6671/Lurking Fear: Hellish Reef

Lurking Fear: Hellish Reef
Date of Scene:	29 June 2021
Location:	Innsmouth, MA
Synopsis:	A SHIELD squad and their FBI liaison infiltrate a rural Massachussetts town to rescue a kidnapped research team and a pair of bickering FBI agents from creatures that are decidedly not: inbred cannibals, chainsaw wielding maniacs, or aliens. What they are? TBD.
Cast of Characters:	Sam Wilson, Sharon Carter, James Barnes, Darcy Lewis, Cael Becker

---

Sam Wilson has posed:
    Even this far north, there's no escaping the heat that has been hammering various areas of the country. It's a muggy night, the crickets loud in the undergrowth, but a storm brewing on the horizon over the Atlantic holds the promise of some relief. Already the wind has begun to stir, shaking tree limbs and rushing through the overgrown grass with enough vigor that under the light of the moon it looks like a corn field in miniature, stalks whipped around as unseen figures run through it.

    The briefing Sam gives before the team boards the quinjet earns its name, because there is almost no information to go on. Innsmouth is a small town on the coast that is notorious in local circles as being actively antagonistic to outsiders dating back to times before mass communication was a thing. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on one's views) it is now, and in recent years the town has become something of a trend in some corners of the internet, often being a destination for daring geocachers and influencers looking to use its urban legend status for views. There are rumors of missing tourists, but local law enforcement agencies dismiss these reports very vigorously, often without actually conducting any investigations of their own.

    What brings a SHIELD team here tonight, though? Dr. Jacqueline Walters and a research team of roughly half a dozen post-docs, plus a couple of plucky grad students. The doctor is a world-renown psychologist with a serious interest in the influence of genetics on mental disorders. One of those plucky grad students wrote a paper analysing the behavior of the town's inhabitants as could be gleaned from mostly second-hand reports of visitors to the area, suggesting some sort of hereditary mental disorder plaguing the town.

    Which would have gotten a B- by Dr. Walters' harsh grading standards, except a video shot from inside the town surfaced online. The person behind the camera is never shown, but they are repeatedly accosted by several Innsmouth natives, who look disfigured in an unnatural way and show extreme hostility and suspicion.

    Hence, the research team.

    Except they arrived last week and went dark almost immediately. Police refuse to get involved despite external pressure, and when the FBI dispatched a pair of agents yesterday, they too have disappeared.

    "She was my mentor while I was pursuing my Master's," is Sam's explanation for his initial awareness of her disappearance; apparently they communicate regularly on some sort of mental health forum for practicing professionals. "We go in, extract the research team and the missing agents, and get back out again. I'm not sure it's even worth trying to leverage my position with the Avengers; the reception I got from the state troopers was pretty frosty, and I expect it'll be worse once we're inside the town limits."

    The pilot console of the quinjet already has a set of coordinates that lead to a small clearing next to the single road leading into town; as does the FBI agent Sam has brought in as liaison.

Sharon Carter has posed:
The days are getting long; it seemed to be the same ol' same ol' crew going out to inspect the unexpected. Sharon tagged along just because she could, not because she muscled her way onto the mission or because she's avoiding speaking with her grandparents. And parents. But nevermind that.

Co-pilot's chair is where Sharon sat, being utterly useless; tapping away on her phone and remaining mighty quiet. She was clearly researching something; and if someone were to look over her shoulder they would see that she's looking up supernatural disorders and disfigurements.

Eventually, all of this stuff will cause her to have D.I.D.

"Falcon," Sharon says. "Is this like the last mission?" The question was there, intent behind it. Is this kill or be killed? Because Agent 13 is doped up and ready.

James Barnes has posed:
    Fucking great, another situation with hostile backwater inbreds. Bucky, for his part, hasn't said much of anything through the whole trip. He's looking particularly dour. His BuckyStare(tm) is definitely more BuckyGlower(tm).

    He's armed to the teeth, but that shouldn't surprise anyone. The dark circles under his eyes deserve their own zip code, but that's not a shocker either. The silence might be though, no questions, zero snark and sarcasm aimed at Sam or Sharon for that matter. Any of her usual snark was met with either a little growly grunt or just a flat out glare and... more silence. Boy, he's gonna be fun on this one!

    Despite his sour mood, he doesn't do anything cruel like barrel rolls with the Quinjet's controls. He gets them there safe, unshaken, unstirred and touches down so gently it might feel like it didn't happen at all.

Darcy Lewis has posed:
"You guys really need a deeper bench," Darcy is complaining, AGAIN, in flight, because that is kind of part of her thing. Reluctant heroism, and all of that. "Last time it was hokey HYDRA pharmaceuticals, this time it's genetic mental disorders? What part of this am I supposed to-"

And then she sighs, and stops bitching, because really, what's the point? No one likes a complainer, and she's on the damn Jet, so there's really no going back now. As usual, Darcy has a fair bit of luggage with her, both a large backpack with field gear of all variety and a more modest laptop bag and accompanying computer. She is on it, doing last minute research. While she may not be an expert in the field, one of the key traits of being a big old nerd is the ability to quickly learn and pick up new things. So she's spent the flight (and a good chunk of the night before) cramming like this was a final for a college class she'd never went to.

Not that she'd have any experience with that kind of behavior.

"So, on the whole, nothing about this seems too controversial. We know that there's genetic predisposition to a variety of common mental illnesses and degenerative conditions. And in a small enough, isolated enough community, well..."

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael was aware of the reputation of the town - and more than a little concerned about arriving on its outskirts - alone. As a result, she planned and timed her arrival - taking her motorcycle to the nearest neighboring town, and keeping a close eye on her watch as she lingers over a cup of coffee. When it was time, the agent put her helmet back on, and hopped onto her motorcycle - pulling into the clearing just as the maneuverable little jet makes its own appearance.
    Man. She wants to learn how to fly that thing.
    Dropping the kickstand, she pulls off her helmet - waiting for the ramp to descend and the rest of the party to arrive. At her hip, she carried a pistol - with a backup, and a bullet proof vest hidden beneath her leather riding jacket. It's not paranoia if the locals are really out to get you. Right? And this town has a serious reputation for its problem with strangers, and authority.

Sam Wilson has posed:
    Braced against the wall behind the pilot seat (so he's in prime annoy-Bucky range, though tonight it seems that's off the table for both of them) Sam is still pouring over satellite imagery of the area, as if it might somehow give him all the answers if he stares at it long enough.

    Doesn't quite have the same potency as a BuckyStare(tm) though. Maybe that's the problem.

    "ICERs only unless they somehow don't end up working," Sam says, which would be just their luck, wouldn't it? He spares a glance Sharon's way, rolls his shoulders in a loose approximation of a casual shrug, and then adds, "I don't want to roll up on these people and kill them if it really is just that they're all suffering from some sort of genetic disorder."

    He manages a wry look Darcy's way, since she's filling the air in the way Sam and Bucky's bickering used to. Before they got all grim-dark and depressing.

    Sam tries to muster up some of his usual good-natured energy. "You're here because weird shit is always on our tail like the thing in 'It Follows,'" why yes he's been on a horror movie kick the last week or so, that's been great for his mental disposition!, "And you might be able to give us a heads up before we get chainsaw massacred."

    Well, he tried.

    "Inbreeding seems like a good cause, yeah. The physical and mental issues that result from repeated close familial marriages are pretty well documented, but from what little Dr. Walters had reported back to her department before she vanished suggested there wasn't much in the DNA samples her team had managed to collect. No signs of the metahuman or X-gene, nothing else anomolous."

    They touch down amidst the thicket, and aside for the chirp of crickets and the sound of the ocean, filtering in through the trees that block their view of the coast on the opposite side, it's quiet. The road is silent; Cael won't have seen anyone coming or going on her way in.

    Sam leans forward to thump his hand against Bucky's shoulder lightly. "Nice flying. I'm almost impressed."

    And then he's opening the cargo hatch, down the ramp, and out onto the grass. "Thanks for coming," he tells Cael, reaching out to offer his hand. "Make it easy on us, here. Any word from your two missing agents?"

