17471/Hydra vs UN: Inside the UN

Hydra vs UN: Inside the UN
Date of Scene:	07 April 2024
Location:	United Nations
Synopsis:	Hydra invades the United Nations and forces good and unlikely unite to repel the attempt.
Cast of Characters:	Peter Parker, Kate Kane, Natasha Romanoff, Luca Bandoni, Pepper Potts, Victor Von Doom, Priscilla Kitaen, Frank Noble, Darcy Lewis, Kenesha, Clea, Logan Howlett, Richard Stadler, Tyrone Johnson, Tandy Bowen
Tinyplot:	Hydra vs UN

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Peter Parker has posed:
The United Nations is under attack.

Outside the sounds of the assault still filter into the main assembly room here, the building periodically shaking around those within as explosions go off, as Hydra walkers and dreadnaughts cut through the air, slither across the ground and confront the assembled heroes that have gathered together to defend the world leaders and various other dignitaries that had gathered today.

The security preparations have been immense, coordinated with dozens of different security agencies around the world to insure the safety of some of the most imporant individuals in the various world governments. In theory no expense has been spared.

But they have still needed heroes of all sorts to answer the call. And even with all of their efforts, it hasn't been enough to keep all of the Hydra forces out.

There are ultimately all sorts of ways into the main UN building. From the main doors outside, to a variety of other secondary entrances. There are service entrances. Entrances through the underground parking structure. An entrance on the roof. And ultimately, the constant exchange of fire, the explosions that periodically rocked the building and left those within nervous, even fearful have also had the added effect of creating all sorts of additional ways into the building.

And into the building they have come. The ominous grunts of Hydra who do so much of the heavy lifting in their intimidating green and yellow suits, features concealled. And weapons of all sorts from the mundane to the most advanced sorts of energy weapons that the evil, twisted scientists that the neo-fascist organization have been able to design and bring to life.

Those agents have flooded through so many of those secondary entrances, through the improvised holes blown in the outer walls. Even with all the efforts going on outside, dozens of them filter into the main building, guided by a few of the very best that Hydra has available to them. Their elite. Their own super agents.

Within the building, most of those gathered have assembled in the main assembly hall, the world leaders and other dignitaries gathered in one place, surrounded by their personal security and other United Nations security assets that have barricaded the entrances in, that have taken position in the upper levels looking down on the floor where the dozens of translators necessary for this place to function are normally assembled. Gathered, they wait together with other, specific invididuals who have found themselves on scene today.

The right place, right time perhaps?

One of those who is present and perhaps shouldn't be is secreted away in an air vent high above. It's not just Hydra agents that have infiltrated the building on this particular day. It was no easy task mind, but between all the chaos and confusion and being able to do whatever a spider can, it was doable.

He sits there, watching the crowd below. Peter Parker, the Amazing Spider-Man. All because of that little bump of trouble he has. His Spider-sense. And the strange way it flared up during an attempted kidnapping earlier in the week. A kidnapping he and others thwarted. Or so it seemed.

Now he watches from his perch in the cieling. Watches as the sound of fighting outside in the halls grows closer and closer, stamping boots and weapons-fire filling the air.

Then, finally, the main entrance to the assembly hall comes under attack, bright beams slicing right through the doors there, cutting through them like they are butter. Toppling inward in an explosion of dust and debris, the first green and yellow forms of the Hydra infantry begin to pile into the room...

Kate Kane has posed:
The United Nations does have pretty impressive security, it's true. But given the chaos that's reigning right now, keeping a bat out of its belfry is a bit much to ask. Which is what Batwoman is doing here, having heard about the situation thanks to the Avengers.

She actually lurks near the entrance to the Assembly Hall, perched high in the shadows, probably not too far from Spider-Man as she stays hidden, waiting for enough of the HYDRA agents to come in... giving the intruders enough rope to hang themselves as they hopefully overextend.

While she's not a metahuman by any means, she's confident enough that she can deal with what shows up... or if nothing else, she knows it's not just her today.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanova is there. SHe's got a full combat load available - she probably shouldn't have quite so many weapons in the General Assembly. But as soon as the alert had gone out, she had simply raced ahead inside. To handle things if Hydra broke through, and with the possible expectation that the outside engagement was too direct, even for Hydra. So, darting on inside and scrambling SHIELD Frequencies given the rather sorry state of their operational security as of late to combat personnel onsite, she was getting near a sniping spot nearby where the lockdown area was. Then she was getting ready her full array of weapons - not just Widow's Bites and Sniper Rifles..
    But a series of cloaking mines, monofilament wires, and even some micro-claymores. She was quite ready to turn a chokepoint into a killzone as soon as the rush started. And she had no qualms on blocking an access point in corpses if the opportunity arose. Not bothering to give her location on comms - Hydra had infiltrated SHIELD too many times for them to be sure they didn't have double agents present.
    Personnel knew the drill or would have to adapt. And be ready to be stabbed in the back. After all, Hydra probably had infiltrators among the General Assembly as well. They'd already had them in President Luthor's cabinet.

Luca Bandoni has posed:
Luca and the rest of his crew with FDNY House 1 were outside when all the chaos started there. It's where they were supposed to stay. It's where their chief wanted them to stay. But hey, sometimes it's better to beg for forgiveness than to ask permission. He cut off from the rest of his crew and started ducking and dodging his way inside. The rest of his crew outside of Roscoe that is. No way Roscoe was going to let Luca go it alone.

"We're not cops, man." Roscoe complains. "No but we're firefighters and with the way that wall caved in, there could be people trapped."

Roscoe doesn't argue because he can't.

That's where Luca tries to head first, to the rubble from the fallen wall - hoping neither of them get noticed due to the chaos. Even dressed in full turnout gear, the two of them are but specks amid all the insanity.

Pepper Potts has posed:
*click*click*

Heels on a marble floor sound in rapid succession as a small group of women run down first one corridor, then another. Pepper Potts is with three of the attaches of a government in the Far East, and the four of them are looking for somewhere, anywhere to hide. The sound of gunfire, the shaking of the actual building is scary enough. It's the destruction, then, that urges the women on to find their secret hidey hole, away from the fighting.

Victor Von Doom has posed:
Where fear may grip many; Doom stands. Where cowardice may take control of others; Doom stands. Where terror may shrink others; Doom stands.

Doctor Victor Von Doom stands within his official regalia of State. The titanium battle armor sheathing his body, the titanium mask in place to conceal his features from the world, and his Latverian green (a trademarked color!) cloak and cowl stand ready to receive those who would assault such a fine institution as the United Nations. Where others may recoil from the sudden onslaught, Doctor Doom remains standing firm and unwavering. Even as energy beams begin to lance the air around him, Doctor Doom does not tremble. When a breeze begins to roll through the chamber, invited in by the holes in the walls in other portions of the building and now fed into the council chamber, Doom's cloak moves. It gently shifts and sways with the breeze that whispers through, carrying with it the scent of smoke and burnt ozone.

Doom does not raise his hands in surrender, but neither does he rush to defend the chamber. Silent and implacable, DOOM watches on as the assault upon the chamber begins. Armored fists planted at his waist, the Monarch of Latveria watches as the smoke and dust begins to clear, but the fighting at the doorway continues on.

Doctor Doom does not engage. To do so could put so many innocents in danger and being the responsible, dignified leader that he is he must rely upon the professionals to handle such matters. It is, after all, 'good optics' as the modern Western media would call it.

Priscilla Kitaen has posed:
Voodoo had been in her apartment enjoying downtime as her humanself when the first reports came on the tv. She'd groaned and transformed into Voodoo, tucking her SHIELD badge between her breasts where it seems to be taking up almost permanent residence of late. She'd then flown to the UN building and made her way inside. Everytime one of the actual security people turns toward her, they then mysteriously turn away and forget she was there. She doesn't have time to deal with them!

She comes across the first HYDRA agent and enters the woman's mind. "Brainwashed. Might be salvage able. Go somewhere quiet and lay down and sleep." She orders the agent, then ducks and reaches out, grabbing a second and crushing his hand before he can shoot at her again. "A zealot to the cause eh? Go and shoot your companions." She orders him, not caring if he lives or dies so long as he isn't doing damage to the innocent. Glowing red eyes peer around the corner before Voodoo tucks her wings against her back then ducks and rolls into the next room. She can tell Natasha is here somewhere and is intent on making her way there. Voodoo doesn't carry any weapons of her own since you know, she *is* the weapon.

Frank Noble has posed:
On leaving the train and learning of the attack on the UN by Hydra, Grenademan doesnt even hesitate. His brother intercepts him along the way to bring his cycle, and he races into the subway and then the service tunnels of New York as his small allies talk to him via a powerful specialized comm walking him through maps of tunnels and supernatural expertise to be Right; combined with his Serendipity, he gets far into Hydra's defenses around the building, causing alarm as he just appears on their radar. His headgear makes them almost dismiss him until the grenade cannon opens fire on many blinding them with flashes and paint or imprisoning a few heavy hitters in crystal. Regular authorities were driven around or over but those were few and far between given how they were needed elsewhere. Just as they are about to do more, he vanishes into little known service tunnels with precisely the right code in two cases and an explosive grenade to bypass a steel security door until he has found himself grappeling up an elevator shaft at rapid speed.

He was seconds from arriving on the approriate floor, as yet undetected in his current location. He was listening to chittering and posh voices on the other side feeding him intelligence.

Darcy Lewis has posed:
And the timing for this attack couldn't be worse (or better, if you're HYDRA)!

With a pending vote in the General Assembly on alien refugees, the United Nations is as busy as it could possibly be, with representatives of every nation on the planet here, along with whatever support staff. Notably, this included the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Reilly Marshall. While between sessions when the attack began, he has gathered in the main assembly hall like the rest of the representatives, surrounded by his own extensive security detail. Diplomatic Security, under the State Department. In normal business, they might blend into the background, but given the circumstances it's not out of character for the US to put on a show of strength. Agents in typical dark suits, sunglasses, and securiy earpieces surround him, having sectioned off the area where the US representative would normally be seated, with a few more on the row above. Yes, this means they've taken over some other countries spots...

...wouldn't be the first time!

Collectively, the agents stand either with weapons drawn or, for one, speaking into a higher-power communicator as they try and find out what's happening and interface with various agencies.

"Damnit, tell me what's happening," Marshall demands. The man is, himself, a fairly unremarkable if stereotypical government employee. White, male, slightly on the taller and skinnier side, with dark hair in a conservative, government-approved hairstyle and a nice suit. The current face of the government's anti-alien actions, he's stoic and demanding in his demeanor, even despite everything happening.

"Yes sir. I'm trying to get through. NYPD is on scene outside, SHIELD assets en route-"

Marshall gives him a look.

"Official evac is via Marine Security at the 48th street heliport. But there is no secure route for evacuation, they report the building as fully surrounded."

Kenesha has posed:
Kenesha has been monitoring the growing situation with the UN. Oh, not all the things that came before it, but the UN itself was of deep interest for her. So seeing it come under fire from without, well.. she knows what to do.

Thankfully, in her case, arriving is as simple as.. thinking of the place she wants to be. THe boots take her the rest of the way and she quickly finds herself in the middle of chaos. "Well. This is all very horrible. Lets see what we can do to fix it.." Kenesha moves quickly, using heightened senses, quick reflexes, and crazy speed to rush through the UN! Along the way, she encounters a trio of HYDRA bearing an odd assortment of weapons.

"Tch.. children shouldn't have such dangerous toys," it's muttered as she rushes forward, using the speed to land a trio of well-placed pulled punches (she's not trying to KILL them after all) to knock out each of the agents. Once they're down, she a length of paracord from her satchel, hog-tying the three men together while they're out and collecting up their weapons. Tucking everything back into the satchel before flashing a smile.

