6914/Saving America's Ass

Saving America's Ass
Date of Scene:	18 July 2021
Location:	A.I.M. base in Rural Delaware.
Synopsis:	They got enough to save Steve, that's a win right?
Cast of Characters:	James Barnes, Cael Becker, Sara Pezzini, Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson

---

James Barnes has posed:
    The start point for this mission is an old abandoned barn a few miles off from the actual location. No jet, not this time, at least not anywhere at all near the place - maybe the Jet is somewhere else, even the Playground is an option. Bucky's already battling the feeling that they're being watched just because of the new information he and Steve collected the night before.

    He's pulled the SUV they used to get from A to B inside the old barn. Currently he's standing at the back of the vehicle with a map of the A.I.M. compound, sketched while the dynamic duo - wait, wrong story - while the two best buds forever were staking the place out last night. He also has some photos and some satellite images of the area.

    "I still think we should wait on one of those trucks and hijack it, Steve, they were going in and out all day yesterday," he says. ...before, "Knowing it's AIM changes the ballgame. Who the fuck knows what kind of weird ass smart science tech bullshit they have in there, around there... guarding there."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Yeah, some of us don't get all the briefing memos," Cael remarks in a dry voice as she peers over the images on display for this facility they mean to invade. "So who's going to define 'AIM' for me?" She leans up against the side of the SUV - her body positioned so her gaze can shift between the information, and watching the area behind Bucky, just as she's certain that Bucky is keeping an eye on the area behind her.
    "...we're expecting this all to end in cherry-red faces again, yeah?" she adds. "I mean. Just so I know what I'm getting myself into." And just so she's mentally prepared for it - //this// time. Ugh, that's the sort of unpleasant surprise you really should warn people about.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara is wearing something extremely simple, and extremely stupid. A black t-shirt, black leggings, and a pair of black slipper like slip on shoes. There was no way she was destroying another suit and there night not be time to remove it before Witchblade decides he needs to protect her, which could be because someone coughed to close to her.

She came by car to the barn, leaving it parked in the dark before she opened the door and climbed out. The details were light for her, but she didn't need much more than 'you're needed' and she was there.

Heading into the barn she offers nods then immediately gets to work looking over the details offered. Hopefully no one sneezes.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve rattles the inhaler in his hand and takes a hit from it. Dr. Cho's temporary fix was getting a lot more temporary; he was needing more of it, more often, to keep functioning. It isn't doing much to help the red rimming his eyes or the mottling of too-pale skin.

But it's keeping him up and in the fight.

"I asked JARVIS to do a deep dive into AIM's public holdings. This place isn't registered to them. It's a defunct shell company registered to the Caymans. So this is a front facility"

He looks up at Cael and uplifts his chin to acknowledge her question. "AIM's a tech conglomerate," Cap explains. "They've got holdings all over the world. On the surface they look legit. Research and development, mostly into military technology. After the War--" Steve can only mean one war-- "a bunch of European companies all received... well let's call it some 'mysterious financial goodwill'," Steve hedges. "We also know that AIM's board of directors has a lot of connections to HYDRA. Nothing we can prove," he admits, "at least not enough to stand up in court. Every time we go after them, it turns out to be some rogue operation or some subsidiary, and the ringleaders skate. Best we can do is find these illegal operations and shut them down when we find them. It's everything from human trafficking to weapons manufacturing to narcotics. HYDRA's been dipping their toes into the magic realm lately, stealing old relics and whatnot." He nods at Sara. "That's why we wanted Pezzini along. And Becker-- you're the Federal Agent supervising the search. Governor himself issued the search warrant." He grins floridly at her. "Still on board with being our official liasion?"

Sam Wilson has posed:
    Redwing has already digitized the hand-drawn map of the compound, as well as the assorted other images. It's all overlaid on Sam's HUD now, which he is consulting off the the side, hand poised over the touch screen on his left gauntlet. He's already run through a thorough pre-flight checklist, so he's fully suited up and ready to go.

    His few seconds after Steve's info-dump on AIM he mutters, "Fuckin' HYDRA," and stabs his finger against the screen. In his pack, Redwing beeps a few times and Sam's shoulders go up. "Yeah, sorry."

    The next few taps on the touch panel are gentler.

    "Advanced Idea Mechanics," Sam adds as well, because it is actually an acronym. "They're like the big bad tech corporations in every pulpy sci-fi novel out there. No consideration for medical ethics or the moral implications of their designs."