Sharon Carter has posed:
"Isolated community, mass hysteria?" Sharon offers up, finally putting away her phone with a shove into her back pocket so that she could pay attention to the flight. There was a slight glance towards Bucky as he remains ever so grim, Sharon keeping her lips sealed tight, now focused on her co-pilot duties until they touch down into their exfill.

Without a word, Sharon unbuckles herself, rising from her seat with a slight wince, and a crack of her neck. She was getting old..

Down and off the ramp, Sharon keeps close to Sam, hands shoved into her pockets to keep an ear on any important details needed for this mission.

James Barnes has posed:
    "Yeah," is all Bucky says in response to Sam's 'kinda compliment'. He could have come back with so many things there, all the things... but not a one. He stands from the pilot's chair and pretty much stomps his way to the ramp. When both Sam AND Sharon aren't fucking with Buck... it's a good hint to everyone else that maybe they shouldn't either.

    Spying Cael at the bottom of the ramp does not improve his mood.

Darcy Lewis has posed:
"Really good movie," Darcy echoes back at Sam. Unlike Cap, she gets lots of references! "Slightly underrated, even, compared to all the slasher remakes, 'boy in the wall' nonsense, and those garbage found-footage ghost franchises. Ugh." SHE HAS OPINIONS ON THIS TOPIC, clearly.

In the end, though, Sam's choice of comparison serves to make his point. "Just call me the weirdness expert. I wonder if I could go for another degree in that? 'PhD in Weird.' Or even Doctor- Wait, no, that other guy kinda has a similar name already, right? You don't want to get in a copyrwrite lawsuit with a Wizard." Probably not.

Anyhoo! They arrive, and Darcy packs up to get going, hoisting on her Bag o' Gear and checking various other equipment, including her standard-issue self-defense items which she hopes very much she will not have any opportunity to use (because that always works out, right?). As she's getting ready, she looks over at Sharon. "Actually, I meant that the isolation, if it's severe enough, could be creating a genetic bottleneck. A term I found was 'island devolution.' The less popular take on Darwin's classic, but no less important. Basically, that negative traits can reinforce when the population doesn't have the required diversity to correct errors in the genome." Pause. "Uh, you know, your basic inbred redneck scenario."

She looks over to Sam again. "Ugh the chainsaws seem more likely, now. Well, lead on, brave soldier!"

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael takes the offered hand - even as she's shaking her head. "Wish I could tell you otherwise - but no. It's full radio silence." Not that they're, you know, using anything as archaic as radios to communicate. "I'll rest a whole lot easier if we can solve this. Not that //anyone// should just disappear without a trace, but when it's two FBI agents...?" It's more than a little disconcerting.
    Her gaze goes to Sharon as the woman comes down the ramp - a nod offered her way, and to Darcy as well.
    And the just goes ahead and puts her foot in it. Someone has to. "My - aren't you a ray of sunshine, today," she greets Bucky, offering him a brief nod as well.
    Her attention shifts back to Sam as she adds, "You're running this circus?"

Sam Wilson has posed:
    Sharon's theory gets a nod from Sam. "Could be. I'm just hoping that whatever it is means they have our missing people under lock and key somewhere, and not...." He's silent for a long moment, and then he gives a little shake of his head, as if to himself. Snap out of it.

    "I'm really sick of remakes. You remember when they remade The Thing?" Oh god, that was ten years ago, Sam's getting old too, "Just, why? The original still holds up, it's terrifying, we didn't need a new worse version."

    He doesn't say anything about Darcy's wizard comment, but he does point at her and nod very enthusiastically. Clearly she gets it. Clearly!

    The conversation on potential causes continues, and yeah, mentioning chainsaws was maybe not the best move on Sam's part. His game face is on, goggles tugged into place as he descends the ramp, and then as he's shaking Cael's hand Sam turns to address the team. "This is Agent Becker, my contact in the FBI for the two missing agents. She's been vetted, don't worry."

    Everyone else (well, technically just Sharon and Darcy) is left to make their own introductions. "Yeah, this is my op<" he confirms to Cael. "I'm going to do some aerial recon; I'll meet you all back at the recon point." Which the SHIELD folks will know as a spot behind what was once the First National Grocery, now an abandoned building on the edge of town.

    And then Sam is gone, wings deployed and EXO-suit thruster firing. He's running just enough power to create lift, stealth mode, so once he's about thirty feet up there's hardly a sound to tell he's there at all for anyone with average human hearing.

    The way is clear, down the road towards town, though that's maybe not the best way to go at it. Overhead the sky is clear, and it's only a few days past a full moon, so there's plenty of light to see by. The only issue is the quiet... the closer to the town limits they get, the less sounds of nature there are to accompany them. No crickets, no owls hooting in the trees, nothing but the wind and distant murmur of the ocean.

Sharon Carter has posed:
The movie references were lost on Sharon; mostly because she wasn't paying attention due to her 'worry' in regards to Bucky. Though her 'worrying' looks like a little bit like untouched anger in the moment. Still, introductions were needed, and soon Sharon is bobbing her head in greeting, not offering a hand but a warm smile. "Call me 13."

Sharon takes a step back now, allowing Sam his room to roam, her head tilted up towards the sky as she lets out a sigh. "I need one of those.." She mutters to herself, kicking an idle rock with a gesture towards Darcy. "You don't have to dumb it down, I pretty much understood what you said. In SHIELD, you learn it all and pick what you want to focus on while forgetting it at the same time. Weird way to say it, but that's how it was with me."

But, no time like the present, Sharon was already walking ahead upon the road, though not leaving the rest of the team in the lurch.

James Barnes has posed:
    Okay, it's really super extremely bad when Bucky doesn't even take the unintentional bait laid by Darcy on the Epic Wizard's VS. Sorcerer debate. He doesn't even seem to have heard.

    He's not wearing gloves today so it's a bright, shiny metal middle finger that Cael gets in response. Look there, there's a ray of moonlight gleaming off of it, not quite sunshine, but. In the relative silence, it even makes a little mechanical whirring sound when Bucky flips her off. He doesn't like it, but his primary weapon tonight is an I.C.E.R. rifle, but make no mistake, everything else on his person with a trigger is loaded to kill and ready to go.

    "I'm not playing babysitter tonight, put Sharon on it," he snarlwhispers under his breath as he passes by Sam before his friend launches into the air. And there it is, the source of his grouch'n'grump. He's still holding on to the shit that went down last time, particularly what happened to Agent Marsh. He's not mad at the world and the people around him, he's pissed at himself.

    He'll lead the team to the rendezvous point, but he will NOT be watching the squishy tonight, no he will not.

    Not quite all the way to town, Bucky holds up his left fist for those behind him - stop.

    <<Sam, there's something hummin' in that town, kinda makin' my back teeth ache a little, like standing under a bunch of power lines but... worse.>>

Darcy Lewis has posed:
"Yeah remakes are totally the worst. Almost as bad as when they take minor characters from something popular and shove them in TV series."

Ahem.

Darcy makes her trudging way down the ramp after the more capable folk. Trudging is the right word, in fact, with the extra weight of her pack and gear. You just never know when you're gonna need some of this stuff! Still, despite the terrible burden, she arrives and offers the FBI types a friendly smile and an offered hand after they've met the others. "Darcy Lewis. Doctor of 'definitely not this problem but close enough for government work.'" Not as catchy as Doctor Strange, but she's still workshopping it.

She watches their fearless leader sail off into the sky, leaving the rest of them with more mundane options. "So we're hoofing it? Sure, good, great." Trudge, trudge. She could use a little more time in the Playground gym, probably. Nonetheless, she sets in behind Sharon. "You know, last time we did this, I feel like we weren't exactly operating under best safety practices..." What with them wandering in and breathing all the air without knowing what killed everyone. "Think I oughta get some readings before we get too close?"

Cael Becker has posed:
    As Bucky flips her the bird - Cael actually smiles in return, looking amused by the morose man's reaction. She doesn't make any effort to further antagonize him, though.
    "Thirteen. Sure," she agrees. "And Dr. Lewis - still better off than me, then. Best I've got is a Bachelors. You can all call me Becker tonight," she offers - as they start hoofing it towards the town.
    "You and me both," she adds towards Sharon - in regards to Sam's wings. It looks like a blast. And certainly handy.
    She keeps her hands free - one hand near the weapon holstered at her hip as she walks, her gaze scanning the trees cautiously.
    "So. What 'last time'?" she asks - without expecting any response, pulling up abruptly as Bucky orders the stop - her hand coming to rest on the handle of her weapon.

