9052/Sentinels: Bucky's Lab Mission, Take 2

Sentinels: Bucky's Lab Mission, Take 2
Date of Scene:	03 September 2019
Location:	Laboratory in Ningbo, China.
Synopsis:	A SHIELD mission into a HYDRA lab takes some odd cybernetic turns.
Cast of Characters:	Loki, Winter Soldier, Captain America, Melinda May, Black Widow (Romanoff)
Tinyplot:	Sentinels

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Loki has posed:
Bucky was given coordinates, and detailed directions, to a site in western Ningbo. It's in a heavily urban area, and the coordinates are confusing: there's residential areas there, thick with population. Perhaps the goal is under the groups of apartments. The other laboratory that Bucky had brought to SHIELD's attention, in central Ningbo, is technically not terribly far away: that one was deeply underground, so a similar layout would make sense.

As it is, there's no marks or suggestion that those coordinates are actually anything. It could be the tip is a dud. On the upside, there is a SHIELD facility, a small one, on the east side of the city, to make networking and access to resources relatively easy.

The Winder Soldier's phone does reveal one 'lifeline' (or a massive weight pulling him under, depending on how one looks at it), in that it comes with a text from an unknown number:

    "About time. Don't let him get away, this time. L"

Winter Soldier has posed:
It really is like dealing with the Devil. Buck's glum as a wet cat.....but he didn't go haring off on his own. No, he's doing this one on the books, with May there as SHIELD direction/fig leaf, and the Star Spangled Goldendoodle as his wingman.

They are not taking advantage of Loki's magic transit. He just doesn't trust the Trickster not to dump them in another dimension or even somewhere just inconvenient, like Honolulu. No, May's piloting them there, and Buck is glowering at the bulkhead, armed to the teeth. SHIELD fatigues, not the HYDRA gimp drag, at least.

Captain America has posed:
Steve, on the other hand, is in his navy-blue stealth suit, sporting its spangled central star (oh yeah, Barnes, you know this suit well -- that was a target in winter's woods) and bars, and with his shield on his back. While his oldest friend is up front near the pilot's seat, the Captain is lingering in one of the many seats along the Quinjet's walls.

"Don't think anything hinky's going to go down...well, beyond the usual HYDRA crap -- so at least it'll be guns 'nd cybernetics 'nd not...y'know." He glances up at Barnes.

Magic.

Melinda May has posed:
Piloting, May doesn't join in on whatever conversation Rogers is trying to start back there. She just speaks with the SHIELD agents in the base on the east side of this city, arranging for landing and a car to take them closer to the target destination.

It's only a matter of moments before they've touched down and she's standing as the 'jet's rear loading ramp opens. "Let's go, there's a car waiting." The sooner they get this over with, the sooner she can let Loki exactly how displeased she is with him compromising one of her agents.

Loki has posed:
There's some decent local intelligence about that area, but mostly confusion and light skepticism about there being anything there. Nothing overt: whatever the top agents want to do, they get to do. If there's something, it's very quiet, though, is the general word.

A look at the site once they're closer shows it won't be difficult to blend into the crush of people, --- except that the tall, muscular men may stick out a lot in public, just out of stature and mass. Many of the people here are poor, the apartments aren't in great repair, but this isn't a ghetto, either.

A local agent, Agent Zhou, is with the car, and can guide and brief on the local area. "We have not focused in that area, there was no reason to," she explains in the car.

Winter Soldier has posed:
Buck's not looking forward to this. But....there's adrenaline gathering for the fight, and the fact that it's Loki who assigned them this is less irritating than it was. They've both seen that before, May and Steve, the way he turns inward. "We have compelling intelligence," he says, with something of Winter's flatness in his voice, and leaves it at that.

Captain America has posed:
It is a smidge awkward getting the vibranium shield into the car, but once settled, Steve's no happier than anyone else present. He does snort to himself at Bucky's word choice and mutter something to himself in Gaelic; it's likely unkind, to say the least.

"Don't blame you for not turning attention this direction. Any HYDRA base isn't going to be obvious to the public eye," he says quietly, watching the city pass by the window.

Melinda May has posed:
May claims the front passenger's seat and listens as the driver explains. "It might be better that you've not investigated that area. There's a better chance that we'll be going in with the element of surprise." She makes a mental note to find a linguist in the SHIELD analysis pool who speaks Gaelic, but really it's only for idle curiosity.

"Is there any chance to clearing the area of civilians?" And she knows that that is likely too tall an order for the small SHIELD outpost's employees.