    He walks over and automatically his focus shifts to Steve, to do what is probably already become an annoyingly repetitive visual check of the Captain's condition. You can take the medic out of the warzone, et cetera et cetera.

    He nudges Cael lightly with his elbow, before he folds his arms over his chest, head tipping towards Pezzini in silent hello. "Just like Jurassic Park. They never stop to think if they should, basically."

James Barnes has posed:
    Search warrant? "Wait, are you saying she's going in the front door?" Bucky asks. He's decidedly unhappy about that. See Bucky frown? See his brow furrow and his eyebrows come close to meeting in the middle. "Iunno man, I was thinking we try to get in, find what we need and get back out. Under the radar."

    Pale blues flicker toward Cael and then back to Steve again, "We don't know what we're dealing with in there. If it's Really Bad Stuff, they aren't going to just let a Fed in the front door. You don't really... I mean, the warrant's just for AFTER right? She's not actually going to walk up and serve the fucking thing?"

    He's really hoping he's misunderstood that.

    "No, no Sam, they stop to think, they just don't give a fuck about anything but the dollar signs at the end of the day. Their crap ain't no accident born of ignorance."

    When his attention falls on Sara he asks, "So, where's all the..." He gestures to his own body, all up and down... "Stuff?

Cael Becker has posed:
    "I'm assuming it's not a 'knock and announce' warrant," Cael remarks - her brow furrowing in turn, her own eyes studying Steve for a moment, before she takes a drink from a water bottle she holds in one hand - finishing it off and casually tossing it in through the window of the SUV. "You think executing a search warrant's gonna convince me to back off this shit show if the rest hasn't yet?" she adds in a dry tone.
    She greets Sara with a nod of her head, studying the woman curiously, but letting Bucky's 'where's all the stuff' question cover her own question. Surely the woman isn't going in attired like that? She's stopped trying to understand how SHIELD or the Avengers operate.
    "We'll get the job done, Barnes. It'll be fine," she states with what sure seems to be confidence. "Right Sam?"

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Continuing to look things over, Sara glances up as her name is mentioned and offers Becker a nod of greeting then stepping over to extend her hand to the woman. "Sara Pezzini, New York City Detective," she introduces, then adds. "I also happen to have been chosen by a magical artifact that allows me to see things from a more mystical and magical view point."

It was a very bland explanation of Witchblade, lacking all the details that might of needed to be said, but for now it was all she was going to say. Trying to explain him was like pulling teeth, because at times, he didn't like being talked about.

"What kind of artifacts are we talking about there? Any idea what era, which form of magic?" She's already back to looking at the mission details then her eyes lift up to look at James.

There is a soft, resigned sigh, "I can get my suit coat and shoes from the car then I can go with her. I'm pretty sure I can pull off being an FBI agent, not that different from being a detective."

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve raises his hands to reassure the two women. "I'm not going to act like this is going to go exactly by the book as far as search and seizure," he says with a wry grin. "But no, my idea wasn't for you two to knock and serve. I'd send Sam and Bucky up the road to sell Girl Scout cookies first."

"What we do need is to figure out what they're actually doing here, and getting enough evidence for the state to shut them down for good. So we get in, see what we can find. If we have to, we sabotage their defenses. Get clear and then signal for regular law enforcement to mop up. This will be a big hit for AIM's budget, they've got a lot of dollar value tied up in this faciity. Smart, putting it in the middle of nowhere," Steve concedes, looking around the valley.

"We were thinking of taking the northern path in, but Bucky and I watched a good number of supply trucks coming and going. I think we can pick one off. It's a bit hard to hide the three of us--" Steve gestures at the guy with the big shield, the guy with the metal arm, and the guy with bird wings on his back-- "but you two can drive the truck in wearing AIM uniforms, and once we're clear we can hit the ground running as a team. Everyone up for that?"

Sam Wilson has posed:
    "Look, if Jeff Goldblum were here he'd have something snappy to say about AIM's scientific discipline." Sam narrows his eyes at Bucky and, ignoring the fact that this really isn't the time, asks, "You've seen Jurassic Park, right?"

    He already feels like he knows the answer, and so very obviously types out 'JURASSIC PARK' into a digital keyboard that appears on his gauntlet's touch screen. "Not the sequels, they're trash... okay the second one's fine, for the most part." The keyboard vanishes after he hits the X in the corner, and then Sam looks up.