Sam Wilson has posed:
    "Agent Lewis has a *name*, Buck," comes Sam's long-suffering reply, but he does also turn to Sharon before he takes off to appoint her an honorary member of the science team for the night, to keep an eye on Darcy. He's gone after, but keeps an open comm line, though the only thing anyone will hear from him for a long while is the sound of the wind whipping past him as he flies.

    There's really nothing at all out here. More than once they will pass a few ramshackle structures that were once buildings, the kind built out of wooden planks and cheap tin siding for roofs. Temporary things, built poorly, already well into being reclaimed by nature. At least the green kind of nature; no birds roost here, no vermin making their dens in fallen debris, no deer grazing in the grass beyond.

    <<What? Hold on, let me see...>> comes over their comms (for everyone but Cael), and then a moment later: <<Yeah, I'm seeing something in the single digit hertz. Without Redwing though my sensor suite is pretty basic; Darcy, can you get a better read?>>

    Rather than meet at the rendezvous point as previously stated, the noise of Sam's approach gives a second or two of warning before he's dropped down to the ground about a dozen feet away, running out the momentum of his landing with a few quick steps. "Town is dead as can be judging by the thermals; most of them are clustered up in some kind of community center building, no real movement. A few in single-family dwellings scattered elsewhere doing mostly the same thing, except one person pacing in an attic," he reports. "No sign of our missing persons."

Sharon Carter has posed:
Sharon did NOT want to be on babysitting duty. Bad enough she was in charge most of the time May was away, but watching after -another- person? Hoo shit. But she says nothing, keeping to the ladies, making sure the upside down V formation was kept. "I know.." Sharon says idly towards Darcy. "..last time, I think we were trying to save people that couldn't be saved.." Though, if it was the same again? Sharon would be ready, possibly much like their fearless Full Metal leader. "I'm going to steal it." Sharon states to Cael, her tone was serious. "I'm pretty much going to get Sam drunk and st--.."

As Bucky raises his hand, Sharon stops immediately, both arms going out like a protective mother bracing her children for a crash. While Cael draws her weapon, Sharon keeps her arms low and akimbo, preparing to.. well, be the meatshield and jump into the fray.

"Would it be bad to volunteer as tribute to go see what's going on at that community center?" Sharon says, mostly to the group she's nearest to. "Not because I'm looking for a fight.. I'm just quieter than you all."

James Barnes has posed:
    It's like... nails down a chalkboard, only on the lower end of the spectrum for the Super Soldier. Even so, he's more annoyed by the 'spa day' chitchat happening on their way toward unknown hostile territory. "Shut-up," he hisses softly. It's so quiet in the area that voices carrying *is* a concern.

    <<Sam, really prolonged exposure to low frequency sound, it's not good.>> It's probably best not to ask how he knows that, it likely involves some HYDRA testing of his hearing that was less than pleasant. <<It might even be what's fucking with these people.>> He's already feeling pressure building in his eardrums. Headache might start soon.

    Then Sam is landing nearby, no more need for the comms. But when he speaks his voice is barely a hushed whisper. "Quieter?" Still soft, but SCOFFING. "Wanna bet?" Well, there's a little bit of spunk back in his step. But seriously, they're both pretty sneaksie and, frankly, he's not about to let Sharon go alone if that's the plan. "We'll both go."

Darcy Lewis has posed:
The fact that there may or may not be some back-and-forth comments referring to her and 'babysitting duty' are something that Darcy mostly just ignores, minus her typical eyerolling.

Instead, she focuses on the important moment that has finally come: At long last, Darcy's prodigous Bag O' Gear to earn it's weight! << I'll try and get you some readings.>>

Slinging the pack off her shoulder and around in front of her, she digs around in the jumble of gear. Some of it requires a lot of setup (those tripod legs are still sticking out the top), but she has a more mobile set that is what she reaches for now. The item that appears is something akin to an overly large Geiger counter, including having a separate 'wand' attachment that might serve as some kind of antenna or reciever.

"This looks like it would just be for radiation but I've got it rigged up pretty broad-spectrum, though the sensor resolution isn't the best on the hand model. If I see anything weird I can do more scans, hopefully before we've been too heavily exposed." Which leads her to look over at Cael, since this is also a reference to 'last time.' "Oh uh, I dunno what the clearance is to talk about it exactly, but basically just... you know, making sure if we're walking into a place with weird properties that will kill us or drive us crazy, we know BEFORE instead of after. Good policy, right?"

She continues like this for a while. The first hand device is replaced by another. She has a whole lot of gear in that bag!

Cael Becker has posed:
    "I will definitely back you up on that plan," Cael offers quietly, as she turns to watch their back, her gaze scanning the treeline. "As long as I get to-" ...shutting up.
    "I, for one, am opposed to anyone 'volunteering as tribute,'" she murmurs in reponse to Sharon's words. If her 'vote' counts for anything. On an op, it rarely does.
    "Could be the guy pacing in the attic is being held?" she suggests quietly. "If not - well. They're on their own. Could be the easiest source of intel."
    Darcy gets a nod in response - but she doesn't pry further. Spooks keep their secrets - there's not much you can do about that. Though the comment about 'people who couldn't be saved' was a bit worrying.

Sam Wilson has posed:
    Once on the ground, Sam puts his hands on his hips and tilts his head up, slightly. Behind his goggles, his eyes are narrowed with intense focus, as if he's trying to hear the sound himself. But no, nothing. It's just Bucky who hears that low, monotonous thrum.

    Bucky and Darcy's handheld scanner, which is picking up some kind of signal in the range of 8-9 Hz, just below what a human can hear even in perfect conditions. If that sensor (or the next one she produces) can do any kind of triangulation, even roughly, it'll be able to determine that its origin point is from somewhere to the northeast of their position.

    North is, of course, straight into town. East is the Atlantic.

    "No one's volunteering as tribute," Sam says, pointedly, with a concerned frown at Sharon... and then at Bucky. At least Cael is a voice of reason here, which earns her a nod.

    He stands there a moment longer, expression flattened into grim nothingness. Right now he needs to figure out their next step, not lock himself back into the memories of that disaster of a mission.

    "We're talking easily upwards of sixty people in that building. I'd rather see what we can get out of someone on their own--" To Cael's suggestion, he nods. "Yeah. It's close by, we can get there in a few minutes by foot."

    Guess he's going to be hoofing it too. "Buck, you take point. If anything weird starts happening with that noise, we bug out." He pulls the ICER pistol from the holster on his hip, checks the clip and safety. Darcy will have some time to get her readings (though there's not much more to say of the sound than 'it's some kind of noise') before he gives the signal to move out.

Sharon Carter has posed:
When Bucky tells them to shut up, Sharon's face turns beet red. This wasn't a time to throw a temper tantrum, to flail or place a boot into Bucky's back, nor shake a fist or pull her eye down while sticking out her tongue. But she holds it in. What he did say though, was equally concerning, so while she wanted to do what she would normally do, she doesn't, finding a way to calm herself down with a roll of her shoulders and a pop of her neck. Again.

Her arms drop slightly, moving forward to stand next to Bucky, her gaze off into the distance of where he was looking. "Quieter. You've been exposed for too long." Was that a dig?

All the while Darcy was setting up, Sharon was pretty much confident that Cael was taking over the guarding for now, as she had her gun drawn and at the ready, much faster than Sharon would have. "Maybe the guy who's pacing is on the phone calling for reinforcements.." She offers up to Cael. "But sixty people?" Sharon purses her lips, her head bobbing faintly. Good odds. With preparations underway, Sharon does her own quick check of her ICERS, but leaves her glocks beneath her arm just in case. They're all ready, either way.

James Barnes has posed:
    Sam ends up on the receiving end of BuckyGlower(tm). He points between himself and Sharon. "Sneaky, as in... not engaging, as in, peeking through windows to see what they're up to. It's called recon." Smartass. But that's *good* sign right?

    He sticks a finger in his ear, wiggles it, works his jaw around some, he's trying to make his ears pop. Honestly, it is starting to annoy. "A'ight, team should stay back a little more than normal," Bucky points out. That way if it gets 'weird', he'll hear the weird before the rest of them are in the middle of it? "Don't start Sam, remember I can run faster. I'll be right on your heels if we have to beat feet."

