9891/A House Divided: Springbok Down

A House Divided: Springbok Down
Date of Scene:	29 January 2022
Location:	Abul, Qurac
Synopsis:	A counter-terrorism operation in Qurac uncovers strange secrets ...
Cast of Characters:	Carol Danvers, Achilles, Steve Rogers, Wanda Maximoff, James Barnes, Natasha Romanoff, Jessica Drew, Michael Erickson

---

Carol Danvers has posed:
Abul is a city that exists almost out of spite. Perched on the edge of the vast and empty Rub' al Khali - the 'Empty Quarter' - it is a town constantly buffeted by hot desert winds. Out here in the poorer districts, the sand is piled up against doors and walls with some buildings being almost entirely submerged by the ever-encroaching dessert. But for all that, tradition dictates that it is the capital of Qurac - a rogue nation frequently at odds with the western world and a frequent port for the world's criminal element.

The briefing for the mission had been in-depth. A task force considering primarily of Avengers with SHIELD support, they were to recover a United States Senator by the name of Morgan Grass. Publicly, Grass had been on a goodwill tour throughout the Middle East. Senior Agent Yang had revealed aboard the Quinjet as it passed over the Red Sea in the dead of night that Grass was shoring up business interests in the oil sector. Despite the trade embargo against Qurac, Grass had been doing business there for years.

Only now he was being held hostage by an armed militia who called themselves U.L.T.I.M.A.T.U.M. - a radical anti-nationalist group seeking to destabilize the United States. They've made no ransom demands, but SHIELD intelligence reveals that the Senator - codenamed 'Springbok' is being held in a safehouse here on the outskirts of Abul.

The Quinjet lets the party off twenty minutes out into the desert. The rolling dunes surround them save for the glittering band of lights that is Abul to the south.

"<Osprey to Sword Element,>" comes Agent Yang's voice through the comms, calling the group by their established codename, "<You'll need to proceed on foot to the target. We'll be monitoring you from the air. Over. Captain Rogers, you?ve got the lead on the ground.>"

Achilles has posed:
    One of the specific details of almost any mission for Angelo that is to be undertaken on foreign soil is his spending most of the travel time listening to snippets of the local language. He's learned... many MANY languages in his day, and just needs to remember some of the details that he hasn't used in quite some time.

    Dressed in local garb, and adopting the mannerisms of the local people, Angelo is lightly armed... except for his ever-present Swiss-Army-Bracers thanks to Hephaestus.

    He is happy to take orders from Cap, and behaves in a calm and professional manner. Over comms he says, "Feel free to call on me for translations. I have the local lingo mostly figured out." ... that said as he moves into position on the ground generally behind Cap, but with his SHIELD brothers and sisters... okay maybe distant cousins. What?

Steve Rogers has posed:
This kind of thing is old hat for Captain America. A clandestine mission into hostile territory to rescue someone. The only difference this time is that Steve is rather Annoyed at the man he's here to rescue. Secret deals, breaking of sanctions and embargoes that are in place for good reason.

Still, he is a man of duty. In the last few minutes of the trip, he double-checks his gear, tightening the strap on his helmet. He looks grim. At least he's here with people he trusts.

<Sword Element moving out, heading for the target.>

The only concession to local garb is a big hooded cloak, wrapped around him with the hood up as he trudges through the sand.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
So the better to not end up with a faceful of sand, Wanda wears loose garments and a pale scarf wrapped around her head similar to a shayla. She could pass better for a local than most with her complexion. The glass cannon moves pretty easily in such an environment.

Desert winds can flay skin to the bone and permanently blind the unsuspecting. Not for nothing she extends her mental influence far enough to keep the likelihood for a shamal happening pretty low. Red light rims her irises. Not obvious, unless someone looks too close. "I will watch for anything out of the ordinary."

Given her codename? That's likely anything extraordinary.

James Barnes has posed:
"I still don't see why we're bothering," Bucky Barnes mutters. After seventy odd years of being a brainwashed assassin for Hydra, at this point, he just doesn't have a lot of empathy for people like Senator Morgan 'Springbok' Grass. "Let them keep him. Good riddance."

He knows it flies in the face of 'duty', but unlike Steve, a lot more shit went on in Bucky's brain and that kind of thinking is a bit more difficult for him to muster at this point. Peggy insisted, though, and with Steve, Natasha, and Wanda coming along, he only put up a token grumble, instead of a fight.

He's decked in the same garb as Steve, with any gear he needs hiding under his cloak; he keeps his big metal arm hidden, too, and stays near the Scarlet Witch. Wanda gets a quick, psychic: << You are out of the ordinary, >> but he doesn't look at her. He just smiles thinly as they walk along.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha is not generally a fountain of conversation when she's on the clock. Indeed, mot of the trip over was spent checking and re-checking her equipment to an obsessive degree; to the point where one can hear her pistols click at the end of one last check after they've hit the ground before Natasha finally says anything.

"It won't be far from here." She says simply, moving beside Captain America, and looking up at him. "On you, Cap." The agent's long been inclined to operate on her own authority whenever possible. It says something that she simply rolls with Rogers being in charge, after their time spent working with each other. She looks to Bucky, though, when he complains - disguising any discomfort she might feel at his presence - and blandly notes "You can only punish him if you have him." and shrugs, "Countries are possessive that way."

Wearing a hooded cloak over her gear, Natasha simple moves forward towards their destination, keeping alert and aware.

Jessica Drew has posed:
<"I never thought I would take the veil this way,"> Jess quips over coms as she pulls the hejab over head.