"Meep-meep." Then she's off and running again, making her way towards the General Assembly to see what assistance she can offer to the diplomats voting on the matter of the Starport and who will be in control of it. Hey, just because she integrates well, doesn't mean she doesn't have a stake in alien affairs!

Clea has posed:
Clea has been expending a lot of energy before this with the train shenanigans that made her go nuclear not long ago. She has managed to regather her energy through a boost from Mary and through one of the leylines that flow through NYC.

There is a shape that forms in the middle of all of the smoke that is clearing and Clea stands between the incoming Hydra agents and those that were in the assembly. That flaming crown shines brightly through the clearing smoke. The outline of her magic is mainly being used to deflect bullets and other things currently. Making sure that no one is going to end up dead!

Logan Howlett has posed:
Does Logan really care about the dignitaries of the United Nations?

In his experience, politicians are the worst kind of people in the world. No matter what part of the world they come from, they're all self centered shits who would probably be better served being wiped directly off the ass crack and tossed in the metaphorical toilet. He's been fighting 'wars' for politicians since before most people here were old enough to wipe their own, actual, asses however.

And he has a particular hate boner for Hydra.

The small, stocky, mutant is snarling.

Responding to Monet's distress signal, the Wolverine was dropped off on the roof by a passover of the Blackbird. This put him right into the heat of things, right where he should be. Not down there kissing hands and shaking babies, but down in the trenches taking perverbial hand grenades and actual gunfire. The bullets from assault rifles plink off his chest, connecting with the adamentium covered bones. The pain of those gunshots only fuels his rage.

Colliding with a group of Hydra out of a run staggered from automatic weaponry, until his clawed hand wraps around the back of a neo-fascists neck and hurls him right over the edge of the building with a pivoting turn like he's throwing a discus. A booted foot stomps into a seconds thigh and sends his foot flying out from under him while his fist slams forward, claws retracting just before connected with the center of the Hydra's forehead.

He was dropped in behind the Hydra rooftop ingress.

Cleaning up the stragglers.

And following in behind them to fight them from the roof down.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     Richard had made a choice, earlier in the week. Normally, he had his principles and a small sense of diplomacy available to him, and would leave the firearms at home; certain places deserved a bit of an aura of peace when moving to discuss matters of importance, and it wouldn't be good trying to work with people who knew you had a firearm.

Then again... SHIELDs operations had already been infiltrated once, and he already had need of a gun in a glove box outside this very building a few days ago. He was... tense, and for good reason. So it had made sense to poke and prod at the contacts he had, to get a permit to carry his normal sidearm... discreetly of course. It would probably be something embarrassing and unnecessary, but maybe the additional security might be warranted?

That was then.

Now there was a third HYDRA agent coming through the second floor entrance to the Conference building, just past the Indonesia Lounge. He had been more cautious than his fellows, seeing the corpses of two of his fellows mixed in with dead members of the Secretariat and what had been an eager tour guard just an hour prior, but he hadn't reacted quick enough to the short burst of fire that came through at his upper body, looking to catch him in the throat. He had someone with him though, and the laser blasts whizzed hot over Rick's head as he pushed back into cover, feeling the slight prick of damaged stone masonry against a cheek. He reflexively pulled the clip of the weapon out, checking to see that his round count was dwindling. Like he couldn't fucking count.

He had a lot of people he respected in Conference Room 4. Or they had been, 15 minutes ago. GLOC's were tenuous at best, and radio was right out. Forget cell phones. It seemed like the main push was at the GA building, with a number of the high end diplomats here trying to resolve the Starport Crisis along with the WHO contacts Rick had been desperately cajoling for more resources for the past week. He wasn't a stranger to defending a static position from a large force, and as much as they needed people manning a trench line, they also needed people outside the lines to disrupt and keep them from consolidating forces.

He was supposed to be retired. He would have preferred, at this point, to have stayed in, because lord knows he had more firefights this week than he had in a couple of months wearing Army greens. This was just intolerable-

A slack off of laser fire, the click of boots, and Rick poked his head out once more to fire again. That was 4. He could already see five and six.

Tyrone Johnson has posed:
Tandy and Ty were enjoying a leftover ice cream sundae and some lightly flirting conversation when they saw the report on a TV storefront. Attack at the United Nations! Ty looked at Tandy, Tandy looked at Ty, they both nodded to each other, and then Cloak let the darkness out, opening a hole into another place, a realm of absolute darkness that feasted on the light of life itself. Tandy, as usual, protected herself from Ty's Stygian Hell with the power of her Light, and they stepped out of the portal at the United Nations.

Right in the middle of a half-dozen or so HYDRA goona sporting a lethal variety of armnaments.

"Shit." Cloak swore.

Tandy Bowen has posed:
Dagger let out a loud curse and a simultaneous wave of concussive light in the seconds before they were once again cloaked in darkness. "Try again! We can't take that many armored war-nazis at once!"

The next location was still bustling, inside the building and - was that Victor von Doom? Shit. But that was definitely HYDRA, and Tandy's fingers were suddenly full of daggers flying out to find purchase in any of the HYDRA grunts. The other daggers went wide, or low, or hit armor and dissipated, but the three that hit flesh packed the power of a strong punch. "Assholes, I was on a DATE," she spat, following up with a kick to the inside of a nearby knee.

Peter Parker has posed:
Suffice to say, safe places to hide are at something of a premium today. Anyone close to a window -- perhaps not the wisest decision given what's going on but an understandable one -- can see the gathered heroes there bring down the monstrous walkers and dreadnaughts. But more then a few windows have been shattered, by concussive waves of force from nearby explosions. Or from shots fired. Either way, watching where one stands is an awfully good idea right about now.

The hallways and all the dozens and dozens of offices on the lower floors are not a great deal safer either as that flood of Hydra troopers pour into the building from a dozen or more different directions. It isn't easy to protect a building from so many directions. But then that is part of the reason it is located in New York. The founders never expected it to be necessary to.

A running battle commences between the Hydra agents and the UN protectors, the corridors turned into a battle zone as fire is exchanged back and forth. And every time the onsite security thinks that they might have found a way to stall the invaders, the deadly weaponry of Hydra is put to use, blasting through walls and cutting down security doors as if they are not even there.

Like the incoming tide, the onslaught of Hydra agents feels somehow... inevitable.

Inside the main assembly room that level of panic, that palpable fear that seems to hang in the room only grows second by second as the battle outside suddenly finds it's way amongst them. No longer distance explosions and terrifying glimpses caught through windows as they were rushed here to the center of the building itself, to the heart of the United Nations. No, it is all too real now.

That first wave of fearsome green and yellow troopers cutting through the door, storming inside quickly overwhelms the United Nations security personnel stationed there. Handguns are dangerous in the right hands to be sure, but they don't stand up quite so well against armored soliders with energy weapons and a seemingly fanatical commitment to their cause, no matter what forces stand before them. So those first guards positioned just inside the main entrance never really have a chance and while that initial thrust is blunted by the snipers positioned in the upper levels, it is the preparations of the Black Widow that pay the most dividends.

Before that initial thrust can make it more then a half dozen feet into the chamber, those trip wires and cloaked mines are exploding around them, blunting that assautl. For now.

If they could funnel all the attackers through that one choke point, just a few of them might be more then up to the task. But that's the problem. There are a number of entrances into the room and they start coming under assault too.

Other figures lead the way with these assaults, familiar to many of those that have come together to lend their aide to protecting the United Nations delegations. The Grim Reaper (https://tinyurl.com/yjskjzbc) with his winged mask, skull and crossbones emblem and ominous scythe hand leads one for through a side entrance. THrough the opposite side comes . Through another entrance in the lower bowl comes Crossbones (https://tinyurl.com/ypbn76rp), all in black, equipped with a heavy rail run that sends the security forces approaching him flying backwards. Even on the balconies above, the snipers emplaced there suddenly find themselves facing a lone Hydra agent in white and red robes with a sword. (https://tinyurl.com/3797yun9) But when he looks at them, they find themselves turned to stone itself. Gorgon.

Peter Parker has posed:
But increasingly little pockets of resistance begin to present themselves. Many in the main hall itself, but others scattered throughout the building. Picking off the Hydra forces searching room to room. Picking them off. The roof, cleared. Other units facing powered foes and prevented from reaching the Assembly Hall at all.

But even still, so many troops begin to pour in.

Down at the heart of the room the head of room by the large desk that dominates, reserved for the guest speakers and United Se4cretary General and chief lieutenants, the Head of the security delegation has begun to gather up the world leaders, calling out above the din as Christian Decker and his hand picked men begin to run heard over those VIPs, surrounding them, hurding them to the back of the desk.

And up in that vent, Spider-Man quietly slides it aside and begins to crawl out across the ceiling, casting the occasional web line down into the growing chaos below to snag a weapon, to jerk an innocent bystander aside from stray fire in the nick of time.

But his attention remains very much centered on that central delgation and Christian Decker.

Pepper Potts has posed:
*click*click*click*click* The stacatto notes of heels grows faster, and as the women turn a corner, they're met with the aftermath of the destruction of the walls. Through there, the forces begin to come, thug booted and armed to the teeth as they sweep the halls, kicking open doors, looking for any and all stragglers. Sliding to a stop, they look at the enemy agents, and they at the ladies.. and all is quiet for that single heartbeat before Pepper and the others turn and run, getting rid of their shoes for good measure. Quieter, and faster!

Down the corridor again, from the direction they'd come, they take a side passage, though the path is blocked by crumbled concrete, brick and steel. Pepper pauses, looks up, her rapid breathing from exertion and fear causes her shoulders to rise and fall with each intake. "Right. As long as we can get out, we'll be okay," she says quietly, encouragingly. "If-"

Those HYDRA agents that they'd met down the other hallway are coming up the hall, and as they approach, there's a metallic *clink* as something hits the floor, and rolls into view. Pepper stares for a second before yelling, "Get down!" She, at least, makes the effort of trying to get the other women to a position of //relative// safety, and shields them with little more than her own flesh and blood.

With a burst of acetylene light that burns bright, a concussive blast that is more than enough to burst eardrums to any within 10 feet of it, the grenade adds insult to injury by sending shrapnel in all directions. This is not a 'let's see who it is, and maybe we can ransome', no. The women fall victim.. and the wounded adds 4 women to the list.

Priscilla Kitaen has posed:
Voodoo might not be highly educated but she's not stupid. She knows about the pending vote and instead of using illusions both magic and psionic in nature to mask her alienness, it's on full display. There should be plenty of footage of the large green scaled, winged monster with wings saving every one regardless of what they believe. She in fact goes out of her way to protect the people hiding in that room. Even makes sure to take a couple hits in non vital areas. A graze across her left shoulder, a shot from a tazer by a confused security member, an unholy amount of tiny pellets from a shotgun blast that would take forever to pick out of her ass if her healing abilities weren't so good.

Voodo thinks she's doing really good until she enters the last room and spots Kenesha! "What.." She's astounded to see another alien and the age! Her Truesight warns her this is a powerful being and an old one. "I'm not a daemonite! Only half of one, more like a third of one." She's also human and Kherun. Voodoo hopes that info and her SHIELD badge will protect her. She really only wants to tangle with the actual bad guys. The old hatred between the two halves of her alien side is well known to the woman however. Then mines are exploding and Voodoo looks aghast at the mess of bodies. She has no pity for the enemy but there is yet another hole into that room. "I am so sick of these assholes!"

