6196/Breaching The Fortress

Breaching The Fortress
Date of Scene:	20 June 2021
Location:	Malta
Synopsis:	The Order of St. Dumbass is foiled finally and Tyler is regained (sorta), but sorcerors are slippery. Kids are saved. The jury is still out on Wizards vs Sorcerors.
Cast of Characters:	Morrigan MacIntyre, Jovian Anderson, J'onn J'onzz, Steve Rogers, James Barnes, Hellboy, Hank Pym, Sam Wilson, Nadia Pym-van Dyne, Michael Hannigan, Damian Wayne, Colette O'Connail

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Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
The clock had ticked over to midnight in Valleta, signaling that it was now the start of the Summer solstice. Agents, allies and others had been doing their own things. All was quiet for the most part. Until about fourty five minutes until dawn. Thermal had started picking up activity in the compound. Things were moving. The dot that was guessed to be Tyler had moved. Things were starting early. Which was not in the plan, but...they'd just have to adapt.

Everyone knows where they are supposed to go. Or were told where they should be going at least.

Tyler has been moved into the courtyard into what looks like some sort of fascinating ceremonial space. But the looming clouds and the wind that keeps picking up is an ominous sign of something else to come.

Morrigan's stayed on the quinjet, because that's her home now apparently. "Alright. Looks like we're in the clear for the moment. No BSA on the radar either." she tells the groups.

Then she notices something and there's a frown, "Hey James. There's going to be a tallish man that looks to be in his thirties with long blonde hair and a punchable face...I need you and Hellboy to punch him really hard for me. That's your sorceror." she tells them.

Not a Wizard, Sam!

Jovian Anderson has posed:
Jovian Anderson is wearing his normal uniform, the new shiny one, patched up and cleaned up with the new modification of cermanic wrist braces and knee pads in case he has to mix it up with guys with swords. He has a nice harness for an automated M40 grenade launcher with flash bangs but decided that with so many people who havent trained before working together, lots of flsah bangs seemed like receipe for disaster. Same thing with the shotgun and the taser rounds. So he is staying to bolos and the ones he can generate with his power with just enough methods to counter guys with swords. He sticks with the main team.

J'onn J'onzz has posed:
Just one task, that is what J'onn is assigned in the beginning. To collect Tyler, willing or not, and bring him to the quinjet. He wore his uniform, though a newer version with pants, the trademark bandanas with cape remain. When it appears that others will be moving out, he prepares himself by... turning invisible. There one moment, gone the next. Even when he speaks though the comm, his voice is not heard in the room.

<< I will move into position near Tyler, when the attack begins I will tap his mind to render him unconscious, take hold of him, then phase into the earth and return to the QuinJet with him. >>

It can be assumed, since no one can see him now, that that is exactly what he does... goes to get into position.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Plans are made. The attack team will strike in from above, using the cover of darkness while the infiltrators take out guards, spotlights, and communications. The motor pool is a big area with a lot of obstructed sightlines; add in generator and vehicle noises and a few heavy thuds from a night jump are not going to be noticed.

Hank doesn't pose much of a problem; Ward has had a little experience with parachuting, and with Bucky and Steve as jumpmaster, all he has to do is just follow the static line.

Hellboy and Jovian seem to present another problem, one where Bucky and Cap are in deep discussion. Almost arguing, in low voices that are nearly impossible for anyone else to hear. It almost gets heated.

Steve makes a fist in Bucky's face; Bucky makes a fist in turn.

One, two, three-- Cap throws paper, Bucky throws scissors. Steve grimaces and bobs his head in frustration, then with a sigh turns to Jovian and Hellboy. "Night drops are where we get the most fatalities, so you two are going to need some help on the way down. Hellboy... you're with me, I guess," Steve says with a resigned expression.

Five minutes later and Steve's wearing a cargo chute strapped to his uniform. Jovian's attached to Bucky's front, and the two do the awkward tandem waddle up to the rear doors when the Quinjet gets over the drop zone.

"Okay big guy, remember what I said," Steve tells Hellboy, and picks the big red bloke up from behind with an awkward wrestling grip around his waist. "Bend your back, keeps your legs and arms in tight, and be ready for the release when I drop you."

The droplight turns green; Steve gives Bucky/Jovian a helpful push out the window, then Ward, and then, Cap puts his heels out over nothing and drops into a freefall with Hellboy strapped comically to his front.

Chutes deploy five hundred feet up; at fifty feet, Cap pulls the release cord and Hellboy freefalls a good twenty feet before yanking to a stop at the end of the tether. Big Red hits the dirt first and Steve, moving a /little/ faster than he'd like, lands ten feet away with a good paratrooper stumble/roll/recovery.

James Barnes has posed:
        "Sounds like Steve in a wig," Bucky's tone is deadpan but he's obviously teasing, because... hello... it's Steve. For his part, he's dressed head to toe in black - from his painted face, his armored jacket, thick cargo pants, gun belt, boots. If he was wearing that mask, he'd almost look like the Winter Soldier again. He has a Glock, each with 33 round mags in each holster, two little pea shooter 9 mils on each thigh and a Desert Eagle strapped to one thigh. That's just what can be seen. It's pretty certain that the pockets of those pants aren't weighted down by candy and lollipops; more likely things with pointy edges and things that smoke or go bang.