With her eyes heavily kolhed from a yard away no one would pick her out from the local women as long as they don't notice her boots. The heavy black garment covers the standard SHIELD issue tactical gear. A slit under the arm will give her access to ICER in its holster and knife that she carries.

<Right, running in this thing is going to be interesting.">

Michael Erickson has posed:
    It isn't the first time that Erickson's been to Qurac, but it has been a very long time. 1987? 88? He can't quite remember, though the vast stretch of trackless desert beyond Abul's borders has never left his memory. He's seen places like that before, though never made by nature. The Rub' al Khali reminds him of every planet touched by carnivorous virus warheads, nothing left but sand.

    In any case. He too wears native costume, a loose black thoub worn over BDUs and body armor, only his boots visible beneath the hem. Keffiyeh bound over his head, black as well. Wrapped about his face. He moves along in formation with the Captain at its head, ICER beneath his robes and a fighting knife of his people sheathed in the small of his back.

    Wary. Quiet. He moves, blue eyes sharp like pale blue chips of glacial ice in the closed folds of his headscarf.

Carol Danvers has posed:
The trek through the desert might be a grueling one for people who don't live very active, extreme lives on the day-to-day. The dunes are constantly shifting, the winds buffeting them with stinging sand. There's nothing to hear except the crunch-squeak of sand beneath boots. Their footfalls leave a long trail behind them that is swallowed up by the desert just as quickly as it is formed. The insertion point was chosen well.

Before long, they begin to near the outskirts of the city. The compound was marked on their maps, and now they can see it in a way that allows for more detail than a satellite photograph. It opens out onto dusty scrubland, a weathered lean-to shack erected against one of the broken sandstone walls that may have, at one point, fenced in the courtyard. The building itself is three floors high, built mostly of whitewashed sandstone that has been stained by the hot winds from the desert. The lights are out, and an untrained observer would think it deserted.

But to the trained eyes of Sword Element, it is clear that someone is at home. A figure clad in grey coveralls, a tan special forces beret and a facemask prowls back and forth along the rooftop. In his hands he holds a rifle of indeterminate make and model. Occasionally, the curtains blocking the windows will shift to reveal a sliver of greenish light within.

<"Osprey to Sword Element. Appreciate your opinion, Agent Barnes, but we don't need whatever chaos we'll get if ULTIMATUM shoot this guy on live television. Besides, this one comes from the Director himself. It's up to you how you approach this. Fast and loud or slow and quiet. But Springbok is the priority. If it comes down to it, just grab him and get to the exfil. These guys'll keep for another day.>"

Steve Rogers has posed:
Cap is not a fan of these kind of environs, but he deals with the heat and the sand without complaint. He is, after all, in business mode. Though the corner of his mouth twitches slightly at Bucky's sass. He doesn't exactly disagree, but, well. Orders.

Once the building is in sight, he gives it a good once over, frowning in thought.

"Alright, folks. So here's how I think we should do this. Two prongs. Angelo, Wanda, and myself will be Team Loud. We'll run distraction by being really obvious and annoying. Nat, Jess, Bucky and Michael will go break into the building and exfil the asset. Any objections or questions? We don't have a lot of time here, I don't think."

Achilles has posed:
    Loud and annoying. That is one of Angelo's specialties. "I can do that." replies Angelo. He draws his ICER from under his robes, and nods to Cap. "Just say the word." he remarks, "And if need be, let me play bait, point man, or whatever might get me shot instead of someone else. It's something of a special talent of mine." he says, his voice sounding like it's JUST about to shed the last vestiges of an English accent.

    But he is ready, and even has a spare ammo mag in his left hand for quick reloads should the need arise.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Abul gets closer in a glimmer of lights. No matter how much Wanda studied the satellite imagery and whatever street-level photos come out of Qurac, she needs time to get used to the landscape. A psychic shrug answers Bucky: << I do not look for myself most of the time. >> Her veiled smile twitches up a little. She and Cap agree on the matter of sass.

The breakdown in orders is quick. A nod followed by a verbal, "Understood," finds her moving over to Cap's side. Team Loud won't take long to form. She doesn't weapons to draw. "Call 'Kestrel' for immediate exfil."

James Barnes has posed:
Bucky gives Natasha a glance and then just says, "You and I both know that's not true. If the U.S. didn't care if the Senator lived or died, and just wanted him punished quietly, they wouldn't have sent Captain America."

They would have sent the Winter Soldier.

Not that he does that kind of work anymore. What? Don't look at him that way. He's _reformed_. He was brainwashed! There were mitigating circumstances!

Osprey's retort to his grumbling gets a snort. "Uh huh."

Steve's orders get a quick nod and then he gives Wanda a quick glance and a bump with his shoulder, << More's the pity, >> before turning to the others and giving them a short, sharp hand gesture. _Let's go_.

Just like that, Team Quiet is out and about.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha looks to Bucky and arches an eyebrow, clearly deciding this merits broadcasting her bemusement in lieu of her usual poker face. "I was referring to jail time. Not everybody gets a bullet in the end."

Natasha goes to one knee as she overlooks the target sight, keeping eyes on it as Rogers goes over the plan. "Roger." Natasha acknowledges, without irony. If the brass wanted 'quiet' they would have sent her and Barton out here alone. It's easier to do her job when hostile eyes are elsewhere anyway. "We'll move when the screaming starts." se says, and begins to quietly move into position.

Jessica Drew has posed:
The wind whips the hejab, pressing it against Jess's face and tangling between her legs. She holds it to herself with an arm folded across her waist as she fights the wind, alert behind the veil's grill for potential threats.

