6201/The Framework: Sky Commander Morse

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The Framework: Sky Commander Morse
Date of Scene: 17 May 2021
Location: Afterlife Settlement - Nepal
Synopsis: Sky Commander Morse leads the HYDRA fleet to Nepal where they engage in battle with the Inhuman settlement: Afterlife. Glorious victory is granted to the saviours of the free world. The terrorist Jiaying is dead and her follows either captured or killed. Hail HYDRA.
Cast of Characters: Bobbi Morse, Melinda May, Carol Danvers, Dottie Underwood, Phil Coulson, Jessica Drew, Leopold Fitz
Tinyplot: The Framework


Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Impressive isn't quite the right word for HYDRA's fleet of Zeppelins. Intimidating. Yes, that's the one. The need for large sea ships, aircraft carriers, went right out the window when HYDRA adopted SHIELD's helicarrier program and gave it new terrifying life. Ultra efficient, and packed full of advanced technology the world watched in fear and horror when the fleet first took to the air.

    Sporting eight super turbines, a large bladder on top filled with helium means that the bulk of the ship supports itself rather than wasting fuel. The tops are decorated with solar panels but the bottoms are coated in armour and cloaking technology. Armed to the teeth and carrying ten quinjets each.

    The fleet polices the skies of America and while HYDRA isn't technically at war with any other countries, it has demanded access to their skies less than diplomatically more than once. There have been 'incidents'. When Project Insight (or as the subversives called it Project Incite), took flight.. the world watched in horror as thousands upon thousands of people were surgically removed from the face of the Earth.

    "Sky Commander, cloak is holding strong, energy barrier stable, main cannons primed, weapons hot, all teams are ready for deployment - we will be on the terrorist settlement in mere moments," says Captain Keller.

    Sky Commander Morse enters the bridge as she receives this update. Gone is the smile that usually adorns Barbara's face. Replaced is a scar running from right eyebrow to right cheek through her eye. The eye is marbled, a light grey, deformed. She does not wear an eyepatch. There's a power in making other people uncomfortable when they're looking at you.

    Wearing HYDRA's black armor and over that a long leather coat, black leather gloves and long boots, the Sky Commander has earned a fierce reputation. A relatively uninteresting agent fell under the tutelage of Director John Garrett. He cleared her mental plate and gave her focus, made her strong. From there she rose through the ranks and became the model HYDRA agent.

    Barbara cracks her neck and then walks up to the large display screens showing the settlement below - Afterlife. "Such a primitive small place can cause so much trouble. Inhuman abilities give these people unnatural gifts that they use to sow discord and destruction. Remember Cambridge. Remember Austin. Remember Bridgeport."

    "Deploy the anti-teleporter drones," she says. Sixteen drones shoot out of the lead 'peace zeppelin' in this group of five and deploy around Afterlife, trapping Gordon and the rest of the Inhumans alive. "All teams. Deploy. The Doctor wants as many alive as possible," she says over the comms to the five ships filled to the brim with HYDRA stormtroopers and specialists. "Hail HYDRA," she says. The shout in return from the troops is almost deafening.

    Below is what would have once been a quiet little peaceful village.. but was now filled with the refugees fleeing HYDRAs war against them. The settlement has grown - at its core, ancient Chinese style architecture, but at its edges past its walls are tents and wooden shacks. They population growth has been more than Afterlife could handle, but what more could they do?

Melinda May has posed:
Remember Cambridge.

Those words burn through Commander Melinda May like acid in her veins. Cambridge haunts her dreams every night. It has defined her life for the past 8 years. If she'd only realized that Katya Belyakov was a greater monster than her mother, Eva, so much would be different, now. She should have pulled the trigger then, not been blinded by emotion and rescued the damned child. She will NOT be that blind, this time. Yes, she will obey the Doctor. She carries ICERs; nothing lethal -- if you discount her hands. The Inhumans will be brought to him alive.

They're as good as dead in his care, in any case.

"Hail HYDRA!" May echoes Morse. She is here to lead the ground assault. And she has more than a little pent-up aggression she needs to unleash on the Inhuman monsters below. The fact the Doctor was less than pleased with the outcome from the assault on the SHIELD outfit in D.C. means she also has some lost ground to recover. A task, she knows, may be impossible. Forgiveness is not in the Doctor's repertoire. Nor is it a quality HYDRA encourages.

Thus, face covered with a mask against the potential of broken, misting Terigen crystals, she carries a pair of ICER pistols to put the Inhumans down with, and an extra comm, in case 'something' happens to hers again. "Capture teams, spread out and encircle the settlement. No one escapes. Alpha team, with me. We're after the leaders." Because, of course, they are.

Carol Danvers has posed:
What more could they do?

They could submit to HYDRA and stop their terroristic existence. They could turn themselves and their families in. They could stop this futile fight that wastes lives on both sides.

There is much that these Inhuman Terrorists could do but have chosen not to do.

So once more it falls on HYDRA to do what other people are too weak to do. Enforce stability and order and bring rogue elements under control.

HYDRAs control.

Which is why one person on the mission is smiling at least, and not one of those smirks or grim ironic sort of things. Carol Danvers is happy to be here, bringing peace. "Hail HYDRA" she says downright chipperly as she gives a nod to some of the troops. Pausing as she gets up to grab the shield that was once a symbol of freedom and America and has been perveted to a symbol of everything HYDRA stands for. Fitting it over her left arm so the coloration and HYDRA symbol is plain on the vibranium object to steal hope from anyone witnissing it. The rest of the outfit is a depature from that classic look of freedom, more Carol's own inspiration, but fully HYDRA themed.