Loki has posed:
"There is a chance," Agent Zhou replies, though her expression doesn't look particularly pleased. She does seem confident in her words, though. "But I would not want to ruin that element of surprise by doing so, or to cause whoever is in the facility to start to harm people. I will prepare teams to make that happen, though," she agrees.

Once the car arrives on the site (there's traffic, it's very unpleasant), Zhou shows on their mapping devices where they are related to the site, and pulls up two rather excellent cameras of a shopping venue down the block from it. The apartments themselves seem to have no coverage on them.

"If I can help you to scout here, myself or my team are prepared," Zhou says. There are people around: quite a lot of them, it is not an empty area.

Upon getting closer, a more telling indicator comes up, for those that can read it: there's a clinic operating on the lower floor of the apartment building, which could explain a lot of the people clumped up there.

Winter Soldier has posed:
"What's that line of Mao's about terrorists hiding in the population like fish in the ocean?" Buck's tone is abstracted. "We'd better scout, but I wouldn't mind the help. We need this one guy, and if he goes scooting off..." Ooh, he might get a stern look from Loki. Which is actually more uncomfortable than one might expect. The Trickster gives him the creeps. "And I bet your people will blend in a lot better than us." Because there are a lot of big blond beefcakes wandering around this part of the world.

Captain America has posed:
Busy fiddling with the screen inlaid to his suit's forearms, Steve glances up. Another wry little smile and a soft snort -- understatement of the year, about blending in.

"Works for me. Scout the perimeter, find an entrance out of view of the main drag...get in, get out, hit 'em like lightning 'nd leave 'em reeling before they can fire back. Lotta civilians around here. Not looking to get into any sort of big fire-fight," the Captain opines, knowing his sentiments are likely shared.

Melinda May has posed:
"Agreed." She pulls up an image of Dr. Weiss. "This is our primary target. If you see him anywhere within our pre-determined perimeter, notify us immediately but do NOT engage. If you have to notify us, then our element of surprise is already lost and that's when you need to evacuate the area."

She looks toward their target location, then at the two super soldiers. "Let's do this." Unlike the two men, she appears to be completely unarmed, though anyone who's worked with her in the past most definitely knows better.

Loki has posed:
While the scouts go and do their jobs, the car continues on to another area that Zhou dictates. All of the setup is completed, the agents are good at their jobs, and rapidly work on the area.

There's some interesting information gathered. First, a number of the residents admitted to hearing strange sounds late at night, lately, vibrations. Second, the clinic's front has been open, but the back of it has been closed for months. It's put a huge strain on how many people can be seen. Third, one of the nurses of the clinic was willing to talk, but required that she and her daughter be protected. The clinic covered movement of medical supplies for the back facility.

With all of the information, and proposed area of entry via where the supplies are delivered, the squad was able to wait until the cover of night, and slip into the clinic. The security on it will require skill (there are a lot of cameras and equipment that will require deft interference to not set off), even from the veteran agents: a clear indication that they are in the right place. They can make short work of the unprepared first group of security, and can gain access into the elevator. It feels the same as the one from the other laboratory, at least to Bucky: a facility deftly hidden, deep below the clinic.

The elevator opens down to multiple floors: three subterranan levels, with no marks on which is the best to go to.

Winter Soldier has posed:
"Jesus, it's like the fuckin' Mines of Moria down here," Buck's voice is grouchy. When did he see the Lord of the Rings movies? "Let's take the top of three and work down." But he's braced as the elevator doors open on the first of those floors, ready to be heading out and taking fire. As if he didn't have a goon with a shield handy to do that job.

Captain America has posed:
"Sounds about right," Steve agrees quietly as the elevator continues descending. It reaches its floor, the first of the three lower levels, and he sighs even as he brings up his shield. Stationed in front of the unit in the elevator as a whole, he's the first thing visible as the doors open.

A bit shocking, surely, the spangled shield, even as he steps out into the space beyond. A hallway's worth of a warren in prison-mesh doors is clearly to prevent both entry and exit. He's greeted with at least one set of wide eyes behind tactical shades and black tac-ops gear before he hucks the shield. Not one, but two guards drop from ricochetting hits dead to the face from the vibranium buckler. The third one's scrambling for his walkie-talkie, having fumbled it behind the glass window of a single-room guard shack-like section of the room.

