15787/Strange Things Are Afoot at the Circle-K

Strange Things Are Afoot at the Circle-K
Date of Scene:	17 September 2023
Location:	Circle-K Gas Station - Nebraska
Synopsis:	SHIELD has to get in to a hostile area and secure it for the recovery teams to make it in. It gets pretty nasty with some really pesky creatures slinging plasma around! Ya'll gotta be careful when strange things are afoot at the Circle-K.
Cast of Characters:	Quiet, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Alexander Aaron, Zinda Blake
Tinyplot:	Grey Skies

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Quiet has posed:
Earlier Today:
Two SHIELD F-35s were on a training exercise not far to the north east, when a call came in that an Unidentified Anomalous Phenomenon had been spotted near the northern edge of the state of Nebraska.  The F-35s were tasked with flying to the indicated coordinates, where they intercepted the UAP craft.  Upon performing an active scan of the unknown vehicle, one of the F-35s was fired upon by the craft, and was shot down in a field west of the city of Lincoln.  The second SHIELD F-35 engaged the vehicle, and using a top secret laser weapon, the F-35 returned fire on the UAP, causing significant damage to its hull.  The UAP also crash landed in the farmlands of Nebraska just north of a major highway.  SHIELD Agents have been tasked with arriving on-scene to gather up SHIELD assets, and secure the area, while investigating the UAP's crash site.  Local Law Enforcement is on site, but has been ordered to stand back at the highway entrance routes to keep any civilian traffic at-bay until notified otherwise.

Now:
The sun has set over the region, with a distant thunderstorm system slowly moving in. Visible lightning flashes in the dark skies to the west, and rain from earlier this afternoon has left the grounds covered in a thin layer of moisture.

A single SHIELD Quinjet has been deployed to the site, aboard it a group of SHIELD personnel has been brought up to speed via a in-flight situation report.  The Quinjet has already arrived, and performed one quick fly-over of the area, spotting the fire from the F-35 that crashed to the east, and the UAP which crashed to the north.  The Quinjet is landing in the field to the west, and at the center of all of this is a single Gas Station and Convenient Store.  Its lonely little building sitting between the fields of mayhem around it.  Its store lights are all on, though several of the bulbs are flashing rapidly in strobe-like fashions, indicating some measure of a system failure within their bulbs.  On the fly-over it was clear that there were broken windows in the front of the store too, with shards of glass strewn across the sidewalk in front of the store, and the few vehicles parked out in front of it equally covered across their hoods.

The lights inside the store also are flashing on and off, randomly, giving the whole parking lot, and the building itself, a strange atmosphere.  To compile ontop of all of that, a glowing pinkish purple light is ever-present inside the store itself.

The mission goals here are straight forward, however.  1> secure the area. 2> Secure the F-35 crash site to recover the top secret tech, and lastly 3> Investigate the UAP crash site.

In a world where aliens have made themselves quite apparent, almost weekly, the notion that something like this could unsettle people might ring a bit untrue now, but all the same, it is a big galaxy out there, and one never knows what might be knocking on their proverbial doorstep these days.

The Quinjet settles in on the grassy field, wet with the afternoon rains, and the gangplank lowers down to the ground to let the Agents disembark to begin their mission!

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
As the Quinjet goes in for a landing, Natsaha Romanova goes to sit in the Co-Pilot's seat. "Our first sweep should be focused around the crash area and the black box of the jet. It will have the electronics records from the system, if they have anything. Transcripts of sensor readings will be useful. Then we can sweep the perimeter for larger pieces of debris. It will likely be spread out over multiple kilometers based upon the crash spread, altitude, and angle of impact." She's putting a large rifle over onto her shoulder and also something that'ss not a part of normal SHIELD field loadout.
    Namely a shoulder launched surface to ground missile. Given what they were dealing with, they might very well need it. And the Quinjet, while an effective craft, was not designed for dogfights. Particularly where it's stealth was useless. So she was going in expecting trouble- from the ground or from the air. "Quinjet will be est for emergency extraction as necessary. We should remain spread out upon landing in case we're being monitored and are subject to a strafing run." Not that a passing jet flying along and spraying them with minigun fire would be something they would have much ability to dodge - or the impact of small bomb craters.

Clint Barton has posed:
    Clint steps down the lowered ramp of the Quinjet, putting his pair of Native(TM) shades on as he does so. As his strapped and booted feet touch the flattened grass in the field he takes a deep and long breath. "Yup... smells like home."

