14407/Try Not To Hit The Ground

Try Not To Hit The Ground
Date of Scene:	13 March 2023
Location:	Flight deck: Helicarrier
Synopsis:	SHIELD tests a method for shooting troops onto the battlefield by railgun. Test Subjects Jessica Drew and Ariah Olivie declare 'it needs some work'.
Cast of Characters:	Natasha Romanoff, Zinda Blake, Ariah Olivie, Jessica Drew

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Natasha Romanoff has posed:
It's somewhat of a test of a new 'insertion' method that SHIELD is working on. Taking some liberties over with technology, and some leftover escape pods from the SWORD Station that were armored for reentry.. Now there was a crew on the Hellicarrier Flight deck working over with was was essentially a small airplane-fired railgun drop escape pod for landing squads. According to R&D, it would work in -theory-.
    Which was why up on the flight deck there was a large cargo jet that was being set with a large railgun, armored escape pod underneath..

Zinda Blake has posed:
And right in the middle of it is a blonde in a flight suit and aviator shades. The helmet tucked under her right arm is black, with a yellow 'Blackhawk' bird's head logo and the call sign on both the helmet and suit reads simply 'Blackhawk'.

Zinda is the last of her kind, and she has certainly earned the distinction.

Right now she's arguing with the mechanical crew. "... no, I don't care if it ain't got no recoil. Yes, I know how a railgun works, I ain't stupid. But at least throw a couple straps around it so it don't fall off before the drop zone."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
The mechanical drew is going on about 'proof of concept' and looking for attachments they can use that are somewhat more durable than weldings to hold it on. Natasha just glances over at it somewhat warily.

"Is there a reason they're deciding to use this instead of just a giant cannon?" Apparently even SHIELD craziness has some level of limitations over to it.

Even while the bulky launcher is being firmly affixed over to the craft.

Zinda Blake has posed:
Zinda Blake still doesn't look pleased with the installation, at least not completely. She folds her arms, clutching the helmet in one hand now. "Gonna be like shootin' eggs into a bowl without gettin' any shells in the batter." she offers, wrinkling her nose.

Looking to Nat, then, she shrugs. "But what do I know? I'm jus' the pilot, right? At least the dry run's supposed to be 'unmanned'. I hope."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would shrug, "I don't either. I suppose that we're going to launch up and test it. You fly the plane and see if it can stay stable enough and then we fire it and see if all the crash test dummies inside are made to a jelly pulp." That was what she expected. Even as the large drum that is the escape pod is being loaded.

Zinda Blake has posed:
Zinda Blake nods and does a practiced maneuver that involves tucking her blonde hair up and pulling the helmet on in a single motion. "Oh, I'll keep it stable enough." she replies. "That ain't gonna be the problem." Out of habit she snaps to and offers a smart salute before starting her pre-flight check. "Y'all about done there? 'Cause I'm about ready for y'all to stop fiddlin' with it. Time's up, so git out th' way."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
The crowd of technicians would give her some thumbs up and gesutres of acknowledgement even as Natasha would go to speak calmly in German over to Zinda. "They give us roughly five to one odds of landing in a non catastrophic way. And twenty to one odds on the projectile landing in anyway remotely like it's supposed to."

Zinda Blake has posed:
Zinda Blake looks up from where she's adjusting one of the flaps offering a crooked grin in response. Her German is a little halting as she replies. "I give it higher odds than that that we're just gonna make a bit... kerputtensplat." And with that she turns towards the ladder, offering a wink to the Russian as she grabs onto a rung.

"Alright, fellas, I said y'all are done, now! Git!" Zinda climbs up into the plane and starts powering up the systems.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would glance at Zinda, deadpan, "Presuming we survive, I'll drink to that after." She would go to head around towards the boarding ramp of the plane, heading to the co-pilot's station and in the back there was a huge.. Huge railgun that was somehow precariously attached with a large escape pod.

