6076/The Framework: Descent Into Hell

The Framework: Descent Into Hell
Date of Scene:	11 May 2021
Location:	The Sphere (Bunker BT-0), Deep Beneath Manhattan
Synopsis:	Acting on intel gleaned from a former HYDRA operative in Russia, a small SHIELD team attempts to re-enter the Sphere and neutralize its defenses. It doesn't go nearly as smoothly as they'd hoped.
Cast of Characters:	Melinda May, Bobbi Morse, Carol Danvers, Peggy Carter
Tinyplot:	The Framework

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Melinda May has posed:
The Sphere is an abandoned AIM base so deep beneath Manhattan that the lowest of the city's oldest infrastructure is *above* it. Beneath all of it, carved out of basalt rock, is a maze of passages that would be all too easy for the unprepared to get lost in. But this isn't the first time SHIELD has been here. The last time they were there, they encountered giant robot bugs and poison gas. So, this time, May has put together a special STRIKE team to handle the challenges ahead. They come bearing firepower -- environmentally sealed power-armor and heavy weapons are key for those without their own natural protection.


A heavily reinforced door sits at the end of a long passageway signalling the end of their journey... and the start of their mission. The door is more of a hatch, a pressurized seal like one might find on a submarine and when opened allows the team to enter a cavernous chamber that is almost sphere-like, though cut off at both top and bottom leaving both bottom floor and high roof flat. Various levels run in rings about the room, rising upward towards that roof -- perhaps a dozen in all -- open at the center and blocked off only by railings. Walkways criss-cross that vast gulf. A thick spire rises up in the very center of the chamber -- what looks to be an elevator perhaps.

The hatchway opens up close to the middle level of the sphere. The walls appear to be lined with a variety of dated computer equipment. At various points on the different levels, corridors are cut into the rock, passages disappearing into shadowed darkness leading away from this central hub.

Nothing stirs, no lights beyond what they bring offer any illumination and if the equipment they can see works, it certainly gives no sign of it. It is eerily quiet. Just like it was the first time they entered this space.

"Look alive, people," May says over comms, an exoskeleton over her black tac suit and a helmet with a rebreather on her head. She carries a heavy plasma rifle in her hands. "It might look quiet now, but it won't before we're done." She gestures for them to fan out along the catwalk. "Stay in pairs. Watch each other's backs. First we clear out any surprises. *Then* we'll look at securing this place for an investigative team to move in."


                Special thanks to Leopold Fitz for the setting                
              and snatches of description throughout this scene.              

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Bobbi appreciates the big plasma rifle that May organised for this mission. She has on a mask with a rebreather because last time, she was the fool who went down in to the poisonous gas to shut off the power. That was not a fun day. "Try not to damage anything computery looking. It's all dated to hell but somewhere in this base may be the holygrail of info dumps on what HYDRA is up to," she says hoping the investigation team will have something left to investigate.

    With a pull of a bolt action the chemical battery slides in to place and her plasma rifle powers, "But also don't take anything for granted. Last time we were here.. we almost all died." There's no mirth to those words, it was a simple statement of fact.

    She looks to the team and says, "Who wants to pair up with me?" There's a smile behind the plexiglass shielding her face as she rests the rifle against her shoulder and steps in to the entrance area of The Sphere. A small involuntary shudder passes through her body as she remembers the last time they were here in vivid detail.

Carol Danvers has posed:
Carol is taking the mission seriously. She offered to ride shotgun on this operation due to the severity of the threat encountered in the first foray. Because hearing about giant robot bugs and poison gas was enough to make her take the threat to her friends and fellow agents serious.

She has her fancy suit sealed up, it does that funny mohawky thing with her hair too as the visor and helm closes completely over.

Over comms. <<No one is dying today Morse.>> she sounds pretty confident about it too. Glancing around. <<I should go with someone who can identify what is most important to extract or not destroy....>> which is Carol's nice way of admitting she isn't the best spy in SHIELD and especially of the four of them down here right now. Far. Far. Far from the best.

Hell she pretty much caved the Red Room Base in without getting the intel, thank apple pie that Rodgers was there too in the room.

Peggy Carter has posed:
While she's Chief, so she hasn't been out in the field much lately, Peggy still has a lot of personal skin in this game. If they were going back, she was coming. She's got her own suit and rebreather, taking every precaution necessary, as well as a heavy ICER rifle and a few lighter, faster weapons just in case they are needed. Remembering the last time, she's got half a dozen little EMP grenades across her belt as well, hanging secured on the side of her hip. Just in case. She's not calling the shots on this one, May was the head of STRIKE and she's just an agent for this run, so she nods curtly to May's words. <<Hard to forget when an entire secret base tries to kill you once already. We'll keep eyes open, Commander.>> There is a hint of a rueful grin behind the tone of her words over her comm.

<<You're with Bobbi then, Carol. She was the deepest in here the last time we were present. I'll watch May's back. I'm still not... the most technologically savvy myself. At least I figured out what the Google was, finally.>> Peggy surely is joking about that, right? But her voice is deadpan as she creeps deeper into the tunnels, carefully piecing off to follow in a bit closer to May's back.