<<Roger that. Leave the quiet to us. Likely Springbok is on the 3rd floor."

The SHIELD agent continues to trudge toward the target, more or less confident in the anonymity of her disguise while waiting for pandemonium to break loose with Angelo in the lead of the mayhem.

Michael Erickson has posed:
    Michael is a different sort of man in the field. Quiet still, he radiates a kind of grim tension, a barbed spring in him wound up. << As you command, >> he says quietly into comms, and looks to Barnes before heading off after the lot. He carries the intensity with him that perhaps the assassins and soldiers among them might recognize; wherever Erickson's come from, he hasn't been reformed. Whatever needs to happen resolve the mission, blood will not stop him. That's a man who's murdered folk in trenches.

    He moves on after the others in his team, his steps careful, his shoulders lowering as he slinks on toward the structure. Watchful, always.

Carol Danvers has posed:
Team Loud move around to their side of the building, finding what must be a side entrance or loading dock of some kind. A single, battered light is mounted over the door and casts a flickering light over two men. Both are dressed in the same dark coveralls and tan berets, though over this they wear flak jackets of white with a black and red fist emblazoned on them. They're sharing a cigarette, one speaking to the other.

" - verdammt heisse."

" Du bist ein Saugling. In Katar war es doppelt so heisse."

"Ja, ja. Werden Sie jemals wegen Katar die Klappe halten?"

It's a discussion not in Quraci Arabic, but what would sound to trained ears like Swiss German. The first guard rolls his eyes, turning around to face the direction from which Team Loud are coming. He hasn't seen them yet, and he touches his radio to call in his position.

Team Quiet find no such guards. Only a series of blacked-out windows. As they move up the flank of the building, the only source of light seems to be coming from a rectangular window oddly situated at ground level. Looking inside, a number of similarly white-armored militia appear to be sorting through a stack of plastic crates. Each with the numbers '431' emblazoned on them. The glass muffles their voices, though the occasional word indicates they too are speaking Swiss German.

"Osprey to Sword Element. Going to change your codenames. Team Loud, you're still Sword Element. Team Quiet, re-branding you as Blade Element. Osprey Actual is airborne and ready for exfil on your mark. Good luck.">

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steave leads Sword Element around to the Frontal Assault side of the building. "On my mark," Steve stage whispers to Angelo and Wanda. His sharp eyes notice that they haven't been spotted yet. He smiles slightly.

"Go!"

Steve bolts straight ahead, darting through the sand until the ground's surface changes. He reaches for a hem of his cloak and whips it off, sending it fluttering through the air. At the same time, he pulls his shield from his back, mounting it on his forearm.

The big white star seems to glow in the light. He's made himself a Target.

"Treten Sie zuruck und niemand muss heute verletzt werden!" Stand down and no one has to get hurt today.

Achilles has posed:
    It really is no surprise that Cap of all people picked up a little Deutsch in his time during the war. Angelo moves out just as easily, surging forward and taking aim with his ICER. He is assuming that Cap wants zero lethal casualties on either side today... hence the ICER.

    But he doesn't open fire right away. Cap has taken the lead and demonstrated the need to draw it out with conversation just a wee bit longer. But he reinforces Cap's statement with some more Deutsch, "Du weisst, wer das ist. Es besteht keine Notwendigkeit, Ihnen Schaden zuzufugen, wenn Sie kooperieren!" he calls out, (You know who this is. There is no need to harm you if you cooperate.) for those who do not read Deutsch so well.

    But he is in a standard two handed shooting stance, waiting to see how this goes down.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Wanda spoke German before English, and she imperceptibly shakes her head. Doha's many delights shall be explored later. The movement of a guard's hand to the radio stiffens her shoulders.

The shayla slides back to her shoulders when she advances at a quick walk. No hope keeping up with Cap at a full run. Angelo will outpace her too. But she needs them to see her, hands at her sides, not very impressive. An invisible curse starts building around any visible weapons the two Swiss might carry.

"Transusen!" she calls out. Her German's straight up Berlin. "Das ist ja Kinderkacke!" Hey lazyasses. This is a bunch of childish bullshit!

A red glow comes to her fingers if the guards fail to take the hint.

James Barnes has posed:
Bucky frowns once he gets the partial lay of the line inside the place. Blacked out windows or not, he finds that one spot to get a glimpse inside and he formulates some idea of a plan.

"Drew, check the higher floors. Find the Senator." He glances at the other two. "Erickson, Romanoff we go in here, clean our way up until she tells us where to go specifically. On Sword Element's mark --"

Which means they wait until Steve and Team Loud do their th -- and there it is. Steve's German accent. "How is your German still that bad? You've been around eighty years!" He berates his friend while grabbing the handle of one of the back doors with his metal hand and just wrenching it open, signaling for the team to go in. _Go go go_.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha puts her back to the wall as she creeps towards the conspicuous window sideways in a crouch. She rises up near the window, craning her neck to turn one eye towards it and look inside while staying as far out of view as she can.

"Four. Three. One." Natasha murmurs over coms. "It's on crates all over the place." It's not necessarily pertinent, but if the crates were to be destroyed, and Team Blade were to, say, die, it'd be useful if someone had note of it.

When the noise starts, Natasha waits for the armored Militia to leave the room, before she puts herself in front of the window and twists her Widow Gauntlet on one wrist. Leveling it at the window, Natasha begins to fire a narrow but intense beam of energy, drawing a circle that nearly touches every corner of the window; seeking to remove the glass and leave a hole big enough to exfiltrate through, if necessary.

