6645/The Framework: HYDRA Reloaded (II)

The Framework: HYDRA Reloaded (II)
Date of Scene:	20 June 2021
Location:	The Sphere (Bunker BT-0), Deep Beneath Manhattan
Synopsis:	SHIELD defends against a massive HYDRA attack at the Sphere, successfully defending their trapped comrades against certain death. This scene runs intandem with Scene 6522 'The Framework: HYDRA Reloaded (I)'.
Cast of Characters:	Melinda May, Yelena Belova, Sharon Carter, Sara Pezzini, Elektra Natchios, Clint Barton, Dottie Underwood, Natasha Romanoff
Tinyplot:	The Framework

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Melinda May has posed:
The Sphere is an abandoned AIM base so deep beneath Manhattan that the lowest of the city's oldest infrastructure is *above* it. Beneath all of it, carved out of basalt rock, is a maze of passages that would be all too easy for the unprepared to get lost in. But SHIELD has been here for a while, now, protecting their agents. Working hard to get them out of the virtual reality they're trapped within.

The way into the Sphere is through a heavily reinforced door that sits at the end of a long rock passageway. The door is more of a hatch, a pressurized seal like one might find on a submarine and when opened allows entry into a cavernous chamber that is almost sphere-like, though cut off at both top and bottom leaving both bottom floor and high roof flat. The hatchway opens up close to the middle level of the sphere. The walls appear to be lined with a variety of dated computer equipment. At various points on the different levels, corridors are cut into the rock, passages disappearing into shadowed darkness leading away from this central hub. The levels run in concentric rings about the sphere -- six above the entry level and six below -- open at the center and blocked off only by railings. Walkways criss-cross that vast gulf. A thick spire rises up in the very center of the chamber, what looks to be an elevator perhaps. It is out of service, but that doesn't matter. SHIELD has built a gantry off one of the catwalks that has a Starktech repulsor skid attached to safety cables. It acts as a lift for personnel and materiel down into the lowermost levels of the base. There are also lift lines strung between catwalks to provide alternate means of egress.

The main SHIELD camp has been set up on the lowest most level of the complex, surounded by blue, disruptor energy fields that keep various automated robots run by the facility's central processing unit at bay. The camp stands outside of a long corridor that's carved into the basalt. That corridor leads to a secondary chamber. The pod chamber. Where the victims of this once-abandoned space lay captive to the great machine.

Melinda May has posed:
For days, now, the SHIELD presence in the Sphere has been quietly building up its defences. They *know* an attack is coming. They're not quite sure when. The first sign that it's here is a quiet alarm triggered by an electronic tripwire at the mouth of the single passage leading into the base. After that, defence teams swung into action, activating careful traps and stalling tactics they've installed all along the passage. It gives them, they hope, at least an hour before HYDRA's actually knocking on the hatchway door into the facility.

Until, of course, it doesn't.

Maybe twenty minutes in to the attack, while most of the STRIKE teams are operating in the passage, a strange thrumming noise echoes through the Sphere. There's a shudder, dust sifting down. Too bad Daisy's not awake. She'd place those vibrations faster than anyone. Not that it would have helped.

A hissing crackle sizzles in the air, followed by a >>THOOM<< of displaced air.

>>ssssskTHOOM!<<

>>ssssskTHOOM!<<

>>ssssskTHOOM!<<

Three separate groups of intruders just *appear* inside the Sphere -- one near the top, one near the middle, and one down at the bottom, far too near to the pod chamber for anyone's comfort. They appear in sequence, one after the other, transported in by a featureless, humanoid shadow that, when looked at straight on seems not to even be there at all, save for a limning blue rimlight, but that can be seen like an electrical afterimage when glanced in the periphery. His energy, since the shape reads generally as male, encompasses each group he deposits, disappearing when he pops away to bring in a new team.

The teams he delivers, however, are even more of a threat. Green and gold uniformed HYDRA troopers mix with Black and green armoured super-soldiers with centipede upgrades on their spines and forearms. At their backs, however, are more flamboyant looking persons -- mutants, or perhaps inhumans, each displaying different abilities.

Their goal, as far as SHIELD can tell, is fairly simple: Tear the Sphere apart and kill everyone in it. Which means SHIELD's goal is simple, too... Defend the Sphere at all costs and keep their people safe.

It's quite possible that whoever wins this battle may very well win the larger war...

Yelena Belova has posed:
The benefit of having Yelena Belova on their side, is that there's at least one agent with SHIELD, that Hydra has absolutely no data on. Even if they gleaned something of what the Red Room has been up to since losing Natasha, nothing in the world will even remotely suggest such an asset would be with SHIELD.

Considering the construct of the Sphere, Yelena advised to take advantage of her sniping skills, and positioned herself thanks to the Black Widow's suit capabilities, right underneath the top most walkway, clinging to it like a spider, while using her hands to wield a sniper's rifle. Observing the levels below, she promptly begins sniping targets on lower walkways, as they make their progress. While sooner or later people will start looking for where a sniper could possibly be situated in this place without being in clear sight, at least Yelena should be able to take off anywhere between 5 to 8 enemy agents with head shots, before they truly have a sense of what's going on. Snipers gonna snipe.

Sharon Carter has posed:
It was time.

They've had their luck within the Sphere far too long for someone to not come knocking, but as predicted, they did. And Sharon was ready. There were days when the Sphere was outfitted with some newfangled technology that the agents cooked up to protect the place, while Sharon was out and about performing duties that May would have if she were out, while doing a little bit of her own on the side. Recruiting a Widow.

So when the mutant began to teleport teams into their respective levels, Sharon missed the light show. She was way in the back, guarding the door of the pods; the pods containing her grandmother, leader and grandfather inside. And she was fit to the nines; bulletproof fest and hip riddled with throwing knives, holsters lined beneath her arms with sidearms if her Icers don't make the cut. Gloved fingers clasped upon the automatic rifle in preparation to fire as she stares down the scope fixed to it.

And weirdly enough, as she expressed to Daisy, the katana she wanted made out of pure steel from the wreckage of the pod room that one of the agents made her.

If comms were present in everyones ears, Agent 13, who has never been in charge a day of her life calls out:

"You all know what to do! GO OFF!"

Sara Pezzini has posed:
At the first sounds of intrusion, the pop of those appearing out of no where, the bracelet on her wrist reacted in defense and brought forth the tendrils of metal that covered her from head to toe in the shiny metal armor of the Witchblade. No skin was revealed save for the space around her eyes that could be seen through the metal mask, and the lower part of her face.

Sara Pezzini was ready. Her duties to SHIELD had brought her to the sphere, ready to defend those trapped in the Framework, even if she couldn't explain to her bosses why she just took the time off.

Positioned now at the door to the pod room with a long sword in one hand, and a baton in the other, she was ready to keep any and all persons, mutants or things from getting past her to the helpless agents inside, trapped in a game of their own with in the machines.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
For Gayle Trushot this was one of the last chances she was getting from Dr. List. Specially after the Afterlife 'fiasco' when she had been captured. But now things would be different, she was ready and hooked up on centipede serum to the nines, ready to rock this place. Literally for she had been one of the first in the program, gaining some of Quake's abilities. She is dressed in a black and green armor but unlike most of the mutants that get ported in she doesn't have a strange-looking necklace about her neck. She didn't need it for she was here of her own free will. The woman is brought in to that room right before the pod, a look to the door and a gesture.