Melinda May has posed:
Yes. EMP grenades are pretty much standard issue on this mission. EMP grenades, power armor, and heavy rifles. No question. May has her own collection of the grenades on a bandolier. "You can fly," she tells Carol and Bobbi. "You head up. See if you can find the command center. We'll head down. With luck, the damage we did last time won't have been repaired and we won't encounter the same level of resistance." She doubts they'll be that lucky. With the automatic defenses they encountered last time, May's willing to bet there are little nano repair robots or something hidden in the walls that fixed it all.

"Regardless, Peggy and I will head for the power center. See if we can sever the recharge stations and disable to power to the auto defenses." She moves slowly toward a rail and looks out to the central spire that rises through the center of the space. "That looks like a lift shaft in the center. We'll need to make sure it's clear, too. She looks back to Morse and Danvers. "Can you do that on your way up?" They've got the extra firepower she and Peggy lack.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    "I love it when your hair does that thing Danvers," she says of the mohawk. It's very cool. Bobbi pauses to contemplate just how cool everyone she works with is. Even their nerdiest hacker trope is cool with superpowers. A small nod to herself and she is walking again.

    With a glance in her goggles her lazy cloak snaps to life forming in to the shape of wings with an alien purple glow. She lifts up and nods to Carol, "I'll cut you off right now, if it's a question of who can fly better - you win. Every time in every category."

    "But also.. this place was operational in your time, so, welcome home?," she teases with a grin and then glances up at the upper half of the sphere and steps out over the ledge and flies over toward the central shaft. "Would you like to crack this open Danvers. Let's see what AIM left us inside." She levels her plasma rifle roughly to the wall of the spire to cover her in case something horrible wakes up.

Carol Danvers has posed:
Carol peers up for a moment, no she can't see herself, yes she has seen it in a mirror. <<Well I am glad you think it looks good. The internet is scathing...>> pause <<Pro-tip do not google yourself when you are a public superhero.. it is a rathole you may never climb back out of.>>

<<Pretty sure we can clear the lift and check up. I do love the flying missions. This is all automated right?>> she says dryly, it is dry sass, from the French region of Sass. American sass is just Sarcasm.

She glances over at Bobbi and grins as she walks along with her to the edge. <<The wing suit is pretty cool though.... hey.. man ageism in the work place. Just because I'm older than you... not like I am old enough to be your mother. So careful or I'll tell Steve.>>

She lifts off with a bit of cosmic energy glow around her and moves nimbly through the air, hmmmming danger zone very softly to herself, until she comes to a stop to hover by the central shaft. She looks it over carefully and then moves in and shifts to get a grip and well Bobbi did say crack it open so she looks to open it up and see what might be inside.

Peggy Carter has posed:
"When's the last time we were lucky?" Peggy deadpans to May, a slightly teasing nature to her smirk beneath that cleae face plate of her helmet. "We're rarely lucky. We ARE more prepared this time. It'll be fine." She then looks back to the other two and gives them a respectful, warm nod. "See you both on the flip side. Be safe up there. And remember, some of us can't fly *at all*." She teases Bobbi with a wink before turning back to start the descent with May.

"Might not be able to fly, but we *can* repel. It'll be a hell of a lot faster and we might even be able to take out something on our way down." Peggy reaches over, hooking her line into two different places -- the railing on the level where they are now, and then swinging a second hook over to the central spire that runs up and down, just in case someone would take out the rail. It's good to have redundancies. Once she's hooked in, she looks over to make certain May is with her and her own ropes are solid, before Peggy swings a leg up and over. She's not done this for a while, but she clearly has comfort with the pulley drop, smoothly swinging over to the central spire and staring her quick descent. She's watching for any lazers, clear cameras, reflective watching surfaces as they go. She doubts this will be near so easy as it feels.

<<Oh god, I never even thought of *googling* myself. I... don't think I want to know. Is it pornographic or just conspiracy theories? Wait. Don't answer that.>> Peggy quips into the comms as she begins that drop. At least they were still working even as they got out of farther range with each other. Then that thought pauses her. <<Wait. At least answer something. I remember our comms started dying the deeper in we went last time. You two stay in touch...>>

Melinda May has posed:
May pauses on the deck to place a small radio repeater, with the hope it will help them with the whole fading comms thing. Though, if they start throwing EMPs around, it may not matter. Their equipment might be hardened against such things, but the energy interference could still play merry hell with the transmissions.

She also has NO intention of EVER googling herself. Especially after the whole Deathwing thing. Not, mind, that there should be a lot of mention of Melinda May on the internet, given she's never actually had cause to attract the interest the others have -- she's never been the public face of SHIELD, nor a superhero/vigilante. Except for Deathwing. Which was a bad, bad idea she will not willingly repeat.

Nevertheless, repelling works for May. She follows Peggy's lead, slinging lines and tying them off.