Frank Noble has posed:
With Right and Necessary council; Frank is being force multiplied as he throws a grenade on the Elevator shaft, blowing it to smitherines and knocking six Hydra agents slamming into the wall; two of them heavy infrantry with lasers. Remarkably, they are not killed, though bones are broken and their equipment smashed. The noise causes more Hydra agents to come running in the corridor, away from the main action; but that's the point. Frank isnt here to focus on rescuing the dignitaries but do what he does best.

Be a very loud and very powerful Distraction. Five more Hydra agents scatter as an exposive grenade goes off followed by a flash bang and a slick grenade as he makes a sideways motion to a part of the floor; drawing more forces that could be attacking the other heroes. They fire, and miss.

A few office workers and support staff hiding in offices take advantage of the lunatic blowing things up to run down the stairs and to freedom.

Luca Bandoni has posed:
"Roscoe! Help me with this!" Luca calls out, not quietly either. There's so much happening, so much noise, he's pretty certain he won't be heard. Sticking out from beneath the rubble is an arm. What's attached to the other side of that arm, Luca doesn't know. Nor does it really matter to him in the moment. HYDRA agent or a secretary having a bad day, it's not his job to sort it out. He'll leave that to the police - at least a few of which on scene are probably his relatives.

With Roscoe's help, they pull debris off to reveal what is attached. Is it a good thing that it appears to be a young intern buried under the rubble or not? "I've got a pulse." Well, maybe it is a good thing. With Roscoe watching his back, Luca does his thing. Just a little, he only gives just a little of his own bioenergy to heal the victim. Enough to make sure he won't die before they get him out.

Other than to flinch and duck when a stray bullet bounces something near them, the pair of firefighters aren't paying a bit of attention to the rest of it. Reckless? Probably. It's in the job description. "Over there, over there," Roscoe suggests as he nods toward a door marked 'authorized personal only'. They'll just have to improvise on the issue of not having a key. Improvisation's name is Halligan.

With Roscoe supporting the victim who's now half walking and Luca prying the door open, they find themselves face to face with two HYDRA agents, each pair as surprised as the other. Luca doesn't hesitate. Halligan to the head, it's going to leave a mark. The guy goes down. There's still that other one to deal with...

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
What Natasha is doing is setting up a killzone along her chokepoint. It's one that offers a rather nice hallway to pincer through to try and flank the primary defensive areas and move to bypass them. The obviousness of the route means that it's one that quite a few of Hydra's ground troopers will go to charge through. It means that Natasha will have a very good time here. She's set herself up over with a small camo cloak that goes to hold her mostly invisible against the position she's taken in an improvised sniper's post..
    She hears the alerts coming through of Crossbones, Grim Reaper, and Gorgon. Interesting, Taskmaster's not with them. This is the normal operation that he'd be present with. He's also not subtle enough to try and sneak his way in. But, he's still a possible one.
    So as the first group comes through her kill area, Natasha goes to then fire off the next round. These are the messy ones. These are the claymores.
    Right as the hall is choked wtih the dead, mutilated, and injured, she moves to flip out the pair of small claymore mines into the hallway.. Which would hopefully make for a brutal massacre more akin to bloody street fighting and urban warfare than anything else. And hope anyone that's around isn't seeing what she's doing and getting horrified.
    <<Take care of the elites. They likely will be accompanied by terrorist officers>> It's hardly unlike Madame Hydra or another of her ilk to trust this sort of thing to someone else without personal supervision. <<They tend to be obvious. When the advance stalls they'll make thier presence known>>

Kate Kane has posed:
Batwoman breaks off from the main hall, trailing a squad of HYDRA agents going down a side corridor. And that's when the lights go out for those agents...

The squad leader snarls, "Crap. Turn on nightvision, and be ready for anything."

Which is, really, what Kate was waiting for. Because the thing about nightvision is that it's /bad/ when someone tosses a flashbang at you. Which is precisely what Batwoman does here.

After the flash, the squad was easy pickings for someone of Batwoman's talents, leaving them bound and stripped of their weapons as she started hunting her prey in earnest now.

Tyrone Johnson has posed:
Cloak and Dagger didn't stay in one place for longer than a few seconds. They'd step into the Darkforce, re-emerge somewhere else, ambush any HYDRA goons they found, and then step back out of reality to do it over again.

Kenesha has posed:
Zipping along the route, Kenesha barrels down tow more HYDRA agents approaching the conference rooms, the sharp sound of gunfire leaving her to twist suddenly to avoid the pistol round fired towards the agents that HAD been approaching. "WHOA! Hey, friendly fire! Friendly fire!" She calls it out as she approaches the room, skidding to a stop to find Richard holed up with some dignitaries and giving a nod. "Hey. Good job. But you're gonna need more than that." Opening up the satchel, she reaches in and immediately withdraws... a 1960's era Colt AR-15. Then again, and she comes up with a trio of ammo clips for the gun, offering both over with a smile, "Here. I'll need that back after. But that'll hold you a lot better."

A distant sound has her whipping around, eyes widening, "Oh shit. Okay, gotta go! Good luck! Scream if you need help!" THen she's off again in a small puff of dust gained from the explosions rocking through the buildings. She lifts a hand towards Priscilla, calling out, "Not after you! Gotta stop HYDRA, come on! General Assembly! Otherwise, there's a SHIELD agent in Conference Room 4 protecting a group of dignitaries!" Then she's off again, running up onto the wall to avoid the debris and bodies littering the halls, even moving up onto the ceiling and racing along upside down so she can approach fromt he rear of those pushing forward into the General Assembly, literally knocking heads together to drop them two at a time before diving towards the blown open hole in the wall and... WHOOP! Kenesha disappears!

Oh, no, wait, there she is! Reappearing in the main room, she sticks to walls for the moment... though the big man in the skull mask that's holding the railgun catches her attention. That gun is no bueno, and it would look FABULOUS in her collection... also, you know, saving lives. "DIBS ON SKULLFACE!"

Victor Von Doom has posed:
The first assault fails; but first assaults often do. The second assault proves to be much more successful and as more of the green-and-yellow armored HYDRA fighters surge into the chamber, Doctor Doom remains unyielding. He continues to stand in the open and his armored fists move to rest upon his waist, adopting a posture and stance that shows the leader of Latveria to be exactly what he is. Indomitable.

He's clearly not resisting and that's why when one of the HYDRA troopers approaches to grab at him, hoping to pull Doom away and into custody of HYDRA - the tesla unit of his armor sends a jolt of electricity into the hand of the HYDRA agent. The man in the green and yellow armor crumples to the ground as though every fiber of his being has just shut off.

Doom still does not move. Instead he remains in his place. Watching, waiting. As the heroes of the day establish their fighting positions throughout the building, as the defenders of the assembly chamber fight hard to perform their duties, and even as more noteworthy opponents begin to appear at the various entrances of the room; Doom still holds fast.

He does not raise his hands in surrender, nor does he seek out cover. He observes and he waits. He's hard to miss, but given that he does nothing overtly hostile he seems to be left alone. For now.

Tyrone Johnson has posed:
"What the hell?" one HYDRA goon reported up to his squad lead. "NVG must be busted. Can't see _shit_ in here!" Unfortunately for the HYDRA squad with their goggles, NVG was never intended to see through Darkforce. Cloak was watching his partner's back and took the opportunity to have a little ... snack.

He reached out with the Darkfoce to the squad that was starting to regard his partner as a Target of Interest and pulled them all into his Stygian hell. One of them had time to scream before being stranded in Cloak's Darkforce Dimension to be drained of their life-energy.

Logan Howlett has posed:
Top down.

Logan is clearing a, relatively, bloody swath through the Hydra in his way. He smells something... someone... Hints of familiarity and waves of fresh rage the closer he gets. Until a straight kick sends a Hydra agent crashing out of the stairwell into the hallway along the upper balcony where Sword wielding Hydra agent is cutting down snipers. The Wolverine steps out with his orange & brown costume torn, tattered, and covered in bullet-holes. His claws, extended out from his clenched fists, are bloody as he follows through and turns to face the Gorgon.

"Nice sword." He says in a snarl. "I'm going to shove it up your as-"

Whatever he was going to say is cut off when the Gorgon advances beneath a downward cross slash that drops the Wolverine back, head bending to the side with his claw coming up to swipe outward. Logan rolls and swings his right claws in a cross slash that forces Tomi to back pedal.

With a snarling grin, Logan reaches up and pulls the remains of his mask up off his head to let it hang like a hood down his back. Tomi swings his sword around to point it blade down, out, and bows fractionally. The Wolverine returns it, then takes right leg back, fighting stance mirrored by the expert swordsman.

Logan makes the first move.

He shuffles on his heel and kicks at Gorgon's inner-thigh, hard. With the katana coming down in a cross slash across the stout Mutants chest.. There's no time for feeling each other out. Hydra agents aren't just going to stand there and let Logan fight fair... gunfire comes from a side room and hit him in the side of the head, jerking it to the side, and forcing him against the railing. With Gorgon capitalizing by diving at him to drive that Katana through the gaps between ribs on his left flank. "AHHHHH!" Claws come around.

Tomi kicks off in an aerial flip. Leaving the sword protruding from the Wolverine's flank and left lung when he drops down onto a knee, then over on his right side, with a hand clutching at the blade-hilt. Gorgon smirks... and waves for the Hydra to finish off the mutant as he turns to resume leading the charge.

Darcy Lewis has posed:
Diplomatic Security, despite its name, is incredibly elite and selective, with members classified as both law enforcement and Foreign Service Officers. The hiring process is incredibly competitive - and they're known to take a lot of ex-CIA and ex-SHIELD. In many ways, it's comparable to and competitive with the Secret Service.

Which is all to say that Ambassador Marshall's guards don't hesitate to shoot, and put up what is ultimately a pretty good fight. Most have handguns, but one - who has taken up on the seating tier above the others - has a compact submachinegun. He lays down bursts of suppressive fire toward the breach, while the others are forced to wait and take more careful shots. Their weapons might not compare with the laser guns, but they prove accurate shots - one pegs a HYDRA agent through just under his helmet and goggles, through the light balistic cloth. The HYDRA trooper falls, but then another moves up and fires a laser blast that penetrates the unfortunately less than 'hard' cover of the speaking desk, dropping the agent behind it.

"Agent down!"

It's a grim situation. The agent above with the bigger gun fires until he's empty, and moves on to the next magazine. "Reloading." It's his last. You can only carry (and -hide-) so much ammo beneath a nice jacket. "Last mag."

"Sir. We have to move you." One of the agents grabs Marshall, and starts pulling him along, just as the agent above finishes reloading. He covers their retreat with a steady stream of fire, fully knowing the next laser barrage is probably going to be aimed at him. He does his duty, giving the other agent time to evacuate their charge.

They head toward the south side, second floor exit, which opens onto t he Indonesian Lounge. There's been fighting in that direction, they can hear it, but in the moment they move it mostly seems clear. Behind them, there's another flash of laser fire, and the agent with the submachine gun goes down. Is the way ahead clear?

Yeah, that would be awful lucky, wouldn't it...

Clea has posed:
Clea is focusing on battling it out with the Hydra agents, but she is DEFINITELY noticing that Darkforce jumping. She puts a pin in the back of her mind to get back to that later, because that is pretty fascinating stuff!

It's a moment of looking back to see who all is on the floor that causes her to see Victor and the Hydra agents that try, key word is TRY, to drag him off. She was about to blast them, but his suit electrifies them and she sighs out. There is swath cleared, but the Hydra agents keep coming and she takes a bullet, but it isn't something that's going to kill her. Just annoy her.

