerts come through of the attack in Manhattan, the T-Jet is already being prepped for launch. Not to help out directly in Manhattan, but rather to cut off the source of the Sentinel's power. During the mission Batman ad Donna Troy had gone on to investigate the firm behind that mystery satellite, the pair had uncovered several key facts. Firstly, that there was more then one. Potentially quite a few of them, already in orbit. Secondly that they were using alien technology, derived from recovered Brainiac hardware, to generate large amounts of negative energy. Thirdly, that Hydra had built them with kidnapped engineers, who had left a key vulnerability in the design.

    The cascade reaction had been no accident. That was an act of sabotage, and it could be used. The Titans had recovered the remains of the Satellite that had nearly exploded on the SpaceLex flight, and come up with a way /how/.

    It's not as simple as it might be. The resonant frequency that triggers the cascade reaction is the result of an intentional misalignment of the resonant cavity. While the range of possible frequencies is known, the specific frequency varies from satellite to satellite and you can't practically just beam that much energy over such a wide band into the huge volume of space where the stealthed satellites might be found. What you can do though is get up close to one that's come online and pump wideband energy directly into it, or broadcast at lower power levels over a larger area and see if you can trigger a reaction in any satellites that are currently silent, but at least in the approximate vicinity.

    So it is that as the Blackbird and the Invisible Jet close in on Manhattan, the T-Jet, occupied by Caitlin Fairchild and Donna Troy, is heading into space. <<Titans here,>> comes Donna's reply to Jean's hail. <<We've got something up our sleeves. We're going to try cutting off their power at the source. Keep us updated of the situation on the ground, please.>>

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin is at the helm, manuevering with a delicate touch. The redhead's a skilled aviator with a lot of hours in the air and the high atmospheric flight is far from a daunting experience to her.

"I've got it on RADAR," Caitlin informs Donna once she closes the network broadcast. "Golly, it's just shy of invisible," she mutters under her breath. Thank goodness for the work the Titans had put into their scanner systems to upgrade them and the targeting algorithims to take the satellites down. Caitlin herself is in a slick two-piece outfit in aubergine with green and black pinstriping adding some dimension to it. "Activating resonators now... keep an eye on that modulator output, don't let it get over 1500," she instructs Donna.

Lex Luthor has posed:
Televisions and projection screens around New York become hijacked and seated at a desk in front of a camera is Secretary of Defense Alexander Pierce. He has his hands placed in front of him, fingers interlocked as he addresses New York.

"People of New York. You have heard from our government that I am the current head of HYDRA. This is true. However, I am not here to harm you - I am here to liberate you. The legacy of the American Government is long and brutal. Oppression of the masses is created through conspiracies. How many of you struggle to pay for your rent, your food, have to forego being human just to survive week to week. The powerful elite strangle us with their twisted laws and rules."

"You believe that HYDRA is some wing of the Nazi regime but we were never part of the Nazi's. No, we fought against them, from the inside, trying to turn over their hatred and instead we were crushed by the imperialistic capitalists of the West. The world would be a utopia by now, enriched by science and shared wealth if HYDRA had triumphed."

"Set aside your institutionalised falsehoods about who we are and see for yourself, the grandeur of our action. We will sweep aside the racism, the hatred, the inequality, and America will start fresh, start anew, just as our forefathers intended. We bring you FREEDOM."

The giant robots don't -walk-.. they start to -run- down the bridges as their energy weapons blast up the roads in an attempt to isolate New York City from the rest of the country. A whole city as hostage - there isn't a hero on the planet who could lift a finger against that many souls trapped and under the thumb of HYDRA.

Attempting to inspire with his speech Pierce continues, "It's time to rise up. Rise up against this miserable life forced upon you - take back your country. Take back your freedom. Fight for you, fight for HYDRA!"

The signal is cut off and a US Government seal appears with the words TERROR ALERT flashing across it as Lex fights back against Pierce's propaganda.

People begin to run for their lives as cars and taxi's explode. The robot in the midst of the sky scrapers is there to attack the financial institutes and it does just that. It's big energy weapon rips across the front of Wall Street Plaza.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
This is a bit beyond her weaponry loadout and a bit more equipment than she had on hand. But it wasn't going ot stop her. Her bicycle's engine would rev even as Jean Grey would put out the coordination call. <<Appreciated. Weak points on things like these are normally joints, weapon ports, and coolant valves. What is it's power source and where can we damage it?>> That's given out to anyone that has some sort of scanner.
    <<Try and keep it off balance. It's on two legs. That makes it far more inefficient. It's weaponry will be limited to where it can gesture. Pay attention to firing arcs>> She might not have gone through the ropes the way the X-Men had with giant robots, but at the end of the day it was a matter of physics.
    She would reply to Jennifer <<The plan is smash. Minimize civilian casualties>> She doesn't bother with 'collateral damage'. That was the least important thing now. Fury can charge it to her very, very small paycheck.
    Engine racing faster, Natasha is aiming to sipmly rocket towards the bridge.