Ariah Olivie has posed:
    Despite being a SHIELD asset, though one might imagine certain higher ups dislike the term, Ariah is almost never seen in and around SHIELD facilities. Having her show up now in all of her glory is... certainly a by-request thing. Her short stature and uncommon enough appearance might give her looks--especially as she's dressed in a flowing white trenchcoat over night camo fatigues and the requisite lace-up black boots to go with. What? It's cold up here on the Helicarrier deck.

    Her credentials hang on one of her jacket's pockets, the front buttoned up to keep the chill off, and she simply--and silently--marches her way up the ramp. Only when she makes it to the pilot compartment with Zinda an Natasha does she actually speak. "...I consider myself punctual but there was trouble getting up here..." she states quietly, accent thickly French. "I am no stranger to air drops, and I am on the list for live testing once risks are assessed."

    She makes it sound so official.

Jessica Drew has posed:
It won't be the first time in her life that Jessica Drew has been a test subject. She was born one, which doesn't stop her wondering if she hasn't finally 'bought the farm.' Super powers don't necessarily endow immortality. Despite her near invulnerability to most poisons, her quick-healing ability and stamina, there is no guarantee against losing a limb and bleeding to death or the consequences of critical helmet failure that will spread her brains across whatever terrain they target for a landing.

The standard black tactical suit hugs her slim, muscular form minus a belt weighted with the standard issue firearms and grenades. She hasn't donned her helmet yet but has gathered her shoulder length hair into a braid ready to stuff under one when it is her turn for a 'ride.'

LIstening over Ariah's shoulder, she adds, "Eh, I was late. Still want to shoot me in the air?"

Zinda Blake has posed:
Zinda Blake is flipping switches in the cockpit, and with a low whine, one of the engines starts to turn. "Somebody wanna close up the -side- door, at least." she asks. "I'd feel a whole lot better takin' off without that big gun hangin' out the ass end of the plane." She looks back, then, giving the other two an amused look. "Y'all might wanna wait to see how the test dummies fare before jus' jumpin' right in. Neither me nor the maintenance crew are givin' the poor, dumb fellas very good odds. Probably end up scattered across a couple miles of perfectly good ocean."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would glance over at Zinda, "All right." going to call ot the test passengers, "Our pilot has requested that we not let the cannon end hang out. Are you ready for launch?" She takes the co-pilot's station and moves to start going through the startup routines. Mostly of the giant launch engine as the two crash test volunteers get themselves ready to be loaded.

She gives a nod in the direction of Jessica and Ariah, smiling. "Let us know how it is down at the bottom."

Ariah Olivie has posed:
    Ariah glances up to Jessica, that full foot of height adjustment making a difference. Then she's moving to close up the side door as requested. "I believe we are the test dummies, ma chere," she states to the pilot. "Would not be the first time I have had a hard drop... and it will not be the last..." she says, frowning thoughtfully.

    "I may only speak for myself, but you would be hard-pressed to kill me with ease..." Ariah then muses aloud, looking to Natasha. "Unless there is to be a first shot, with non-living participants, and then a second and third with us?" she asks, just to clarify.

Jessica Drew has posed:
The sound of a door being bolted tells Jessica that some intrepid body, Ariah, has hopped to seeing the door fastened at Zinda's request. Prepping for takeoff is her cue to buckle into the jumpset near the cockpit door. She straps in, helmet between her feet then gives Ariah a thumbs up.

"J'en suis certaine, ma chere amie. On y va!"

Zinda Blake has posed:
Both engines spin up to speed soon enough, and the cargo plane starts to move. Zinda taxis to the end of the deck, then locks one wheel to swing it around. "Here we go, ladies. This is the easy part." She declares. Engines roar and the plane picks up speed. There's a little lurch as they leave the deck, banking gently towards the right. "Gonna pick up a little altitude first. So y'all get someplace for a good view. First shot's a test dummy."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would nod, "Yes, first array we want to make sure that it's not going to be pulped. Presuming it lands somewhat intact then we'll do a launch wiht passengers to let you give feedback on how it lands." Which is why they need heavily damage resistant types who are good at being test weapons.