Tandy Bowen has posed:
The crescent marking around Tandy's eye glow as a goon grabs her, fingers scrabbling for purchase on skin and pressing down, digging for hi-her-them? It's hard to tell with the uniforms, they're well-armored, but as she pulls those hopes to the surface things are made a little clearer. It also makes her feel distinctly unclean, and she really hopes the Y or something is open late enough for a long shower, because she already needs one.

She struggles to breathe as the arm tightens, but she manages to form a dagger. Strong. Mean. She thrusts it backwards and up, aiming for the flash of arm she can see, shoving force through it enough to have the woman's grip failing as she passes out. Tandy staggers forward, trying to gulp in air now that she can finally breathe again.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     Rick was... surprised at the sudden turn of fortune, to say the least. One second, he was rapidly counting down how many forty caliber rounds he had left, popping around the corner to fire a last brace of them ineffectually at one of them... and the next, he had to quickly pull up his weapon as someone barreled out toward him, and clearly, and blessedly, not HYDRA today, and doing a very good job of taking the men that were coming by surprise. Best part, he didn't even shoot her! Even if he came close.

"I'd apologize, but I'm imagining blue on blue is going to be a given here." Rick says, holstering his weapon as the figure goes full Santa Claus and pulls out something a bit heavier from her bag. Part of him irrationally bubbles to inquire if she had anything heavier; lord knows body armor like that really needed 7.62 of various color'd tips. But beggars can't be choosers, after all. "Thanks. I'm sure you can look me up." He says, before shoulder the rifle, slapping the fresh clip in, and switching to single shot. AR-15, and these were /old/. 20 round magazines, and he had to make what he had count.

It turns out the area they had cleared left it open for others to come through... at first Rick was hoping it was just Diplomatic Security, finally up with a squad where they could get organized.. but they did look like they unfortunately had someone they were trying to protect.

"Get moving!" He yells to the cadre as they head forward, rifle trained on the area behind them. "We've got a bubble!" A few rounds are aimed at a HYDRA soldier rounding the corner, enough to keep them honest and held back. "Whose your primary?" He asks the first member of the detail he sees, before looking past them and freezing for a microsecond. Okay. Not the Secretary General, but... high value, to say the least. "Sad to say I've got some people who'll be joining you; some World Health Organization friends of mine. Situation is in flux and I've got no communication with anyone outside. Please tell me you've got comms with an exit strategy."

Peter Parker has posed:
It is almost like Hydra already knows where those they most want to get their hands on will be. Perhaps it just stands to reason, that the most important dignitaries would be present in the Main Assembly Hall. But those Hydra agents roaming the halls certainly seem to show a distinct lack of concern or interest for anyone else out and about, not hesitating to bring weapons to bear, to lash out at fleeing assistants and support staff. To cut through walls blindly or utilize grenades without apparent concern for collateral damage.

As Pepper Potts and those she sheperds towards one of the exit quickly find out.

Certainly being overheard is not the greatest concern. While the battle outside the walls of the UN might be drawing towards a conclusion, the fight for the most prominent United Nations delegates and world leaders is still very much in doubt. Explosions continue to rip through the building and the sound of gunfire -- both conventional and more exotic energy weapons makes being heard over the noise and chaos much more difficult then going unnoticed.

While the United Nations security detail continues to fall, the significant number of heroes moving amongst the Hydra forces in the outer halls and corridors starts to pay some dividends as more and more of those squads of agents come under fire. From Grenademan and his own explosions. From Voodoo convincing some of the less committed to abandon the cause, or confusing others, getting them to open fire on their own allies. Soon joined by Kenesha, zipping through the halls at high speeds, taking out more of the invaders on her way to the main hall.

Still others find themselves ambushed in the dark, the lights suddenly blacking out around another squad of Hydra troopers as they suddenly find Batwoman taking them out, the sound of wild fire and bodies hitting the floor echoing down the halls. Sounds that attract others. Or maybe it is the sudden darkness as Cloak and Dagger are suddenly amongst those same Hydra forces, darkness and light united to cut down the attackers.

But as chaotic and terrifying as the hallways leading to the heart of the UN Assembly might be, the main chamber is even more so. The Widow directs so many of the SHIELD agents on sight, ordering them into postion to blunt the charges coming out of the side passages that threaten to overwhelm the defenses even while she makes use of the chokepoint that is the main entrance, continuing to take down the flood of green and yellow suited Hydra agents that try to establish that beachhead, to bring enough numbers to bear to overwhelm the entirety of the defenders and seize the real prize here today. But again and again they are driven back as their numbers begin to thin.

In some ways that main assault force is the least dangerous of the attackers, those secondary groups led by key costumed figures proving much more resilient. The Grim Reaper practically cackles as he strides ever closer to the the very bottom level of the hall where most of the prominent delegates are gathered, that scythe lashing out to cut down anyone that gets in his way, occasionally leveled and lashing out with it's own energy beam at more far flung foes.

Peter Parker has posed:
Brock Rumlow, Crossbones attacks from the other side, more organized then his opposite, but no more ruthless as that heavy railgun cannon remains cradled in his arms, turned towards the points of greatest resistance as it chews through seats and overturned tambles, scattering the defenders. When he spots some of his men moving for Doom, he barks out, "Leave him! He's not hte target. For now," he snarls, turning away from the formidable ruler of Latveria.

But not everyone does, as another delegrate turns towards Victor von Doom, eyes wide. "Do something!" he pleads, seeming indifferent just how often this organization and others have condemned Latveria's monarch for 'doing something' in the past.

Crisis changes many people's outlook, as Doom well knows.

Up above on the balconies overlooking the scene, the UN snipers are increasingly taken out by Gorgon and his forces, though progress slows when the deadly assassin is forced to turn his attention towards the best there is at what he does, the brutal fight sswift and viscious, enough to stall the Hydra agents above as they are caught up simply watching in awe. And perhaps fear. But they snap back to their task at hand quick enough when the Gorgon orders, piling towards Wolverine as if they can take him down by sheer weight of numbers.

As the Grim Reaper presses closer, as Crossbones and his men press the assault from the other side, Christian Decker and his men heard the prinicple delegates to the very back of the room. And there, behind that desk, the UN Security head triggers that hidden switch that swings open the wall, potentially offering an escape from the Hydra assault to the world leaders and VIPs who are the most likely targets.

Up above, still clinging to the ceiling, Spider-Man's Spider-Sense is going mad.

Understandable, given all the chaos and the roughly thirteen million different ways that he and others could find themselves hurt, crippled or worse with everything going on. But he keeps his attention fastened on Decker and his men and when that hidden passage sudenly swings open giving the man a chance to evacuate the delegates Spider-Man is right there...

...to fire off webbing and block that same passageway in lair after lair of those sticky strands. He's... thwarted the escape?

Gaping in disbelief, Christian Decker whirls, turning his gaze upward at the seemingly traitorous arachnid. "Kill him," he barks out.

Luca Bandoni has posed:
It's almost instinctual, Luca's biokinesis kicks in to give him a little boost, a little edge that makes him just a little faster than the agent still standing. He dips down, pulls the sidearm he's not supposed to have with him from where he has it strapped to his calf inside his boot.

He raises it, but in the end? He can't make the kill shot. He can't outright kill a man in cold blood, so he opts for a kneecap. The man goes down wailing in agony, drops his own gun and Luca kicks it far out of reach. Once Roscoe gets their victim into the now empty corridor, Luca picks up that dropped firearm to be sure kneecapped can't get to it.

The intern they pulled from the rubble isn't only awake now, but coherent. In pain, but alive and coherent from that little bit of energy Luca sacrificed. He hands the gun to the intern. "Stay here." As Roscoe and Luca leave the hallway, they pull the battered door shut behind them best that they can and go out looking for more victims.

A small grunted breath and one hand briefly going to his left side are the only indications Luca gives when he gets tagged by a bullet - at least its momentum was slowed some by his turnout coat.

Priscilla Kitaen has posed:
Voodoo is just glad the other Alien doesn't seem to notice or care about her. She is only here to help. Well, also it's her job to fight HYDRA now since she's joined SHIELD. Speaking of, she wades into the dead bodies and with a gentle touch sends those still clinging to life onwards to their final rest. Most of them are going to be in for a very unpleasant awakening on the other side. No one can tell what she's doing with that touch so she isn't worried about how it looks.

Finally in the room, she sees the others have a potential way out and then glances up. "Spider-Man!" Oh that is cool! She's in the same room with Spider-Man!!! Voodoo doesn't have time to really do more than fangirl for two seconds as she turns to meet the next wave of HYDRA. Her illusions are used to make the soldiers believe they are fighting five of her as she moves and dispatches a trio of them before getting hit badly and falling to the side. It'll be a few minutes while she heals and the alien manages to roll under a corpse to wait it out. Now she just looks like another dead body. Gods bless magic and telepathy.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha is only in a position to try and clear the wheat from the chaff as she doesn't bother to ask for updates. She can't fight her way to the main chamber effectively, and that many heroes, particularly so many inexperienced ones will just get in one another's way. So Natasha goes to keep up the pressure on the flank as she goes to try and cut off one avenue of Hydra reinforcements. She can thin the herd enough to hopefully let the advance stall out, and give more time to evacuate the VIP's. She goes to take out the next level of tricks she has on her. A series of small, rolling things the size of marbles in her hand. Several dozen of them that she launches along the ground over in a series of pings, almost like she was setting up a tripline. She moves a hand signal over to anyone else ith her that is best put as 'stay the $*#!' away as she sends it if she can into the main advance of Hydra troops along this flank. Another messy thing of her tricks and traps.
    Presuming they all land, the small marbles go to jolt up with two things - the first being a short, high power voltage blast of the Widow's bite current that will hopefully slow and stall the cluster of attackers..
    Then the next is a series of micro-flechettes blasting up through the main nexus of the paralyzed group of them to cut them to bloody confetti. The Widow isn't particularly caring of restraint tonight. Her intet is to carve as bloody a swathe as she can through the rank and file. If enough corpses pile up hopefully they will BREAK.

Frank Noble has posed:
Grenademan's natural instinct is to run to the central chamber, but Right insists (correctly) that he is doing more good on the far side of the building, though he does not know why until he enters a conference hall full of reinforcements in Jet Packs and powered armor. There is a moment as both sides look at each other and then suddenly energy blasts come from the powered armor as bullets miss and the lasers are harmlessly reflected off the tinfoil cape...except that it is 100 percent energy conversion so the more they shoot the more they attack the area around them at a 45 degree angle, cutting more and more of the building until tht and a thrown maximum radius cesium grenade blows a titanic hole in the wall sending 10 armored suits hurtling dozens of floors below...

Remarkably none are killed....but they're gonna wish they were in recovery...

Frank moves on, and tosses several more grenades down different corridors; stopping a few agents that were about to shoot SHIELD agents, and one bounces around a corner, set to time delay but out of his sight....

Tyrone Johnson has posed:
Ty was watching Tandy's back while she did her thing. And just as they were stepping across into the Darkforce to move to their next location, a small little sphere that rolled across the dimensional barrier just as Cloak was teleporting himself and Dagger out. He stared at the little round thing with a horrified fascination. This was certainly a new one!

He'd brought a grenade into the Darkforce dimension.

With a most unmanly yelp of surprise and fear, Cloak kicked the sphere through a hole back to the real world, where it bounced off the shoulder of a HYDRA goon before its internal timer ticked down to zero.

BOOM!

Logan Howlett has posed:
The sheer number of Hydra agents that flood over to the Wolverine, the absurd amount of ammunition expended firing directly into the downed mutant. His body jerks, spasms, and curls as assault rifles empty magazines at point blank range... and that should be it. Nobody can survive that, right? The agents follow the Assassin towards the true target. Moving down the stairs to engage with SHIELD, on UN Security staff. With Gorgon leading the charge with a expression somewhere in the mix of joy and the promise of pain as he does so.