She turns her head and sees Bucky loudly rip a door off of its hinges.

Natasha's lips form a very flat line.

There are certain things you just learn to roll with on Avengers ops.

Natasha moves through the open window, drawing her silenced pistol and moving quietly in search of their target.

Jessica Drew has posed:
After eyeballing the distance, Jess shoots a web above the third-floor window, hoping the noise of the door being kicked in will distract the guards from the target. Then, without hesitation, she clambers lightly up the side of the building, only pausing to take the gun out of her holster.

<<Okay, almost in.>>

Balanced above the window, she kicks it in and pushes herself through it into the room without any idea of how many will be waiting for her.

Michael Erickson has posed:
    But while they've been approaching, Michael's hand has dipped into the depths of his robe and withdrawn a flat, disclike thing that looks something like a monocle with a slight dome of white material instead of a lens. The x-ray scanner is fifty years old or so, and hasn't been used in a while - but without fail it snaps to life as he places it over his right eye and it adheres to his skin. << Target spotted on visualizer, >> he intones quietly over comms. << Third floor, looks like an interior room. Appears to be restrained, strapped to something. >>

    But with that said, still wearing the monocle, Erickson slides into the building behind Barnes and Nat, drawing from the small of his back a long, slightly curved blade of dull black crystal, holding it blade-down as he slinks lowly through the hall beyond, searching for hostiles.

Carol Danvers has posed:
"Was zum Teufel?" is all the first soldier manages to call out before Captain America is bearing down on him. He's stunned enough that he doesn't act immediately, instead he topples backwards and attempts to scramble on the heel of his palms back against the sandblasted wall. His comrade is less blindsided, however, and he levels his gun at the Star-Spangled Man. A burst of automated fire sparks off the indestructible disc even as he's yelling for back-up.

"An embodiment of nationalist brainwashing!" he shouts at Angelo and Wanda as he fires, switching to accented English amidst the snap of gunfire, "There's no room for you in our new world, Kapitan! You'll burn along with your imperialist dogs! Death to the tyranny of nations!"

His fallen friend has reached for his rifle now, holding it to his chest and readying to fire a burst of his own.

The men in the basement have heard the commotion up above. They have turned their backs to the window that Blade Element is using, hands on their sidearms as they look in unison towards the door. A perfect moment of distraction, just as Captain America predicted. They begin to march up the stairs, the one in the rear calling after the others.

"Lass sie nicht in die Nahe des Peitho!" Don't let them near the Peitho!

A few moments later, more white-armored soldiers are taking firing positions in the first-floor windows to fire at Sword Element.

On the third floor, Jessica will find a long and darkened hallway scarcely wide enough for two people to walk abreast. All but one of the doors are rickety wooden affairs barely hanging on their hinges. Except for one that is heavy iron and bound shut with a padlock and chain. Judging by Michael's x-ray monocle, that's the one Springbok is being held behind.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve smiles grimly as he scares the hell out of one, and the other opens fire. The heavy rounds ping off the shield, the Vibranium eating their kinetic energy and making them fall lifeless to the ground rather than ricocheting dangerously.

It gets a little hairy when both of them start firing. Cap begins evasive maneuvers, one burst grazing him in the left shoulder, shredding his suit and drawing a hot line of blood in his flesh. Janet's going to be furious. Steve throws himself into a forward slide, boots leading as he tries to protect his torso and face with the shield. He's just running distraction, trying to tangle these two up so Angel and Wanda can get in on the action.

Achilles has posed:
    And true to form, Angelo is already moving. That one bullet grazes along Cap's shoulder and Angelo hurls himself into the path of the other incoming fire. Handguns, he can hold off with the durability of his flesh. More potent rounds, like military grade rifle fire... that's another thing entirely.

    The fact that he can't die does not mean that he can't be harmed. Legends of invulnerability were greatly augmented. So three rounds punch through his torso and he grunts.

    It's not going to kill the man, and barely slows him down as he charges one of the windows. His ICER fires three times and then he dives through the window.. leaving a blood trail as he moves.

    His diving tackle takes down a shooter who swore he killed the man... and then he is shot more by the men to either side of his target. Well, he is drawing fire for sure. Ow.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
They went for the guns as expected. The Scarlet Witch's hands lift the moment the machine gun fire chatters on the vibranium shield.

"< Engaged. >". They'll hear an indistinct crackle. Red energy rings her fingers and licks her palms. She runs between scrub and broken walls rather than be a sitting duck. Bullets chew up the dirt to hasten and shift her path. One sudden turn sends her skidding over the bare-packed earth.

The power some fear acts of its own accord. "<< Not too late to surrender! >>" she snaps in German.

The puff of dust and sprayed shards spiderwebbing a weathered brick unleashes the coiled mystical asp. Misfortune doesn't give a crap about walls. Her unleashed hex spears through windows where Angelo smashed through to reap its due. Ammunition jams. Powder doesn't fire quite right. Statistically more likely an angry Greek hero will hit or they might miss the American legend.

James Barnes has posed:
Bucky gives the Black Widow an apologetic shrug and a smile, and then he slips inside. _Bang bang_, his rifle goes off, and he's not shooting to wound. This isn't one of those public hero outings where you have to be an example to the normal everyday person. This is a lot bloodier.

He dashes in and grabs one of the mercenaries -- soldiers? whatever -- by the scruff with his metal arm and launches him at one of the others, before he makes for the stairs. "Let's go," he tells Blade Element. "We need to back up Drew as fast as possible." He's leaping several steps at a time by the time he hits the stairs.