    Home of course being the next state over with much the same terrain and environment as Nebraska. Clint is prepared of course, nothing too heavy. He brought his longer bow for this mission, knowing things might be spread out a bit, along with a varying assortment of tips and arrows specialized for high wind areas. He reaches for a pair of fingerless gloves laced over his belt and puts them on, the leather stretching as he pulls them tight. "Spread out, got it Nat. I'll start heading towards the location with the team. Keep an eye on my back." He said over the comms.

Quiet has posed:
Agent Houston is also present, having been tending to her gear since they lifted off. She's got one large rifle strapped over her back, with another held in her arms in a casual position as they descend from the interior of the Quinjet. She's a rather well known factor amongst the agents these days, known for not being able to speak, though she and Clint have interacted before via the use of American Sign Language. Dressed in a sleeveless black bodysuit, and a black military cap on her head, Agent Houston's brown hair is tied back in a loose ponytail that extends out of the back of her hat. She descends down the ramp with her military boots touching down on the wet grass, her eyes going left and right, causing her ponytail to spring about behind her shoulders...

In the distance, the sound of rolling thunder can be heard moments after Clint declares the nature of this place being similar to his home land. This garners a look from Houston who smiles faintly at him for a second. Her eyes go to Natasha then, the team commander.

Just as the trio is about to setout, and leave the Quinjet (with its flight crew of two) alone inside the SHIELD vehicle, something happens.

From the Gas Station, a female voice can be heard screaming out. It is loud, and not something anyone could miss. A figure darts out of the interior of the Convenient Store, shoving one of the front doors open, as she stumbles out on to the sidewalk, her shoes crunching on shards of glass.

She is hobbling, her right leg seems to be injured as she stumbles toward the front grill of a old truck parked outside of the store. She leans against it for support as she turns around to look back inside the store.

She screams again, and falls down against the front of the truck!

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Unknown. Civilian. If there were hostile presences here, the convenience store was a likely place for them to have moved to secure. Even if it was just a petty robbery, then they still were obligated to intervene. There might be witnesses present. And it was not something that Natasha would have done in her old life. She would have abandoned the woman to her fate, unless it was within the parameters of the mission.
    If the orders were to complete the mission no matter what, if Clint were not there then it was a tossup as to whether she would have or not. Leaning towards not. She was a weapon, first and foremost. The mission came above all other things.
    She goes to speak to the comm unit <<Moving to investigate possible attacker at small commercial location>> Yes, she could just call it a convenience store. No, she wasn't going to. With her current intent passed along, she goes to take out her sniper scope to try and get a quick view over of the woman and whatever it was that had just made her yell. Had she been thrown? Had something inside engaged her? A quick scan through the sniper scope and then Natasha would be running. Quickly, but not unnaturally so. One hand had unholstered a pistol as she would head towards the location. First to quickly sweep the perimeter to evaluate threats, and then hopefully after assessing teh situation for a few seconds to move to neutralize threats.

Clint Barton has posed:
    Clint takes a moment to look over towards the direction of the rolling thunder, clapping across the long and open planes as if rolling right off the contours of the storm-front clearly visible in the distance. There's a look to Quiet and a small smirk in return. He flicked his hand and offered her a sign, an acknowledgment of the beauty of the land before them. Then he turned back towards the gas station just as the scream occurred.

    Clint was deaf, quite so actually, but with the help of hearing aids he certainly wasn't going to miss that blood curdling exclamation.

    Clint frowned, "Well... that's not good." He signs to Quiet indicating he's moving forwards and closer to the woman near the truck. He comms his intentions back to Nat. "I'm going to see if I can't ascertain what's going on."

    Clint turns on that mid western charm as he approaches the gas station, more specifically the woman who had run from it screaming. He rushes up to her to inspect her, "Ma'am, are you alright?" He asks, not really getting any kind of permission before inspecting her person.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    As part of the detail that is moving with Agent Barton, Agent Alexander takes up a position on the far left flank, the pinky finger of the advance left formation. Though Natasha and Clint stand out, the people in that response team with their SHIELD body suits and faceless visors blend together somewhat, though their silhouettes are subtly different from person to person.
    For Alex's part he's got a SHIELD issued assault rifle held loose and low for the moment, one hand on the forward grip. Proper trigger discipline si held as he advances with the team, listening to the comms. His response to Natasha's declaration is just that single click on the frequency to let control and Triskelion actual to know he acknowledges.
    At the statement from Clint, however, the young Olympian's voice is heard with that modulated growly electronic tone that the helmets inflict upon the speaker. << Multiples inside the commercial location. >>