    Cael's assertion gets an immediate, enthusiastic nod from Sam as back-up. "We got this."

    Sam's attention is already back to something displayed on his HUD, but he adds a quick "Please, like I couldn't sell the hell out of some thin mints," without looking up from where he's inputting something else.

    Probably just adding more things to the list of important-pop-culture-references that his centenarian best friends have missed.

James Barnes has posed:
    "Technically, my weird is easily hidden," Bucky points out, not because he's unwilling to ride in back, mind, but it's just fun to point out that his 'super hero' weird is less weird than Sam and Steve's. "Never should have suggested you keep that suit, man," he adds for Steve's benefit.

    He then turns his attention to one of the satellite images of the area. "This is the access road. It's wooded along both sides. I figure we can jack a truck about at the midway point." The road itself seems to be about three miles long.

    Bucky looks at Cael. *LOOKS*. BuckyStare(tm), even more intense than normal. "I know you've seen a lot of weird lately and you've handled it, but you stick close in there. It's not that I think you aren't competent but when it comes to *this* shit, you are still green as spring grass. Me or Steve, on our asses like those spandex pants are on Steve's, you pick, but you're right there with one of us."

    Those that know Bucky, have known him through it all, would definitely notice a change in his demeanor. He's more - confident isn't even the right word really, he's never lacking that going into a war zone.

    He asides to Sam, "You'd eat'm all before you got around to sellin' them."

    He's just too much friendly snark? Like Bucky used to be, maybe, a little bit?

Steve Rogers has posed:
"It's not spandex," Steve mutters in exasperation. "Janet makes the outfits, I just wear the damn thing."

Sam Wilson has posed:
    "So, what, it's a spandex-polyester blend?" Sam pipes up to add.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
A soft hmm, and Sara folds her arms lightly in front of herself and taps her own chin. "If there are actual artifacts in there, Captain, we need to remove them from the common persons hands. So I have permission to personally remove them as we go? And... do I armor up now or later?"

She ready for whatever the decision is, there's just a few bases that needed covering to ensure actions once things got started. She already adjusted the comm she wears, the armor is now used to that being there and doesn't try to pop it out and destroy it like he does her clothing.

James Barnes has posed:
    "... and leave it to Sam to know there's a fucking difference between the two," Bucky quips in return.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "I was NYPD for a while, myself," Cael remarks. "A pleasure, Officer Pezzini. Cael Becker - as they mentioned." She shakes the woman's hand - then turns her attention back to the business at hand - opting not to //touch// the subject of magical artifacts. Sure she's seen some weird but - magic?
    "You boys know me, I'm always happy to play chauffer. And I //always// stay close, Barnes. Someone's got to cover your ass." Because he sure doesn't keep it covered himself - but let's not start that arguement again.
    Her attention shifts to Sara again, for a brief moment as she adds, "Well, I think the plan is for us to put on some of //their// uniforms. So unless your armor fits under that...?" Which is could. She already had an armored vest on, after all.

Steve Rogers has posed:
"Language, guys, there are ladies present," Steve chivvies Sam and Bucky.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "For fuck's sake, Cap, one of those ladies is //me//," Cael answers in turn, rolling her eyes widely.

Steve Rogers has posed:
"Language, Becker, there are gentlemen present," Steve says with a completely straight face.

Steve Rogers has posed:
"Pezzini, if you see anything that needs confiscating, consider it your job to confiscate it. You're on point for that task; I understand you've got a nose for finding that kind of thing," Steve tells Sara.

"Becker, you're in charge of making sure Bucky doesn't hurt himself. I'm sorry," he says, with an expression of sincere remorse.

"Okay. Enough talking. Let's mount up."

Less than an hour later the five of them are rattling down the road in a white cargo van. It's a bit cramped in the back, but they're wedged in there (more or less). Pezzini and Becker are up front in a couple of pilfered AIM uniforms, the owners of which are ziptied to a mile marker post near a foot trail that leads to a warden's station.

The vehicle pulls up to the gate; Steve whispers the PIN up to the cab that opens the automated gate latch. They're only stopped once more, by a bored guard holding a clipboard at the entrance to the shipping warehouse. They've timed their approach well. The vehicle enters the loading dock and backs up to a ramp. It seems they are the last delivery of the evening.