Jennifer Walters has posed:
    "Hulk smash," She-Hulk says, with a curt nod. "Got it." Keeping her sword and shield sheathed for now, she takes off towards one of the giant robots at a run, chewing up the distance in great strides.

    "Alright, big guy, Let's knock you down a peg!" she shouts and with a mighty leap, she launches a hulk-sized punch at the ankle of the robot. It won't be able to go much of anywhere if it's hamstrung.

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
<<Hello, hello??>>, Caleb speaks as he begins to hear voices in his head. <<Aw fuck, this is freaky...>> He realizes, <<Didn't mean to say that, apologies.>>

He cuts to the chase. <<I'm an amateur mechanic, and I was wondering... That's a big machine, someone could just EMP it.>> He adds, <<Assuming you got the juice, that is.>> He looks around, <<Times Square has quite the capacity, you could fry these guys with maybe just a portion of it?>>

A psychic scream is heard, as Caleb goes around a corner. <<DEATH RAY!! IT'S GOT A DEATH RAY!! SHEILA!!>>

A girl's scream echoes through the link! <<CALEB!!>>

At ground level, a nearby car explodes, and Caleb is projected into a side street, rolling over to protect his sister from asphalt impact. <<Is... Is she alr...? Yes! YES!! Oh, thank god!>> Rage becomes near palpable at this point. <<I wanna fry this tin can!>>

Jean Grey has posed:
Jean's definitely not engaging with the silly speech.

<<Good to know, Donna. I'm prioritizing evacuations down here - this is about the worst possible place this could be happening. But if you need any, erm, extra fireworks up in space, don't hesitate to toss a thought.>>

Via mental communication with whoever is still at the controls of the Blackbird, the fancy plane makes its VTOL descent, coming alongside the center of the bridge so people can make it aboard. But it really doesn't have the mass capacity, so it's a quick job to get whoever it can before it peels away over the water before pulling skyward again.

<<I'm trying to coordinate harbor patrol, commandeer whatever other ships are down there we can use.>>

There's an awful lot of boat traffic on the river, from multiple active ferry routes (one goes right to IKEA!), to tourboats like the famous Circle Line, to personal recreation of those wealthy enough to afford it. Jean does what she can to mentally round them up into a makeshift flotilla below, a destination for those they'll have to transport down from above.

Of course, as the Sentinels make their very hostile intention plain, that process becomes both more urgent and chaotic. As the blasters rake the road surfaces and start blowing up cars, it's not surprising some people trust a slim chance, a dance with fate, over certain doom...

And jump.

It's not, generally speaking, a survivable drop, water is like concrete at that distance. So those terrified few are the first she grabs out of the air with her mind, giving them gentle landings on the ships below instead of much harsher ones in the water.

<<Nat, I think the weak point is the power source she's talking about, but that's out in space. As for how we want to hit them->> And this thought is directed toward Jennifer. <<Knock 'em off the bridge if you can, get them into the water. Just uh, not onto the boats.>>

And yes, she's prioritizing this situation a little bit over Wall street. POOR WALL STREET.

Still, the open hostility and the blasters is definitely upping the stakes here. <<Di, maybe take the one on the other bridge, see if you can lasso it and pull it clear?>> She's spitballing solutions, at best.

Then, as Jean she swoops up from helping catch the falling people, she attempts a different kind of countermeasure to the nearest blasting robot, throwing up a blazing telekinetic barrier in front of the next of its blasts. She's really got no idea how any of these things work, or if it will hold.

Diana Prince has posed:
A cluster of civilians on the bridge are given an option to move in to the Invisible Jet, when it becomes very visible alongside said bridge. Some Police officers are aiding the civilians as they shuffle board the Jet's form, helping to keep it as orderly as possible.

"Indeed." Wonder Woman's voice says back over the Phoenix's mental link.

She rushes in that direction, flying at a tremendous clip, until she comes across the Sentinel, which is instantly snared by the golden glowing rope of her lasso!

