18499/GNATION: Trouble at Oscorp

GNATION: Trouble at Oscorp
Date of Scene:	22 July 2024
Location:	Biogenetics Lab, Oscorp Tower
Synopsis:	In a daring rescue at Oscorp Tower, SHIELD agents and heroes battled the Goblin Nation. Despite intense combat, hostages were saved, and the Elite Goblin Knight was defeated. The mysterious stolen device remains under investigation, leaving many questions unanswered.
Cast of Characters:	Maria Hill, Bart Allen, Doll, Stefani Houston, Billy Kaplan, Mary Jane Watson, Richard Stadler, Sam Wilson, James Rhodes
Tinyplot:	Rise of the Goblin Nation

---

Maria Hill has posed:
The night wraps Oscorp Tower in a blanket of darkness, its sleek glass facade reflecting the lights of other skyscrapers like the Empire State Building and Stark Tower. The streets of Midtown buzz with the hum of engines and the occasional blare of a horn. From the exterior, through the windows of the towering structure, figures can be seen moving hastily, shadows flitting across the bright laboratory lights. The usually pristine labs now look disordered, with overturned tables and scattered papers hinting at the chaos inside.

On the ground, NYPD cruisers create a perimeter, their blue and red lights flashing, painting the nearby buildings in eerie hues. Officers stand behind their cars, eyes scanning the tower with a mixture of determination and anxiety. SHIELD agents, identifiable by their distinctive uniforms and tactical gear, coordinate with the police, their faces stern and focused.

Above, Goblin Gliders cut through the sky like malevolent fireworks, their trails leaving bright, burning arcs in the night. Goblin Knights, with their grotesque armor and glowing eyes, rain down fire from their elevated perches, rockets streaking down into the hoods of NYPD cruisers parked along the front edge of the perimeter, sending officers running as the fireball reaches up into the sky. The smell of singed metal and burning fuel permeates the air, a stark contrast to the usual urban scents.

Over the SHIELD inter-agency cooperation channel, known as CODE (Coordinated Operations for Defense and Enforcement), urgent chatter fills the airwaves.

<< "Attention all units, Goblin Nation has breached Oscorp Tower. Hostages reported on multiple floors. Goblin Knights are using Gliders to strafe anyone attempting entry. Exercise extreme caution. Repeat, extreme caution." >>

Inside, the goblins are a whirlwind of chaos. Goblin Knights, their grotesque forms a blend of strength and ferocity, patrol the halls. They shout orders, their voices a harsh cacophony against the backdrop of overturned equipment and shattered glass. Goblin Squires, Halloween-masked and anxious pledges to the Goblin Nation, scurry about, rifling through documents and equipment. The occasional burst of a weapon's discharge adds to the tension, a stark reminder of the danger within.

Oscorp's scientists, normally calm and bustling between their stations, are now hostages. They sit huddled in groups, fear etched across their faces. The sterile smell of the laboratories mixes with the acrid scent of fear and sweat. The goblins are searching for something, tearing through the facility with a frantic intensity that suggests a specific goal, though what it is remains unclear.

Maria Hill stands at the command center established outside Oscorp Tower, her expression a mask of steely determination. Wearing tactical gear, she coordinates the efforts of SHIELD agents and NYPD officers through the CODE channel, her voice clear and authoritative over the comms.

<< "Teams Alpha and Bravo, maintain your positions and keep those gliders back. Charlie, move to the east entrance for a potential breach. Delta, secure the perimeter and ensure no civilians get close," >> she orders, her eyes never leaving the live feed of the building's interior displayed on multiple monitors.

She reviews the real-time updates from the drone feeds, noting the positions of the Goblin Knights and their hostages. Her fingers fly across the tablet in her hand, marking critical points of interest and potential hazards. Hill's strategy focuses on minimizing collateral damage and ensuring the hostages' safety while neutralizing the Goblin threat.

Stepping away from the screens, she addresses a group of agents, laying out the entry plan with precise, concise instructions. "Remember, these goblins are using advanced tech. Expect the unexpected and keep your eyes on your teammates. We go in fast, secure the hostages, and take down any goblins in our way."

Hill takes a deep breath, glancing up at the towering building.

<< "All units, prepare for breach on my mark." >>

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen was just finishing a late class at ESU, when he heard what was going on. So a quick change and he is off. He comes up to the scene, running up one building and standing atop it looking over the scene. He will set his com to finding the one being used. It is good to have tech friends. Once he has it, he hmmms, and zooms down to look over the monitors looking to where the hostages are counting them on the screen.

Doll has posed:
The last time she'd tangled with these Goblins? Well, Doll had ended up with some wonderful new tech and toys! Of course, it was a little too complex for her to replicate with her dupilcates or reverse-engineer...so it was probably stashed in a safehouse foe the time being.

Still, when the job offer had come up? Well, it wasn't only the 'Bad Guys' that could hire her!

Wrapped in her form-fitting armored catsuit and with her own array of league-approved weaponry and borrowed firearm, Doll skipped along almost joyfully. She might seem a little uncomfortably happy with the impending violence...but she could also double as a one-woman infiltration and assault team....

Stefani Houston has posed:
For the first six months of the year, Stefani 'Quiet' Houston had been assigned to a protective duty over a group of scientists researching spiders in the Amazon jungle. She'd enjoyed the assignment, overall, but had recently returned to the SHIELD Triskelion for further orders. Tonight? Overwatch on the situation unfolding here, either in Alpha or Bravo team, it seems.

From a nearby rooftop vantage point, the black clad woman lays in a prone position up against a larger rifle, with an even larger scope atop it. Her half-gloved hand strokes a finger down the side of the weapon's central housing, running over a few colorful stickers of various types of butterflies.

She spies the situation as it develops, her ears listening to the orders coming across the SHIELD comms, while she sweeps her scope around to the incoming goblin glider units. An attack from above? That was unexpected, but a welcome approach, as it was much easier to pick them off when they were not down amongst civilians.

Beside Stef, standing on the ledge her rifle is mounted on, a small Troll doll, dressed in camo BDUs with a black eye patch over his left eye, watches over Quiet, as she lines up her first shot.

The SHIELD units on the ground, along with the police, would begin to see various goblin gliders being tagged by high velocity sniper rounds, as Agent Houston was unloading shots on the incoming gliders, her rounds ripping through both glider, and goblin, causing them to rain down on to the city street below.

The guardian Troll doll simply stands there, beside his sniper partner, with a big smile on his plastic face, as he watches the enemy goblin gliders careening out of the sky, his long green hair fluttering in the late July wind that rushes over the roof that their sniper nest resides upon.

Billy Kaplan has posed:
    Billy Kaplan was deep in the middle of researching something at the Young Avengers HQ. It's not even that far from here! But then an alert came over the comms about some kind of kerfuffle at an Oscorp facility. Facility guards overrun, SHIELD outmatched, even some of the Old Avengers having difficulty.
    Off to one side of the SHIELD staging area, safely away from the buzz of activity, bolts of electricity sprout from the ground in short arcs, crackling, buzzing, leaving an ozone smell and a circle of marks burned into the ground. Before long the scarring on the asphalt turns into nested circles, and between those an array of precise sigils. At last the final part of the design crackles into place and the whole thing erupts in a column of blue light.
    Wiccan emerges from the portal at speed and sails straight up into the air, there to circle over the scene while he assesses and tries to get communications sorted out.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
She'd been paying attnetion to things since the fighting had started. She'd been in too many fights with the Goblins to not make them a priority. So when a distress call goes out and a call for all SHIELD personnel to arrive, she's amongst the group wearing a full tactical loadout. Instead of the pair of massive swords she normally has wtih her, there's a small cylinder that's over on her left hip that's ready for a fastdraw. It consists of a large energy cell, a focusing crystal, a plasma sheathe, and a reinforced hilt that can take a lot of damage.
    From the barracks, it's a photonic blade that should be better at cutting through powerful armor and invulnerability than her others.

