2533/New York Minute: Presbyterian to Triskelion

New York Minute: Presbyterian to Triskelion
Date of Scene:	20 July 2020
Location:	Upper Manhattan
Synopsis:	Sam Wilson was weighed, tested, and not found wanting. Autonomous drones attack Agent Wilson mid flight, but he out manoeuvred them.
Cast of Characters:	Sam Wilson, Bobbi Morse

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Sam Wilson has posed:
Korean superstar Gianna Song, who last night survived an attack at the Met by some kind of specter drawn to the Lance of Mauritius, is still SHIELD's best potential witness to the nature of that attacker. As an agent with an Avengers membership, a member of the first-response team that saved Song's life, and the proud owner of an experimental wingsuit, Sam Wilson was uniquely positioned to check up on Song and report back to the Triskelion on her status, a task that he has been dreading since the request came in for him to complete it.

It's not that he isn't proud to have helped save the woman's life, or that he doesn't understand the importance of the information, or that he minds checking in on her -- not at all. He just can't help but wish he had been fast enough, prepared enough, or just lucky enough to prevent what she suffered, both physically and in terms of the profound, debilitating change her life is about to go through.

These thoughts are weighing the the flier down, leaving him uncharacteristically somber throughout his visit and as he leaves, taking wing into the skies above Manhattan.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Nestled against a shadowed corner of a building time, a drone sits. It has drilled in through the wall and connected in to the electrical system. Reading, monitoring, learning about the nature of the hospital. The drone has affixed itself to the wall with its four legs, each with a fan for flight upon it. In the middle of its dark metal body is its central processing unit, a sphere cable of 720 degree freedom of rotation. It detects movement in the sky and its head swivels around, red eye and cameras zooming in on Sam Wilson.

*&#$ -- Threat detected, subject 1 --

The signal is sent out to the other drones spread across the city. This drone detaches itself from the hospital and its fans spin up, then it takes flight, drawing its arms in to a fixed configuration and begins to follow Sam Wilson. Soon, more drones begin to join just on the periphery of his vision, following him.

Sam Wilson has posed:
Sam is not at his best, distracted and emotionally exhausted, but he didn't earn the place he occupies in a world of super soldiers and supermen by letting himself slip, even on his worst days. The drone pursuit catches his eye, and he turns his head to register them more directly -- after all, freedom of view is not far below freedom of movement on the list of the Exo-7 flight system's advantages. His HUD rapidly registers them as targets, and he puts a quick call in to the base he's heading for.

<<Triskelion, this is Falcon. I have visual contact with pursuers -- drones, by the size. Notify Agent Morse that it looks like our test range buddies might be back, and if I don't report back in shortly, for God's sake send a rescue party.>>

He banks gracefully around a skyscraper, as if he hasn't a care in the world, and the moment he has broken line of sight, puts that freedom of movement to use with a rapid deceleration and course correction directly toward the building. A magnetic clamp, held in one hand, gives him a ready-made handhold to allow him to roost directly against the side of the building, dangling like a free climber until the drones catch up and he can get a better look.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
<<This is Triskelion Actual, reading you Agent Wilson. Keep us appraised.>>

*&#$ -- Threat probable destination: Threat nest: S>H>I>E>L>D Triskelion. Intercept --

The drones begin to spread out as more drones begin to flow out of the city. At first, there was the one, then three more had joined. Now another six flow out of the city at Sam's flanks. A drone at a higher altitude uses the gravity boost to swoop in and a metal line is fired from what appears to be a make shift harpoon gun. The metal spear tip of the harpoon flies past Sam and the drone dips low, its 'eye' turning to look up at Sam.

Ahead, another four drones fall in to formation and spread out again, creating some distance between each other. They look to be sleeker in design, while the drones following appear to be of the same design that Sam first ran in to.

<<Agent Wilson we have contacted Agent Morse, she'll be in ops momentarily.>>

Sam Wilson has posed:
Sam lunges to one side as the harpoon misses, making a sour face at the drone. <<Upgrades. Cute.>> He disengages the clamp in an instant and drops, letting the friction of his boots against the metal rib of the building turn him horizontal, then leaps away from the sheer wall and into a fully airborne dive. His wings fold into an aerodynamic delta behind him as he accelerates toward terminal velocity, then abruptly spread and sweep him level again, but moving at a breakneck pace along a much lower altitude. With any luck, he dove out of the droneswarm, but he's not going to rely on moves alone.

