7867/It Goes Shooty

It Goes Shooty
Date of Scene:	18 September 2021
Location:	Weapons Testing: Triskelion
Synopsis:	Lara, Cap and Hellboy all have a chat after testing their weapons out at the range.
Cast of Characters:	Lara Croft, Hellboy, Steve Rogers

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Lara Croft has posed:
Lara had been on personal assignment this past week and upon arriving back at the Triskelion she'd been debriefed on the situations going on here at the recently reclaimed SHIELD facility.

Here and now, she's blowing off some steam and literally firing off rounds from a custom 1911 handgun with a skeletal silver trigger, something made for her by a friend.

She's standing at a stall in the shooting range area and popping off several shots until she reaches the last with a *click* The gun is set down moments later and Lara reaches her hands up to adjust her dark hair tied behind her head.

She's wearing safety glasses over her eyes, 'ears' on her head that block out high decimals but let people talk to her just fine. A white tanktop with a SHIELD logo on the chest adorns her upper body while black and white track pants are worn on her lower, with sneakers looking fresh and new upon her feet. Classic 'off duty' agent attire, really...

The rest of the testing area is fairly quiet on a Friday night...

Hellboy has posed:
    There's a definite reaction as the seven foot tall demon moves through the room, but less so in this place than there would be on the streets outside. These people have been trained for stuff like this. These people have likely seen The Hulk up close. A fairly calm, grumpy-looking demon isn't really all THAT much in comparison.
    The firearm he holds is the one and only Good Samaritan. He doesn't wear ear protection or eye protection, which is probably fine. Not like anyone is trying to stop him.
    Good Samaritan is firing fairly standard rounds, today. No sense wasting expensive silver or holy water or cold iron bullets at a firing range. However, after the fourth or fifth reload of the extremely loud weapon discharging round after round, it fails to fire. "Damn," comes the deep, gravely voice of the demon. Of course, since it isn't just his safety on the line, he makes the handgun safe before leaving the actual targets to find somewhere he can check and clean his weapon.

Steve Rogers has posed:
"You're still over-gripping, Lara," Steve says. He's watching her with half an eye; the other's focused on his paperwork. It's that time of the year for weapons qualifications, and there are few better coaches in the world than Steve Rogers. So it falls to him to proctor, pushing various agents to what he thinks their capability is rather than merely meeting the minimum. Ears and eyes for him, just to be safe.

Competition this year among the sharpshooters has been a little tighter than usual.

His own gun-- a modernized version of Lara's 1911-- hangs from his belt. Blue cargo pants, blue t-shirt, black boots. Basic SHIELD issue, and aside from the 'Instructor' on his black ballcap, Steve's face is largely the only badge of authority he needs on the ship.

He looks up at her, lifts his hands around an invisible gun. "Focus on keeping your arms and wrists locked out instead of leaning into the recoil," he suggests.

He uplifts his chin at Hellboy as the big fellow rumbles past, leaving his gun on the table. "Hey, HB," he greets him convivially. "You been messing with the trigger on the Samaritan again?" he inquires, leaning back to look at the weapon on the range bench. "Told you, leave that to the armorers," he says with a grin for the big red agent. "Having your gun jam on you in a fight is bad, but imagine what Director Carter will do if you don't pass your annuals." He lifts his brows pointedly at Hellboy and taps his pencil at the back of his clipboard, which says 'QUAL EXAMS' in big black print.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara turns her eyes to look toward Hellboy's weapon firing before looking to the tall red demonic 'man' himself. She knew of him, but had yet to actually speak to him. They'd most certainly passed in the halls any number of times, as she was often here late over the past year and a half since she'd joined SHIELD>

But it's Steve's words that draw her glasses covered eyes to him. She affords the Captain a even toned smile. "You're right." She says softly. "I've had a ... difficult week." She steps back toward where her weapon case is and empties the magazine from the gun before she sets it down upon the case.

"You sound like my former mentor now." She says as he gives her instruction. "I think I do pretty good for someone who never served." She adds before smiling softly again at him. Her hands raise up to remove her clear glasses and then sets them down as well before stroking her fingers across her brow to shift the loose dark bangs some out of her eyes. Meanwhile her stare goes back to Hellboy, curious about his gun there and if he does indeed work on it himself. "That's quite a weapon." Lara comments of it in her British accented voice.

