17755/Tracking the Tracker

Tracking the Tracker
Date of Scene:	24 April 2024
Location:	Vacant Lot -- Queens
Synopsis:	The tracker Ironman got on the mysterious figure that attacked Avengers Mansion is found. But they find more questions than answers. For now.
Cast of Characters:	Wanda Maximoff, Ted Kord, Clint Barton, Lucy Blaze

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Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Things had been hectic at the Avengers Mansion after the attack that broken through many of their defenses along with partially destroying Wanda's room. But worst of all Wanda had been -defeated-. At magic. It had left a sour taste in her mouth. One that she was aiming to set right. Soon.

Ironman's quick thinking at the time had made it so he had set a tracker on the leader, information that had been shared with Nick Fury and then to the rest of SHIELD, bringing in those that could help track these mysterious enemies. It was why they were here today in Queens, at one of the seediest spots of the neighborhood. The tracker was stationary now inside one of the many vacant, decrepit lots. It's the start of the afternoon now but even at this time there aren't many people seen in the street, along with there being a 'darkness' to the place. A feeling that not all is right.

"Is the tracker still here?" She asks, looking aside to Ted before looking up at the tall building, frowning faintly.

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord is floating on his aero discs, a small bot with flames painted on her flanking him. He adjusts the feed on his goggles and waves his own version of a magic wand around. His other hand holds a cup of coffee. "Hmmm give me a minute. I keep getting traces but, it's probably signal jumping like a rabbit. I have to get the right pattern down. Bailey... fly around, do your thing, hon." the little bot give him a thumbs up and begins spiraling out. "She'll find your tracker if I can't." Sip.

Clint Barton has posed:
Clint, even when he's not physically there, is an ever-present presence for Wanda. He //gets// the feeling of loss, of being vulnerable. Of being defeated. But to him, it means coming back harder, faster, and ways unexpected. There are times when the archer is considered a wild card, both in Avengers and in SHIELD. Usually, however, his decisions have merit and ultimately work out for the best of all involved.

Dressed in civilian wear, that is, jeans, high top sneakers, t-shirt with a hoodie jean jacket atop, he looks like any other person would walking the streets. He has a baseball cap atop his head (a nod to Steve), and a pair of sunglasses. He's not obviously armed, but that means nothing.

Craning his neck to peer into the lots, Clint shrugs, his hands in pockets. He's more than happy to have eyes in the skies; everyone has something to give to the action.

Lucy Blaze has posed:
Nick Fury's assets range the gamut and he's not disposed to discuss the wheres, whats or whos often. Why he keeps someone like Lucy Blaze on contractor payroll is his business to know.

Lucy's business is showing up when work calls. Rolling out of bed and toddling down to the cafe for Turkish coffee would suggest the life of a louche or a university student. She looks like one in her leggings, Chuck Taylors, and an oversized t-shirt stamped with "Club Monaco" in a big circle. It's vintage. She sips her beesting latte as they take in the ugly state of the street in front of them. Her lidded gaze suggests cool contempt. The coffee hasn't fully kicked in even though it's afternoon and she should be well awake. Wanda's question is a perfectly sensible one and she raises and dips a shoulder, lazy shrug entailed.

"Let's see what tech support can find." Her accent reads posh English, received pronunciation all the way, instead of lazy Black Dog tavern Southside London. "You named your assistant? For liquor? This one," a pinkie wiggle in Ted's direction, "is better than usual. You picked a good one."

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Wanda came dressed in a rather familiar manner to those that are aware of the Avengers. The black pants and red vest under the dark red long jacket. Her hands are gloved and she is flexing them open and close. A telltale signal of some stress. Or perhaps her magic sight is telling her something, "I do not like this." she murmurs to the others, emerald gaze trailing up the side of the building.

"It feels..., wrong."

Bailey starts flying up and towards the building, sweeping in through a broken window. The inside is dark but nothing that some lights don't help with, camera feeds showing a disarray of a room. Clearly people have squatted there before but the place looks eerily empty now.