"Priority is opening that door and secure the Framework." she barks her orders. One large mutant steps forward and starts running towards the door. Ramming speed? Very much so. And right on to where Sara is guarding that door. And he does look massive.

Amidst the rest of the teams breaching in more mutants are visible. One with claws, others differently colored. But there was one point that differed them from the normal troopers. Those damn necklaces.

As Yelena starts doing her sniping though an officer that bravely took shelter behind a corner starts barking to one of the mutants. A figure zips out, running. Fast as heck. Sure, not as fast as the Flash or even Pietro, but fast enough ..., and is moving in to that sniper's nest where Yelena is!

Clint Barton has posed:
Clint has been preparing for this for the last several days. He's still in the ninja outfit, but he's got his bow today. This is too important to be worried if he will be identified or not. He's got his quiver on his back and has stashed several other quivers full of his arrows at various spots around the main area. He's also still wearing his bandoliers of special throwing knives. He's also got an ascender to clamp onto the various lift lines for mobility.

When the attack starts, he grabs one and shoots upward to a catwalk giving him a vantage point overlooking the SHIELD camp and pod room door. The bow comes out, and he nocks two explosive arrows at once. Taking aim at the first group teleported in he lets fly, arrows spreading somewhat in flight.

The HYDRA agents get no warning, which is really part of the point of using a bow, then 2 explosions tear through their group. Green and gold uniformed soldiers fly through the air to slam into the stone floor of the cavern, smoking and riddled with shrapnel. One supersoldier take a direct hit in the back and is slammed to the ground, part of the spinal upgrade missing, He doesn't move again. The other one nearby is tossed around and takes some shrapnel hits, but is still in the fight.

<<Barton, targets engaged.>>

Dottie Underwood has posed:
She'd told SHIELD that this was coming. And here it was, the attack that Giyera had promised. But heavier troop numbers that he had mentioned. HYDRA wasn't as confident in their forces as Giyera had boasted. Or perhaps he didn't trust Clara Starling completely. Nor should he. She was Dottie Underwood, after all.

When the command rings out over coms, she draws her weapons and begins to fire. No sense in letting them get close, even if she prefers to hold a life directly in her hands. And Dottie doesn't want to stray too far from the entrance to the pods. Of course, she has an ulterior motive.

Melinda May has posed:
When the attack came Carol moved up from the POD room below to help coordinate and provide cover in case HYDRA broke through the tunnel entrance. Carol was monitoring the assault and just about everything else peering at a holodisplay above her wrist. Hovering in the Central shaft.

When the three invading teams that teleport in thrumming order though she looks up after the feint drew off a chunk of STRIKE.

Over comms <<Three assault teams in the sphere. Up trying to flank our STRIKE teams. One in the midsection and one will be knocking in moments at the door down there."

She glances down towards the midsection. <<I'll take the group in the middle. Make sure we don't lose the exit or let our STRIKE team be flanked.>>

Honestly Carol sounds very ready for a fight with HYDRA right now. Pity for them.

With that she drops down the central shaft halfway.

Yelena Belova has posed:
Yelena was prepared for an eventuality of being accosted, though she might not have expected it to come as fast. Sniper rifle is slung over her shoulder, engaging her nyuk-7 goggles. The benefit of air flitration is cruicial as she releases a mace charge, hoping to slow down the streak coming at her, assuming whoever that is needs to breathe.

However, that being an unkown, she is fully prepared to detach from the bottom of the walk way. Should she manage to make that speedster stop to try and breath through the sudden mace cloud, she'll flip over to the top of the walkway to engage.

Sharon Carter has posed:
Sharon Carter, being the last line of defense listens in. Gun remaing raised, eyes peeled upon her surroundings. Teeth were already gritting with anticipation even though she trusts those upon this level to do what needed to be done. She could hear Carol on the comms, one hand listening to press the comm in deeper so that she could catch the exact wording.

<<We have engagement.>> Sharon speaks into the comms, now kneeling upon the ground and keeping her sights peeled upon the door. "You all got this, guys." Sharon mutters to herself, not in the comms. They don't need the positive reinforcements.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Holy mother of all things large! It's coming right at me! Sara doesn't seem that worried, she keeps her position watching the large man coming at her. She changes her stance only slightly, looking like she will accept this challenge head on, sword again charging behemoth!

Sometimes however, appearances are deceiving.

At the last possible moment, hoping to allow the charging rhino no chance to change his directions or plans, and with the speed of lightning striking, Sara slams the baton and sword into one, the mental tendrils appears and form the baton and sword into one large lance, that she then braces against the floor and angled down in hopes of catching the charger right in the middle of his body. She knows she has the strength and endurance to take the blow, so long as the plan works.

Clint Barton has posed:
Hitting the buttons on his bow, the quiver attaches a head to his next arrow, which is pulled, nocked and released in one motion. It flies true, striking the second supersoldier with a stunning charge sufficient to drop an ox. Electricity arcs over his implants, and combined with the concussion from the explosion is enough to drop him, at least for now.

Another button press, and another arrow is flying, this time impacting on the walkway in front of Yelena. It spreads a very sticky patch of superglue just in front of the speeding mutant in an attempt to trip/capture him. Hopefully with Yelena's gas cloud, he won't notice the glue until he steps in it.

That done, he leaps out and hooks his bow over a cable, ziplining down it to a secondary position where he can get a clear shot at the leadership of the ground floor attack while still being able to fire at the door to the pods. Another arrow is prepared, but doesn't fly yet, waiting to see if Sara needs help with her charging mutant or not.

Dottie Underwood has posed:
As if in answer to her wish for something a little more up close and personal, a squad of enhanced HYDRA soldiers is deposited mere yards away. The teleporter is gone in an instant, but her new playmates remian. Dottie's grin is unsettling as she approaches them. "Aren't I a lucky girl?" she coos with a 'howdy sailor' inflection.

She sweeps into the middle of the group with utmost confidence. Already they've hesitated as they try to assess the situation. This is their first mistake. Dottie breaks the first one's neck as she passes, almost as if they were in a dance. And while her partners have changed over the years, she knows the steps of old. With deadly movement, she engages.

As they finally begin to attack, she weaves away, their bullets erupting in a spray of friendly fire. And then their numbers are halved. It's a little disappointing that so many are down so quickly. But she's not subdued them all yet.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
One thing about speedsters is that often they can be real smug. It's all about living in a world of slow pokes! So as the man starts approaching Yelena's position, climbing at quite the dazzling speeds to reach that nest it gets hit with the mace charge still lingering in the air. "Ack.., fu--" it makes the man stop, rubbing at his face. It won't last long but it does seem to give an opening for someone to capitalize against.. And capitalize they do for the man's feet get stuck in that glue from Clint's shot. Sitting duck of a speedster!