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy raises his chin with grumbles toward Steve. He cleans and adjusts as he grumbles. "...armorers...<grumble mumble>...always jams...<grumble mumble>..." He looks up at Lara as she speaks to him, his grumbling ceasing. He looks her over, then says, "I've seen you around. Lara, right?" He flips up the cylinder of the Good Samaritan. "Yeah, while /some/ I could name accuse me of messing with it, it's not my fault. Armorers have looked at it, but it's an artifact as much as this is." Hellboy 'flexes' his stony hand into a fist. "Anyway," he continues, thumping the huge firearm onto the table in frustration. "Good to meet you," he says, extending one stony finger of his right hand toward Lara and letting her do all the work to shake hands with him so he doesn't hurt her.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve grins good-naturedly at Hellboy's grumbling objections. "Hate to say it, Red, but it might be time for an upgrade," Cap tells Hellboy with mournful sympathy. "I could probably get my hands on a grenade launcher or something if you wanted a gun that's a little more, uh." He eyes the massive break-action revolver. "Discreet."

Steve looks over to Lara, then, and flashes her a smile. "Don't get hung up on uniforms," he bids her. "Most soldiers don't ever learn to really run a handgun well. Only Special Forces, really. You can outshoot almost every agent here. It's just like archery, you don't want to anticipate the snap."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara watches Hellboy as he approaches and responds to Cap. She looks to the offered, huge, hand and reaches her own up to shake the finger. That curiosity that comes naturally to the British woman shines through as she looks his large hand over while holding on to the finger with her own, something Hellboy is likely used to, though she certainly doesn't seem put off by it where others might. She looks back up at him and nods once, smiles warmly. "Lara, yes. Croft. I've heard you're quite effective at taking out dangerous enemies..." She notes before looking back to Steve as he speaks on the gun used to do that.

"Yes, that one looks like it could use a bit of love and attention." She says of the Samaritan with a quick frown.

When she pulls her hand back her eyes go back to STeve and she huffs out a quick little laugh. "I think I started firing my first gun shortly after the passing of my father... so I was... twelve... I believe. Perhaps thirteen. My mentor, who took me under his wing after losing both my parents, felt that guns were a good way to ease the stresses of life... so to speak. Which is why I'm here tonight, I suppose." She flashes another quick smile to both the men then.

"But yes, I do feel a bit off tonight." She states more glumly before rubbing at the back of her neck with one hand. "Low on sleep, I suppose."

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy keeps his eyes on Lara as Cap addresses him. He smiles. "He's getting sassy in his old age," he says to Lara. He picks up the firearm in his left hand and holds it up almost affectionately, despite having thumped it down carelessly before. He continues to Lara, "This is, as I said, an artifact. You can't just requisition something like that and he knows it. He likes to give me shit." He sets it down again then raises an eyebrow at the young lady. "You gonna hold my hand all night, or do we have to kiss, now?"

Steve Rogers has posed:
"Hey--" Steve looks around, then steps into conspiratorial whisper range of the two Agents. "You want to get anything out of the labs, you show up there with a crate of energy drinks and say you've got a bet with some guy down in security that they couldn't build a better Samaritan," he mutters.

He steps back half a pace, then adds: "And you remember Eddie Plavern, right?" he asks Hellboy. "Young guy, the weapons tech? His grandson is a gunsmith. Great talent. You need the Samaritan worked on, maybe tuned a bit, you send it to him and tell him it's courtesy of the Howling Commandos. I bet he'd do it for a, uh--" Steve chucks Hellboy's sternum with a loosely closed fist, grinning up at him. "'Junior Commando-In-Training'," he grins.

Lara Croft has posed:
The last bit that Hellboy says to her has Lara looking up from his hand and releasing it from her idle grasp. She'd bedn drawn in to the markings on it and is now forced to shake her head before smiling quickly. "Sorry. The markings there... I thought they might say something, but.... nevermind. The sleepiness." She quickly smiles again before looking to Steve. "Energy drinks..." She utters quietly before looking to those on duty in here a small ways away.

"Duely noted." She states back to Steve. "I'd wager a few guesses on how to help improve it, but I wouldn't want to overstep my bounds. It looks like a weapon that's served you well for a long time." She states then back to Hellboy.

Her eyes go once more to Steve. "Do you ever wield a gun, Captain?" She asks him then.

