8927/Cold Lead

Cold Lead
Date of Scene:	03 December 2021
Location:	Siberia
Synopsis:	No description
Cast of Characters:	Lara Croft, Frank Castle

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Lara Croft has posed:
    It is cold in Siberia. That was something Lara definitely knew. She had been moving through the cities this far north, and as she got closer, she had found Trinity's undeniable presence. While they tried to hide, they were simply too big to exist without messages and notes. In short, she had a paper trail that showed they had been extorting the people here.
    Snow was falling, which worked in Lara's favor. The labor camp was filled with workers and several men with guns. They weren't moving with any sort of purpose, but she hadn't exactly made herself known, yet. She was moving quietly, trying to discern what anyone was doing. The mixture of modern equipment and lighting and power lines running from noisy generators and ancient, stone ruins was something she was growing increasingly familiar with.

Frank Castle has posed:
The War takes Frank all over the world. Contrary to the belief of many people in the world, Frank does not limit The War to New York, or even the United States; that's simply the easiest place to find targets, with New York being one of the major financial capitals of the world.

Still, he has his sources... and while he was tracking a target who tried to run from him in the States, he went to Siberia of all places to get away from Frank.

It was a mistake. Frank does not let targets go if he can help it... and has tracked the man down to a nearby city... where his target was 'conscripted' for the labor camp.

It's yet another new organization to add to the watch list, and it has had Frank change plans. Now, instead of being a routine assassination, this has turned into a recon operation, and Frank has had Microchip transport a lot of new equipment to the region for this, including a stealth recon drone of Microchip's own design made to survive in the region for short periods... and the Battle Van is nearby on standby.

The Punisher himself? He's wearing winter stealth gear at the outskirts of the camp, using eletronic binoculars to send recordings to a storage server as he archives his recon... and works on getting a look at what he's dealing with.

Lara Croft has posed:
    Lara, meanwhile, has only what she brought with her. Granted, she obsessively planned for this, and she has the money to get anything she needs for it, but there are no magic drones or battle vans in her repertoire. She shifted through the camp, remaining unseen. Turning a corner, she is forced to duck behind that corner again. She peeks out again at the scene of three men lined up, execution-style, their heads lowered submissively while a bigger man yells at them, pacing back and forth. She looks around, making sure she's not being observed. When he turns his back on her position, she moves as quickly and quietly as she can. In a few moments, he's down. She drags him toward cover while the prisoners notice her. She urges them to remain quiet, but isn't sure how she's going to get out of this one. Saving human lives is important, but she may have just signed her own death warrant.

Frank Castle has posed:
It should come as no huge surprise that the recon drone above clocks this on the thermal sensors and Microchip pings the Punisher's commlink to notify him about the new development silently. Pulling out a tablet from a utility pouch, the Punisher watches the feed. Then, he grunts before he starts moving to switchc positions.

That seems like a new intruder... and one that might know what's going on better than him. This has labor camp signs all over it, sure... but why?

Time to find out what happens when you poke the hornets nest.

With a dash, Punisher moves along the ground out of sight, heading for the nearest roofed building; this is routine stuff for him, and when he gets near it, he grabs his grapnel gun and pulls himself up before getting into position with his M4, scoping the area the intruder is in to observe.

As he does so, Punisher whispers, "Give me overwatch."

Above, the recon drone goes high, and the sensor suite goes broad spectrum over the entire camp with thermals, giving the Punisher a good overview of the situation for now.

Lara Croft has posed:
    Lara has no idea she's being watched, except by the prisoners. She speaks to them in fluent Russian. They take over moving the body, and she takes the weapon off of it. She looks around her corner again and rushes under the drone's view. She dips into the shadows as the snowfall intensifies. The light cutting through the snow from the floodlights provides lots of ambient fill, which is making it harder for her, but the dense snow in the air at least makes it easier for her to move unseen and unheard.

Frank Castle has posed:
Ok, so she's just darting around. Time to actually poke the nest.

From above, the Punisher takes out a silencer, screws it on... and starts headshotting the guards in a pattern designed to keep them from alerting one another from his vantage point.

He'll probably leave one alive, but this has gone on long enough.

Lara Croft has posed:
    Lara comes around a corner, weapon drawn, just in time to see a man's head burst against a nearby wall. She watches him slump down and looks around, ducking behind a truck from the Punisher's direct line of fire. She's still visible with that overwatch the drone is making, of course. Her body heat is strong enough, especially in this cold, that she's no hope of being invisible to a technologically prepared foe. Of course, she could have cleared the camp herself, which means it's childsplay for her unseen ally, though it's clear she's not sold on the ally bit.

Frank Castle has posed:
Once he's dealt with all the visible guards, the Punisher drops, combat rolls, and starts heading for the stragglers, only peeking out of corners and headshotting before moving on.

If Lara is paying attention, the stranger screams military.

Lara Croft has posed:
    Of course, Lara can't do anything BUT pay attention after that headshot right in front of her. She can barely see him through the snowfall in that camo, but she does note the expedience. She moves in his shadow, looking at bodies he's leaving behind. Only killing the Trinity members. Soon, there's not even stragglers left behind, save maybe one if he stopped himself before completely taking care of everyone. Lara holstered her weapon. She had no chance in a fight with this whoever it was. Hopefully, he wouldn't shoot her for being a witness.

Frank Castle has posed:
He does save one; in fact, Punisher pulls out a pistol from that gear web he's wearing and shoots the last straggler in the head... and there's no blood. Rubber rounds?

Nonetheless, the M4 is dropped, and suddenly the stranger looks at Lara directly.

He raises his voice. "You can come out. If I wanted to kill you, this camp would be a warzone with the duel by now."

Lara Croft has posed:
    Lara raises her hands and stands, stepping out from behind her cover. "Don't think I'm not grateful," she says. Despite her winter gear, she's not wearing a hat, and her hair is pulled back. "I admit, you've probably done this a lot more cleanly than I could have."

Frank Castle has posed:
"This is basic stuff from my commando days." The stranger explains, "I did this on a routine, and I've only gotten better since." He turns then, holsters the pistol, and grabs up the M4, idling it against him chest as he starts walking up to Lara.

"I'm The Punisher. Who the fuck are you and why are you in a labor camp pissing around with these idiots?"

Lara Croft has posed:
    Lara takes a couple steps back as he approaches. "I'm not sure I appreciate your tone, Mr. Punisher," she says. She keeps her hands off of her weaponry, but definitely lowers them. "I'm not associated with these people. I'm on the trail of the Prophet of Constantinople," she confesses.

Frank Castle has posed:
"I don't give a fuck if you appreciate my tone or not. You're an unknown quantity that seems opposed to these people, but I don't know anything about you beyond that." The man grates, his face still covered by that winter balaclava and googles. "Do you have any idea who's running this shitshow, so I don't have to interrogate the small fry behind me? That'll go a long way towards telling me if I need to worry about you."

He stops a healthy distance from her at least; he seems to respect personal space and knows when to stop so the other party feels out of melee range.

Lara Croft has posed:
    Lara hesitates only briefly. "Trinity," she says. "They're after the same thing I am, I think," she says. "But they're using forced labor to excavate ruins to locate it by brute force."

Frank Castle has posed:
With the shotgun microphone picking everything up on the drone, Punisher doesn't bother to ask Microchip if he's searching that name; it's already being done. "Sounds like a group that needs to be fucked." He states, "What's your read on this place, then?"