Turns out the glass can't handle a shield either. CRASH-WHOMP. Ain't nobody calling in help right off the bat, at least in this room. Jogging over, Steve pulls his shield from the wreckage of the desk and brushes glass from it, glancing back expectantly at the others as if to ask, 'Well? Are you coming?'

Melinda May has posed:
May didn't help the stomping path to Berlin. That's not her style. She's not the sneak-about sort like Romanoff, but she's also not the lead-with-your-face type like Rogers. Thus, she waits tucked into one of the front corners of the elevator as the doors open, and then follows Steven 'tank' Rogers after he's mowed his way in. ICER in hand, she's looking around quickly to make sure there's no one ELSE within eyeshot, or showing up at the sounds of the shield doing its Pong-ly best.

She tilts her head to the right, indicating that's where she's headed. What the two shining examples of good life decisions do, she likely has no control over at this point.

Loki has posed:
There's a sudden strange sensation of vibration that passes through the whole room, and the elevator. It is as if an enormous train just hauled ass through underneath them.

It's very alarming, as if the place might cave in, and even a weathered soldier might be concerned about a cave-in, so loud and abrupt is the sound! It's no wonder that the elevator sound didn't cause the men inside to overreact until Captain America was upon them.

The strange vibrations pass, lasting only perhaps four seconds in total. Looking inside the guard area will see some suggestions that this happens a lot: nothing is loose on tables, but collected in areas where it can't roll around or slide away, much like inside a ship.

There are multiple doors in the area, and only the single elevator door: that second elevator must have gone somewhere else. The larger one that the group took has let out into this prison-like front zone, appropriate for processing people or objects: the secure layers of prison-like chain fencing reads strongly of deterring escape attempts. There is a security door to the left, some longer hallways to the right that May is checking into, and then the front, very guarded entrance into whatever is being 'stored' on this level. There are some voices from May's hallway: chatter about the lousy vibrations giving someone a headache.

Winter Soldier has posed:
It clearly tears at Buck - he can't follow both. And much as it galls him, much as old instincts say to fall in line with the raging meatball....May's more human. He motions for Steve to continue on, and tries to get ahead of her. Leapfrogging, the old fashioned way.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
As the group clear the area, the security door to the left opens and framed in the doorway is the fourth member of their team. Natasha is dressed in her Shield uniform, right Glock still holstered, the other Glock in her left hand. She was using the right to open that doorway, allowing them access to the security area.

Having taken the other elevator, she managed to work her way to here. "Security area clear," she announces. Then she adds. "I found cameras of the lower levels."

Captain America has posed:
Steve, at the very least, isn't happy about the vibration. He looks down and around, wondering for a split second if any part of the ceiling or fencing is weak enough to come down. It ceases and he looks to the others, paused only for thoughts if they come. May's movements towards the right hallway and then Bucky falling in behind means the Captain's the third in line in their little group.

Still, hearing the security door suddenly in motion, he has the shield up and ready. But -- oh, it's simply Natasha -- but not just simply Nat, good lord, she doesn't have a hair out of place.

"Great. What'd the feed show?" the Captain asks of the Widow, his shield now neutral before his torso.

Melinda May has posed:
May nods to Natasha in acknowledgement of the security area being dealt with (that means fewer chances for alarms to get set off), and proceeds to the right. There's more than one door here, so picks the first one on the left. A very quick glance through the narrow window in the metal door reveals quarters, with a few people lounging about inside, most not wearing anything resembling tactical gear.

With a glance back the way she came and a look at Barnes, she just opens the door and steps right on in as if she owns the place, firing off three ICER rounds by the time she's taken a second step into the room. That leaves two more nerdy/sciencey types. She'd like to chat with one of them, so the other gets the ICER aimed at their face.

Yes, taking an ICER to the face feels like getting hit with a paintball, but it's still not lethal.

Loki has posed:
The scientist that didn't get shot in the face exclaims in Mandarin loudly, and bolts backwards, using the plate he'd been eating from as a terrible shield, dumping the yummy food off of it down onto the floor and his pants as he reacts.

Two guards, one of which had mentioned his headache not long before, bear down towards the room, weapons at ready. They're well trained, but then, so are May and Bucky.

Winter Soldier has posed:
It's a blessed relief to explode into violence. It really is. And for all the calm control HYDRA inculcated in him, it's clear Barnes is just this side of a rampage. He's come with nonlethal ICER rounds, and lucky for those guards, that's what they take, center mass. The knives haven't come out yet, which is the one good sign.