Wonder Woman's strength is put to a test now, pulling fiercely upon the lasso to draw the Sentinel back, or entirely down if within reason.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Under normal cirrcumstances Boom-Boom's recent instincts would have been to charge in and just start blasting the first sentinel she sees. Then move on to the next. This might also include jumping out of the Blackbird.

<<Not Nazis? Pfft, they're just boots aiming for necks. Don't get much more Nazi than that.>> The snark might be helping her focus. Amazingly enough.

Eventually she's going to have her feet on ground and not inside a supersonic stealth jet. Counting sentinels. One is too many.

<<If you can, hit their joints, take out the knees and elbows. Like from a ways away, in case power dampeners are on.>> she adds into the mind link. while she finds her first target and directs a basketball sized bomb up and towards the robots neck, directing it psionically to start. These things always have stupid ass tricks and Tabby's played enough videogames to know when to start with 'Footsies'. The blast might be capable of slagging something but gotta make sure it can slag first.

Donna Troy has posed:
    "1300 and holding," Donna replies to Caitlin as the T-Jet's conformal RADAR antennae beam energy out across the resonant cavity bandwidth range, well in excess of their nominal power output, but carefully below the level where the Transmit/Receive modules are in danger of overheating. "And we have a spike. See it? Can we narrow down the bandwidth and focus in on that? The satellite isn't entering cascade mode yet, seeing some overheating but nothing major. We need to get more power into it. The more we can focus the beam on that particular wavelength, the quicker this thing goes boom."

    Active electronic RADAR is a very different beast from the older types of RADAR technology. When you've got a plentiful power supply as the T-Jet does, they're extremely effective for electronic attack. They're also very flexible -- the thousands of modules that make up the radar array normally work together to allow for clever trickery like beam steering, but not every module has to work on the same task, and the conformal modules that cover large areas of the T-Jet's outer surface point in various directions. Any of them within 110 degrees of forwards are focused on the target satellite, but the rest are scanning the area to hunt for backup satellites in the same vicinity.

    There's another task to do though, thanks to Alexander Pierce. Caitlin's doubling up on piloting and managing the technical decisions of how to elaborate of the electronic warfare suite, Donna's mainly just an extra pair of eyes to make sure nothing overheats and everything stays within parameters. That gives her the opportunity to take a little time on the side off to release some material to the Internet. It will take a bit of time for it to be picked up on, but within moments there's already discussion on social media channels of an answer to Peirce's claims that HYDRA are the good guys really -- footage from the raid on the place where the satellites were constructed, showing the rescue of kidnapped engineers forced by HYDRA operatives under threat of execution to work as a slave labor high-tech construction team. It's not a good look for anyone claiming that they aren't the brutal ones.

Lex Luthor has posed:
Hulk smash! or punch at least. The robot's shielding takes the hit with a rainbow of colours that halts Jen's momentum on the spot - but the robot reverberates from the blow and stumbles back a few steps. Its chest weapon focuses on Jen and blasts her directly.

One of the Meta-Threat Police Task Force slides up next to Caleb and Sheila and throws a grenade to the ground. It emits a beam of light that curves and creates a shield. He looks at the two and gives them a nod. He takes but a moment to steel himself and then rushes on to cover the next set of civilians he sees in danger.

As civilians rush on to the invisible jet the robot successfully cuts through the bridge leaving a gaping hole. It can be repaired, but the robot dances over the hole it just made and progresses on in to New York proper. It starts targeting police cars. They explode like a magnifying glass focused on a dry leaf.

Gun ships from the nearby naval base start to light up one of the robots. Its shields shine in the light and it turns and swishes its death ray across the water. The water turns to instant mist making it hard for the robot to even see the its targets.

Which is when Diana's lasso wraps about the 30 foot sentinel and she yanks it off its feet. It crashes to the ground. With a very athletic motion it jumps back up on to its feet and begins to strain against the lasso even as its speakers clip and crackle and the TRUTH begins to stream from it:

"Cripple Wall Street / Focus fire on the Vice President / HAIL HYDRA / Target the police vehicles / Expecting incoming SHIELD quinkets / Backup site ready / HAIL HYDRA / Humiliate the heroes / Fluctuations in Satellite 2 / Bring in more satellites, overpower if necessary!" The chatter is intense and it's clear given the regular frequencies aren't in use that HYDRA is using quantum communications to mask their location. These robots are remote controlled.