Mary Jane is on one of the forward teams, her weapons ready as she would listen to the instructions. "The gliders are pretty durable, but they're dependent on the boosters to fly. They're very reinforced but if you can hit them with concentrated firepower along the turbines, they'll go down. Don't bother with precise shots, just go for autofire on them. The goblins witll mess you up at close range, don't get into CQC with them. They're super strong and resistant to bullet fire. Keep them at mid range and use massed fire on them." Most things would go down to a squad firing at them in concentrated blasts after all.

This advise is passed along, and Mary Jane goes to wait for the orders to break in and attack.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     This problem generally had a very simple solution, Richard knew. Massed force, SHORAD sweeping the skies, and mortars giving anyone expose a light dusting of shrapnel from exploding metal and glass.

They didn't have any of that, though, and command, for some reason, didn't like glass raining over the business district. And dead hostages. So many complications. Well, if it was easy, he's have stayed at home working on a textbook, wouldn't he?

Rick kneels in an alleyway nearby, peering out to the street. There was a loading bay in the back that was a lot less exposed than the front, but it still meant crossing a lot of open asphalt. It would have been suicide to cross mere minutes before; now, a sniper round here and there caused those gliders to smash in small fireballs on the ground, and it was as good as they were going to get.

"Charlie 6 actual, lead. We're moving. across the street in 90 seconds." Hopefully. He looks back to the 4 man element that he'd been saddled with (it felt like he was wearing railroad tracks all over again), and whispered. "Thermal smoke."

Grenades were readied, and then popped, tossed out over the street itself, spewing hot dense smoke from guttering devices.... at the same time as it happened west of the building, and then again at the entrance. Three locations, with hot particulate filling the sky, something thermal and imaging sensors would have tough time seeing through, and they'd have to guess where the assault was coming from.

Rick tugged on his mask once, checking the seal of the M50 aganist his face, gloved hands gripping the Mk 17, before he gave the proverbial whistle. "Heading over the top, east side. Covering needed!"

One by one, they bounded across. There was no time for aiming up to the tower; too many vectors, not enough guns, and slowing down would simple leave them exposed for longer. This was just, simple, pure, desperate running.

Sam Wilson has posed:
Standing next to Stefani, Sam Wilson surveys the chaotic scene, his keen eyes scanning the airborne targets while his head bobs to the rhythm of his music-filled headset. "You take them on the ground, I'll handle them from above," he remarks, voice firm and resolute.

Aware of the need to remain stealthy, Sam moves away from Stefani, not wanting to reveal her sniper position. With a burst of energy, he launches himself into the air, propelled by powerful thrusts from his winged suit. As he ascends towards the menacing Goblin Gliders, his visor locks onto each target with precision, ensuring there's no risk of friendly fire.

Executing a rapid corkscrew maneuver, Sam unleashes a pair of missiles towards the first group of gliders. The micro-warheads strike with deadly accuracy, detonating against the underside of the lead glider. The resulting explosion shreds through its engine, triggering a chain reaction of fiery blasts that reduce the glider to a blazing inferno in mid-air.

The second glider isn't as fortunate; the missile grazes its wing, sending it into a wild spin. The Goblin Rider onboard desperately clings to the controls as the glider careens uncontrollably, spiraling towards the plaza below. With a deafening crash, it collides with a fountain, erupting in a spectacular spray of water and debris.

Amidst the chaos, Sam refrains from checking his handiwork, knowing he has drawn hostile attention. Swiftly evading incoming fire, he deftly maneuvers through the hostile forces, ready to engage in a fierce aerial battle to protect his allies on the ground. "Charlie 6 Actual, Pegasus 2, splash two gliders. Many more to go. Entering the furball."

James Rhodes has posed:
This is the kind of thing that is pretty hard to miss.

Unlike so many SHIELD operations that fly under the radar, this one is pretty hard to keep under wraps. Not because of any failure on their part though. It's just really hard to keep people from noticing a bunch of genetically altered madmen, flying around on gliders, bombing the heck out of anything that moves below.

That kind of thing tends to draw more then it's fair share of media attention. Indeed, in the offices of Stark Security, that is where James 'Rhodey' Rhodes first sees just what is going on, even before the alert goes out over the CODE alert system.

It is truly a magical time, when the best source of intelligence is cable news and the internet. Though maybe not so great for the true spy masters out there. Then again, for every publically visible event like this, probably dozens of others are kept under wraps without anyone having the faintest idea.

Either way, it doesn't take Rhodey long to suit up, to launch himself into the skies from Stark Tower, racing through the Manhatten skies in the direction of Oscorp, those repulsor disks scattered across his armored form powering him through the air at a tremendous rate. Even as he does, he turns into the SHIELD frequency, making sure that he is clear on just what the plan is, already working to fit himself into the scenario.

He won't do it with quite as much style as Tony might, but his tactics will sure as hell be a whole lot more sound.

<< War Machine, coming in hot, >> he announces over the comms as he drops out of the cloud cover above, repulsors flaring brightly, proceeding him in bright streaks to slam into a pair of Goblin Gliders near the summit of the building. << Clearing out a rooftop LZ, >> he adds as he streaks by, one gauntleted fist reaching out to literally yank the Goblin Knight from his mount, carrying him along in one hand as they rocket through the air, the abandonned glider spiraling down towards the ground below.

Billy Kaplan has posed:
    Wiccan dashes forward into the chaos-- because what this whole thing needs is a chaos wizard. Electricity lances out from him, connecting with nearby gliders as he veers toward the building. In the last instant before a crash he angles upward instead and ascends toward the roof. There he comes to a landing in a corner helpfully cleared by Rhodey's efforts.
    With a quick chant Wiccan conjures wall of blue energy and nudges it forward. The shield starts to drift across the roof, flexing and reshaping around obstructions like air conditioner units or radio masts, but once it finds a Goblin it starts to shove them backward into the opposite corner.

Maria Hill has posed:
The scene at Oscorp Tower escalates rapidly as the Goblin Nation's assault continues. Inside, the pristine labs are now chaotic mazes of overturned equipment and shattered glass. Security doors have sealed themselves in response to the breach, creating additional obstacles for anyone navigating the corridors. The goblins, both Knights and Squires, move with frantic intensity, searching for something crucial amidst the carnage. Some work at computers. Others are trying to hack their way into vaults. Still others are standing over hostages, keeping the scientists quiet. Their harsh voices and the occasional weapon discharge add to the building's tense atmosphere.

Outside, the NYPD and SHIELD agents hold their positions, dealing with the sporadic attacks from Goblin Gliders. Stefani Houston, from her vantage point, systematically targets the gliders, sending several tumbling from the sky. One crashes onto an NYPD van, crumpling its roof with a loud, metallic groan.

<< "Follow Agent Watson's advice. High-powered rounds or focus fire on the ones that call themselves the Knights. They're wearing armor. Avoid CQC if possible. They _are_ enhanced. Your top priority is the safety of the hostages. All units, breach," >> Maria Hill commands through the CODE channel. Her voice cuts through the tension, bringing a sense of order. She glances over as Bart Allen stops beside the monitors.

"If you're thinking about going in there, be careful," she advises, her tone firm but concerned. "We could use your help, but we don't know what kind of devices, if any, have been set. We've counted 35 hostages so far, but that number started out as 20. They've blinded some of the cameras."

Meanwhile, Richard leads one element of SHIELD agents into the lobby, their movements swift and precise, and others join them in similar fashion. They're barely inside when they're met with the first round of resistance -- Goblin Squires wearing hoodies and masks with cheap, street-purchased pistols that fire from behind counters and around corners.