He's got that utter lack of expression on, creepily reminiscent of the Soldier.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
Natasha's response is a bit of a shrug as she moves into the hall with the others. "Okay, we have one, two, and three. Subbasements. We're on one. All three floors are laboratory related, but the staff also live on this one. There's quarters here..." She pauses as she watches May and Bucky charging into the very room she was going to mention. "But you seem to have found that out already."

Then she continues her report as though her teammates aren't over there cleaning house. "I'd suggest avoiding two. It's full of some strange cyborg stuff that probably is best left unless it becomes necessary. Third houses some kind of large single lab that the security cameras can't see into."

Captain America has posed:
With a calculating look towards the advancing back of Barnes, Steve elects on a whim to linger and speak with Natasha about the camera feed. Whomever's in the break room isn't going to appreciate what the two SHIELD agents have to dish out in return if they get fired at, after all, and no one's a babe in the woods here.

"Yeah, we found the quarters," the man agrees drily as he hears the first ICER round go off. Frowning, he listens to the description of the remaining floors and glances back at the elevators.

"If Weiss doesn't show on this level, I'm thinking three. Hornet's nest is already kicked enough." He looks towards the living quarters, leaning to one side briefly to squint. "I was warned we need to drop Weiss fast. ICERs may not do it."

Melinda May has posed:
May scruffs the last person standing and pulls him down to be face to face with her, and presses the ICER to his temple. He likely has no idea it's non-lethal. "Is Dr. Weiss in the facility? Answer honestly, and answer quickly, or I hand you to him." She tilts her head toward Barnes doing an impressively good Winter Soldier impersonation.

If need be, she'll repeat in Mandarin. It's no hardship for her whatsoever.

Loki has posed:
The scruffed man doesn't dick around with pretending to only speak Mandarin, but he does have an accent when he answers in English. "I -- don't shoot, I am only a worker assistant," asks the man, starting to breathe heavily in panic. He didn't expect a gun on his head today, perhaps. It's a little overdone: is he acting?

"He is always here, yes. Should be. Please don't shoot me," he requests. He is still holding the plate, and sloooowly starts to put it down on the couch. His eyes are glued to the Winter Soldier. Recognition? Or just having seen what he just did? It's hard to tell from a stare. There's something sharp in the eyes of the 'assistant', that isn't exactly panic. A shift in breathing.

"Soldat Sp----" begins the man....

Winter Soldier has posed:
The apparent Soldier just stands there, about as expressive as a concrete cinder block. ICER rounds loaded in the carbine he habitually uses for close-in work.

And then that assistant is trying to use one of the codewords.

To which attempt, the only response is a slow, spreading smile, feral as a wolf's.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
Watching Bucky, Natasha continues even as she moves toward the room but not in any sort of rush. She isn't even able to really hear what is being said in the next room from her position. "We need to take him down more permanently?" she asks as though she's questioning if they should go out for lunch or eat in. It's got the same level of, or lack of, concern.

Captain America has posed:
Steve's eyes linger on the assistant trapped by May's capable hands. He fidgets with a strap on his shield and tries to force down the ticklish frizzling of adrenaline in his spine telling him to move -- move -- surely someone's wondering why tac-ops leader A hasn't responded to a check-in.

"More like he's probably going to be full of cybernetic tricks 'nd unless the ICER ammo can drop something related to Sebastion, we'll be in a knock-down, drag-out fist-fight," he opines quietly, walking alongside Natasha.

However, he hears the familiar Russian words well enough. Tensing up, the Captain's mouth parts in shock. His heart leaps up into his throat. Oh god -- oh shit -- the words -- no -- momentary panic alone nearly pulls him into the room, but wait -- wait. Buck's not moving. Oh sweet mother of mercy, thank god, the compulsion's still buried.

Melinda May has posed:
May waits just long enough for the man to see the feral grin on Barnes's face before saying to him in ever so salm Mandarin, "Wrong. You lose." Then firing the ICER against his temple. That's the last person in this room, so she reholsters her weapon and looks at James just as calmly as ever. "Shall we?"

She leads the way back to where Steve and Natasha are. "Third sublevel." She's agreeing with them on that one. Honestly, she has no idea if the R&D folks ever tested the ICERs for point blank range, but if that just killed that guy, she's not about to lose any sleep over it.

Loki has posed:
The sound of the ICER against the guy's temple was slightly off. Like shooting against metal. It also tears a chunk of skin and flesh off the side of his head, exposing metallic skull and plenty of blood. He does collapse to the ground, but if he's dead, or stunned, or something else, is not exactly certain to tell. He did fall down, though.