"Let's go in." Wanda then says, starting to walk across the street, without the patience to wait further. She moves towards the door and opens it, or rather it creaks open. Inside? More silence. Lights flicker on and off in this corridor, she pointing, "This way."

Lucy Blaze has posed:
Lucy lifts her head, watchful for trouble in ways that come from long experience dealing with trouble. Her first reactions aren't usually magical; she relies on other tells. Silence where it shouldn't be. Instinctive fear coiling in the belly. Shadows moving wrong, the darkness oppressing them. She eases a few slouchy steps down the street, her flat-soled skater shoes slapping lazily on the sidewalk.

See, ignorant white-haired lady looking totally out of place with an Avenger and an industrialist Justice Leaguer. Nothing to see here.

Getting fresh angles on a situation goes with making herself a target, and she shrugs again when Wanda decides which way to go for them. The paper cup in hand gets another sip, a mouthful really. The drink is scalding hot and she doesn't much notice. "Proper haunted house over here," she mutters. The silence waiting for them in the shady corridor brings out more of the same, minus the slapping soles. She starts shadowing down the hallway ahead of the other two without more than a gesture of 'halt' with her two fingers, and then flits from spot to spt, listening, mindful of what's off. The fact she occasionally uses the /walls/ to walk on is another matter, and when she does, even those delicate acts of free-running are just about silent. It shouldn't be possible. That's normal.

Clint Barton has posed:
Clint can feel the stress and strain even as Wanda attempts to hold it in check. Pulling a hand from his pocket, he reaches out to touch her arm, laying it gently for a touch. A physical reminder that he's there without words. His shoulders roll; he can feel the 'off-ness' of it all, at least through the Scarlet Witch. (He's not magical in the LEAST.) But there is a hint of cold, a feeling of heaviness that might be used as a warning to 'keep out'.

Since when has that ever worked?

As Wanda begins to lead the group across the street, he's using his now other freed hand to reach in to pull out his pistol. He doesn't have to rack the slide; he already has one in the chamber...

His gaze moves up and around, sweeping the immediate area for obvious threat.

It's when Lucy moves forward, and starts silent mode, he nods his acknowledgment to her signal of 'halt'. He flattens himself against the wall; this is more than creepy. "I always hated haunted houses," is murmured.

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord floats up to the window Bailey entered by. "Maintain visual contact Bailey Bot #10." He used her full name. She's in trouble. The bot's lights illuminate the empty room. Stark's tech is amazing, but not totally compatible with his. He seems to have gotten a handle on the frequency hopping and agrees with the little bot's assessment. The student exceeds the master. Though the master programmed her soooo.... he gets some props. His hand stoiws his scanner and he draws his BB Gun.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
There's a brief respite out of that tension when Wanda feels that hand upon her shoulder, a very faint smile offered up at Clint before they 'dig' further into the vacant building. The sound of the flickering lights continues to follow them for a bit before dimming further until silence is all that's left. And darkness. Wanda weaves one hand as light flickers between her fingertips. It is perhaps unfortunate she has no wizard staff to place that flame upon but with another flick of her wrist the light floats up and surrounds her as if it had a life of it's own.

"Haunted. Or defiled magic." Wanda's voice echoing. The 'wrongness' is stronger here, as if it'd urging those inside to -leave-. This is not -their- place. Yet they remain and as they investigate some rooms further down they come across some oddities. Weapons scattered about. Uniforms. Clint may recognize some of those from the mercenaries that attacked the Mansion before. Near the weapons there are bullet cases, bullets on the walls as well, on one side and another. There was a fight here. Between the mercs? But where are the bodies?

It's right then that interference starts to mess with the camera feed from Bailey on the 2nd floor. The bot finds some motion on the corner of the feed right before the camera turns off.

The creaking of old wood is heard close by. They are not alone anymore.

Clint Barton has posed:
"I think I prefer haunted," Clint returns to Wanda. "'Defiled' just sounds worse."