    When Bucky moves off, it's not terribly far ahead, but it is further than he would normally get from a team while he was running lead. He walks with his left hand up, fingers splayed. The silver of it makes it easier to see in the moonlight, it even glints prettily every so often. At least he knows that Sam will know to watch that hand and stop immediately if it closes into a fist.

    But it's probably Sharon that'll know what it means when his thumb goes in toward his palm briefly and he gives a little tiny jerk of his hand off to his left. B- that's the sign for B- Bitch... if you're goin', go... I got you. It's up to her to decide. God, he's an asshole.

Darcy Lewis has posed:
<<Hold on, hold on, got something at around 8 hertz. That's uh, whale hearing range, for comparison. Bearing is about... 48 degrees from current position, just need a little more to get a distance->>

Getting the direction of the signal is easy. Triangulation, too, is a pretty simple procedure, although it does have a basic physical requirement that even the fanciest technology or smartiest of smarts can't circumvent: you need two points in space to calculate the third. Which sees Darcy suddenly and only somewhat inexplicably veer off of the course that they are all following, out of snych with Sharon and the others. She's turned to walk at a right angle to the direction of the signal, which probably is meaningless to the road they're following. Thus, paying such close attention to the screen, she's almost walked into a bush before she looks up and realizes she's broken off from the others a little ways.

Eventually, she's walked far enough off to get the necessary angular resolution to get a distance reading. <<Sending what I got your way, uh, wings!>> 'Wings?'

At this point, she realizes she's basically standing in the middle of nowhere, possibly by herself, depending on how serious they are about not babysitting her. She looks around, and starts trekking back. "Wait for me!"

Cael Becker has posed:
    "It's not what she said. She said 'volunteer as tribute.' And I'm sorry - but fuck that Hunger Games shit," Cael responds in a whisper, as she briefly turns her head away from watching their rear, towards the rest of the group.
    As everyone starts to move - she moves with them them, staying at the end of the group - and letting out a quiet sigh as the 'good doctor' starts to veer towards the treeline. "Watch your heading, Doc. And stay out of the trees," she mutters - pulling her gun fully out of its holster as they come to the treeline - where someone or something could get a drop on them way too easily.

Sam Wilson has posed:
    "No, no splitting up," Sam counters, and it comes out as an order, unequivocally. "Absolutely not. If anyone gets separated from the group you head back to the 'jet and bunker down there. No exceptions." There's nothing in his voice to even hint that he might be willing to negotiate on that point.

    He falls into position a few steps behind Bucky, covering one flank. "Children please," he snaps at Bucky and Sharon, not looking over at either of them as he scans the treeline with his gun raised. The moonlight isn't enough to make the way the trees are beginning to whip around from the wind blowing in off the water anything but terrifying. In fact, it's just bright enough to cast some pretty creepy shadows, and maybe it's the low hum that Sam can't consciously hear but is still beating down on his ear drums that has him extra on edge.

    Bucky says 'stay back a little more than normal' and Sam relents, though probably not nearly as far as Bucky wanted. About three meters is all Sam's willing to put between him and anyone on this op; no distance at all if Sam fires his thrusters to give him a quick burst of speed.

    The direction Darcy heads off in aims her right towards the forest bracketing the road; a few steps past the bush she almost runs into, and she'd be out of line-of-sight.

    It's Cael that draws Sam's attention to her. <<Agent Lewis, get back in formation,>> he tells her over comms so that he doesn't have to shout. He's watching her on thermals, already expecting an ambush because this would be the perfect time for it, but... nothing happens. No readings except hers, bright colors against the dark blue of the ambient temperature.

    How strange that is takes Sam a moment to pick up on. "There's no wildlife." His head turns, sweeping their surroundings with his gaze. "Anywhere." He'd ruminate on that longer if Darcy's analysis hadn't just popped up in his HUD, and his eyebrows draw together. <<That makes no sense, that's half a kilometer off the coastline. I didn't see anything out there except a few dark shapes in the water, maybe some rock formations or a reef.>>

    They've made it close enough that the town is now in sight; aside for the aforementioned abandoned building that was once a grocery store, what they can see are mostly single-family homes. Small, worn-down, no fences or the like to separate them, just overgrown grass and various detritus piled up. No lights on in any of them, except one small sliver of brightness from a small window under a roof overhang. Sam indicates that as the one he picked up the pacing figure from on his aerial survey.

Sharon Carter has posed:
Sharon says nothing. Even as she's scolded by Sam, she says nothing. Hands return to the pockets of her jacket, one that was nearly worn on every OP, no matter the temperature or weather. Cael gets a little mental note for Sharon, one that says to take her on another mission but right now?

Sharon was going to misbehave.

She turns to see Darcy and Cael move off from the beaten path, now turning forward to see the sign from Buck. Oh.. Sam was going to rip into her good.. but..

Just when the team leader addresses Darcy, Sharon takes off.

She's not as fast as Bucky, but she makes good headway into the empty town, strafing a quick pace behind the abandoned grocery store, body crouched, only lifting to take a peek into a dusted window to see if there were signs of life.

'Gotta get some infrareds..' Sharon thinks to herself; but she's done worse things under a moonlit sky. So much worse..

Her aim was to keep mostly out of sight, keeping herself low into overgrown foilage, placing herself against abandoned items that could be considered cover or a shield. At this point, Sharon was confident that the end of her demise was going to be Falcon, who'd pick her up and drop her off from a high point over the sea.

James Barnes has posed:
    Not children, it's just what you end up with when you stick two assassins, used to going it alone with a group. The urge is strong to follow old patterns, depend only on oneself. Sharon gets it, he knows she does. But still, he bends his middle, ring and pinky finger down ever so slightly, leaving his index straight. Sec, don't... don't do it, Sharon. But it's too late, she's already... gone. Briefly he switches his comm to a channel only she's going to hear.

    <<Lil' Bitch, you yell if you're in trouble. I will kill you if you don't come back in one piece. Stay out of sight, RECON only, do not engage.>> Yes, he's trusting her to go it alone, and do it right.

    He flips on back to 'main'.<<Let'er go, Sam, she's got this. It's the sound, it's running them off.>> Bucky is totally venturing a guess there, because he can HEAR it and really, he'd want to be away from it right now if he could. The headache's started, he's doing his best to ignore it.

    <<I can make that jump, y'know.>> Through that window, in and on the person before they have even a remote change of being warned by a sound in the rooms below them or by the sound of Sam's suit. He shoulders his I.C.E.R. rifle and makes like he's ready to do just that. He just needs a little bit of a running start. <<It makes sense for it to be me, Sam.>>

Darcy Lewis has posed:
"Sorry! Sorry sorry." As Cael catches up with her, Darcy is for once totally free of sarcasm. She's not exactly keen on being attacked by inbred chainsaw-wielding cannibals. Thus, she seems happy for her escort.

"Just needed pings from two locations," the woman explains as she makes it back toward the group. "Didn't realize quite how far I went. But... yeah, I think this distance is accurate." She pauses to twist a dial which turns through a bunch of other, unrelated readings. "And I'm not picking up anything else abnormal, so we should be OK to get closer."

A pause. "Well, relatively speaking." She can promise a lack of deadly radiation, but not a lack of mutant fish people.

Once she's gotten the distance, the fact that the source is actually off the coast isn't lost on Darcy either, which leads her to some speculative thinking. "Low frequencies do travel better than higher ones, so I guess it's possible it's natural. Although that'd have to be one HELL of a whale. Could be some other kind of cause, like a subaquatic seismic disturbance? Although I will remind you that 'geologist' is another job title I don't actually have." IE: guesswork! "Anyway, we could-"

Oh. The agents are charging ahead into action. Well. She looks over at Cael. "What do we do now?"

Cael Becker has posed:
    "And keep your voice down," Cael adds as Darcy apologizes. She turns full circle - checking their six again, as they continue to approach, and then enter the town.
    "I'm not a scientist but - seismic stuff isn't usually long term and //sustained,// yeah? Earthquakes happen - then they're done." How could they make the earth //hum//? Sounds like bullshit to her.
    She frowns slightly as she sees that Sharon has slipped off - and she nods Darcy towards Sam's location. "We stick with the group. Stick near me, stay quiet. Hit the ground if I tell you - run if I tell you. Yeah?" she asks.
    Sure. She was never //officially// giving the job of babysitting - but she knows how to read the room. Fucking assholes, the lot of them, when //she's// the one picking up this sort of slack.