Quiet has posed:
Agent Houston's eyes are quickly surrounded by a black mask that shifts in across her skin. She glances to Nat who is taking off, then to Clint who gets a quick 'Cover.' sign in response from Quiet. She's fast then, rushing past Alexander as she sets up behind the Circle-K sign built in to the side yard with a bit of a hedge garden beside it. Her own assault rifle is shifted away, and her heavier scoped rifle is brought up to bear. She peers through the scope, watching the first two on her team rushin in.

Nat seems to be displaying more caution, while Clint is rushing to be the big damn hero. As soon as he reaches the young woman, two things happen... The first being that she raises up a silvery revolver handgun that she aims at Clint! The second being that green glowing bursts of hot plasma start firing down on the advancing SHIELD agents from the roof of the Convenient Store!

The purple glowing light inside of the store starts to glow brighter, and the sounds of people shouting in fear within starts to filter out!

Three green globs of hot plasma fire down toward the pavement, aimed at Natasha primarily, while the woman with the silvery handgun seems to be dead-eyed as she aims it at Barton!

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha mentally swears at herself for falling for such a simple ploy. From the angle she's at, she doesn't have a particularly great good shot at the group on the upper level. So instead she goes to first move to throw down a smoke grenade to the general area, moving to yell out a warning to the rest of the team along the comms <<Contact! Hostiles on roof. Snipers.>> Plasma shots would mess any of them up. And at the gas station, they couldn't exactly rely on supporting fire from the Quinjet. She's been sloppy here.
    THe smoke grenade goes down, even as she goes to duck and look about for cover. There's little available. So that leaves her only real option being to get as close to the building as possible. She goes to run at high speed, zigging and zagging while heading to try and get close enough to the wall of the convenience store that it would block line of sight of her. Not bothering to take potshots - her pistol would be minimally effective at this range and there was too much noise for it to act as suppression, even if she got a lucky shot off.

Clint Barton has posed:
    There's a gun being pointed at Clint? Well hot dang, it's finally about time. "Nope!" He shouts, a quick reaction as he grabs the young woman's wrist and twists, manipulating it just so in some CQC type maneuver even the Boss might find impressive. Well... considering who he was against that is. It's with that manipulation that he pulls the gun from the woman's hand and then turns just as green plasma starts hammering his position. He drags her back behind the truck and out of the line of fire. "I'm here to help... Just relax alright." He wasn't sure if she was being controlled or if she was just simply scared but having a gun pointed at you often ruined ones day no matter the intent.

    Instead of drawing his bow, hawkeye check the cylinder of the revolver, spinning it and slamming it shut, cocking back the hammer and inspecting the enemy position from behind cover. He hops on the comms, "You guys have rubber or bag rounds for your rifles?" He asks.

"Otherwise this might turn into a PR nightmare." He keeps an eye on the young woman.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    As soon as weapons come up, so do the armaments of the SHIELD detail as instantly they hit their cover. Their own weaponry coming to bear on the young woman and the convenience store itself, . The comms immediately crackle to life as various agents report in, Alexander's modulated voice among them as he murmurs, << Under fire, east-side window convenience store. Rooftop. >>
    Agent O'Hara's voice is heard, another of the squaddies, << Engaging. >>
    There's the /CRACK-CRACK-CRACK/ of suppressed rifle fire as the combatants firing from their elevated position start to take some reprisal shots.
    Agent Kelso's voice is heard on the comms next as the larger agent moves to transitoin from one position of cover to the next. << Moving up to support Barton. >>
    Then when Barton's on the comms there's a quick snap across the comms from Agent Dean, leader of the squad. << Check fire, check fire. >>

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanova goes to put in a quick call to the Hellicarrier <<Requesting aerial support. Being engaged by hostiles from higher elevation with plasma weaponry with possible aerial backup. Engaging at close quarters>> In other words, they needed someone that could shoot /very/ tightly.

Zinda Blake has posed:
<<Roger that, Ground Team. Scrambling Close Air Support now.>>

Sitting in the cockpit of an F-35, the Alert-5 pilot has been waiting for just such a call. The Deck Officer counts back from 5, 4, 3, Salute, 1... With a rush, the plane launches and immediately flips over into a steep, spiralling dive.