The large 'juggernaut'-type rushing at Sara lets out a roar as it goes head on towards the lance-wielding woman, one arm skidding against the side of the lance and it piercing through a shoulder. He is *very* tough, but the witchblade does seem to have a way of cutting through him! Still, there is an impact of a full-powered bulldozer of a mutant against the woman. They came prepared!

Gayle seems to notice a group of SHIELDies not far from that pod door, the same one where Sharon is, hand up and pointing. "Hiding over there? Why don't you come out and play?" she singsongs, sending a blast of vibration to that cover. It's a familiar sort of hum. One that Quake normally does but in this case it seems to be on the bad guys' side. But then she hears the casualties happening upstairs on comms, many by Dottie's hands. <Well, what are you waiting for? Put the rest of the mutants to use and take SHIELD out!>

Melinda May has posed:
The teams teleporting in may be a surprise, but they are surprised by just how prepared the SHIELD team is in return. Sniper bullets streak out of nowhere, taking out several of the uniformed mooks before they even have a chance to get off more than one shot. There's more than one sniper out there, too. The Winter Soldier. The *other* Black Widow. And any number of sharpshooters among the other agents arrayed against them.

This results in a bit of a mess for the agents on the lowest level, since it leads to several sprays of blood as headshots are taken. There's no use of ICERs here, today, apparently. One mook sends a spray of blood across Sharon as his head explodes courtesy of Bucky up on a high catwalk. Angelo's gun, empty of ammo, plummets to the stone from above, skittering across the floor. A green-clad body or two also thump down from the long heights above.

Yeah, that's the joy of being on the ground. All the shit shot out of the air has to fall somewhere...

Indeed, in very little time, the green-clad troopers are no longer a problem for anyone. But the Centipede Soldiers and a small cadre of brainwashed/controlled mutants are another story. They're stronger, they're faster, and they pack return punches of their own.

There's another softer >>THOOM<< of displaced air. The dark teleporter appears, Bucky's rifle in his hands. He fires the instant his body coalesceses, aiming for Clint. Then, he's teleporting away again.

Ash he does, a small whirlwind of air picks up bodies, weapons, and technology not nailed down, sending them spinning at the SHIELD agents on the ground. The small twister turns and heads toward Dottie, as she dispatches the stunned trooper squadron. Their bodies pick up and spin around her, limbs flailing towards her.

Yelena Belova has posed:
SHIELD Agents are guided by a creed that often time would give them a chance, sure, they can do wetworks like every other intelligence agency. It's just when someone is truly incapacitated, they tend to go for capture over execution. Not so with the Red Room, as soon as it becomes apparent the speedster does breathe and is affected by the mace, Yelena flips back to the correct side of the walkway, a cold expression on her face turning into a sinister smile as he finds himself further incapacitated by Clint's glue arrow. She doesn't speak a word, but she's sharp and deliberate, shooting a widow's bite charge directly at him. Unlike Natasha, hers isn't set to render people unconcious, her is primed for the kill, unleashing a merciless charge of electricity to take out the speedsters' heart.

Position already compromised, there's little point to stay there, but she makes a quick search of the speedster's body for anything useful, before firing a widow line to swing to a walkway across, meaning to resettle in a new sniping position.

Sharon Carter has posed:
Her level was making good work of the mooks that were sent in to take the bunker. Sharon remains poised, rifle still aimed, prepared to take a shot just in case someone gets past her.

This even means becoming barely unmoved by the spray of blood from above, though that rifle does lower as the other hand wipes away at her eyes so that she could keep a clear view on the fight. <<Thanks.>>

Once the ring-leader targets Sharon with her vibrational powers, Sharon -barely- takes a step aside to avoid the full weight of the blow; which catches the lower end of her leg and makes her fall to the ground like a damsel in distress. Which.. pisses her off.

Immediately scrambling to her feet, the rifle was lowered now, and the bloodied Sharon stares directly towards Gayle. If she ever had the potential to be a telekinetic, she would have changed her code name to Carrie. "No." There was barely even a line for another reply, Sharon's free hand whips up past her hip to fling two silver throwing daggers into Gayle's direction.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
With the lance braced against the ground and embedded in the behemoth's shoulder, Sara is now in reach of the man's hands. It pains her that this man is being used by HYDRA, a puppet on a string, but in her mind the choice between him and the helpless agents inside is the easiest to make. She could try non-lethal, to knock this monster of a man out, but that would take time they just didn't have.

Wrapping one arm around the lance to hold it in place and push it further into the shoulder of the man, a short sword appears in the other hand, tendrils of metal wrapping up from the armor to form the sword that she moves to strike hard into the man's side, repeatedly if needs be. She will not let the door behind her be breached, no matter what it takes.

Clint Barton has posed:
Seeing the lance pierce the mutant, but with him still being up, the arrow does fly to assist Sara. Aimed at the large mutant's legs, it explodes into another glob of supersticky glue, attempting to stick his legs together and hinder his movement.

When the teleporter THOOMS in, Clint is already moving, diving out of the way and into empty air. He hits the buttons on his bow, turns over in midair then pulls and fires the resulting arrow, and swings across to another catwalk on the line it anchors higher up on the central shaft..

Upon landing, he snaps off an explosive arrow at Gayle, his attention pulled by the sound of her powers firing at the SHIELD agents.

<<Watch for the teleporter, you can hear him coming in.>>

He nocks another taser arrow, listening for that THOOM again. When he hears it, it will be the target of that arrow, even if he doesn't actually see the mutant yet.

Dottie Underwood has posed:
Flattening herself to the floor to avoid the majority of the human debris, Dottie crawls to cover. The flailing limbs become unpredictable weapons. She is 'kicked' in the ribs, struck on the shoulder. The centripetal force throws the dead weight with greater fury than the soldiers managed when they were alive. It pushes her down the hallway, closer to Sharon. Once she escapes the immediate pull of the winds, she's up and running, testing to see if the funnel cloud of carnage follows her.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
As that widow's bite gets the speedster's teeth chattering it also overloads the controlling collar around his neck, making it fizzle and break down to the floor, falling at the same time as the mutant does. Not a lot that Yelena will find on those pockets. Nothing, really. Besides the broken collar on the floor next to the man. But she will also discover the man is alive, even if barely so.

Even with that spear through the shoulder the man presses on, supernaturally strong and a rival to the woman's strength, attempting to toss a punch at her to try and knock her way from his objective. The slices on his sides to break in with some effort, blood out but he's still up. As the glue arrow finds his feet his assault slows down some but he doesn't seem as hindered as the speedster was.

With Dottie now closer to Sharon it seems that Gayle divides her attention between them, shooting a few more concussion blasts towards both of them as she continues to approach Sharon's position. Perhaps too confident in her own abilities? But what can these humans do to her?! Considering how much 'juice' she took she feels nearly immortal. Those two daggers from Sharon do fly real close, making Gayle expand her shield and knocking them out of the way with a grunt. "You will need to do better than daggers, darling.." she singsongs.