Outside, Falcon engages the Goblin Gliders in a vicious dogfight. The air fills with the sound of energy blasts and the whine of jet engines. The gliders focus their attacks on him, but soon some are peeling off to contend with the second aerial threat as War Machine joins the battle. Stray shots shatter glass in adjacent buildings, adding to the chaos.

<< "What the hell's that blue light?" >> Maria Hill's back on incident command duty, pointing at Billy Kaplan's beam to a couple of SHIELD agents nearby. << "Somebody figure out if that's them or us. And War Machine's clearing the roof LZ. Get me two elements up there _now_." >>

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
The ground floor is going to be the messy bit. But it's also hopefully where the smallest deployment of the enemy si going to be. The elites are being inserted by air and by gliders, so anyone on the ground will be the fodder that just wants to move up in the ranks and is there to slow down the cops when the breach is made. So whatever thier numbers, they're just chaff that need to be cleared out and speed bumps. As the order to breach is given, and others are engaging along the upper levels, Mary Jane goes to draw out her photonic blade. She goes to put it in a low power mode.

Presuming these are kids and wannabes, there's no need to risk cutting them into small bits. The faster they get taken down, the faster the floor can be secured and the next level can be taken. She goes to charge in along with her unit, going after the ones that want to rise up but don't have the initiative to be useful yet. Every organization needed disposable fodder.

She goes to slam shoulder first into the nearest Goblin that is little more than a mask and some toys, shoulder checking him. Then she's lifting him up with one arm to use him as a shield as she would be pelted with small arms fire, going to hurl him into another pair and sending all of them flying. With her blade in one hand, her other goes to pull out her ICER. She goes to fire two neuro-darts to each target that's not quite downed but is slowed, moving to drop them quickly. A quick kick is given to each one and then a stomp to their equipment to make sure that they stay down. She doesn't bother to give an update, just going to charge along after the next group. They have to keep momentum down here.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen nods, his head, and is off. He is a blur of motion, the arcs of electricity all that can really be made out. He heads into start getting the hostages out. One is grabbed and brought out dropped off at the police line, before you can blink. Impulse it back inside, and this time, finding a guy looking over multiple hostages, Bart improvises. He sees the gun is some type of laser weapon, and fishing through a desk, he finds a mirror and some office supplies. So with a quick build of paper clips and rubber bands, the goon now has a mirror on the end of his rifle that should keep him from hitting anything of important, as first one, then a second, and finally the third hostage seem to disappear on him,

Stefani Houston has posed:
With Sam launching off from where he had been with Stef on her adjacent rooftop perch, the SHIELD sniper tracked the Falcon, as he soared off to join the fray. Having friendlies mixed in with the foes, made for a more interesting sniping experience, but it was one that Stef was more than a little used to. With the Falcon performing impressive aerial feats, Stefani's focused attention trails after him, where she spies enemy blaster fire headed toward the Falcon's flight path. She knows he's nimble, but with as many goblin gliders as he is drawing the attention of, it would really truly become a 'furball' quite quickly, without some support at least.

A particularly well-angled goblin glider soars in toward Sam's position in the sky, only to suddenly have the starboard engine absolutely obliterated by a sniper round, that tears through it, sending the glider careening off toward a grassy park at the base of the target tower building.

Stefani quickly adjusts her sniper scope, moving it upward in the sky toward the roof of the target complex. There, she sees the incoming Rhodey, or War Machine. A smile touches Stef's pink lips for just a moment, as she is ever happy to see another famous super hero for the first time in person, and when he vanishes around behind the building, and out of her line of sight, the sniper adjust her scope, sweeping it to the north.

Two more goblin gliders are spotted enroute to the far west side that Rhodey had vanished behind, and with deadly accuracy, Stefani's rifle shot rips through the middle of the glider, splitting it in to two halves, one of which suddenly detonates in mid air, shattering a few windows along the northern side of the OsBuilding.

"Mmmf." Stefani quietly says at the display of brilliant burning fire, that falls in debris toward the ground.

She sure hopes the NYPD has cleared the streets...

Her right hand snakes out to grab one of the colorful Starburst candies, that were laying atop a small napkin directly beside the BDU clad Troll doll that is 'helping' Stef with spotting.

With a fresh starburst slipped in to her mouth, Stefani flexes her fingers, and calmly sweeps her sniper scope down toward the first few floors of the building, spying through the window some goblin movement inside the building.

"Mmmmh." She quietly says, before squeezing the trigger of her massive rifle, blasting through one of the building's windows, and directly airing out the skull of a goblin that she'd spotted inside the building's front facing rooms.

One less goblin, on the second floor. A billion to go?

Doll has posed:
Among the SHIELD teams numbers Doll was going to look plenty strange with her weaponry and the fact she was probably a good foot shorter than everyone else, but as she advanced with her own weapon and lifted it to engage the goblins, one 'Doll' became three firing all at once as they stepped 'out' from the same position, immediately trippling the ICER fire hitting the Squires likely completely unprepared for the soldiers or duplicating Mercenary that had joined their number.

Springing forwards, the Squire's lack of enhancement was made brutally apparent as one Doll seized his wrist from his blind-corner ambush, flipping him out into the path of another's weapon before a single shot put him down and the grinning 'twins' moved out to lift a hand to wave at Stadler's unit from their flanking position before a third Doll keyed her own radio. "This is 'Delta 1-1, we've reached the lobby, we'll remove what we can and take the brunt as needed."

After all...she had 'spares' in her '4 Doll squad'.

Sam Wilson has posed:
As War Machine's arrival boosts Falcon's spirits, a grin spreads across his face beneath his visor. Opening a secure channel, he quips, "<<Hey there, Jarhead. Nice to see they let you fly close to buildings. I'll help you hold the LZ!>>" His voice crackles with determination as he maneuvers closer to OsCorp Tower, streaking up its side like a daredevil in a trench run. His sharpshooting takes out Knights and launches missiles at Goblin Gliders, setting off a dazzling display of fires and explosions along the building's windowed facade.

Falcon twists and turns through the chaos, wings tucked in to maximize his rocket's thrust, propelling him with blistering speed. Cresting the tower's edge, he momentarily basks in the glow of New York's skyline, a sniper shot from Stefani clearing a glider that dared to chase him. "<<Thanks!>>" he shouts gratefully, throwing a salute before spotting War Machine on the rooftop.

"<<War Machine, sending Redwing your way to cover your six until we secure reinforcements!>>" With that command, his loyal red-winged drone disengages from his pack and streaks toward Rhodey. Sam pivots, diving back into the dogfight with precision, engaging enemies wherever possible before executing a daring descent earthward.

In a heart-stopping moment, Falcon appears to plunge too fast and steep, but at the brink of disaster, he deftly pulls up, skimming the ground before landing upright with controlled urgency. "I need two volunteers!" he calls out to nearby SHIELD agents. Two step forward without hesitation, and Sam nods firmly. "We're the rooftop express." Swiftly attaching them to emergency hardpoints meant for evacuating wounded, he launches skyward again, rejoining the frenzied aerial skirmish.

"<<All air cover, Pegasus 2, I've got precious cargo. Keep them safe!>>" His voice resonates with urgency as Falcon reengages in the fray, committed to protecting the agents and ensuring their safe transport amidst the swirling chaos above New York City.