He rolls through a full 180, hands slapping down to his side to grab at his folding, reconfigurable weapons. SHIELD has seen to some upgrades since his experiences at Bobbi's flight test and the Stark Tower incident; these arc weapons won't throw full-on lightning voltages, but they blast plenty enough wild electricity to incinerate the circuits on a machine this size. Or at least, he's hoping so. Their slightly unpredictable cone of effect is garbage for aim, but the electrical blasts' tendency to leap from conductive object to conductive object should give them some crowd control capability against metal opponents.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Several of the drones shoot past Sam as he takes a rapid drive down. The newer drones spread out in beautiful curves and turn to chase after him. From behind a building emerges another drone with a mini gun mounted on its top. It begins to fire a hail of bullets that skim across the glass of the building next to it. Glass explodes and starts to fall down to the foot walk below and people inside the building start running for cover.

The arc lance strikes a drone true and dances off to another of the older models that's a little too close. They wobble in the sky and lose power and also start to fall down to the foot path below.

*&#$ -- Threat subject 1 upgraded, reinforce with THUD 1 --

The four sleeker drones fly past it each and connect up a tether. As they spread out again they present a large metal net and begin to fly toward Sam from behind. The remaining five older style drones turn about in the air like a flock of birds. One presents a flame thrower, another a welding torch that is lit, another draws its harpoon line back up and reloads for another shot, while the other two fly interferences in front of the three.

<<Sam this is Bobbi, we're trying to get you on visual.>>

Sam Wilson has posed:
<<Look for the giant airborne fishnet in the middle of the Manhattan skyline,>> Sam answers, making dumb jokes even as he's fighting for his life. He inverts again to keep his wings between him and the minigun -- partial cover is better than none at all -- and finds himself skimming along the surface of another building. He tucks his legs and fires main thrust, physically running along the side of the building before leaping away again, feet whipping around as he spins in place and fires, the arc blast sweeping 180 degrees through the glass canyon for maximum area damage. He needs to get their numbers down FAST if he's going to stand a chance.

He remains in the spin for a beat and a half longer, then jets away along an unpredictable vector, hoping to evade the clutches of that net and the range of the flame-based weapons. Folding away one held weapon, he arms his wrist launcher and sends three missiles roaring back along his angle of escape to discourage further pursuit. They're set to detonate on target proximity, not impact, again to maximize the area he's controlling rather than rely on the precision that's impossible during these kinds of maneuvers.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
The four sleeker drones dip and dive gracefully as Sam starts taking evasive action again. They swing around for another pass. The two lead drones take the brunt of the arc and crash in to the side of the building as the three behind them separate out a little farther.

<<We have you on visual. Sam there's a ~ incom Hobb (talk)>>

*&#$ -- Threat communication with nest blocked --

Above another drone flies with a dish where its eye would otherwise be, pointed directly at Sam. It isn't trying to engage him, in fact, it seems to be trying to stay out of range so that it can keep a direct line on him with its communication disruptor. <<Big! S~~ copy?>>

Police on the street are shielding their eyes as they look up at the battle raging above them. Some police cars are screaming down the street trying to clear the area of pedestrians and cars. The first to detect the larger drone is Sam's HUD though. The design is sleek like the four trying to net him but it is easily five times bigger than Sam himself. Dark foreboding metal, it has superior construction. It has a fixed chassis with four fans, but at its back is a jet and it has wings poking out from its sides. Two mini-guns on each wing, and four missiles dangle from it. But worse still, a glowing point on its top indicates some kind of energy weapon powering up.

The three missiles fired back detonate and two of the pursuing drones explode in to shards of metal that fall down toward the road. The third sustains damage and begins to lose altitude with small sparks flying from its fourth fan.

Sam Wilson has posed:
A partial hit that takes a hostile out of the fight is plenty good enough for him today, but the lack of C+C is going to put him at a major disadvantage.

In the moment's lull as the energy weapon powers up, Sam takes two countermeasures to reestablish contact: first, another missile, fired directly at that dish-drone; second, he launches Redwing (the drone) in comms relay mode. It will avoid contact with enemies, maintain line-of-sight communications with Sam, and hopefully stay distant enough to keep out of any RF jamming clouds that capture its master.

Looking up at the mega-drone with grim humor, Sam mutters, "Where's a flock of geese when you need one?" New plan time! Sam cuts thrust, swings around, and rockets back along his own vector, toward the metal net instead of away from it. If he's closer to the small drones, maybe the big one will hold its fire, like the Death Star trench guns avoiding shooting at Darth Vader. Or, hey, maybe it'll thin the crowd a little bit? He wouldn't complain.

