Owner	Pose
Clark Kent	Since the attack on the subway, the Legion has remained out of sight. Their effect can still be felt by anyone who is on fiber optic internet, as the cables have all vanished. There was also a report of the theft of a warehouse full of beer. Not the beer itself, which flooded the warehouse, but the bottles it came in are gone.     When the people who have volunteered to scout the tunnels arrive, they are shown into a Command and Control truck parked in a vacant lot about two hundred feet from the subway entrance.     Once they are all seated around a small table with holographic display, the briefing begins. "About a week ago, a subway train stopped before reaching the station. A Transit Authority team vanished after reporting they could see the train ahead. When a group of SWAT and heroes went in, we had our first look at these." https://heroesassemble.mushhaven.com/index.php?title=File:Legion_soldiers.jpg     "They appear to have a hostile response to radio waves, attacking both civilians with cell phones and any personnel carrying radios. They were driven back and everyone was recovered from the site. We ended up with six dead and about forty injured. The main attack seems to be stabbing with the sharpened tips of the legs.     He looks around and finishes the briefing with "We gated the burrow they made and they haven't tried to get past it, but they could have gone anywhere. However, there has been a rise in the oxygen level of the tunnel, so we're providing breathers to anyone going in who can be affected by Oxygen Toxicity. Any questions before you head in?"
Natasha Romanova	Natasha Romanoff is present along with the scouting group, having a full array of weapons and equipment this time, ready for combat and for scouting. "The primary goal of this operation is to gather intelligence. How well fortified they are, what thier objectives are, the extent of their network, their numbers. We need to know what the adversary is and what their ultimate objectives are so we can neutrlize them. Whether this is the precursor to an assault for like the Chitauri or something else."     She doesn't say 'something worse' because they're for the most part professionals. "We'll stay wtihin line of sight to one another and maintain a group formation. We go in quietly for as long as possible and try and gather data as we can. We try and avoid engagements."
Clint Barton	This is of a particular interest to SHIELD who has dispatched Clint to take assist with a search and destroy mission, for which he is well suited. Wearing a black hooded jerkin with the Eagle logo in gray, sleeveless, with a quiver of arrows and his collapsable bow on his back. A pair of goggles rests on his forehead as he listens to the mission brief and nods to the individual running point for this joint operation. "Any known weaknesses besides the obvious ones?" Peering that surveylance footage of the creatures in question, he lifts his palm to get a scan for himself and any report he has to file with SHIELD command later. While waiting out the response, he begins checking his gear. Several knives, his primary weapon, and a katana sheathed oposite the quiver. Then he kneels down to adjust his knee brace and make sure his boots are straped tight.
Heather Danielson	So yeah, models in the tunnels. It's not the sort of location one might expect to find Heather, but she is committed to being a Titan. She spends enough time in New York via the hypertrain, or whatever it is... that she feels an obligation to help when heroes are called on.     She showed up in uniform, the blue leotard she wears into battle. The thing has been augmented to be semi-self-repairing. Slowly, but it helps so that when she get stabbed, slashed, shot, or whatever... it repairs itself to keep things decent.     But she watches the briefing, listening intently. At the mention of radio-waves and oxygen stuff, she nods her head, "I could use a breather. But if they react to radio waves, is there some way we can use those like a fishing lure to draw them into a position where we have the advantage?" she asks. She is usually seen as just the blonde who uses her looks and powers... not her brain. But she's not an -idiot-.
Jessica Drew	A new resident of New York, Jessica resents the intrusion over and above her duty to humanity. No more binge streaming on Netflix when she gets time off. No more online Door Dash. What's a girl gonna do? Besides she owns a basement apartment and though not one for borrowing trouble, it is too easy to imagine the huge cockroaches with sabers on their legs lifting a manhole and paying a visit one night. The SHIELD agent exchanges a glance with Natasha when she asks her last question. After the briefing, she takes the com button out of her ear and puts it into a pouch at her waist. She wears full black tactical gear modified booties to facilitate her mobility and a P-90 slung over one shoulder. Her wavy black hair is woven into a braid.
Xiomara Rojas	The most unlikely of people to come around the police and offer to help, Crush is present for reasons that are clearly her own. For once, she isn't a seething ball of angst and anger, she appears calm, attentive and ready for what might come. She has no costume, no uniform, or anything along those lines. Instead she's in her normal clothing of red jeans, aqua colored half shirt, black denim jacket with the sleeves ripped off, knee high combat looking boots and around her waist a thick black chain has been wrapped a few times. Joining the others around the table, the large Czarnian does her best to put on the act that being around SHIELD agents is perfectly normal and acceptable, but the fact that two of them are also Avengers gives the teenager a little inner 'squee'. Hawkeye and Black Widow! Fangirl aside, she listens to the report as she looks around the table at the others.
Clark Kent	The agent in charge of the briefing nods to Heather. "Thinking just like our guys, good work. We've got some disposable transmitters for you to take just for that reason. Press the button, toss it behind them and take off while they're distracted."     Looking over to Clint he shakes his head, "Obvious is the way to go on these guys. They've got armor everywhere except joints and eyes. I think a couple of you can hit hard enough to go through the armor, but for more conventional weapons, hit the joints." He walks over to a couple of equipment cases and opens them. One has breathers and tanks of normal air, the other has a bunch of dark colored balls with a single red button on them.     "We figured round was best so you could roll them around corners and the like, but the big red button is all the R&D teams fault. Grab what you need and we'll head down." He takes a breather for himself and moves over to the door while everyone gears up.