"I'll be going with Alpha team, we should run into the most resistance with their leadership." yup, still sounds chipper. As far as Captain HYDRA is concerned they finally have the terrorists where they want them.

Dottie Underwood has posed:
While Dottie prefers to end her hunts with a kill, orders are orders. And live capture provides a different sort of challenge. She readies the weapons supplied her and takes her place beside the others.

"Hail HYDRA."

Phil Coulson has posed:
"If anyone lets someone escape, there will be consequences!" While the words aren't the loudest, they are spoken quite clearly as Phil Coulson checks his equipemnt one more time, just to be sure. Expression unreadable as he watches preparation getting underway, he moves to be ready with the others. "Hail HYDRA!" A nod is given to those nearby as he waits for things to get underway.

Jessica Drew has posed:
Behind the mask, ostensibly against the cold and Terragen crystals, icy green eyes watch the Commander as she gives the final orders for the Alpha team. A whispered suggestion had come to Jessica about a particular weakness on the Commander's part that longtime partisans like herself should keep an eye on. Anything to help a comrade in arms better themselves.

No showy black and red for the spider, her unique skills, honed by HYDRA training, shouldn't mark her out as something special. She carries a dual-purpose assault rifle adapted to ICER rounds and more lethal rounds if the need arises. It inevitably does with these wild mutants.

Jessica remembers those campaigns with pride; they had proven her loyalty to the organization after the one lamentable lapse she had had. Nick Fury had nearly convinced her that HYDRA was evil. Hours and hours of lost sleep have left her gritty-eyed and grim, repenting that moment of doubt. That shadow still dogs her, which is why she is so sensitive to the shadows in others.

"My team is go! HAIL HYDRA!"

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    The quinjets deploy from all five of the zeppelins. It is not a task force, it is a freakin' army. HYDRA does not pull punches any more. No hiding in the shadows, no sneakily manipulating the stock markets or running a clandestine lab attached to another corporation. No, they were out in the light and they had seized the mantle.

    Of course, not _all_ the Inhumans had to come in alive. The Doctor may want subjects but there was also a list of subversives that needed to be 'put down'. And a little collateral never hurt anything.

    Barbara had been indoctrinated. The young scientist with a keen mind for biology and a lust for adventure and adrenaline had been twisted in to something Red Skull would be proud of. Merciless and unloving. Some say she once loved a man but he turned out to be a traitor and she killed him for it and now she has no heart.

    A hand rises like the grim reaper and she points to a building in the village, "That one. The medical building." One of the energy weapons underneath the zeppelin springs to life and turns its turrets. A pulsing blue energy fills its barrel and with a sickening *womf* fires upon the building containing Mark and Lincoln, trying to tend to wounds and sick Inhumans who have managed to escape America and other countries sympathetic to their war on Inhumanity.

    The building doesn't explode. It is vapourised. The first salvo in this final chapter of Inhumans. The corner of Barbara's mouth twitches up at the corner and she taps her comms to May's ear piece, "Strike hard. No mercy." And then to Captain HYDRA, "You are glorious and they will feel your wraith." A little team building goes a long way!

    The cannons of all five ships prime and the target moves to a hydro electric facility powering Afterlife just out of town. *whomf* the cannons fire and the dam is broken. The water will go downriver.. somewhere.. but the HYDRA electric power is no more. Afterlife goes dark.

    The arrival of HYDRA seemingly out of no where spurs on wild activity down below as the Inhumans rush to their battle positions. They've drilled for this. But part of that plan involved getting the children away using Gordon's teleportation. He shimmers in place for a moment and then doubles over in pain, "Jia.. I can't.. teleport." Jiaying shuts her eyes for a moment, then walks over to the wall and takes down a jade sword, "Then we fight until we've won."

Melinda May has posed:
Yes. May hesitated when she saw Daniel Sousa. But she did kill him, in the end. Her comm unit was broken. She didn't hear the Doctor's order to keep him alive. Perhaps her bodycam did show a conversation between the two before the legendary SHIELD agent died. But, still. May did her duty, in the end. And she will do it now, too.

After all, Peggy Sousa and her three children are thousands of miles away in Washington, D.C. Not here in the mountains of Nepal.

May leaps from the hatch of the quinjet, jumpjets on her back giving her lift as she plumets toward the earth. She lands in a crouch, one leg stretched out beside her. She rises, her ICERs in her hands. She marches toward the main building, where Jiaying and her cohort arm themselves. Her shots, as she goes, are swift, efficient, and unerring. Six Inhumans are down before they even realize she's there. When the resistance starts, she moves swiftly, ducking, weaving, and contining to dual fire.

Flipping over a small wall, as a fire ball is hurled her way, she fires her ICERs as her body twists through the air. The fire ball thrower goes down, his power bursting against the old millstone that stood for centuries before now. The rocks shatter and pepper her side and back.

The Cavalry keeps moving relentlessly. She reloads her magazines in a moment, and continues to press forward, trusting her team at her back.

Carol Danvers has posed:
There is an upnod from Captain HYDRA towards the Sky Commander. "Good shot." about the vaporization of the medical building. It is tactical, if your tactics are breaking their spirit and will to fight that is. Before she turns to go she snaps a HYDRA salute to Morse, acknowledging her team building pep talk there. "Today is a good day."

The blond haired, blue eyed, supersoldier of HYDRA jogs along to leap into the open door of one of the quinjets that is part of Alpha Teams ride down from the command carrier/zeplin. They are headed where she wants to go so no reason not to be a part of that trip down and assault.

No Mercy after all today.

