8245/Agents of Halloween (Special)

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Agents of Halloween (Special)
Date of Scene: 14 October 2021
Location: Secret Military Base
Synopsis: HYDRA crashes the Zephyr Halloween party to steal the plans and blow the base up with a nuclear missile. Dr. List personally attends to the operation with his goons dressed up as the villains from Squidgames. Too bad for them, SHIELD doesn't need their superpowers to kick butt and they soon take back the base and stop List once and for all.
Cast of Characters: Bobbi Morse, Cael Becker, Lance Hunter, Daisy Johnson, Jane Foster, Sam Wilson, Melinda May




Bobbi Morse has posed:
Colonel Heathers invited SHIELD because today was a turning point in the facilities long military history. Very upstate New York. Once a missile silo, then a satellite launch facility, and now the heart of the next generation of Quinjet project. The Zephyr-Class Quinjet. Also it was almost halloween so it was time to blow off some steam and let the civilian contractors and military officers blow off some steam with.. a party!

A costume party to be precise. The administration wing of the building is the only one with lights on and music playing. There's alcohol and cake and a tiny little model of the new Zephyr-class Quinjet on display in the middle of the room. Anyone who has a stake in Quinjets has been invited, and friends too.

In some strange way, this was all thanks to HYDRA. When their secret network of infiltration was revealed part of that exposed how HYDRA was getting Quinjet technology - they were the ones helping make it. The same was true of communications. Stark Industries helped SHIELD out with that mess - and now the new contractor for Quinjets is a consortium of civilian operations in joint operation with the military. Thanks to Talbot of all people. Thankfully he's not here tonight.

Bobbi has turned up with Lance because why go to a party without him? Also, their costumes are a pair - Gomez and Morticia Addams. The long black tentacles at the end of her skirt are an amusement to her and she's dyed her hair temporarily black for the evening. Bobbi approaches the tiny model of the Zephyr. "Fitz made the first design of this new Quinjet - it was bigger, a replacement for the Bus though," she says to Lance.

She raises an eyebrow and smiles at Lance, "Mon ami, what is zis, a quinjet for ants?!"

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael was still very much the 'new kid' around the office - and she felt it, so while social parties may not usually be her thing, she's decided to make an effort. She's even put together a costume for the event! Though it was, admittedly, a jury-rigged one. She currently wears a bright yellow blouse with (ugh) a matching yellow ribbon in her hair. The blouse has been paired with a white skirt with colorful pink flowers on it. In her hands is a picnic basket brimming with lemons, and a name tag on her chest that reads, 'Hello! My name is: LIFE.'
    She dodges around a group of laughing smiling- were they honestly dressed as Smurfs? - and finds herself face to face with someone who seemed headed for the snack table. "Uh, hello," she remarks. "Lemon?" She plucks one from the basket, holding it out.

Lance Hunter has posed:
Lance went with a wig and a fake moustash to pull off Gomez tonight, but the suit and bowtie was real enough. "Looks like Fitz's work, just glad it doesn't have 'Go Man U' written on the side of it." The football beef never ends. "Probably best it's a quinjet design though, May'd skin him alive if he messed with the Bus."

Though that thought is dropped when Bobbi speaks French, he had a role to play after all! "Cara mia, is that French?" he asks doing his best Gomez Addams. "You know how that drives me wild!"

Daisy Johnson has posed:
Woohoo! Party time. And that means Daisy comes dressed to PARTTAAAYYY.

. . . Like a character from squid game. Or in this case one of the 'minions', dressed in bright red, black boots and a full black mask on her face with a triangle painted in the front. So that's what she was doing with her leave time. Binging Squid Game. Anyway, she makes her way into the party, accompanied by someone resembling very much a Corpse Bride! Is that Jane Foster?! "This is great. No one will know it's me.." she comments to Jane, already cackling inwardly at being so easily anonymous in the party.

She points to where Lance and Bobbi are at, "Of course they would have to come as the Addams family.. Let's go mingle with them." she calls out, starting her way there before pausing at Cael and grinning. "I will take one, life."

Jane Foster has posed:
Happy Hallowe'en! A costume party and showing off the coolest new SHIELD tech calls for upping the ante somewhat. Actually putting together an outfit instead of slapping on a moonstruck witch hat or a star-dappled dress means Jane has work to do. She follows a step or two after Daisy-Squid, the delay very much due to manhandling the hissing, whispering skirts that flow around her in ruined abandon. The blue-skinned revenant handles that showstopper of a stylized Victorian wedding dress well, the lace-dabbed bodice and interesting array of slashes showing that alternate skintone quite well. Never mind the stylistic makeup with and long blue hair, tangled with a few actual leaves outside, giving the impression she's totally the best dressed corpse this side of Hela. Or Tutankhamun.

"They can hear your voice," she asides, infinitely syrupy and sweet in ways the wise Doctor Foster... isn't. Finding Lance and Bobbi is easy, and she breaks into a hopeful smile. "Someone else who will trip as much as I can!" Yes, tentacle dresses for the win! White eyeliner makes her already large eyes seem that much more unnaturally rounded. "Ooh, we almost had those at my reception! Except it turned out /so/ differently when... what was his name... the important one..." she murmurs after a lemon is requested from Cael, earning a wink in 'Life's' direction.

Sam Wilson has posed:
    There's a guy in the corner in, uh, he's kind of just in casual clothes? Jeans, a pair of chucks, and a powder-blue hoodie do not a costume make, for sure. Except for the fact that he keeps the hood of his jacket up and cinched in tight around his face, and he's wearing sunglasses. Indoors. Still, it's pretty obvious that it's Sam, even after his extended absence.

    He's just chilling with some cake at the moment, though. Don't mind him.

Melinda May has posed:
Truthfully, Melinda May isn't great with Hallowe'en costumes. You'd think, after all this time doing undercover work, she'd have it down pat. But spy costumes and Hallowe'en costumes are very, very different things.

In the end, she decided to go with what she had on hand. Sort of. Okay. She spent a little effort on it. But only because she's currently living in the middle of Chinatown and knockoffs are really easy to come by there. And she has very creative friends she keeps well separate from SHIELD.

Well, that... and she already has the working pair of white 'lightsabers'.