Sam Wilson has posed:
    After this stunt, Sharon, there's no way in hell Sam's gonna let you borrow the wings!

    It takes him a long time to realize she's gone, because Sam didn't realize he had to make a daisy chain of one person watching out for another person watching out for another person for his entire damn team.

    The abandoned grocery store is precisely as it is described: abandoned. Through the aged window Sharon will be able to see empty shelves and a few rusted shopping carts scattered along the few aisles she can peer down from that particular vantage point. Faded signs announce a "Going Out of Business" sale, though it looks more like everything was packed up one day, the bare bones of the store left behind as an effigy.

    A few of the windows up front have been boarded up, the glass broken at some point or another. It's the only reason why the wild at the edge of town hasn't tried to reclaim the building for its own yet. The main street of the town can be seen straight through those windows, as it intersects the grocery store at one of its ends. Chances are, that community center is down that street.

    Bucky's comm brings Sam's attention to her disappearance, and he mutters "Fuck," under his breath. At his side, his left hand spasms into a clenched fist and then relaxes. <<Dammit, Sharon!>> Not very professional, that. Nor is the glare he levels at Bucky, because he's there and trying to justify Sharon going off on her own. It's only because Sam isn't willing to separate the group any more than it already is that he doesn't.

    Also, maybe he does trust her. Some. A little bit. Y'know.

    <<Any sign of danger, you get the hell out, we'll meet back at the quinjet. I'm not writing another casualty report.>>

    He grimaces and shakes out his left hand before wrapping around his right, steadying his aim. "Agent Becker, keep an eye on Dr. Lewis." Of course, Sam notices her already doing so, and that earns her a nod. Darcy does not get any acknowledgment for her apologies, but Sam does look her over once like he thinks she might have suffered some kind of terrible injury in the handful of moments they've been separated. Satisfied that she's not dead or about to turn into a rage zombie, he motions towards the house next door.

    Rather, to the structure in what can loosely be called its backyard. It's a playset, the kind with the climbing wall, swings, and little two-storey building with an overhanging canopy outside of the house next door. Cute, except for how the canopy is basically a tatter of cloth flapping in the wind, one of the swings hangs from a single chain (the other is missing entirely), and the slide is a tetanus disaster waiting to happen. "Take cover behind that," he says, like it's not probably haunted or something. "If we're not out in two minutes, back to the 'jet. You hear more than one shot, back to the 'jet."

    He knows even less than Darcy does about geology, and absolutely nothing about whale biology (though like any true New Yorker, he's a big fan of the blue whale at the American Museum of Natural History). But she gives a general all-clear in regards to the signal, and Sam takes her at face value on that one. <<Absolutely not, Buck. I've had SHIELD stealth training, I can move through a house without making a noise.>> He jerks his head towards the back door. <<Already said you're on point.>>

    It's a small home, however they end up entering. Barely justifies having a second storey and then an attic on top of that, and the furniture is old, cluttered. At first glance one would expect it to smell musty, but instead it has an almost briny smell, but rotten, like someone's left fish out to go bad. An old smell, though. From above, the creak of floorboards can be heard. Step-creak, step-creak, step-creak, step-creak. Pause, turn. Step-creak, step-creak, step-creak....

Sharon Carter has posed:
<< You know I don't yell. >> Sharon says into the comm in a quiet tone. That was pretty much her only response to Bucky. In fact, lord only knows if she's actually going to listen to him on this OP, he's been giving the entire team the stink-eye so far be it from her to not let him have it. But, this was serious; as most stealth missions are. The grocery store was noted as vacant. The sign suspicious. It clearly meant that whomever occupied that building and ran the business knew that something was amiss.

Sharon files that away for later, then continues on, not taking the street but, peeking around the corner of structures to make sure that nothing or anything was coming her way or could see her.

Not even the team.

When she nears towards the main street, she keeps herself low against an abandoned house, peeking out towards where she last saw the team, seeing that they've gone off the path as well. Down the other way? The Community Center. Sixty people inside? Sharon is an army of one.

Manuvering her way through vancancy is easy, especially if you're quiet. At other times, to walk right through that front door to announce yourself was hazardous, even though she nearly did to cause a ruckuss. But no, crouching into that low run, she moves towards the first window to gain a quick peek inside.. and what she sees? Weird..

They were.. praying? Hugging? Being.. beaten? With the quick glimpse Sharon couldn't tell. But if this was to be another Jim Jones, SHIELD would have to buck out of this one..

Instead of remaining at that window, she moves further along the outside of the Center, closer to where she could hear the voices, her hand shifting to her back pocket to retrieve her phone, flicking it on and quickly dimming the light that shines from the surface. She keeps a hand upon her chest as she carefully slides her phone upon the window-sill, hoping it would catch and record the voices inside.

James Barnes has posed:
    Before they get to a point where speaking might give them away, Bucky counters with <<I'd be in there and dragging our guy out by now, y'know?>>

    It's easy to imagine, at least for Sam, Bucky adding an update to that every step along the way. Inside the kitchen ... we'd have all the information we need by now, Sam. Through the living room... we'd be halfway to stopping whatever's happening here by now, Sam. Up the stairs... we'd be celebrating victory on the quinjet on the way home by now, Sam.

    Why is it easy for Sam to imagine? Well, he KNOWS Bucky, but also... it's just in the set of his shoulders as they clear one room after another, it's in his expression whenever they meet gazes. He. Could. Have. Done. This. ...and he's pissed the fuck off over being neutered.

    But it's not his OP, it's Sam's... so there he is, halfway up the stairs, ready bust through a door when he could have been through a window five fucking minutes ago.

    He gives Sam the signal to kick in the door and move to the side when the 'step-creak' is furthest from them, so when Bucky goes through it first, he'll have both feet firmly on the ground and as much space between himself and the occupant as possible. The LOOK he gives with that signal is loud and clear 'kickitinandgetoutofthewayI'mmoredurablethanyouandthat'sjustthewayitis'. All in one look.

Darcy Lewis has posed:
"No, yeah, that's totally right," Darcy concedes to Cael, after thinking about it for a second. She didn't claim they were good guesses! "It'd be pretty weird for it to keep going. And if it was still happening, there'd probably be other signs of activity above the surface." Clearly she's trying to come up with anything plausible, but is coming up short, leading to increasingly fringe ideas. "They don't tend to haul us out for 'normal' kind of problems, so who knows. I kinda gave up on anything in my life being normal a while ago."

It may have been that whole 'meet a god, then taser him' thing.

More critically, she, they, now have orders: stick with Cael, get to cover behind a building that is probably not full of monsters, and stay there! Well, stay there for a couple minutes and then run away. But it's a plan, of sorts. She re-situates her backpack, and starts movin', jogging her way on down in a decidedly less spectacular fashion than the uberathletic folk ahead of them. She is, in fact, out of breath by the time they get there, bending over and holding her sides.

"Woo, OK, OK..." Gasp, wheeze. Yep, more time at the gym. When she can, she whispers onto the comm, <<Relay, uh, anything weird you see?>>

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Roger," Cael answers simply - as she continues to walk at the rear of the group - frequently checking behind them, and keeping Lewis in her line of sight. She walks quietly, and purposefully - her weapon still in her hand. Maybe it was the noise she couldn't quite hear getting to her. Or the eerie silence from the lack of wildlife. Or maybe she's just that paranoid.
    As they approach the house - she nods for Darcy to take shelter behind the slide while she stands watch for them both.
    "I usually just deal with drug trafficking," Cael mutters quietly. It's quaint by comparison. Sometimes there's human trafficking - to add a little spice. And the illegal street racing - well. She practically does that just for the fun.
    She jogs on Darcy's heels - and aside from slightly increased respirations, seems unbothered by the exertions. Though it does worry her a little how much it took out of the Doc. If shit hits the fan - adrennaline better see the good Doctor through, or she'll have a hard time covering her.
    Great.
    While Bucky and Sam advance through the house slowly, she stays out of view of the window - peeking out at it periodically, to see if she can spot anything. Though even if she does - it's not like she has a comm. Damnit.