Tabitha sees it first - the effects of the Titan's disruptive satellite technology. The shield of the robot near her shudders and the beam has a small break in its power -- but more importantly, the mutant suppression field fades before coming back. Just a small glitch.

The satellite in question stops working as it should just briefly as its internals start to fritz. That cascade is so close to starting. The other satellites activating, more than one is powering each robot, begin to reveal themselves to the Titan's sensors and Caitlin's skilled piloting. It's like a mine field of dark energy gathering above New York like some kind of dark ritual. Donna can see the specialised detection output light up as more of the stealth satellites stop being so stealthy and alter their orbits to become geosync'd with New York City.

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
Following his psychic claim, Caleb gets up and takes Sheila, using the cover of the secondary streets to look for something, anything, that could give him the upper hand.

And he finds it, just a block away - a hardware store.

"Excellent!", he mutters, plans and schematics being recalled to make what he wants. "Sheila", he tells the child by his side, relatively unscathed, "I'm going to need you to be my assistant, okay?" He smiles encouragingly. "We're gonna make us a little something to knock the big bad bot out, whaddya say?"

She looks frightened, but visibly swallows her fear. And she nods.

"Alright, I need you to get these out, I'll look here for other things, alright? If you run into any trouble, just scream."

He hasn't seen any looters - yet.

But, if he's helping himslef to things... Wouldn't this make him a looter himself?

Ok, Caleb, no more philosophy for you. You're not stealing, you're doing what you can to save lives - including your own and your sister -, so /focus/!

Minutes pass - precious minutes, in fact, and Caleb rigs up a rushed-up modle of the same device he had suggested. "I wiah I could test it, but we don't have the time. We'll have to field-test it."

Sheila looks disapprovingly.

He corrects, "I'll have to field-test it. You're gonna go to the shelter."

She shakes her head.

"I don't have time to argue, but those thing's'll kill us all, if we don't act. So work with your big brother here, okay?"

Moments later, he's loaded the device into a car, which he hot-wires. "Stay inside, I'll come for you", he tells her before driving off. In the robot's direction.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Time to get in close. Nothing she has on her is going to be remotely effective in this engagement. But the Black Widow isn't going to let that stop her. She goes to fire off her grapple gun over, intent on latching it over to the side of the robot. Her engagement is hopefully subtle, her going to try and latch and yank herself on up. Presuming that the grapple lands firmly on the side and latches on, the magnetic clamps digging in and tethering, then she's going to rapidly reel herself in at high speed. Lancing up and over to the top if at all possible, ehr intent is to land up on the head.

Presuming she can get onto the head itself, and there's nothing in the way.. There.. There, Natasha has a pair of small micro-cryogenic grenades, which she'll try and flick onto the helm underneath the optics mechanism. Preusming that the two impact and go off, then it would be followed up by a small micro-EMP. Then, Natasha is going to leap up the side if she was able to make it that far to hopefully at least some small disruption of it's sensory systems.

She can't hurt it, but hopefully she can slow and disrupt it. Presuming she can't get up that far, she'll be leaping to the side and away.

Jean Grey has posed:
Jean continues on what seems like her primary focus, in minimizing casualties and damage on the bridge. The random ships below get somewhat equally random new passengers as the burning woman plucks those who can't easily make it onto the jet - or worse - out of the sky. In one case, she stops a falling car as it tumbles forward, only to hover windshield-down toward the river, before righting itself and drifting near a larger ferry. Even then, there's no room for the car itself, so she waits until the passengers clamber out, jumping down to the deck...

...and then brings the car back up with her. "Sorry, but it's either this or dump it in the river."

Even as this is happening, there's another exposion above, as that hole in the bridge opens up, and she swoops around to fly up through it to join in the attack on the robot responsible. Moving around as it continues to charge forward, she makes a target of herself, the blazing aura growing, while she lashes out with a firebird talon, one arm outstretched as if to guide it. Maybe the shields can handle that just fine? Who knows.

But she turns it into a one-two punch, as she whips her other hand across, and brings the poor abandonned Subaru sailing in from the side at speed, to strike it from a different angle.

Jennifer Walters has posed:
    <<Get them in the water, roger.>> She-Hulk sends back, but while she was a bit distracted by her communication, she's blasted full force by the chest beam which slams her backwards through a building. Seeing stars, she staggers out of the hole that was made, with her hands to her head as she tries to clear it.

    It takes her a moment to get her equilibrium back with a shake of the head. "Yowza, that packs a punch." She sizes up the giant robot again and this time //runs// at it full tilt and leaps into the air, using her incredible strength and momentum to impact one of its legs at the knees, attempting to topple it into the bay.