Consequently, in a costume worthy of a con -- and likely something she won't ever live down, now that the Fennec armour is gone -- when she walks in, it's as a middle-aged but still kickass version of Ahsoka Tano. Because... LIGHTSABERS. Seriously. Lightsabers. Oh. And the cloak.

It's October, and cold. Cloaks are good. And it hides a multitude of sins.

She drifts in and finds herself looking almost immediately for a drink.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Bobbi lifts a black velvet covered arm for Lance and she smirks with utter delight and amusement. This costume set was her greatest tactical move and mistake at the same time. A hobble skirt? really Morticia. It's okay, it's easily ripped when she gets too annoyed at people stepping on her tentacles.

Speaking of which a man wearing a red jumpsuit and a black mask with a white square on it walks past all the alcohol on a table. He even has what looks like a replica machine gun slung over his shoulder. Or.. no, that couldn't be a real one? either way there's no clip in it.

Bobbi pauses and looks around the room. There is a theme to the party it seems.. Squid Game. There's two with triangles, one with a circle, .. another with a triangle. Something about this feels off.

Her concentration breaks as she notices Jane.. such wide eyes, such bride to be. "Wow Jane. Amazing costume." She grins and then peers at May.. in a costume.. "Oh gosh you have Lekku!" She chuckles a touch with delight. "I guess Squid Game is popular this year.." she says peering at Daisy, with her triangle mask. "Who is Sam meant to be?," she says glancing over to him in the corner pretending to brood. "Wait.. does he even go here?"

Lance Hunter has posed:
Lance grabs Bobbi's arm and makes a show of kissing up it before he laughs and grabs a drink. "Great party, 'Tish" he says before returning to his usual voice and waving at Jane and Daisy. "Squid Game definitely popular, though for the record if anyone comes as one of the VIPs I'm shooting them on principle." Yep, Hunter's been using his time to binge the show as well it seems. "Hey May, hell of a costume," he greets as she approaches.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Coming your way!" Cael remarks casually, turning towards Daisy to underhand one in her direction. One less lemon to tote around, and they aren't exactly expensive. She fully expects to be completely out of the things by the end of the evening. Besides - as things stood, the basket was akwardly heavy. The more she gives away, the better.
    What people do with them once they've got them - that's their problem. There's probably going to be lemons sitting on every available flat surface.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
Really?! So many squid games wannabes! It makes Daisy grump under her mask. "Bah, everyone stole my idea.." she complains to Jane as they were making way to Bobbi and Hunter. She stops to catch the lemon that Life tosses her way and laughs, "Thank you! And Life is right, Jane." she points out, "You can't just take Lemons like that. It does remind me when I was just starting at SHIELD, someone was leaving a lemon on my bunk almost every night. It was so weird." she comments. People who leave lemons on other people's beds are just weird...

Turns out it doesn't take much for Daisy to be recognized, not even her voice needed, because who else would squeal out in nerd-dom at seeing May dressed like Ahsoka? Daisy, of course.

"OMG! Make me your padawan." she says in 'greeting' to May when they are finally gathering up.

And for all the nerd that Daisy is she did -not- catch Sam's reference. So she stares at him. Intently. THINKING.

Jane Foster has posed:
Confusion over the man in the blue hoodie takes Jane a few seconds to find and parse out, spotting him in the corner and breaking into a smile. "Is anyone coming as Lindsay Lohan?" she inquires in the cultivated, rather spot-on English accent to stand-in for Jemma. 'Dead' fake roses in a chaplet slide over her stylishly wrecked locks, and she reaches up to shove them back, hiding her laugh when Lance Gomezes it up. Is that a verb? Is now. "You're fine. I figured if anyone showed up as them, it's a smart move." Yup, the Bride has been aware of the show and probably watching it when not filming her own stuff. Good move, that.

She breaks into a friendly smile for Cael and May in that celebratory Star Wars costume. "That is awesome! Remind me to have you walk by randomly when we get to Clone Wars in our 'must watch' list."

Who is that for? Not telling, apparently, as she claps her skeletal and flesh hands together. Bone 'dust' cascades to the floor. Even the hollow click of the joints is disturbingly accurate. What would an astronomer know about that? Wise not to say. "Maybe you should ask Life," she glances at the nametag, "who might be such a citrophile in serenading you, Squiddy."

Melinda May has posed:
May gives Bobbi a quick smile in reaction to the comment on her costume. "Thanks," she tells Lance, looking at the pair of them. "I see you're continuing the theme of the house." Addams Estate, indeed.

Cael in her costume, catches her eye. But it's not until she catches the nametag that she gets the whole sunshine and lemons thing. It causes her to snirk, though she does appreciate the pun. "Nice."

Her eyes track the plethora of Squid Game costumes. She hasn't really had time to watch the show, yet, though she's seen the trailers. Not that she's actually had time to watch much in the way of tv. But the repetition of them is fairly notable.

Sam's costume? Yeah, that reference slides right past her. Mean Girls aren't really in May's demographic.

But as Daisy squeals and greets her, she actually smirks. "Aren't you, already?" she replies. How long has she been training Daisy, after all? "

Her eyes slide to Jane. "Why does this remind me of my trip through Hell?" Real Hell. May believes. She may not believe the trappings, but she believes there's a Hell, for sure.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
"Cael, .. see now that's a smart costume," Bobbi says with a grin. "I do require some alcohol.." she shuffles along with small gliding steps and pours herself a glass of whiskey. She bumps in to one of the guys wearing a squid game costume.

Instead of a 'sorry' or a lifting of the mask, she hears a grunt and he moves out of the way. Weird.. and concerning. At a party. She takes a sip and comments to Lance. "You should have brought the rapier - there's a musketeer over there," she says pointing to a military officer dressed in 17th century fineries and wearing a prop sword at his hip.

Bobbi smiles at May and says, "Yep. Couldn't resist could we?" The mix of SHIELD and Military and Civilian is nice to see. What's less nice to see is someone entering wearing a black suit with a black geometric mask. Not one of the VIPs, but the front man. The various men wearing squid game costumes pull a clip out of their pocket and insert it in to their guns, then some of them fire in to the air as the others aim at the crowd.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen," says the front man in a clearly German Accent. "You are all hostages and if you behave yourself, everyone gets to go home. Colonel Heathers... where... are... you...." Flanked by more squid game wearing triangles they move through the crowd and grab a woman dressed as an angel and pull her over to the front man.