Sam Wilson has posed:
    There isn't even a scrap of newspaper or a plastic bag to go tumbling down the empty street to keep Sharon company. From Sam's aerial recon, the few occupied houses had been generally on the edge of town, and then it'd only been a handful. Two or three heat signatures clustered together under roof at a maximum.

    She could probably stroll right up to the community center if she wanted to.

    Inside, amid the flickering candlelight, it's hard to make out what's really happening. The crumpled up figures--praying, in pain, who knows what--are arranged in several concentric semi-circles fanning out from the stage at the back of the main room, where three figures are arranged. Maybe Sharon is observing a really weird town hall meeting; the bored tone with which the main figure is reading from something on the podium it stands behind almost makes it seem that way.

    Except for how it's not speaking in English. It really sounds more like random gurgles and strange noises like it's trying and failing to clear its throat, not quite a cough, but very... phlegm-y. That may be a red flag.

    If Sharon chances more looks inside, she'll eventually be able to see a group of eight arranged in the inner-most circle near the stage, all chained together. Most are in casual clothes but two, a man with ginger hair and a dark-haired woman, are in suits. They seem to be restrained in such a way that they're forced to maintain the deeply bowed position of all the others, arms folded over their head.

    Meanwhile, back on the edge of town, Sam takes up position at Bucky's back as they enter the house. The back door is actually unlocked, which is suspicious, and Sam looks for monsters in the corners of each room as they pass through. He's on edge to the point that he'd probably check under the bed for the boogey man tonight, if he wasn't crashing on Bucky's couch.

    Which, given the way the tension in Sam's body torques up with each critical look Bucky tosses his way, might not be the best idea tonight. Hell, riding back in the same quinjet might not be the best idea tonight.

    What does it say about him, though, that he can understand an entire damn sentence from a single look Bucky gives him? Sam's halfway through a roll of his eyes as he rears back and drives his foot forward into the door just below the knob, before he's swiftly out of the way.

    And then they're in! ...it's honestly pretty dramatic. The figure that was once pacing back and forth has apparently decided to stop just at that moment, so they're silhouetted at the far window. It's a woman, grey hair tied back into a bun, a blanket wrapped around her torso. She stands there for a good long while, head tilted down; no reaction is given to the noise of the door swinging open so hard it crashes into the wall, nor anything Bucky might say.

    Outside, that's all Darcy and Cael will hear. At least at first. But then, maybe three or four houses further down... a light turns on. Slowly, a door begins to creak open.

    Further into town, all at once the weird sermon-PTA meeting-town hall stops. The three standing figures on the stage look in the direction Sharon came in as if synchronized, and then with a murmur, all but those eight restrained figures begin to rise to their feet.

Sharon Carter has posed:
Sharon raises her fingers to press the side of the button upon the phone three times. Three times patches her in to Bucky and Sam, a channel that she really never uses. If they were speaking, he would be able to hear with his special 'gifts'. Perhaps that's what did it; that motion. Turning on the phone that probably caused the light to flicker and draw attention to her person. How did she know that her cover was blown? The sounds around the area; the acoustics. It all seemed to go dark.

Sharon slowly rises from her spot as she faces the three that turn in her direction, a wide smile drawn upon her face. "Shit." They would hear her say, and they would hear feet shuffling... one could only guess as to what she was doing.. playing the -fucking- odds.

The sound that they could hear was pretty cut and dry. The sound of running feet, some that blast upon a parked decor and the sound of breaking glass. Sharon breaks through the window with a sideward spin of the momentum that she used to boost herself up that high, landing upon the ground in a roll which places her next to the cowered agent.

He had to be an agent, right? FBI dressed like the Men in Black and carried the motto of John Cena.

Ya can't see them.

A quick dropped hand is snatched right up, the blades cutting the binds of one agent hopefully in one fell swoop. If the man (or woman, whatever!) was smart, he'd get -the- fuck moving while Sharon spares another captured from their plight.

Gymnast, she almost went to the olympics, so it was easy for her to tuck, roll.. manuver herself upright, standing upon her feet now, another blade drawn from her belt as she holds them outwards, akimbo, like usual.

No time to monologue or say anything cool.

To the fifty-seven people in the back?

"Let's go." She says.

James Barnes has posed:
    What does it say about *Bucky* that he keeps his I.C.E.R. leveled on a little gray-haired woman and his finger on the trigger. "Sam... this your girl?" he asks, but he likely knows the answer already. He takes a few measured steps toward the woman but out of arm's reach, gun still up, index on the trigger, ring on the switch to go from 'this is gonna suck to this'll give you a few new holes' in an instant.

    See, he's been doing this kind of shit for way way way too long. Even during his time with HYDRA, he saw lots of *weird* shit. Right now, he's absolutely expecting that little old lady's face to peel back to reveal multiple rows of wicked sharp teeth while a reptilian tongue darts out to try to snag Sam around the neck. Really, what does that say about Bucky?

    One twitch, any sign at all that her face is starting to melt off to reveal a skeleton warrior beneath or that she's about to sprout wings, horns, hooves and a devil's tail, or that she's sprouting *fangs* and is suddenly looking for a midnight snack... or... seriously, one untoward twitch and granny be goin' down. If she twitches wrong *again* ring finger is gonna get to its job.

    His head's pounding by now, his jaw's clenched against it hard enough that he's nearly cracking teeth.

    <<Whatever they're praying to, it's not a human God, dunno what th'fuck they're speaking.>> It's saying something if Bucky can't even *identify* the language.

    He raises his left hand to his ear long enough to press, press... only to Sharon, now, and Sam because he's in the room too. <<Sharon, I can't have your blood on my hands...> His voice is soft, fucking *pleading* and hopefully enough to get Lil Bitch to move forward with caution enough to get her out alive. Because seriously, could Bucky handle that guilt?

Darcy Lewis has posed:
Without specific orders to do anything in particular, Darcy does the natural squint thing and... fiddles. She gets her scanner back out, flipping through operating modes while monitoring and recording a broad variety of readings. At this point, it's not a matter of expecting to find something to solve the case or save the day, but something much more fundamental: scientific rigorousness. She has no way of being sure a given piece of data won't turn out to be significant, and when they get back (assuming they get back), there will be days of analysis to do, reports to write.

It's not very exciting, no. But gathering data is her duty! Or something like that.

"First time for everything, huh?" she wonders back at Cael as she details her usually less fascinating law enforcement work. For that brief moment, Darcy gets to play it very cool, acting like the experienced veteran of Weird Shit(tm) that she is. However, this mask doesn't last particularly long as the light goes on down the street.

"Oh shit what's that-" Quickly she remembers to toggle the comm on again. <<Uh so hey... I appreciate the elite military operator routine and maybe that's why you gotta do the radio silence thing even though it means we don't know if you've gotten eaten or not yet but ANYWAY, uh I think I see activity in another house so maybe they know you're here.>>

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Sure. When you make the... 'right' friends." And yes, Cael's talking about you, Bucky. She remains on high alert, gaze scanning their surroundings - finger hovering just off the trigger, gun angled slightly down towards the ground. Her jaw tightens as she hears the slam of the door being busted - she would give anything to have a comm in her ear right now. Not being able to hear the others on the team, having to rely on the //squint// to relay what is happening to the rest of the team, is more fucking nerve racking than she would like to admit.
    "If they say anything important, you have to let me know. I'm not on the comms," she reminds Darcy - as the lights start going on in some of the houses. Shit. Shit shit shit.
    "Stay down and quiet," she hisses softly. "If anything comes our way, you run for the jet, I cover your rear. Clear?"
    As much as she wants to help the others - she can only be certain of one thing. And that's getting Lewis to safety.

Sam Wilson has posed:
    The three figures on the stage do seem to acknowledge Sharon's presence, so yeah, her cover is definitely blown. But they almost seem shocked to see her there; nothing happens for a long moment but some perplexed blinking of their dark... strangely protruding eyes...

    Huh.

    This is the first time that Sharon's really been able to get a look at their faces. Aside for their eyes, there is a strange sheen to their skin, almost oil-slick like, and their mouths seem frozen in a wide, downturned grimace. There's definitely something more than just 'shared mental disorder' going on here.