Billy Kaplan has posed:
    With part of the rooftop cleared Wiccan crouches down behind a big piece of equipment up there and raises another shield, a dome, around himself. Bullets and debris whiz and ricochet off of it, leaving a few cracks, but it remains intact long enough for Billy to work.
    << fzzzt-- Is *this* the right channel? Hey, SHIELD folks, this is Wiccan, I'm on the roof, about to try something. Don't freak out; it'll only work on them. Probably. >>
    He breathes in. Concentrates. "Goblins should be in a ~Labyrinth~." That last word manifests first as a distant echo across the battlefield, growing louder like a siren approaching, stacking upon itself over and over into a choral hum until the spell erupts.
    A wave begins to creep downward and out from the roof. It's an illusion targeted only at the opposing force: those hit by it and overpowered by its influence (which may not be all of them, who knows) will perceive themselves transported to a maze, unable to see the real office spaces or hostages around them.
    The flickering effect moves at a glacial pace, spreading centimeter by centimeter as Wiccan applies all his concentration to this task.

Sam Wilson has posed:
As Sam is arriving on the roof and landing, dropping off the pair of agents, he heards Wiccan's idea and spell. His face looks terse for a moment. "I'm not rolling for initative!" he says to Wiccan as he lifts off the roof to renengage, checking his fuel consumption. The rest of the fight will be airborne. No more diving down to assist.

And with that, he renegages. Out of missiles, he's using machine pistols instead, firing at various Goblin Gliders as he does so.

James Rhodes has posed:
Air superiority is pretty much the name of his game.

And achieving air superiority here will allow the rest of SHIELD's operations to proceed much more smoothly, so that is exactly what War Machine sets out to do. While they might be out-numbered -- technically -- they definitely are not out-firepowered and that counts for a fair bit too.

<<Sam,>> comes the brief greetings from the armored figure as he streaks on past, still dangling that Goblin Knight in one hand, the struggles of the man growing weaker as each time he gets a little too boisterous, another repulsor blast is channeled directly through him. It takes a couple before the fight is well and truly out of him as which point Rhodey casually tosses the Knight's limp form onto the Oscorp rooftop as he streaks past.

<<Flying close to the buildings is the only fun way to do it. What, I'm supposed to stick to open skies? Boring,>> Rhodey counters, abruptly pulling up, hovering in mid-air as he scans the skies around him, the HUD within his armored helmet relaying a host of information to him, those targets marked as unfriendlies popping up, singled out on that electronic display. <<I won't say no to the backup,>> War Machine agrees. <<Not that we're going to leave the skies to them for long,>> he promises.

One of those shoulder mounted compartments pops up, the recent non-lethal tranq darts he has been favoring switched out now for an array of miniature missiles. With little plumes of smoke ignighting, first one, then a dozen or so plumes, the rockets leaps out, racing through the skies and lock onto their targets -- the gliders of the nearby Goblin Knights -- taking out their propulsion to send another quartet of gliders spiraling downward.

<<Your skies should be cleared in short order Deputy Director,>> Rhodes adds over the comm, gaze turning towards the Falcon and their sniper cover below. <<Lets show these clowns a thing or two.>>

Richard Stadler has posed:
     The east entrance is breached with all the speed of people who have a somewhat unfriendly sky to deal with. One man pulls rear security, another slaps a charge on the door, and the explosion sends the same door across the room, smashing into a glass wall of a nearby conference room. There was a big hope that there wasn't any hostages in that room, of course, but it simply couldn't be helped; There were more of the enemy, and they were exceedingly aggressive. It meant they needed to match it with their own speed and aggression, or else they'd get overrun with a cautious advance.

That doesn't mean Stadler intended to be stupid, however. There was a reason his people were wearing real masks.

"CS!" He yells, and another flutter of grenades go out, sputtering and guttering like the smoke... but this contained tear gas, and it would fill up the room in short order. Non lethal, of course, and it gave them time to breath... through filters. He yelled out through his mask's vocalizer, voice trying to be heard above the chaos. "On the ground! A cell or a coffin, your choice!"

Two seconds, and the team was moving in. This would be a tragedy no matter how you sliced it. Some of them certainly wouldn't have heard the order to surrender. Or been trying to, but not acting fast enough. They couldn't take chances. A gun pointing their way, or ready to raise up, and there was a sharp crack of a battle rifle round, smashing through clothing, skin, bone, and organs. Center mass, until they went down.

Maria Hill has posed:
The scene at Oscorp Tower is a chaotic blend of precision and desperation as SHIELD teams and the Goblin Nation clash. The east entrance breach exemplifies this, with SHIELD operatives moving with a practiced swiftness. The door blast sends shards of glass from a nearby conference room scattering across the floor, adding to the chaos. Fortunately, there are no hostages in that room, as they are primarily on higher floors, but the damage hints at the scale of the conflict.

Stadler's team doesn't hesitate. With the breach, they deploy CS grenades, filling the room with tear gas. The gas spreads quickly, a choking fog that incapacitates the unprepared. Through the haze, Stadler's amplified voice booms, demanding surrender. The response is mixed; some goblins hesitate, hands wavering, while others raise their weapons defiantly.

Gunfire erupts. SHIELD agents fire with precision, each shot a methodical effort to neutralize the threat. Goblins, disoriented by the gas and sudden breach, fall one by one. The room becomes a battleground, filled with the sharp cracks of rifles and the dull thuds of bodies hitting the floor. Despite the aggressive tactics, the goal remains clear: subdue the enemy and minimize casualties among the hostages and civilians.

The goblins, wearing masks and armed with cheap pistols, are no match for the force they meet. Mary Jane, Doll, Richard, and the uniformed SHIELD agents work through their numbers with ruthless efficiency, leaving the stairwells open for them to continue their ascent.

Outside, the aerial battle continues to rage. Goblin Gliders, once a significant threat, are rapidly being thinned out by the combined efforts of SHIELD agents like Rhodey, Sam Wilson, and Stefani Houston. Stefani's sharp shooting brings down another glider, the goblin's body slamming into the side of the building before crumpling to the ground. Her precision shot through the window takes out a goblin inside, sending the remaining ones scrambling for cover.

On the rooftop, Wiccan's spell begins to take effect. In the highest levels of the building, the illusion of a labyrinth confounds the goblins, making them wander aimlessly, bumping into invisible walls and obstacles. The effect is visible from the outside, where SHIELD operatives can see goblins moving erratically, as if navigating a funhouse maze.

Maria Hill monitors the operation from the command center, her eyes glued to the live feeds from inside the building. The situation is dynamic, with each moment bringing new challenges. Her voice cuts through the comms with authority, directing the teams with precision.

<< "All units be advised we have a Speedster evacuating hostages. Wiccan, we've got agents inside. I'm going to need better than a 'probably.' Teams Alpha and Bravo, continue clearing. Charlie, move to the east entrance and support Stadler's unit. Delta, prepare to breach the upper floors. We're getting reports of increasing hostages in these areas. Stay sharp. Overwatch, you are still clear to engage at will. Check fire for hostages and friendlies." >>

There's a pause, then, as Maria stares at one of her screens.

<< "All units, we have a... very large goblin wearing advanced armor on the third floor. He's carrying some of device out of a vault. Any available units, converge. I do not want him leaving with whatever that is." >>

And she's not wrong.

On the third floor, in one of the labs with an open vault, is a Goblin Knight that's half again as big as the others and wearing an intimidating set of black armor. In his hands, there's a big piece of scientific-looking technology. A scanner of some sort? A beam weapon of some sort? It's hard to tell, but there is some sort of emitter ray, even if it doesn't exactly look like a _weapon_....

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen will come back out and pauses this time. He is breathing deeply and looks around spotting a gas mask, he grabs it and says "Pardon me, need this for a moment." And back in he goes, This time heading into the gassed parts getting any tech types out that way as he does. He does make sure to take them to medics/Shield agents, don't want goons slipping out as scientists. "I can head towards the third floor in about two minutes should have the rest of the civilians out then." He says over the coms.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
She's still on the first floor, with no immediate way up to the third even if she goes to bypass some of the fighting. And they can't exactly split up their teams when one floor isn't secured. It means they're vulnerable to being cut off and isolated, which leads to higher casualties and puts the hostages more at risk.