Diana Prince has posed:
Amidst the chaos, Wonder Woman's Amazonian strength is on full display as she struggles against the massive Sentinel robot, her lasso of Truth wrapped tightly around its neck. With her other arm, she pulls with all her might, trying to drag the colossal machine away from the bridge's center and the panicked civilians who flee from its path. The Sentinel fights back with immense strength, but Dianas own godly powers prove to be a mighty challenge for the Sentinel. If nothing else, she aims to keep it steadily in place while the other powerful beings on-site can smash, or blast it to pieces.

Meanwhile the Invisible Jet, now very visible, takes to the sky again, with a full load of civilians from the bridge. It flies them down to a nearby park at the eastern side where it is quick to begin to offload the people to relative safety amongst the green space...

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Boom-Boom has to keep some distance. She can feel her powers fluctuating as she tries to maintain a sweet spot between robots. The shimmer of energy is seen and Tabby hmms. <<Something going on up there better keep doing it. If those shields and stuff come done, everyone around here get super clear fast. I got shit to work through.>> she informs everyone in the mind link.

Not being so tanky as a Themyscian demigoddess or a She-Hulking Attorney

Her own blasts aim high while sometimes people try to take out the legs. The ability to direct blasts psionically being a help but those shields and supression fields do not make things easier for her in her attempts to detonate something large enough to herd the robots over the side. "Hey look, Mutants! Right here! What ya gonna do sentinel? Gonna run wild on you!" she taunts as if the thing could get angry. But hey, venting happens in multiple ways.

Her biggest risk at the moment is just making sure no one else is caught in her blasts, concentrating on shaping the direction and force of each boom, letting the shockwaves do their job. Maybe the flash of light as a result make visual tracking more difficult.

Donna Troy has posed:
    "Getting more and more showing up Cait," Donna says. The big problem with dealing with this satellite problem is that space is BIG. The satellites are very well stealthed and only detectable at fairly short range even if you know what you're looking for. A few miles at best. There are many millions of cubic miles of usable orbital space for them to hide in.

    When the satellites are maneuvering? Not so much. When they're beaming streamers of dangerous dark energy down to the surface? Not at all.

    Donna chews her lip for a moment, then picks up a headset and taps away at the controls, setting up the thermal monitoring she was responsible for to stream to the headset hud, and she moves across to a weapons console. "Cait?" She asks. "I know you don't like it when I try to science, but hear me out. Could we uh... if we make the resonance on one satellite vary so that... like rather than feeding the energy in all the time, we..."

    "...generate a resonant output by modulating the power fluctuations of the target satellite to induce a cascading field effect at the resonant frequencies of the other nearby satellites?" Caitlin replies with just a hint of exasperation in her voice as she tries to juggle piloting with a whole lot of complicated math. "Donna, I'm already doing it. "

    Donna flashes a grin back to Caitlin. "Knew I could count on you, Cait. In the meanwhile, we're detecting a whole bunch maneuvering this way. Presumably that means they're looking for cover. Now... our method is nice and sneaky, but when we need to deal with multiple targets fast..."

    Donna's finger tap rapidly over the weapons console, speedy Amazon reactions put to a use the trainers of Themyscira would never have thought of. A synthesized voice from the console states >>Targeting solution acquired.<< A few moments later, again -- >>Targeting solution acquired.<< >>Targeting solution acquired.<< >>Targeting solution acquired.<< >>Targeting solution acquired.<< ...

    "Multiple missile locks. I'll keep targeting as more appear. Fire when ready. Thermals at 1330, rising slowly."

    "Roger," Cait replies. "Missiles away."

    "Roger's not here, Cait."

    "Donna... no."

Lex Luthor has posed:
[ https://youtu.be/ZgB2qItM76g ]

Field test. The improvised EMP device is in the car and the car is driving toward the robot. Reaching down the robot has picked up a parked car and tossed it in to the lobby of wall street stock exchange.

The EMP device goes off as the robot starts walking down the street. It halts in its motion and collapses over even as the invisible beam of energy from the skies blasts down and starts to rip through the roads and even through part of the robot itself. Its progressing in a steady line where the robot was meant to walk and isn't stopping.

SHIELD has arrived. Quinjets uncloak and unleash a hail of missiles at the robots to aid in the battle - but up in the sky, an AC-130 uncloaks and begins to fire to the north-east of New York City. Toward the Army Reserves base. There is a lance of energy from that area up in to the sky and a wing and the tail are sheered off - the AC-130 starts to fall from the sky.