The flicker of red light that rises from Wanda's hand does give a glow to the surrounding area; the light moving, causing shadows on the walls. As Clint enters a room, he's got his weapon out, clearing it, ready to take aim on anything. Nothing quite catches his eye, and it's pulled back. The room is looked at; the scores made by bullets in the walls, the casings on the ground. Any blood? Anywhere? Forget bodies, what about anything else?

*creeeeeeak*

Once again, the pistol is out, held expertly in his left hand. "Announce yourself!" is called out.

Lucy Blaze has posed:
Lucy keeps lightly moving up the hallway, clearing it for the others. Brief pauses allow her to sweep for trouble, reflexively noting the various weapons. The latte in hand has managed not to spill thanks to its industrial-strength lid. Impressive design, though she's not bothered to drink from it for a bit. Wanda's red light and Clint calling out a warning impede her ability to exactly work, but she an adjust for that.

She slinks lower and the darkness and murk deepen around her. She pulls on a basic illusion to make herself harder to see, though even the illusion is difficult to detect. Wouldn't be much use otherwise.

It's in that darkness she wastes precious seconds to stain her face with red marks, drawing the fletched lines under her eyes, a dot printed on her brow.

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord floats into the room after Bailey. "Get your ass over here! You aren't She-Hul... " He hist his comm, "Guys, I got some Blair witch stuff going on here on the second floor!" His tech is flickering. this tech does not flicker. It is being interfered with. The gun comes up, aimed at the... anomalous thing in the corner. Bailey, ducks behind her daddy. She's just a little bot after all. Ted stands his ground, switches to night vision mode.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Ask and you shall receive.

When Clint bravely calls out for whoever is lurking to announce themselves something comes rushing out the corridor. A many somethings. The flickering light from Wanda reveals some of their features. Ashen pale. Once human. Now though? A husk of what they may have been. Clint's sharp vision spots bullet wounds on them. Most likely victims of whatever shootout happened here. Victims turned predators now as their aim seems obvious. To attack the group even if they seem strangely focused on the light Wanda's magic created. Or maybe in Wanda herself.

They rush in, struggling in through the door which means they are easy shots for Clint though that doesn't seem to deter them until he shoots one in the head, making it fall face first on the ground.

When Lucy calls on her powers of illusion that seems to attract a few as well even if her aim was deception. Almost as if magic itself was a beacon. It makes some start rushing over her way.

Meanwhile, on the second floor, Bailey hides behind Ted and when that night vision comes up he spots one of those creatures as well, dead eyes focused on him, rushing quickly at him!

Clint Barton has posed:
It's all Clint can do not to react with shock in the horror that the //things// appear. They do indeed show themselves, shells of what they had been. And they're aggressive. Thankfully (or un-) Clint is under no requirement to command that those that approach should stop before he opens fire. He's got a pretty good idea that they wouldn't listen regardless.

The report of his bullets; one, two, three are loud in the room, the light flashing filling the room, leaving behind the acrid smoke of the smokeless powder. The light of Wanda's flame helps distract, as does Lucy's, and the Avenger/SHIELD agent is able to take deadly aim. The chances are better than even that they won't get information from these.. shambling mounds that were once people.

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord's eyes almost pop the lenses from his goggles. As the creature rushes towards him he solves the problem as simply as possible.

He sidesteps. He immediately snags Bailey and pulls her with him to the side. The creature rushing at him rushes by, its claws nearly brushing him. It crashes into the window and teeters a moment till Ted kicks it out. There is a crash from below. Ted looks out. The fall might have killed it. One can always hope. He dials the light setting on the gun to laser.

Lucy Blaze has posed:
Undead mercenaries turning on the woman shrouded in darkness might be their second fatal decision in life. She hurls the latte cup at the one rounding on Clint and Wanda to see if they have the bestial intelligence to follow a lead.

Leggings and oversized sweatshirt tighten into armour around the Kherubim noble's body. Her native powers bear no trace of magic when matter reshapes itself. Two swords barely have time to manifest over her shoulder before she draws them one after the other in a singularly practiced fashion that's practically an extension of pushing hair out of her face.