Unless he gets interrupted, he's going to be on the third floor in a few seconds.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha slips through the window just as the last armored man is leaving the room. Before he can pass through the doorframe, she pulls a garrote wire from her Gauntlet and loops it over his neck, yanking him back and silencing him in one movement. She pulls the wire taut until the man stops moving.

She sets him down quietly.

"Third floor. Copy." She says quietly. "Be right with you. I'll clear up the weather down here."

Which is to say, there could be less bullets flying through the air right now.

Three men are firing out a shattered front window in a row - two of them right next to each other; the third a space apart. The one on the far right gets a knife plunged through the back of their neck hard enough that it drives their head forward onto the windowsill.

At the exact same moment, the man next to him is simply bodily pushed downward onto the jagged broken glass sticking up in front of him.

With her boot on the second man's back, Natasha releases her knife and uses that hand to simply fire an electric Widow Sting at the 'lucky' third man, who merely tumbles to the side, jerking and twitching.

Her expression utterly impassive, Natasha stalks away, following Bucky upstairs.

Jessica Drew has posed:
Either Jess is late for the party or all the fun is taking place on the floors below. All the better. The noise below should have rousted the terrorists out.

After pulling her night goggles down, she checks each door in the stuffy hallway, pushing them open and standing to the side before slipping into the room with her gun in a double-handed hold. - nothing in the first or second room. The third door opens just as she steps into the hallway.

A muzzle flash gives the guard's position away. Automatically, Jess returns fire, then barrels forward, hands glowing blue with bioelectricity to tackle a second man. He drops unconscious at her feet. The third man greets her with the chatter of an automatic weapon. Flopping to the ground, Jess webs the man's feet and pulls, flipping him on his back. A light application of bio-electricity stuns him to sleep.

Quiet. Only the armored door. Grimacing and clutching her upper left arm, the agent gets to her feet and begins to search the downed guards for keys.

<<Third floor clear. Three down. Target remains. We have an armored door here.>>

Michael Erickson has posed:
    Blade is unleashed, and the three operatives go swarming into the house - the report of Bucky's rifle doesn't give him pause, nor does Nat's lethal ballet up ahead. He just keeps going...and, thanks to the monocle fixed to his eye, sees a man creeping up on Natasha's position just as he reaches the stairway. The roar of the defenders' rifles are more than loud enough to cover the sound of splintering wood and clay as Michael drives his fist through the wall and grabs the /very/ surprised gunman by the throat and pulls back, bashing his head against the wall and knocking him immediately unconscious. The Shi'ar may be as mortal as the rest, but his alien physiology gives him some advantages.

    << Lurker by the stairs, out, >> Michael says over the comms, and goes creeping quick but quiet up the stairs to reinforce Barnes and Drew, carrying the rear guard still...

Carol Danvers has posed:
"Meine Waffe ist blockiert!"

                              "Da ist etwas in meinem Auge!"

                                                       "Feuer! FEUER!"

          "Tod den Nationalisten!"

                       "Jemand ruft Ihn!"

The shouts come from all across the darkened first floor. The wicked hexes along with the form of Angelo flying in through the windows causes some of the militia to fall back, taking up defensive positions deeper into the first floor. Others fall upon the apparently wounded Angelo, finding their guns jammed and instead trying to beat him senseless with the rifle butts. Others still continue to shoot at Captain America and Wanda, jeering when they see America's Super Soldier bleed.

Blade Element have a comparatively easier time of it. The majority of the militia are so distracted by the appearance of the actual Captain America that they aren't paying attention to the group sneaking in via the basement. They go down easily, a pair rushing Barnes on the second-floor landing only to be felled by the team before they have a chance to so much as cry out.

Upstairs, Jessica will hear muffled voices behind the armored door. More shouting in German, though it's unintelligible through the door. Then the sound of thudding boots on floorboards, as though someone is running, then the crash of shattering glass.

Up above, Steve and Wanda will see a caped figure leaping down towards them from the third floor. He wears a white armored bodysuit with a black cape and cowl, a black belt depicting a stylized black-and-white image of the globe around his middle. In one hand he holds a heavy, wicked-looking spiked mace which he attempts to bring down immediately on Cap. Any SHIELD agent would recognize him as Karl Morgenthau - the Flag-Smasher.

"If you want something done right," he hisses through his teeth in a cultured, Swiss accent, "You have to do it yourself, ja?"

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve can bleed, it's true. He is still human despite his augmentation. The difference is that he will never give up. Tangled with the gunmen, he twists, using his own knees and ankles to wrench theirs out of joint. Hard. Another swing of his feet and he kicks their guns away.

Disentangling himself, he gets to his feet, cracking his neck just in time for Flag Smasher to leap from above. Steve Frowns. "You."

Without another word, Cap hurls himself at Karl, leading with the edge of his shield. The shield is a feint, because his other arm drives up from below, going for the Flag Smasher's midsection with everything he has.

Achilles has posed:
    And wounded Angelo is. By now, those first wounds have mostly healed, and new ones are replacing them. The hex from Wanda gives him a brief reprieve as the weapons stop firing.

    Suddenly, he is up on his feet, and as if to establish a theme... a shield... more specifically an ancient Greek Aspis shield, decorated with horses and other intricate details. Celestial bronze in material, the weapon appears on his arm and it intercepts the bludgeoning strokes from most of the attackers.

    As he does this, a foot lashes out to sweep two others off of -their- feet just before Angelo rises to his own.