"Such a pleasure to finally meet you, we have much to discuss." To the rest of his squid game army he says, "Secure the room, make sure everyone behaves.. and collar any Inhumans or Mutants you find." He turns and leaves the room, his goons taking Heathers with him.

It is then that those with mutant or Inhuman powers feel a suppressive wave sweep through the room. A power dampener has hit them all. Bobbi feels her vision go wonky and she grabs the table for support. She's a super soldier, but also an Inhuman. It's the Inhuman part of her that is under attack right now.

Those with a keen ear for voices may even recognise the identity of the Front-Man... Dr. Hulmet List.

Lance Hunter has posed:
Lance grins under his false moustache, "I really should have," he says with a grin to Bobbi about the sword, before saying to May, "Figured it fit," with a look to his costume and the name of his and Bobs' place in Salem

The shots have him dropping his drink, "Really should have bloody shot him," he growls hearing the voice of the man behind the black mask. He keeps his hands down by his sides as he scans the room taking stalk of the Squids and their arsenal.

Sam Wilson has posed:
    When Jane figures it out, Sam sighs. "See, I knew I should've brought Redwing, he would've loved to dress up as Lindsay Lohan." Of course the drone would have. He spears another bite of cake on his fork and waves it in greeting towards Jane, and Bobbi too, who may or may not have gotten the reference based on that quote. He looks on rather dubiously at all of the Squid Game folks. "I'm glad I didn't come as one of the players," he admits quietly.

    And then most of the Squid Game folks end up being bad guys. Off in the corner, Sam frowns down at his cake. He's barely had two bites! Really unfortunate. But he's already gone into a crouch in instinctual reaction to the gunshots, so the time for cake is over.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael gives May a bit of a smirk in return, along with a nod of acknowledgement. "Lemon?" she asks casually, waiting for some indication before lobbing it over. Her attention shifts towards Bobbi as she adds, "You know what goes good with alcohol...?" Yup. Lemon juice. She lifts another of the sour yellow fruits from her basket, waggling it towards the woman as a casual offer.
    Of course, that's about when the party takes an unexpected turn, and Cael shifts to face the armed assailants, a frown tugging at her lips. Of //course// she's unarmed - it's a party. She's definitely starting to regret not hiding something at the bottom of her basket, though. Or maybe on her thigh.
    "What's our play?" she murmurs quietly, without taking her eyes off the threat. Problem is - there's just too many of them.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"You do have a point, Master." Daisy tells to May with a grin under her mask. "I am NOT making some kind of padawan braid though.." arms folding together and ..., "Trip through hell?" she raises a brow at May, then looks at Jane, "Lindsay Lo--", brows arching under her mask, "Ohh--" realization on what the suit is. But it's short lived as soon enough there's the firing up to the air, and the announcement.

It's perhaps a good thing that whatever device List is using to inhibit Inhuman powers flares up for Daisy would recognize that voice anywhere. And instant hatred comes up to the top. Enough to use her powers full on the man. Yet instead she staggers to a side, barely keeping herself up.

"Fuck.." She swears, gritting her teeth. Yet she has learned with the best and a moment later she is keeping in her rage, thinking. She *is* dressed like one of the bad guys after all. And what are they doing?

She gets herself into a more upright posture and takes a step away from the rest of the group as if she wasn't part of them. One of the assailants for sure!

Jane Foster has posed:
"We need to expand your cinematic experience," the Corpse Bride says in all her cyanotic delight to May. "I'm from a Burton love story." Helena Bonham Carter and Doctor Foster do have a few things in common.

Bang, bang, bang. Shots fired into the air send a pattering of dust, giving excellent reason for Jane to get down fast as she can. Clueing in, she gives a short hiss to the group nearest her, "Save the Colonel first." Other SHIELD agents have a higher target value than she does, and Daisy's wobbling earns a worried look shot rapidly after the Inhuman hacker.

She takes the greater part of valor like every Burton heroine never does, and promptly uses all that excellent non-offensive civilian training to separate herself from the others. The cross-cut front of the dress doesn't hinder her from scrambling too much, using moments of surprise to get herself down and out of sight. Nothing like sneaking under a table to reach that shadier back of the room where they might get cover, right?

<<Grani! Fifteen meters directly back from me, /now/, if you ever want my live recordings of Thelonius Monk or the Massey Lectures!>>

She does not question how the Hel anyone will explain the son of Sleipnir showing up, nor the how or the why. But if they have to stop Squid men from slaying a colonel, desperate times call for bulletproof horse hides.

Melinda May has posed:
May watches one of the riflemen slide his clip into place. It's the only reason she doesn't do more than flinch at the gunshots. The sheer number of them, and the aggression she feels rolling off of them is all that stops her from immediately attacking. She knows better than to lash out randomly when she doesn't know what the full play is.

List's voice drifts out from behind the mask and May's lips draw back into a snarl. She glances to Bobbi and then Daisy, just as the power suppression wave hits. The vertigo that comes with it staggers her for a moment. "Sonuva..."

She regains her balance quickly. Not having her empathic abilities doesn't actually hamper the Cavalry, after all. She's spent more years without them than with. Once the vertigo passes, she glances to the others. "We need to disarm these goons and shutdown that suppressor." Her voice is pitched very low so it doesn't carry. "Without endangering the civilians."

There's the rub, ay? Attacking them openly probably isn't the best plan, and she knows it.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
"Helios One," says List to Heathers, who instantly lets out a small gasp of surprise. A secret, a big secret. One someone wearing a black mask should not know about. List removes the mask and sets in place his monocle instead. "Your dirty little secret you don't want SHIELD to know about."

He smirks wickedly and one of his guards pulls out a pistol and points it at Heathers head. "Activate it," he instructs. Heathers looks confused, "But it won't do you any good. May be some small substations will go out.." List cracks his neck, "I said, activate it."

Heathers sits down at her desk and logs in to the computer. As she types a satellite in orbit unfurls its wings and points toward the sun. "This is.. crazy you know. The weapon is defunct, pointless.." she presses the ARM button and the laser begins to power up.