Melinda May has posed:
The small twister does indeed follow Dottie, picking up more debris and bodies as it goes. The concussion energy does not affect it, but the whirlwind focuses in, along with Trueshot, on both agents.

Frost slowly curls around the catwalk where Yelena still battles the man on the catwalk, cooling the air around her and creating a definite contrast between it and the superheated air above her where curtains of flame drape and drip off of walls, ceilings, and catwalks. The inferno spins overhead, but icy hell builds up on that catwalk where the Widow retreats.

Bucky's gun is left behind, discarded, when the teleporter disapears again. He doesn't reappear where Clint can see him, but much further up on a catwalk far, far above them all. Lower than the inferno. Close to another mutant up in the rafters -- a girl with purple hair and a silvery javelin.

However, in the shadows on another catwalk, a red-clad man raises his arms as if he were to fire a bow of his own -- one arm outstretched, his hand fisted, the other bent, fingers in a strike hand by his eyes. A slash of shadowy energy flies from his fist as his strike hand flexes. It zips toward Clint in the confusion -- as silent as any arrow.

The Sphere's intercom system engages, a steady Russian voice booming from loudspeakers strung througout the facility. The words are random. But they're loud. <<"Longing. Rusted. Furnace. Daybreak. Seventeen...">> So loud. So even...

Yelena Belova has posed:
There is no mercy in Yelena, as one should expect of Red Room operatives, and more so of a Black Widow. Finding the speedster is still alive is just as bit as useful as an item of worth, because this brings her to follow up with a pistol shot to his head. The collar not being paid much heed, either she missed the part these people are mind controlled in the briefing, assuming she attended, or she just doesn't care. Simply acting as she was trained, targets are to be eliminated, with ruthless efficency.

Once she swings to the other walkway, leaving the build of cold and heat behind. Turning around she use her goggles to scan for her new opponents, and immediately starts suprressing fire where she calculates the source of the cold and heat must be coming from.

Just hearing the words blasted by the PA system, Yelena relies to the other on the SHIELD com-system, <<I don't know if you had anyone spent time in captivity with Hydra recently, but these would be trigger words, stay sharp any friend can become foe.>>

Sharon Carter has posed:
Ah shit! With Dottie sliding towards her with a field of.. mangled.. ew, Sharon presses herself further against the wall to at least avoid being hit by a stray arm or a foot, being that she was already showered down with blood and brain matter. No one needed that. The rifle was aimed upright, and soon she could feel it. The first presses of the concussive blast that Gayle sends her way, smashing Sharon further against the door which made her knees nearly week. The whirlwind of bodies smacking her, that has her finally dropping to the ground in avoidance of it all. Hoping that the whirlwind follows, Sharon crawls away from the direct blow of all three shots, then rises and turns upon a knee to twist her rifle sideways to rack and aim. Small bursts of shots were aimed at Gayle, Sharon slowly rising as she releases the clip to let it fall, then smacks another into place. Rack. Fire. All the while her steps take her back towards the door, the firing stopped as she hears the words in Russian play over the facility.

<<Captain!!>> Sharon calls out over the comms, now tossing her rifle aside to settle for her two side arms. She was going to defend the door with her life. <<ANYONE! Smack Bucky's temples together RIGHT NOW!>>

It seems the once friends had the exact same idea.

Her focus was now upon Gayle, she was giving the orders.. the shots.. and in a rather insulting move, Sharon drops the clip in one of her side-arms to throw it straight at Gayle, knowing damn well it won't hit.

"Let's go, bitch." The other sidearm falls by the wayside as Sharon raises her fists.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Taking the strikes and blows from the large man like a champ, Sara growls out, "Just... go... down!" As she continues her assault with the short sword, then jerks the lance to the side to try and pull the man off balance and cause a great deal of pain at the same time. All she can do is keep this behemoth from getting any close to the door to the room with the pods, though luckily his size and her presence should be blocking anyone else from getting to the room.

She doesn't speak Russian, but Sharon's words make it clear that something really bad just happened, last time she checked, Bucky was on their side.

Clint Barton has posed:
Noting that the gun was left behind after a moment, Clint fires the taser into the juggernaught Sara is still holding off, then calls up an explosive arrow and drops it behind Gayle, trying to blow the woman into the open and off her feet.

Then the red-clad mutant's power hits, taking him in the shoulder and spinning him around with a curse.

With another button press, the bow folds and is stowed in a sheath on his thigh.

Pulling one of his throwing knives, he runs along the catwalk, making himself a harder target. The knife gets whipped down into a supersoldier, another explosion removing chunks of implant and soldier both.

Reaching out with his good hand, he grabs a cable and slides down to the ground, pulling the katana off his back and heading for Gayle.

Dottie Underwood has posed:
There is that unsettling grin again; Dottie has a plan. She only has to keep ahead of the bloody twister. And get close to Gayle. She dodges the concussive blasts with a series of acrobatic flips. The landing is is not quite elegant with all of the atmospheric disruptions, but her feet are solid underneath her.

The Russian words boom over the loudspeaker as Dottie guides her trailing tornado away from Sharon. How strange to hear her native tongue pronounce such garbled nonsense and be greeted by alarm and fear. She knows what it must be, of course, although the HYDRA's activation phrase for herself had been different, luckily.

And the Winter Soldier is far above them, while Gayle is right there. Dottie circles behind the advancing woman, bring with her the devastation that follows in her wake. She closes the distance as if to attack, but at the last minute slides past, sending the whirlwind of battlefield detritus towards her adversary.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
There is a strained look on the large behemoth of a mutant assaulting on Sara, wide and with fear behind them. It's the look of someone who has had their morale broken long ago. But for some reason he continues to move forward as if puppetted by invisible hands, or having no choice in this. Punches are exchanged, powerful enough to kill a normal human but to Sara? she most likely can shrug most of it off. The impact is still there though.. But eventually the man's stamina falters, not a match to the Witchblade, and he topples over once that taser from Clint shocks him to the core. Still breathing but losing blood. The collar is still around his neck.

More arrows land near Clint as he runs, a hiss followed by the catwalk getting frozen up in his wake as those arrows are just short of hitting him. They stop for a moment after that explosion but soon enough another is heard hissing through the air towards Clint as the red-clad mutant shifts position into a better angle. It won't be a good thing to turn one's back to this one..

Meanwhile the area around Yelena is freezing, and it's following her almost as if it had a life of it's own. Someone seems to be targetting her from the shadows, frozen icicles growing right in front of her as they try to skewer the black widow. If they do the skewering or not she will note there is a trail behind, ice that goes further down the catwalk and behind a bend out of sight.

Gayle snorts at Sharon when she goes for the fisticuffs. "You got balls at least." and confident as she is she damn right will be moving in to go for a few punches with Sharon. Of course that she is ready to cheat, prepared to put the full brunt of her powers behind those punches.. She is soooo eager for it, one hand reaching behind her and then ..., what the f...? She looks to the side just in time to see the maelstrom of detritus on her way. She lets out a 'yelp' and then gets hit fully by them, that vibrational shield perhaps the only thing that keeps her from getting seriously mangled. But she does get carried away in the middle of it all, snarling and cursing, the sight of her lost for now.