Natasha Romanova	Natasha Romanoff would nod over at the others and shrug, "Simple is best. The armor can be cracked with sufficient force. Joints are vulnerable. go for weak points and sensory nodes. I'm taking some cryo and plasma grenades.. And some short range jammers. They'll not disrupt our communications but given teh things tend to at aggressively towards radio signals that might be useful with luring them." She would gesture at the others.     "We'll be working together, and that means communicating and coordinating. We have to be a team." Or they all die.
Heather Danielson	Nodding her head, Heather shrugs, "I could use a weapon like a club or some such. Something that can stand up to a few tons of force."     She pauses and gives a lopsided smirk. "In all honesty, I could punch the things, but as fast as I heal, it still hurts to punch spikes and blades and such."     "But yeah, transmitters are good. I'm not exactly trained for sneaky operations. But... if folks get in trouble, I can make a good distraction for sure."
Clint Barton	Clint inclines his head at the answer he was given, which was more or less what he'd expected. "Copy that." He murmurs and pushes up with a grunt. Before going to grab a few extra pieces of gear from the open case he finishes his stretches. A limber muscle only needs a few hours ice and no muscle relaxers later. If there was any piece of advice he'd give young heroes it would be 'take care of your joints, stretch.' He walks over to grab a few of the round devices and one of the rebreathers to put in pockets of his tactical cargo pants. "Nat, you taking point on this?" He inquires of her, looking to the collection of heroes they've got with them. Giving each a grin and a nod, "Nice easy walk in the tunnels. Stick together, stay observant, and every thing will be peachie keen."
Jessica Drew	Jess puts a breather around her neck and a tank, then adds a few disposable transmitters to her kit. After reshouldering her gun, she pads quietly after Natasha and Clint who she has already run ops with. "Share Natasha, would you? I wouldn't mind a few grenades to add to my arsenal." After stuffing a shoulder bag with new goodies, she asks her fellow agent, "Clint, how are your arrows on armor plated cockroaches? Does anyone know what their exoskeleton is made of?" "I'm up front with Nat, so you know."
Xiomara Rojas	Shifting slightly in her chair at the mention of punching through armor, a coy grin plays over Crushes face. She's punched these bugs before, she intends to punch them again, and she'll keep punching to ensure that no one gets hurt. She's still not entirely certain /why/ she's so worried about other people getting hurt, but Superman ensured her this was the natural progression toward becoming a 'good guy'. Picking herself up, she offers to those present, "I'm a wall, a tank, a punching machine that can get through the armor of these things. Last time they tried really hard but they can't hurt me. So if ya need backup just yell and I'm there. I'm here to make sure no one gets hurt too badly." She's really rather no one got hurt at all, but it's part of the job for some that injuries happen. "Oh, and don't freak out if you see the chain here," she taps the chain around her waist. "attacking too, she protects me, I protect you." Eyeing the rebreathers for a moment, she shrugs and walks past them to follow the commander out. She can survive in a vacuum, extra oxygen won't get her either. Sometimes it pays to be alien.
Clark Kent	The agent waits for everyone to gear up, but quickly turns to Nat when she mentions plasma grenades. "Fire's a bad idea down there. Oxygen rich environment and fire do not mix well at all. We don't need to blow up the whole place. Cryo is fine but nothing explosive."     To Jessica's question he replies, "It's a form of silicon carbide, same kind of stuff we use for the ballistic plates in heavier body armor. They're pretty impressive critters, nothing like we've seen on Earth. They're actually a silicon based form of life, it's not just their armor." With everyone kitted out, he leads them down into the subway.     Once reaching the bottom of the stairs, they can see a number of guards posted, all wearing the breathing equipment. "Ok, this is where you don your equipment" he comments, while putting his own breather on. He leads them over to the track and jumps down off the platform, heading into the tunnel. It's a short walk to reach the opening in the wall, which has a couple guards in breathers guarding it.     The agent goes over and punches a code into the keypad, allowing the gate to swing open. "Ok folks, this is where I wish you good luck. Remember, this is more of a recon than an attack, we need to find out what they are doing. Oh, and if it all goes south, just yell. We've got a person or two with enhanced hearing standing by since you can't take radios."
Natasha Romanova	At the request from Jessica, Natasha goes to pass over some grenades. "All right. Barton, unless you prefer otherwise I'll take point." She goes to take the rebreather and the other equipment, attaching them to her eqiupment harness and getting the breather setup. She also sets down a set of goggles. Primed not for infrared but for ultraviolet. Hopefully somewhat more effective given the nature of their enemies. Natasha also goes to ready her weapons. A small baton in one hand, pistol in the other. Her entire face is covered in a dark, sealed mask now as she's going along.     Stealth camo almost blending her fully over into the shadows as the reflective bits on the camo act almost like a chameleon cloak, blending the coloration to better match over with the background of the tunnel. She moves along almost silently in turn. Weapons covering the area ahead as the group would sweep along.