    "Okay then." he mutters, "Du bist ein schmerz im popo." he mutters as he surges forward to engage the group more closely. (You are a pain in the pooper) is what he says on the way in.

    He is doing his level best to keep the other soldiers off Cap's back as he engages Karl.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Cap can bleed. He won't bleed much. Nor alone on the desert sand under the stars, if Wanda has anything to say. She gives a swift look to the first floor where Angelo plays whack-a-soldier back to the Flag-Smasher.

"<< No, I don't. >>"

A red bolt arrows for Karl's hand gripping the mace. It's a feint of her own flung largely to distract him from Steve.

The energy bursting over the window-laced wall that let Angelo in makes that entrance now an exit. She rips out the blocks or wood by force. Debris comes streaming to its mistress' call, totally unconcerned about smacking any fighter in there she can see other than the SHIELD agent.

The heaviest pieces need her direct attention. They roll past while obscuring her body, hurled airborne in a backward burst that goes flying for Karl. Targets swing and twist with considerable finesse.

" << Dodge this. >>" Someone has been watching her Matrix movies. Except shooting before warning.

James Barnes has posed:
"Is that Karl?" Bucky _snorts_, tossing one of the henchmen over the side of the stairs just as he reaches the third floor. "Say hi for me."

He comes to a stop next to Jessica and then furrows his brow at the armored door. "No time to search for the keys," he says, dropping his rifle and looking at the very, _very_ strong Agent of SHIELD next to him.

Bucky --who has been catching up on decades worth of movies-- looks Jessica right in the eyes and puts on his best Scottish accent, turning to face the armored door with his metal arm. "Y'are goin' t'ave t'throw meh."

Just do it, Jessica. Live a little.

Jessica Drew has posed:
The sound of a window shattering urges Jess to search faster. "Crap," she returns to the third man who wounded her and rolls him off his weapon. A groan makes her turn back to him and refreshes his stun. Favoring her wounded arm, she braces the gun against her waist, shoots the armored door's visible lock, and then tries the door. Bolts on the inside keep her out.

"Took you long enough," she spits at Bucky, sharing his frown.

"I just couldn't," she demurs, eyeing him with a pretty flutter of her eyelashes. Relenting, she holds out her arms, one wet with blood but no longer bleeding, "Aw, Bucky, come to mama."

Taking a few steps back, Jess picks him up like a fifty-pound sack of feed, metal arm outermost to the door and runs like a speeding train straight at the armored door.

Michael Erickson has posed:
    Well, that's...one way to go about it. Michael, frowning at the display, shakes his head and heads off behind the charging duo, knife a black fang in his hand. Let's just hope they haven't set mines inside...

Carol Danvers has posed:
Flag-Smasher's mace rings out as it strikes Cap's shield, the entire weapon shaking violently but not falling apart. He deftly changes it from one hand to the other, sidestepping the blow to his middle and moving to bring the weapon down Steve's back - only for the weapon to fall from his hand with a sparking burst of crimson energy. He growls through his teeth, lunging for a chunk of broken brick half-buried in the sand and heaving it viciously through the air at Wanda's head.

"Augh! Witch!"

The chunks flying back through the air at him prompt Flag-Smasher to disengage briefly. He's quick, moving through the air and dodging the majority of what is thrown his way. Some does craze the suit, but it only peels away enough to reveal sparking circuitry and armored plates. Moments later, he's lunging to pick up the mace from the ground once more.

The remaining soldiers on the first floor have focused themselves purely on Angelo. They're no real match for him, but there's a lot of them and they're all worked up. Survival knifes, the butts of rifles, fists, and feet all try to keep the SHIELD agent down.

As Bucky and Jessica batter the door down, they find what looks like a very alarmed and very unarmed man. His eyes are wide behind a pair of glasses, and his bald head is coated in a sweaty sheen. He immediately throws his hands in the air, stepping away from a steel chair to which Senator Grass is strapped and unconscious. At the far end of the room, a window has been smashed out completely - presumably by Flag-Smasher.

Senator Grass, upon examination, is completely out of it. He's only wearing the undershirt and suit pants that he was wearing when he was captured. His skin is pale and sodden with sweat. A series of wires and tubes have been hooked up to his arms, running along to the floor to a computer terminal on a table against the back wall.

Achilles has posed:
    And there we have it. Mission successful. Most people would not consider a mission successful if it involved making more and more people try to beat him down. But Angelo is at home in the heart of the furnace of combat. War is the one thing he has always been the best at.

    When a blade is produced, he summons his own Xiphos sword. It must look strange, a man in local robes and hood, with ancient Greek weapons deployed.

    He takes hits, yes he does. But not as many as some others might take. His shield intercepts some, and his footwork makes others miss.

    A flashing blade of celestial bronze snakes out and wounds one man, severing a tendon in the man's wrist to force him to drop his own weapon. And then hamstringing yet another. And then he takes a rifle butt to the chin and spits blood before surging forward to re-engage.

    The strange thing... the old man is in control. The warrior he was so long ago. All but the unforgiveable evil deeds. But he is smiling. This... is what he loves. He hates to admit it, but he does.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Vibranium is a wonderful material. The mace hits the shield, but Steve's arm doesn't vibrate off. He just has to match strength with Flag Smasher. He grunts a bit, moving to press when Wanda backs him up and zots him good. When Karl pulls back, Steve goes after him, darting into the debris field, ducking, weaving and blocking them as he gives chase. A chunk of brick cracks him in the ribs and he grunts.

Janet is going to be very upset.