Violence in her case is like Clint's bullet: precise, functional, direct. No wasted gestures as she begins a one-person act of asymmetrical warfare on the former mercenaries near her. She goes straight into the fray and uses the razor-edged blades to cut and slash with brutally efficient precision against the legs and torsos. Burying a blade in a neck is a waste of time if she can use a sharp slash to remove the head after impeding locomotion. At the end of the day, she's a Coda assassin the same as Clint is a peerless archer, Wanda a witch, and Ted an engineer. Chopping through misbehaving horrors is what she does. Die, die, die, my darlings.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
The creature assailing Ted falls face first on the ground, neck cracking with a sickening sound and it remains still. Even if right there in the middle of the street. Not that there's a single soul around to notice it besides our intrepid heroes.

Inside the culling continues. Lucy's blades connect with the creatures, slicing them in half. Clint's sharpshooting skills earn him a few more 'kills' on his belt as many fall under his bullets. Wanda's hexbolts light up the room as she fires them, her eyes ablaze as some creatures fall under it's power. If there is one thing they do notice though is that they seem attracted to magic. Hungry for it. Yet as more fall eventually silence returns to the place.

Silence besides a 'beep' on their trackers that announce they are close to their target, a few rooms down. "It was that man that did this..., with what he stole." Wanda hisses, still breathing hard after the battle. All the death around her is taking a toll on the witch. Anger mixed with sadness. Is she responsible for all this?

Clint Barton has posed:
Clint is sweating, even in the cool of the magic weirdness. He can feel the sweat dripping down his back. One magazine falls, emptied, and another is slapped in its place with a swift, experienced motion. The archer knows his weapons.

Looking around quickly, he's catching the connections, "Magic. They're attracted to magic. Kord, we've got two magnets. Just keep 'em from getting to the girls."

Eventually their immediate dangers fall to weapons and magical fire, and the stress is nothing new to Clint. He reaches out again to Wanda, to gain her attention, to pull that anger. "Hey. We need //you//. Wanda, I get it, but I need you to focus. It's hard, but stick with me. Use me. It'll be okay.." He ducks his head, trying to look at her face, partially obscured in shadows. "Hun.. I need you to be you."

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord does a flip out the window and floats down to join the others. He wats to be present for the pay off. He gives a chuckle. "Hawkeye, when the big magical bad shows up , we're likely going to be holding the purses of these 'girls'. Now if we were dealing with a nuclear reactor melting down, I'd be all alpha male but magic? Above my pay grade." He grins at Wanda, who seems to need a show of support and then says in a manner worthy of Ayn Rand, "You're responsible for your own actions, no one else's."

Lucy Blaze has posed:
Wearing fluids from dead people is gross. Lucy does not complain. It is only a job. After the last of the moving targets falls, she produces a cloth to wipe her sword blade off. The act holds familiarity in the perfunctory way the gore slides away, done swiftly. "You are their target," she tells Wanda, perhaps unnecessarily. "Why is he attracted to you? Where is Kord's Bailey? With us?"

She flat out leaves Clint to soothe the witch. Instead, she stalks through the room and in the direction of their target. "Keep them off her. She does the rest. Easy plan. If it is harder than that, hit harder."

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Wanda exhales slowly, centering herself with the help of their words and also a determination to see this through. Someone has to pay. And they -will-.

The witch stalks after Lucy when the swordswoman moves towards that last room where they know the beacon is at, the little light around her flaring more intensely now, "I do not know." she states back at Lucy's question on why she would be a target.

Even if she has her suspicions.

They walk into that last room where a man is nailed to the wall, his shirt having been ripped open to leave his torso bare. Words are carved on his dead flesh, having most likely been done with a knife.

"FIND ME"

And as for the beacon? It's lodged between the man's teeth.

Whoever had done this had found the tracker out, now long gone from here. And was now taunting the Scarlet Witch. Her expression turns to a darker one and she murmurs.

"They will soon know it is not wise to anger me."