List raises an eyebrow and says, "That's not your concern." He pushes her out of the way and presses the Fire button.

It takes a few minutes for light to reach the Earth from the Sun.. and vice versa. When the laser hits, a coronal burst lashes out from the sun and sends a flare shooting back toward Earth, one that will blackout grids. But Colonel Heathers is right. Power grids were redesigned to defend against this decades ago making the weapon mostly defunct.. a forgotten relic.

Except if the shielding is disabled. Which List has done here at the facility.

Bobbi looks at several of the guards with round metal collars in their hands and a scanner device on the other. They have O's on their masks and they are starting to move through the crowd scanning peoples eyes for mutant and Inhuman genes.

"Excessive violence," is what Bobbi whispers quietly under her breath to add as a suggestion for a response. Even with all the civilians, hopefully they know how to duck and cover. She looks at a round steal table and smirks, "And I see a shield..." Demonstration her excessive strength as an super soldier, her thighs flex and her hobble skirt -rips- down the seam giving her infinitely more mobility.

Sam Wilson has posed:
    Someone else has had a similar idea as Doctor Foster. Sam is ducked under the tables, so they end up having an unfortunately timed meeting at a crossroads--AKA where the table with the alcohol meets the table with the food. At least Sam's costume doesn't hinder his maneuverability in any way, because even without the wings his style is pretty acrobatic.

    The sunglasses are gone and the hood of his jacket is lowered as he peers out as stealthily as he can, trying to get a decent headcount of hostiles. Mentions of secret weapons and the like don't factor much into the plan for Sam, partially because he's a bit out of the loop on SHIELD business at the moment, partially because making sure no one dies in this room is a more immediate concern. He looks over at Jane and tips his head to the side in silent questioning.

    the kind of head-tip that says both 'Ain't this some shit?' and also 'You got a plan?' all at once. Plus a dash of 'Guess we're doing this, then' thrown in for good measure. Sam's got an expressive face.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"I got no powers." Daisy whispers quietly to the group before she spots those circle-faced guys going around with their machines to scan the gathered. Oh, she is getting mad alright. It's seen in the small tremble of her shoulders. Yet two can play this game. And those guys in the series had one huge drawback, they couldn't tell differentiate each other which means it's not hard to mingle between them. Specially if you are dressed alike.

"The dampener needs to be close to affect us all. I will go look for it." She whispers before starting to stray away from the group, hands in fists and ready for some beatdown in case she is discovered.

Yet she walks as if she belonged, moving past a group of those circle-faced ones with the face scanner, wandering to check a nearby room. Hopefully there will be some distractions! But what the heck, it's SHIELD. She is certain there will be DISTRACTIONS. Capital letters.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Those are both terribly helpful and specific plans," Cael remarks in a dry tone. Still - her cheerful, sunshiney costume hardly seemed to scream 'threat' so she hoped she could pass under the radar as a mere civilian. And while she's never taken an acting class in her life - sure. Why not try to look terrified and cowed by the men with guns? She 'stumbles' back away from the other SHIELD agents - trying to make sure they're dispersed through the crowd a little better, making for the left hand wall, clutching her basket of lemons like she thinks it'll protect her.
    It is pretty heft, though, if she can manage to get a swing at one of these guys.
    She tries to take up a position along one of the walls, hoping to get close enough to one of the guards to attempt to disarm them.

Melinda May has posed:
You want distractions? We got distractions.

May's eyes narrow as she begins to recognize just what the men with the scanners are doing. Her hands slide under her robe to her belt. Is it cliche? Yep.

Is it often seen in real life? Hell no.

Even as Bobbi says, "Excessive violence," and starts looking for a shield to play Captain Carter with, May pulls out the hilts of her plasma blades and looks at her friend. She shrugs, dropping the cloak. "May the force be with you..."

She has both the element of surprise and decades of training on her side. The swords ignite and flash out as she spins and launches herself toward the nearest pair of scanning men. At least one of them loses his hands -- nicely cauterized as they and his scanners drop to the floor.

"These are not the Inhumans you're looking for," she growls. Hey. Might as well go with it. Jemma would be proud. Daisy should be ecstatic.

Either way, she's seriously upped her threat standing among the rest of the squiddies, she knows. Too bad she can't block bullets like a Jedi. She just hopes it'll be enough to give the others room to act.

Fortunately, she's pretty good at keeping on the move and making herself a very difficult target. Swords flash. Hands and scanners fall. No remorse.

Lance Hunter has posed:
"Bloody hell!" Lance exclaims as May whips out those plasma blades. "We have /lightsabers/ and nobody told me about it?!" he exclaims.

Focus Lance, Focus. He moves to the man currently short a couple of hands and draws the pistol from his holster. "Thanks mate," he tells the man before decking him hard across the black face mask. Thankfully it's not too structural.

Armed now, Lance moves to join Bobbi, "Good thing your power isn't that super strength," he says. "You block I shoot?" he asks in regards to a plan.

Jane Foster has posed:
Next to Colonel Heathers is abruptly a very large horse that would be the utter envy of the statues atop Saint Mark's in Venice. Huge white wings pressed to marble flanks prevent knocking aside anyone unwanted, though Grani takes the opportunity to nudge Heathers to the side, guarded by his bulk, the better to keep her breathing a little longer. That leaves List and his monocle. Bloody wanker, clearly. The Asgardian-bred warhorse does exactly what the name says. He headbutts List with the force of a small tank while keeping the colonel covered. <<Harming ladies is /rude/.>>
---

Inconvenient being on all fours under a table, facing an Avenger to boot. The Corpse Bride's painted gaze shifts as though reading hidden instructions on the tablecloths coating the furniture. They block her view of anything but white, surely. If Sam looks too close, it's not his own reflection caught in profile when she glances his way, but amethyst skulls coating where her sclera and irises ought to be. "They're all about to die," she says, voice taut. "We have to stop whatever is coming, now. I'll clear the way for you."

Putting her finger to her lips, Jane crouches lower in a protective hunch. For an instant, her silhouette doubles, and then one of them is rising, ombre braid snapping like the Dreamtime Serpent between her shoulders. The Corpse Bride left behind doesn't move.