Melinda May has posed:
Fog falls from above, a combination of ice and fire as the heat from the inferno in the rafters combines with the ice of the mutant on the catwalk. Visibility begins to become a problem throughout the Sphere.

>>ssssskTHOOM<<

The teleporter reappears on a catwalk in the middle of the Sphere. He has a man with him whose skin looks like its made of pure carbon. In his arms, the man holds a generator. Or maybe a bomb. He looks over the edge of the catwalk as Captain Marvel and a giant grey Hulk wanna be plummet down toward the basalt bedrock that is the floor of the Sphere.

>>ssssskTHOOM<<

The teleporter disappears with the man. Reappearing down a side corridor leading away from the pod chamber... but straight toward the Sphere's main power station.

>>FABOOOOOM!!!<<

Carol Danvers and the blackfisted, grey skinned hulk wannabe impact the rock at nearly supersonic speeds. A great crack appears in the basalt. The hulking mutant lies motionless within it.

High above, Bucky Barnes smiles like a madman as bullets meant for Sam Wilson strike him instead of his flying friend... right before his mind is lost to him. His body tumbles through the air, the Falcon diving toward him, praying for a save.

Yelena Belova has posed:
Shifting the nyuk-7 to thermal mode, Yelena uses that as a cheat to lock on the source of the cold spikes, firing a Widow Line to swing herself right at that bend. She does pay the price of getting pierced for her troubles, cuts formed in her suit, and blood trickling out of wounds, but she remains hellbent on locating the source and ending it.

Almost as if in response to the Russian trying to activate a sleeper agent among SHIELD, she speaks Russian to the ice generator she is chasing, testing if they know Russian in the process. If they do, potentially strike fear in them. "<Three. Seven. Ace. Three. Seven. Queen.>" Her voice is alarmingly calm considering the chaos going on around. Hydra doesn't know the state she's in, but should they test her, they will learn.

Sharon Carter has posed:
Sharon was definitely hurt, but for her credit, she didn't show it. She was angled and ready to fight Gayle hand to hand, even if one eye was starting to close from being smacked by the debris and..

Tables have turned!

Sharon kneels carefully to pick up her one discarded side-arm, her eyes soon glancing up towards the top to see..

"HAWKEYE! STOP!" But it may be too late.

Bodies were falling all around them, Sharon backs up against the wall, keeping her eye upon the swirling maelstrom with hopes that Clint didn't get himself canned. If so? She'll be going into the maelstrom of bodies and debris right after him.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara takes a number of large, heavy breaths as the Juggernaut wanna be goes down. The lance becomes those tendrils of metal and withdraw back to the armor, as does the short sword, leaving here there to stand at the door once again unwilling to move or be moved. No one would get to the agents inside.

Reaching she hooks her finger into the collar and pulls it off, keeping her eyes on the hall and the battle going on. She would help, but that was require moving and that's not happening.

Clint Barton has posed:
As the tornado of debris and bodies sweeps his target away, Clint looks around for other targets. Sara's target is finally down, soldiers have been dealt with, Gayle is tornadoing away.

Taking stock of his situation, he heads over to where Sara is and takes a position next to her, sheathing the katana again and pulling a throwing knife. One arm means no bow and less mobility, so time to play defense.

<<Careful, there's a ranged mutant somewhere in the catwalks>>

Dottie Underwood has posed:
Now, while everyone is distracted, and the major threat to the incapacitated agents is ...contained, Dottie angles her sliding body towards the entrance to the Framework. The entrance that they've been guarding. The entrance that HYDRA wants to breach. She slows her speed to slip past the kinetic barriers. Then begins making her way past the doors. Rearming them behind herself where she is able.

Making her way toward the agents and the Framework is first step toward accomplishing her goal. Hopefully with no one the wiser.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Trust Natasha's luck to be on the other side of the complex when THIS started going down. Granted, she can be forgiven for SOME tardiness, as there wasn't exactly a clear path back here, as evidenced by the blood already splattering her re-styled Shield Black Widow outfit. She emerges from a hatch while an enemy is stepping on it mid-run, throwing his balance and dropping him on his face as Natasha springs out of it, shooting the two men that were following behind him without hesitation. They were unfamiliar people in a combat zone, therefore they die. Simple enough. She pivots in place and puts a bullet in the back of the head of the man she tripped for his trouble, and then begins to rapidly take in the chaotic situation.

Nobody important seems to be dead yet. That's good news. Numerous unpredictable Mutants... less so.

Without a word or expression, Natasha fires a widow line into the floor of the catwalk she's standing on, and simply leaps over the railing, letting it quickly extend and lower her safely to the lower areas, even as she fires on any hostiles below her with frightening accuracy until the moment she detaches her Widow Line and lands in a three point stance. "How many more are we expecting? Is this everyone?" She asks, looking for a quick sitrep as her only comment so far, looking to learn just how many waves of these people they may have to endure.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
If the 'ice generator' knows russian there is nothing said in return. But she does seem to notice that Yelena's voice is getting closer. Which means she most likely found her. Not good! So a rather small form... A young girl? She might be eighteen, but not much older if so. Arms are encased in ice, and so is her hair, she zipping across the catwalk to the other side and shooting ice cones towards Yelena even as with her other hand she intensifies the fog in the area, lowering visibility all around.. The more chaotic the battlefield the better. And on her neck is, of course, one of those collars.

With Sara taking off the collar from the 'Juggernaut' he wheezes out, blinking a few times as some clarity returns to him. He mutters something akin to a "Thank you..." before he passes out completely.

Glimpses of that red-clad man are seen here and there as he shoots another one of those flaming arrows to where Clint and Sara are at. He isn't exactly Hawkeye-quality in his aim but those arrows do seem endless. And they are on fire even as they seem to freeze the area they hit after impact. As more are shot the more that front door is starting to get frozen up. What is he playing at? But one way or another he seems to be wanting to attract those 'door defenders' away from there.

Gayle is nowhere to be seen anymore.

As Natasha is making her way down those catwalks to land near the group she is able to spot a mutant flying near the upper catwalks, winds around him, hair white as snow. He looks at her, blinking but then frowns moving after her, the winds about him gathering near his hands as another typhoon of air forms up and he shoots it towards the general vicinity where Natasha is. He is still flying up above but he is at least in sight now. A thing he wasn't doing before when that earlier typhoon was pursuing Dottie.

Melinda May has posed:
Bucky is free falling and making no attempt to stop himself. He doesn't try to grab the catwalks or railings with his left hand. He's either unconscious from the gunshots, which is highly unlikely given *what* he is, it wouldn't have happened that quickly. Or he has no desire to stop himself.

The fall alone wouldn't kill him, the gunshots along wouldn't put him down for good, but what about the two combined?

The shot Sam took, that momentary distraction, along with the short relative distance between where Bucky was and where Bucky's falling to makes it logistically impossible for Sam to actually catch his friend before Bucky hits the ground.