<<Combat support descendin' fast. Be on station pronto-like.>> The voice over the radio is female, with a Georgia accent.

Quiet has posed:
There is a snap as the woman's wrist is likely broken, but such is the case when one needs to disarm someone fast, someone who has no business brandishing a weapon like that in the first place. The woman doesn't even make so much as a yelp in response to the injury either, and in fact, even when pulled in to cover she's just left there blank staring off in to the distance. Clint finds the revolver to be fully loaded, a .45 caliber handgun, the kind you might find stuffed under a cash register counter in a place like this.

Natasha is low on cover in the parking lot as there were only 3 vehicles parked within it, but she makes it to the front of the store, her own boots crunching on shards of glass now, as the window directly to her right is completely blown outward. The interior of the store can be heard with the sounds of whispering coming from what seems like every corner of it, as well as that strange purple glow that pulses slowly across the whole of the interior of the building.

Alexander, and his grunts, find cover on the edge of the parking lot behind some cement planters that frame the lot itself. Their return fire does seem to quell the plasma rounds coming from the roof, but only for a moment...

From further back, Quiet lines up a shot on the roof, and pulls the trigger of her sniper rifle. As if to answer Barton, Quiet unloads with a very large round of live ammunition, and something makes a strange noise up in the shadows on the roof. Something between a bark and a duck's quacking.

The woman that Clint drug down behind the red truck just continues to stare off in the distance, until she slowly starts to look toward him beside her. Like in the blink of an eye, she lunges at his throat, trying to bite his neck!

Out by the highway:
The sound of gunfire can be heard coming from the Circle-K, the Sherriff stands by their police car with the lights on the hood reflecting across their face. The middle aged woman looks over to her deputy who stares out at the store in the distance. "Better them than us." The Sherriff says to her Deputy who looks back over at her, the young man asking in-counter. "What if the good guys lose though?"

The Sherriff exhales deeply. "Get on the horn, tell Jim and his boys to get over here with their shotguns. Meet us right where we are." She tells the Deputy who nods his head and rushes back to his own car.

Back at the store:
Inside something can be seen scurrying down one of the aisles just inside the window, moving in behind the wall that Natasha is hiding on the other side of for cover. A second later and the wall behind Natasha blasts outward covering her in brick dust and debris!

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Plaster is flying past as she manages to evade enough to get to cover. The best cover is inside of all the ironies - high energy blasts meeting vehicles will yield a bad result. One doesn't want to be next to it when it goes off. So Natasha goes to simply move on in as soon as she's sure there's nothing immediately inside that could bracket her. She has her pistol out, even as she goes to quickly dart in, attempting to get some of the shelves between her and whatever is the outside. She's too slow though even as the wall near her collapses as -something- bursts out near to her!
    She's partially pinned in the rubble as it goes to tumble on her. She doesn't bother to call in a report - breath wasted is effort wasted where she has to act. Her armor is light kevlar, and against a close range energy burst it will be useless. Agaisnt a heavy claw? The same.
    The center -mass- of the thing is met with three close range pistol shots - whether or not they impact, at least it's something to hopefully have the thing scutter away for cover as well. Even if it's feral, the noise or impacts of bullets will hopefully make it react. If it's robotic the impacts will hopefully jar it - or at least reveal it was robotic. All this is to give Natasha that extra half second to free herself of the rubble. There's just a WRENCH as she doesn't bother with finesse - now is not hte time. She goes to just yank herself free, relying on strength and ignoring the pain. Then another three shots aimed in clusters.

Clint Barton has posed:
    Clint wasn't used to women throwing them selves at him. At least not in this manner. You know, trying to bite his neck and all like they were a ravenously hungry zombie. "Ah hell, lady!" He shouts in protest angling himself so her momentum could be used against her. Some more Boss-esq moves for a more civilized age of engagement. Maybe Nat taught him this one or it was one of those things he picked up fighting for his life on the streets as a hustling carny. Either way it ended with the young woman in a head-lock, his arms surrounding her neck adding pressure against the two arteries there, starving her brain of blood and oxygen. Attempting to subdue her so he may move on to help his comrades.