The helmed woman who springs up and out at a full run at the nearest Squid Goon aims to grab him and hurl him at his nearest companion. Just a little love tap, really.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Jane and Sam, hidden from sight. Jane for reasons other than Sam. Daisy successfully disappears out of the crowd and down the hallway. There's a lot of HYDRA goons in the building, all wearing the Squid Games uniforms. She finds the room with the device. A big tall thing on a gurney. Two men are guarding it with machine guns.

One raises his gun toward Daisy and says, "Oh, you. Hail HYDRA. What happened to your gun?"

Bobbi rubs the ring on her finger and looks toward Lance with a nod, "I block, you shoot." Then back to May for the cue for action. Her eyes scan over the other agents and the few military personnel who can recognise a play when it's coming.

As May whips out actual lightsabers she picks up the round table and moves swiftly in the way of machine gun fire at May, then throws the table at a pair of squid-guards. Unfortunately, unlike Steve's shield - the table doesn't come back. She charges at the next nearest guard and wraps her legs about his arm, yanking him down to the ground and disarming him. She tosses the machine gun over to Cael and slides the pistol under the table to Sam. Bobbi scoops up her round table again and swings it around to block more machine gun fire.

Dr. List smirks and turns to leave the room. The guard with the pistol to Heathers' head cocks the guns hammer. List hears the *bang* and assumes that means Heathers is dead. But really, a freakin' Asgardian horse appeared out of no where and clobbered the guy.. and head butts him.

As all heck breaks out in the party room, List stumbles out of the room and quickly talks in to his radio, "Activate the nuclear bomb."

Another secret - this facility used to be a missile silo - and still is. The HYDRA specialists have been waiting for the miracle, the electronic defenses to go down.

The solar flare hits and they do just that. The door opens up to the missile at the top of the silo and they walk over to the warhead in the missile and open it up. It doesn't take them long to bypass the 1960s era security and activate the warhead. The count down begins.

The flare does something else too.. it shuts down the electromagnets holding the safe door in place. List scrambles and rounds the corner in to the room and his technicians have attached their own electromagnet to it. With loud snap, they turn it on and begin to push the safe door clamps out of the way and the door open.

Dr. List claps his hands together and says, "Thank you U.S of A. Military for giving us this brand new Quinjet design ahead of SHIELD." He begins to laugh as the safe door swings open. But for Jane? a cloud begins to darken over everyones head.

Lance Hunter has posed:
"And Bobs?" Hunter says before they jump into action. "Don't die out there." Someone had to say it.

Then he's following behind Bobbi and her mighty table? Shield? Whatever... it blocks bullets and that's the main thing. He drops a couple of squids with a pair of quick shots. "Hope Daisy's lost her mask by this point," he murmurs before asking Bobs. "After List?"

Sam Wilson has posed:
    It would have been ominous enough to hear that coming out of Jane Foster's mouth even without the Corpse Bride makeup. That's really just the icing on top of the cake (man, they really couldn't even wait for people to finish the cake, huh? Typical HYDRA). Sam takes this information in with the kind of resigned acceptance of someone who faces this sort of thing on the regular--AKA, an Avenger--and nods once to her. He isn't expecting the sudden commotion that doesn't accompany Jane moving, but apparently she has other means, and--

    Oh, hey, a gun!

    Sam's diving out from beneath the table just as his fingers latch onto the pistol that Bobbi's thrown his way, and as he deftly rolls up to his feet, he fires a couple of times into the center mass of a nearby Squid Goon.

    Wait. HYDRA. Squid.

    Damn. If they weren't Nazi fascists Sam would almost have to acknowledge that it was well-played.

    He kicks at the knee of another approaching Hydra goon and pistol-whips them as a follow-up, before he aims and fires again. Then Sam's on the move, tucking and rolling like his life depends on it. Because it does. There's no kevlar weave or anything underneath this hoodie!

Cael Becker has posed:
    The shit hits the fan - and Cael springs into action. The goon nearest her swings around towards May and her lightsabers, but seems to be paying little attention to the cheerfully clad woman standing a step behind reach. Cael moves in towards him - kicking his knee hard from behind. As his footing buckles, she grabs the grabs the barrel of his machinegun with one hand, pulling it up so it fires harmlessly into the ceiling. Her other arm swings around, clobbering him with a basket of lemons, which soon skitters all over the place - several rolling under the table to stop beside Sam and Jane.
    In short order, she's pulled the machine gun free from the guard's grasp, and shot him with his own weapon, just as a second weapon slides to a stop by her feet. "Hey, thanks!" she says brightly, and soon has both of them hanging by straps over her torse. Dual-wielding machine guns - in this outfit?
    One thing's for certain. She can't //die// dressed like this. She'd never live it down.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
This is UNFAIR. Actual lightsabers and an Ahsoka-May brandishing them and Daisy can't be in the room to witness it. Really. But at least she will have FOOTAGE of it. Oh yes, she will. Still, the only thing she can do now is offer an inner-'woop' at it while she walks off. And totally not looking over to see the mayhem being wrought by the lightsabers. And then there's Lance doing his own Lance Solo impersonation with stealing the gun. And a Grani. And a shield-wielding Bobs. Nnnghhh.

SHIELD rocks.

Focus, Daisy-san. She looks at the two Hydrates in front of her. "Hail Hydra." she murmurs, continuing her approach. "It's a funny thing actually, would you believe my cat ate it?" Director Furry is voracious when he wants to. And that's when she springs into action. Because she is not only her powers. She puts all that drill training into practice, sliding between the two men so they can't shoot with the danger of shooting each other, a kick to disarm one and an elbow to the other's face. Block. Punch. Then a roundhouse kick to the first man to send him sprawling to the ground.

"And stay down."

Melinda May has posed:
May does not stop moving. She keeps an eye on where the others are, especially where Bobbi is providing a bullet block. But her goal is to disarm (or dehand) as many of the squids as she can. She's pretty sure Daisy has vacated the room -- which makes all the rest fair game.

She spins around to slide through another pair of limbs and ducks when his friend whips a gun around to fire at her. Bullets chatter over her head to rip through a squid coming up behind her. Time for her to escape this dance circle. She rolls forward and spins on a hip before kipping up onto her feet and slicing plasma through the goon's gun.