...and hit the ground he does, he hits the ground HARD not five feet from where Sharon Carter is battling it out with one his kind. His last words before he loses consciousness are in Russian accompanied by vacant, empty, lifeless stare from this pale blue eyes, "Ready to comply."

Falling from above, Redwing comes to a skittering stop not five feet away from where Bucky landed with the crackle of friction sparks and malfunctioning electronics from the bullet holes in its chassis. It makes two sad-toned beeps before shutting down.

---

Carol pulls herself out of a mutant shaped crater and rolls her head to the left slowly.

Nope didn't do it.

The rolls her head slowly to the right and there is a >POP< as she pops her neck. "Ah.. thank god."

There is a glance down to the unmoving mutant and she shifts her foot and kicks him hard in the temple bouncing his head off the basalt, for good measure to make sure he stays unconcious.

<<Do what to Bucky?>> a bit confused as she startles when Bucky lands in a heap not too far away. <<He seems down with Redwing if you need ping to find him. Needs a medic.>>

She picks herself back up hovering into the air and looks upwards.

<<Call out if you need help. Preferably before you go down. I'm up and mobile now.>>

She is streaking back up to the team who was mucking with the bases power conduits and in a blink is back in the midtier, letting a blast loose that obliterates part of that strike force.

She isn't holding back as much at this point, maybe seeing Barnes down irked the hell out of her even more.

---

"SOLDAT. Kill all SHIELD operatives." Booming orders come across the loudspeakers that had fallen silent, either in actual response to Bucky's last words, or in pre-recorded response to what they assumed they would be. Still, orders have been given. This set up was intended to turn Bucky straight upon his team. For good for for ill, the only response is the heavy thud of Bucky's body on the ground.

Melinda May has posed:
The Battle of the Sphere continues to rage. SHIELD agents continue their desperate attempt to keep HYDRA from steam rolling through their defences and reaching the pod chamber where so many of their most talented colleagues and friends lay helpless within the strange pods that captured them so many days ago, now. Half of the disruptor fields that have kept the old AIM facilities mechanicals at bay have collapsed, though the presence of HYDRA forces within its perimeter has meant the mechanicals have stayed out of this fight... so far. But the window of opportunity is closing. The chaos of this final push against HYDRA may be the only chance to slip into the chamber and take advantage of the inattentiveness of the personnel within.

Not that they actually are that inattentive.

Agents Mark McLaren and Sarah Collingwood are reluctantly out of this fight, relying on their fellow agents to protect both them and the people they monitor and guard. They're armed, and they keep casting looks toward the exit that will all too quickly become an entrance for their enemies if their friends fail. But most of their attention is filled with the well-being of May, Morse, Carter, Fitz, and so many others -- mainly because May's vitals are spiking, as are Morse's and Hunter's. Carter and Sousa remain highly elevated, but within acceptable limits... barely. Simmons and Johnson are also stressed, though less so than any of the others, save Fitz himself. Indeed, of all of them, Fitz is the only one who seems to be keeping his cool.

Given everything Collingwood and McLaren have seen from inside the matrix, they do not take that as a good thing.

Melinda May has posed:
Down that corridor where the power station lies, the opposite side of the floor to the pod chamber, the teleporter arrives with the man with carbon skin. He steps back in time for another mutant to BLINK in -- her javelin aimed at that bomb the carbon man holds. The bomb disappears, but the others do not. They still have a job to do, bomb or not.

The Sphere must be destroyed. And with it, the Framework.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha grimaces as she finally notices the unusual collars. The vaguest notion that she may be using lethal force on potential innocents makes her hesitate. Normally she's big on following protocol. She likes Shield more than she likes the Red Room. But the ICER policy made the most sense to her when they were on the offense; in control of the situation. Here, they're under *assault*. Thhat calls for effecient, brutal force, in her mind.

But, as Natasha has noted repeatedly now... she's going soft.

Natasha holsters her pistol and reaches for her ICER, only to feel an intense gust of wind at her back. "Urgh!" She grunts, pivoting in place and craning her neck to look up at the source, before the gale lifts her bodily upwards, spinning her around and around in mid air.

Inconvenient. But she's not without options. Taking in the surrounding area during a few complete spins, she deems her allies sufficiently out of range that she she stretches both of her arms out in a T-pose, and fires both of her Widow Lines from her gauntlets, turning her situation into the source of two wild, savagely-whipping tensile cords.

Yelena Belova has posed:
Yelena is relentless in her chase of the ice generator, she starts picking up space, and with expert marksmanship she shoots down icicles thrown her way, before eventually taking aim at that collar. It seems she has little care if she succeeds and releases the icer from being control, or misses and blows her head to oblivion. Whatever eliminates the target is fine by her, for now she reserves her other Widow Bite chargers for a larger threat. She's pretty sure she can take that icer down hand to hand if need be. But she has full trust in her aim.

The fog, of course, has little effect when she's aiming through the nuyk 7's thermal vision mode.

Sharon Carter has posed:
With Gayle out of the way, it gives a path for more HYDRA agents to come closer to the door. Sharon was hell bent on defending it with her life; so each pop of her gun was fired off with percision as she keeps one arm closed to her hip. The falling body of Bucky nearly stops her assault, one agent clearing the threshold which was immediately taken care of with the thrown knife, Sharon not rushing to Bucky's side but warily keeping her eye on him..

..and RIP Redwing.

Sharon switches the clip out of her sidearm and slowly approaches Bucky, his final words have her worrying upon her bottom lip, eyebrows already at an inward downturn to deal with the pain from the concussed blasts and the sidearm is slowly aimed towards her friend. "Bucky..."

The order comes over the speaker.. Sharon's jaw clenches.. and she slowly approaches. "James.. can you hear me?" Hell, is he dead?

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara Pezzini shifts to let Dottie slide past her, then returns to her place right in front of the door. She would love to be able to heal the mutant, but Witchblade and she have not reached that level of understanding. She knows she did that, but she had no idea it was the collar and now... the guilt, the pain, the anger.

Keeping her place at the door, she keeps her head straight and focused, even if the back of her mind is already screaming abuse about the possible death of the mutant.

Clint Barton has posed:
Looking around the various weapons and debris flung around by explosions and tornadoes, dropping from above and generally littering the ground, Clint spots a rifle. Running over to grab it, he returns to Sara and lifts the gun, saying, "Sara, need to borrow your shoulder, protect your ear."

He steadies the gun on the armored woman's shoulder then scans up looking for the mutant shooting those blasts down and him and Sara. When he spots him, his finger gently strokes the trigger, sending a high velocity round back in payment for the shot that took out his other arm.

Dottie Underwood has posed:
Dottie breaches the last defense to the Framework command center, but enters with her arms raised and her hands empty. She looks to the two agents inside. "You need to put me in there," she says.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
It's a good shot out of Yelena's gun. It does two things, breaking that collar but also brushing past the woman's neck which just makes her gasp out and fall. Some blood pours out but it doesn't seem to have ripped open the carotid. So maybe she will live. The girl slumps to the ground, holding on to her neck, the ice around her arms and hair starting to crackle and fall from her. She is breathing heavily now, panicked.