Until a shadow looms over him.

An eclipse of the lights that are struggling in the darkness created by Cloak & Dagger. The shadow is a stout Canadian wielding a Katana, turned into a downward double grip that very nearly impales the original owner between the shoulder-blades, only for him to yank a Hydra agent in the way to take the brunt force of the frenzied onslaught of a very pissed off Canuck.

The Katana yanks free.

Tatters of orange and brown costume dangling from unmarred hair skin with copious amounts of drying blood smeared from jaw to abdomen. "We're not fuckin' done." The sword pulls free, turns over, and hurls out towards Gorgon. With Logan swiping his claws to one side, burying them in the chest of a Hydra agent coming over to try and grab him. Yank, jerk, and a kick sends the yellow and green nazi flying through the air with a very near comical "AYEEEEEEE" over the barrier stairs towards the main lobby.

Gorgon catches his sword, twists it around and comes in swinging. It's caught in Logan's claws, pushed aside, and he kicks the Assassin in the hip to shove him away, and himself into a backwards barrage into another group of Hydra. Whom he dispatches as ruthlessly as they had tried to do to him moments ago. It's bloody, it's lethal, and it's efficient...

With him squaring off against the Assassin in a stairwell.

Sword and claws, swiping at one another, as they take steps down. Leaps over railings. Flips off the wall. Both of them are incredibly skilled, possibly evenly matched, and determinedly engaged. While they may get pulled apart: Gorgon to cut down more SHIELD and/or Security and Logan to cut down Hydra... it's always temporary.

As soon as one thinks they've got breathing room, the other is right back on them. Until both are at the base of the stairs leading to the main assembly.. a cut across Logan's jaw, which heals before his claws narrowly miss slashing through Tomi's chest, only to Flying kick the assassin into a side office. Stumbling him backwards through a desk chair, into a book case, with Logan rushing through C&D's darkness after him.

Darcy Lewis has posed:
Many of the people working at the United Nations have studied, trained, worked their whole lives toward achieving a job like this, dedicated themselves in service of some grand, idealistic vision of peace, represented by the symbollic grandeur of these hallowed halls. To see the place torn apart by violence, to be subject to it themselves? It's shocking, traumatic, and many, no doubt, wear their terror and dismay on their features.

Ambassador Marshall does not.

Despite being ushered along in haste by what remains of his detail, there's a swift certainty to his stride, keen gaze snapping side to side in the same manner as his escorts. Like with every sudden encounter in these war-torn halls, there's a risky moment where they encounter Richard out near that back staircase, where it's lucky no one shoots someone on the right side. They assess where Richard is firing, wait for him to fire off a few rounds warding off that HYDRA advance, and then rush forward.

"I saw you in a briefing that crossed my desk this morning," Reilly remarks, after staring at Richard for just a slightly longer than is socially polite moment. "You made it back stateside pretty quick. Nice of the Amazons not to hold you." On a thought, it's probably not surprising that the Ambassador gets very timely intelligence briefings, and that a prior armed insecurection might rate as highly as the current one.

The other Agent speaks up to answer. "Marine Security is at the heliport." Technically, Marine Corps Embassy Security. This would be very normal for high-ranking diplomatic transport. Same kind of helicopters that fly the President around. "They're in the air to try and lift us off closer, but report Hydra still on he grounds."

This is where Reilly speaks up again. In the meantime, he's done something slightly surprising, as they all crouch around whatever cover: he's rolled over a dead HYDRA agent, and taken his weapon. Which he checks a few times. "You served, didn't you, Dr. Stadler?" That intel... "We'll get your people out of here. Just help get us to clear ground. I have alternative backup transportation."

That's... strange, slightly ominous, and even seems to confuse the DS Agent, but he's not about to argue with his boss.

Pepper Potts has posed:
From outside, the sounds of sirens and emergency vehicles can be discerned. Safety is only a couple hundred yards away, but it seems like an impossible distance through enemy lines. Scene is not 'secure' and the only chance of medical care are the tactical paramedics who are cross trained for combat as well as paramedicine, escorted by the elite.

It is these heroes that begin to gather to find the best entrance, and begin getting whomever they can reach out, and triage those they can't yet move. Help is coming, but it never seems fast enough.

Victor Von Doom has posed:
The call for the HYDRA troops to leave Doom be and that isn't the target at present, results in Doom's shoulders rising and falling. Whether it's a shrug or a contained chuckle is harder to determine. When one of the other diplomats turns to Doom, beseeching the Doctor for his protection, Doctor Doom's mask turns to regard him. From within it his voice issues, confident and strong, filtered and amplified by the mask, "My actions - often lies created by others - have been questioned in the past. You have, however, pleaded quite nicely for the DELIVERANCE OF DOOM".
For only a moment Doom's mask shifts, casting his glance this way and that throughout the chamber. There isn't a Richards here to bungle the whole thing and cause an elaborate plan to become foiled at the most critical moment. Nor is there a RICHARDS here to make the whole room oppressively annoying with small-minded ideals. These are things with Doom can work with.

The Deliverance of DOOM is begged and it seems it shall be received. While Victorious no doubt fights well outdoors to show the prowess of Latveria's very own Hero? Latveria's King takes a lone step forward. A hand rises and two armored fingers rise up, followed by the others. Those armored digits splay apart and as incoming fire sprays toward a retreating ambassador, those same rounds are mysteriously and astonishingly shifted. They pound into a nearby wall, but do not penetrate. As though their velocity was greatly reduced and made an abrupt ninety degree turn.

Doom moves with his Latverian green (again, trademarked color!) cloak shifting with his movements. Again his hand lifts and the air around himself seems to become charged with energy, as though pulling from the latent energy of the world around him. A flick of the wrist sends a handful of HYDRA's troops flying up and away, as though the sweeping hand of someone losing at checkers had sent the pieces flying off the board.

Kenesha has posed:
Kenesha can see the Gorgon being engaged by Logan, the sight of the be-clawed mutant bring a smile to her lips briefly. Even when the goons surround him, she has utter faith that Logan will tear them apart. Possibly literally. You never turn your back on a wounded Wolverine. She turns away and catches a glimpse of Spider-Man on the ceiling, grinning towards him briefly before settling on her task of choice.

Crossbones.

His goons are easy enough to get through, Kenesha can plow the field when she wants to, her 3 ton strength enhanced by the super speed, allowing her to blow through the minions like so many bowling pins. She's ready for him. Expecting the shot from the railgun as she dismantles his squad and rockets towards him like a very determined bullet.

The railgun powers and looses a blast straight towards the Kheran. Kenesha is fast, but she wasn't expecting Crossbones to be as fast as he is despite his bulk. The shot largely slams into the far wall behind her, but it manages to clip her as well, searing through her jacket and shirt and biting into her side. "Fuck! Ohhhhh, you just sealed it, buddy. This is my *favorite* jacket."

She leaps, coming up and over, not giving the man time to recover as she lands a powerful punch right across that mask, cracking it right down the middle. Crossbones, however, is no slouch himself. Staggered, he drops the railgun and pulls a pair of SMG's to aim at the crazy woman in the Indiana Jones outfit. The guns blaze, the sound adding to the general din as he unloads both clips into Kenesha at point blank range.

And Kenesha... simply lets him. Laughing as the bullets simply ping off her skin, though her outfit is definitely going to need some help or there's likely to be a 'malfunction' before the end of the day. But first, first she's going to deal with the big bastard and his guns. "Buddy, I've been shot by bigger and better guns than you've got."

Launching at him, she trades blows with the man, the pair slugging it out like prize fighters, although there seems to be a big disparity in their sizes. That doesn't stop Kenesha, however, and after a furious exchange, she launches a mule kick that sends Rumlow flying to smash through chairs and partitions before slamming into the wall.

Picking up the railgun, she thumbs her nose at the big man like some sort of anime character and sets the massive weapon on her shoulder. "Mine."

Tandy Bowen has posed:
A trio of lightforce daggers bounce off the chest armor of Victor von Doom at Tandy's direction, aiming at the gun hands of three grunts. Two connect and add curses to the noise of the room while the third misses and hits a podium before disappearing. "Sorry!" she calls from where she's watching him casually toss the HYDRA forces into the air. A wave of light rushes after them with the intent to blind and concuss, and Dagger staggers on her feet as a wave of exhaustion makes her sight grey out.

Priscilla Kitaen has posed:
Voodoo lies still as she recovers from healing so rapidly. She's running on fumes but isn't about to give up. She's gonna eat her weight in junk food later for sure. She closes her eyes and slides through minds, getting a sense of how the battle is going. It's very chaotic and she's left floating several times when the viewpoint she was in simply.. ends. She does have time to appreciate the Wolverine's fighting prowess and watch a Diplomat, that guy that was against aliens, she thinks, working to escape. She sees a lot of other heroes and finally spots Nat, sighing at how far from her original plan to meet up with the other agent she's drifted. Ah well, that's how battle goes.

Voodoo slides out from under the corpse and drops the illusion. She'll move to that tunnel entrance and try to guard the backs of the diplomats and aides escaping down it. Whenever a HYDRA agent or soldier steps into her range she turns them against their fellows. Voodoo ends up having to scramble more than once when the mind she tries to compel is protected. How annoying!

Clea has posed:
Clea drops some of the wards now that people are getting out of the gunfire and churning situation that this has become. The white haired woman floats a few inches above the floor, gliding to and from her targets like one of the Brides of Dracula (stop that!).

She settles her sights on the middle distance for a moment, raises her magic to wrap a trio of hydra combatants in the grip of metal and wire for them to be tied up. Good luck escaping! Then there is a tickle of familiar magic and she turns her violet gaze to look at Doom, "Ah, there is Victor." she smiles to that.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     Stadler can respect the man walking toward him; he at least seemed in control of the situation itself... and Rick wasn't shocked. What, like he hadn't seen individuals with a lot of combat experience climb the ranks of politics? at least it was confirmed when the man ducks down to grab a weapon to arm himself, something that Rick looks at distastefully for a moment.

"I'm sure I show upin a lot of reports. Have, had, will , as it were. Took a bit of negotiation and some phone calls, but I have a few people who can vouch for me." He notes, firing another few rounds past the security detail until one of them can replace the dead man on rear security. "If we can secure the helipad or just get down to the East River, we might have a chance if those jarheads are any good."

Rick pauses in fire for a moment, looking over to the Ambassador, before turning around and starting to move. "I'm sure if I've crossed your desk before, you know that 'served' is a bit of an understatement, Ambassador. I don't need to work my friends to know you've done the same, and thankfully we're not alone in that."

Stadler's already moving toward Conference Room 4, pounding on the door three times, yelling out. "Stoplight!" There's a muffled 'Vaccine' from past the door, before he throws it open. "Markus, we're leaving; get the rest, and let's move."

There's only three people there, at the moment. A small working group of functionaries, and the one Rick's addressing is covering the door with a scavenged Glock. "Is it safe-"

Rick shakes his head with urgency. "No, but we have to move, the situation's deteriorating." He says, turning back to Mitchell. "Sorry, breveted introductions, two other's are doctor's from Geneva; Markus, that's Markus Khol, he's with the Bundeswehr Institute of Microbiology, did some time in Eurocorps so he knows how to shoot; take center." He say, directing them to the middle of the gaggle they're forming.

Rick addresses Mitchell. "I'm going to have questions on what contingencies you have set up later. For now I have people I don't want to die and you're the best option I have. I'll take point, just give me directions, and for the love of God." He says, gesturing to the weapon he's grabbing. "Don't make yourself a target. I know you can shoot, the last thing I need is you catching a laser to the chest."