<<Command, we have any idea what they're after here? ANything we can pull from Oscorp's files that they're working on?>> Oscorp did a lot of military work. Which meant government contracts. Which meant the ridiculous amounts of paperwork that the Pentagon did was accessible - so hopefully there was something they might get an idea from.

Mary Jane's going towards the next set of thugs on the second floor as she goes her way up the stairs. She moves to breach the next floor up the fire exist with a kick through the door, which sends it clear several dozen feet just in case anyone is behind it. There's no one directly, and she's met over with the hurl of a pumpkin grenade sent her way! But she's been there before.

SHe snaps out with her hand, borne of Sonja's experience and craftiness, catches it before it can detonate, and flings it back over into a wall. The pellets blast everywhere and the corridor is obliterated, but there's no structural damage and at least the nearest Goblin Trainee is stunned as Mary Jane goes to shoot him with an ICER.

Billy Kaplan has posed:
    Wiccan finally exhales one more deep breath and lets the spell loose to propagate on its own. << It's working correctly. Adding the extra conditions is making it spread more slowly than I would have liked; it might take a while to get to the lower levels. I'll continue to monitor and adjust it as needed. I'm heading in further to see if I can pinpoint any of their objectives. Meanwhile: I'm taking requests! >>
    He approaches the fire door on the roof and strides right through, pummeling a couple of dazed mooks on the other side with magic blasts.

Sam Wilson has posed:
Forming up on War Machine's right flank, Falcon's wings flare out with precision as he maneuvers into position, ready to engage the swarming Gliders. As James plunges into the thick of the action, Falcon can't resist a teasing jab, "<<Impressive how you manage to make that clunky thing acknowledge a turn, Rhodey.>>" His voice carries a hint of amusement amidst the chaos as he continues to unleash precise bursts of firepower to conserve his ammo.

The skirmish intensifies with another Glider sputtering and crashing onto a nearby building, a testament to Falcon's sharpshooting prowess. Rising higher, Sam assumes an overwatch position, his keen eyes scanning for any remaining threats while War Machine unleashes the full arsenal at his disposal.

Meanwhile, the Redwing drone emits a quick series of beeps upon Wiccan's arrival. Following the young hero's lead, it and the two accompanying SHIELD agents swiftly move to descend down the stairs, their mission clear and urgent amidst the ongoing battle.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     The area rapidly settled into the sound of coughing and mucus after the gun fire died down. Far too little of it, for Rick's taste, but like always, there was no time to dwell on it. No time at all.

Rick gets on the comms, making the rather ill-advised choice to take point, rifle up... as boots walk past the stairwell. "Going to take the secondary route up." He says. It was an odd calculus, to be sure; the elevators would be watched, and people knew that, so they took the stairs. So they'd expect the stairs... and write off the elevators. Oh, sure, if a car opened there, they'd be in trouble; that was practically a kill box.

That's why Rick got the breeching tools in the first door, and quickly slapped a motorized ascender to the elevator cable, sending him up, the others following quickly on their own. They were a string, split between two wires, reaching the third floor elevator door. Quickly. Had to be quick.

Another pry bar, the door forced, cracked, and out go the flash bangs through the crack. A bright flash, a loud BANG, and the door was wrenched open furthur; a slight swing, and they were a suddenly second attack vector...

And rather close to the knight that stood there in front of them. "Cover!" A call goes out as they scatter, going for concrete planter pots, and the corner of walls, staying low, rifles barking toward the armored goblin... the M4s of the main team bouncing off as they would a tank. Shit.

Rick's going for his gear, searching for the right clip. "On him! Heavy armor, like North Hollywood. Need anyone with anything AD!

Stefani Houston has posed:
Agent Houston's scope swept back to the south,, where she saw the presences of another goblin glider. Confirming the zero, Stefani ensured she had the distance, and range dialed in just right, and with another delicate squeeze of her finger-- and a holding of her breathing-- she fired off another round. The high caliber round, nearly half the size of a beer bottle, absolutely ripped apart the goblin glider, causing the creature to tumble to the ground with the distant scream faint on the wind. It ellicited a grin from the sniper woman, who engaged her safety and swept her scope across her friendlies below.

Taking a moment, Stef lifted her head up, her camo ballcap turned backwards on her head, covering her ponytail that laid down behind her shoulders, she spent a second checking her magazine. With a quick swap, she smacked in a fresh reload, and snatched another Starburst from the pile resting on that napking beside the troll doll marked 'Little Boss' by a label on its tiny camo jacket.

Adjusting her prone position, Stefani slightly moved her rifle's position, the bipod's position minutely adjusted to give her a better angle on the building itself. With her sharpshooting eye back against her scope, Stefani re-evaluated the situation before her, her focus on that of the windows of the building. She could see inside many of them, and with another focused attention placed on the third floor, she scanned for the active situation that was just spoken of over comms... But with no heavily armored Goblins spotted through the windows, Stef disengaged the safety, as she did spot a hostage situation in a meeting room.

A number of Goblins had a few people up on a table, proding them with some kind of stun weapons, as the office workers seemed quite stressed by the situation. Just as the largest of the trio of goblins holding the hostages at a threatening position, the window on the eastern wall smashed open, and a smattering of blood spread across the opposite wall, as the creature was absolutely torn apart by the heavy round from Quiet's rifle.

"Bleh..." The Agent quietly reacted to the display from her own shot, as she watched the remaining two goblins suddenly turn-tail and run for the meeting room's exit back in to the heart of the building, leaving the captured office workers alone, and quite alarmed by what had just taken place.

Doll has posed:
Four to Five sets of senses on one mind was comfortable, pushing more than that? Well, she could do it, but that did mean that sometimes sensation could bleed over. Once she got over a dozen? Well, it was downright nausea inducing...

But none the less, Doll 'appears' the next floor up, a sweep down of her rifle and a drawing of her combat knife as this newest Doll launches an ambush attack on the first Goblin she sees. A slash, a stab, she was working her way through what Squires and Knights she could find...right up until one of the advanced-tech goons managed to blast that particular Doll in the back, shattering her out of existance.

Heck of a scouting run, but moments later the 'Doll Squad' errupts into the room with their weapons blazing to sweep through. They were working their way up, but well...they weren't as fast as the fliers and they couldn't 'appear' dozens of stories above their current position.

Breaching into the next room, the apparent team of identical quintuplets moves through...only to cross paths with the impressive display that was MJ's attack from the other direction, earning a grin from one of the Dolls.

"Nice!"

"Hey there, going our way?"

"C'mon, big bad at the roof!"

Getting talked at from three versions of the same person might be unnerving, but soon enough she'd be headed up to join the fight against the 'Armored Goblin'.

James Rhodes has posed:
The problem with having so many crazed Goblins running about through the various floors of the building is that it is very difficult to jump ahead, to skip any floors to try and target specific forces.

Sure, that might be quicker, but leaving an enemy at one's back is rarely a good idea, certainly not for long. Having someone come up from behind can be bad enough. Having them do that when you're busy engaging another force ahead is a good way to get a lot of people killed.

So a methodical approaching, working from the ground up and the roof down really is the best option..

But in this particular case it might not be quick enough. Of course, they do have some options on the outside of the building to try and address things. Norman Osborn might not be terribly happy about it, but that's not really a priority for James Rhodes. While he might not know the man himself, Tony surely does. And does not have the most complimentary things to say about him.

Not that his best friend is necessarily a paragon of virtue either. Though maybe that only makes the point that much more emphatically.

<<Don't be jealous Sam. My suit might not be painted hot rod red, but she's got it where it counts," he counts.