The central spire is, as suspected, a lift shaft. It contains power conduits, networking cables of various sorts, and cabling for a pair of elevators -- one parked at the bottom, and one at the top. So breaking open that shaft means there's a lot of sparks and that it will need to be repaired before the elevators are used again. But that's not really an issue for SHIELD.

Nevertheless, slicing into the shaft also means that a faint hum starts up through the wires. Little blue and red lights wink on throughout the base as the central processing unit, wherever it may be, slowly wakes up. There's a hiss. Suit sensors begin to register atmospheric perturbations as gas leaks into the space. Interestingly enough, however... it's not registering as toxic. At least, not in the same way it did before.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    "Next Peggy will learn what 'shipping' means and she'll really want to avoid googling that...," she quips and grins to Carol. "Well, ignore the haters on the internet Danvers, the mo is fantastic. Your whole everything is fantastic." There's a small nod and she says, "Affirmative Chief, comms blackout happened when the computers and machines woke up. A part of me is afraid that Danvers will power the whole base to life just by being here.. but we blew those batteries up good and proper."

    This is a team of overachievers. But that describes most of SHIELD. "By the way May, I got feedback from some junior agents. They really enjoy your training in the dojo. They didn't know I was listening - so there you go. Not that that's changed any. I remember the first time I was in one of your classes. I thought I was theeee shit," she says with a reminiscing grin, "point being, you're perfect as Commander of STRIKE."

    Her finger rests on the trigger and her grip focuses as Carol opens up the spire. Her night vision and EM vision goggles overlay sweeps over the room and she advances in. "I've googled myself. Doctor Barbara Morse.. what you'd expect, a little about my PhD thesis and honors as a doctor and the social front I keep up with Hunter. Mockingbird.. rare spottings, photos, videos. I think my favourite is the one where someone captured me smashing through a 4th story window on to the top of a giant robot. If I were ever to do a Mockingbird promo.. I'd lead with that. But I didn't have the wings back then," she says as her gun sight sweeps around the shaft and she looks doooown to the bottom where one of the elevators is.. then uuup to the other. "May do you want this elevator operation? it looks like it needs some repairs."

    When the gas alerts pop up on her goggles she says quickly, "Heads up everyone, the base is putting out a gas again.. I can see EM activity, it's waking up. Brace for something out landishly over budget that AIM should never have been messing with..."

Carol Danvers has posed:
<<It is the internet. It is equal parts porn, conspiracy theories, and mansplaining as far as I can tell.>> which technically isn't disobedience, Peggy did say to answer something after all. <<I mean some of the fanfic on the net isn't half bad to be honest>>. Rat hole. So deep.

The humm of everything slowly coming to life though after she cracks open the central shaft makes Carol go hmmm over the comms. She lifts her left hand and taps on a holographic display. <<Thought you said the gas was poison?>> as she tells the suit to run an environmental analysis. <<Also definitely expect company now>> a glance to Bobbi <<Did you want to go up now or cut the power and network lines first?>> she won't do more damage to it than she did cracking it open without an all clear on if they need the lift or the systems.

She does though turn slowly and look for ridiculously expensive hardware that may be coming at them lethally while her suit works on that analysis.

Peggy Carter has posed:
Dropping smoothly, Peggy's just a bit ahead of May as she trusts the woman to watch below her as Peggy watches above her. It's like the usual version of watching each other's backs, but up and down instead of horizontally. As she feels the power starting to go through the shaft, she gets ready to release that rope just in case, but these robes are specifically NOT conductive in any way just for that reason. Pure, heavily woven hemp and nothing else. <<That does sound like the internet. Such a... marvelou resource that everyone uses for sexual activity and cats.>> She then pauses. <<Wait...what is... 'Fan fic'?'>> She might regret this later. But the more light banter on a mission, the more nerves lay below the surface. It's nerve wracking being down here again.

When she finally sets boots down on the base floor, she frowns as the gas starts. Her eyes drop to the analysis on her little read out from the back of her wrist on the suit. <<Definitely gas but... it's not reading as toxic to my suit either, Danvers. Strange.>> She draws her rifle up, back towards the spire since nothing can seeminging jump out of it, but she's definitely expecting some sort of attack from other areas of the base floor.

Melinda May has posed:
"<<If either of you break Carter's brain with the internet, I will personally make sure you feel every single drop of the same horror. Don't think I can't.>>" May warns them. She remembers how her evil twin did that. And she understands now, that her evil twin was able to do it because of the power they now share -- that they didn't then. Still, there's a certain undercurrent to her tone that suggests the ghost of amusement haunting her words. Fanfic isn't her thing. But she's seen the memes.

That the trainees actually enjoy her punishing training sessions is news. She arches a brow faintly at that, but doesn't comment. "<<We'll only need it operational if we need to sling something up from the bottom and can't bring in any of Stark's repulsor lifts. I'm not willing to trust a tin can in tube made by AIM until the rest of this fishbowl is locked down. Are you?>>"

The gas has a mix of sedative and an unusual sodium pentothol derivative in it. Of course, that's why they brought filters and rebreathers... though they thought they were going to be filtering a different set of toxins.