Sam Wilson has posed:
    Sam doesn't even try to keep a straight face; he's barely holding the laughter in as he says, voice thick with sarcasm, "Thank you for protecting my virtue, Steve. You really are America's ass." The only thing keeping him steady is whatever he is very studiously tapping-slash-swiping at on his gauntlet. Maybe he's scrolling on the 'gram or something.

    (Actually he's perusing the satellite imagery of the location, because he is taking this whole thing serious. Promise. Pinky swear.)

    Though Sam tilts his head up, he doesn't actually say anything when Bucky suggests his weird is easily hidden. The weight of Sam's judgment is there, though, visible even through the red of his goggle lenses as he stares.

    Nope. He isn't going to make a peep. Though he does let out an amused huff of breath and shake his head, it isn't until they return to the mission-talk that he says, "I can send Redwing in ahead to track the vehicles."

    And then, also, "Please, some of us have self-control and put in actual effort to look this good. Don't even play. I see the garbage you eat every day."

    Once they're in the truck, Redwing docks back in the wingpack and Sam is quiet, eyes shut and head tipped back as they drive.

James Barnes has posed:
    "Where?" Bucky asks. "Oh, that's right, Steven has delicate sensibilities. Yeah, please Cael, you wouldn't wanna give the old man a case of the vapors."

    "Take the dock quiet as possible," Bucky instructed somewhere along the way. "Quiet as possible through all of it, at least until we know what's going on."

    Once they're backed in, Bucky's prepared to strike, fast and hard. They're lucky again when it turns out to be only two men in area beyond the dock and both of them are right there for the taking. Two Super Soldiers have no trouble taking them out before they even have a clue.

    The trouble Bucky has, and Steve might see it, is not continuing to squeeze the neck of his target after he's choked the guy out. It's there, that ... well, murderous glint? ...in those pale blue eyes. Please just let me kill it, Steve?

    ...hey, he's a work in progress, not perfection, some things might take a little longer to progress.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Consider his ass covered," Cael agrees - nodding to Steve, but not bothering to clean up her language. Gentlemen? Fucking unlikely.
    She drives in silence beside Pezzini - reaching over to enter in the pin code that's quietly fed into her comm - and backing the truck into place with a practiced ease that makes it seem like she does this sort of thing every day. She stays in place for about a ten count before popping the door to dismount - and by then, the boys have the only two guards well in hand. She scans their surroundings cautiously, then approaches the loading bay, making sure Bucky can see her coming before she puts a hand on his arm - giving him a pointed, silent look - before nodding her head into the facility. "This way, yeah? Let's get the job done before we trip any alarms.
    Pulling out some zip ties and gags she helps with getting the two guards secured, gagged, and tossed into the back of the white van.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara is so happy to have someone elses clothing to destroy for a change. She sits quietly in the truck, letting Becker drive. She got a few things running around in her head, preparing herself for what might be inside, what she might need to 'confuscate' and wondering, jokingly, if Becker would sign an NDA.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve searches the guards quickly; one of them has a keycard. The Avenger gets to his feet and with a nimble, near-silent step, jogs towards the double doors that lead out of the dock.

One set reads 'Vending Machines'. The other reads 'Authorized Personnel Only'. This is a dance this particular team's done before; Steve and Sam at the door's edges with shields high, and the rest of the team ready to follow after them once the push in starts.

Steve hands the keycard to Cael and moves to his appointed position. Once the door opens, Steve moves forward fast to kick them open the rest of the way and launch into the hallway with his ICER balanced against the rim of his shield and looking for a target.

Sam Wilson has posed:
    Sam's the last out of the back of the truck and he has no qualms about that. He can move quietly and take guard down before they sound the alarm, sure, but not with the same ease. His fighting style has long since adapted to having wings and what is basically a miniaturized jet engine on his back, neither of which he can deploy if they're trying not to attract unwanted attention.

    As soon as he's out, Sam holds one wing out in front of him like a shield, and Redwing zips up and hovers a little ways over his shoulder, tracking Sam's line of sight. There's not a whole lot of 'quiet' in Sam's artillery and most of what counts as that descriptor is loaded onto the drone.

    He helps Cael haul the guards into the back of the van and wishes them a polite, "Goodnight," before he closes the doors.