While the repulsor pads in the back of the armor bring him to an abrupt and sudden halt, he tracks another goblin flyer across the skies, another blast arcing out from his palm to blow out it's engine with a precise shot, the recoil sending his arm flying upward for just a moment from that concentrated blast of force.

With the number of flies rapidly diminishing outside OsCorp's headquarters and with Maria Hill relaying the new situation developing within, Rhodey pauses for just a moment, letting his armor's sensor suite sweep over the third floor of the building, energy and infrared heat signatures relayed to him on that HUD. <<Looks like we got a situation, Bird Boy. I'm going to pick up backup and breach the north east corner,>> he says to Falcon before abruptly dropping like a stone towards Stefani's position.

Those repulsor disks only slow his descent at the last moment and he offers a brief nod her way as he levels out just beside her. "Hope you don't mind. Falcon and I might need the assist," he says, voice coming out as a digital projection as he lifts up Quiet carefully and then streaks upward once more, racing towards the building.

While those glass windows loom right ahead, War Machine doesn't slow down and instead powers straight ahead, holding up his armored gauntlet at the last minute, blowing out those windows just before they reach.

He slows only long enough to deposit Stefani just inside the third floor, to give her a chance to find a new position. Then he launches himself to the huge Goblin and the prizes it seems to have gathered from the breached vault.

Maria Hill has posed:
The whole of Oscorp tower seems like a battleground. Goblin Squires, equipped with makeshift weapons, attempt to hold their ground against the advancing SHIELD teams. Mary Jane Watson, leading her unit, dispatches them with efficiency, using a combination of her photonic blade and ICER to subdue the wannabe goblins.

Bart Allen's rapid movements create confusion among the goblins. He swiftly removes hostages, each one disappearing in a blur and reappearing safely behind the police line. One goblin, bewildered by the sudden disappearance of his captives, finds himself with a makeshift mirror attached to his laser rifle, courtesy of Bart's quick thinking.

Outside, the aerial threat has been almost entirely neutralized. Stefani Houston's sniper shots have been devastatingly effective. Her next shot targets another goblin in a meeting room, the high-caliber round shattering the window and dropping him instantly. The remaining goblins flee the room, abandoning their hostages in terror.

On the rooftop, Wiccan's spell continues to take effect. Most of the Goblins inside the building have begun to move erratically, perceiving themselves trapped in a labyrinth. Those monitoring the situation from outside can see the goblins stumbling, seemingly blocked by invisible walls.

Rick takes a risky but calculated approach, using an elevator to reach the third floor and launching flashbangs before bursting through the doors. The resulting chaos disorients the goblin closest, providing an opening for him to attack and clear the lift.

Maria Hill stands at the command center, coordinating the efforts. Responding to Agent Watson's query, she says,

<< "We're not sure what they're after yet. We're running image recognition on what they stole from the vault against known schematics, but nothing specific has come up so far. Keep pushing forward; we need to secure the hostages and neutralize the threat." >>

Those agents who have arrived on the third floor are soon faced with the Elite Goblin Knight, a hulking figure as large as War Machine in his own variety of advanced armor. He's just outside that vault, lumbering his way towards one of the windows before War Machine and his passenger burst through.

For whatever reason -- whether it was the armor, the transformation, or perhaps the pure madness that comes with the amount of Goblin Formula he must have ingested -- he seems unaffected by Wiccan's labyrinth spell, though the same cannot be said for the three Knights that surround him. They were obviously there to be his escort, and though each seems frantic to rejoin the fight, they each seem equally as confused about how to get there... even though there's nothing in their way.

As War Machine launches at him, he manages to move the piece of equipment he holds -- a series of tubes all connected in a four-foot-long contraption that glows with a faint blue light -- out of the way just in time. Swinging out out to the side, but still very firmly in his grasp, he takes the hit squarely in the chest and soars backwards, the two of them driven into heavy door of the vault with an ear-splitting crash of metal.

The device almost falls from his grip, but the Elite Knight, dazed from the hit, gets his free arm around Rhodey, then proceeds to knee him and grab him, trying to throw him off to the side to free himself. He will fight who he has to, but his ultimate goal is obviously not to make his last stand here. At the first opportunity, he tucks that device and tries to make another break for the window.

Billy Kaplan has posed:
    Wiccan glides down the fire stairs at high speed and pushes out of the stairwell at the penthouse floor. A wide blue disc of energy appears in front of him just in time to catch the hail of gunfire coming toward him and the agents tagging along. With a yelp, the young wizard dives *back* into the stairwell and magic-yoinks the SHIELD folks into cover with him. "Surprises are great sometimes, but... not today," he complains to them.
    He considers all this as quickly as he can, mumbling a bit to himself while he weighs a variety of options. "You know," he tells the agents, "it would help if everyone on our side had... ~Goblin radar~!"
    Another ripple of magic, accompanied by that eerie echo of the incantation, sweeps over the site. Friendly combatants affected by it find their vision augmented: The opposing Goblin forces appears illuminated in red. Through smoke. Through walls. Through the floors. Closer subjects are brighter, while farther enemies are unmarked, to keep the view from getting cluttered. << Got that idea from one of Hulkling's video games, >> he jokes.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
The breach squad that Mary Jane is on has managed to breach up for the third floor as two other squads are hitting the opposite end <<Got it. No luck grabbing anyone from Oscorp that's on lockdown to give it to us?>> Mary Jane had always had a sense that OScorp -wasn't- quite on the up and up. So if this gave SHIELD a reason to investigate them to see what they were doing, she definitely wouldn't mind. But she didn't really have any justiifcation for her presumptions beyond her friends.

Then she has the trio of.. Dolls with her! She's surprised, but not off guard. "Thanks! We can't let him get away! Try and slow him down!" Keeping up and moving to attack!



Then there's the Goblin Elite (which she doesn't know the name of) that's struggling with War Machine. She has no real firearm that would make a dent. Even a squad carrying an anti-tank gun probably wouldn't. Mary Jane doesn't bother to go for her ICER as she watches the duo smash through the metal.

Then the Goblin Elite is going to race towards the window, and Mary Jane, who has just come up the emergency door slightly ahead, goes to charge in towards him to intercept. She doesn't bother to try and catch him head on - there's no way she could take it without turning into paste. Instead she goes to snap out her photonic blade, moving to slash at him from the flank..

In a move more out of Sonja's playbook, she runs wit the blade, her hands holding it to the side to build up power and momentum for her slash.. And as she goes at her opponent, staying just enough to the side to not be in direct fire if he had some rockets on him or an automatic blaster.. Her slash is aimed somewhat up as she changes angle to directly intercept. Her move is for a chess aphorism en passant.

Charging at him just to the side, blade u pand out, full speed and power, slashing with the energy weapon aimed right at the elbow, where the armor was thinner to allow for mobility..

And the blade would hopefully act as a separator. Namely separating arm..

From body.

Stefani Houston has posed:
When War Machine arrives on Stef's rooftop, across from the OsBuilding, the sniper engages the safety on her rifle, and separates herself from it. She's up off her nest rapidly, gathering up her rifle, and the Little Boss, who is quickly clipped to her utility belt. She accepts the offered ride from War Machine, and as the two launch off, she has a happy expression cross her facial features. With her pony tail whipping in the wind behind her shoulders, and her backwards cap keeping her bangs flat against her scalp, the sniper watches where they are headed, and affords a second to smile toward the War Machine. She doesn't talk, though, and anyone who knows her well would know why.

When deposited in to the building, her kind, and happy demeanor abruptly shifts. A black blotch spreads across her eyes, as her features turn to a far more serious state. Stef's boots crunch on broken glass, as she rushes in to the building, one hand drawing a handgun from her thigh holster, while the other pulls a large black bladed combat knife from a nylon sheath upon her web belt.