    Legs wrapped around her torso as he laid on the ground with the woman struggling in his arms, "Yup..." He announced over comms, "Civies are compromised. Try not to kill too many I guess." A totally not PR thing to say, but hey if tapes were ever released of some of the stuff he's said this was hardly the worst. He noticed Quiet's shot, glancing towards the glint of her scope and smiles with a smirk."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    Agent Dean's voice is heard again on the comms. << Going non-lethal, check your targets, O'Hara, Aaron, bounding overwatch. Go now. >> And at those words Kelso and Dean open up from their cover to suppress the incoming fire, their rifles shooting high and not impacting the targets though close enough that if they have a sense of self-preservation it might well be kicking in.
    Alex and his partner O'Hara break cover and book it across the distance, trying to make it further up toward the side of the building, sliding into position behind one of those cement constructs meant to discourage rude parking proclivities. The black clad agents come up and then it's their turn to provide suppressing fire as the rest of the team brings up the rear, dashing to cover on the other side.
    Under her breath though on the comms still, Agent O'Hara growls as she starts to lose her temper, << If it's monsterry and bleeds green I'm shooting the fuckers. >>
    Only for Dean to instantly counter, << Cut the chatter. >>

Zinda Blake has posed:
The F-35 descends in a power-dive, falling faster than gravity. The plasma rounds make it somewhat easy to figure out which roof is the one in question, and infrared optics help with the rest. It's carrying full external ordnance tonight, stealth be damned.

<<Snipers located, Ground Team. Engaging.>> The night sky lights up as three bursts of tracer rounds lance towards the rooftop in short, buzzsaw-like clusters.

<<Snipers dispatched, repeat, snipers dispatched. Blackhawk One remaining on station.>>

And with that, the jet climbs a couple hundred feet to circle slowly over the Circle K in the darkness like a waiting raptor.

Quiet has posed:
AS soon as Natasha takes that second burst of triple shots, the last one is rewarded with a strange squeal of agony, and a streak of green goop flying across the floor just inside the store! It's but a second later that sparks shoot across the roof on top of the building, and all the lights go out across the whole property, save for the sign that Quiet was hiding beside. There is silence for about two whole seconds, as people move in to various new positions, with only soft footfalls in boots thudding on pavement mixing with the sounds of the ambient environment.

Then more plasma fire bursts out from the roof, this time aimed at Quiet's position far out in the front-side yard! The bursts of green plasma slam in to the Circle-K sign, causing a shower of sparks to launch up in to the air, and the sign itself to get totally obliterated!. Agent Houston just ducks down near to the ground, before slowly creeping up to peer through her scope again...

This is when the SHIELD Jet sweeps in, heroically dropping tracers rounds like they're going out of style! The flashes of light illuminate the roof in a blaze of visibility! Three figures can be seen peering over the edge again, their pumpkin-sized heads all turning to look skyward, before one of them is clipped by another shot from Agent Houston's weapon! The other two once more open fire, but this time aiming at Alexander's unit, who are advancing ever-closer!

At Clint's position, he gets the young woman falling in to a deep slumber, and out of the corner of his eye he'll see a figure peering out from around the far corner of the Convenient Store, with a very large head, deep grey skin and knobby fingers pressed up against its forehead. Its black eyes are across the 30 foot distance toward where he is, looking directly at him. Clint will start to feel a headache creeping in to his mind now...

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanova would go to call out a warning along the comms <<Adversary has possible stealth capabilities. At least one hostile within interior>> She goes to calmly fire three more bullets in the direction from which the blood came from - if the thing was sentient then it would try to insctively move to put their un-injured body part in front of the bit that had beens hot. Presuming the thing would contort some, it would exacerbate the injury. She goes to take another set of potshots in the general area - her hope is to make the thing keep bleeding.. And not have a chance to withdraw. This is also a chance for her to switch her HUD optics over to ultraviolet. Match scans over with the green blood (?) and hope that she could use that to track the thing. Even in the dark. Because the shadows were her stalking grounds.
    And then after she's put off her shots, Natasha goes to vanish. Time to play as she goes to stealth mode, trying to track the target and move ot isolate it from any further reinforcements.

Clint Barton has posed:
    Perhaps he missed it all in the hail of 25mm Gatling strafing across the store in a danger close pattern. Too focused on shutting the down the immediate threat in front of him. Of course that brought him face to face with the pumpkin head who was controlling her... now attempting to do the same to him.