    Definitely not his first rodeo and he gets Jovian to the ground safely near Hellboy and Steve.

    "You're big, kinda scary, keep'm distracted and I'll come in from behind," Bucky tells Red. Of the two of them, Bucky definitely has the 'sneaking in from the rear' advantage.

Hellboy has posed:
Hellboy chuckles low and deep in his chest when he hears Morrigan's comment, flexing the fingers on that big red arm lightly, before taking the cigar out of his mouth (Hey, you do NOT waste one of those!), "Punch tall blondie. Pretty sure we can handle that, bosslady." He shoots a raised brow at Bucky, but trails off as he watches the interaction between Steve and James. He gets a slight 'what the hell' look on his face when Steve seems to think he's going to tandem drop with his massive form, and grumbles, "Yer crazier than I gave you credit for. You sure them spandex aint on too tight??" There's a grumbling, that moment of consideration when there might have been a good punch thrown, then a small shake of his head and a low, "I hear one word of this after tonight, I'll find where you live."
At least the freefall of things can go without incident, though he hits the ground pretty much like the dead lead weight one might expect from him...the dent he causes in the ground will probably be commented on later - he doesnt roll, he just hits the ground with a THUNK, a soft "Ow.." and takes a moment to shake it off and stand up. There's a grunt towards Bucky's comment, "Gettin' his attention's the easy bit. Lets get this show movin."

Hank Pym has posed:
Hank Pym looks at Nadia. "Maybe he should have asked and you could shrink everyone and fly them down in your hands. Ehh next time." He walks to the hatch, holds his nose and does a cannonball style dive out of the plane. He shrinks as he drops. "Where the hell is that local guy? Ooof! Oh scuzi Signor. Ah mille gratzi!" Hank gets grabbed and thrown back onto an ant's back. He continues down.

//Ave Pym! Your allies await.// Hank pats the ant's side.

//Hey, sweetie, you with me?//

Sam Wilson has posed:
    Given that Sam isn't on the plane, everyone is spared the spectacle of whatever argument may have arisen if he'd waded into the discussion between Steve and Bucky about the chutes. Still, he's in their ears, providing a few choice pieces of commentary (read: straight-up making fun of them) over secure comms. The Falcon follows at a safe distance behind, the night air whipping at his exposed skin as he tracks the plane through the sky.

    He sees the cargo door open through the nightvision of his goggles and starts a wide bank; once he's got a tracking lock on the figures freefalling through the air, he starts to dive. The engines of his flight suit are running on low power stealth mode to minimize noise, so he's barely generating enough lift to keep him going.

    "Nice landing, Cap," he says over comms as he makes his approach, and at the last moment he banks upwards, the Falcon wings rapidly fold and compress into his pack as Sam's feet hit the ground. It only takes a couple of steps for him to run out his momentum.

    A quick forward extension of his hand and an SMG is deployed from the internal rack inside his pack's chassis, and he takes up position.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
The Waspette grins at her father for a moment and gives a little shrug, it's certainly something that would have been possible, but the plans have already been made.

"Maybe next time." She agrees before pulling on her helmet and seeming to disappear from sight as she shrinks to the size of a wasp. No sense presenting any large profile than necessary on her way down.

With that she zips out of the jet on tiny bio-synthetic wings following after her father. //I'm here. All suit functions are green. Good to go.//

Michael Hannigan has posed:
Unlike some others, Mike is not wearing a uniform, superhero outfit, or whatever other term is used to describe the frequent attire used to demonstrate someone's chosen name to do their usual ...do-gooding? Nope. He's still wearing his Goodwillesque clothing. The jacket does serve a bit of a purpose hiding the identifying scar on his arm at least. As for his hair? Well. Funny you should ask.

Long hair is a PAIN to get into an Ant-man helmet. It took three tries. THREE to close the damn thing. There's probably a trick to it but with things starting early he didn't have time to figure it out. Ok, so First time, the ponytail wouldn't fit. So he had to try doing it another way and finally he just had to let it loose and just tuck everything in. Hopefully the snugness of the helmet will keep things from shifting too much in there. Either way he's not looking forward to the helmet hair that is likely to emerge from this. And due to the red tint of the thermal lenses in the borrowed helmet, the pale blue eyes more commonly associated with him look a bit more purplish.

But at least someone sat down with him and made him pick a call sign. So...Phantasm it is. Because. Well, that's what he turns into.

So there.

Either way. What is he doing? Well, right now he is moving quickly towards the Southeast area with a Robin and a rather large Bo. Not the wooden type but he makes for a good Carpenter. And how does one conceal a giant ant in the process of moving to position? Well it helps when one in the party is a Phantasm. And was given something to help better coordinate with said ant buddy... Also there's a radio in there to hear what the human counterparts are rambling on about even if he can't talk out loud.

Very much weightless, with one hand on Bo's back and and the other reaching back for Damian to grab onto until the master assassin is ready to abandon quiet invisibility and leap from their stealthy transport. The unseen trio makes good time getting to where they need to be.