Spotted by a pair of the goblin knights, Stef ducks behind cover, as they rush at her. When they jump around her cover, to confront her, she's... gone. The two goblin knights are left bewildered at where the Human woman had just vanished to. She'd been there literal seconds ago.

As they start to step forward, to search more in-depth for the missing sniper, she materializes behind them, her body phasing back in to a state of visibility, as the goblin on her left has the dark blade of her combat knife slipped in to its throat, causing a rush of blood to pour out across the creature's body. On her right, the second goblin snaps around to draw his weapon upon her, but Stefani's handgun fires off twice in to its chest, and once right up against its nose! Both goblins slump to lifeless piles upon the floor, as Stef turns to pursue where Rhodey had gone.

In the wake of that insane fight, the sniper hoists her gun up, and aims down upon the armored Major Knight. she crouches down in to a low stance, with her heavy reifle pointed at the big armored goblin's back, and with a round chambered, she squeezes the trigger to launch another massive ballistic at the back of the big fella!

Doll has posed:
Onwards and upwards, the petite squad of 'Dolls' emerges into the fray, their borrowed weapons blazing for a moment while one more 'appears' between the Goblin Knight and the window.

SHIELD gear was always high-tech and amazing, truly the sort of thing Doll could be jealous of (she definately was envious of that sword!), but the league? Well, their gear tended to be a little more nefarious!

Springing forwards, the throwing orb she hurled towards the face of the Knight shattered with some hissing, vicious acid detonation.

Did she expect it to eat through the armor? No.

But the distortion and damage it would do to optical senses may well mean she'd blind it for the other Heroes, soldiers and well...her that were facing the heavy foe.

James Rhodes has posed:
OsCorp is going to have something of a repair bill on their hands and James Rhodes isn't exactly doing his part to minimize the damage, what with his smashing through windows and driving the hulking goblinoid figure back into the heavy vault door.

Nor is the damage particularly minimized as the pair grapple at one another, trying to gain the adcantage, to put the other one out of commission on a more permanent basis.

A task that proves surprisingly difficult for the armored figure of War Machine.

Whether it is the sheer amount of chemical crude that the monster has running through him or it's own formidable armor design, Rhodey comes up against a foe that he can't just casually stomp into the ground with his superior technology, grappling at the beast, trying to overpower it and instead finding his efforts to bring his repulsor blasts into play turned aside at the last minute.

They roll, they slam each other into falls leaving massive dents in the dry wall and cracks extending along the length of the floor. As War Machine's repulsor blast is turned away at the last second once more, the blast tears through the copy room -- blowing the copy machine to about a billion pieces and sending up a blizzard of paper that slowly begins to waft through the office.

Then the Goblin manages to get just enough leverage to toss him assign, the War Machine armor -- and Rhodey within -- going slamming back into the nearest wall, crashing in a heap there.

As the Goblin makes a break for the window, apparently either intending to just make a jump for it or perhaps having a glider nearby, Rhodes lifts an armored gautlet and begins to send repulsor bursts at the ground under this feet, seeking to trip him up even as the sword-wielding redhead looks to quite literally disarm him.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     They had the foyer, and RIck had time to load a bit of a special type; depleted uranium 7.62 rounds. It was a wonder he could keep finding these, but it had provided nessecary so many times to deal with the heavily armored threats that they constantly seemed to be facing. He's chambered around, swinging out of cover... just in time to see Rhodey slam into the thing and send it back into the other room. Well, that really didn't give him a proper shot now, did it. Too fast into the ether of drywall dust, and it isn't as if he could avoid hitting friendly armor in that sort of tussle.

"Command, how valuable is that piece of technology? If they're trying to capture it, we may want to keep it out of enemy hands at a higher cost-"

The knights were still active, and Rick's team is back into cover as fire comes toward them, filling up the air with ceramic chips and yet more dry wall dust. These targets would still be a trouble for lighter rounds... but Rick at least has a full load out, and heavy rounds punch at armor for those Knights lost in a maze of their own creation. He wasn't questioning the sudden view of them highlighting in his mask; it was helpful, and how it happened was a discussion for later.

Billy Kaplan has posed:
    Upon hearing mention of an enemy trying to escape with some specific technogizmo, Wiccan throws up another shield while he runs out across the floor. A magic blast explodes the window across from him before he leaps out into the air and takes flight.
    He flings more blasts toward the exfiltrating Goblin and then, for added fun, makes a huge energy shield appear directly in his path. Maybe enough for one of the other friendlies to catch up to him?

Maria Hill has posed:
Oscorp Tower's third floor is a battlefield, the air thick with tension and the acrid scent of burnt electronics. The scene is chaotic, with broken glass, overturned furniture, and the guttural roars of goblins filling the space.

Wiccan's spell, a clever piece of arcane ingenuity, casts a blue ripple over the scene, illuminating the goblins in red. The SHIELD agents and heroes now see their enemies clearly, their movements mapped out like a video game. The SHIELD teams inside the building, still clearing goblins and working their way towards hostages, progress much more efficiently with the combination of wandering zombie-like goblins trying to escape their own mental mazes and the ability of the SHIELD agents to see them through walls.

James Rhodes, in his War Machine armor, engages the Elite Goblin Knight in a brutal grapple. A copy machine explodes into pieces, sending a blizzard of paper through the air. The Goblin Knight manages to toss Rhodes aside, sending him crashing into a wall, but Rhodey isn't out. That final repulsor blast finds its mark at the goblin's feet, sending him straight down to a knee just in time for MJ to swoop in.

Mary Jane Watson charges the Elite Goblin Knight with her photonic blade, aiming for his elbow joint. The blade cuts deep, and with a scream of pain and rage, the Goblin's arm is severed. Sparks fly, and the Knight swings the stump angrily, batting backwards at MJ as he clutches at the strange glowing device with his remaining hand.

Stefani Houston, having phased with deadly efficiency, dispatches two Goblin Knights with her knife and handgun. Blood splatters the walls as her opponents fall lifeless. Her focus shifts to the Elite Goblin Knight just as he pushes back to his feet, desperate to get to that window, and from her low stance, she lines up her shot and squeezes the trigger. The massive round strikes the Knight's back, forcing him to stumble forward as the armor splits under the impact. The device falls from his grip as his only remaining hand goes to the floor.

Throughout the building, Bart Allen is still moving at lightning speed, extracting hostages and disarming goblins before they can react. Thanks to his speed, the number of scientists in the line of fire has been reduced to almost zero.

The Doll squad emerges into the fray, their borrowed weapons blazing. One Doll appears between the Elite Goblin Knight and the window while he's still on that knee, hurling an orb towards his face. It shatters with a hissing detonation, releasing a vicious acid as the Elite Knight lets out a roar of anger and frustration as the distortion and damage it causes to his optical sensors all but blind him.

Richard's well-placed rounds take out the remaining Knights that had been prepared to serve as bodyguards the moment Wiccan's spell wore off, those rounds piercing armor and dropping them one by one.

Determined to escape, the Elite Goblin Knight makes a break for the window, clutching the device. War Machine fires repulsor bursts at the ground under the Knight's feet, trying to trip him up. The Knight stumbles, blinded by his melting mask, 'disarmed,' towards the window. And all at once, as if borrowed from the likes of Iron Man or War Machine, rockets flare from his boots, scorching the ground around him as they attempt to carry him and his prize away.

Over comms from the Command Center below, Maria Hill's voice rises again,

<< "We have no further information on that device at this time, but it was worth all of this to them. If you can't stop him from getting it, take out the device." >>

And hope it's not nuclear.

It's probably not nuclear.

Right?