    The wing-shield is back up when he takes position at the door, and he gives a warning nod to Steve when Redwing's thermals read an approaching figure through the door. Sam's right after Steve when they breach, moving in a familiar pattern to cover his side of the doorway from any return fire they may receive so that the people behind them don't get tagged by a stray bullet.

James Barnes has posed:
    Bucky lets out an unhappy snarl of a sound and shoves the man he's just about choked to death to the ground, face first... asshole. He's quick about pulling zip ties from one of the many pockets of his very practical, NOT ASS HUGGING, NON SPANDEX, black pants and secures the man before pulling the poor dudes shoe, then sock off and shoving that sock into his mouth.

    He spits on the guy before straightening. Seriously, some things just take more time to progress.

    The dock area is filled with boxes, all with that yellow AIM Hexagon and nothing else to mark them or indicate their contents. It's not like they really have time to check now. Two doors on opposite sides of the large room read: Authorized Personnel Only and Vending Machines. Anyone want a snack?

    Bucky's off as soon as the tie up is done and heading for the door marked Authorized Personnel Only. So far, the only weapon he has armed... is, well, his arm. And the rest of his Super Soldier self.

    Two surprized scientist sorts are all the targets immediately visible. But an elevator at the end of the hallway has the 'down' arrow lit. Does that mean there's a basement level or that it's moving down... with someone in it?

    A voice from behind. "Hey, you need to mov... HEY, what're you..."

    <<On it.>> over the comms even as dude over there is speaking ...and Bucky is back across the room to the dock and the side door their new guest just entered. The back hand he delivers when he's close enough is more than enough to send the man flying, knocking him out cold... maybe killing him? Hard to say. Either way, Bucky secures the guy, gags him and rolls him UNDER the van before returning to the others...

    Between them and the elevator is a hallway with five doors, three on the right, two on the left. One of them on the right is labeled, but not with words. That looks like some sort of magical warding.

    On the left, there's one labeled Bio Chemical and one labeled Pharmaceutical. The other two, Storage and Men/Women.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara pulls the sleeve of her coverall uniform up slightly so that she can form just the gauntlet over her hand, nothing more, then she pulls the sleeve down over it. As she passes the crates she hover her hand over each one, getting a 'feel' for what might inside, mostly if there is anything magical she might have to circle back to.

Keeping her ICER ready in her other hand, she sticks to non-lethal for the time being, but if it came down to it, and Witchblade wanted, she'd be armored up with an ICER in hand which equals total over kill, but it could happen.

Cael Becker has posed:
    To her credit, Cael never once complains to her 'lot in life' on these jobs. Zip tie the goons, Cael. Open the door, Cael. Cover our ass, Cael.
    After all - what's she going to do? Ask //Captain America// to do it himself? Right. So she takes the card without a word, moving to the keypad and waiting until everyone is in position - then she slides the key into the lock, quickly, entering the pin code before pocket the card with her left hand. Her right hand is drawing that new-fangled weapon that had been pressed into her hand. A 'non lethal' gun called an 'ICER' was about all the explination she'd been given. She was looking forward to testing it out by shooting someone. She'd even briefly entertained the fantasy of shooting Barnes with it.
    Nah. More trouble than it's worth. Even if he does keep running off to handle things without waiting for her to cover his ass like she's supposed to.
    Of course, the two scientists give her a perfect target for her new fangled, silenced, non-lethal gun - and she fires off a shot aimed for a shoulder, watching one of them go down and only letting out a quiet, "Huh," in response.
    ...why can't law enforcement have these?

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve drops the other scientist with a perfectly aimed chest shot. He waits for Cael to be ready and moves up just a half-step ahead of her, keeping clear of her line of fire but ready with the shield in case someone starts flinging bullets at her. They're on the scientists; Steve checks them with a not-too-gentle toe nudge, and then nods once at Cael.

"Nice shooting, Becker," he compliments her.

He looks down at the two scientists. "Federal agents, you're under arrest," he informs them.

'Bio Chemical' gets a look from Cap. It's the sort of room where a happy trigger finger can end up turning someone into a supervillain real fast. He pulls a fire axe from a wall container and shoves it through the two door handles as a temporary measure.

"Sam, Pezzini. Door on the right," he murmurs into the headset.

He beckons Cael along and braces near the Pharma door. Steve looks to Cael and nods at the handle. He hefts his shield and resettles his weight, waiting for her to pop the door so he can go be a bullet sponge while she sweeps in along his wake.