As she and Peggy drop further into the blackness, May tosses another repeater onto a deck about halfway down. She lands a moment after Peggy and unslings her own rifle, turning on night vision and IR readings on her helmet. "<<We're heading for the power core. Gonna make sure the shit you blew up last time stayed blown up.>>"

As more and more of those little lights wink on, it's very difficult not to feel like a thousand eyes are watching laser targets dance across their backs. May looks around quickly, not at all liking the sensation.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Bobbi was about to bring up 'slash fic' to round out the fan fic and shipping conversation, but May's warning is on point. May has to suffer whatever emotional horror Peggy might go through just due to proximity right now. She shakes her head to Carol and says, "It's best we touch as little as possible until we understand this place better. Let's head up and see if we can't find that control room." To May she responds, "Not so much no, our own lifts will be much safer."

    She starts to rise up, not terribly fast - she doesn't want any surprises. Anti-intruder seems to be this entire base's shtick. "What is the composition of the gas, if it's not the toxins from last time?," she asks those with the ability to analyse the stuff.

    Reaching the top, Bobbi slings her plasma rifle over her shoulders and grips the double doors for the lift at the top. "Cover me," she instructs Danvers and then puts her super strength in to action, forcing the rusted groaning metal to part and open up to one of the upper floors where the elevator shaft ends. "We're at the top - radio check, can you still hear us down there?"

Carol Danvers has posed:
<<I am not breaking anything with the internet. I'm not the hacker or computer prodigy.>> oh so innocent in tone. <<Also there is the old saying, misery loves company. It isn't like I am telling steve to google fanfic about himself or anything.>>

<<Okay let us know if you need anything. As Morse says heading up>> with that Carol starts to hover on up, moving at Bobbi's speed, if only a tiny bit faster so she eats any incoming fire first really. <<It seems to be sedatives and sodium penthothol of all things.. well some sort of derivative really. Not really toxic.>>



There is a quirk of a smile as she covers Bobbi and her showing off her new super strength. She is ready to blast any robot bugs or anything else that comes at them though.

Peggy Carter has posed:
A shiver cuts through Peggy's shoulders as more lights start to wink on. She hates this place. It's like being at the bottom of a mine -- an incredibly lethal mine. <<Many things have tried to break my brain, I doubt the internet will do it, but... I also know when to stop asking questions.>> About this, at least. She takes in an uncertain breath and frowns at her monitors. <<...Truth serum? Or... some gaseous version of what we were trying to use as a truth serum back in the 60s and 70s. That's Sodium penthothol.>> That's an incredibly strange mix of things to be coming through the air. <<Are they trying to interrogate us with robots?>> She's not totally joking about that. It's an unnerving possibility compared to some experiments the government has considered in the past.

Then the question comes across the comms and Peggy chirps out thankfully, <<Looks like May's repeaters are working, you're coming through loud and clear, Morse. Some good news, for once.>>

Melinda May has posed:
"<<May not be interrogation...>>" May says. "<<Truth serum also makes you highly suggestible. AIM is essentially HYDRA, right? Unconscious and suggestible sounds like the foundation of a brainwashing program to me.>>"

Inside the lift itself is nothing but an elevator that looks like something out of Portal... but in a weird 80's sort of way. There are a trio of skeletons in it, mind, wearing lab coats with the AIM logo on the breast.

But as May and Peggy move deeper into the belly of the beast, so to speak, further systems come online. There's a brilliant flash of white light that ripples and strobes all through the station. Then, a series of laser weapons come online, similar to the discharges from the centipedes the last time they were here. A barage of plasma takes aim at all four agents.

"Sonuva!" May dodges behind a bulkhead, looking to see just where the fire is coming from to return fire. There's the sound of rattling and hissing, however, which pulls her attention to the side corridors. "Shit."

Up near the roof, dark spheres descend, uncoiling to spiral down and drop onto of the fliers from above.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    "One of the tech arms of HYDRA. Back when they were pretending to be a legit operation they would get a bunch of venture capitol and government grants and funding and black budget .. they were really good at siphoning money away from legitimate work and in to their crazy weapons of mass destruction which they then gave to HYDRA to use," she recalls the way AIM once was. Now people know they're evil the game is up.. but some how they still persist. Evil science is a money spinner.

    Bobbi looks at the skeletons wearing the rotting speed suits with lab coats over them and plucks off two ID cards, tossing one over to Carol, "Might be useful. Might not."

    Bobbi's first warning of the incoming plasma fire comes from the Falcon OS with a red projectile warning indicator and then the sudden yanking of her body to the side as it auto-dodges for her. The wrenching of her body makes her erp and she spins around to peer at one of the lasers.

    "Weapons hot!," she says redundantly and pulls her plasma rifle around. Red lines start to fill her vision as the predictive algorithm attempts to account for the vast number of threats. Time for an aerial dance as she tries to take aim and return fire with her plasma rifle.