As Natasha gets in as close as she can and times her attach with a fluctuation, she drops that EMP grenade inside and it goes off as she leaps away. The robot pauses for a moment and then its eyes turn and focus on Tabitha. "MUTANT SIGNATURE DETECTED" -- it's like its programming got reset as it focuses on the mutant and begins running at her with hand reaching down to scoop her up. To crush her.

It almost gets her as Jean's other worldly energies lash out and swipe it away, knocking the robot off its feet. It rises back up again and locks on to Jean as it tries to track her with its beam weapon.

Jen's second attack of the smash lands true and the robot twists and topples. Caught in Diana's lasso as it continues to blurt out HYDRA communications. It falls off the edge of the bridge and then with a *FWIP!* it teleports to the other end of the bridge, turning back it focuses its beam weapon from its chest directly at Wonder Woman.

Tabitha too has the timing attacks figured out now and the armor is starting to melt where she hits it. Even though it liberated itself from the lasso and from the fall off the bridge, it's taking significant fire from all sides.

Over the comms the heroes hear a blow for the United States of America -- <<"Lancelot has fallen, repeat Lancelot has fallen">> the secret service code name for Vice President Dondi Reese. The Vice President is dead.

Up in space the compromised satellite's frequencies are found. The small act of defiance by the grad students, HYDRA's prisoners liberated by Batman and Donna, has come in to full affect. Its beam shuts off as it starts to super heat.

But the other satellites are all moving in much closer now and with Cait's new calculations, all of them begin to experience the starts of a resonance cascade. Space is going to get real rough real fast -- however, down on the ground, the force fields of the robots shut off and their chest weapon become more like a blaster as it doesn't have the energy for a sustained beam.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
The attack only did minimal damage - if any. But that's the sort of thing to be expected. Natasha's not going to have the time to rendezous with hte Quinjet and get heavier weaponry. Now.. Now she just has to work wiht what she has. The heavy robot is at most slowed by attacks.. Natasha rapidly looks around for something that she can commandeer or use. The thing is heavily armored, insulated and reinforced. Doing more than warping the armor or shaking the internals of it with any sort of impact will be difficult. So time to improvise.

There's a fire hose nearby that Natasha runs over to and moves to grab at the nozzel. Not firing it up yet she goes to start working over at making an ever, ever so small bottom at the edge of the sprayer. Just a few molecules wide, attaching a plug to it and then using a small pincer on her gauntlet to cut a hole. Just a few molecules wide.. Waiting for the robot to come close enough, eyeing a panel over on it's side..

Timing it to the fluctuations, some distance away.. Then going over to fire the spray.

Hyper-compressed, extremely high pressure water is used to cut diamonds, titanium, and most metals on Earth. So she's -hopefully- using it as an improvised blade to try and find a weak point in an outer layer of the armor and start to try and slice some off it, even if just a few molecules at a time.

Jennifer Walters has posed:
    "Yes!" Cheers She-Hulk as she manages to topple the robot with Wonder Woman's help. But then it teleports. "Awh." Time to change tactics. She rushes forward towards the other end of the bridge, she //leaps// at it, aiming for the head.

    With any luck, she'll hit her mark, and she'll be able to get her fingers underneath it and rip it off. Then the code comes in announcing the Vice President's death. Gritting her teeth in fury she growls, "Nazi BASTARDS!"

Jean Grey has posed:
As the Sentinel focuses on her, Jean doesn't falter, or flee, or even take evasive action. Drawing focus was her goal, to give anyone else potentially in its line of fire some reprieve. She holds her ground (or, well, air), hovering in place as the firebird halo around her burns in the air. "Go ahead, give me your worst."

Admittedly, Jean has nothing to base her confidence on. She really has no idea how their anti-mutant technologies work. But there a power inside her that is quite different from anything this robot has ever had to deal with. And what's the worst that could happen, really? She dies?

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt with the bird emblem on it.

And it's better than it hurting anyone else. On a more technical, super-heroic tactics level, she does PREPARE for whatever it has in store for her, growing out the fields of energy that encase her, giving substance to the cosmic flame. They are not only a barrier, but something hungry, ready to consume whatever it has to throw at her.

...

Which means it's almost a shame that there is such a visible WOMP WOMP as the satellites above malfunction and the uber annihilator beam turns into a simple pew pew blaster.