Clint Barton	"They'll do fine." Clint seems pretty confident of his arrows, tossing a rye grin over at Jessica volunteering to be up front where he has no intentions of being. He's the Ranger and he did not specialize in two weapon fighting like every other min-maxer. Nope, all ranged dps here. With his shoulders limber, he up nods at Xiomara, "respect." Fist extended out to the Czarnian and her chain. Once they're down in the tunnels proper, Barton pulls his hood up and fixes the rebreather into place. He gives it a few wiggles to make sure the seal is good and then offers Nat a thumbs up that he's ready. With bow in hand, hanging down at his side, he prepares to follow along behind the majority of the assembled. He's dangerous from anywhere on the field.. Definitely doesn't have to be up front where stabbing things can go into fleshy body to kill them.
Heather Danielson	With a shrug, Heather puts on her breather and moves to follow the pack. No sticks. She can heal her hands after punching. It's what she usually does. She really should invest in some close combat weapons here soon. If this is the impetus that causes her to do that, so be it.     But she does as she is told, moves where and when indicated and for the most part, keeps her trap shut. If only to breathe right through the mouthpiece.
Jessica Drew	Finally kitted out, Jess looks a bit insect-like herself when she pulls down her goggles and fits the breather over her mouth. The spider mutant is over armed, but likes to add ranged power to her skills with the P-90 and has nothing against the occasional well-placed grenade. The test will come when she blasts one of their visitors with bio-electricity. Adressing Clint and Natasha, "Has anyone tried to communicate with this bunch, yet? I've just assumed they were hostiles because of their reaction to radio waves."
Xiomara Rojas	Fist bumping Hawkeye... that would get written into Crushes personal blog later. Who gets to do that? Avengers, SHIELD, and heroes... she was becoming a hero alright! "You can call me Crush," she then offers to those preparing themselves with gear, breathers, grenades, etc.. She didn't need a grenade, but man would it be so cool to get to throw one. Her luck however, it would end up on the moon and she'd hear about how she blew a new crater in the moon, much like the one her father used Superman's body to make. No, no grenades for the teenager. Once they're all down in the tunnels, she watches them fit the rebreathers in place. They were all going to sound funny, which made an odd sort of chort-giggle rise in her chest. Not because they sound funny, but because she imagined them all sounding like the Chipmunk's. She can feel the difference of the air in the tunnels, it just doesn't effect her, but it does tell her to keep an eye on the others in case rebreathers get broken and someone needs a quick exit out of the tunnels. "I'll follow ya'alls lead, point me where you want me until the action starts, then I'll be punching bugs."
Meggan Constantine	No Bug Boy is needed for SHIELD. They have a better alternative than Ant-Maid or Manbug for the mission ahead. Just might not be immediately obvious. She becomes out of nothing, the displaced air pulled into her rather than banished. A somewhat petite blonde in flared jeans and a cropped top escaped 1994 and Shirley Manson would like her Doc Martens back. "Oh! Thank you, but no," sings her cheerful voice tinged by vestiges of a British accent. "I'll be quite fine, promise. But I've to hurry if I'm to catch up, ciao!" Meggan pushes back on the rebreather held out in offering, a smile meant to soothe that business. Neither is she in need of a glowstick or anything suited for seeing in tunnels, her eyes automatically adjusting to the dim conditions just fine. Look at them wrong, and the green lenses fluoresce slightly. On the contrary, the distance isn't all that far to catch up with the mission crew headed underground. With luck no one is going to try and shoot her, especially not when she's obviously unarmed, not an insect, and waving. "I was told you might need some help under here tracking and that's sort of a specialty. I'm Meggan. Um, Gloriana, if we're using -those- names."
Clark Kent	Meggan has no problem catching up with the others as they head through the gate into the newly excavated burrow. It is tall enough that nobody has to crouch to fit... apparently either alien bugs like headroom, or there are larger varieties than have been seen so far. All in all, the tunnels seem to be very similar to those built by ants here on Earth. It remains to be seen if their society is anything like terrestrial insects, or if they have their own behaviors.     Looking at the walls of the tunnel will show cut off cables and pipes. Apparently, whatever dug these new tunnels was going a certain direction and didn't feel like going around anything. As the group heads into the tunnels, the faint light from the guard post at the gate vanishes around a curve, and they are left with just the lights they bring with them, if any.     In the dark, noises seem to be amplified, making their sources unclear. This far under the city, it's hard to make out familiar sounds. People don't think about the fact that there's a lot below a major city that they never see or think of. All in all.. it's an uncomfortable kind of place, even without giant alien bugs.
Natasha Romanova	Meggan is given a look over by Natasha, then a sigh over from her as she moves to loop around to take point. Her lenses have shifted to ultraviolet and surveys the path ahead. She walks along, gun in one hand, combat baton in the other in case they get engaged at close range. She's virtually silent when she stalks ahead, moving almost without noise as she takes her position on point.     The layout she has memorized - at least as best as they have a map of them. However accuraet it may or may not be. Things sprawl out and change, and so much can be imposible to glean; even with ground penetrating radar and drones. Tunnels..     She has sepnt her whole life in them in one form or another. Beneath cities. In caves.     Even in their unfamiliarity, the tunnels are a home.
Heather Danielson	And.. Heather forgot a flashlight. What she has is her Starkphone with its built in LED light. Sure, it's bright... but it's awkward to hold if there is going to be a fight. She does whip it out and turn it on to assist however. Since she has no ability to perceive anything beyond the normal human senses herself.     It is a good thing she has never been especially claustrophobic. "Man. Daddy would hate this place. He hates tight spaces." she mutters softly, mostly to herself if only to alleviate some of the nervousness she is feeling as they all get closer and closer to bug central.     "Maybe we should have brought some jumbo cans of raid too?" she asks equally softly as she shines her light about, trying to get a good look at stuff... while her other hand reaches down to reassure herself by patting the pouch of transmitters she has cinched about her waist.