Carol Danvers has posed:
Carol catches the ID Card and tucks it into a suit pocket. That may or may not have been there a moment ago. Life is just unfair. <<Like if Stark worked for Hydra. Wonderful bunch AIM.>>

<<Also the gas... it might be something to make their people more suggestable or pliable.. better workers.. the sedative is not a weak one though. Might be to knock them out and make them docile when they are dealing with intruders.>> she is just waxing on about what it might be.

There it is. The plasma fire and the amping up of the situation. <<About time....>> she notes amused. Threatened no. Amused yes. She honestly doesn't dodge so much as bring her arms up to block and get knocked back a bit as she takes direct plasma fire. Just a bit. She is playing energy sponge and target for the facility to provide Bobbi wiht more room to do her aerial dance and start returning fire.

That isn't to say she doesn't fling out a photonic blast or two back.... just primarily she is mobile cover for Bobbi.

Peggy Carter has posed:
<<Here we go. And brain washing program sounds right. Damn. That...isn't what was released last time. Has someone updated this place since?>> Peggy's voice calls over the comms in honest concern, but she doesn't have time to debate it more right now. Hopefully the filters on their suits do enough of the job as she drops closer to the floor, just managing to avoid that plasma discharge for the pure luck she saw the weapon coming online.

She jerks her rifle up, coughing out two quick, pin point precise shots at the weapon which fired on her. She doesn't want to fry their comms with the EMP grenades unless they absolutely have to, so she's trying heavy weapons first. <<How's your suits handling the gas? I...think we're alright down here. If we need to toss an EMP and lose contact, return to point of entry as soon as mission is finished.>> Peggy calls over the coms while they have them, readying another blast in the direction of that automatic fire. She doesn't know how much longer she can keep up with them. She jerks to the side, "MAY! DOWN!", shooting just across May's shoulder as one activates behind her back, the thing sizzling before it manages to get the shot off but that was too close for her comfort.

Melinda May has posed:
May brings her own weapon up, trusting Peggy to have her back. She hits the deck when her friend shouts, without hesitation. As the robobug crashes to the deck behind her, she flips back to her feet, swinging herself forward so she's back to back with Peggy. This allows them to circle and shoot, covering all angles and each other. "We need to shut them down," she says. "Gotta get to that power station." She starts moving in tandem with Peggy, circling as she goes.

There's more laser fire, more robospheres and centipedes emerging and engaging Bobbi and Carol above. There is a pattern to the fire and the movements, however. The fire is designed to push them towards those spheres, closer to walls and catwalks, away from the open space.

The same is true below. The centipedes and small defense bots that emerge from corridors leave gaps for the agents to dodge through... but never quite in the direction they want to go.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Bobbi grins, "Damn I forgot how much fun it is being on missions with you Danvers." Because who doesn't want a superhuman energy shield to hide behind as she flicks her plasma rifle from 'shoot down a jet' to 'shoot faster please' and she rests the muzzle on Carol's shoulder and begins to fire along a line at the lasers.

tThis tactic is working great until the centipedes and spheres start to emerge, "I can dodge some of this.. but if there was less of it that'd be great. Can you do that thing where you glow really bright and fly through all the stuff smashy smashy style?"

    ... Bobbi shouts in to the comms over the sound of the heavy fire they're under. She pivots quickly and shoots a centipede right down the center line, the plasma charge burning through its metals and core as she starts to retreat, feeling like she's being herded, "I don't like this!"

    Out comes the plasma grenades and she starts tossing them liberally at the centipedes and spheres hoping to cause enough electrical damage that she has more things to hide behind.

Carol Danvers has posed:
Carol drifts darting with amazing precision this way and that to wonder woman block the various plasma bolts. "I mean. If aliens stop fucking around and finding out for like twenty minutes we could do more of these missions Morse..."

The request to stop playing cover and cut loose makes her laugh "Sure I can do that." she has been steadily glowing brighter with each of the plasma blasts that hit her. It really isn't fair for the bot guards to be honest.

She tilts lightly in the air, flares even brighter and then zooms ahead away from Bobbi right into the onslaught .... there is a crash boom as she hits the first one and flings the shrapnel from it's bot corpse into several more before sweeping her hands together "Saw Hulk do this once..." she notes and BOOM her hands clap together as she sends a photonic laced shockwave into the meaty bulk of all the bots.

She pivots to fling a smoldering centipede corpse down to give Bobbi more cover to shoot from behind even.

Peggy Carter has posed:
The trouble with the way the fight is going is it never quite goes bad enough that Peggy feels the need to reach for those EMP grenades. She's managing to keep up with the robobugs that are attacking her and May, the fact they are so good at fighting to cover each other's back a blessing. It's fast. It's hard. She feels like she's losing an inch of ground farther down one of those side halls -- one they didn't explore before -- with every round of attacks. But each fresh wave, it's her and May standing and the bugs down.

<<If they send any more this direction, we're going to have to use a grenade, but... we're holding our own for now. Comms still up. I think. We've... gotten pretty deep down in the base here.>> She calls across the still functioning unit, taking a moment just to breathe as one wave seems to have been finish and there isn't another coming immediately. There is, however, the power room behind she and May. "There it is. Maybe we SHOULD just EMP that place, then run..." If they could figure out the right way to run.