Sam Wilson has posed:
    Sam is side-eyeing Bucky's methods pretty hard, but he acknowledges that it's not the time or place to have a discussion about it.

    Besides, try as he might, Sam has a hard time caring all that much about a few AIM guards getting manhandled. In the six degrees of separation game, they're real close to Nazis, after all. So long as nobody ends up with any unnecessarily broken bones, Sam will settle with a few concerned looks thrown Bucky's way.

    His shield ends up not being much use, and Redwing hovers near the ceiling, doings its best to not block any sight-lines as it keeps up overwatch mode.

    "Redwing's getting weird readings out of Bio-Chem," he reports as the drone's thermal scan overlays his HUD. His mouth firms into a grim line. "One human. The rest don't look... I don't know. Be careful."

    They move forward. "Copy," Sam says, and gives Sara a quick jerk of his head thataway before he takes up position in front of the right door. "Thermal shows clear," but Sam does a quick 1-2-3 before he opens the door, wing-shield once again held in front of him as he steps inside far enough that Agent Pezzini can follow in and cover from over his shoulder.

    Which isn't necessary. Sam scans the shelves and boxes, then tips his head. "Wanna steal some office supplies?"

James Barnes has posed:
    It's not like there's time to wait when there's a potential alarm about to sound CAEL.

    Bucky stops about midway down the hallway and reaches up to fiddle with something on those cochlears, at least on the left one. Then he just stands there for a long, long few moments with his head tilted to one side. He's kind of staring off into space, but it doesn't look like *that* stare, the one that precedes a 'blip'. He fiddles with the same thing, same ear again and says, "Steve..." Even as he's heading for the door Steve just barred with the ax. Don't do it Bucky!

    More surprised scientist, eight to be exact, wait on the other side of the Pharmaceutical door. At first they all just freeze where they're at and STARE. Seriously, Captain America tends to get that reaction just about anywhere. But then one breaks away from the table of beakers and test tubes she was standing in front of and darts toward a big red button on a wall nearby. Red Buttons are never good.

    Bucky does it. Did anyone have any doubt that he would? He jerks out the ax and ... the door is locked. But there's a tiny little widow that he peeks through. <<STEVE!>> There's that sort of high end pitch to his voice that's either 'WE NEED TO GO NOW' or 'YOU NEED TO SEE THIS'. <<Bring the keycard.>> Must be the latter. <<Never mind.>> He backs away from the door, blue eyes still all sorts of wide over what he's seen and jogs down the hall to the two ICED scientists to grab his own keycard.

    The elevator at the end of the hall dings, but not to indicate doors opening, it's that other ding... the one that indicates to those waiting down here that someone has chosen this floor and that their ride will be here soon.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Pharma it is. Cael approaches cautiously, her weapon still held in her right hand as her left hand reaches for the door knob. She turns the knob, nudging it just barely open with her foot - before letting Cap burst in ahead of her. She's just firing of a few carefully aimed, quick shots at the scientists in the room when Bucky comes through on the headset. <<I've got the card, Barnes,>> she informs him as she continues with well-practiced, quick-fire shots. <<If you'll just->> Shit. Was that the elevator? <<Wilson, Pezzini - can you cover the elevator?>> she asks urgently - keeping close to Cap so his shield can provide her with cover as they advance through the room.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Witchblade was always ready for danger, in fact he knew before Sara did, so when the boor pops open and the ICEr drops into position, Sara expects to lose her clothing. Instead she finds herself considering a new stapler for her New York office.

"Great," she whispers. "Sam, you gotta remember something here... I'm on par with Cap's shield, let me go first, if they shoot, they get nothing... and I want that stapler." She nods toward it with a grin, then moves back and turns her attention to the elevtor, watching the numbers counting down.

"Okay, armoring up..."

Enough was enough... with just a thought, dark tendrils of metal stretch out from the gauntlet, shredding through the uniform and wrapping around her body. Up the arm, across the back and chest, down the legs and up over the head, all in one smooth motion, eerily silent. When the transformation is complete, the only part of her flesh that is visible is her nose and chin, the rest is covered in a layer of metal, deliberately dulled to reflect no light at all.

"Already on it," comes her reply.