Clint Barton	This isn't Clint's first forey into dark tunnels beneath a city, though rarely does one get to venture this far under New York. There was that one time in Prague though... "This reminds me of Prague." He murmurs off handedly, glancing side to side down any tunnels that might appear along their path. He's pulling up rear guard, thankfully nowhere near the chatter box that is Heather. "Someone skipped 'inside voice' class." He carefully picks each footfall, tilting his head around any corners with his bow still held down at his flank. Once in the growing darkness, he pulls down his goggles and taps up a few visual spectrums until he's satisfied with something that gives him, at the very least, limited voice.
Jessica Drew	Just as the light fades, Jessica looks behind her in time to see another face added to their group. Addressing the young woman who had fist-bumped with Clint earlier, "It's Crush, is it?" Shifting her gaze to the other young woman. "And Heather? Ready for bugs?" Beyond Clint and the other two woman, she catches the glint of green eyes in the tunnel like errant light in a wild animal's eyes. She studies the woman for a moment and gives her a high sign before unclipping the tac flashlight from her belt and snapping it on. A few quick steps take her back to Natasha's side.
Xiomara Rojas	The change from normal lighting to dim to none was an easy adjust for Crushes Czarnian vision. She could filter through spectrums without the need of lenses or devices, once more proving that being an alien is useful in some situations. Silent, sneaky, stealthy... now that was a problem. Nothing in her life had lead to training for being quiet, in fact most often she was loud and obnoxious. The obnoxious part was being kept in check by the fact that she was working with Avengers, the loud part... well, it was difficult to be quiet when you were as large and heavy as she was. "You want me to use my phone too, for light?" she asks Heather, not whispering really but not yelling either. She was at least trying. "Give you a little more light that way."
Meggan Constantine	Meggan's forays into dark tunnels are many, including London and Gotham. She'll take New York's any day of the week ending in Y. No effort is made to stop the tread of her Docs from splashing or trudging along, partly because she floats four inches off the ground and only occasionally do her legs approximate a step. One way to keep secondhand shoes clean, anyway. Darkness reveals its secrets slowly but surely. Habit might be to speak of what she finds, but instead she points ahead of her and the rest of the group. "Still aways off from any of them. I'll click before we fall over them, unless one crawls out of the wall or something." Soft-spoken like the others, her contributions to being quiet are otherwise probably deeply weird. As in, nearly no sounds at all.
Clark Kent	As they move down the tunnel, they see that it is a lot like normal insect tunnels in that it branches seemingly randomly, leaving them with something of a maze to deal with. All the tunnels seem to be about the same size, so there's no real clue as to which way would be the best to explore. It's almost certain that Nat or Clint has a mapping device with them, so at least finding the way back out will not be a problem. And this is, after all, the reason for the trip... recon and intelligence gathering.     A clicking noise starts to fill the tunnels as they move deeper in, and then ahead of them they detect movement. Several of the Legion insects come out of one tunnel and vanish into a different one in what seems to be a bit of a nexus with five tunnels branching off it. So far at least, they completely ignore the invaders in their home.
Natasha Romanova	Natasha Romanoff would pause cautiously as the insects seemed to not be paying them any attention. She goes to then pull out a small device.. A motion detector thatw ould be intended to track along small seismic movements. She goes to put it on the ground and then moves to overwatch. Seeing if the small device gives them a cue as to how much movement.. And how much motion there is in each of the corridors by mapping the small impacts of insectoid feet clacking along it. Of course, the tech didn't necessarily have to work well.. Or at all.
Heather Danielson	Given her blue eyes,Heather has pretty good nightvision... for a human. But she nods to Jessica. She's not exactly easy to terrify. Okay, she's easy to -startle-, but true fear? When you heal as fast as she does, fear of death or anything else painful becomes just... meh. She's a bit blase' when it comes to that.     "I can handle it. Sure." she says to Jessica with an emphatic nod. Maybe a bit too focused and emphatic. She's trying to prove that she's more than just a pretty face. It's something she feels forced to do quite often.     And then the offer from Crush comes, and she grins back to the Czarnian and gives her a thumbs-up. "More light is better in my book." she states softly... not softly enough, but softly. Aaaaand, she's pretty distracted if anything were to happen right...now. But...     "What was that?" she asks as she shines her light over to where the Legion bugs just moved past.
Clint Barton	Clint does have a mapping system, both handheld in one of his pouches and in his goggles. Fitz had upgraded them recently, in fact. A button on his bow is pressed and the base of the quiver shifts around to attach an tip to one of the shafts. It's pulled in a fluid motion and nocked, then left fly in the direction of the five branching intersection of tunnels ahead. The uplink with his goggles takes over once the arrow is let loose. Guided by motions of his head with a small built in camera, he tilts and turns his neck to keep it moving after the company of insectiods headed in a direction paying them no mind at all. "Got a pretty large group ahead moving in and out of multiple tunnels. Looks like five tunnels all coming together. Good place for a fight, if we were going to fight. Can't really see what's down any of the individual tunnels though."