    Did he drink last night? Because now he felt like he had the biggest hangover of his life. No, it wasn't that. It was the fat head trying to get in his brain. Except you see, Clint had this experience before. With Loki, back during the invasion. Brainwashed to the opposite side. He promised himself he'd never ever end up in that position again. So with a force of will and commitment he pushed the limp body of the woman off him and raised from his prone position. The Revolved was pulled, hammer pulled back to relieve some torq on the trigger so his aim was better. He aimed it towards the pumpkin head, then pulled the trigger.

    .45 are fat boys, large rounds that are slow but designed to knock someone on their ass and create a lot of damage from a short distance. Favored for close quarters sub machine guns clearing rooms and such. When his bullet impacted the Pumpkin-heads... head, it was enough to make most of it explode into a mess of green goo.

    Clint didn't stop there, his face becoming stern, like a drunk being awaken from his afternoon nap, not yet renewing his buzz for the day with a creeping hangover... and immediately targeting those shooting at Quiet with the remaining rounds in the revolved, expending the cylinder then tossing it aside. "Alright, I've got a headache now... just kill everyone."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    << Agent Barton? >> A voice of one of the SHIELD team's agents is heard on the comms, probably Kelso judging by the hesitance in it. He's got eyes on Clint but that moment of fate that brushed past Hawkeye was hard to discern. Yet thankfully he seemed... okay.
    The rest of the tactical response team finished their closure with the convenience store and took up positions to make entry in support of Black Widow. << Team incoming. >>
    To let Natasha know they're about to move in. There's a quick countdown from three that's unspoken, then when those three seconds pass the team busts into the store and starts to lay down needed fire, each element of the team using their assault rifle or their ICER.
    Agent Aaron slams into position behind the 'cover' of a rack of Cheetos. He spins to the side and brings his weapon up in line with that... big headed fellow. Definitely not human nor mind-controlled human. So there's no hesitation in the bark that comes from the assault rifle. Though in the same moment the critter's head blossoms like a slime sausage.

Zinda Blake has posed:
And Blackhawk One? The jet circles slowly, not quite hovering as Zinda maintains station over the scene. Using the plane's radar as well as various visual capabilities, she watches for more wild cards.

<<Ground Team, there looks like a small group of law enforcement gatherin'. But they don't look to be in any sorta hurry.>>

Quiet has posed:
Inside the store:
Natasha's next round of shots splash through glass, right in to the frozen food cabinets, spilling glass down across the floor as she storms her way inside the store. She ends up being the first to see in to the middle of the store, though, and thusly becomes the first to see a gaggle of Humans all seated back to back in a circle together. Five people sit in a circle, each one with a strange hard shell of pink 'plastic' over their mouths, and sitting between them all is a single glowing egg-like device that the purple light is emanating from its interior, the pulsing light casting long shadows through the store.

As Nat draws closer to the group of captives, she'll see the ones who are staring at her start to look upward...

Green blood drops down on to Natasha's shoulder, dripping down the material of her jumpsuit...

Outside:
Clint's timely shot lands home, and the fat headed creature is sent flying backward in to a green metal dumpster with a thud of weight against iron, and ichor splashing across pavement! The woman who had been attacking Clint just lays peacefully now beside the red truck that Hawkeye had been using for cover.

Meanwhile, the SHIELD field team rushes the store, bursting through it just as that green blood had landed on Natasha's shoulder, and behind the register counter two more of the large headed creatures are jumping to their feet to fire plasma weapons at the SHIELD field team!

While up on that ceiling... a larger creature can now be seen, coming in to full view it has six legs, and a long tongue that lashes down toward Natasha's face, as it detaches from the ceiling, spinning in mid-air to try and tackle the Black Widow to the checkred tile floor of the Convenient Store!

Back outside:
Zinda's scanning and elevated position allows her to see the UAP crash site in the northern field, and she'll see movement coming from the glowing wreckage of the strange vehicle. Suddenly, a burst of pink energy lights up the sky, as some device is being used to fire at the SHIELD aircraft! Zinda's scanners will go on full alert, instantly ID'ing two figures pulling some kind of cannon out of their downed vehicle, and using it to fire upon her jet!

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
The individuals within are being collected? Contained? <<Natasha goes to speak calmly to the comm <<Five individuals within in partial stasis or restraints. Probable abduction targets>> That's all she really has time to pass along even as the engagement starts! She can quickly assess that there's -something- here that she doesn't have the time to maneuver from as the tongue goes to lash about and yank her and slam her to the ground!