    After the initial surprise that Agent Carter clearly gives them, though, she doesn't seem to attract further attention. Not even the parkouring (is that a word?) she does over a car and the impressive roll she executes that brings her smashing straight through the glass into community center. It isn't until she's cutting the restraints off the ginger-haired FBI agent that the lead figure on the stage gestures towards her while saying something in that guttural, inhuman language.

    The other fifty-seven people are on their feet now, and they all look at Sharon. They also all look *like* the three people on the stage to varying degrees, some more monstrous than others, hunched over and glassy eyed and drooling something viscous down their receeding chins.

    The odds are ever in her favor, though, as almost the entire community center empties in the next moment or so in a frankly startling display of ordered frenzy. They're not after her; they begin to make for the house Bucky and Sam have just broken into, the one Cael and Darcy are taking cover out back behind. It's only the three leaders, such as they are, that remain behind. The one in front speaks at her and despite it being entirely incomprehensible, the way he's gesturing makes it seem like he's extremely befuddled and a little annoyed that Sharon is interrupting.

    While he flails, the other two move forward to try and restrain her.

    But she's not alone! Sharon may have to defend herself, but the FBI agent she's already freed is working to help the others escape. "Don't even say it," he says to his partner.

    She answers with a, "I told you! Aliens! It's clearly aliens!" And then they're working together to untie the nerds.

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Sam's in the door behind Bucky almost immediately, his gun raised. But while Bucky may continue to take aim, Sam lowers his. He nods once, and then asks, "Doctor Walters?" There's no response. A few seconds later, "Jackie?" Still nothing.

    He spares a moment to touch his hand to his ear. <<Sharon, get the hell out of there. You can't take them all on yourself!>>

    The doctor remains at her window-side vigil, though she murmurs something low and concerned as she spies movement out the window. It... was definitely some kind of human language. Germanic or Slavic, maybe, though Bucky's ears might be able to distinguish it as Yiddish. Still, she's ignoring them.

    They have her sequestered in some kind of bedroom, tiny enough that just to the right of the door is the bed, and a nightstand next to it. One quick motion and Sam's hooked his boot under one leg of the small table, knocking it forward. It makes a loud crash similar to the sound of the door, but this one reverberates through the floorboards.

    And *that* gets a reaction.

    She whirls, gasps, one hand pressed to her chest. "What--Samuel?"

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Outside, right after the first sound of the door crashing into the wall, Darcy's scanners will have picked up... basically a blip. A momentary wobble in the signal, and then it's at two Herz lower than it was before. Its origin point remains the same, but something has absolutely changed.

    Another thing that's changed: there's movement. Three people with the same strange appearance as the ones Sharon has encountered come running out of that house, though they ignore Darcy and Cael entirely. Instead they're making a mad dash straight for the house that Sam and Bucky (and Dr. Walters!) are inside. Two men, one older and one younger, and a woman of indeterminate age, the most obviously non-human of the three.

Sharon Carter has posed:
Pish posh! Sharon was used to this. Used to ignoring faces as she prepares to go in for the kill; only for that to resurface later in nightmares or ghosts walking down the street. But as she finally stands, ready to defend herself, and -all- of them turn to look at her, that's when Sharon gets a -really- good look.

A really, really good luck.

"Uh...?" She manages out, her hand lifting to press the butt of the blade to her ear to turn on her comms.

<< Aliens. >>

That's all she could muster, at least they know that she's alright! It takes half a moment before she jumps into further action, returning to the small group to assist the FBI agent in cutting loose the nerds.

<< They're leaving! Copy, they're leaving! Where ever you are, get the hell out of there now, I'm coming back with eight souls! >>

As the alien speaks at her, she makes sure she places herself in front of the captives, this time sheathing her blades. "Listen!" She says, both hands showing, palms outright. She was -really- trying to talk to aliens!

As the other two aside from the leader approach, Sharon cocks a fist back to try to nail it good and hard upon.. whatever.. that cheek is. It was clear that she was stalling, hoping to give the captives enough chance to exscape.

"Get out! Head south! RUN!" She tells the captives, because if the aliens manage to grab her, this was all for naught.

James Barnes has posed:
    Yeah, no, still not lowering his weapon. In fact, Bucky raises it a little higher, holds it with a little more purpose. <<Copy>> for Darcy's sake.

    "We need to go now." Who knew, it's rusty and a little wooden sounding because he really had to think about the words before saying them, but fucking Bucky speaks a little Yiddish. ...still, even as he's inviting her along with them, he's still got her covered with that gun.

    "Sam, take her and go... but don't let your guard down yet." Sure, this is Sam's OP, but there comes a time when a man's gotta do, right? Now it's his tone that leaves no room for argument. "I'm gonna go cover Sharon's retreat."

    Does he wait for an okay? Was he asking permission? No to both. Faster than remotely humanly possible, he's crashing through the bedroom window and hitting the street below in a roll, up on his feet in under 2.2. ...and just a beat of a pause while he gets his bearings and figures out which direction that damned building was.

Darcy Lewis has posed:
Off the coast, the blip goes bloop, and Darcy tap-taps the side of her scanner. "Hmm. I wonder if that's not good."

<<Uh, probably hostile or at least dubiously friendly townsfolk closing on you two, lead.>> She reports on what is easy, obvious, and most immediately useful to report on first. Actionable intel. She's learning! But the SECOND thing? She has no idea how to translate that into useful information. <<And, erm, be advised, our unidentified aquatic sensor anomaly just did... something.>>

Having reported this, she looks over to her escort, who very reasonably wants to know what is happening on the radios. "They were silent for a while," she answers, first. Which is technically true. The problem is that when they did start talking, it was about aliens and inhuman gods. And Darcy has to stop and ask herself: will Agent Becker's life really be improved by this information?

"Uh... we're supposed to start evacuating. Probably have hostiles in pursuit. Think it's time for us to go!"

Seems she decided 'no.' And to pack up her gear and move her rear!

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Tell them they have-" Cael starts, but Darcy is already on it - as she crouches low, trying to stay out of sight of the beings approaching the house. She grits her teeth as she adds, "Get ready to move, but we stay here to cover their retreat, unless circumstances force our hand. Let them know we're in position. But keep your voice dow-" She cuts off as she watches Barnes leaping out of the attic window, her gaze widening. What was going on up there to make him do //that//? She expects him to hit the ground - and go down hard. But no, Bucky falls into a roll, and pops back up, seemingly uninjured.
    She's still not used to this shit.

Sam Wilson has posed:
    Are they aliens? Sharon's going on the word of one FBI agent, whom the other one is engaged in furious debate with: "They're not aliens, Jesus, you always say that!" Still, they're working together, so between the pair of them and Sharon, the nerds are all free. The agents definitely look... fresher, in that they're only in day-old suits rather than what is obviously the same clothes all of the academics here have been in since last week. They look tired, hungry, terrified, but it rapidly becomes a group effort to get the worst off up on their feet and out the door.

    Sharon makes an excellent barricade between their retreat and the figures approaching her. In fact, all it takes is that solid punch to put one of them down on the ground with a throaty sound of pain, and then it lays there, flailing its arms and legs as if it's a child throwing a temper tantrum. The other two figures also seem to recoil back, clearly terrified now.

    The male FBI agent is having to drag his partner away, who like Sharon is apparently more than willing to stay back and attempt to communicate to "aliens". Mostly it sounds like she's making whale noises at them. It does not work.

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    "Bucky, wait--" Sam's a few steps behind but too late, because Bucky is gone, glass shards following the downward arc of his jump to rain upon the grass he lands in. "Fuck!" Into the comms, he first sighs, and then says, <<We can run analysis on it later, Darcy, it's time to go.>>

    Dr. Walters stood there and watched, basically, and now she looks up at Sam with an amused smile. "Well, he seems nice."

    Sam takes her by the hand; she's in her sixties but sprightly, and they have a moment of physical negotiation before he gets her up into his arms. "He's a pain in my ass," he grouses at her, and her laughter follows them out the window shortly before the snap of the Falcon wings extending and the roar of the thrusters.

    <<Working on it, Sharon! I have Dr. Walters.>> And he does, for a second, until he's on the ground and setting her down on her feet. "Becker, take Darcy and Jacqueline back to the quinjet. Darcy, get the engines running!"