Jessica Drew	"Good to know," she says to Heather with a faint smile. Who wouldn't be at least nervous at the prospect of saber edged silicon armor. Fascinated by the insects clicking and scuttling to some unknown destination, Jess stands transfixed a moment before moving on. Birds in a flock constantly communicate with one another, she thinks, remembering the distant honk of geese flying through the night. She unclips her phone from her belt and sets it to record. Perhaps it is something that the science types can decode so they can be asked to go home. The phone lights from behind bounce, casting weird shadows and exaggerating the roughness of the new tunnels. After Clint releases his arrow, she pulls the app up on her phone and watches it update. "Copy that, Clint."
Xiomara Rojas	Crush pulls her phone out and gets the flashlight going, before tucking it in her pocket with the light aiming outward from her body. It wasn't much, but it is more light for those who can't see, and at a taller vantage point. It likely made her a lovely target for the bugs, but she didn't much care, better her than someone else. "Yeah, I'm Crush," she answers Jessica with a half smile, hald smirk. "Really big bugs," she adds for Heather's sake. As they continue and the sound is heard, she stops for a moment to say, "That's the sound they make. Sounds like quite a few actually, and it changes when they're pissed off... just so you know." Sharing is caring, right? The idea of working as a team was also new, but she was trying to remember everything Madison, Terry and Irie had told her about it. Those with more keen hearing would pick up the sound of the metal on metal as Obelus 'woke' up and started moving, wrapping herself around Crushes upper body as well as her waist, preparing herself for what might be coming. Those close enough with light can actually see the black chain moving like a snake to wrap around her.
Meggan Constantine	Whatever Natasha puts on the ground, good reason for Meggan to get back. She floats in retreat a couple of feet. The shine from the cellular phones doesn't affect her vision in the dark too much but habit keeps her head turned away from it, in the direction of Clint's arrow instead. Her shoulders tense, anticipating angry scrabbling insectoid aliens to come skittering out. "Want me to go take a look?" she asks blithely enough. "They might not see anything." The offer isn't one overly bubbling with enthusiasm, just put out there like so. "Could carry a camera down if you need it. That's if no one minds. Get me close enough and I can probably start communicating or eavesdropping."
Clark Kent	Even a consummate professional can sometimes make a mistake, and this time it happened to be Clint. As he guides the camera to scan the area, the clicking goes silent for a moment.     And then all hell breaks loose.     The last thing seen from the recon arrow is a large pointed leg coming right at it, and then the clicking returns as a cascade of sound pouring out of all the tunnels leading to the room the group is in. It seems the Legion is not going to be happy with just killing the drone, but is also after the other end of the connection, which is currently on Clint's head. And Jessica's phone.     This would probably be a good time to circle the wagons, as it were. Natasha's movement detector almost whites out the screen with the number of contacts it picks up headed for them. Recon just turned rather abruptly into combat. But at least they did discover that the Legion are still under New York in force. And they'll almost certainly be able to bring back a further report of how the Legion fights.
Natasha Romanova	Natasha Romanoff would note drolly <<Defensive positions. Hold your ground and we do a staggered withdraw if possible. Try and gather what data as you can. They'll come in swarms and try to flank us from multiple directions>> She would give some quick options. <<Damaging legs on insects is rarely as effective and the torsos are armored. Go for headshots if possible. They'll be weaker there and easier to disable>> Natasha goes to quickly ready one of her grenades and she goes to Jessica.     <<I'll open with a cryo grenade on the first group as they arrive. You follow it up with a flame one to thin the herd some>>
Heather Danielson	"Great." mutters Heather as Nat's motion detector goes off, "Why do I feel like a Colonial Marine without an M-41A Pulse Rifle right about now." Yep. Daddy is a sci fi nut from the 80's, and he shared all of those movies with his little girl since he never had a son.     But the very first thing she does is whip out one of those pulse transmitters and she hurls it down the tunnel in the direction they were already headed. Not at full strength... she doesn't want it to shatter on hitting a wall.... she did remember to activate it first too. "Hope this works." she mutters.
Jessica Drew	One move on the team's part and their reconnaissance mission takes a detour. Speaking over the clicking rush of feet, "Eye shots will work. If you've got the accuracy aim for the front of their heads. Negative on the flame grenade. Negative." Unslinging the P-90 with its armor piercing ammo, Jess stands her ground and calmly aims for the head of the lead in the bug stampede. "Here's hoping," she breathes.
Xiomara Rojas	The silence seemed to last forever, at least to Crushes perspective, and then the second sound she recognized... angry bugs. A few hundred things race through her mind in those few seconds, including Natasha's words, but the one that stands out the most comes to her lips. "No fire! The oxygen in here will blow up!" She remembered the commander saying that, and even though she could survive the explosion, the others couldn't. Three large steps forward are taken and both hands ball into fists as she readies for the impending bugs. In that same moment, Obelus whips out from around her body and moves likes a snake across the ground to the side and back of the group. Coming up to form a standing S shape, the hook at the end of the chain forming, the sentient metal ready. "They can't hurt me," she reminds the group. "I'll take the brunt, Obelus will watch the rear and right side. I won't let them get through to you ranged fighters, I swear it!"
Meggan Constantine	Meggan's form of arming herself comes by way of sinking down nearly to the ground. Not being on the receiving end of Clint's arrow puts her at a delay until catching the angry convergence of silicon-based creatures stampeding in high numbers. Not terribly long to guess how many come and what. She tilts her head. Xiomara headed to the front means putting herself between the remaining SHIELD agents, floating into place. "No fire. Don't worry about me, do what you have to do." Her slim hand lifts. Fingers stretch out to tease the air. A soft call from the Tuath de Danaan seeks the cold breath of air trapped deep in the earth, whispering the hidden name of halogen gasses to call it forth to play. Come out, fluorine, wherever you are...