Steve Rogers has posed:
An ICER round whips across the room and nails the running scientist in the ribs. Someone else twitches and Steve tracks the gun over and nails the next one.

Then a third.

"I can do this all day," Steve advises the researchers. "On your knees, nose to the wall. Hands behind your heads." He twitches the gun towards the empty wall in question.

"We've got... three down and five conscious," Steve advises the others. "We're detaining them. Looks like researchers here. Any opposition on your end?"

Sam Wilson has posed:
    "Well, now that you've done your whole quick-change thing," Sam motions with his wing-shield down the hall, towards the elevator. Sure, he's happy to let her take point, though he doesn't drop his shield or the ICER pistol propped against it.

    As Sara moves, Sam's right behind her, and Redwing is their eye in the metaphorical sky as the drone buzzes along the ceiling above them. "Nothing exciting, but we've got potential hostiles headed our way from down below," is his answering report.

    They're back out of the storage, and immediately Sam makes eye contact with Bucky in what he intends to be a sanity check (or at least a 'hey, you vaguely cool?' check, Sam's got realistic expectations) but seeing Bucky wide-eyed has him pause.

    Suddenly he has a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Slowly approaching elevator, hidden underground lab, strange thermal readings.... "Hold up. Something about this isn't right," he says.

    The elevator is still aproaching and Sam isn't going to let Sara take whoever's riding it up on by herself, but he glances over his shoulder towards the open door into Pharmaceuticals. "Cap, maybe we should regroup."

    Maybe he's being overly cautious, but Sam trusts his gut, and this has all the underpinnings of being a sci-fi horror movie that he'd very much not be a co-star in.

James Barnes has posed:
    They may be HYDRA adjacent, but they aren't HYDRA. There's no red faced, cyanide induced spasms. The other scientists relent and get on their knees.

    Bucky, keycard in hand, trots back to the Bio-Chemical door. ... but pauses before opening it. <<Sam>> His tone is impatient, someone damnit, get over here. NOW. But at least he's waiting Progress...

    One floor above, heading down. The elevator DINGS to announce the impending opening of the doors. When they slide open, it's two men in black suits, earpieces... some sort of high end, fancy security detail? ...and one scientist behind them. Nagel - their objective.

    The dark suit on the left raises a hand to his ear piece, ready to sound the alert when he sees Sara on the other side of the door. The other one is pulling a sidearm.

    Bucky is so distracted by that door that he's a little slower than usual, his move to draw his own sidearm a few seconds behind what it normally would be, but he gets it together and turns, ready to pick off anything or anyone that Sam or Sara might miss.

Cael Becker has posed:
    <<Look - we've got several guys to restrain in here,>> Cael answers through the comms - before letting out a frustrated sigh.
    "YOU." She gestures to one of the scientists with her weapon. "Start restraining your friends, and no one here has to be harmed. You know my buddy Captain America here, and I'm Agent Becker with the FBI." She hands zip ties off to her chosen victim, keeping her pistol aimed at the woman before askint Cap without a glance, "You want to go see what has Barnes so riled up?" she asks. After all - none of the scientists appear to be armed.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Moving forward slowly, it might be noted that despite the armor there is still no sound to Sara's movements. It literally is a second skin and apparently lighter than it looks.

When the doors of the elevator open, she has just enough time to get off two shots from the ICER and hopefully stop the call for back up, one into each of the black suited guards. If she was quick enough, there should be no alarm... so she waits to see if she hears that alarm, allowing for Sam, Bucky or someone else to go for the intended target as she readies for back up.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve steps into the doorway so he's got one eye on Becker and one eye on the elevator. Sara's quick on the draw, particularly up so close; Steve's ICER rises and he tracks the motion of the two guards and researcher, but holds his fire unless he spots a runner.

In that case though, Steve is more than happy to switch to a well-aimed headshot from the stungun.

James Barnes has posed:
    See? This is why Bucky prefers to just kill'm. It's so much less WORK and things get done so much FASTER.

    The scientists comply, they really do, it's just taking a second because, by now, they're all pretty much shaking in their shoes. This isn't supposed to happen out here, in the middle of nowhere, it's just not.

    From the back, Nagel pipes up, "Please don't kill me, please." His hands are in the air. "It wasn't my fault, they MADE me." The devils made him do it, suuuuure. "I can get it for you, the anti-virus, at least I can... it's on the computers. It's all on there, I can download it to a drive for you!"Or maybe Redwing can?