Ariah Olivie has posed:
    Ariah slips out of her jacket, stowing it in a locker near the jump seats. Beneath, she's not quite rocking a full on plate carrier but she's at least wearing a strappy chest rig with a compact SMG strapped to her hip. Nothing for a full rifle but at least something to gauge equipment damage as well. As far as a helmet though? She.. doesn't have one. They were out of children's sizes at Target. No, that's not true. There's one under her jump seat and she fishes it out as she gets settled in across from Jessica.

    <<Ah, you speak my mother tongue,>> she states, in fluent French. Then she swaps, giving the other woman a ghost of a smile. "This is not my first rodeo, as they say in this country, non?"

Jessica Drew has posed:
Jess leans her head back on the bulkhead as they angle into take off, eyelids heavy. Takeoffs when she is not in the pilot's seat make her unaccountably sleepy. She fights the urge to keep her eyes closed and watches Zinda take them up with the ease of many flight hours under her belt. Jess has every confidence in Zinda's flying abilities and much less in the test vehicle they are going to ride.

"I do," she returns with a faint smile. "Think the first astronauts felt these butterflies? I'm not pretending I don't. Let my last moments at least be honest ones," she replies in nearly accent less French. Then code-switching, "They certainly do. Why do they have to throw the experienced ones away, I ask you?" Which she caps with a brief, brilliant grin.

Zinda Blake has posed:
The plane gains altitude in a slow, wide spiral. "Alright, gals. The dummy shot should be already loaded an' ready t'go." Switching to the wider radio comm, her voice timbre changes to sound a lot like a commercial airline pilot.

"SHIELD carrier, this is Blackhawk. We are at altitude, and ready to drop an egg. Over."

"Roger, Blackhawk, you are clear to drop."

"Dropping in Three, Two, One.... Drop, Drop, Drop." And with that last 'Drop', the plane gives a shudder and the railgun fires with barely a sound.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
The railgun goes to charge.. And fires the large spherical escape pod somewhere off in the direction of the Atlantic. The launch goes at more than Mach 5, the large sphere going to hit the ocean in a straight arc, the air around it burning as a huge sonic boom went off, it impacting the water and causing everything around it to sizzle, boil, and burn.

"We have impact." Natasha would note. "Launcher reporting within expected stress tolerances."

Oh, and there's just a blast of water going up several hundred feet into the air too.

Ariah Olivie has posed:
    "I am being honest as well," Ariah says quietly, eyes closed. She's felt this sensation. The up. The eventual down. It's almost soothing, in a sense. Bringing memories back. Happy ones? Probably not. But memories. At least planes in this era are a little more comfortable and a little more stable? Especially with Zinda at the stick, for sure.

    "No butterflies, just anticipation of the ground. And if it fails..." she shrugs, "...what is the worst that can happen?" Strange girl, this small creature. Then the notifications of preparation, and then of firing.

    The little witch opens her eyes, watching the cannon and watching it fire. And she waits, patiently, looking expectantly towards Natasha. To give the go or no go command.

Jessica Drew has posed:
"The worst thing?"Clapping her hands loudly, "-SPLAT!-"

Jess can hear the thrum of electricity generating the magnetic field below them. She presses her hands into her knees when the plane jolts on the 'egg's' release.

"Houston, we have lift-off," she murmurs to herself and exchanges a nod with Ariah, "Looks like we might be up next. How many people can that thing carry, I wonder?"

She slips her braid into the helmet, then asks over coms, "Is the 'egg' a single-seater?"

Zinda Blake has posed:
Zinda Blake banks the plane again, making a slow turn to take a better look at the drop site. "How'd we do?" she asks, over the internal comms. "We got a pod or a debris field?" Switching to external radio, then, she asks. "SHIELD, what is the status on our manned test? Repeat, are we a go or abort for Phase 2?"

There is a short silence, then the response comes over the radio. "Blackhawk, all sensors are good in the test pod. You are clear for Phase 2. Repeat you are clear for Phase 2."