Honestly the Doctor will just have to make do with whatever scraps he gets because one way or another this is ending today.

When it comes time to leap after May from the quinjet, Captain HYDRA doesn't use the jumpjets she just does what in another time and era would be a superhero landing with the SHIELD out to block any incoming fire from the Inhumans.

That isn't to say she doesn't get distracted as she follows the Cavalry and Alpha Team. About the time Mister Fireball is going down trying to hit May, the Captain has to veer right and interpose her shield between an Agent of HYDRA and a god damned boulder deflecting it with a grunt to the side.

Vibranium is so useful. She can understand why that lapdog Rodgers used it.

Speaking of shields it goes flinging down an alley bouncing off a wall and catching the Inhuman with superhuman strength right in the throat. If he didn't have inhuman durability too it might have taken his head clean off. Wouldn't be the first time that incident has occurred. "Enganging hostile." the Captain notes still so chipper as she runs down alley to get her shield back, going into a slide to knock the staggered big guy off his feet, scoop up the shield, and then bring the edge of it down with both hands and superhuman strength right across the bridge of his nose and eyes.

There is alot of blood but... well technically the bruiser is still some defition of alive. He didn't need to see, and Carol is helpful enough to roll him onto his side so he doesn't drown in his own blood as easily too.

She is a helper.

Phil Coulson has posed:
Letting out a bit of a breath as he waits, Coulson springs into action, moving from the quinjet rather quickly, ICER ready as he looks around carefully. As soon as he spots one of the inhumans, he fires at them, a few quick shots to be sure the enemy is downed, while moving further along, gaze moving around to see what places he could get into cover if needed. And a few moments later, the need arises as another seems to be sending some kind of electrical blast in his direction. Thankfully, he gets behind a wall, emerging to fire off another few shots at this new arrival. Probably at least one more than strictly needed, to make sure this one is downed.

Jessica Drew has posed:
Soldiers of the future relentlessly trained to search out all those who would weaken them drop into glorious battle in tight formation. Spider-Woman uses a jetpack to blend with the ranks but could have easily glided into the fight under her power. Her heart beats faster as they skip the last few steps in behind the Captain, fanning out at a gesture. This hotbed of Inhumans would no longer exist in a matter of hours.

In the heat of a fight, Jessica doesn't conform. Her hands glow around the stock of the rifle that picks off Inhumans running for their lives. Lifting, she glides behind a pair of stumbling children that she leaves crumpled on the ground. One foot propels her forward into a kick under a man's chin, trying to protect the children knocking him face down next to them. They don't merit a glance. Jessica runs toward the next Inhuman, fists glowing with venom.

Dottie Underwood has posed:
Dottie does not hesitate. She grins, invigorated by the fray. Her smile is less of a human greeting than a primal flashing of teeth, a bared display of aggression.

Her movement through the air is graceful, recalling her years of ballet as she twists and turns to dodge the inhuman barrage. She lands in a forward roll, up on her feet, weapons drawn in a fraction of a second. And She's firing into the crowd indiscriminately. They aren't *lethal* rounds. And HYDRA can sort out the useful from the dead at their leisure.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Jacob slides across the ground to a fallen Inhuman and places his hands upon him. The area glows and the Inhuman rises again. He starts to sling large boulders at the incoming shock troopers. Jacob is not done yet. He dives through a window and comes up next to Gordon. "Okay.. this is going to suck," says the young man as he places his hands on their teleporter. The power within him grows and a force field shoots out around him, covering the main building and trapping the alpha team inside.

    Gordon nods his head to Jacob, "I've got this now.." Next he places his hands on Jia and she lets out a gasp of surprise, "Jacob.. I told you not to...." but she feels the rush inside her as a shock trooper enters the room. She holds out her hand and feels his life drain from a distance in to her with a gasp.

    Jacob shrugs and says, "If not now to over clock your powers, then when right?" He dashes off through the door to supe up another Inhuman.

    Jia holds out her other hand and starts to drain another soldier as he enters. "Cal, deploy the terrigen," she says. A large oafish man wearing a mask starts to lob terrigen crystals in to the hallways of the advancing HYDRA agents. Too bad they're wearing masks, otherwise the mists would start to consume them.

    Outside one of the HYDRA zeppelins takes an unexpected intense beam of energy from a lone Inhuman on the ground. It dances off of the shields of the ship and then suddenly lances right through it and cuts the ship in two. The massive vessel begins to careen toward the hill side, covered in snow, to crash and burn.

    Sky Commander Morse shouts, "More power to the shields. Someone take that freak out!" One of the other ships turns its energy cannon toward her and powers up. *womf* the blue beam shoots down at the Inhuman power house and is intercepted by her own red beam. Barbara cracks her neck and smirks, "All cannons, target that Inhuman. They can't block all of it at once." The full barrage evaporates the entire area around this lone Inhuman.. not a trace remains of them or the buildings around them. HYDRA is playing for keeps.

Melinda May has posed:
The force field bubbles over the building. May looks up and acknowledges it with a chuff of air. "Okay, people," she says, giving her team the heads up. "We're in. And we're not getting out until we've taken them all down. Disable and capture as many as you can. Kill only if you must." But if they have to kill, well... yes. There are enough other Inhumans here, the Doctor will need to be content with that.

She kicks in the front door of the lowslung, old Chinese style building. Her ICERs are up and ready to fire as she enters. And, indeed, expecting an attack, she doesn't linger in that doorway, but dives in and forward, rolling back up to a crouch to survey the layout and respond to any defenders.

She notes the old fashioned style. She's been in buildings like this before, when she was stationed in Shanghai. She knows there are passages hidden, and might even be able to spot them, if she needs.