Melinda May has posed:
May glances over her shoulder toward the power bay. "I'd like to know where the *hell* they got a whole new army of these things," she grumbles in response to Peggy. Okay, yeah. It's been a few months since they were here last, but still. "There's got to be a fabrication station in here somewhere." Which is frightening. Still... where are the *resources* coming from?

May moves toward that power bay door, regardless. Whether they EMP the place or nuke it, they can't do it from out here. And it's the one place those bugs *haven't* been coming from. "What the hell?"

There's no question that the power readings coming from this room register as the strongest power source in the base, suggesting its the secondary generator that's kept everything going. But that's not quite what she's looking at. "I don't think this is the generator." Her brows knit. "I think there's something in there..."

She's looking at a mass of cables and wires, some of them as thick as tree trunks, snaking up to a central column in the middle of the room. There is some sort of containment unit in the center of the column, but it is dim and murky, hard to see into. There might be a shape floating, fetus-like, within it. (If a fetus was the size of a grown man.) Then again, there might not. It's not like the lighting in this place is in any way illuminating.

Banks of consoles surround the column, the mass of cables flowing around and through them. Their technology seems based in the 80's, but made to look like some weird sci-fi show -- all curved lines and blinking lights. Altogether, it looks like the twisted roots and trunk of a mangrove tree, leaching into the basalt floor and up into the metal ceiling.

She turns back toward Peggy, slinging her rifle away in favour of one of her EMP grenades. "I don't know what that Russian was on. We need to nuke this place."

Melinda May has posed:
Up in the higher levels of the Sphere, Carol's photonic shockwave takes out a good radius of the bots harrying her and Bobbi. They fall like meteors toward the floor of the base, some of them crashing through catwalks, while other merely collapse on top of them. This spurs on a secondary protocol. Bright lights flash above in a repeating strobe pattern before going completely dark. Lights go out across the whole complex, save in the power room where May and Peggy are.

And in the pitch dark, the sussuration of metal rubbing over metal can be heard as clusters of metalic tentacles explode from the ceiling, seeking to entrap the flyers below them.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    "It's like some super villain thought.. ya know what.. I'm going to build a self replicating robot factory underneath New York and unleash hordes of robot monsters on unsuspecting citizens.. and then just got bored with the idea when he was 90% done," she posits, though the sounds of strain in her voice and grunts let those two down below just how hard they're also fighting up top. The robots aren't holding back against the two flying targets.

    Bobbi dives down past some plasma fire and returns it in kind. Many of lasers that were firing at the group are gone, but those robots just keep coming. "This is way worse than last time.. or," she thinks may be it was this bad and she has just forgotten. They did almost get gassed to death last time after all.

    Kaboom... Bobbi stares in wonder at the devastation that Carol begets the robots. "Hell yes," she says as their portion of the sphere goes more quiet. She holsters the rifle on to her back, the barrel is red hot, pointing away from her body by design. "What's with the light show?," she says turning to look to Carol with a questioning head tilt...

    But hearing May she says, "May, please, we need to get something out of this place. Do you really think the Russian was lying to you?" SPOT wants answers. STRIKE wants safety. It's a hard balance right now. Either way, Bobbi takes the moment to catch her breath.

    The new sounds being created by the facility have Bobbi slowly turning trying to figure out what they are, "What the heck is THAT noise..," she says as a metallic tentacle flings itself at her and grabs her arm. Her eyes widen and she kicks the anti-grav plates to full power and yanks. With a creeeeak she bends the pincer and pulls her arm free as another one launches at her and she starts flying down through the air as fast as she can trying to get away from them, "Arm! GRABBY.. THINGS!!"

Carol Danvers has posed:
"I mean. That sounds exactly like half the supervillains I met. Though I would imagine that it is more likely the mastermind didn't get bored but got arrested on some sort of caper." yeah she said Caper. Sue her. "Then the facility just went into sleep mode. Like a laptop. We basically are shaking the mouse and waking the whole place up. This is like... the antivirus system."

She shifts turning in the darkness that the place has plunged into. "Of course, in that scenario we are the virus and this is just the white blood cell response. B-cells. We would need to ask one of the nerds. They would love this metaphor."

She is just starting to glow brighter, her very own flashlight to light up the place since the lights were so rudely cut by the intelligence behind the defense systems. "Arm Grabby what now?" she spins around to look back at Bobbi as she is grabbed and starts to dart forward to help rip those tendrils apart.

When she is grabbed and yanked backwards.

Sure she can rip it apart, which she does giving a yank and twist to rend metal and fling the tentacle down below. The problem is there are many and she keeps on ripping... <<We have a new threat up here. Seems to be trying grapple not kill though.>>

She leans into the tentacles moving towards Bobbi now despite them, causing ominious creaking from the ceiling where they are anchored.