But most importantly, as soon as it's in range, he's going to fire his arc weapon again, directly into the net. Those cables look tough -- but also conductive. Multiple birds, one bolt of lightning? A man can hope.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
The drone above with its dish directed at Sam turns and tracks. As the missile is fired up toward it, it tries to dive out of the way, breaking its line with Sam briefly as Redwing takes flight. The missile explodes and the drone re-establishes its block on Sam. However, Redwing reconnects Sam back to the Triskelion as it moves out of the way.

*&#$ -- Threat detected, subject 4 --

<<77 megawatts. Sam are you reading? there is another drone approaching with heavy armaments and a 77 megawatt beam weapon. Screw this send out a general alert, whoever is available (quieter: yes ma'am)>>

The big drone lets loose a wicked red beam that completely misses Sam as it was aimed at where he was going. It cuts through the corner of a building. The beam makes a loud HRRNNN sound before its discharge is complete and the little red light begins to power back up again.

The four sleek drones with the net round on Sam as he starts approaching them. His arc shot hitting the net with ease and the electricity shoots up through all four drones at once. They barrel in to him, the net wrapping about Sam as each drone loses power and they swing about wildly like four mid-air bola's. Their speed and weight setting a new trajectory: down.

Sam Wilson has posed:
<<Less worried about the 77 megawatts than the 9.8 meters per second squared, right now,>> Sam says through gritted teeth. Ah, gravity: his oldest nemesis. The net is tangling and the drones are dragging and he needs to get out /this instant/ if he doesn't want to end up the most highly decorated pancake on the SHIELD payroll.

The potential for tangling is always a concern with wing suits, and a specific countermeasure was built into the Exo-7; the articulated metal pinions that form the bulk of the wings' control surfaces have some quite sharp angles to them, and sweeping back and forth against each other, can act like many pairs of titanium-alloy scissors lining the rear edge of the wings. Curling them to maximize this cutting edge and setting them to Cuisinart mode will deal with a lot of tangling factors, but these are metal cables we're talking about. Will It Blend? Your life may depend on it.

Meanwhile, he's using thrust to slow his fall as much as he can, and trying to physically wriggle his way out of the trap. On the plus side, plummeting toward his death like this makes it look like he's plummeting toward his death! Why bother wasting ammo? Right, giant drone? Riiiiiight?

Bobbi Morse has posed:
The metal netting and the dead weight of the four drones pins the wings against Sam briefly before he puts extra power in to it and starts thrusting against the down force. It really slows his ascent down though until the wings serrate their way through that metal netting and he is launched free of it.

Sam's HUD registers two side winders fired from the big drone coming down both sides of the street. They are locked on him. The drone with the dish turns sharply and swoops for a suicide interception with Redwing, though Redwing is far more adept at flight than these drones. They may be native to the air but they're still new to aerial combat. It misses its mark wide and levels back out, turning around to attempt another pass.

Sam Wilson has posed:
Aw, hell. Sidewinders are obscenely fast and destructive as hell, and he's in the middle of the continent's most concentrated population center. Sam barely has time to consciously register the 'incoming' alert before he is instinctively leaping onto a new vector, jetting straight toward where Redwing and the jammer drone are jockeying for position. This should get Redwing to retreat from the fight, keeping its distance, but what he realizes he really hopes (once he's halfway there) is that he can arrange for a little friendly fire.

He cuts down the side street toward the attempted drone-on-drone violence; the corner should at least slow the AIM-9s. The moment he's in range, he fires his rescue tether at the jammer drone. If he shot really well, he might entangle it; if less well, at least the magnetic clamps might latch on. Either way he's going to winch the drone toward him at maximum speed, increasing his leverage as much as he can, and try to slingshot the thing behind him and into the sidewinders.

This maneuver, it should go without saying, is /insane./

Bobbi Morse has posed:
HRRRRRNNNNN the laser cuts across the top of the building Sam just ducked behind. The big pew pew beam starts to power up again. One missile banks up in to the sky and loops back around while the other turns down the side street after him. The move to hook the jamming drone, a true hail mary, is stuff of epic legend and it is caught on camera by people holding up cell phones recording the battle in the sky.

The drone is swung around and launched at full speed in to one of the side winder missiles. The shock wave shatters more glass and makes the gravel on several roof tops bounce a few centimetres off resting. The big drone strafes to the side as it locks on to Sam again and its twin mini-guns spin up. Between the trajectory of the bullets and the second side winder missile, Sam is running out of amazing spider-man like options. The beam weapon is, thankfully, charging for the moment.

The second set of side winders detach from the wings and fire their jets and start to rocket toward Sam, spreading out to left and right again.