// All right Bo. Keep it quiet. But make it fast. //

Damian Wayne has posed:
     Damian had very reluctantly held onto Nick's hand. "This is only for stealth!" He exclaimed before they started making their trek towards the perimeter. Robin had his full arsenal with him, sword at his side, utility belt full of goodies, and the Robin suit, which had enough tech in it to make Cyborg blush.

  Damian's hood is raised and ready, he'd spent most of the time looking down and surveying their way out to the guard stations. "I'll take out the guard on top, once he's down, we go for the rest. The more time before an alarm sounds, the better. A perfect attack would be one that didn't get an alarm raised, not until they were starting to make their way out, but...Robin is not optimistic on that route.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    Colette had been sitting in a bar not far from the compound, not letting herself get drunk. That had been hard, but it was necessary. She had as yet not made her presence known to any of the others, basically because Colette is not good at playing nice with other kids.

    Her presence comes down to a few simple logical steps. 1. Tyler's one of her students, and nobody messes with her students. 2. Humans are basically children and she doesn't really trust anyone to not mess up this operation, so she's planning to be around just in case she's needed. 3. Malta's cool. There's St.John's Co-Cathedral and some wonderful Caravaggio paintings within, there are the fortifications of Valletta, the town of Mdina, and the Hal Safleini Hypogeum to see. There are great beaches and great bars.

    Shortly after she'd arrived in Malta a few days previously, Colette had made contact with some of the shadier elements in Malta's enthusiastic hunting community. Colette and Colette's money had been making friends. There are always a few hunters around, roaming the small island, and for anywhere just off the beaten path it would be more suspicious if there wasn't a hunter or two somewhere around. They are great for keeping a 24/7 watch on the place without raising suspicion. They tend to bring their own guns and night-vision gear. They like Colette.

    Or at least her money.

    Thus it is that as soon as parachutes start opening up over the compound, Colette gets a message about it. She gives a sigh, downs her drink, leaves a wad of Euros on her table and steps out of the bar, into the darkness of the evening.

    A step that takes her into the darkness beneath a tree on a small hill close to the compound. She looks down at it, seeing the heightened activity in the courtyard, and looks up at the parachutes descending. She looks out across the landscape around her and spots a jeep belonging to the hunters a hundred feet away from her. Darkness does not impede her vision, so this isn't an issue.

    Colette takes another step forwards, a step that takes her close to the jeep. A few quick words are exchanged with the hunters waiting there, and one of them hands her a compact Beretta 8000 series semi-automatic pistol. Not that she doesn't have her own weapons, but it doesn't hurt to have something extra, if only for cover. "Iqba 'hawn," she tells the hunter. Stay here. She's been leanring a little Maltese. She checks the safety, tucks it into the back of her jeans and under her jacket, and walks away, the darkness swallowing her. Moments later she's on the other side of the compoud, at the rear of an outcropping of rock, a hiding place she'd scouted out earlier, and she settles in to watch.

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Tyler's probably changed a lot in the few months that he's been gone. He's taller, thinner, but in a whipcord sort of way. He's still pale but his black hair and blue eyes are shining as he stands near the sorceror of this bunch who has already started into the ritual. It might definitely look like Steve in a wig, but this guy has darker eyes and his jaw isn't as handsome as Captain America's. Stealth was thrown to the birds when people started jumping out of airplanes.

"Take care of them!" is the voice that bellows out. And once he does there are suddenly robed figures that are slinking out of their shadows and approaching the group that's just encroached upon their territory.

"Do as we planned." the blonde man snaps at Tyler and with that, the teen raises his hands and starts to chant. When he does the wind picks up and there is a flash of lightning that nearly blinds those on the ground with how bright it is.

Damian and Mike don't see any resistance as of yet since they haven't been noticed and the perimeter guards seem to be...less than impressive at the best of times.

Jovian Anderson has posed:
Jovian Anderson knows, deep down, when someone is messing with reality. It isnt a magic sense, just...something else and a sense of dread comes in the back of his mind. It's a type of peril that he has faced in the shadows recently, hunting him, wanting to use him and he identifies directly with Tyler, scowling and tossing out two bolos made of shadow as they continue to drop. Jovian is a good athlete, VERY good with the weapon but out this far there is no way they should hit but its almost like the weapons made of liquid darkness guide themselves towards two of the guards. It is not an automatic hit but they almost seem to float on their own. Jovian isnt thinking about that, wanting to draw his pistol and shoot but holding down his rage ...rage he isnt sure where it is coming from.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve ditches his harness and parachute, and stuffs it all under a vehicle where it won't get easily located. Once he's sure Ward, Bucky, Jovian and Hellboy are on the ground and uninjured, Steve keys up the vocalizer mike against his throat. Jovian's takedown earns a look of professional appreciation for the skill involved.

"First team's on the ground," he says over the net. He gives Bucky a nod-- Sergeant Barnes knows his mission and he fades with Hellboy towards their own objective.

"Everyone stay quiet as long as you can," he reminds them. "Ward-- get on the evac route. I'm on my way up to secure our air approach. Falcon, clear the guard posts as you can. Hank, you and the kid, hit those generators and then wait for my signal before going loud. Happy hunting."