Carol Danvers has posed:
Carol shakes the shield a bit, sending a spray of blood onto the person she nearly killed with it. Then she turned and ran to catch up with Alpha team, ending up having to do a slide like she is taking home base to get in under the forceshield as it comes crashing down around the building.

Protecting the Inhuman's leaders but also trapping them inside with Alpha Team.

Over the comms <<Made it in under the wire. Be ready for anything.>> not undermining any of May's orders but a friendly reminder really of what they are dealing with. Which could honestrly be anything based on the many intel reports about the variety of problems and powers the Inhuman's have displayed.

Carol starts to carefully fan out away from the rest of Alpha Team and despite being in enemy territory and paying a lot of attention she is caught in the shoulder by a flung blade. That vansihes as soon as it scores blood. <<Contact>> deflecting several more of the thrown conjured knives with the shield. There are kinetic bangs as they hit the shield not managing to cut through them like they did her armor or her bleeding shoulder.

Seems Li got a supe up as well and is looking to clear the building of Alpha Team.

The fact the blade treated her armor like butter means no throwing her shield. That just means she charges using the shield as cover to close iwth Li and engage him in hand to knife range now.

Dottie Underwood has posed:
An inhuman becomes visible as he wraps his arms around Dottie in a chokehold. But just as quickly, Dottie has escaped his grasp. The light around him bends. He cannot be seen.

An unseen combatant does not deter her. If any could pause in their own struggle to observe the two, they would watch Dottie seemingly pirouette around nothing, climbing higher into the air. Until, with a terrible cracking sound, the inhuman becomes visible, -- dead and limp on the ground, his neck snapped. Dottie crouches over him, her limbs splayed out in arachnid-like angles.

He had gotten between a black widow and her objective. And had paid the price.

Phil Coulson has posed:
Once more moving forward, Coulson frowns as the forcefield goes up right behind him, cutting him off from those that was following him. There's a glance back, as he gestures to them to continue on the outside, before nhe moves forward a bit, crouching a little more than before as he moves to one of the doors, kicking it open as he keeps the ICER ready as he steps inside, crouching down again as he moves for the nearest cover. There's a muttered curse as he can feel something sent flying moving just above his head, and he fires off some shots in the direction of where it came from, the action more instinct than anything. "Too close for comfort," he mutters.

Jessica Drew has posed:
After the last barrage, a haze hangs over the superheated ground. A hackneyed phrase plays over and over in Jessica's head. Resistance is futile. She glories in being part of HYDRA's power.

"Copy that," she replies crisply and points to the door that Commander May breaches, close behind her. Spider senses tingle at a shield slamming around the building. She automatically covers the corner opposite the Commander, noting the ornate keyhole carving in a screen.

No wonder they will soon no longer exist, spending time and resources on out-of-date buildings, she muses, shuttering any further thoughts as a blast of electricity hits her from behind. The world goes black. Blue light plays over her back and down the weapon she carries. Jessica stumbles, tasting blood where she bit her tongue. Lights blink on her gun. Fury charges her pirouette. She leaps straight into a young boy with his hands extended toward her, grabbing his head. Enveloped in a green glow, he slithers to the ground. Shouldering the gun in disgust, she runs down the hall to join the Commander.

Leopold Fitz has posed:
It is a moment that has been a long time in coming. To end the threat that the Inhumans present to HYDRA's grand ambitions once and for all. One step closer to imposing true and lasting order over an unruly world. SHIELD has been reduced to little more then mere mosquitoes. They are annoying and they can draw a little blood now and then but in the grand scheme of things they are certainly no real sort of threat.. The mutant problem? It remains to be sure. There might not be any real way to stop it -- though that does not mean that the Doctor won't try. But it is also an opportunity as much as an obstacle.

But the Inhumans? They need to go. Leopold Fitz has done the math. He has punched in the variables to his grand equation and there is no place for Inhumans in the grand destiny humanity will realize once they submit en mass to HYDRA. But that doesn't mean that they cannot be of service. That does not mean that they cannot advance the cause of science. That they cannot provide greater power to the ranks of HYDRA. That their gifts cannot be harvested, duplicated and provided to the loyal, true believers.

Which is why the Doctor wants as many live subjects captured as possible instead of a graveyard of corpses. Certainly autopsies can provide important information. But that is the final step in his process, not the starting point. Most of his subjects rather quickly come to wish it were otherwise.

Again, the Doctor remains in the beating heart of his operations, standing in the center of Control, looking out over the tactical display that takes up almost all of the wall in front of him, providing all the details he needs in dozens of different screens and readouts, in the satellite imagery, in the footage from the HYDRA carriers and drones, the body cam footage of agents. All supplimented with a stream of intelligence, of his calculations laying out probabilities as far as enemy response goes. Augmented intelligence giving them the capability to anticipate their foes and shut down any opposition before it has time grow in strength. A hundred tentacles, dancing to his whim to blot out the light of hope and crush the chaos and disorder that factions like the Inhumans create.

"Finally, we come to the end," Leopold Fitz says quietly, standing in the middle of that room, dozens of agents working at consoles that line the walls as his hard gaze flickers over the myriad of displays. "Hail HYDRA," he whispers in that icy cold Scottish tone.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Unlike in the real world. List destroyed Afterlife and captured some Inhumans, but he didn't win. Here.. Sky Commander Morse has won. Overwhelming force and numbers. Quinjet Prime undocks from the lead zeppelin and lowers down in to the open space of the square. Its wings fold upwards in to an A shape. Sky Commander Morse steps out of it and on to ground.