She hits the ground hard - hard enough to snap her collarbone from the impact. She doesn't bother to use her pistol at this point - it's not going to penetrate the thing. She calls out calmly <<Contact within>> As glass, frozen oreos, and at least one Tickle Me Elmo doll (don't ask) goes ot hit the groundw ith a rubber ducky BWEE.
    Instead of the pistol her arms go to snap back over and unleash her batons. She goes to whip them over to try and jab them to the central torso of the large spidery thing and crank them up to near full charge. She moves to try and slam the Widow's Bites into it and get whatever leverage she can, trying to crush them into the thing and unleash both into it! The charge is enough to at least /stagger/ a higher lower mid level brick so hopefully on the X-Ray it will drop it hard! Presuming that the thing isn't insulated and it doesn't rip her limb from limb ifrst of course!

Clint Barton has posed:
    "Sounds about typical." Clint comments over comms towards Zinda's observation. He really wasn't paying attention, more focused on what was in front of him here and now. Currently, there were still two on the roof who had been narrowing down Quiet's position. He wasn't overly worried about the sniper, she could take care of her self, but he was also kind of looking for an excuse to unleash a little bit. Especially since he just wanted to go home and pop an Advil with this splitting head ache.

    He grabbed the longbow off his back, drew back an explosive tipped arrow, and just aimed it towards the roof. Then let it go, letting science to the rest as the tip exploded in a loud rumble and flash.

    "How's it going in there Nat?" He asks, unsure currently as he was still outside.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    To be fair at least one of the squaddies opens up with the ICER, for there's that trademark slashing zorch of a sound. But the suppressed kick of the assault rifles is much more prominent inthat enclosed space. Plasma fire is taken from the counter area though the team that those big headed critters target... they go to ground as quickly as they can though the others in the squad return fire with brutal efficiency.
    There's a sudden BLAZZAP as one of those plasma rounds finds purchase in the armor of the squad leader, Dean hitting the ground hard with a portion of his chest piece sizzled viciously, right over by the cheese-filled Combo display area. Kelso steps in to unload his clip as he calls out on the comms. << Man down! >>
    Though the attacker is soon put down under the combined fire.

Zinda Blake has posed:
Outside, the pink energy beam lances out from the wreck and Zinda reacts out of instinct. The F-35 banks hard and drops like a stone. Zinda continues the roll and rights the aircraft just a few dozen feet off the ground.

<<We have hostile activity at the UAP crash site, repeat, hostile activity. They just shot somethin' at me. Engaging now.>>

Zinda keeps below the line of sight, streaking towards the crash site. At the last moment the plane goes into hover mode, popping up just high enough for her to fire a couple missiles. She is close enough that there's not even time for radar lock, just firing by line of sight.

Then the jet drops back down again.

Quiet has posed:
Inside the store:
Natasha is locked in a fierce bit of melee combat with the six armed creatuer that is getting way too handsy with the Black Widow. But her ability as a fighter is damn near unparalleled on all of planet Earth. It may not be an easy fight, it may not even be a fight that Natasha will ever truly be able to forget, but she does get her various tech advantages in on the beastly thing, and soon the Widow Bites are doing what they do best. Voltage is sent in to the creature, and its hissing face clamps jaws down in front of her nose before its body slackens against her muscled response, and it slaps limply against the tire floor, with a number of pints of Blue Bonnet ice cream falling out around the creature on the black and white tiled floor.

The two grey skinned pumpkin-heads behind the counter get blasted at nearly point-blank range, and both are dropped like fat little kids in the corner of the store, one completely limp, while the other pulls itself up against a locked strongbox in the corner. It clutches the wound on its chest, its little flat-lined mouth open gasping for tiny breaths of air as its huge black eyes staring up past the corner at the SHIELD field agents. It's terrified.

Outside:
Hawkeye's explosive arrow rocks the Convenient Store's roof, causing debris to fall down in to the interior, and after a second or two it might be questionable if the arrow even achieved anything... but then, the strange scratchy high-pitched screams of one of the creatures becomes audible as its fiery body flails and drops off the side of the building to land face first only a handful of meters away from where Clint had fired his deadly shaft of arrow killing!

Where's the second one though?