Peggy Carter has posed:
When they break into that power room area, Peggy goes dead quiet a few moments. She's seen unnerving things in her life, but the hovering tanks with a possible life size body in it? Her stomach is in her shoes for just a few moments. "What in the bloody f*ck..." She breathes out quietly. It's bad when she's cursing like that. "You're right. They... I feel like they have a lot more supplies here than the last time we were present. Someone is still using the place. For... whatever... this seems to be." Peggy mutters, trying to shake off the chill that's running down her spine.

She hears something drop in the far corner behind May, her body swinging around and weapon jerking up to aim in the direction of whatever it is. More robots? She'll shoot. But she's trying not to blow the place around her until they get a bit more information. "...EPM sounds right to me. Let's get to the door, toss the things, and go." And, unless May argues, that's her plan.

<<Morse, whatever is down here... It's not just robots. They've got... Hell, it looks like a... Body? In a tank? Down here? Something very awful is happening in this place and I am not of a mind to let any other human experiments just continue. Let's EPM the place and go. Danvers. Morse. Keep yourselves in one piece. Put the threat down. We'll do the same and get out of here.>> Peggy's so rarely unnerved, she's too old not to have seen most everything. But she's unnerved now. She's ready to fire on anything that makes her jump, just waiting for May's final orders.

Melinda May has posed:
"We'll collect whatever's leftover!" May tells Bobbi over coms. The fact both Peggy and May are unnerved by whatever they're seeing -- by what Peggy describes -- should be fairly telling. The senior agent spins as Peggy indicates something behind her. She sidesteps and tosses the grenade in her hand. Bright blue light flares up the wall where a pod falls from its surface.

She pulls off her bandolier and tosses it to Peggy. "Light this place up. I'll try to get to... Whatever that is." She moves back toward the central column, looking to find some access point to the tank.

As above, however, so below. May is only a few steps around the column when, from another pod on the wall, long metallic tentacles very similar to the ones Bobbi and Carol battle, explode out towards her. They move frighteningly fast, faster than May can react. "Augh!" She barely has time to cry out before she's wrenched off her feet. One snake wraps around her throat, others her arms and legs, pulling her swiftly backward, toward the pod. She struggles, using the strength of her exoskeleton to try to escape. In the end, though, the armour fails her. The helmet is ripped from her head and she's wrapped in wires with glowing blue tips that bury into her suit and then her skin as the front of the pod slides closed around her, trapping her like a fly in a spider's coocoon.

And she's not the only one whole sets of these things are aiming for.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Bobbi is trying to dive lower, but feels one of those arms grapple her ankle and yank her back up. The wings versus the arm and the groaning noises of the roof finding significant resistance from Carol. Bobbi is strong, but in the air she only has the wings to fight the pressure with.. and unlike the original flight suit these came from, Earth power sources that can be worn on the body just don't cut it (unless you're Iron Man).

    She turns around grabs at the tentacle metal cable and tries to rip it free from her ankle, which is when the next tentacle arm catches up and gets her upper arm. She grimaces and punches it as hard as she can, putting a bendy dent in it. She grips it tight and rips it from her body and lets out an exasperated groan over the comms.

    The next tentacle arm flies at her and grabs on to one of the wings. She dangles awkwardly about in the air trying to get the cable close enough for her to grab, but it's just out of reach. The next one comes toward her neck and she catches it. Grimacing and bearing her teeth she bends and snaps it as another grabs her other ankle.

    The cold sweats start. She knows them well now, as is that pain in her left arm. The heads up display starts to flash its heart rate monitor warning and she tries to steady her breathing as she fights for her freedom.

    Two more of the tentacles shoot out and grab at her wrists. They immediately try to pull her arms apart and she pulls them back together with an exerted yawp. One of them snaps but the other stays. Two more latch on to her, one grabbing a thigh and the other the wrist she just free'd.

    Bobbi's vision starts to go woozy and there's a ringing in her ears, the sound of her heart thumping irregularly and wildly is followed by the sudden loss of strength and ability to fight back. Only her third very serious myocardial infarction but at the worst possible time as she loses against the machines.

    Bobbi's body is yanked quickly up in to a pod as her mask is whipped away and glowing blue tips connect to her. The pod slides closed around as her body starts to heal her micro-damaged heart once more.

Peggy Carter has posed:
The moment Peggy is given the go ahead to light this place up, she's drawing two of the EMP grenades and tossing them into the back corner of the room. Peggy's plan was to work methodically, lay down grenades every 10 feet until they're out, but then May's being attacked. Her eyes go wide and she swings the rifle up to shoot at the things, just in time for a set to snake out and grab her as well. First to her wrists, pulling her sharp, quick hands away from weapons and hopelessly stronger than she is. <<Morse, Danver's, were und->> and then she can't even speak over the comms, a tentacle around her throat, waist, and ankles.

She's being pulled into a pod as quick as the others, fighting desperately against a hopeless cause. She can't even record a goodbye message for Daniel. The last thing that flashes in the dim light of the room is the old, antique wedding ring on her finger as her arms are folded in on themselves and she's trapped in that pod soundlessly.

Carol Danvers has posed:
Carol rips several more of the grasping greeding tentacles out of their moorings and thne spins around letting them fall down the central opening beneath her.