    Even as they start to move, Dr. Walters is saying, "Please, call me Jackie!" Did we say she was sprightly? She runs marathons as a hobby. Keep up, ladies!

    The three that ran into the house are absolutely gobsmacked to find no one in there; they've just reached the attic, and through the destroyed window their garbled, frantic conversation can be heard. None of them think to look outside, yet.

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    There is now a literal horde of whatever these things are in-between Sharon and Bucky. They're not super fast or anything, and all it takes is one punch to knock one down on its ass, but still... that's for two SHIELD agents to handle. Luckily they have air support, as the roar of the Falcon suit precedes a spray of ICER rounds into the crowd. Sam swoops in low enough that he's easily visible and then tries to lead them down a side road off of main street, though that only manages to drag maybe a dozen away.

    The rest remain on their initial pathing towards the house Bucky just defenestrated himself out of.

Sharon Carter has posed:
"Well what the fuck are they!" Sharon would have said, if she wasn't busy playing shield-maiden. Thankfully, the others happen to be leaving, and.. one is on the ground.. flailing?

Goddamn it, her poor heart. Sharon felt -so- bad, why is it flailing like that? Is it.. is it CRYING? As the other two back away, Sharon immediately rushes the one upon the ground, attempting to pat away at it's shoulder, it's flailing arm, attempting to try to get it to calm down.

"Oh you stop it you big baby!" She snips. This was all too damn weird. Weird enough to make her cry herself to sleep, but thankfully, like all missions, she had zipties upon her belt.

Try as she might to drag one arm over to the other, and if she's successful she'd capture the poor thing like pokemon. This wasn't apart of the mission, but she'd be damned if she lets a cthulu baby get away. "Up! Up up! Uppies!" She screeches at the thing, attempting to drag it to its feet. All the while, if another one of them approaches, she'd probably hit them too to send them.. crying.. she guesses?

James Barnes has posed:
    North, that's the direction he needs to go in. Once his bearings are straight, Bucky is where he needs to be in a fraction of the time it would take a normal human. It's too bad Cael isn't there to see what happens next.

    It all happens at one time. Bucky pinpoints the area where the horde is 'thinnest' between him and the inside of that building, then he's airborne, firing ICER rounds down into the crowd of... the fuck... aliens? He can't even... He'll think about it later! Right now, he's firing rounds down into the slimy baby creature things and hitting every mark he makes - while airborne, because he's jumping over top them. And no Cael here to see!

    He lands on the other side of the horde in a roll, up to his feet, still firing. "Gogogogogogo! Out the back! GO!" He's now between Sharon and the horde.

Darcy Lewis has posed:
<<Oh, way ahead of you on that one, wings.>>

And this is true. While she has many faults, and definitely isn't going to be up for any 'best soldier of the year' awards, Darcy is a bit more responsive to orders when they come in the form of 'run away time now.'

In fact, it ends up being her repeating the suggestion to her new friend from the Bureau, who seems more inclined to hold position and cover the rest of the team's retreat. "Nono, like, they've got it." Bucky first coming crashing out the window, to Agent Becker's apparent awe, followed by Sam swooping in with air support, and subsequent heroics seems a convenient way of reinforcing her argument. "See? If he's running, that means WE definitely do, and flyboy does the 'cover.'"

A thought, and she helpfully suggests: "You can walk backward and shoot, right? I dunno, maybe try that." Military Science is *another* degree she doesn't have!

Regardless, once that pack is secured, SHE is leaving. Not all out running, but turning and beginning a medium jog back toward the landing site, so that she doesn't get too separated from the group on the way back.

You never know when there are alien fish people waiting in the bushes.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "...and now we go," Cael remarks, as 'Jackie' is delivered to her. It certainly doesn't take any convincing - she knows what her job is tonight, and she's going to get it done.
    Though - look. Babysitting is an important job but, damnit. What the hell is going on here? And where are the FBI agents and other captives? And what is going on at the community center? "Next time," she growls out as the trio starts to move, "I get a fucking comm." Because this is torture.
    "Stay ahead of me, stay quiet. Lewis, lead our guest back to our ride," Cael commands. And once more she takes up her position - covering their rear. She jogs towards the path out of town, keeping her charges in front of her, as she glances frequently behind for any sign of trouble. Her gun remains in her hand, pointed down and away from the two 'squishies' she stuck escorting. It feels so wrong running away from trouble, when she knows there's still people back there in need of help.
    But this is the job right now. Do the job, get out alive. Drink about it later.
    Or, you know, go to therapy or whatever.
    Though honestly, this isn't as bad as the time that gangster turned into a monster, killed some of his own men, and nearly murdered her informant. That one was weird.

Sam Wilson has posed:
    They aren't actual babies, for clarification. They just act like babies, flailing and sobbing in pain after being punched in the face, which... y'know, fair! Maybe Sharon just has a mean right hook!

    Given that she's a SHIELD agent, yeah, probably.

    Otherwise, they look like normal adult humans if you ignore the... non-human facial features and skin texture. They're all in various totally normal-looking clothes, and hell, one of them out in the horde has a Red Sox hat on. Wait. Maybe that's a sign. Maybe they really are aliens.

    Does Sam, who definitely Gives a Shit About Baseball, specifically target the one in the hat for an ICER round? No. No, of course not. But it's a red hat, it paints an easy target.

    Sharon definitely has to punch another one, but that's the only thing in-between her and taking the one she has successfully ziptied into custody. It definitely fights back, but its efforts basically equate to being smacked by a wet noodle. One that has been overcooked to slimy mush.

    The two FBI agents lead the way; they're not armed, but between the two of them (and one grad student who, as was previously mentioned, is exceptionally plucky) they dole out enough punches to keep any of the stragglers from trying what is likely to be a very ineffective recapture attempt. How the hell did they get tied up in the first place? It really begs the question.

    Between Bucky clearing a line of them underneath the arc he makes in the air and the ones Sam's picking out from above, the group of formerly missing persons (and Sharon with her prisoner) are able to make it out of the community center and down a side street without further issue. The horde is starting to lose cohesion rapidly, scattering to all corners of the town, many of them choosing to just huddle down in ditches or behind cars on the street. They're spooked.

    Dr. Walters is the first to make it to the quinjet, and then she has to wait there for the actual SHIELD agent (looking at you, Darcy) to send the command signal to lower the cargo doors. The rest arrive several minutes later, and there is a few moments of ecstatic reunion as the research team swarm Jacqueline. Apparently they thought she was dead and she thought they were dead. It's very touching.

    Less touching is the captive creature Sharon is dragging back. The further away from town it gets, the less it's willing to move. Eventually she (or maybe Bucky and his super soldier strength) will literally have to drag it if they want to take it back to the Playground with them. If they get it back on the 'jet, it's basically catatonic in a corner. Or maybe they should put it in a storage compartment. The rescued hostages do not look particularly pleased about the company... except Dr. Walters, who looks like she wants to cut open its head and examine its brain.

    Sam's the last one aboard, making sure they're clear before he motions for Cael to start up her bike and take off. The quinjet gives her a silent, cloaked escort back to the nearest town, where they land in a Wendy's parking lot and allow the two FBI agents to disembark. "I don't suppose we'll be able to get a copy of your analysis on the subject," the dark-haired FBI agent asks.

    "Just leave it. God. Why? Why is this my life?" says her partner.

    The answer is no, obviously. Cael gets a handshake and a genuine thank you for Sam for her efforts keeping Darcy safe, and then that's apparently the only goodbye she's getting, because Sam orders the wheels back up on the 'jet right after.

    Dr. Walters spends the rest of the flight chattering about her initial findings. "It must trigger some kind of morphological change in the brain! You must let me see the MRI scans, Samuel, please. The way the signal interfaces with the brain, it's like nothing I've ever seen! Absolutely fascinating. I suspect if not for the batteries in my hearing aids dying that first night, I would have willingly volunteered myself for the change."

    It's probably not a good sign that neither Sam nor the entirety of her research team are at all surprised by that announcement.

    "I'll see what I can do, Jackie," is all Sam says. He leans his head back against the hull of the 'jet after and closes his eyes. No casualties. 10 rescued captives. That's a win in his book.