Steve draws a heavy-barreled pistol from his belt and unslings his shield in front of him. Jovian gets a tap on the shoulder and Steve beckons him to follow, before the Man with the Plan sprints up the stairs near-silently to secure the helipad for Morrigan and the Quinjet.

J'onn J'onzz has posed:
Like the wind, J'onn moves with a speed meant only for those not of this planet or ships in space. The passing of his body through the air is almost as easy as the air itself, disturbing nothing, no indication of where he was or where he is now.

Coming up to the boy on the ground, he is saddened to see the effect this has all on him, that he has been broken down and built back up to be their tool. It was unacceptable, and it ended now.

Descending to the ground behind Tyler, remaining unseen, he lays one hand on the boys shoulder. At that exact same moment, he makes contact with Tyler's mind to issue the mental command, even as he says it aloud, "Sleep, Tyler."

The boy collapses into a deep sleep and J'onn catches him in his arms, not letting him fall. It is only then that J'onn becomes visible to those around, a smile on his lips as he is seen... but that doesn't last long either. Once Tyler is safely his arms, pressed against him for protection, J'onn and the Tyler merely melt into the earth as ice would melt into water, disappearing.

James Barnes has posed:
    Into the comms, <<<Don't forget keep an eye out for the potential British Invasion.>> Then Bucky's motioning Hellboy toward the most straight forward route to that courtyard that there can possibly be. Even if that's through a wall, "Make some noise."

    One shot, one kill. Wait, is he supposed to NOT be killing these people? Does he really care? No, the things they're doing here are fucking hard with his calm, damaging it beyond repair and he *just* had the worst-day-ever not too very long ago, these people deserve no mercy. He really really doesn't care. One shot, one kill.

    Bucky drops low to the ground to sprint off some of the distance between him and those shadowy figures, just enough to get him in range, something that might mean a different thing to someone else. Bucky's good for a long shot, if the target is within the gun's range, he's good.

    Firearm in each hand, Bucky begins to lay waste to the robed figures coming from the shadows. Or at least that's his intent so long as they're not something freaky that can survive a bullet to the brain.

    The way he moves, silent and smooth like a snake hidden in the grass, the way he makes every single shot count without so much as missing a step... it's no wonder he has the reputation he has as a 'boogeyman'. It's downright unnatural. It's also some seriously awesome cover fire to help Hellboy the others get where they need to be. It's hard for those figures closing in to pay much attention to anything BUT Bucky and those deadly guns. Don't worry, Red, Buck's got your back, won't let you down... he'll just be a minute coming in through that rear door, but he'll be there.

Hellboy has posed:
Hellboy grunts in some sort of acknowlegdement at Bucky and throws his shoulders, starting a charge towards the Long Haired Summoner Hippy, gritting his teeth and tilting his head to shrug off some of that flash of lightning. Yes, they were trying to be subtle, but he was here to get noticed for once, rather than people telling him to STOP doing that, so when the sorcerer tries to get to work, Hellboy collides full force with the wall in the way to bust through the masonry like some sort of Demonic Kool-Aid Man, and bellows, "HEY BLONDIE! I HEARD YOU LIKE KIDS!" while bringing back that huge red fist. Fingers clenched up into a wrecking ball as he leaps into the air, telegraphing the swing in a way that absolutely should get his attention no matter how difficult the ritual is that's being focused on.

Hank Pym has posed:
Hank Pym lands the ant near the generator. He sends a quick idea to Nadia gets gleeful assent. Hank returns to normal size. Then he shrinks the generator, till it fits in one hand. Nadia buzzing alongside him he throws the generator at the magic man. "Now!"

The generator sails in an arc and then a beam of Pym particles hits it.

You would think it'd slow do or there'd be some attempt to conserve momentum of mass. Hank would explain how they get around that but then anyone could do it. "Merda! Putana Divolo" More screams.

Crash! hank can't quite see through the cloud of dust what the exact effect was... He shrinks as bullets zip over his head, through where he was.

"You ain't the only one can make reality call him 'daddy!'" The farmer ant picks Hank up! He links with Nadia.

Sam Wilson has posed:
    Quiet, Sam can do. He's no spy but he's plenty well-versed in stealth attacks, and after a quick salute and a "You got it, Cap," to Steve, he's off.

    On foot, at first, moving from cover to cover, until he gets in close to the nearest guard post. His wings snap open and then he's a blur of red and glinting metal in the air, aimed right through the open doorway like he's going to crash right through it and demolish the entire post. It's only at the last second that he retracts the wings and then it's just him, boots first, landing on one guard's chest.

    Sure, it's a crash landing, but it's a crash landing with *purpose*.

    He tucks into a roll to avoid any potential retaliation from the other guard and barely manages to stall his forward movement before he smacks himself into the wall of the guard post. Instead he pushes himself off of it, redirecting his momentum as he pops up onto his feet, kicking one foot out to bust in the still-standing guard's knee, and then Sam grabs him.

    The sound the guard's nose makes as he's slammed face-first into the console is a loud crunch, and Sam throws him to the ground with force after. <<Moving to the next guard station,>> he reports into the comms before he's out the door and back in the air.