    Agents of HYDRA are still dragging captured Inhumans - collared and bound - in to rows for collection. Her eyes turn toward the large glowing blue shield around the main building. Over the comms she says <Commander May.. status> because if somehow the Inhumans had won inside that building? ...they will have to wait them out until Gordon can stay away no longer.

    The floor begins to rumble and from below a person jumps out of the ground. He tackles Phil and starts trying to rip his mask off to expose him to the terrigen mist.

    Rounding the corner.. a huge hulk of a man, a beast almost. Lash, he tosses half a table toward Jessica and then charges in to slash at her with long claw like hands.

    From behind there is a shimmer as an Inhuman carrying a bronze shield and a spear appears seemingly out of no where and begins to advance on Dottie. She looks like something out of greek mythology. Angelo would have been fascinated. When Dottie tries to take a shot, she shimmers, phasing in and out of physical space and then she throws her spear in return.

    Li, super powered as he is, seems to be summoning impossibly sharp daggers out of thin air with the greatest of ease. Throwing them at Carol until she charges in with that shield. He moves too, kicking one foot off the wall and leaping behind her, a dagger cutting at her back as he goes. He turns swiftly and summons a dagger in each hand and moves in hard against her.

    Jia lets the bodies hit the floor as she advances toward the oncoming HYDRA onslaught. Her eyes lock on May.. the butcherer of Inhumans. Bahrain.. Cambridge.. she stares defiantly and lifts up the jade sword before her. "Melinda May.. the rotten heart of HYDRA," she says.. apparently May has a special name amongst the Inhumans. A man with dusty blonde hair steps up from behind Jia and lifts up his hands. The energy cells in all the ICERs on the HYDRA agents drain as the electricity shoots through the air, crackling, up and in to his hands forming in to a ball that he then tosses at a stormtrooper right next to May. He shudders and drops to the ground dead.

Melinda May has posed:
May doesn't spare the fallen trooper beside her a second glance. She does, however, drop her ICERs. She doesn't need them, anyway. Of course, her oponent has a sword. But Melinda May is never unarmed.

"<<We've made contact, Sky Commander,>>" May says calmly into comms as Jiaying snarls at her. "<<We are pressing our attack.>>" And they *will* be victorious. No matter what the Inhumans think.

Her dark eyes meet Jiaying's. Her lips curl into something of a sneer. "Jiaying," she replies, unphased by the name she's been given. She's facing off against the woman who is ultimately responsible for empowering the Damnable Child. Her eyes are cold, remorseless. Of all the people she regrets killing, Eva and Katya Belyakov are not among them. She says nothing more to the other Asian woman. The smile on her lips is sharp, predatory.

She reaches behind her, pulling two pieces of an ornate staff from holsters across the small of her back. As they pass the third piece holstered there, they snap together, sealed with an alien energy into a single, five-foot long stave etched with arcane, Norse runes. She spins the staff around her body, eyes glowing briefly with dark energy that settles into her skin and muscles.

In any other hands, the rage staff would drive its wielder mad with fury, pushing them into a berserk rage. But she is Melinda May. Anger management is the core of who she is. That doesn't stop the images from filling her mind: The battle in Bahrain where she killed Eva Belyakov, but foolishly spared her daughter. The carnage in Cambridge where she finally rectified that mistake. The loss of her own unborn child in the wake of that pyrrhic victory. The destruction of her marriage. All the SHIELD agents -- friends and colleagues -- she was forced to cross off at the Triskelion when they couldn't see the need to utterly destroy the monster that stands before her. The sound of Daniel Sousa's neck snapping and his widow's harsh, body wracking sobs as she closd to door to their house on the heels of the Doctor only a few hours ago. All of it floods her blood with adrenaline and cortisol, eyes on fire.

As she leaps at Jiaying, the Inhuman woman lifts her sword to defend herself. May rains blows down upoon her. But Jiaying is no amateur. She is older than Melinda and has fought in many battles. Some she's lost. Most she's won. Her arms are jarred by May's relentless blows, but she does not, cannot yield. No. She must win today. Otherwise, the Inhumans are lost, and she can't live with that.

And she has power. The sword only enhances it. She reaches out for her opponent with that power, seeking to suck the life out of the Butcher of Bahrain and Cambridge. May lets out a cry of pain and rage, responding by redoubling her attack.

Carol Danvers has posed:
<<Hard contact. The inhumans seem amp'd up beyond their dossiers.>> yeah they have dossiers on a lot of the notable Inhuman leadership and despite the Captain's cavilier attitude and smiles she has studied and read up on HYDRA's enemies diligently.

There is a gasp of pain over her comm channel though as that knife scopres across her back cutting through armor and skin. <<Take them down hard.>> she hiss growls.

She turns fast though, she is a super soldier and the finest product of HYDRA science and opportunism around. Cosmically irridated and experimented on by the best to be a standard bearer and proof of HYDRA superiority. The shield is brought up and interposed between those daggers and her as Ji comes in hard for the kill.

She gives him a shove back and then returns the favor just as hard.

He may be skilled and have very good knives. She is Super Strong. Super Fast. Super Endurant.

This fight isn't going to be over soon and he has taken a pound of flesh, but she starts to wear him down in a war of atttritution he can't win, as her blows and the edge of her shield start to connect more and more frequently. "Just. Give. Up." she basically grunts at Li as they continue to fight.

Dottie Underwood has posed:
Dottie dodges the spear. It sinks into the ground beside her. Solid and real. So she takes up the weapon. Waste not want not.