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy smirks at Cap, but responds to him by responding to Lara again. "You know some people call him a Boy Scout? I think I'd rather listen to you tell me how you'd improve her than lie to those poor guys in the labs." He glances up at Scott, returning the sass he'd received earlier. His brow then furrows and his resting demon face comes back. "Hey, yeah. I wasn't thinking about it, but when DID you start carrying a gun? When did you stop? You must have had one in World War 2, then none in the Avengers, now that thing." Hellboy's head gestures to the weapon at Steve's side as he keeps eye contact.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve looks at the two Agents, and busts out a laugh. "Wow, I guess I owe Janet an apology," he says with a wry expression. "I told her we didn't need to do those uh, promotional videos, but I guess it helped." He shakes his head at them. "We downplay the guns and the collateral in the official videos and stuff, and I try not to use it if the shield's a better option-- especially in cities," he clarifies.

"But I carried a gun all the way through the War, and when they defrosted me, I kept on doing it. We'd breach the doors with me in front and Bucky and Dugan right behind me with a couple of Thompsons. Germans never could resist trying to shoot that damn shield," he muses.

He looks back at them, grins. "Shields work a lot better as, y'know. Shields." He pats his sidearm; the holster's kitted out like the special response teams have their weapons, the gear looking both high-quality and well-worn through honest use.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara laughs at the boy scout bit from Hellboy before she nods her head. "I'll admit..." She hears Cap's response about the gun and motions to him. "I didn't know that." She shakes her head side to side. "My father had a picture of you in his office." She says directly to Steve. "He said once that you defeated the Germans single handedly with nothing but your wits and your shield.... I guess I took that as misinformatio." She shows a quick half smirking frown then before placing her hands on the sides of her hips. She looks to Hellboy's gun again and tilts her head to the side. "It looks like its entirely custom?" She asks then. "Surely we could machine some new parts for it to keep it in up and ready condition."

Hellboy has posed:
    "Color me corrected," the big demon says, this time directly to Steve. He turns his gaze back to his weapon and says, "I'm not opposed to picking up a custom-rebuilt Samaritan," to lara. "It's got to feel right, though. Some of the power in artifacts is just knowing that they are that. Others is psychometry, and some is just the history wearing off on the item. The spear of Destiny is cool, but that's not what had everyone killing each other over it after Hitler was overthrown. It was what it meant, not what it was." He picks up his weapon. "The more I replace of this, the more I end up with a Theseus's Ship problem. At what point am I believing in something that isn't there? At what point is it just a gun and not Samaritan, anymore?" He shrugs and puts it back down. "Hey, didn't I read something about you dealing with artifacts?"

Steve Rogers has posed:
"Then it's a good thing it's gone and lost forever," Steve says, and the expression on his face is so stoic that few would be able to read his thoughts-- though the look he flickers at Hellboy after the comment about the Spear of Destiny screams 'shh'.

"Anyway, you gotta get it up and running or you're gonna get in Dutch with the Director if you're out there with an unauthorized field weapon. Give it a good cleaning, take it to a gunsmith. Or an exorcist," Steve suggests, a beat later. "We'll get you squared away so you don't fall off the active roster."

Lara Croft has posed:
At the question from Hellboy, Lara looks back to him and smiles quickly again. "Right, yes. I'm an acquisitions agent for WAND. Which is a fancy way of saying I'm really just an archaeologist by trade. I was brought within the agency to help track down...." She slowly shakes he rhead as she describes her job. "... items of potential power. Things that might be used to cause harm unto innocents. Which, just so happens to be what I would likely be striving to doing even if I hadn't joined SHIELD... only then I'd be suffering from much more difficulties involving legalities of crossing borders." She smirks faintly then. "But yes, relics, artifacts, dusty things long forgotten and lost... these are my passions."

She looks back to her own handgun and starts to pack it back in to the case foam that is fitted to house it. When Steve starts to make his way off, Lara looks over to him and offers a light wave. "Thank you for the feedback, Captain. I'll take it all to heart." She states before closing the case on her gun case once more.

Hellboy has posed:
    "Hey, Cap!" Hellboy says. "Let's get pancakes sometime." He offers Captain America a right hand of destiny fistbump to see him off. Afterward, he turns back to Lara. "Anyway, artifacts. So I assume that's what got you so curious about my arm."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara picks up the safety glasses off of the table, and returns them to the shelf where she leaves them to be serviced and reissued to another agent. She returns to where Hellboy and her things are to his question. It makes her show a light smile and a light shake of her head. "Guilty as charged." She states before gathering up her silver thermos sitting beside her gun case. She pops the lid on it and raises it up to take a sip of the drink inside.