Damian Wayne has posed:
     "I'm dropping." He says, before letting go, and swooping down to reach the lookout tower. Stealthy boots, and soft gliding assure as silent of a landing as possible, waiting for the guard to approach the south side of the tower.

  A shadow approaches, and Damian is ready, as soon as the figure approaches the guardrail, he flips up, hands on the roof, and turning as his legs flip above him, using that momentum to slam into the guard's face and secure him, for sure to keep him quiet. More people are below of course, but for now, they are less than aware of anyone else being there with them. At least there was too much going on inside currently.

  Robin had finished up in the tower, but a cursory glance below confirmed that there wasn't another in there. "Southeast tower clear."

Michael Hannigan has posed:
Purple eyes blink as Mike shakes his head slightly, the front portion of the helmet hiding the slight smirk forming. However, the smirk is short lived. The musician doesn't look up to the brightness but the lighting of the shadowless ground beneath them is a sufficient indicator of the sky experiencing un-forecasted weather.

And then there's Hellboy's voice in the distance. And the gunfire... // Well, so much for stealth. //

As Damian leaps away, losing the benefits of the loaned out energy.

Mike continues forward. Moving North as Damian makes short work of the south tower. Hearing confirmation, Mike nods, giving Bo an unfelt pat on the back. // All right Bo. It's time //

Giving a push off of the giant ant, Mike leaps off towards a nearby wall. With his presence gone, Bo becomes visible in time to punt a guard with one of its spikey baseball bat like legs. He kind of seems happy about that.

As Mike flips forward, his form shifts. Looking EXTREMELY similar to the noble steed from earlier. Alright! MOVING NORTH. The pair of giant ants scurry forward.

THEM! Part 2: Revenge of the Carpenters..

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    So much for this happening quietly. This is what happens when a random assortment of soldiers and mercenaries get involved. Colette's preferred technique would have involved removing guards one-by-one first, though what exactly 'removing' means in this context depends a bit on which part of Colette's psyche is in the ascendant. Perhaps she should have approached Damian about doing the mission together ahead of time, he'd probably appreciate her reasoning. On the other hand, she and Damian have certain trust issues.

    Well they may have the ingress sorted out in their own way, but there's still the question of getting out again, and there are guards on the perimeter. Less than impressive guards perhaps, but guards none the less. Perhaps a good idea to thin the herd. Colette takes a few moments to watch the movement of said guards before picking her first target, taking a step through the shadows that puts her directly behind one isolated figure. She raises her hand and fires a bolt of shadow magic into the back of the guard's skull. It's a relatively low-powered bolt, intended to be less than fatal but sufficient to render the victim unconscious, though she's more concerned with ensuring that he doesn't get straight back up than that he survives. Without even waiting to see the results she steps back into the shadows and vanishes.

    Between Colette and Jovian, these guards may start to feel like they don't like shadows, they keep being attacked by them.

    Colette's picking her next target for mission: thin the herd, when Hellboy's shout rings out. "For fuck's..." she hisses to herself. Okay. Noisy it is. In that case, maybe a distraction is in order. She teleports through the shadows to the far side of the compound, away from where the action is taking place. From there she starts launching bolts of shadow against the walls, firing off five bolts one after the other, before vanishing again into the darkness and reappearing back at her hiding place, and she's gone before the first bolt hits the wall.

    These bolts are not low-powered or intended to stun; in this case she's cutting loose a bit. Each explodes with the force and noise of a grenade going off, and will probably cause some structural damage to said wall (though most of the energy will be deflected away; it's hardly a breaching charge). They will certainly be heard though, and hopefully give the impression that the compound is now being attacked from a second direction, forcing the Order's defenders to divide their forces to deal with this new, but non-existant assault.

    Of course there's the possibility that the assault team may think this marks the arrival of the 'British Invasion' Bucky had been worrying about, but hey. It's probably good practice for them or something. Keep 'em on their toes.

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
'Blondie' the Sorceror is caught off guard by Tyler suddenly being whisked away by the green...alien? Martian? He didn't want to be rude, "Give him back!" he shrieks at the man. Then he's distracted by the sudden explosion of wall that brings forth Hellboy and he blinks, "Anung Un Rama..." he trails off. That is until there is a very volatile generator that is soaring his way and it collides heavily with his body, sending him flying as the generator hits the ground.

Where it explodes in a bright shower of light and sparks.

The storm above them rages like something is about to break.

And Blondie is nowhere to be found once the smoke clears.

Steve and Bolo are met with resistance at the stairs up to the helipad, but they are mooks that look like they can be taken down easily given the two men.

The blast from Colette does have the intended effect and sends the rest of the forces scrambling to see what is going on. Leaving a thinned fighting field for those inside the compound. And the ward is down.

"Now where did he get off too?" Morrigan states as she tries to locate the sorcerer. "Jonn has Tyler. You guys focus on getting out of there in one piece." she states. Then there's an alert that comes in, "Guys, looks like we've got company." she tells them.

Uh oh. Time is of the essence!

Jovian Anderson has posed:
Jovian Anderson surrounds them all with gloom, but while he isnt going to kill the guards, he isnt giving them an easy time of it. He's worked Steve before twice now, and easily willing to move under his direction. He sends bolos at two more guards, one made of darkness that seems to almost go around a corner and a regular one that just collapses a guard shooting into the darkness at Collette. He tosses a flash bang at a cluster and enjoys with satisfaction as they seem quite stunner. He continues securing, keeping an eye on Cap's six.