Still she prefers a personal touch. So she closes distance on the insubstantial Amazon. Dottie's foot sweeps through the woman's shield as the Inhuman evades her attack. Still the shimmer remains. This will be, Dottie realizes, a matter of timing.

Jessica Drew has posed:
Two steps into her run and half a table launched into the air by an Inhuman (Jessica sees it in aching detail) carooms into her shoulder, knocking her into a wall. Plaster crumbles from the indent of her body. Blood dribbling down the side of her lips, Jessica gives the monster a crazy smile. It is going to be a fight.

Shaking her head to clear it, she ducks the next swipe. She would be fascinated by the half-animal fighting her in another setting. Still crouched, the spider woman springs sideways. Lash's claws carve the wall behind her, leaving foour neat score marks.

Jessica's momentum carries her behind the clawed man. Using a playground maneuver, she puts her shoulder into the back of his knees, sending him stumbling forward. A dose of venom glows around her fists, and she blasts the man full force. There is no time for finesse. If he survives the blast, then HYDRA might have some use for him or his powers.

In disbelief, she watches the man stagger and turn toward her, grimacing in pain.

Phil Coulson has posed:
"What now..." Coulson says as the floor begins to rumble, but then that man jumps out of the ground and tackles him. Trying to roll out of the way, he grimaces as he realize what the inhuman is trying to do to his mask, moving both hands up to grab hold of the other man's arms, to pull them away so his mask is safe. A kick is amed for the inhuman, as he works to get himself free. " Take your stinking paw off me, you damn dirty..." he growls at the other man, one hand dropping to reach for something in his pocket.

Leopold Fitz has posed:
Back in Control, the Doctor watches as everything plays out, just as planned. There will be casualties, on both sides. The HYDRA agents that go down will have given their lives to see humanity aspire to something greater -- the inevitability of HYDRA's world order. But each inhuman that goes down is an opportunity for scientific advancement lost. There is no avoiding it of course, but that doesn't mean that Leopold Fitz does not begrudge every last one. Though thus far at least the rate of capture is exceeding his lofty expectations. Not that anyone is likely to see the slightest hint of satisfaction on that impassive visage, or hear it in the icy precision of his voice.

Of course the real test is just how many of the Inhuman heavy-weights his crack team manages to subdue and procure. All Inhumans are invaluable of course. But those with the most rare, most powerful powers? They could go a long way to shortening this struggle. They could also help insure the Doctor's ultimate supremacy over the other heads of HYDRA. A secondary objective of this mission to be sure, but again, the Doctor is a big believer in efficency. Why settle for one victory when he can get two out of this battle?

He runs a hand back through his hair idly before leaning forward, gloved hands bracing on the rail in front of him as he watches it all play out in real time in front of him.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    When jade sword meets rage staff, something unexpected happens. The jade casing around the sword shatters and beneath, an obsidian blade starts to dance with strange alien runes as the Kree weapon analyzes the Asgardian weapon. Jia can feel it shake in her hand as it is pounded by the heavy staff.

    The sword, left for Inhumans to defend themselves was never designed to face against one of the mightest realms in the universe - Asgard. And while its internal processors attempt to match the energy frequencies, it is failing. It is no better than a super flexible and strong sword made on any old planet right now.

    Jia glances at the Kree writing on the sword, she did not know it could do this, or would do this.. but she has learnt to read Kree in all her hundreds of years alive using the diviner. 'Partial Solution' is not what she wants to see right now.

    Jia is the embodiment of a kung fu movie - not because of any special powers, but because of the many centuries she has spent practicing it. The sound of the sword sings with each blow and then Jia wraps an arm about the rage staff, pinning it and then cuts her sword down firmly against it.

    The Asgardian weapon is too much - the blade actually bites in to the staff, chipping a chunk of it, before it too succumbs and shatters. Jia can feel the rage boiling up inside of her because of her contact with the rage staff and she blindly tries to suck the life out of May.

    Li stabs hard at Carol and the shield gets in the way. There is a resounding high pitched resonation from the impact as impossibly sharp point hits impossibly resilient shield. The dagger doesn't break, but Li's hand almost does. He staggers back and summons a new dagger, though it's clear he doesn't have the same level of endurance as Captain HYDRA. But he launches in to another attack regardless.. it is his duty to protect Jia.

    The amazonian styled Inhuman seems to be deliberately trying to land a punch on Dottie while phased. She is phasing in and out, shimmering strangely as she does so. Shield is being used to block, followed by a shimmer where she spins around and phases back in on her other side. It's a new kind of martial art with a whole new dimension the black widow has to absorb.

    Lash takes the venom blast full force and it hits his skin. He lets out a roar and swipes away the remains of the wounds but ... isn't going down. He charges back in swiping left and right with his claws. Moving like an MMA fighter who happens to have fingers for weapons.

    The Inhuman on top of Phil rolls back and the floor begins to rumble again. He charges in to tackle Phil once more, though this time the ground gives way like quicksand. The 'damn dirty' Inhuman is trying to bury the Agent of HYDRA.

    <Doctor> comes the familiar almost sinister voice of the Sky Commander, <Afterlife will fall in moments> she says and then motions with a camera across at the several dozen Inhumans already captured. They are being lead on to quinjets. One quinjet, full, is flying back up to a zeppelin. <May be now you can finally find a permanent cure for this blight> she says with almost a touch of amusement or is that accusation that he has yet to.

    Barbara walks back and forth along the lines briefly and frowns, "Jiaying is not here. She must be in the main building." Her hands tighten in to fists. Like May, she blames Jiaying for all the trouble caused by Afterlife. For inspiring SHIELD to continue a long lost fight. A team of HYDRA agents are setting up an energy scatter gun and are just starting to attune it to the force field Gordon has created. It'll take a while to breach - far easier if the team inside can subdue him.