When she recaps it with a snap she sets it down once more. "I'm fluent in a wide range of languages, and I thought I saw elements of some of them in the markings on your hand--" She motions to the big big hand. "But, ... I think I was just seeing things that weren't ther eat all. Imagining them. Well, it's also not the average hand one is offered to shake either, so there's that too." She smirks then to the tall red fellow.

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy smiles back at her. "Yeah," he says. "Left-handed handshakes get certain people upset." He draws Samaritan off the table and holsters it. "This is the Right Hand of Doom," he says. "It's got scratches and knicks and cracks and I don't know how, because it's essentially indesctructable." He looks into Lara's eyes and very seriously asks, "Are you an occultist?"

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara watches him put the gun away before she looks back to the hand as he speaks of it. The name causes her to show a quick smile of faint strength before she looks up to his eyes as he asks that last question. Her eyebrows raise up slightly. "Ah... not precisely." She replies to the question. "Not predominantly." Her left hand goes back behind her head and she draws her pony tail over her shoulder out of habbit. "I study the occult, as it feesd in to quite a llot of what I do, especially now that I'm with WAND. Why, for instance, I'm in the process of collecting infamous Grimoires from around the globe to bolster WAND's library on the matters. But. To be most precise, I study anything and everything from a historic standpoint that might give me an edge to achieve my goals."

She nods once then as her hand goes back down to her hip. "A bookworm, in the general sense, is a better way to describe me, I think." She states with a dry tone to her British voice, and a light smirk chasing her words.

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy listens to what Lara has to say, his eyes hooded by those heavy brows. "Bookworm," he acknowledges, nodding. "Huh. Spellbooks?" he asks, his brows raising somewhat. "Kinky. You said you had some ideas how to improve Good Samaritan. It's got Good in the name already, so, you know, you're on an uphill battle already."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara smirks quickly at his response to her before she shrugs her shoulders gently. "I can't say for sure, but I have had quite a bit of experience with older style handguns and rifles. Especially of Eastern European, or Russian design. I mean, I'm sure you know how to maintain it better than anyone else, but a fresh set of eyes never hurts." She nods her head once then before gathering up her water bottle again to hold between her hands. "And what mostly falls under the sights that Good gun?" She asks him next. "I've heard you are a bit of a ... expert at tracking down rather dangerous things?"

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy lets out a hmph as he internally debates how to answer that question. "Things that go bump in the night," he quotes. "Samaritan's important, but it's these," he says before reaching his left hand around in one of his vast coat's many pockets to pull out a round. It's huge, and it looks very much like a mirrored projectile on the round's tip. He sets it on the table in front of Lara. "That one's silver. For things that don't like silver. I've got holy water, cold iron, and sometimes there's special ones I get handed for a baddie of the week."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara indulges in another sip from her bottle before she sets it back down on the table just as he is pulling the round out of his jacket and setting it down not far from it. Her eyes go down to it and she reaches out to pick the bullet up with her right hand, holding it between her fingers she turns it over and around. "I..." She shakes her head back and forth. "I've fired some large weapons in my life, but this caliber looks rather unusual to me." She states while looking it over a bit longer.

"So werewolves, vampires, even demonic presences." She looks up at him then. "Uh, No offense intended." She glances down at the bullet again for a few more inspecting seconds before she offers it back to him.

"Well, now I know who to go to when and if I run in to such things." She says with a faint smile. "It's happened before in the city and beyond, so I wouldn't be surprised at all if it comes to pass yet again... The occult is rapidly becoming a primary focus for me, so maybe I am an Occultist after all... just in denial." She hints a grin then.

Hellboy has posed:
    "I hope you'll come to me with more than just unpleasant things," he says, plucking the round up from her hand and stuffing it back in that nebulous coat. He considers her for a second with a contemplative look on his features. He finally concludes, "We should get pancakes, sometime."

Lara Croft has posed:
The Briton reaches for the gun case besidher on the table as a couple more Agents come in to the testing area to do the very same thing with their own sidearms that they'd come here to do. She looks back to Hellboy then at his offer of pancakes that has her laughing softly. "That'd be lovely." She says to him then, holding her case and bottle now. "Consider it a plan then." She tells the tall red man before her. "I'm easy to find, just in the offices of the WAND level, you'll find me often hiding inside my cubicle." She states with a light smirk for him then.

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy stands. "Nice to meet you, Lara," he says. "I'll see you again soon."