J'onn J'onzz has posed:
Travel through the earth is slower, to ensure Tyler's protection. J'onn keeps moving however, his and the boy's body merely a part of the earth being propelled by telekinesis.

Only when he has ensured a good distance from the buildings and the people does he move to the surface of the land and from there, into the sky with Tyler now cradled in his arms. Searching the night sky not for visual signs of the quinjet, but instead for Morrigan's mind and thus the direction to go.

With the bay door open, here merely floats in and lays the boy near Morrigan. "He will sleep, until I wake him, but he is safe now."

Steve Rogers has posed:
It does take little effort to secure the landing pad. There are only two guards and it doesn't take long to take out the one mounted machine gun that might have created some problem. With a soldier's familiarity Steve unloads the AA weapon and disables with with a hard strike from the edge of his shield.

"Landing pad is secured," he announces over the net. Cap beckons Jovian to keep up and heads towards the stairwell into the lower parts of the main building, shield up and gun close. "Don't fall behind," he advises Jovian.

"Cap and Jove are headed towards the kids. We're taking the north-west stairwell. We need our escape path secured. Mo, you can bring the taxi down. Ward, be ready with our fast ride out of here."

Rather than pacing carefully and checking each corner as he goes, Steve fairly flies down the stairs. With the shield in front of him and the soldier's incredible reflexes, he seems confident no one's going to get the drop on him.

James Barnes has posed:
    When Bucky makes it to the 'back door', that is to say over the back wall to the courtyard and Blondie is just gone... not down but just gone...

    <<Fuck, Steve... Sam, someone get back to the jet, Sam>> he settles on the one of the two that can fly, ...<<yesterday!>> What if he has a way of tracking the kid? ...and that leads him right back to Morrigan? It's not as if he has a clue just how powerful J'onn is... <<Magic man has left the fucking building and is in the wind... ... ... or he's invisible.>> Either option is not a good one.

    A few more well placed shots take down whatever else might get in his way before he adds, <<Morrigan, can you put some sort of magic shit up around you and that boy ASAP?>>

    Well fuck, now he's really pissed.

Hellboy has posed:
Hellboy hits the ground where the Sorcerer was just a few minutes ago, that huge fist hitting the ground with a loud thud as the stone beneath cracks under the impact. It takes him a moment to realize the Sorcerer somehow completely vanished and isnt just collapsed under the rubble of the generator that hit him, then growls, "Awww, you little CHEATER!"
The raging storm overhead doesn't seem to concern Hellboy in the least - instead he focuses on Bucky when he makes it in and yells, "The other kids!" With an annoyed growl and something that sounds like 'cheatin rat bastard' he's starting into motion again to hook back up with Bucky, shoulderchecking one of the remaining poor fools that made the mistake of A) Still being upright, and B) Not getting out of his way, sending them face down into the floor hard.

Hank Pym has posed:
Hank Pym found his ride, and his legions. The soldiers remaining are getting swarmed by angry, biting farmer ants. Including males.

//Well done little friends! Anybody see where the magic man went? Find him if possible!// Hank throws a tic tac out and watches it enlarge to the size of a watermelon before landing on an officer's head. <<Clunk>>

'Hey Mother Hen, this is DM. I think we're good to come in. Magic man is unaccounted for. I think we shocked him. Ants are on patrol for him." He fires a gout of plasma into the seat of a guard rolling up a magazine to swat at him or Nadia.

//Oh, sweetie are you enjoying your birthday so far?//

Sam Wilson has posed:
    Sam is little more than a shadow temporarily blocking out stars in the sky as he moves to the next target. He comes in, swooping low to start his approach, but he hears the call go out on the comms and he jerks himself back up into a climb. <<Copy Buck, heading to the helipad.>>

    And that's what he does; given that people have been shooting guns and barging through walls and... what the hell caused that explosion? It's noisy, is what Sam's getting at, so he disables stealth mode and opens up the thrusters on his pack to full power.

    He passes overhead, seeing Cap and Jovian heading back out, and drops down to take up a defensive holding pattern above the pad. "Wish I had Redwing for this," he mutters, giving a passing thought to his dead metal son.

    Bucky says the word "invisible" over the comms and Sam starts cycling through the various vision modes on his goggles, hoping that maybe thermals will be enough to pick up a hostile approaching unseen.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
//This isn't like the other birthday parties I've been to, but it's pretty nice so far! At least I get to help people and they're not trying to kidnap /me/ for a change.// Nadia's thoughts come back across the insect comms to Hank.

She flies behind him, in a flanking position. When Hank orders the ants to attack, she reaches into one of the pockets of her suit and pulls out a surprise of her own, tossing a pym capsule to the ground and shooting it with one of her gauntlet beams.

The capsule grows until it is the size of a rather large beach ball before opening up like a hightech xenomorph pod. From within a frightfully loud buzzing noise can be heard as wasps begin pouring out of it, really big scary looking wasps over two inches long. It would appear someone has been breeding Asian Giant Hornets in her free time!