Carol Danvers has posed:
Carol hasn't even seen Gordon yet, she has had her hands much too full with Li. Amp'd up as he is the Inhuman is actually nearly a threat.

Nearly.

She steps in hard purposefully letting him think he is going to stab the hell out of her and brings the shield up at the last moment. Not to deflect the stab but rather to slam it straight into the angle of Li's attack as hard as she can.

The impact and high pitched resonation was hard to miss last time, as was his stagger. Captain HYDRA seems to not even notice it, but a lot of very fine bones in Li's hand shatter and fracture in incredibly painful ways.

"I told you to give up." she notes even as she slams the SHIELD up and around then brings it down onto his other arm, even as he conjures a blade into his last good hand.

There is a sickening crunch of bone once more as she snaps both his Radius and Ulna like kindling. She is bleeding. She is out of patience. The fact this scum managed to even mark her is an afront to HYDRA and a blemish on her record. She seems intent on absolutely finishing this and not gently.

The arm breaking is followed with a super powered backhand with the shield still right into his face as she sends him into the stone wall of the building nearby. Before he can even slump to the ground though Carol leaps to close the distance and slams the shield with the HYDRA symbol emblazzoned onto it into his chest. More sickening crunch noises as she hits him hard enough to pulverize his ribs and crack the stone wall behind him.

Which is when she finally steps away letting him slide to the floor not fall this time. A streak of blood and gore coating the wall as he does. <<Inhuman combatant dead after severe resistance. Sorry Doctor.>> she honestly doesn't sound that sorry. <<Looking for the one generating the shield now.>>

Melinda May has posed:
The jade casing around the ancient blade shatters. May turns her face briefly away from the flying chips. The writing on the blade means absolutely nothing to her. She blocks each swing of the blade, the rush of her attack disrupting Jiaying's initial attempt to drain her life. Together, the two martial artists dance and spin through the halls, bouncing off of walls and looking for all the world like a real life re-enactment of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Finally, Jiaying's advance pushes May back against a solid wall. The Inhuman's arm wraps around the staff, rage rising through her body -- without the control her HYDRA foe commands. The sword blade shatters, as May always knew it must. Again, fragments fly. May ends up with cuts across her cheeks, but she hardly feels them with the power of the rage staff flowing through her veins.

Jiaying's power rips another bellow of rage and pain from May's throat. She can feel her skin tightening, her heart straining, her lungs fighting to expand and draw in sufficient breath. Her strength begins to fail. She grabs her Inhuman foe by the hair at the nape of her neck and locks her body against her. Thrusting off the wall, letting both the rage staff and the sword haft fall from their hands, she tumbles with the other woman across red carpet now stained with blood from both of them as they exchange a flurry of unagumented, desperate blows.

Flowing from fighting style to fighting style, they are so evenly matched, it's very nearly poetry in motion. Aggressive, ruthless, vicious poetry. In the end, Jiaying's only mistake is a minute one -- the belief that her power to drain life is superior to May's unyeilding will. She slams a hand against May's chest, pulling life from her. May reaches up and uses her remaining strength, fist tangled through the other woman's hair, to slam throw both of them to the side -- toward a long, ornate dragon sculpture. Jiaying's head hits the carved wood with hundreds of pounds of force behind it. It bounces off, but her eyes glaze and that last thing she sees as she loses consciousness is May rising above her, bloody and triumphant.

"Nooooo! Jiaying!" If Gordon hadn't shouted, had simply launched himself at May, he might have stood a chance, given her failing condition from Jiaying's power. But the shout is enough to alert her. She spins, her kick high and forceful, legs stronger than her arms at this moment. Her foot catches him in the side of the head. Blood and spittle spray across her as his head is wrenched to the side. He slams into a wall. She steps towards him and kicks him again, stomping hard on his torso. Ribs break. Her knee lands in the midde of his sternum and she grabs his hair. She pulls his head up and then slams it into the floor. His eyes roll back in his head.

Neither he nor Jiaying are dead. But neither of them are getting up again, either. May staggers back, wiping the blood off her face onto her forearm as she taps her comms. "<<Jiaying and the teleporter are down,>>" she tells Morse and Fitz. Her voice is ragged, she's breathing heavily, but she keeps the pain out of it. "<<I repeat. The Inhuman leadership has fallen and are ready to be collected. Tell the Doctor: They are alive. But they're not getting up.>>"

Dottie Underwood has posed:
When a punch lands in Dottie's solar plexus just as the ghostly amazon phases back into solidity, the pain is immense. As is the force of the blow. She almost flies through the air and lands over a yard from her combatant. Dottie looks down at her aching torso to see her own skin and a thin layer of muscle had been pulled away in the inhuman's retreating fist. She places a hand over her wound, feels the blood seeping through her fingers, and grins.

She stumbles to her feet. Takes one incredibly agonizing breath. Then moves to throw the spear. But instead of letting go, her whole body follows the projected arc in a leap as she dives through the space where her target would be if she were tangible. She rolls quickly to her feet and as her opponent phases to catch her. Before the woman can turn around, Dottie has a foot in the small of her back, kicking hard, forcing her onto her shield and into the dirt.

Then taking the spear in both hands, she braces it on the amazon's neck. And applies pressure.

Since the weapons phase with the warrior, Dottie reasons her trap will hold the woman until she passes out. Or dies. The only way out is down. And she can't stay insubstantial forever.