Peter Parker has posed:
While the number of Hydra troops pouring into the United Nations building has slowed to a trickle, their numbers increasingly thinned in the seemingly endless halls of the building, that doesn't make it safe, or entirely easy to operate. As Luca finds out as the moves to assist some of the injured support staff in the ruins of one hall, the nearby explosions leaving walls blackened and rubble anywhere. And while one Hydra agent might collapse with a cry of pain when his knee is unexpectedly taken out from under him, the continuing running fire fights between the invaders and local security show that things are still more then dangerous enough.

With the fighting outside increasingly dealt with, the heavy Hydra hitters driven off the main entrance is quickly secured and the possibility for getting help to those within grows. And the injured certainly need it, numerous downed security personnel and support staff scattered amongst the halls and offices of the lower levels. Even the upper levels have not been entirely unscathed from the explosions that have rocked the building.

Pockets of resistance in the outer wings continue to present problems of course, challenges to those that roam the hallways looking to help. More explosions sound, walls shaking and the *thwoop* sounds of those laser weapons fading away as Grenademan takes out one of the more sizable pockets of resistance still roaming through the fringes of the building.

Increasingly the fighting, the defense, is concentrated in the main hall, the efforts of those assembled holding the Hydra troopers at bay. If just barely.

But as more and more of the heroes gather their, their efforts begin to thrust them back. The more heavily armed and armored SHIELD agents are better able to stand up to the green and yellow suited Hydra agents. Those lines around the delegates solidify, stabilize as the suppressing fire begins to cut down more and more of the attackers. Especially with the Black Widow there at the center, rolling out those elecrified marbles that shock a half dozen of the heavy stormtroopers, overhwemling their nervous systems while the micro-flechettes tear into another group of attackers that try to flank the defensive emplacements.

Then Cloak and Dagger are there as well in the thick of it, appearing as if out of nowhere, one of those gendades kicked towards the attackers, exploding and scattering yet another assault even as Dagger's light weapons disarm a trio of threats.

Voodoo adds to the enemies confusion, sowing those mental illusions that turn Hydra agent against agent, directing their fire away from the helpless and the defenders and taking a number of the attackers out of play. Even the forces of magic are brought to bear as Clea's wards offer more safety, more protection to others that might be caught in the cross fire.

And then Doom takes the field, whether moved by the pleas of the hapless delegate or for his own purposes. Either way, the casual way that he ignores the few attacks that get through before they are ordered to stop, the way he redirects other attacks before a flick of his wrist sends a squad of invading trooppers flying increasingly starts to break the back of the assault.

For once, Doom is more help then hiderance to this particular body.

Peter Parker has posed:
But whie the Hydra troopers advance is stalling, their most capable fighters are increasingly engaged. The devestating railgun in Crossbone's hands is wrenched from him, stolen away, though the machine pistols that appear there almost at once are not bad substitutes. At least they wouldn't be against any other opponent. They are less effective against Kenesha however and Crossbones snarls as he hurls an enhanced punch her way.

Up above, Gordon stalks, looking down on the chaotic scene playing out on the floor of the assembly, starting to ready himself to get involved. Until Wolverine comes barrelling out of nowhere, cutting through most of the Hydra troopers between them, the fight carrying them away from the main hall, back out into the offices. Taking at least one major player out of the main fight.

More then a few of the delegates below shout in dismay when their escape route is webbed up by the traitorous Spider above and Decker and his men open fire, sending Spider-Man swinging through the room wildly as he tries to dodge the sudden flurry of fire.

A fitting rward perhaps for his actions.

Then, an energy blast cuts through his webline, dumping him to the ground in mid-flight, sending him sprawling with a pained grunt as he lands hard. The Grim Reaper still very much in play. Even as he stalks towards Spider-Man, that scythe hand slashing through the air ominously in front of him, he directs it just long enough towards that escape route -- and pblowing apart the web there of all things to clear the way for the seeming escape of the delegates.

"Stop them! They're not UN Secur4ity!" Spidey calls out over the din, hoping some one hears him. And as a last ditch effort firres off a webline towards Christian Deckers hand, jerking a device from his wrist there.

Suddenly, the head of the UN Security delegation's features start to melt, to shift, and the white masked features of the international mercenary the Chameleon are revealed instead.

Snarling, Hydra's back up plan springs into motion, the delegates no longer cheering as the Chameleon and his hidden force begin to force them towards the waiting and cleared passage.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
She's still in another corridor, trying to help cut off remaining Hydra reinforcements and pin those still in the main hall in place to try and prevent them from rallying or trying to develop a strongpoint. So she's quite a few minutes behind on current events, particularly with not trusting the comms at all or speaking much on them. So as the Black Widow continues her murderous path, the other heroes will be the ones that have to save the day when it comes to stopping the bad guys!

Frank Noble has posed:
Its been a feint. For when one is shadowed in mirrors by fetches (even though he is gone, Right cant know that) its best to fool them so what has looked like a circuritous route, happens due to Serendipity to explode a wall on the far side of the central chamber, as Frank walks in right behind the enemy forces that just appeared and begins sliding flash bangs like the Easter Bunny.

Priscilla Kitaen has posed:
Voodoo didn't see that Spider-Man was falling until it was too late! Damnitall! How cool would it have been if she'd been able to catch him?? Ah well. She's got to keep these guys from being blasted as they escape and things are petering out any-.."Uhoh." She eyes the melting faced bastard and the faux troops headed her way.

Voodoo glances up and spots the Wolverine and rapid shifts through various nearby minds checking the others. Cloak and Dagger are unfamiliar to her but fighting the good fight. Doom is.. well that guy is something else to her TrueSight but right now he's a help! There are more heroes, more people that are against HYDRA. Nat is out there. Voodoo not at all surprised by the Black Widow's killstreak. Then Frank enters. "Oh Good." There comes a grenade! She shoves the last of her group through the opening and throws herself atop them to protect them from the blast. Hopefully it takes out that mercenary with the creepyface!

Tyrone Johnson has posed:
Cloak, having dropped off Dagger and himself in the assembly chamber, had no real idea other than Spider-Man who was the good guy and who wasn't. So absorb 'em all and let the Darkforce sort 'em out. Cloak opened the gate wide, letting the Darkforce come boiling out into our world, blotting out the lights and reaching out to the light of life that it stood against. Tendrils of boiling dark spilled forth, grabbing some of the remaining HYDRA goons and dragging them into the cold dark to be snuffed out.

Clea has posed:
Clea looks up when she hears the shouting about the delegates. Well...that was not going to be a great thing. She's not wearing armor or cool capes, her shirt is basically ruined at this point and thank god the leather jacket acts as a layer of protection.

The alabastrine haired woman rushes after the Chameleon and his forces to engage, "I think you're leaving with your door prize a bit prematurely." she states as faces off against a small group of the soldiers that realize that someone is trying to head them off.

Logan Howlett has posed:
The fight between Gorgon and Logan is not one sided for either. As much as Logan is bullying the Assassin now, he's taken as much as he's given. While he has no battle scars to show it, he's been laced up with cuts that are healed almost as quickly as they appear on his body. Knitting together, the unstoppable force verses the unmovable object... and both of them are exceptionally well versed in this brutal form of combat.

Claws swipe, narrowly missing, but Logan has no concerns from disengaging when the sword comes down towards him. He'll take the blade across the chest, across the arm, leg, or face. He's a wild beast, wildly assaulting a highly trained assassin who, despite his exceptional skill, lacks the unique quality of not giving a shit about his personal safety.

This is Logan's advantage.

The Wolverine is in full berserker mode. Crashing through furniture when he's straight kicked away with Gorgon flipping up onto a table with his katana running back up the inside of his arm in a single handed grip that makes it a close contact weapon, until he reverses that grip and extends his reach when leaping off the desk. Both men barrel back out into the hallway behind a block of the downward slash across adamentium claws and a kick in the sternum that sends the shorter combatant sliding into the foyer, into the darkness.

That's another Logan advantage.

Even without his sight, he can 'smell' the Gorgon.

The Hydra strong goes flying into a group of Hydra lined up against SHIELD/Security forces defending the main corridor. With the wild mutant leaping out of the darkness right behind him. Claws up, knees bent, stabbing down through the Assassin's shoulders. It's not a kill shot, but it damn sure brings him down onto his knees with Logan, right in front of everyone, snarling fanged teeth in Tomi's face.

Right claws come out, come up, and ready to cut down his oponent... when a grenade clatters across the floor and spins. Entirely too close to a group of Security... Logan kicks Tomi away, using the force of that kick to launch his small frame directly over the grenade, huddling, curling, and creating a pocket for it against his abdomen.

The explosion is point blank, shreding the mutants abdomen with concussive force. Smoke bellows out from beneath him, between his arms, rattling his brains around in it's adamentium skull prison.. time for lil Gorgie to go get stitches because lil Wolvie is absolutely going to cut his god damn head off if he's still there when he gets up.

Tandy Bowen has posed:
Even with a body covering it, Dagger can feel the force of the grenade going off, smell the smoke bellowing into the darkness. She runs towards the huddled figure, skidding to a stop with hands already glowing as she recklessly reaches forward in an attempt to offer healing. "Are you INSANE?" The better question is possibly how is he still in one piece, but she's seen weirder things on the streets than self-healing.

Kenesha has posed:
The back and forth of blows exchanged by Crossbones and Kenesha ends with his hitting her hard enough to turn her head and leave her spitting out a bit of blood. Looking back to him, she smiles, "Not bad. Sorry that you got stuck with me, my man." She's getting ready to haul off and slug him back with the full power of three tons of strength behind the punch... except Spider-Man is calling out for people to stop the men herding the delegates, that they aren't real UN Security. "Oooo, sneaky sneaky... sorry babe, looks like I've got bigger fish to fry." She blows an air kiss at Crossbones then.. disappears.

Blinking back into a position that will help Clea to flank the delegates and their Security-turned-Hydra, Kenesha levels the railgun at the Hydra agents and smiles, "Sorry boys, but we can't let you leave with them. They don't belong to you, and the UN has rules about these sorts of things." Kenesha stares down the Hydra, keeping Clea in her field of view to make sure that if she DOES have to loose a shot, it's not going to hit either the delegates or the other woman trying to save them.

Darcy Lewis has posed:
"I'm sure they're the very best." The Marines, that is. Seems Marshall's not the sort to make crayon jokes. "But, as things stand today, perhaps seriously under-armed. Which is unfortunate."

This statement may be given a little extra heft by the fact that the Ambassador has taken one of those HYDRA energy weapons for his own use, in lieu of any alternative. Richard may covet that reliable American-made hardware...

...but Reilly shows off the alternative approach as they start to move toward the conference room, and he shoots while Richard takes the door, cleanly takeing out a HYDRA grunt through the corner of the wall he's using for cover futher down the hallway. As for his own service? "You could say I started my career where it seems you've finished yours." Seems he's not above a little tropey reparte between shots. "It taught me that we have to keep up with the times."

He and his guard take up positions to maintain more cover fire down the hall as Richard gets his people out of he conference room. Despite the fact that these are all a very different 'orbit' of people, the Ambassador offers a rather cordial smile, over the shoulder propping up the laser gun. "I think we may have bumped into one another once or twice in the lounge, if unfortunately not much more than that. It's good to see all of you are alright. It'd be terrible to lose so many smart people."