She's not moving, so, yeah, it definitely hits her with one of those shots. But at a lower power setting? Please, that's not even a Phoenix snack. And indeed, Jean's expression echoes what is, somehow, a momentary look of dissapointment. Maybe she's getting a little hungry.

<<Looks like the technical stuff is working. Hit 'em hard.>>

Jean definitely takes her own advice. Because after that aimed blast she was so deeply anticipating turns out to be a whole lot of nothing? She charges right in, head on into the Sentinel that was shooting at her, 'talons' grabbing for its arms while the firebird's beak goes right for the chest-blaster.

Diana Prince has posed:
As the Sentinel teleports out of her lasso, Wonder Woman immediately spins around, her instincts and training taking over. In a fluid motion, she raises her shield, knowing that the robot's next attack is imminent. The Sentinel fires a deadly beam straight at her, but she is ready. Crouching down behind her shield, she braces herself for impact. As the beam hits, the Amazonium metal of the shield begins to glow with superheated power, absorbing the blast and reflecting it back up into the sky with a blinding burst of energy. Wonder Woman's muscles strain as she holds her ground though, her armored boots digging in to the pavement of the road across the bridge. When the power beam subsides, Diana leaps in to the air...

And from the air, the Invisible Jet returns, this time coming up behind the Sentinel, it opens fire on the bipedal bot with a barrage of bright blue plasma energy coming from its rotary cannons! The energy is rapidly being fired, the sounds of screaming energy roaring through the air toward the Sentinel's spine!

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabitha has the frequency of things dialing in. She does have to dive and run herself when she gets a robots more originally programmed attention before Jean can slap the thing down like a boss. "That's right you asshole sentinel. All a ya, come get some! Doctor Madame MC'SPLODE in the mood to BOOM harder than Doctor Doom on ashroom!" okay. Tabitha's state of mind is probably not doing well but last time she was in a scene that looked like this sixteen million people died.

And she could only watch.

Now she can hit back and is dialing up the power in her blasts more and more, setting them off like larger and larger claymores. Aimed at Sentinels face. Upside the head.

There's even attempts at giant robot nutshots.

Sensitive hearing will likely be ringing for a while.

And if she gets lucky on center mass. The receiver for the power beaming coming down from the sky. Or make the opening for other blasts like those from an invisible jet or even a firehose.

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
Caleb smiles as the EMP device he crafted seemingly disables one of the big bots. He spreads the news.

<<To all the heroes going for the giant robots. An EMP device works! These things are not insulated, you should be able to take them down quick and effectively with minimum casualties.>> Of course, in all the confusion and mayhem, he has little idea how all the other heroes are doing...

He wonders now if he could repeat the same experience on a wider scale. Well... Maybe? It gives him the opportunity to at least check the robot's hardware. What's he got to lose?

His eyes widen as he sees now a death ray hitting the street and cutting through it! <<DEATH RAY FROM THE SKIES! THEY HAVE A DEATH RAY FROM THE SKIES!!>> He aims to stay clear of the course, <<Some sattelite over the city, firing onto the street!>> He looks for a way to pry the robot open; maybe those laser beams, if the robots be disabled, could do some damage combined...?

Donna Troy has posed:
    There's a grin of triumph from the redheaded pilot of the T-Jet. "Donna," Caitlin says. "Warn me if it goes over 1400, but I think we're good... this is working. I'm seeing secondary cascades already in seven other units, and the tertiary resonance in most of the others is approaching cascade point."

    "1340," Donna replies. "And six incoming satellites downed by missiles before they could even start generating. Nothing like a bit of rapid maneuvering to make expensive stealth tech pointless. Seven. Well seven in a... seven. Eight in a sec. 1342." Things seem to be well in hand up in space.

    Meanwhile back down in what people once rather hopefully referred to as cyberspace, video clips of Donna and Batman hurrying rescued slave workers out of a building under fire from HYDRA soldiers is going viral, perhaps not so much for the political message it spreads as for the end, where it shows the facility they had been rescued from collapsing in on itself as it's consumed by the gravitic collapse of a vortex of dark energy that seems to swallow a small chunk out of the world. It would be spectacular if it was CGI, and there are people arguing that it is -- but it's soon noticed that a couple of months ago a mysterious and poorly-explained crater had suddenly appeared where there had used to be an industrial facility that seems to match very closely what's seen in the video. The press is beginning to pick up on the story and while the pretty effects might speed up the distribution, the political impact of this contradiction to the message from HYDRA is bigger.