Dottie holds the spear down with a vicious determination. What're a few splinters after all of this?

Jessica Drew has posed:
Two venom discharges in close succession leave Jessica drained and breathless. Before Lash can gather himself, she powers into a roundhouse punch that jerks the man's head around hard. Spider reflexes save her from his successive blows; she drops and grabs the useless gun that had fallen off her shoulder during the fight. To her hyper senses, the air whistles through the knife-like claws over her head. Picking up the rifle that had clattered onto the ground, she unfolds like a jack-in-the-box to ram it into his face.

Blood splatters from his shattered nose. It doesn't save the special armor of her tactical suit from separating under his claws. Jessica bleeds from wounds to her shoulder meant for her neck and down her arm.

Only one of her hands glows. The other hangs uselessly. She steps into the next blow and covers his face with outstretched fingers. Summoning all of her reserves, she unleashes a furious venom blast. Lash takes a full hit into his open mouth and drops at her feet, twitching.

Eyes trained warily on her adversary, Jessica reaches into the pouch at her waist for the special zip ties that will cut off his hands if he struggles. A pool of blood forms on the floor from her nerveless hand. Down the hall, the sounds of fighting come to her keen hearing.

It will be a mark against her returning wounded. If lucky, it will underscore the value of her prize. She taps the comm on, <<"I have one of the monsters subdued.">> She, of course, being HYDRA would never be considered a monster.

Phil Coulson has posed:
Stumbling backwards again as he gets free, Coulson winces at the next incoming tackle, and the ground giving way.Starting to roll away and back to his feet so he can face his enemy again, he glances to the dropped ICER, considering for a second or two if he can reach it. Realzing that won't work, he brings up the hand that had reached for something in his pocket, bringing out a pistol armed with the lethal rounds. It's aimed quickly for the charging inhuman, and he keeps on firing until he's sure the enemy is brought down. While he would have preferred to capture the enemy alive, he also has a certain preference for being alive and healthy himself.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    The last few moments of life in the Inhuman's eyes looking up at Dottie are those of terror. She is dead before she even dephases and she knows it. When she does, she coughs up blood and grips at the spear.. shudders.. and the light goes from her eyes.

    The man on top of Coulson is bending the ground and pushing Phil down when the pistol fires in to him. Bang.. bangbang.. bang bangbang... the ground becomes solid once more - an indented curve with Phil and the now dead Inhuman in it.

    When the force field drops, the HYDRA shocktroopers are ready. The storm the place wholly. The Inhumans left alive are collared and the building is secured. Alpha strike team did its job and did it well.

    Sky Commander Morse enters the building and glances down with her chin raised at Jiaying. "This one," she says and motions to a shocktrooper. Take her outside for the others to see."

    Barbara pauses to look at the team and their wounds. The battle in here looks to have been intense. An eyebrow is raised to May as she looks at that Asgardian weapon she loves so much. She turns and strides out of the building.

    "Pay attention Inhuman Terrorists," she says loudly to the ensemble of defeated Inhumans. "This is your leader, your rock, your stone. The one who knows your history and has lived for a very long time. She is the foundation of your society."

    "That society is now dead," she says loudly to her captive audience. She draws her weapon in her right hand she points the gun to Jiaying's head. Her hand begins to shake and she cannot pull the trigger. Scowling, she swaps hands and fires instantly. "Afterlife has fallen. You will serve HYDRA now, you will help make the world a better place. This is not a negotiation," she says and then looks down at the lifeless body of Jiaying. <Doctor, it is done. I will bring the fleet and your samples back post haste>

    Barbara motions to the shocktroopers to resume loading Inhumans in to their quinjets. Afterlife truly has fallen.. there are bodies, there is rubble, there is fire. There is its leader dead at the feet of the Sky Commander. She looks pleased.

Leopold Fitz has posed:
Of course there has always been a potential cure to the plague that the Inhumans represent. Extermination. But that would be too easy. It would be a waste of an opportunity. Inefficient. And those that have found themselves working for the Doctor's arm of HYDRA have long since come to understand just how much he abhors inefficency. And the consequences that inevitably come about when one fails to measure up to the exacting standards of one Leopold Fitz.

The flow of information proceeds uninterrupted, drone feeds and body cams insuring that he is well aware of just what is going on. Those icy blue eyes flicker over the tactical display, taking in a half-dozen different perspectives at once, tracking their progress, watching how the best and HYDRA perform and insuring that the various designs he has provided continue to give his agents the edge that they require.

"So I can see, Sky Commander," comes the Doctor's reply. Even this close to the victory that HYDRA has been working years for there is no trace of emotion in Leopold's voice. No satisfaction, certain no exhultation. Just icy coolness, as if the moment is nothing special. That it was always inevitable.

Given the truth of where they are, maybe it always was inevitable.

"I would have you pass on my compliments to your team Sky Commander," Leopold adds over the comm, watching the disparate battles that are heading towards their conclusions with a great deal of interest. "They are everything that I expected. Round up the prisoners and have them transported back to Control as soon as possible. I would like to see them through processing as soon as possible so that we can begin our good works." There is a pause and without looking down the Doctor works the holographic terminal in front of him, and one of the displays on the larger tactical board grows a little, taking on more significance. Commander May.

"And Sky Commander, please insure that all data feeds on Commander May and all status updates are forward to my personal attention," he adds softly, the words no less filled with an arctic chill for the quiet tone.

The commline switches from a direct link to Sky Commander Morse to all of the agents in the field. "We are one step closer to insuring that HYDRA will bring order and security to this world. This will be a day long remembered."

"Hail HYDRA."