As she does, loud klaxons scream out overhead in tones she hasn't heard since her early days with the agency. "Nuclear alert."

Thaaaaat's not good news.

"Fucking HYDRA." She looks at the heroes in the room and at the squids falling over themselves before her. Another flash of her swords and she's taking off through the nearest door and down the cooridor to where she can guess -- from years of experience in military installations -- the explosive is located.

Someone's got to try to stop them.

Jane Foster has posed:
Grani keeps Colonel Heathers hemmed in protectively. Being a proper warhorse, and not a posh prancing Aesir pony, he's not above nipping her shoulder to keep her from running off anywhere. Gunfire left a grey spot on his hide; something else he can be enraged about later. Nudging her to encourage leaving the office, the pegasus adopts a guarded posture.

Nuclear alert is all they need.

Gunfire streams around her, and the Valkyrie pays it no attention whatsoever. She spins while darting her way through the crowd, half-cloak streaming after her. Distance to May narrows as she sprints after her, gobbling up the distance. "Which way? I worry less about a launch than a blast," she says in that heavily accented tone common to the Asgardian court. Missiles, fresh Quinjets.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Bobbi nods to Lance, "List." She looks around as the military personnel are grappling with HYDRA as well. She smirks and sees May going off after the bomb.. wherever that is. She nods to Sam and Cael, "We need to figure out what HYDRA's plan is here.."

As May heads down the corridor she runs in to Colonel Heathers stepping out of her office. A large horse behind her. "It's the missile.. this base is still an operational nuclear launch site." She points down another hall way, "Access is that way." She fumbles in her pocket and pulls out a swipe card and offers it to May.

"There's a train system underneath the facility that can get us all out of the blast radius.. if worst comes to worst. But he's after the Zephyr plans."

Bobbi rushes up catching the end of that conversation. "Then we split up. May - nuke. We'll go after List." She pauses seeing Daisy having taken out two more HYDRA next to the device, "Shut it off Daisy. You're with me and Lance - we're going after List." She looks back to Sam and Cael, "With May, stop the nuke." Then she looks around, "Where's Jane?" Spotting .. Jane? she nods, "Nuke or List, take your pick."

Colonel Heathers feels more confident with Grani there and pats the mane of the warhorse.

Lance Hunter has posed:
The nuke alarm gets a groaned "Bloody hell," from Lance, then he's pelting after Bobbi in persuit of List.

As the move down the hall stopping to check around a corner he says, "Come to an old nuclear silo... have a few laughs," he grouses like a certain New York cop caught in an LA high rise. "So what's the plan?" he asks Bobs. "Got to be going for the computers if he's after the plans yeah? Or they do it old school here and the thing's on bloody paper?"

Sam Wilson has posed:
    Halfway through a leap that just manages to clear one of the tables, Sam spots the lemonade girl dual-wielding machine guns. He impacts the Squid guy he was aiming himself at and latches on, one arm around the hostile HYDRA agent's neck in a tight grip that Sam uses to basically clothesline him, followed by a swift application of his knee dropped hard to the guy's sternum.

    "Becker!" Sam calls out. "Long time no see! We gotta get to that raincheck on beers sometime." That's about when the Nuclear Alarm starts going off.

    He looks at Cael for a brief pause. "Guess we gotta earn those beers real quick, first," is what he decides on saying, and then he's swapping out the pistol for one of the machine guns handily supplied by an unconscious HYDRA volunteer. He's on May's heels after that.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "Time and a place, Wilson!" Cael shouts back at the man - as she uses a controlled burst of fire to take down another guard. "Ladies and gentlemen - we kindly recommend that you get the fuck down, or get the fuck out - calmly and quickly!" Of course, nuclear sirens seem to recommend the 'get the fuck out' option.
    With the room appearing to be cleared, she dashes into the hall with the others, nodding as orders are issued. "Got it," she agrees. Before she can run on May's heels, though, her day gets weirder as a voice interjects itself into her mind.
    <<Hey, Life. Get on.>> There's a momentary pause before Grani adds, <<That's not actually your name, right?>>
    "It's Becker," she supplies, as she scrambles onto the pegasus's back. It's just about then that a thought floats into her mind. This could be a dream. Right? I mean - this feels like a dream.
    Probably safest to assume it isn't, though.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
With the two thugs down Daisy immediately goes over to the dampener, starting to fiddle with it. And it's not like it's rocket science to deactivate it, specially not to someone as tech-savvy. So after a bit of a 'fight' with the device it eventually powers down. And those with powers? They will sense them starting to return.

About time.

"Alright, device down..." a thrilling hum runs through the room, her vibrations flowing, full of intent. For List. One-track mind much? She barely registers the nuclear alert with all her focus on catching up to List, nodding at Bobbi and joining them in going after the old Hydra scientist responsible for killing and imprisoning so many Inhumans.

Still, she looks over to the others going to take down the nuke. "Good luck. Don't die!"

Melinda May has posed:
May has never tangled directly with List, though she's heard and seen him on enough surveillance tapes. She knows, however, how personal taking him down is to both Daisy and Bobbi. And at the end of the day... they're better suited to it than she.

At least, in this instance they are.

Besides, she can handle the nuke. Not the first time. "Let's go," she says to those on her six. She nods to Heathers, tucking the card into her belt and then taking off down the indicated passage.

She moves swiftly, glancing back only once at the image of the girl with the dress and the guns on the pegasus. Yep. Just another day at SHIELD.

Her empathy returns to her and she inhales a deep breath of relief she never thought she'd feel. Because, seriously... how many years without these powers that just a few months should make them feel so 'natural'?

However, the return of those powers actually changes her whole approach. Because now she can *feel* the enemies ahead. Like any good jedi, she doesn't need to see them, now, to know where they are and how to counter them. Thus, what follows is surreal.

Cael on her pegasus with guns. May with her lightsabers spinning like Ahsoka herself. Sam on their heels. This isn't at all what HYDRA was expecting.

Jane Foster has posed:
Grani's flight speed is only mildly slower than the Valkyrie's when he gets going, though the obvious limitations apply to him like walls and ceilings. Something that large should not be so nimble, but he is, fully able to takie Cael-is-Life. His delight -- and a bit of righteous anger in the face of indignities done -- is palpable for any empath to pick up.