As Clint uses Sara's shoulder to find his target he finds him illusively moving between cover, sliding across the ground, tossing an arrow from time to time... Yet it's when he is closer and goes to toss a knife through the air that the better chance comes and the shot takes the man on a shoulder that sends him against a wall and has him fall. Arm for an arm apparently.

As Natasha turns into some kind of twisting devil it catches the flying mutant by surprise. But that typhoon is running strong. He tries to invert it, pushing down but one of those Widow lines hit him on the chin which makes the man's strength leave him and he falls down on a catwalk. As for Natasha though? No such luck to fall on a catwalk. She is falling down to the ground from a bit of an height!

Melinda May has posed:
Down that corridor where the power station lies, the opposite side of the floor to the pod chamber, the teleporter arrives with the man with carbon skin. He steps back in time for another mutant to BLINK in -- her javelin aimed at that bomb the carbon-skinned man holds. The bomb disappears, but the others do not. They still have a job to do, bomb or not.

The Sphere must be destroyed. And with it, the Framework.

So, the teleporter ripples away, appearing with another >>ssssskTHOOM<< behind her. He attempts to wrap his arms around her and teleport her away entirely, while the other man leans down to touch the heavy basalt rock with one hand. The skin on his hand transforms and he turns toward the main powerstation, pulling back a fist and beginning to pummel it savagely, heedless of whatever danger he may be in.

Which is more than he thinks, given how one of the rock walls glows and suddenly explodes as Carol Danvers focuses her considerable frustration at it... and what they find behind it.

Lights on the small, old, nuclear generator start to light up with elevated red warnings all over the place.

WARNING. POWER CONTAINMENT FIELD FAILURE. FACILITY LOCKDOWN COMMENCING...

The voice, a smooth, female alto that would be lovely on a 1-900 number, sounds entirely calm and unconcerned at the fact a nuclear explosion is imminent beneath the city of New York.

---

Is he still alive? Bucky is so still and pale that it's hard to believe that he might be. A little trail of blood runs out of one corner of his mouth and one nostril, wet and brighter against the rest of the dried red flakes on his face. But damned if he doesn't look a little like he's still smiling? Dead, alive and unconscious, does it matter? It wouldn't to him as long as he accomplished what he set out to do. He did that, for the moment anyway, he's no danger to his friends.

---

Angelo's voice comes calmly over comms. "<<Danvers. Can you get whatever is about to go boom out of here? Or suck up enough power to make it not go boom?>>"

Melinda May has posed:
Going up against another teleporter Clarice knows will be an issue, so she doesn't stay where she is for long. As soon as the javelin was let fly, she blinks to the otherside of the corridor - landing beside the carbon-skinned mutant as he begins to pummel the machine with a rocky fist. "Bad idea, buddy," she mutters - reaching out to touch him with one hand, and simultaneously jab him with the javelin held in her other hand. "I'm sorry," she adds softly. Part of his body, she tries to blink right where she'd been standing a moment before, on or possibly even //in// the other teleporter. The other half, she just sends //away//. It's not clear to where.

And then she blinks out once more - glancing around for the girl, hoping she's coallesced. Hoping she has a target - to send away to safety.

Multitasking.

---

Well perhaps Carol overdid that blast a bit.

It was super effective against the HYDRA forces she was dealing with. It also cut her the path she wanted to the sound of the teleporter. She is also >mostly< sure that the Carbon-skinned meta/mutant is the one who managed to redline the power containment field around the nuclear reactor.

"<<Some magenta skinned teleporter seems to be fighting two of the Hydra assets bringing down the reactor>>"

"<<I got eyes on the problem though. I doubt I can pull the nuclear reactor out of here and our friends need power to stay to the Framework to not have it catasrophically fail.>>"

She launches herself down the rockfall she caused headed straight for the reactor though and the Carbon-Basalt Meta.

"<<I'll think of something>>"

Which is when Blink maybe solves half the equation if she is successful.

Regardless though Carol has a nuclear reactor that is not doing well.

She places her hands where the Carbon skinned meta/mutant was pummeling and starts to absorb all of the excess and more. Trying to bring the reactor down to stable levels on the fly. "Drecking Fracking..." muttering to herself as she focuses.

---

"What?" Collingwood turns as Dottie just insists on being jacked into the Framework. "Are you freakin' kidding me?" No, they're not really keen on adding anyone else to the mix. Not when vitals are already all over the place for half the team.

Images play out on screens above their heads. Morse, May, and Hunter are fleeing through corridors slick with the grume of HYDRA soldiers whose bodies have been torn apart by quinjet fire. Daniel and Peggy stare at metal grates, tensely listening to the strangely distant sound of 20mm cannons. Fitz stares down at... Dottie Underwood. The woman facing them in this place.

McLaren grabs Collingwood's arm. "Sarah! Look!" He points to Dottie's image on the screen.

"Fuck," the medic says, looking at the proto-Widow. "Fine. Get in. Bring him out. Don't kill him, got it?" Else she's not getting in at all.

Yelena Belova has posed:
Normally this would be where the girl with the ice powers dies. But lucky for her, just as Yelena turns to aim the pistol at her head, she catches Natasha falling off the corner of her eyes. "<Ace today>" she tells the girl in Russian, playing off the phrase she told her moments before reaching her. Pistol is holstered, and Yelena jumps off the walkway directly at Natasha, waiting until moments before catching her to shoot a widow line to stop their fall, cut it into a swing, setting Natasha to either land with her or jump to safe landing once she got her bearings. "<I learned to fly, sister.>"

Sharon Carter has posed:
With her sidearm still trained upon Bucky, she squints once more, twisting her head a little to draw her pistol upright. "Weirdo."

There wasn't any time to move Bucky out of the way, as Sharon backs up towards her previous spot, she fires off a few more shots at Hydra agents before her gun creates that audible *CLICK*. She had a little bit more to go, of her limit, so putting in another clip and a few more rounds of agents was nothing. But the burning in her chest to hold back a bloody cough was something.

<<Down to two more clips, need a delivery!>>

Sara Pezzini has posed:
The armor responds as Clint speaks, thickening, literally making Sara deaf on that side as she braces herself, performing the 'I am a rock' stance to be used as a firing tripod. She has no idea what Clint is aiming at, only that whatever it was had been shooting at her. No effect, the armor kept her safe and sound and that is likely exactly why Clint was behind her, she's a shield in SHIELD.

Clint Barton has posed:
Clint continues to use Sara to steady the rife as he helps her defend the door, saving the ammo to take shots at an HYDRA soldier or mutant who approaches the door. Other than that, the fight down here seems to be fairly in control, and with one arm, he can't really get to the higher levels in any useful or quick manner.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
    Well, step 1 worked, but step 2 involves mastering gravity in a very short timeline while badly disoriented. Natasha grunts sharply when gravity begins to take hold of her again, using crucial seconds to reel in her Widow Lines. Between her barings being thoroughly out of whack, and the time it would take to fire another line, her odds of survival were... spotty.