Clark Kent	It is a matter of seconds before the first bugs burst into the room, heading straight for those transmitters. In the tunnel Heather threw the decoy into, the noises start to head away from the group instead of toward it, so she's bought at least a little time to keep them from being surrounded.     The incoming Legion still make for an impressive wave of attackers from the other tunnels, even with some of them dropping to the ground with arrows sticking out of their eye. There are more than enough to keep the group quite busy.     And behind the clicking and clacking of the visible bugs comes a lower pitched thudding sound which also appears to be getting closer.     The Earth responds to Meggan's call as always, and the desired gas begins to come out of the ground in wisps, forming a rough sphere in front of her.
Natasha Romanova	Natasha Romanoff goes to break to a defensive stance and nods over at Heather with 'good job' in her expression - not that it can readlly be read through the mask, but the intent is there. Then Natasha's going to quickly dart up ahead and moves to the point where the wave of rushing Legion-drones (at least as she's come to refer to them as) are channeling.     She goes to pop up two large bits of ceramic over to the walls, anchoring them quickly and tightly. From them would deploy a spider-like web. Anchored to the walls by the cermaic tiles grounding themselves in to them as small spikes would press in to the wall.     And Natasha would fall back to let the wave come at them. Monomolecular slicewire slashed up and over along it just waiting for the first group to hopefully run through the trap.
Heather Danielson	Once again, Heather is outgunned. She is strong. It's one of her identifying abilities. And she's around people who make her look like a teeager without super strength at all. She is tough... I mean she heals so fast she seems tough. But there's Crush who makes her feel like she's made of paper mache. But she -is- capable of taking a position on a flank.     So she steps over to offer some help.... planting her feet as she tries to make room behind her. She has no weapon, so has no ranged abilities... But she avoids he wire. Yep... she readies to engage whatever survives Natasha's icky trap....
Jessica Drew	Gun lowered, Jess calls back to Heather, "Good move." A halogen-like odor drifts down the tunnel, pungent and biting. She looks back at the three behind her, her eyes widening at Crush's transformation and...is the last one to join them floating? She casts no aspersions on other's super powers being inhuman herself and raises her weapon in anticipation of the oncoming rush if any get through Nat's traps.
Xiomara Rojas	Red eyes focus on the approach of the insects. The vibration of the one still coming, the new sound, it will have to wait until these skittering little bastards have been dealt with. Her punches are aimed for the heads, knowing she can get through the armor and right into the brain to stop them dead in their tracks. If she has to, she will wade into the bugs themseleves, their stabbing legs seeming unable to even break her skin with a scratch, though her clothing might end up shredded. Whatever it takes to keep the throng of them away from the larger group, that's what the Czarnian will do. Obelus was ready for the bugs to come to the group, but as Crush engages the chains purpose of protecting the alien teen comes full on. Flying through the air, the chain performs a move that looks much like a snapped cable, aiming her length along the legs of the bugs in an attempt to snap them in two and leave easy targets.
Meggan Constantine	Meggan floats in a globe of fluorine gas, the reactive element only stinging on the initial inhalation before her lungs adapt to the total absence of oxygen and nitrogen. Shifting the proportions avoids poisoning any non-silicate being getting too close, since that would hardly look good on her heroing resume. Subterranean climes under the Bronx remain warm enough, heated up a little more by a bit of friction until the swirling, unseen currents create a hell of a bait trap. Silicon doesn't get along well with the halogens, and someone paid attention to the chemistry lessons from YouTube. Any insect getting in range of her night-enhanced sight stands a moment of having a friendly pat on the face. She goes for the head, not the torso or outer limbs. Fluorine reactions only require room temperature to initiate the chain reaction that bypasses all those inert rules about water, acid, and typical bases. Something to render a fear of place, for entering into the unseen web puts the Legion at risk of being tormented by the rapid, violent reaction that comes along with forming a halide. If they want to keep going through the ginzu blender of Xiomara and Obelus, let them; the elemental doesn't play, force spun into walls and ribbons.
Clark Kent	The creatures seem to have no real self-preservation instincts, as the first ones to reach Nat's trap simply push forward, which ends up with them cutting themselves apart with blasts of pressurized oxygen when their carapaces are breached. And the ones behind them do exactly the same thing until enough have piled up that the wires finally give out under the pressure and break, allowing more of the Legion to clamber over the bodies of their nestmates and continue towards the group, which means they next encounter Heather.     Things are looking a little better with the flow of bugs disrupted in two tunnels so that the group is not getting hit from all sides at the same time. Crush and Obelus do a good job of keeping the Legion pinned up in one tunnel so the group has a manageable flow of targets.     The ones that Meggan touches with her collected fluoride gas start to smoke, bits of silicon armor flaking off as the gas reacts with their silicon bodies to form a corrosive compound. It doesn't take long for those affected to slump to the ground as the chemical reaction reaches their brains. An unusual attck, to be sure, but quite potent.     And finally the owner of the louder footsteps heaves itself into view. Unfortunately for the group, the tunnels were not made this large for headroom, but rather because some of the Legion need the space. It stands almost ten feet tall and about thirty feet long, with many more blades and sharp points than it's smaller kin. This then must be the analogue to warrior ants on Earth.