    The black suit that drew his weapon turns suddenly as if he's just going to shoot Nagel instead, but Sam puts that to a stop. No alarms sound thanks to Sara.

    ...and with the threat cleared, Bucky can't wait any longer.

    He opens the damned doors... straight to hell.

    The Bio-Chemical room is huge, it encompasses one entire side of the building from floor to ceiling, basement floor to ceiling. Metal stairs lead down to the floor. Lined up, around the walls are liquid filled cylinders and inside each one? A human being suspended in the liquid. There must be forty total? Their eyes are open and fixed, but it's obvious that they're alive, their vitals are being monitored. Those open eyes, the whites... are red.

Sam Wilson has posed:
    "What, I'm right here!" And Sam is, honestly just a few steps past Bucky at the elevator. He puts what might end up being an unnecessary ICER in one of the elevator guards since Sara's quick one-two does the job just fine. Easy enough, and then Sam fires again, center mass on the scientist left standing in the elevator.

    Sam calls out, "We got Nagel!"

    Anyone with a history working for HYDRA and with the serum is immediately flagged for shutting up, though Sam supposes Nagel will be more useful with a working jaw, so: temporary unconsciousness. Lucky him. "He says the files for the anti-virus are here. Redwing's on it."

    And that it is. The drone zips in through the doorway and is entirely unbothered by the horrors surrounding it as it settles in on a computer terminal, jacks in, and forces its way past the system's security.

    The download bar pops up on Sam's HUD but he's not looking at it. His eyes are focused past the display, on the tubes of rabid super soldiers waiting to be deployed. "I was right," he hears himself saying. "About this being a bad sci-fi horror."

    Moments later, Redwing is hovering at Sam's shoulder, and he exhales. "What the hell do we do about them?" he asks no one in particular as his drone redocks in his wingpack.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael watches the scientist get the last of her allies restrained and moves in to restrain the woman in turn, checking each of the zipties to makes sure they're tight enough. In point of fact, a few of them might be //too// tight, but she'll deal with later. Instead, she ushers them out into the hallway, and instructs them all to sit down against the wall after they're individually searched.
    Her gaze goes into the lab next (after a double-take aimed in Sara Pezzini's direction) - a deep frown on her features as she takes in the men suspended in the tanks. "Well. I don't know - we get all this on film, and get some of our own scientists in here to see what was done to these people, and if it can be undone. That's - damn. That's pretty disturbing," she remarks without in a calm voice.
    Only once Sam confirms he has what //they// came for does she pull out a radio to start pulling in the local PD to start cleaning up the rest of the mess. After all - she's got a search warrant. Right?

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara has remained attentive to any indication of magic floating around, Witchblade is attuned to sensing them. She wants to make sure anything that shouldn't be here is taken before they head out, if that means taking a moment to head off on her own she will, but she's not leaving anything powerful in the hands of people like this, or to be locked up in some evidence locker someplace.

"Gotta to a sweep," she says before lifting the gauntleted hand up to start a hard core, deep session of sensing. If there is anything, she'll go get it, if not, she's ready to leave with the others.

James Barnes has posed:
    Redwing got almost through the download when the fail safe kicked in. Every computer in the room flashes *FATAL ERROR*. The lights in the in the Bio-Chemical lab flash off only to be replaced by dim, red, emergency lighting in the floor. Maybe it's for the best when the room falls into mostly darkness?

    ...because Sam's question is answered for him. The liquid in those tanks begins to bubble it's slowly drained WHILE being equally replaced by some form of acid. It eats away every sign that anything was ever in those tanks before being flushed and diluted. Thick tubes attached to each one serves as a drainage point to empty the tanks.

    Every computer in the place is wiped, all evidence summarily destroyed in those tanks and it all takes less than moments.

    A.I.M. took a big pocket book hit today. The facility won't trace back to them. What little computer evidence is left is on Redwing. It'll be enough to save Steve. The money lost isn't nearly enough to stop them from popping up another of these places around the block. Sara will find an item or two that should likely be destroyed. It doesn't really feel like a complete win...

    ...but it'll be enough to *save STEVE*.

    But still...

    "Well, that sucked," Bucky whispers. He'll disappear before the 'law' shows up and be waiting back at the SUV. Trending on FaceBook a few days ago or not, he's still dead according to most of the world.