    But luckily, Natasha Romanoff doesn't make investments willy nilly.

    Natasha clings to Yelena was she comes swinging into her space, very likely saving her life. She lands in a crouch as they come upon solid ground, and stands up, fixing Yelena with a wry smile. <And with such grace...> Natasha takes Yelena's hand and raises it to her lips, smooching the back of her fingers once, <... my Prince~>

    Okay, so the metaphors are mixed, but to hell with it, Natasha's proud.

    Word of the nuke sours her mood somewhat. "Oh my god, you actual idiots." Natasha mutters quickly under her breath, speaking of the Hydra agents who saw fit to install a nuclear device under New York City. "Someone who understands nuclear operations tell us if there's anything we can do. Otherwise we'll keep Hydra off of you." even as she draws her ICER again and takes aim from her new vantage point. <The Mutants may be enslaved,> she quickly tells Yelena in Russian, all-business once more, <Incapacitate them if you can, but do not give them an opportunity to surprise you. The pods and the core are more important than them right now.>

Dottie Underwood has posed:
Everyone comes out," Dottie promises, but her eyes are focused on Peg.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
The ice girl is still lying up on the catwalk, along with the white-haired man, knocked out. The archer holding on to his arm. As for Gayle she appears to be fully gone. Does she know what's coming? Maybe... Hail Hydra, but she's not suicidal. And with the nuclear bomb plan she won't be staying to watch. Those more 'normal' soldiers start to retreat as well, attempting to leave the middle of the fight but many captured or shot down by the SHIELD Agents.

It's not what the rest of the supersoldiers pumped by the centipede serum can say though. Unlimited devotion and loyalty. They *will comply. And so they do...

They rush in to the door, ten of them. A desperate assault and certainly not as strong as the mutant threat of before. But they are Hydra, and they will not fail. Bullets fly as they point their guns and advance while shooting..

It's clearly a suicide run.

Melinda May has posed:
Bucky's eyes snap open. He sucks in a gasping breath. Had he maybe not been breathing? Well he is now. He looks a little crazed, or maybe that's confused. He hasn't tried to move or sit up yet. Bewilderment dances in those pale blues of his when they focus on Sharon. The hell, where is he? What just happened? "Did we kill the vampires?" he asks.

Yes, it's Bucky. He's confused and still horribly injured, maybe even still mortally so from the way he starts to cough, blood spraying with ever forced exhale?

---

The EXO-7 suit is back online, the super soldier between Sam and the rest of the action is dead in a spray of bullets, and nothing is stopping him from rejoining the fray. What he really wants to do is fly down to ground level but he's trying to bank on the hope that Bucky's alive down there.

He's survived worse falls, right?

"<<Sharon, you got eyes on Buck? What's his status?>>"

---

Carol clenches her jaw and holds one hand against the reactor shielding and narrows her eyes.

Focusing.

That uh.. power flicker was probably not too bad for The Framework she hopes. I mean something that complex has to have battery backups and some redundancies right.

<<Okay. Reactor is .. back to yellow not red line now. I'm holding it in tolerable levels. I can't really step away though unless I can bring it back down to green and I can patch some of the damage.>>

There is a bit of a quiet grumble now and she starts to channel some of the energy very slowly, very carefully, back into repairing the reactor shielding as well. Siphon and slowly fix.

This will take some time.

She does fully engage her suit though in the meantime, covering her face with her mask and giving her more sensors to watch what she is doing.

---

Collingwood nods to Dottie and guides her to an open SHIELD VR rig. She helps her strap in and settles the rig on her head. "Good luck... agent," she says. Then, once she's satisfied Dottie is in securely and her vitals can be read clearly, she holds up her hand."

"In five," she says, her fingers curling down with each number she counts. "Four... three... two... one..." The world turns black then white and Dottie makes the transition, waking up inside a white-walled interrogation room inside the Triskelion, inside the Framework. Dr. Leopold Fitz, the dreaded Doctor of HYDRA stands over her, his hands on a control that wirelessly directs a device that connects to the base of her skull and her brainstem. Waves of euphoria wash over her... only to crash moments later into the horrible, relentless agony of severe withdrawl.

Lesser minds have broken long before this. Surely a survivor of the first of the Red Rooms can survive this...

If not... Well.

Hail HYDRA.

Sharon Carter has posed:
<< He's as good as can be. >> Sharon speaks up, emptying her clip. She pats herself down frantically, then slide-steps towards Bucky to kneel just when he offers those fated words. << He's good, he's awake but he's hurt.>> And to Bucky? "Nope. Now move your ass if you can! But.." She pats him down, looking for ammo, if she finds it. Good. If not..

The suicide squad rolls in, shots are fired, Sharon and covers the head of Bucky once the first row of shots come in. With her sidearm now tossed to the side, Sharon reaches back for her katana, drawing it out of the sheath.

And she doesn't even know how to properly use the damn thing!

"Buck, you make it to my family and make sure they're safe."

With those parting words, she was finally able to leave her spot at the door and Bucky's side, dashing in with tactical dodges and the blade raised to recklessly strike. While she wasn't a Widow, there was hope that she'd keep up with them just fine. For there was a lot of swearing, a lot of yelling, and definitely a lot of blood.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
With new targets rushing the door, and the threat of impending nuclear explosions, Sara was ready for either and or both, though the nuclear threat did have her a little worried.

"Take cover Clint," she states before taking one step forward, tendrils forming a sword in each hand for the onslaught of centipede soldiers.

Without further pause she rushes forward to meet them, hacking and slashing, ducking, weaving and dancing away when she can. She will keep herself between them and Clint behind her, and thus door, even if she has to use the armor itself to make a wall. She is getting hit and taking it, the blows painful yet not deadly with the armor protecting her.

The onslaught will continue, there will be no prisoners unless they choose to surrender. Her attacks aim for arms to be removed, heads when possible, seeking to put an end to this once and for all, right here, right now! It wasn't the ideal choice, but something told her not one of these soldiers would back down, and as such, she gave her all to ensuring not a single one would make it to the door.

Clint Barton has posed:
Clint drops the rifle as Sara charges the supersoldiers, pulling a pistol from a shoulder holster and keeps the door covered as the Witchblade makes short, messy work of the attempted charge. That group down, he looks around, sees a lack of further attackers, and sinks down to sit on the floor. Replacing the gun in it's holster, he clicks onto comms.

<<Barton. We need medics on the ground floor, multiple agents down.>>

Melinda May has posed:
In the end... SHIELD stands victorious. The final suicide squads are put down. Agents find medical attention. Captain Marvel's efforts do not go amiss, though they will take some time to complete. The child with the refractive eyes, irridescent wings, and blurry form is spirited away by a silvery javelin and a burst of purple energy. As for the bird girl? Well... it's a roll of the dice, really. How good is the Brotherhood, anyway?

Fire continues to crackle overhead, eventually shut down by the Sphere's own efforts. The AI that runs it -- and they know there's an AI that runs it -- clearely hoped HYDRA might succeed. Now, however? It needs this base standing just a little longer. So SHIELD gets a reprieve...

For now.