The Valkyrie, helmed and armed to the teeth, moves right past Ahsoka May when the moment presents itself. Dodging the lightsabers, she uses the wider dimensions of the room to spring into three-dimensional action. Her own wings unspool in a frisson of blue electric fire, floating golden disks operating at the joints but the rest incandescent. The violence comes courtesy of glittering energy chains in the same aureate hue, ripping out in two different directions like they have a mind of their own.

They do, in fact, directed as much by Aesir command as the prodigiously enchanted relic itself. Her aerobatics twist to catch anyone lurking around what remotely looks like a bomb or control panel. Frankly, anything electronic will do.

HYDRA snatched up in radiant chained tentacles turns the tables on their whole motif, just as one Squid head turning around to bite the others.

In all that, the Valkyrie doesn't aim to break necks or lives, rather focused on thoroughly threshing a path for May and Cael and Falcon to exploit in kind.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
"On a disk drive in a vault," the Colonel explains to Lance. Kind of old school, but also kind of not. Bobbi stares at Lance a moment at his Die Hard misquoting. "Honey, don't forget to make fists with your toes. I love you so much" She leans in and kisses him on the lips. She holds up the ring, "It already says don't die on it." She winks and takes off down the hallway.

As she steps out of the corridor and in to an open foyer - she recognises it - security check in. She spies her batons. The guards standing there with guns up laugh at her. Bobbi laughs back and holds up her hands as if to surrender.

The gloves on her hands activate and the batons whip toward them doing their super magnetic recall thing, striking a guard each on the head from behind. The guards crumple to the ground as Bobbi catches the twin batons. "Duck?," she says amusing herself as she steps past them and rushes down the corridor toward the vault room.

Dr. List, with plans in hand, strolls out of the room and sees Agents of SHIELD barrelling toward him. Daisy in the lead and he scowls angrily, hand going to draw his side pistol.

Lance Hunter has posed:
Lance snorts at the balls with your toes line. "Love you too Bobs," he tells her before ducking out of sight while Bobbi does the surrender ploy coming back out of cover when the two guards drop. Lance puts away his pistol and helps himself to a submachine gun, offering the other one up to Bobbi. "Ho, ho, ho," he offers with a grin.

Sam Wilson has posed:
    If he didn't run around with the Avengers, Sam would probably feel a lot more flat-footed in this situation. There's Cael on a pegasus, someone who is either a huge fan of Thor or is a legit Asgardian, and... well, there's nothing too unusual about May being in costume, because it's just a costume. Maybe the lightsabers? But, well, Tony Stark funds the Avengers, fancy tech is just to be expected at this point.

    He uses the machine gun in his hands more as a melee weapon than its intended use, though he lays down suppressing fire to the sides to forestall any encroaching HYDRA. May's the one with the keycard, Sam's just going to do his best to clear the way for her, same as the Valkyrie.

Cael Becker has posed:
    The truth of things is - Cael has never in her life been on a horse - let along a pegasus. So as much as she would like to 'look cool' pulling this off - there's a whole lot of 'Whoooooa fuck!' on her features as she grips for all she's worth with one hand, and holds a machine gun with the other. tries to hold tightly with her legs as well - using those muscles in new ways that are sure to make her feel sore later. Oh well.
    When she feels like she has a clear, safe shot - she squeezes off small, controlled bursts of fire - and she's very much starting to get the impression that her mount is setting her up for those shots.
    "Wilson - later we talk about whether or not we're losing our grip on reality. Yeah?"

Daisy Johnson has posed:
Was that Grani? And why is Cael dual-wielding machine guns while dressed in pink and yellow? All good questions that go unanswered as Daisy's focus is on what's ahead of them. And that's on the smoochy duo. "Oh, get a room you two.." an amused smirk. But at least it distracts her from that murderous intent upon List. Love beats hate after all!

Of course that List then has to go and ruin it all by crossing their sights. And Daisy lifts a brow. She doesn't even say an hello. Instead one of her hands lifts up and she points it at the man.

A moment after and he's being tossed to a wall, then to a window, crashing through it with the impact.

"Welcome to the party, pal." See what you have done, Lance? Now it's Die Hard quotes all over.

Melinda May has posed:
May extinguishes her swords, tucking them into her belt and pulling out the key card. She flashes it before the reader. The locked door swings open with a heavy groan.

She pushes through and steps into the room. The sound of rifles cocking echoes out into the hallway. May's eyes, however, aren't on the Squids. It's on the small, blonde ninja in the middle of the room, with her Xena-esque chakra and fitted black body armor.

May doesn't think twice. She flexes her left hand, rolling her wrist. Blue energy flows over her form and the Ahsoka costume disappears beneath black body armor of her own, limned in silver and navy. She pulls out the sword hilts and ignites the blades.

The blonde ninja launches herself at the senior SHIELD agent, confident in her youth and speed. May will concede the girl *is* fast. She's also skilled But never discount age and experience. Especially when it's weilding the advantage of emotional projection.

May spins beneath the chakra as it flies and boomerangs back. She flows beneath its return and brings her swords up to keep her off-balance. With each feint -- and they're almost all feints -- she flexes her emotional mojo against the young woman: frustration, uncertainty, fear, even anger. May knowns how to weild these as weapons.

She doesn't know how she learned to weild them so fluidly, mind. That's new. But she doesn't care, either. As long as it works.

In the end, the ninja girl is panting and raging, trying to escape the flurry of May's attacks. Though she does manage to score enough hits of her own to make it clear she's no slouch and is a legitimate threat, May's 31st century armor is proof against the high tech bladed disk.

May slides past her, under her guard and spins around. The pommels of her swords slam simultaneously into the back of the girl's head. She drops like a rock. Standing over her, May extinguishes one blade and flicks the Colonel's key card from her belt toward Sam. "Let's get this thing shut down."

The Avenger knows how, right? Because May's guarding the unconscious ninja.

Jane Foster has posed:
Engagement comes in a rush of snapshots. May engages with a ninja and any other HYDRA agents engaged in the battle royale are in a fine place to get a hoof, bullet, or chain wrapped around them. Teamwork makes the belligerent dream work. As they're whittled down one by one, the Valkyrie's main task is pushing aside any lingering resistance and assuring the nuke does not hit 0:00 or the equivalent.