Once they're clear (and the HYDRA at the far end of the hall seemingly dead or at least disuaded), he concede Richard his position of choice. "By all means. I'm not the hero here." Well, how flattering. "Just ahead that way. There's a service exit out the tunnel to the Conference building." This sounds suspisciously like one of those 'not on the official floorplan' type entrances, which, really, is probably the ideal option in a situation like this and something one might expect a UN Ambassador to know about. "After you."

Its a bit of distance, and very back-halls, which makes it both a little more isolated (good) but perhaps a little less cleared out by all the other heroes (bad!) if any HYDRA have skimmed their way down here. Surely, Richard can handle them, with support from the DS Agent and the variously armed VIPs, Doctoral or Ambassadorial as they may be. Whenever they reach the door, it's a heavy thing, that opens with a security card from the DS agent, out into the side lawn/garden, or near it, close to the river and extension out over the FDR drive. The area is mostly clear. No choppers though.

Luca Bandoni has posed:
Sweat causing dust to turn to grime on their faces, breaths labored from their effort. Luca and Roscoe just keep on going. One after another they take the fallen back to their little hidey hole. They have no triage tags, they're here as firefighters, not medics. But it's Roscoe that makes the decision when someone's just beyond saving. One after another Luca tries to give just enough to make sure the ones they can save stay stable at the very least.

Perhaps the Fates are just smiling upon them because neither takes another stray bullet and the few HYDRA fodder they've run across were taking out quickly by the halligan Luca is still carrying thanks to his still slightly boosted speed.

His tank's close to empty, the gas light's ticked on. But he keeps on pushing and will until he falls face first on the ground himself. At one point, his radio crackles, his chief asking for a report. It's Roscoe that does the lying and responds that the pair had no choice but to retreat inside.

Eventually they're joined by others, both medics and those trained to keep them safe. After a little more time passes and the sounds of battle begin to fade away, they find themselves in the corridor where four young women missing their clickity click shoes all lay motionless.

... black tags, all of them.

No matter how brave, no matter how professional, every firefighter has a breaking point. Luca's reached his. "We're not leaving them here," he tells Roscoe. "... Luca." ... "We. Are. Not. Leaving. Them. Here."

It's just a roll of the dice that out of the four women, it's Pepper that Luca lifts up ever so gently - like a mother might lift her child - and straightens. Her small frame is a broken and bloody mess, shrapnel rendering flesh, blood staining her face where it's run from her ears.

He leads the procession, flanked from behind on the left and right by Roscoe and another first responder with yet another bringing up the rear - in a diamond shaped formation and surrounded by their armed escorts.

Their expressions are grim and their 'tough guy' persona's cracking. It isn't until they're clear of the rubble in the hallway that Luca looks down at the stranger in his arms. He's brow furrows. His eyes widen slightly as if he's noticed something - or perhaps imagined something in his need for a win, this particular win. "She's alive!"

Maybe he's wrong? Pepper doesn't look to be alive. Either way, it gets people moving quickly. His precious cargo is stolen from his arms to be whisked off. Was he right? He'll probably never know. He'll probably never even learn her name. Maybe that's for the best, at least he can fool himself into believing he was if no one ever tells him differently.

Roscoe claps Luca on the shoulder to shake him out of his dark thoughts, "C'mon, lets to get you looked at. Don't think I didn't notice..." The graze Luca took earlier.

The others they saved will be looked after by the swarms of paramedics and police officers that will come in to sweep up the mess. And Luca will count Pepper as a win, because he needs to.

Victor Von Doom has posed:
The trio of lightblades that ricochet from his armor results in a glance down by Doctor Doom and then toward the source of them. Only a slight tilt of the Latverian monarch's head seems to indicate that he'd even noticed them or could possibly be perturbed by the fact that they'd impacted and bounced from the invisible forcefield that sheathes his frame. There are more important matters at hand and Doctor Doom's EGO has been ENGAGED by something as simple as a simpering, cowardly diplomat.

He does not act overtly, as that would draw more questions from the Assembly in the future. He does however act with more subtlety and tact. Another casual flick of his wrist seems to disable the energy field around some of the HYDRA trooper's weapons, causing them to suddenly whimper mournfully before their charge is utterly depleted. This leaves them pray to those nearby to assail them.

The shout from the web-slinging lad does cause Doom's attention to turn toward faux UN Security team and delegates in their midst. If he were to save them, then they would...

A decision is made and Doctor Doom abruptly turns, his Latverian green (you know the drill at this point) cloak billows out behind him with the sudden turn. He begins to walk with long, confident strides in the direction of the hustling security team. Where Clea seeks to prevent their escape and draw their attention, Doom approaches from their rear. Again his hand lifts, wrists roll, and his fingers begin to trace the necessary paths.

Somewhere an explosion erupts and the audio receptors built within Doctor Doom's suit picks up on the visceral sounds that accompany it. Sickening. Stomach churning. If only he knew that the victim of the explosion was The Wolverine. Who would be fine.

The final motion is made and the force of Cyttorak invoked as the Crimson Bands wrap themselves suddenly around the lower extremities of the fleeing security team with their delegate hostages. Those same bands continue to wrap and rise, seeking to encompass the imposter Security personnel within the embrace of Cyttorak's might.

"YOU CAN NOT FLEE DOOM!" the good Doctor announces with his voice causing the air to practically tremble with its strength, vigor, and the strength of their all capital force only serves to truly drive the overwhelming power of the spell home as it seeks to not only establish his own incantation, but also reinforce that which will surely be brought into reality by Clea of the Dark Dimension.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     "You'd be suprised," Rick notes, moving to keep his rifle up and heading down the corridor, after extracting who they need. "I've dealt with opponents armed with the same with the same stuff... granted, I could use better ammunition." He notes. He keeps himself from muttering at the effectiveness of HYDRA energy weapons clearing the corridor in front of them. Exactly why they didn't have this stuff in the Army was a bit of a travesty, certainly; how did the Nazi's always happen to have the super science?

"I'm glad you've picked up the baton, then, Ambassador." He notes, and moves to keep fire down the corridor as his people join the group, keeping the movement to a brisk pace. "I say to myself I'm done, but I'm in my third firefight inside of a week, and I didn't have this sort of operational tempo before. I'm admittedly not sure what I'm doing at the moment."

Was he rambling? Small talk? It was the appropriate thing to do; adrenaline had it's place in combat, but with so many people so metaphorically walking across a street under fire with an umbrella.

At least the Ambassador was being characteristically diplomatic about the situation; Rick had been in enough fire fights in the last few years to know he couldn't do the same, if he was in the same position. At the very least he could cede operational command to the man who knew his way around this building. And, true to form, it meant that the enemies in their way were less prevalent here. Less people to shoot, less objectives... but still areas to clear forward.

Rick was counting his shots, and taking risks; he had to. Suppressive fire was for when you had more ammunition, better weapons, and a clearer tactical situation. But they made it, and Rick was down to a single magazine when they reach the door, wrenching it open... and God, they were awfully exposed, but there was the exit.

"I assume we wait here for exfil? Or are we going to start moving down the highway?"

Peter Parker has posed:
As more and more reinforcements for the good guys flood in through the main entrance -- along with the necessary medical personnel to attend to the wounded -- the tide rapidly begins to turn against Hydra. While they might have the technological advantage over the average UN guard, they are met and matched by the Agents of SHIELD on a much more even playing field. Couple that with the good work of all the various heroes to stalk through the halls, and, well, those Hydra troopers that can't feel soon find themselves trapped in small pockets to be taken out.

Sometimes it is better to be lucky then good. It is better to be both of course. And Gorgon is good. Skilled. Deadly. Dangerous. But Logan is completely and utterly relentless, shrugging off blows that would finish almost anyone else. Cuts, slices that should cripple healing in moments and increasingly Hydra's monstrous assassin is hard pressed to keep him at bay.

Then that grenade clatters across the floor, rolls ominously closer and closer until Wolverine throws himself on it, takes the brunt of the blast. Even then the concussive force blows out the windows, sending shards of glass everywhere. And Gorgon? He shows that he is no fool. As he is hurled away, he leaps through that gapping hole left in the side of the building, disappearing outside. Living to fight another day.

He's not the only one to get lucky though. Crossbones gives his own foe his best shot, and it's not a bad one by any means. That hydraulic enhanced bunch could crush brick. But it only is enough to draw a trickle of blood from the alien woman before him. Now that Rumlow is likely to let himself be dismayed. Instead knives appear in his hands, still ready to continue the fight, to press things, the snarl on his face practically apparent despite the mask he wears. But then she is turning away, and the Hydra mercenary takes a moment to survey the scene.

And it's not good. What few of his forces remain are increasingly falling back. If for no other reason then that mass of darkness in the heart of the room that is reaching out, lashing out and pulling the Hydra Troopers that remain into that pit of darkness, their screams fading as they are swept up into the dark dimension.

With another snarl, a curse, Crossbones whirls, darting away down a side passage before he can meet the same fate. It's on the Grim Reaper and the Chameleon now. The day might still be saved. Hail Hydra.

For a moment it looks like Chameleon -- Hydra's backup plan -- might just succeed. Hustling the delegates and world leaders in attendance towards that opening they are almost home free.

Which is when Clea and Kenesha step forward to delay them, stall them.

Almost at once Chameleon and his hand picked men have hostages pulled close, guns to their heads, using them as human shields. "You'll back off now if you know what's good for you. Better live hostages in Hydra's care then dead delegates, yes?" Chameleon sneers.

But while those two come from the front, Doom's gambit is much harder to spot. Before any of the hostages can be harmed, before they can be dragged through that secret passage to who knows where, those crimson bands appear, binding them more sturdily then any rope, even their trigger fingers immobilized, unable to pull that trigger, that last fatal strike. Teeth gritted, Chameleon rolls his eyes towards the Latverian monarch.

"Why?" he hisses.

Peter Parker has posed:
Out in the center of the floor, the fallen Spider-Man tries to get to his feet, struggling after the impact of his fall. And again he is saved by that buzzing in the back of his head, that Spider-Sense saving him as he abruptly throws himself aside at the last second, the deadly scythe of the Grim Reaper swinging through the space where his head was.

Again it comes crashing down towards him and Spidey goes sprawling a dive, that blade still slicing through his uniform, leaving a bloody mark. "Hey! I don't have a lot of spares. Give me a break," the arachnid hero protests to the no longer cackling villain who advances on him.

But then, stealing a quick glance around the Reaper scowls and takes a step back, instead that blade flashing around him in a circle, striking at the floor as he carves the very ground at his feet. "This isn't the end," he promises before that circular chunk of flooring falls into the darkness below.

Priscilla Kitaen has posed:
When Voodoo gets up and turns to see what the hell just happened with that grenade she stares at Frank first. The scars on the spirit, the madness incarnate, the near angelic holiness and purity, the crack in his mind.. she'd thought herself experienced but has no idea where she'd even start if she had permission to help him, doesn't think she even could. That right there is a humbling fucking feeling.

Then she spots Logan and Voodoo stares. He.. jumped on the grenade?! Shit there were still innocents out here? Oh geeze. She moves back out into the room, would drop to her knees beside the Wolverine and offer to help dampen that pain. He heals even faster than her but it still hurts. It always hurts. She's still shedding shotgun pellets herself. Even counting the space-battles she's been a part of this is probably the biggest battle Voodoo has participated in. What a way to learn. She's ready to get out of here though. There are so many dead, so many souls and those souls are starting to stare at her and she can *feel* them and.. Nope! Focus on something else. Anything else. Glowing red eyes focus back on Frank. Okay, almost anything else. She eyes the Grim Reaper as it disappears "What the fuck." God she misses alcohol. There has got to be something out there that is strong enough to work.. this has not been her week.