As Flag Smasher goes for the mace again, Steve moves to intercept. This time, he's swinging the shield for the man's head to try and at least ring his bell a bit, if not put him out.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Little sisters have to get creative to annoy their speedster brothers. It pays off at times--ask Pietro for more details.

The piecemeal wall comes right back at Angelo's aggressors from all kinds of directions. Flying debris includes shards of glass from the blown-out windows that riddle one unfortunate guy who turned his back for the beatdown. Lacerations from bits of a doorknob and a shattered two-by-four nail another in the back of the head. When Angelo gets clocked in the chin, a plaster gale roars past him and smashes into another terrorist's body. Rocks come skipping through to smack the floor and ceiling. Forget precision. Nuisance measures make firing a gun pretty hard though. One of those bullets probably finds her in the field.

Could be the red glow, the hiss her breath takes breathing in.

When he recognizes the Witch, Flag-Smasher gets a reciprocating smile and a gout of sand spraying into his face. A bit of the partially collapsed, bullet-riddled wall circles around from overhead to make jumping or swinging the mace fairly dangerous. Karl could brain himself or give her more meteorites to throw around.

His quick-step dancing with Cap leaves more margin of error than Wanda quite wants. But Karl doesn't need to know that.

James Barnes has posed:
Bucky 'Battering Ram' Barnes is the best there is at what he does, and what he does is... well, you know.

Jessica puts him through the door and Bucky lands on his arm, groaning in pain. That was not the _brightest_ idea he's ever had, but hey, it _worked_. For a long moment, he just lays there, watching the unarmed man take a step back, and then he starts to push his old limbs against the floor, picking himself up.

"Osprey, we've found the Senator. Extraction imminent. Suggest we all converge either on roof or in Blade Element's entry point. Drew, Erickson, grab the senator. You --" he says to the unarmed man "--I don't know. Rethink your life choices." He rubs his neck, where the metal shoulder becomes flesh. "Ow."

Jessica Drew has posed:
How often does she get to smash a senior agent many years her senior into a metal door at speed?

Smugly satisfied, Jess offers Barnes a hand up from the floor. "Barnes, you made my day."

The agent goes to the unconscious man. Kneeling beside him, she checks his pulse. <<Subject is unconscious, Osprey.">>

Using the knife from her belt, she cuts open the binding around his arms and legs, carefully disconnecting the electric leads to the computer. Then pushes her shoulder into the Senator's midriff and stands to fireman carry him to the door.

"We going out the back door?"

Michael Erickson has posed:
    Entering the room, Erickson's blade disappears into his robes - and he frowns at the Senator's body. "They've been doing something to him," Michael says, looking over the old man with his scanning eye. "I'm not getting any implants or foreign bodies." A look to the unarmed man. "We should take him with us, Barnes. He might be a doctor, or a scientist who could shed some light on whatever they were doing to him."

    That said, he steps back, letting Jessica pick up the Senator and looks to Barnes expectantly, keeping track of the unarmed man out of the corner of his eye...

Carol Danvers has posed:
The Flag-Smasher scoops the mace up in one hand, bringing it aloft with deadly intent. It's then that the funnel of sand blasts him, though it only serves to irritate the bared skin around his jaw as the lenses in his cowl filter out the damage. It's all the distraction Cap needs to find and opening, though, and the shield strikes him across his unarmored jaw with a piercing clang. The tall figure in black and white topples back, sprawled in the sand atop his cape. Still.

<"Blade Element Actual,"> Yang's voice comes through the comms, only to Bucky and none of the other members of the team - though anyone with enhanced hearing may be able to pick up on it, <"New mission objective from November Foxtrot. Eliminate Karl Morgenthau.">

A moment later, Osprey speaks through the comms to the rest of the team: <"Osprey en route. Updated exfil point is the roof of the compound. Prepare for extraction.">

Upstairs in the makeshift laboratory, the unarmed bald man literally shakes when Bucky addresses him. He doesn't seem to understand what is being said, but he makes no effort to stop them from taking the Senator: "Teskari! Teskari! Zarar yo'q! Va'da!"

The Senator is easily removed from the wires connecting him to the machines. He seems to have no negative reaction to it, simply mumbling unintelligibly in his unconscious state. Up above, the whine of the Quinjet's engines can be heard as it comes to a hovering stop above the compound.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve straightens as Karl goes down, looking down at the Flag Smasher. His expression is one of disgust. He stows his shield and grabs Karl by his suit, hefting him easily.

"You heard our ride. Up we go."

Cap makes for the stairs, actually trying to not batter Flag Smasher's head into them. Too much. He mostly succeeds. He glances into the room where the Senator was held on his way up and frowns. It doesn't take him too long to reach the top.

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Wanda ripped out the ground-level wall of the building. The point when she drops the remaining rubble and goes to her knees for a few moments to catch her breath comes after Osprey tells her the mission is complete. No staying for long. Her hands rest on her thighs for a moment. So tired. Pushing herself up, she walks on tired legs after Cap, hoping Angelo falls into before or after them.

"Sorry not to be quicker taking care of his mace."

Her apology is for Steve. "I might hide some of the tears in the suit before she sees."

There's a greater danger.

James Barnes has posed:
"Roger, Osprey. Sending package to the roof for extraction." He looks at Michael and Jessica. "Take him up. I'll be right behind you, going to clean up." Then he moves towards the window through which Flag-Smasher originally popped out and dropped in on Sword Element. For the moment, to those present, it just looks like he's actually overseeing the chaos below and making sure everyone is going to get out.