Natasha Romanova	Useful to know. The things are drones bordering ona utomotons. Dangerous. But predictable. That means they can be played alog. Natasha goes to quickly state into the comms <<Chokepoints.>> The drones could only move so -fast- and in such close quarters. So this meant that so long as the big thing was there.. It could only be minimally supported over by the rest of the group. she goes to speak ot her comm.     <<Glorianna, how do they communicate and corodinate with one another? Phermones? Psionics? Purely instinctive? Is there a greater being controlling their response?>> Things to file away for later.     Towards the large thing advancing, Natasha pauses. She goes to pop out one of the freeze grenades. Then she moves to take out a quick adhesive to pop it over and onto the side of it to anchor. Then, Natasha is firing along her grappler, launching herself up and over in the air over towards the head of the first approaching beast drone!
Heather Danielson	Well, the situation is changing. Heather lifts her hands in a defensive stance, and then finds herself not needing to be. Her hands come down and she shakes her head, "More than half of these things are dying from some burning thing. The others can't get past Crush. Makes me wonder why -I- am here." she mutters. Yeah, some of that self doubt is creeping into her words.     She hasn't had to punch, kick, stomp, headbutt... hasn't had to do anything yet. She is still standing there as a metahuman barricade, but one that is pretty much not stopping anything. Nothing there needs to be stopped with the heavy hitters going to town.     ... she -does- take a step back as bug goo, blood, whatever... begins flowing towards her feet from the shredded pile around what used to be the nanowire. Maybe now they'll... nope, more acidic kills. She lets out a breath in frustration and continues to wait.
Jessica Drew	Natasha's ploy worked its magic, the piles of defunct droid insects piling into impressive heaps until the wires break under their weight. At Jess's waist, her phone continues to record the battle, white noise interspersed with the explosive sounds of Crush and the woman floating in a cloud of gas stopping the stampede from the other tunnels. Over the din of destruction she hears Natasha's questions but has nothing to contribute. A spike of alarm ripples through her. Spider-sense. She looks to her left in time to see its source. Pitching her voice to carry, "We've got the boss coming to talk us. All hands on deck." Experimentally, the agent fires a barrage of armor-piercing rounds at what she hopes are sensitive areas of its head.
Xiomara Rojas	Crush has settled herself into a position that she can best attempt to reduce the flow of bugs toward the groups primary location but by no means can she and Obelus stop them all. Some are going to get through for the others to deal with, and that is information the Czarnian hates knowing. She knows they're capable, or they wouldn't be here, but that new nagging sensation of 'keep everyone from getting hurt' is rippling through her again. When the huge warrior bug makes itself known however, that changes things. "Whoa-ho, that thing is huge," she states the obvious, then, while still punching any bug that gets into range, screams out toward Natasha. "Hey... HEY... should I engage that thing, or you got it?!" Her instinct is to drop everything and punch the bigger bug, it's what her blood is screaming for, but this is a team, she has to /try/ to work with others.
Meggan Constantine	Legion, the many. Too many to be dealt with singularly. At some point the wave will break, its strength expended, and the consequences gauged from a denuded strip of ground that either ends up held or surrendered. "They just act. I cannot talk to them, they do not think like that." Meggan shakes her head about the question of communication, the fluorine she breathes in and exudes when breathing out a wave of overreactive destruction. Her grip on the gas is fairly solid, keeping it flowing over the silicate exoskeletons until they start to corrode as the fluorine breaks through. Runnels of gas that emerge from tiny fissures rise into the suspended death trap. She doesn't want that to hurt anyone around her. Even the scrabbling Legion going straight into destruction warrants a sad moue. "That's bloody awful." Understatement of the week goes to Team Crush. Redirecting her focus around from decimating the smaller drones to facing the big one comes with a whistle of that fluorine wall thickening ahead of Xiomara. "Going through will hurt it. We here to fight this or we dropping back like something or another?"
Clark Kent	Nat's aerial move takes her over the crowd of drones to land on the big one's head. Whether she can do anything to it from up there is a question she will have to try and answer in the next several seconds. The thing is pretty massive, so it will take something pretty serious to deal with it.     Heather's break time ends as the Legion erupts from the tunnel she had thrown the decoy down. Apparently one of them finally caught up to it and killed it, so they are now coming to join the rest of the drones attacking the group. It may be getting to be a good time to retreat with the information they've picked up so far.     Meggan's gas seems to have much less effect on the big one, possibly because it's armor is so thick. It does seem to be losing some of that armor to the reaction with the gas, but unlike the smaller ones, it still keeps coming.     Xio and Obelus are keeping a lot of the Legion from reaching the group, the half-Czarnian using her strength to take out bug after bug, with Obelus striking at any coming in at them from the sides.     Jessica's bullets don't seem to have an effect on the big one as they ricochet off of it in various directions. This one will require some work to deal with, but they probably will need to do something about it before they can safely retreat.
Natasha Romanova	The freeze grenade is then latched by Natasha onto the head of the thing, and she goes to flip off of it and scramble away. Presuming hte grenade works, it would hopefully erupt over and freeze the majority of the cranial dome of the beast. Then as she goes to hit the ground and scramble away, she goes to call over to Crush. "Hit the head as hard as you can." Hopefully with it all frozen over leaving it in an -excellent- position for Crush's fist to simply break through it like a pinata!     To Meggan, "We need a secure enough position we can fall back and disengage from." Which means no fleeing on foot while giant monsters go to pursue them. Hopefully taking down the big thing will get them that space. "If you can stage a partial collapse of the area once we have some room to slow down their pursuit without pressing yourself or risking the structrual integrity.." She doesn't know how much damage the place can take all being dug out. So she'd rather not risk it. And she trusts Meggan's judgement of what sh can do and handle and what the locale can.