Frank Noble has posed:
Grenademan wants to keep smiting evil to the last man, but Right is about to say something when Necessary council's Frank back through the wall, tossing a few straggler Hydra agents trying to blend into the crowd in crystal. Really, its about the fact that while Grenademan thinks everything is fine, Necessary is quite aware that; technically, Frank has enough ordinance on him to take out the top half of the building and people might not understand the nature of the helmet...more importantly, Frank's proximity can still benignly, albiet to a lesser extent aid the heroes by his presence.

Still, as things wind down, Frank reenters the elevator shaft and vanishes down it into the shadows.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
She sweeps in along towards the General Assembl yfloor, where part of the melee had been. Natasha Romanova is giving each body on the ground a quick kick. Just to make sure that they're down. Or in most cases, not getting up. If there weren't others about she would be giving each seeming corpse a double tap just to be sure. Her paranoia rested high after all. But there were others around. And she was sick of that style of fighting. But it was what she had been programmed to do.

And given what Hydra fanatics had shown themselves capable of doing, it might be needed. So, to each she gave a quick kick to see if there was any sort of movement from them. Methodically as she would just listen to the others talk, scramble, and otherwise try to coordinate. The enemy had failed with their primary objective. Possibly. But Hydra always had schemes within schemes, plans within plans.

Clea has posed:
Clea gives a nod of greeting to Kenesha when she joins the fray and helps with trying to head off the escaping 'security' team and the delegates. While Doom is subtle in his magic casting, it is Clea who is silent as she brings the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak to place around the fleeing group and there is the perfect final synchronization of the spell by one Doctor Doom.

She looks surprised for a moment, but then he was very good at that. There is a bow of her head to the Latverian Monarch, "Thank you." she tells him in a softer tone. Yes, in a weird turn of events someone was THANKING Doom for his assistance!

Tyrone Johnson has posed:
Cloak, having eaten a goodly portion of HYDRA goons, was feeling good. Probably _too_ good. He pulled the darkness back, even though it didn't want to go away. It still hungered as it always did. But once the darkness was safely locked away, he went to check on his parter. The literal light of his life.

"Hey. Ice cream after?" he asked her with a grin that could only barely be seen through his obfuscating darkness that comprised his body at this point. "Might be time for us to get gone - this ain't our place."

Logan Howlett has posed:
Explosions are no better at bringing down the Wolverine than anything else thrown at him, but it can knock the wind out of his sails. The physical damage is evident when Tandy comes over with her glowing hands, but what is also evident is how quickly the mutant is healing from the blast... He's already pushing himself up onto his knees, he's already starting to regain some semblance of awareness from having his brain rattled around his skull. A snorting snarl precedes him shaking his head violently trying to physically clear the cobwebs..

One foot curls up beneath him to push him up further.. Costume in shambles with just strips hanging across his shoulders, long slashes on his thighs and legs. The testiment to a brutal battle, with a crazed look in his eyes. He hadn't seen where Tomi had gone.. yet with a flare of his nostrils, he's looking off in the direction of the broken section of wall the assassin had escaped from.. but then down where he'd landed on the grenade... narrowing his eyes. Two fingers touch his abdomen, then come up to his nose, sniffing it... snarling.

A big hand, lacking claws, lands on Tandy's shoulder. Support. One step nearly has him falling back onto his knee.. "I'm fine." Grunt. Regaining his footing, shuffling towards the exit. Shuffling becomes an off steady walk. Off steady walk becomes a deliberate pace.

The wolverine's head tilts side to side, popping his neck, until he's pushing out into the yard with a hop.. Staring in the direction Tomi is retreating while tugging a cigar out from the inside of his boot to chew between his teeth. "Lucky fuck..." He says into the wind, unable to track the retreating assassin because of the overwhelming aroma of exceptionally pure cesium.

His teeth clinch and he hops back inside, walking purposefully towards some of the heroes he knows, until he sees Tandy... he inclines his head and steps towards her, motioning up with bloody fingers at his cigar. "Hey kid. Got a light?"

Darcy Lewis has posed:
They make it onto the lawn. Open air, sky. At first the space ahead of them remains empty. No choppers. Where's this evac? Even worse, what's that sound? They've cleared out most of the front of the building, but...

...a lone HYDRA flyer strafes around the side. Hunting for strays? Hunting for a particularly shifty VIP? Who knows. Who cares. It's a big problem, too big for their handheld weapons, and bearing plenty of its own much bigger guns, which now swing around-

The air ripples behind it, and then it explodes, with a brief high-pitched whirr and metal screeching sound inbetween. Moments later, the smoke cloud clears, and they can see their savior behind it.

Richard has been on Quinjets before, in situations no less hairy than this. But he's the sort of fellow that pays attention to details, and a big one stands out immediately: he's never been on _this_ model of Quinjet. It's a little buklier (in spots that suggest up-armoring or extra weapon mounts), and the matte black stealth finish has no SHIELD logo to identify it.

It hovers lower, and spins nose to tail in the final moments so that the boarding ramp can greet them. There are soldiers aboard, definitely NOT marines, who rush down to secure the space, before one wheels his arm to wave the group forward.

"This is us." Rilley starts ahead, regarding the HYDRA pistol in his hand as he mounts the ramp, before handing it off to one of the soldiers and continuing within. There's plenty of space for everyone. "Better ammunition," he muses, settling into a seat. "Energy weapons like HYDRA. Shields like the ones at the Starport, maybe? It really would do wonders for all our men and women who serve, don't you think?"

Once everyone is aboard, the ramp closes, and they rise smoothly into the air. "This area is still a little hot. We'll detour to Fort Hamilton and we can transfer you and your colleagues to other transportation from there as needed."

Tandy Bowen has posed:
Tandy lets out a snort of laughter. "Guess those won't kill you either, sure." Her hand flares just hot enough to light the man's cigar, blinking out with a shake as she turns to Cloak. "Home? I'm exhausted." Dim light surrounds her as she steps into the shadows, and as quickly as they arrived they're gone again.

Victor Von Doom has posed:
"An imbecile such as you couldn't fathom the reasons of DOOM!" Victor answers without hesitation and his voice, powerful as ever, quivers the air around him. The Crimson Bands of Cyttorak work their magic, or, well, Doctor Doom works his magic and immobilizes the fleeing team and this leaves Doom to watch on with passive, yet rapidly failing interest. The quietly spoken words from Clea results in a solemn nod from DOCTOR DOOM and his voice can be heard, albeit lowered so that a private word may be conveyed from himself to Clea, "Doom is always eager to aid his fellow dignitaries and leaders. Your thanks is unnecessary".

The rabble can be dealt with by the local authorities. As the dwindling pockets of HYDRA resistance begin to collapse and falter, Doctor Doom sets himself to a new task. He moves to collect one of the high tech weapons that was dropped by one of the HYDRA troopers. He considers it for a moment, turning it over in his hands, and with a glance this way and that to ensure that the coast is clear -- the weapon simply disappears, as though it never existed. Of course those who can sense the ebb and flow of magic would know something had transpired, but exactly what would be far more difficult to determine as the Most Powerful Sorcerer in the world (that Strange fellow got it because he didn't want it) knows to cover his tracks well.

Then it's onto further business. DOOM marches forward, stepping across the rubble and debris strewn floor. Shattered plaster and wood crumbles under boot. He moves toward the speaker's platform and stand with the green marble at his back. Which goes quite well with his Latverian green cloak. The armored monarch stands behind the bullet-riddled podium and begins to speak, his suit's voice amplification system kicking in to broadcast his voice throughout the UN General Assembly chamber, "Latveria will now utilize its fifteen minutes of time to discuss matters of security and news of impending troubles with this Most August assembly, as delivered by Doctor Victor Von DOOM..."

Kenesha has posed:
Kenesha isn't a magic user, perse, but she knows magic when she sees it. And it draws a smirk to her lips as she watches the Hydra agents (and the Chameleon) are bound by the sorcerer and sorceress. Shifting her stance, she opens up the satchel at her side and, crazily, impossibly, the rail gun manages to slide right in! It shouldn't work. The physics of it literally don't work. But it DOES. Once the gun is tucked safely away, she reaches back into the satchel to pull cuffs from it. Pair after pair until each of the agents can be properly cuffed (because hey, magic will eventually fade or be recalled). The Chameleon, however, she keeps a grip on his shoulder in addition to the cuffs.

Looking from Chameleon to Doom, she just chuckles and offers up, "Well played, Your Majesty," to Doom. Turning to Clea, she smiles, "A pleasure to work with professionals." Then she's leveling a stare at the delegates, "Just so you know, there were *aliens* here today, fighting against Hydra to secure your safety. Just because they're arriving empty-handed, doesn't mean they don't have anything to offer. Wakanda, Themiscyra, and Atlantis have done an admirable job in keeping things at the Starport under control. You might consider giving them some leeway to handle it."

Then she's dragging Chameleon along to try and find Natasha. She could have sworn she saw the Widow running through earlier. SHIELD will be happy to have Chameleon in custody. Interrogation is sure to follow. Along the way, she crosses where Logan stands with Priscilla and Tandy. Tipping her hat towards the trio, she calls out to Logan, "You still owe me a beer from '43, outside Paris. I'm gonna collect on it one of these days!" Doom's announcement draws a rich peal of laughter from the Kheran as she marches Chameleon along until she can find Natasha to turn him over.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     Horribly exposed, come to think of it. And that HYDRA gunship just shows that it was, currently. "Cover!" He yells, pushing them back to the door as he brings the rifle up. It's a waste of rounds against that glass; most combat heli's were rated to ping battle rifle rounds, and the AR-15 wasn't one of those. It had to be something... before it was a moot point. A quinjet. Thank God.

But not any quinjet, it looked like. Something... different. No SHIELD markings. Weapon systems were different, as was armor. He turned to look over to the Ambassador, as if taking another look at him. Questions.

But Stadler holds his questions until they're safely aboard, taking a position at the ramp as they file on; his rifle covering the open door and area next to them. He can hear the sound of fire slowly die down; they're securing the area, it looks like, breaking past the HYDRA forces in whatever they were doing here... something he would hope was on the intelligence briefing he could review later. But that left some other, new questions in Rick's mind, as the ramp went up. "Those weapons... that technology would be helpful, if we could work it into doctrine. As everything, Ambassador, the question comes down to cost." He notes, as the modified quinjet lifts off and flies toward a safe zone.

"Monetary and otherwise. But it's a discussion we need to have."

Peter Parker has posed:
In extremely short order there are no Hydra agents left in the Assembly Hall of the United Nations. At least none alive.

Emergency responders move throughout the building to attend to the injured, to verify the condition of all the various casualties scattered throughout the building, while the authorities begin to filter through the halls and officers and meeting rooms to gather up those Hydra agents who are still alive, to gather them up.

While Crossbones, Grim Reaper and Gorgon might have escaped with a few of their soliders, thanks to the efforts of Doom, Clea and Kenesha, the Chameleon and his men are very much captives, ready and bound to be handed over to the proper authorities, though more then a few nervous looks are cast towards those shimmering bands of crimson that truss them up.

Magic rarely leaves the uninitiated at ease, no matter what purpose it might be turned towards.

As some small semblance of order starts to be restored to the hall, Spider-Man takes the opportunity to flick a webline back towards the ceiling, still more then a little sore from the whole ordeal. But very committed to getting out of the way before any attention turns his way. While exposing the Chameleon should help prevent the worst of the stories from circulating, it's hard not to feel that this will still all come back to haunt him anyways.

Somehow, some way these sorts of things usually do.

With a last glance down, the arachnid hero crawls up into that vent. The victory might have been won today. But somehow he suspects the Grim Reaper was right. This is by no means over.