<<May, Carter, serious resistence up here. I lost track of Morse in the scuffle. Repeat lost track of Morse. I think we need more people to clear this place.>> what she really means is they need more heroes to clear this place without her risking bringing it all down around them. Bit more surgical precision is needed than boom chacka boom.

Still Carol starts to fly down towards the landing they came in on and comes to a stop <<May?>> it sounded like the other person was cut off. Okay first Morse then May. This is bad news. <<I'm coming Carter>> she states declaritively.

Though the movement on metal on metal has her thinking twice about it for a moment. She did not like the look of the pod in the ceiling area with the tentacles at all. If anything this whole place is startiong to be a bit triggering from her time in similar pods with the Kree to be honest.

She doesn't go down the shaft or just light it up, too much risk of hitting Morse whom she isn't sure where she was snatched too. "Damnit." the responsible thing.

She finishes the flight to the entrance landing. The comm she sends to SHIELD at this point is as follows. <<Multiple Agents Down. Lost track of Morse. Carter. May.>> She waits for the ping back, making sure the system checks message sent and recieved and ack'd. <<Going to try to short the whole place out and find them. Be careful, lots of automated defenses and machines.>>

Which is about as far as she gets before the tentacles redouble their efforts. Dozens of them flinging themselves at her. "Come.... get me. God. Remind me to not tell Peggy about tentacles and the internet..." even now there is gallows humor.

Thing is Carol wanted the things to grab ahold of her. She is going to try something fairly untested but theoritically it should work. She gets covered in the fairly strong tentacles and until the cosmic light is darkened.

Inside the coils though she powers up... up.. up... thrumming along but not blasting outwards.

Finally she releases it all, but not as raw cosmic energy... manipulating it into a pretty potent EMP blast. Sending it right through the cables and outwards.

She pretty effectively flash fries everything electronic up here and most of the levels down as well. Hell there may be a small outage in the city above too. Woops.

She wobbles in the air not much cosmic glow at the moment. "Okay... I ... may have overdid that..." she says to the darkness. Then plummets straight down losing conciousness for the moment at least.

Good thing is the impact at the bottom of the base won't kill her.

Bad thing is she is out right now at a critical juncture.

The lesson here is, improv your power usage in a training drill not in the field.

Melinda May has posed:
> AIDA, Report.

CONTAINMENT FACILITY BREACHED. POWER RESERVES AT 09.73 PERCENT. INITIATING FACILITY REBOOT...

REBOOT FAILURE. INITIATING FACILITY REPAIR PROTOCOL.

> Forget the facility. Prioritize preservation of the FRAMEWORK. Integrate new subjects.

INITIATING FRAMEWORK PRESERVATION PROTOCOL...

SUCCESS.

INITIATING SUBJECT INTEGRATION PROTOCOL...

Melinda May sits on the back bumper of an ambulance, a sat phone in her hands. "Andrew?" she says, smiling as he hears his voice on the other end. "I did it, Andrew. I saved the girl."

Behind her, inside the ambulance, Katya Belyakov looks up from where she lays on a guerney and smiles.

...

Bobbi draws her gun in her right hand and points it at Lance Hunter. The man she loves.

Her superior says, "Compliance will be rewarded. Are you ready to comply Agent Morse?"

Lance screams into the gag firmly affixed in his mouth trying to get through to Bobbi, his eyes filled with pleading desperation.

"I am happy to comply," Bobbi replies.

BANG.

Lance's lifeless body drops to the floor. Bobbi's right hand begins to shake; she holsters her weapon and grips that hand with her other. "Thank you Sir. I am stronger now, may I return to work?"

There's a nod from Commander John Garrett, "You may."

...

Peggy Sousa strides quietly across the heavy carpet of the living room overlooking Washington, DC, bouncing a fussy bundle in her arms. Still on maternity leave, they'd learned their lesson once before. They weren't going to lose this chance again. She eases her son's cheek gently against her shoulder, fingertips tracing through the fine baby hair on the back of his head as she bounces him, watching the headlights of Daniel's car come up the driveway to the townhouse. "Shh, Michael. Your father's almost home, then he gets to stay up all night with you..."

...

Danvers breaths heavily as she leans against the blast door to the alien bunker. It is a good thing too, because whatever that Psyche Magnitron is, it's about to go boom in a big way. The whole underground facility shudders, but the door holds. Trace cosmic raditation hits her, but not enough to knock her unconscious.

Staggering back to the surface before the whole facility collapses, she looks on, relieved as the US military arrives. "I think I need a medic..."

One of the officers nods, directing for medics. "We detected wild reading here Captain Danvers. We have a lot of questions for you."

After that whole escapade with the aliens, it is honestly a relief to be taken in by her own people and not blown to atoms or buried alive down there. Of course, she misses the nod from one of the medics, as the officer who ordered her checked out nods towards Carol, giving a bit of an extra order to the whole affair, leaning in and whispering very softly to the medic: "Hail Hydra."

...

SUCCESS.