"Alright, ladies, y'all heard that." Zinda calls towards the back. "Saddle up!"

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would go to call over to the two, "Get ready. You'll be expected to report on how the landing goes. You need to be intact enough you could run right out and jump into the combat zone within a few seconds. So if it's not quite there, then analysis has some more research to do."

Once more into the breach of the giant cannon

Ariah Olivie has posed:
    "Perhaps enough for a team," Ariah suggests, pulling her own helmet on. The girl's short hair makes it easy. Nothing to get stuck or tangled. She's a bit smaller and lighter than the average, too, though. She glances over to Natasha as she stands, getting ready to board the test pod. "I do hope my size and weight do not skew the test results," she says, a hint of concern in her voice. "But so long as the restraints function properly, and the systems do not fail, then we shall be fine, non?"

    She turns that mismatched gaze to Jessica and shrugs, "...if we splat, we will not feel it. Hopefully." And then she pops inside, picking a seat and getting strapped in. "More interesting of an experience than a parachute..."

Jessica Drew has posed:
"Roger that, Zinda. Ready to lock and load, here."

Jigging her thumb in the air at the compact agent, she leans forward with an encouraging nod, "Vas-y. Merde et bonne chance."

"No to splats," she exclaims as Ariah goes back to the loading area.

Zinda Blake has posed:
The plane continues circling, and Zinda pulls back a little on the stick to gain some altitude. "Y'all lemme know when you're good an' ready back there." she calls, over the comm. Switching to a closed radio channel with the helicarrier, she offers in a lower voice. "SHIELD One, go ahead and launch Search and Rescue aircraft. Just in case."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would glance over ehr shoulder at hte duo, "And remmeber to hold your breaths just in case." Is she being optimistic in that? "Signal when stable and ready for test sequence."

Ariah Olivie has posed:
    Ariah gets settled and secured, then calls out to Jessica. "You are next. Come, take a seat. We shall see the ground together." There's a strange hint of mirth in the small, strange woman's voice. She's not lived so long as to see everything, but part of her is... excited to try this.

Jessica Drew has posed:
Rising from her jump, Jess balances against the plane banking with the natural ease of a born spider. She follows Ariah back to the loading bay that roars with the plane's slip stream and joins the other agent. Sliding into one of the tightly packed seats waiting below.

"Where is first class?" she quips, pulling the padded restraints over her shoulders and clipping them closed.

After the last buckle, "We are green to go, Zinda!"

Zinda Blake has posed:
"Roger that." Zinda replies, her voice in the internal comms. The plane banks slowly over to turn the other way now. "Priming the cannon." she declares, flipping switches on the improvised control rig between the pilot and copilot seats.

"Firing in Three, Two, One... Drop, Drop, Drop."

The plane shudders again as the railgun fires, spitting out the rapidly-accelerating pod. Inside the pod? Oh, it's going to be a much different experience as it goes hypersonic...

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
And the projectile is fired towards the water several kilometers down below at more than Mach 7. It's like being on a rocket flying up into space with gravity's crushing embrace upon you.. But only going -down-.

Ariah Olivie has posed:
    It's a good thing that Ariah is already dead. She doesn't need those internal organs. She doesn't need air. She's, honestly, a poor test bed for this project--at least until the factor is that she does have meat and bones to jellify and break. So if she lands intact? Good. If not? Bad.

    Still, as hard boiled as she is, her fingers and toes do clench. She grips her restraints, a visceral reaction so much motion and inertia. It certainly does remain to wonder if a non-augmented human /can/ not only land like this, but be able to get up safely and fight....

Jessica Drew has posed:
Magnetic forces build to a crescendo to release them with tremendous force. Blasted back into the cushioned seat, she feels like she slammed into a concrete wall, only upside down. The g-forces mold her face into a squashed rendition of her good looks, forcing the air she had filled her lungs with out in a steady, stressed stream. She grits her teeth against the g-build up and grips the seats with white knuckles.