The connection to the Triskelion goes full bandwidth again and Sam can see two quinjets incoming, mere seconds away. <<Reinforcements almost there Sam, stay out of that beams arc!>>

Sam Wilson has posed:
The midair detonation sends Sam tumbling backward ass over teakettle, the suit struggling to level him off. Finally he regains control, flinging his wings wide just in time to swoop what feels like mere inches over the lights of a squad car barreling in the opposite direction. Maximum thrust and lift gets him back at altitude as quickly as possible, panting from the adrenaline of the close call.

The incoming alerts are all blending together at this point. What's three when you've already got one? And what the hell can he do about any of them?

One idea does occur, long shot though it might be. Missile countermeasures come in a few basic forms: one of the cheapest and most popular is chaff, a big cloud of little reflective particles that look tempting and confuse the targeting systems of guided munitions. The Exo-7 is not loaded with chaff for some damn reason he doesn't have time to contemplate before he dies. But chaff can be basically anything; that's why it's so cheap.

So Sam rockets back up to the roofline and starts blasting toward the megadrone, completely in defiance of sense and those very sensible orders. As the nearest incoming alert gets faster, faster, terrifyingly fast, he dips toward the roof he's crossing over and digs the edge of one wing into it, slowing him badly but also kicking up a /massive/ plume of tar and gravel. He'll repeat this process as many times as he survives it, all the while watching for the telltale burning ember of a megablaster ready to fire, at which point he'll just have to duck behind a watertower or dive below the roofline and hope for the best.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Sam swoops close enough to a police car that he can hear one of the officers saying, "Holy SHI~" as he zooms past. With wing tip ruffing up the roof top to create the chaff, well, attempt, and then a second hail mary trying to hide behind the water tower on the roof top. Time truly has run out for Sam. Missiles and beam weapon converge on him: HRRRNNNNN.

The explosion is immense.. but somehow doesn't hit Sam except for the shockwaves. The gravel and dust filling the air obscures the resolution briefly - one large red beam of energy hits another amidst a blur of blue. A quinjet does a rapid turn as it levels with the building top and the local chatter <! FOX TROT 1, FOX TROT 2 !> ...missiles fire from the quinjet at the big drone and hit it in two of its fans.

The big drone starts to lower in the air and but turns to the first quinjet and its mini-guns spin up again. The blue blur moves in front of the bullets, a big emboldened red \S/ upon her chest and a flowing red cape. The blonde Kryptonian blocks the bullets as from behind the big drone a second quinjet turns around a corner, <! FOX TROT 1, FOX TROT 2 !> two more missiles fire out of the second quinjet and take out the other two fans holding the drone in place. It starts to fall from the sky and Supergirl flies underneath it, catching it. She turns it so its guns are facing up in the air. Its jet starts to sputter as it tries to rocket away from her, but cannot. Its power cuts out not too long after and smoke starts to pour out of its chassis.

*&#$ -- Threats 1-2-3-4 merged.
-- Threat 1 upgraded S>H>I>E>L>D
-- Capabilities: Quinjets, anti-beam superheroes, devising new strategy

Supergirl smiles down at Sam and places the drone down on the roof top he's standing on, "That was some fancy flying there!" She gives a waving salute to the two quinjets as they start to circle the building slowly. "DEO heard the SOS and I came as soon as I could," she says and walks over to Sam, "Are you alright?"

<<Sam! Are you alright? All I see is dust... waiting for the image to clear.>>

Sam Wilson has posed:
<<Just got my pride, Bobbi. Just my pride,>> Sam quickly answers. He doesn't want her to worry, but he mutes his mic as he crunches through gravel to greet his rescuer. His wings groan and shudder slightly as he folds them away, battered as they have been over the past harrowing minutes. "Well, you can tell the DEO from me that I owe them one," he says, extending a hand to Supergirl. "Sam Wilson, Avengers, SHIELD. And thanks, seriously -- you really saved my butt. I guess fancy flying can only get you so far."

He stoops and peers at the megadrone, wondering for a moment if that's really what it is. "Sure would be nice to find a pilot in there," he comments. "Whoever's building these things is really upping their game with each new generation."

Bobbi Morse has posed:
One of the quinjets hovers over the drone and launches grapples down on to it. With a groan from its battered metal the dead drone is slowly lifted in to the air.

At the question, Supergirl turns and looks inside the drone, "No pilot in there, at least not a biological one." She smiles to him and accepts his hand, "Supergirl, a pleasure to meet you Sam Wilson. An Avenger, say hi to Tony from me. He's a nice guy. Well, I need to get going, it looks like your SHIELD friends have got this."

Down in the streets SHIELD SUVs start to turn up and agents pour out, securing the pieces of drones that fell to the ground. Supergirl smiles once more to Sam and then leaps up in to the air and flies away.


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