A pair of deely bopper antennas extend from the top of Nadia's suit helmet as she begins to direct the swarm against the soldiers already beset by the farmer ants.

Damian Wayne has posed:
The south was the easy one, but with the added alert, there was more to be done outside. Robin took out his grapnel and shot the claw for speed and more height, it was time to move north.

  Able to get ahold of a decorative parapet, Damian engaged the boost on his gun, the wire reeling in at double the normal speed in order to give him added height and speed. Before the apex of his ascent, he spread open his cape, making it rigid as he glided toward the north tower.

  Most bad guys are focused on what is happening below, this gives the otherwise human Robin an advantage in the sky, no one just shooting up, much less paying attention on what is up there. For whatever reason, the north tower had plenty more people to fight it out with, this tower having triple the numbers the other did. As the Boy Wonder approached his target, he started to gain speed, keeping his arms spread out. Luckily Bo and Phantasm were distracting enough for the tower grunts to take pot shots at, having the aim just above stormtrooper levels. They were providing their own opportunity for distraction as Damian balled himself up to land inside the guard tower. Robin quickly darted up and reached for one, using the man's weight against him as he tossed him to the ground.

  Robin's move however, got the third one's attention, reaching for a sword, the St. Dumas member attempted a slash at the teenager. There was a swift clang of Amazonian metal against modern carbon steel as the two swords met. The sword gifted to him by Troia was getting plenty of use it seemed, but it was just as beautiful as the day he received it. The sound of the clash was loud, and caught the other shooter's attention.

  Robin grabbed at his belt, and dispensed a smoke pellet, tossing it sharply to the ground at the shooter's feet once there were shots fired towards him. "Can you work in obscurity? I can." He said tauntingly as he reached out with his sword again, clashing again with the swordsman of the former trio of guards. He was just playing with them at this point.

  As soon as it became boring for him, which was about ten seconds, Robin reached out and sliced at the swordsman's arm, the dominant hand of his opponent. The smoke was beginning to lift from the tower by this point. Robin had slinked in what was left of the smoke to get behind the gunner. Quickly, Damian reached forward, around the gunner and to the gun itself. Ejecting the magazine and clearing the bolt in two swift moves of the hands. "No, I guess you can't." He taunted one more time, before jumping up, and slamming his forehead into the gunner's.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
As the pair of ants make their way to the North end, eyes start to drift over towards them and away from other objectives. They are quite noticable as they start smashing ground level targets and well... scaring a few of the ground troops. It appears no one wants to get near a creature that is spitting acid (Thanks Bo) and one that just looks like it is (Close enough, Mike).

Morrigan's warning of the impending company draws concern. Steve's response sort of offsets it but then that darn Barnes had to say it.

// ARE THE OTHER KIDS OUT?!//

The Mike ant brings a leg up, slamming the spiked leg into another spotlight.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    Colette leans against the rock of her hideaway, watching figures running around in the darkness and chaos, regretting that she didn't think to bring some beer with her. The Order's forces don't seem to know which way to turn and the various groups of attackers seem to have things going their way for now. The guards are running around like headless chickens, the assault on the towers seems to be going well, the main team is in the courtyard and all in all it seems like a decent idea to just be a spectator for a while.

    It's fun spectating when you can see in darkness. It's not like there isn't plenty of illumination in various parts of the compound, though the amount is ever-reducing as Damian and Mike deal with those spotlights. Colette's eyes can see darkness a little like other people's eyes see light, and where there are shapes moving through said darkness, they are clear to her. Thus it is she notices a couple of forms making their way around the walls, running silently through the darkness, apparently attempting some kind of flanking maneuver.

     Are they Order operatives who have a little more smarts than the rest? Or perhaps this is the Brits putting in an appearance? Unclear. They're not part of Mo's assault team, and that's enough.

    A patch of darkness ahead of them solidifies into a wall of solid shadow, differing only from the rest of the darkness in that it hurts to run into it. It doesn't, for example, show up on night vision goggles. The first crashes into the wall and bounces off it to the ground. Not knowing what has just happened, his fellow swings his gun around looking for a target and crouches down next to him to check him, assuming he must have taken a hit. Almost immediately he slumps down over his colleague, a bolt of shadow knocking him senseless from behind. A second bolt quickly takes the other man out too, and Colette steps forwards, poking at them with a foot. "Which side are you guys on?" she wonders to herself, before shrugging. Not important. Wrong place, wrong time. She steps backwards and reappears in her hiding place again, to continue regretting the absence of beer.

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
The Order is on the run. Well...those that aren't injured or dead. MI6 was going to have a field day when they got here! If they ever did. There's a lot going on and it's a bit like chaos. But the team is doing a great job! Down below, the kids in the cells have been abandoned given the ritual was a bust. There's not even any resistance to meet Steve Jovian and whoever else goes with them to the rescue. Just terrified children meet them.

Meanwhile, on the quinjet. Morrigan looks up to see J'onn with Tyler and the woman lets out a breath that she didn't know she was holding as he is laid on the floor near here. "Thank you, J'onn." she tells him quietly. The there's a James that's sounding out of sorts and she throws up some magical wardings as she talks, "Magic is up, we're all good here." she tells him. "Keeping an eye out. Cap, Taxi is ready for the kids. Whenever you are ready." she tells them.