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
As she goes to charge up towards the Goblin Elite, Mary Jane's blade swings true. But she's not able to inflict enough damage as the Elite is able to keep going even while juggling the item and being under fire from several agents and vigilantes. As the swung stump goes at her, it hits her hard over in the chest. It's an off-elbow swing and it doesn't strike her head on, particularly with the Elite being off-balance. So instead of taking the possible fifteen or twenty tons of force that someone with a lower dosage of the Goblin Serum can inflict, it's only more like two or three at most. It's still enough to cave in the ceramic plates of her armor, send her smashing into the concrete lined wall of the corridor, leave an impact crater on it, and have her slump down hard.

Doll has posed:
Many hands make lite work...but they don't make Doll able to fly. If the weapons she'd been given weren't enough to shoot the thing down? Well, her ability to help was limited, something notably punctuated by the pout on the faces of most of the identical girls.

Maria's call comes, but for all her training Doll wasn't 'Quiet', the shot at the device was going to have to be taken by someone else, or chased down by Sam or Rhodey!

Turning towards one of the fallen Knights, the brunette in the borrowed gear gives a sigh.

"Maaannn, we were way too good at breaking all these gliders..."

Stefani Houston has posed:
Down in her crouched position, Stefani has her rifle hoisted up, not even needing the scope to have made that shot that caused the Elite Knight to stumble. She watched Mary Jane sever its arm with a rather impressive melee weapon, and the rest of the attacks that leave the office building floor in complete ruin..

The command to take the item out that the Elite Knight was carrying is heard, but from her position she does not have a shot on it. As such, Stef begins to rise up once more, just as she hears another group of goblins making a rush in from an emergency stairwell doorway.

She snaps herself around, her rifle's long barrel aiming down on the goblins, who all get wide-eyed at the woman's presence just a few meters from the door they had just flung open. As the goblins duck back in to the hallway, Stef reaches for her web belt. She detaches an explosive cannister from her hip harness, arms it, and lobs it through the open door where it clangs off a guard rail within the stairwell, and clatters to the ground.

What follows is a series of panicked shouts, as the heavy door begins to close.

A frantic display of goblin hands, and feet, arms and legs, can be seen as they try to tackle the explosive, chaotically attempting to toss it down the stairs before it detonates.

The door shuts, muffling the goblin voices shouting at one another, barking orders on what to do, and to get out of the way of one another. A second after the door shuts with a thud, the building shakes when Stef's explosive device does its job. There is no more muffled shouts there-after, from that stairwell.

With her chin lowered, Stefani raises her rifle up, the big barrel pointed toward the sky, before she spins around, tucks her handgun back in to its holster and disappears in to a cloud of dark mist... the mist fluttering across the floor in a wave-like pattern.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     THat was enough for Rick, as he geastures his team forward. There was only one target now, and it was trying to get away. He first moved for a grenade, something of the good old fashioned lethal variety, and if it was just War Machine he was dealing with, he would have thrown it. Metal fragments wouldn't have pierced either's armor... but a device like that would be slagged.

That was before he looked, and saw Mary Jane down on the ground after the assault. "Son of a bitch." He muttered, off comms. She'd be fine, certainly, but that meant tossing explosives willy nilly was going to be problematic. That left just sustained rifle fire, weapons switched to bursts instead of single shot, sending rounds toward the goblin's general direction, and trying to reach out and smash into the device they were really hoping could take a hit.

As they moved, Rick slid over to what MJ was laying, attempting to grab her by the armor at the back of her neck, and haul her backward, into an office that at least would provide concealment, if not cover. "Got Watson. Still alive." He said, moving to reach and check around the cracked plates, then over the back of her head. "Possible concussion."

Billy Kaplan has posed:
    Wiccan watches the Goblin approaching his shield and gestures in the air. The energy field becomes pliable rather than firm, so when the fleeing enemy mook/general plows into it, the disc deforms and slops around him like a gelatinous blob. Sure, with all that Goblin-strength he could probably wriggle free eventually, but will that happen before another hero catches up to him and retrieves the dreadful macguffin?!

James Rhodes has posed:
These Goblins are really starting to annoy him. First at that bank robbery, and now here.

Picking himself up off the ground, Rhodey gives a little grunt as he gets back to his feet, the HUD in that metal helmet flashing as it goes through an array of diagnostics, showing the various bits of damage done to his armor.

--Structural Integrity at sixty-two percent. Power Levels at forty-six percent. Quadrant Four stabilization repulsors offline-- chimes the droll artificial intelligence voice in his ear as the one time Colonel gives a faint scowl of annoyance.

These Goblin's aren't lightweights, that much is for sure. They also seem to have a few surprises at their disposal. Like those rocket boosters that suddenly appear.

The repulso pads in that War Machine armor suddenly engage and propel Rhody forward unsteadily, trying to gain ground on the fleeing Goblin -- and ultimately failing. So armored gauntlets raise once more but this time bright red laser beams lance out, not at the Goblin Knight himself, but instead at those boot thrusters, shearing them completely off the bottom of those boots, leaving the man-thing to plummet downward.

Maria Hill has posed:
The cacophony of battle continues to rage within Oscorp Tower's third floor. The air is thick with the acrid scent of burnt electronics and the metallic tang of blood. Broken glass crunches underfoot, and the remnants of shattered furniture lay strewn across the floor, creating a chaotic maze of debris. The guttural roars of goblins and the clash of combat echo through the vast space, a stark contrast to the sterile, corporate setting this floor once was.

Wiccan's shield shimmers with an ethereal blue light, a stark contrast to the grim scene. The Goblin Knight crashes into it with a resounding thud, his momentum abruptly halted as if he'd slammed into an invisible wall. The impact sends a shudder through the magical barrier, but it holds firm, rippling with arcane energy. The Goblin Knight grunts in frustration, his mask distorting further under the force. His one remaining hand reflexively clutches at the empty air where his prize had been moments before, only to find it gone.

Nearby, the severed arm of the Goblin Knight lies amidst the rubble, still sparking intermittently. The Goblin Knight, disoriented and struggling to comprehend his sudden stop, roars in frustration. His fury is palpable, a mix of rage and desperation as he realizes his escape is thwarted.

The room is filled with a chorus of voices and commands. SHIELD agents shout orders, their voices mingling with the sounds of gunfire. The Goblin's armor sparks and pings, the device itself now smoking ominously, and the steady hum of War Machine's repulsors adds a rhythmic beat to the chaotic symphony. From the stairwell, there's a sudden explosion and violet shuddering of the entire floor, the voices of several Goblins suddenly silenced at once.

Mary Jane Watson, though momentarily down, is a resilient figure in the chaos. The ceramic plates of her armor are cracked, but her determination is unyielding.

The Elite Goblin Knight, now on his knees, his armor cracked and pieces falling away, makes one final push to get past the shield. His once imposing presence is diminished, reduced to a desperate, snarling mess. He glares through his cracked mask, his voice a guttural growl filled with rage and a hint of fear just as War Machine's lasers slice through the bottom of his powerful rocket boots.

His scream can be heard for the entire three story fall, as well as the impact below, where SHIELD agents on the ground immediately swarm him.

Above the din, Maria Hill's voice comes through the comms, clear and authoritative. << "Good work, everyone. Secure the area and retrieve the device for analysis. Let's get those hostages to the paramedics. We're sending up a team to evac Agent Watson. All teams, continue clearing the entire building. I want _every_ floor checked and re-checked." >>

As the smoke begins to clear and the sounds of battle fade, the scene shifts from chaos to the beginnings of order. The guttural roars of goblins are replaced by the steady, disciplined movements of SHIELD agents.

In the center of it all, the Goblin Knight remains, a symbol of the chaos that had unfolded but also of the victory won. The heroes stand victorious, the immediate threat neutralized, but the lingering sense of unease serves as a reminder that their work is far from over.