Zinda Blake has posed:
All Zinda can see from the plane's belly camera is the pod ejecting out of the cargo hatch, arcing smoothly downward. She watches in silence for a moment, perhaps waiting for the screaming over the comms. "Well the egg came -out- in one piece, at least. You s'pose them gals are alright?" she asks, glancing over casually to Nat.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would go to look at the tracking beacon, "Well, I think they're probably going too fast to scream. I can't track the g forces here so they might not have enough air. When they impact, I'ms ure they'll let us know."

Ariah Olivie has posed:
    Another benefit of being undead... if those g-forces rush the blood to your head? Well. It doesn't quite matter. Ariah keeps track of those sensations, the analysis of where she *should* be redlining from the motion. Blackout. Redout. Nausea. Just boxes to tick as data for the landing. And. There it is. The landing. One of several.

    It hits the water, skips, bounces, spins... Slowing down with every impact. Inside? It's a good thing those restraints are padded. A good thing that, perhaps, weapons stowage is secure. There's probably going to be some bruising after this. Ariah? Her eyes are shut. She's still clinging by reflex, waiting for the everything to stop spinning.

Jessica Drew has posed:
Air whistles by the unpowered bullet shot toward the ocean. At least they are not spinning like most projectiles, the egg makes a surprisingly smooth ride considering its shape. She wonders if they break the sound barrier and whether some fishing boat that's strayed into the area won't get blasted with the boom. Likely they will scare the fish.

The first hit off the top of a wave large enough to make a surfer dude happy, snaps Jess's head back hard enough for her to consider suing for whip-lash. She notes the need for better head rests. They hop and skip and twist like a bronco. Unbeknownst to her, she has reflexively webbed herself to the floor of the capsule.

G-force relents enough for her to breath, "Well, fuck, that was fun."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would muse over the comms, "So can you two still mvoe down there? It didn't break up on reentry?" She goes to tap her fingers along it. "Is it structurally intact?" SHe's presuming by the fact that the two are -able- to respond with some coherency that they're reasonably structurally intact.

Zinda Blake has posed:
Zinda Blake keeps the plane in a slow, spiraling turn and watches the path of the projectile. "Well it's still in one piece. Hopefully them galls inside ain't all scrambled." she offers softly.

Ariah Olivie has posed:
    "..this is... most... disorienting..." Ariah states quietly, to Jessica. She fumbles with her restraints once the pod has 'settled' on the ocean's surface, bobbing and swaying. She tries to situate herself, standing some in what little room there is and then promptly sits back down.

    "Pod... intact... fighting efficiency..." she pauses, trying to find a mark that fits with her current state. "...fifty percent at best?" she offers, hints of uncertainty in her voice. "...the landing... it was not so hard, per se.. but... the spinning and bouncing... it is.. very disorienting..."

    She explains as best she can, voice thickened not just by her accent, but the dizziness. G-forces? Yes. Hard landing? Yes. Spinning around like a drunk tilt-a-whirl? ...mmmaaaybe not. "..advise... re-assessment and application of inertial compensators...."

Jessica Drew has posed:
<<Roger, that. Though I think," she says, rubbing the back of her neck, "there is some room for improvement on splash down. That's too soft a word. Smack down is more like it."

The egg queasily bobs on the surface like a drunk duck.

<<I second Agent Olivie's assessment. We survived but I'm not sure that even the fittest agents would.>>

Zinda Blake has posed:
Zinda Blake listens to the comm chatter and the assessment. "Roger that, landin' crew. I'm sure the Tech Team's gonna want your full, unbiased assessment." She clicks off the mic a sec to adds for her copilot's benefit. "... includin' the swear words."

Mic back on again, "Search and Rescue are on their way, so jus' sit tight. Drinks are on R&D when you get back aboard." Not because the test was a success, of course, but because they survived anyway.

"SHIELD Carrier, this is Blackhawk, we are on approach. I think it's back to the drawin' board with this one. See y'all soon."