For a long moment, Bucky watches the prone, unmoving form of Flag-Smasher on the ground. Once Jessica and Michael are out of the room, he pulls his pistol and aims, taking a deep breath.

It's easy. You just aim and squeeze the trigger. He's done it a thousand times before; killed people far more innocent than a racist terrorist; this would ultimately be a lot more _good_ than a lot of things he's done in the past. It's easy.

_Easy_.

Then Steve picks up Flag-Smasher and Bucky's aim moves steadily, unhindered even by his friend's rapid, agile movements.

Bucky swallows, his hand unshaking, aim as steady as it can be. He tightens his jaw and then licks his lips, hand loosening only to re-grip the pistol, barrel still pointed directly at Morgenthau's head despite Steve moving him.

_Easy_.

Bucky holsters his weapon just before Steve looks up, activating his comm so it uses the same private line. "Negative on new objective, Osprey. Tell November Foxtrot if he wants to kill unconscious people, he can use his own gun."

He turns around, and follows the others to the roof.

Jessica Drew has posed:
Jess turns heavily with the Senator on her shoulder to watch.

"ICE the mother," she urges and leaves. Then, lumbers up the stairs to the waiting jet and onto a ramp into its belly. Largely ignoring everyone around her she carries the Senator to a waiting stretcher.

Jess looks up when Bucky arrives, "Was that the Flagsmasher? You alright?"

Michael Erickson has posed:
    Michael does just that - drawing his pistol he puts a ICER round squarely in the Uzbek's torso, low and to the right of his heart so as not to accidentally put him into arrest. Then it's scooping him up like nothing, draped over his shoulder, following them out and up the stairs to the waiting exfiltration plane. No stretcher for him, of course. Michael just carries him around like a slugged goat on his shoulder, waiting for the rest of the team.

Carol Danvers has posed:
<"Copy that, Blade Element Actual. Over."> Yang's voice is terse over the private comm-channel, but there's also an element of relief in it.

The soldiers seem to have been taken care of now, and the operatives are able to regroup without interference on the roof. Morgenthau is heavy in his armored suit, but no issue for someone like Steve Rogers. Yang and the Quinjet's pilot appear at the ramp, first lifting up the Senator to strap him into a jumper seat. Then they carry up the Flag-Smasher, binding his hands and ankles. Last is the bald man, unconscious from the ICER and placed in a jumper seat opposite the Senator.

With everyone aboard, the Quinjet takes to the sky. The rear ramp is still open, and Yang steps over to the Senator. He leans forward, narrowing his eyes to examine him.

"Alright, he's alive. We're making a rendezvous with the Pericles, and then we'll - "It all happens in an instant. The unconscious Senator's hand raises in a blur, plucking Yang's sidearm from its holster at the side of his chest. The agent lunges for it, but it's too late. The firearm rings out, and the bald man in the opposite seat lets out a strangled cry of surprised. A moment later, crimson red is pooling on the white of his button-down shirt. The bald man slumps forward in his jumper seat, eyes glassy and lifeless.

The gun falls from the Senator's hand, landing on the ground with a clatter. Yang quickly scoops it up, stepping away from Grass and regarding him with a mixed look of horror and contempt. All the Senator can do is breathe: "Bastards. Bastards." Over and over. A moment later, he slips into unconsciousness again.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve double ensures that the Flag Smasher is good and bound once they get him onto the Quinjet. When he's satisfied, he starts to turn around. Something feels off. He catches the Senator's flash of movement, and goes to dive between the gun and the victim, but even Captain America sometimes isn't fast enough.

He leaps and hits the floor, skidding on his already injured arm. When he gets back to his feet, it's too late. He knows first aid, but first aid can't stop that. He just sighs. "Damn."

Wanda Maximoff has posed:
Wanda doesn't tend to swear. She is too busy sinking into a seat and performing a quick patch job where she got winged on the side. The irony having a medkit pulled out and popped open to apply a bandage when an unconscious man shoots another man? Terrible. The shot going off in close quarters of the Quinjet is loud, horribly loud.

She scrambles to her feet. The kit falling to the floor makes its own cacophonous rattle. Cap is the faster of them surely. Her attempts won't amount to much, the look in the shot man's eyes confirms that. "I'm sorry," she mouths to Steve, shaking her head.

James Barnes has posed:
Bucky is about to tell Jessica that everything is just fine when the Senator pops baldy and then goes unconscious again. He doesn't even try to stop it, like Steve. Instead, he just closes his eyes and shakes his head.

Jessica Drew has posed:
"Fuck," the mutant agent bites off any further expletives. She had only caught the sudden movement out of the corner of her eye. Angrily, she bites her bottom lip.

"It didn't take them long did it?" she asks the group of agents and Avengers without expecting an answer. "I should have seen it coming."

Michael Erickson has posed:
    Seated down by the boarding hatch, Michael doesn't even get to get to his feet before the Senator rouses to put a slug in the bald man's chest; he sits there, frowning, glaring at the old man as he falls unconscious again and the bark of Yang's pistol still rings off the walls. "...so," he says, his voice hard. "We know. They /have/ been doing something to him."

    He doesn't look surprised, mind. But perhaps...grimly disappointed, like a father who's been let down. Space Spy Dad is displeased.

Achilles has posed:
    While he is a bit later than most, Angelo -does- make it to the extraction craft. When he does, he sits down and just oozes blood onto the seat behind him, and down the front of his uniform. The robes he had been wearing are just about gone, a bit of them hanging on for dear life. But as he sits down, he says his first words since the fight -really- started for him.

    "Ow." is all he says.