Half her purpose navigating is making sure the situation does not present itself without her, Falcon or Cael acting first.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Bobbi grins and replies, "Now I have a machine gun?" She holds out her hand to take it but the transaction is cut short when she sees List. And Daisy. And Daisy blasting List. She can't fault Daisy for shooting first and asking questions later - not against THIS guy of all people. But... She presses her lips together and starts to sprint down the hall way with batons in hand.

She's never run this fast in her life as she passes by Daisy. The wall ahead is blown away by Daisy's quakes and List's body impacting through it. It blasts out in to the open - a large multistory drop down in to a missile well.. in it, a missile.

The other group can see, too, across the way that Dr. List goes flying out over the open space and Bobbi jumps out after him. She calls out, "Quake! - catch me!" As she reaches out letting go of her precious batons to catch List.

Well, the arm that's holding the Zephyr plans. As they're falling she wrests the drive free from him. He slowly raises up his pistol hand to shoot at Bobbi and Bobbi squeezes her eyes. Either her velocity stops or she takes one in the skull and dies with the man as she lets go of him.

Lance Hunter has posed:
"Bobs!" Hunter shouts following Bobbi into the silo, but stopping short of the long drop, he looks back, "Daisy, get her out of there!" Not like the agent isn't likely working on it!

Sam Wilson has posed:
    "Over beers?" Sam calls back to Cael, because the reappearance of HYDRA was enough to make a man mighty thirsty, and now they're facing down a nuclear crisis. That deserves some real good beer. On tap. Craft. Sam wants the full bougie experience, if it's not served to him in a cold glass by a man with a ridiculous moustache, he will be upset.

    When they enter the control room, it's obvious that May is going straight for the boss battle. That's fine, Sam is more than happy to team up with Cael and the Sif-cosplayer to handle the adds. That's gamer speak for the enemy NPC goons that bosses summon.

    Look, he spent a lot of time with his nephews down in Louisiana, okay?

    There's action happening all around them but Sam puts a few bullets in HYDRA agents getting in his way before he drops the machine gun as he slides home. Home being the control console. He *also* played a lot of baseball with the nephews. Then he reaches up to tap at his ear, or more specifically at the subtle Avengers comm-unity hidden behind it. "JARVIS, mind walking me through how to shut this down?"

    And then Sam's bent over, following the AI's voice over his comm as he's walked through deactivating the nuke, trusting the other SHIELD folks nearby to watch his back as he does so.

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael's starting to find her balance - a little bit. This is definitely a 'throw her in the deep end' version of learning to ride a horse. Thing is - she's getting the impression the horse (pegasus, whatever) is doing his best to make it smooth and easy for her - even as he kicks with his handquarters, hitting a guy in the chest, and sending him flying back into a wall. "Beers, whiskey - whichever!" she calls back to Sam.
    There's even a moment where she manages to get a firm enough grip on her balance that she lets go that death-grip she has on the horses mane - and brings up both machine guns at once. It's wildly impractical but- come on.
    Sure - she's mostly just firing with the one in her right - controlled, carefully aimed bursts that take down one of the goons each time, while the machine gun in her left hand is only there to make the goons think twice about flanking her from the other side. "I swear, Wilson, if you let me get irratiated in a skirt I will never forgive you."
    So, what, it's okay as long as she's wearing pants?

Daisy Johnson has posed:
Good riddance. Daisy is just about to turn away when Bobbi .., runs past her? To jump after List?! The surprise vanishes quickly and Daisy runs after alongside Bobbi and Lance to that edge. And no hesitation when she calls her powers to the fore, with all the mastery she has been forging over the last couple of years.

The song of the universe.

Her senses flow, finding Bobbi's vibrations, a shield forming about her to both keep pesky gunshots away but also to stop her descent. Slow as to not have bones breaking or similar if there's too quick of a stop. Her eyes stay on Bobbi fully, attention away from List. Between revenge and her family? She will always choose the latter.

"Got you!"

Melinda May has posed:
When Sam succeeds in disarming the nuke, it's obvious. The whole rig powers down and there's a soft chime. Apparently, because they're using a borrowed nuke and not something they designed themselves, HYDRA didn't have a chance to put a failsafe in.

May can tell when it's dormant. She knows the sound and the machine's state codes. She's disarmed enough of them herself. "Well done, Wilson..."

Now all that's left, in this place, is the clean-up. She can only hope that Bobbi and the others will fare so well. Still, avoiding yet another HYDRA nuke on SHIELD's watch? May will take the win.

Hell, yes, she will.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Z9bou5n4uI&t=31s

Bobbi's eyes open as she watches List slowly fall away from her, speeding up, as he plummets down the missile silo. She sees little sparkles of gun bullet shell fragments splatter about as he fires his gun and those too fall away.

Bobbi's no stranger to jumping off of high things. Usually on to other things. She was once caught as Mockingbird on the news jumping off a shopping mall roof on to a giant attack robot. Lately, it's been safer thanks to her wings.. but she had no wings this time. Only a Daisy.

And a Daisy she can count on. She holds out the hard drive, "Zephyr's safe..."

As Jarvis talks Sam through the disarming of a 60s era nuclear missile warhead, the klaxons stop and slowly but surely the base comes back under control of the military.

There's the distant echoing crunch sound, splat, of Dr. Helmut List's body hitting the floor at the bottom of the missile silo. She presses her lips together.. and agrees with Daisy. Good riddance. As another chapter of HYDRA ends, so starts a new chapter of SHIELD.

Jane Foster has posed:
That's the beauty of those things: closure.

List capsizing down the length of the missile silo holds an immediate interest for that Valkyrie, for the impending death is not one she intends to let him escape from.

Sparkling chains retract and she swivels to go ensure the old monocled bastard has a date with his iron-clad destiny. The helmed woman vanishes in a trice, whistling sharply. Grani can take care of himself, seeing Cael safely to the ground before he flaps off to do whatever cool Aesir horses do. Hint: it involves a library and a bucket of mead.

List's crunch will be something ground down. His soul, tattered and bitter thing it is, has not long to wait in the fractured shell that once housed it.

<<You lose,>> the Valkyrie says rather succinctly. <<Now it is time for you to go. It's a long way down.>>