There is no sorceror that pops up for the moment. He might have ran for the hills...or is gone to lick his wounds.

Jovian Anderson has posed:
Jovian Anderson keeps up with Steve the only way he knows how, cheating since he isnt an olympic level athleete that involves running throgh some walls. As he does, he punches a few guys in the face, bolos some guards and then...memory blanks. He remembers helping move the kids out, making sure they are OK and then suddenly they're back at the quinnjet. He follows Cap but..there are holes in his memory, despite having thrown five flash bangs and most of his 'real' bolos.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
At the sound of an unfamiliar mental voice on the insect comms, Nadia blinks several times. //Wait what? Who are you? Dad WHO DID YOU GIVE A SUIT TO NOW?! Hopefully better than Lang...// There is a pause as things register. //Oh right, kids, Dad keep the soldiers busy, I'm on it!// Seemingly kicking the can of this particular discussion down the road for later.

While the Original Ant-Man continues the good fight with the farmer ants, the Waspette zips back inside. Through a clever application of her cutting beams and the explosives she carries with her, she makes her way down to the sub-level where the children were being held.

"Okay! Everyone inside!" She announces pulling out a Pym Capsule and increasing it to the size of a small van. "Don't worry! This will be fun! Like Disney Land! I'm the Waspette!" Nadia grins at them pulling off her helmet. "And I'm here to help!"

Once all the children have been shepherded into the capsule, Nadia hits it with another beam reducing it in size once more, so she can fly out with them. Kids rescued she heads back out to link up with her father and rendezvous with the extraction.

James Barnes has posed:
    Dust settles, smoke clears... there's not a whole lot left living in the 'Fortress'. That suits Bucky just fine. "C'mon," he says to Big Red before he's on the run toward Steve and the others to help secure the exit path for the rest of the kids.

    Anything left in the way gets dead one way or another and one by one the children are tucked safely away into the vehicle secured for just that reason. At one point, Bucky even scoops one of the smaller ones up onto his shoulder and asks, "Do you know why the cookie went to the hospital?" A beat... "Because he felt crummy." So Bad Bucky, So BAD. But the kid laughed despite the dire circumstances so...

    Once back on the Quinjet, he snarls under his breath to Morrigan, "You're gonna help me and Sam find that fucker and put him out of our misery, yeah?" Because this isn't finished yet, not by a long shot, not in Bucky's mind.

    <<Sam, we're headin' home. You got any sign of that magic asshat?>>

Michael Hannigan has posed:
When things calm down and the kids are mentioned to be secured. Bo and Co make it over to Mo and get settled in. Once everyone's good to go and things are closed up. Mike reaches up. to press a release on the helmet. As the helmet comes up, the hair falls down in a staticy mess. "How do they stand wearing this all the time?" He brings a hand up, combing through the mess.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    From her hiding place, Colette is content to watch the mission come to its conclusion. She perches on a comfortable outcropping to observe as the assault continues throught the compound, finishing off any resistance, and as the remaining kids are succesfully evacuated. There doesn't seem to be any particular reason for her to interfere.

    Eventually things start to quiet down. She stays still until the last of the assault team has gone, and stays for a few minutes afterwards too. There are a few surviving members of the order milling aroud in chaos, but most of them are out for the count at this time. A few members of the order slink away from the compound into the night, presumably concluding that they would like to pretend they were never there and none of this has anything to do with them.

    Colette waits a little longer, thinking things over. The bar's still open, she could go and get that beer now. It seems like a really good idea. Part of her wonders if the Order has really learned their lesson. Maybe she should do something, just to make sure these guys don't try it again.

    Colette stands, and unseen in the darkness, the blackness of her irises grows to fill her eyes, and then spread out across her face. Shadows form around her, writhing around her like muscles, extending from her fingers like claws. Tendons twist and reform, and a thin veneer of blood glistens over her darkening skin. The demonic golem of shadow that Colette as become steps into the shadows and reappears inside the compound, fangs glistening. "Just to make sureurerere..." she growls to herself.

    Two minutes later, Colette reappears a short distance from the bar, returned to her normal human appearance. She sighs to herself and mutters "Stupid human morals. They'd have deservered it. I should have done it. Terry and Carol would give me /looks/ though." She steps into the light of the bar. "Gimme a Farson's Blue Label," she calls out to the bartender. "And a bottle of scotch."

Sam Wilson has posed:
    Nothing comes up from Sam's scans of the area around the helipad. The people inside the quinjet will hear a *thunk* against the outer hull, and then the Falcon drops down into view through the open hatch. <<Nothing up here>> he reports, and then pokes his head in to take a quick accounting of the people aboard before he gives a little salute and turns on his heel, taking off at a run to throw himself back up into the air. He opens a private comm direct to Bucky's channel. <<So... cultists are definitely just wizards in their goth phase.>>

James Barnes has posed:
    <<There's no such thing as wizards, SAM>> Bucky actually finds his place behind the controls of the quinjet for the return trip. It's something to do, something menial and muscle memory that keeps him from having to interact with anyone else.