Out in the field:
The F-35 is agile enough to evade the strange blast from the ground cannon, and Zinda's dumbfired missiles sizzle toward the enemies that had brandished the weapon out in the unused corn field. The two missiles soar through the skies, as the stubby armed creatures try to push the cannon out of the way. They start screaming at one another as one of the missiles slams in to the ground beside the cannon, blowing ground and grass all around them. They abandon the cannon and flee for their tiny lives before the second one lands true, and cause the cannon to detonate in a burst of pink energy! The energy shockwave spreads out across the whole field, causing trees to sway in the resulting winds, and a purple pink light to brighten up the entire darkness of the field north of the Circle-K.

At the Highway:
The two cops wwatch as the madness unfolds, one of them recording it with their cell phone. The Sherrifff scowls at her Deputy doing this. "Put that away. You're wearing a body-cam, remember?"

"Yeah, but I might want to put this on Youtube when I get home. If I get home..."

Back at the store:
The ladder to the roof, located in the back, has the little sounds of bare feet impacting on it, as one last grey-skinned pumpkin-head starts down it, turning and dropping in to the trash bin, before it starts scurrying in the dark toward the field where the shot-down F-35 has been scattered for several hours now...

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha goes to flip up and over to her feet, quickly evaluating the hostages. Then she goes to take out her ICER and presuming there's no moves of attack from them goes to shoot them each with a dart at close range - the dart is set on the lower dose of the drug. Best not to take chances after all. In case there's something going on with them that they have to take them in to deal with. Some things should be left to the scientists after all. Each of them darted, then she goes to crank up the ICER and fires into the dazed cryptoid on the ground just to be usre it stays down while speaking.

<<Interior secure. Five civilians unconscious. Unknown orb, some sort of egg present>> She goes to wait for the team to give a round of status updates, moving to quickly reload her pistol before starting to do another sweep of the store in case she's missed anything else within.
    <<Status report on all personnel>>

Zinda Blake has posed:
<<HAWK-AAAA!>> Zinda cries into the comm, as the energy weapon explodes. <<Hostiles dispatched, repeat, hostiles dispatched. The skies are clear. Blackhawk One will remain on station. Just in case.>>

Clint Barton has posed:
    Indeed, where is the second one? Hawkeye hadn't thought even about the first one who was now still smoldering now in front of him. He walked over and stepped on the large head, making sure it exploded beneath his boot. "That's how one properly disposes of a Bighead, yeah?" A small chuckle.

    The Archer nocks another arrow, drawing it back and searching carefully the ledges of what's left of the roof. He doesn't see anything.

    The noise from the back draws his attention, from the dumpster. A glance towards Quiet's position, not exactly sure where she is but guessing she is still likely out there somewhere. She signs regardless, first an attempt to get her attention, then two fingers walking. Then a gun against his head, thumb going down with an very evident and over exaggerated blasting... which could only mean one thing: 'shoot 'em'

    "Oh, I'm just dandy, Nat." Clint responds.

Quiet has posed:
Outside:
It is about three whole seconds after Hawkeye just makes his hand gesture to the wind, that the sound of a rifle going off again echoes across the area. Out in the field, that little pumpkin-headed creatuer scurrying for the cover of the cornfield suddenly has the side of his cranium burst open, leaving his bulbous body to keel over in to the dirt of the service road encircling the field. The creature just drops dead from a shot that came from seemingly nowhere.

Over the comms, the signal of a chirping 'I'm here'.' in a robotic female voice signals Quiet is still out there, still doing her job.

Inside the store:
The hostages are out-cold now, and the egg continues to glow brightly. Alexander and his field agents are continuing to scan the area, and tend to their wounded while Natasha gets her reports coming in.

Within moments, the SHIELD tech recovery team is reportedly on their way in from the Hellicarrier with the all-clear given.

Back outside:
Another clap of thunder rolls through the air, and the lightning flashes across the horizon. The rain starts to slowly fall around the Circle-K Convenient Store, with the pattering of droplets landing on the pavement, and slapping against hard surfaces.

The Cops out by the highway are greeted by a couple of pickup trucks full of locals with shotguns, who park beside the squad cars. The men file out of their vehicles and begin to converse with the Sherriff and her Deputy. "SHIELD is on the site. We were told to stay back until contacted. So we're doing just that." The middle-aged police woman says to the townsfolk who came to reinforce the police.

"What was it?" The elder of the men asks.

"Little green men, obviously." The Deputy says, resulting in a round of chuckles from the various folks gathering up around the police vehicles.