    "1280," Donna says. Caitlin turns her gaze from the controls for a moment to blink at Donna. "1380 you mean?"

    "Nope, 1280. It's dropped."

    "That can't be right," Caitlin replies with a frown. She leaves the T-Jet controls to cruise for a few moments and takes a close look at the return signals from the radar. "This is..." Caitlin is interrupted as the T-Jet shakes, and the lights in the cockpit dim momentarily.

    "Uh... Cait? It's saying... 320... 110... minus sixty below ambient, that can't be right, what's..."

    "DONNA, BRACE! Emergency maneuvers!"

    The first satellite that the T-Jet targeted has past the critical stage and exploded. Hard radiation warnings echo through the T-Jet's cockpit as the engines cycle up for maximum burn and Caitlin starts spooling up the Pym drive for an emergency short-range jump. But that's just the start of it. From satellite to satellite, the reaction is cascading. To the two up in orbit, space itself seems to be growing darker, stars being obscured. Faint tendrils of purple spread across the sky, glowing with a kind of anti-light that seems darker than the void. The satellites themselves are no longer visible.

    With a scream of power, the T-Jet jumps, Pym-particle warping of spacetime hurling it suddenly several thousand miles to the south.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Back down on Earth, for the heroes fighting robots on the ground, the impact of what's going on in space very suddenly becomes more apparent than simply a loss of power in their opponents. Above Manhattan, sunlight seems to fade rapidly into a strange, pallid imitation of daylight and the air grows chilly. Shadows seem to blur into a thousand tiny points of darkness, and where shafts of sunlight dappled the ground those dapples crack into a thousand smaller motes.

    The rip that opens up in the sky is silent, but it cannot be witnessed without the mind conjuring up the a cataclysmic sound. Suddenly, shockingly, a dark rent spreads across the sky and perspective /shifts/. To those seeing it, the tall skyscrapers of downtown Manhattan seem to warp and bend in supplication towards it, and a significant chunk of the sky is filled with a darkness so absolute that the darkest night would seem bright by comparison, so dark it almost hurts the eye. Ripples of dark energy like bolts of negative lightning spear silently across the sky.

    Yet in the darkness, there is a sense of motion... within moments the ragged edges of the tear in space seem to draw slowly together, but before the hole in the sky draws shut, for just a few moments, a shape comes into view in the terrible darkness. An incalculably vast eye, pale as a ghost, it's gaze ancient and pitiless and cold stares down at the Earth with tangible hostility.

    And then it's gone.

Lex Luthor has posed:
[ https://youtu.be/MESDA96RrEI ]

The shields are down - now is the time to strike. And strike they do. An improvised molecular cutter by Natasha severs in to its side cutting it away and exposing the heart of the beast - a strange device that is capturing the dark energy from the satellites far above and converting it in to raw power.

That raw power is directed at Diana who's shield begins to glow so brightly it's hard to look at. The blue plasma fire rips through the robot's spine, crippling it.

She-Hulk's might fist comes crashing down upon the robot's head and crushes it with a single blow forcing it to stumble. It becomes blind and flails its mighty robot fists about wildly.

The firebird rip away the the containment of its heart, pecking out its energy conversion chamber, killing it instantly. There's no power for the suppression field any more, let alone the beam or the force field.

Tabitha makes quick work of what remains of the sentinel as the beams of energy ripping up wall street suddenly cut off. People begin to cheer for Caleb who, it seems, simply by driving at the thing completely disarmed it -and- shut off the fire from the heavens.

And were it not for that ominous eye in the sky for just that briefest of chilling moments, this might even have been considered a true victory. But the death toll was high. This was a serious attack on the United States. An attempt to sever the head of government from its people. To capture New York City and hold it hostage. But it has failed.. and in its wake there will be a memorial for the fallen.

---

In the heat of the Amazon Rainforest the SHIELD team has gathered. <<"Go">> Phil whispers in to his wrist comms. Bobbi and Lance move as one when the charges go off on the bunker doors. In to the darkness they go as their ICERs begin to expertly drop the HYDRA technicians and security. More SHIELD agents pile in after them.

Right behind them are US military. General Talbot crouches down next to Phil and gives him a stern nod of approval. The SHIELD agents and combined military task force move in to the last strong hold of HYDRA. Their final stand is with but a few men and they enter the control room even as the HYDRA agents are trying to scuttle it.

May moves in to a side office and there she sees Alexander Pierce about to step on to a teleporter. "Yeah. I don't think so." she says and shoots him with an ICER. He has to pay for his crimes.