Heather Danielson	"Oh shit." mutters Heather. "Um..." She looks to one side and spies the big one. Then she looks at the swarm coming towards them all. "Jessica. Can you do a wide spread bio-blast? It might slow them down. They seem to key off of EM energy and bio-electricity -is- EM, right?" she asks. "Give it -all- you got and see if you can at least overload this hallway... I need to.."     And she has her hand thrust into her pouch. She has four more transmitters there, and she literally turns them all on at once.     That done, she rips the pouch off of her belt and says, "CRUSH! I NEED YOUR STRENGTH! I NEED YOU TO PUT THIS POUCH -INSIDE- OF THE BIG ONE THERE! I AM HOPING TO MAKE THE LITTLE ONES SWARM IT LONG ENOUGH FOR US TO LEAVE!"     That said, she holds out the pouch to Crush and then turns to back up Jessica, to get any that evade her blast, kicking and punching and ignoring the damage she takes as she heals as fast as it is taken for the most part.
Jessica Drew	And, as she suspected, the armor piercing bullets don't do a damned thing and she will be putting Natasha at risk if she continues the barrage no matter how good a shot her mutant abilities make her. Her teammates accelerate the assault with the audacious Natasha attempting to give the Boss a head freeze and Crush called in to chip the ice. Heather's call stops her plan to wrap the things head in webbing. She leaps to the top of a pile of razored body parts and extends her hands. A green haze blooms from her palms, expanding until there is a wall of bio-electric energy blocking the hall. In a voice strained with effort, she calls over her shoulder, "Don't know how long I can do this!"
Xiomara Rojas	Punching. Two requests for punching, and Crush was ready to oblige. "We got you!" she calls out to both Natasha and Heather. "Two punches incoming!" There was no way she could technically be in two places at once, so Obelus would fill in for her in 'punching' the warrior drone in the head. Little was known about the chains abilities, outside of what Crush knew, but the chain was capable of wrapping herself around Lobo and holding him down, so she was more than capable of punching her way through the bugs head... or least trying to. Even as she was making her attack on the warrior bugs head, the end of Obelus extends out to snatch up the pouch from Heather and bring it back into Crushes reach. She would strike over and over, wrap herself around its head and squeeze, whatever it took. With Obelus on punch one, that allowed Crush the time she needed to use her powerful legs to jump and launch herself like a missile at the side of the warrior bug, both fists out in front of her to engage the jump assisted punch full on. Seconds, that's all the time that was required for Czarnian and sentient chain to change tactics and attack the warrior drone. If one punch wasn't enough from Crush, she would pummel the ever living hell out of the side of the warrior bug until there was a hole in it.
Meggan Constantine	"No ceiling coming down or else we take a good bit of the borough with it. Mannahatta would kill me if Mum doesn't!" Mum, Manhattan, names casually flung off when she collapses the fluorine wall immediately below Natasha's height and pushes it back and away. Too reactive and plain dangerous when the oncoming freight train of a monster lays bare the gulf of reconnaissance and murderating. Almost regrettable, the business of making something hurt. Meggan's expression shows it, lips curved down and a mask of uncertainty next to Crush's headlong frenzy into... that. Bounce into the bug and lay waste. Suppose that bug doesn't want to stop with the perils of a chain and a Czarnian warrior, it can suffer the redoubled forces of the ground beneath its feet liquefying and hardening in a spilling wave. No point in destabilizing the Bronx neighbourhoods overhead but reshaping the tunnels and bedrock below to stop all those legs or feet from freely moving is another tactical option.
Clark Kent	The cryo grenade stays attached to the big one as the Black Widow does a nimble flip away and over the smaller ones to return to the group. After a couple seconds, it detonates in a cloud of refrigerant gas, instantly coating the head in a layer of ice. Obelus strikes the head seconds later, and frozen armor does flake off with each hit. However, once again the thickness of the armor defeats the measures taken to try and breach it. It does seem a bit confused though, given that it's currently got ice covering it's eye and both a chain and a Czarnian beating on it in different areas.     Jessica's bio-electric field seems to be disrupting the drones a bit, the ones that come into contact with it losing the drive to attack the group and instead wandering around in circles.     The weight of the big one makes it's legs sink deeply into the suddenly fluid ground, leaving it pretty well stuck when that ground turns back to rock. And then Crush bashes a big enough hole in it's side to stuff the bag of transmitters into. The attacking Legion turn and start heading toward their large relative, swarming over it while it remains firmly stuck in the tunnel floor.     This would be the perfect time to head for the exit, because many more skittering feet can be still be heard down the tunnels. And while Nat might call it a tactical retreat, others may say just getting the hell out. Whatever term you prefer, the group does make it's way back out of the tunnels without any further combat.     Once they emerge, SHIELD agents collect the various sensor data that has been gathered, and the team is debriefed, each one questioned closely about what they saw and how the Legion reacted. All in all, with no losses, this was a good recon run, and also helped the experts come up with tactics to be used in the future.