The elevator near them is where they left it; hard to tell if Natasha's is still there, since there's corridors between them and that one.

Another vibration passes through the ground, much as it did before, though this one is shorter: barely a second, and then ends.

Their elevator awaits.

Winter Soldier has posed:
That sense of rising anger is there again - for all the gallows humor in the man's priceless expression of shock, it's called up all those ugly memories of his previous helplessness....and that, in turn, he owes their ineffectiveness to Loki.

"I'm on point," he says, and there's a hint of a snarl in his voice, a tone that would brook no argument save in such a crowd of stubborn bastards. Now....now there will be blood in earnest.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"This is going to get interesting," Natasha murmurs softly as she turns and heads for the elevator. She pops out a magazine then pulls back the slide to eject the ICER round that was in the chamber. It is loaded back into the magazine then the magazine disappears into a pouch on her belt. The magazine that she pulled out of that spot is slammed home and the slide snapped back and released, loading a armor piercing round instead of the ever so safe ICER. Her other Glock still has the non lethal rounds but it never hurts to be prepared for bear. Especially after what Steve just said about the good doctor.

This is all done in seconds before she steps into the elevator, stepping to the side so she will not be in the line-of-fire when the doors open on the lower floor.

Captain America has posed:
Thank god. An angry Barnes, snarling like that -- he's seen that look before, in the back alleys of Brooklyn and more than once on the battlefield as the man reloaded his rifle -- that's the real Barnes. How this is cold comfort to Steve in comparison to their current circumstances is something to muse over later, deep in the night, when he can't sleep.

"On your right then," Steve says firmly as he brings his shield up, jaw set. He strides back to the elevator and doesn't press the button for the third subfloor until everyone's set, including Bucky on his left. He does glance up at the ceiling and mutter, rather pithily,

"They used to play music."

When the elevator doors slide open, he's got the shield up and ready. The immediate view is of a hyper-secure hallway. The air here is cold and sterile, scented faintly of metal and ions. The most obvious (and irritating) piece of tech on display is the security system itself: it has a damn retinal scan. No doubt something precious lies beyond the security precautions. Steve sighs to himself even as he steps out, looking in all directions including up.

"Anybody able to hack around an eyeball?"

Melinda May has posed:
May follows Natasha back into the elevator, ducking into the corner opposite the redhead almost as if they'd practiced this at some point. She reaches under the back of her jacket and pulls two blades that would impress Mick Dundee while they wait for the third sub basement.

And... that was kind of anticlimactic. But, retinal scanner. "I only know old school security systems." Though she could break it off the wall and short the wires behind it if that'd make a difference. Likely not.

Loki has posed:
The vibrations come once again, and it's very clearly on the level that the group is on. It makes the elevator rattle very loudly, banging inside the current position in the elevator shaft. Some of this masks some noise beyond the security door: but not fully, to those that are very alert.

There's quiet as the vibration ends, and some sounds of motion from the other side of the sealed door.

With barely a few seconds to prepare, the door is suddenly coming open, and three cyborgs come stalking out. They are metallic limbed atrocities, with human flesh necks and chests, behind metal panels protecting their upper torsos. Legs are exposed metal, arms a combination of bone and metal. They orient very quickly on the intruders, but they did not appear to be on alert before the door opened: they do have to raise weapons - their right upper limbs, in this case.

The zone beyond the three sentinels shows more hallways, and two laboratory zones to either side -- and a deeper, longer room full of computers, tables, and machinery past that. Scientists and other cyborgs move around beyond the door, unaware of any problem.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"We can find someone who has an eye that will work. Go old school," Natasha suggests. After all, it is hacking. Sort of. Though they likely would just drag the person here and put their eye to the device. "What about one of the guy--"

She doesn't finish that thought as the door opens. Immediately she brings her weapon up with the ICER rounds, firing at the chest of the closest cyborg. At least they'll learn if ICER rounds work on them.

Winter Soldier has posed:
Okay, now it's time to rock and roll. They've been pulling this duo schtick since Roosevelt was in office, and it's second nature now. Like watching dancers who've partenered together for years on stage. He's on Steve's left flank, the side Rogers never guards, in perfect pace with the Captain....and he's got his carbine up and rattling away in semi-auto bursts. These things may be his kin, his descendants, but they get neither quarter nor mercy, just a heaping helping of brass-jacketed lead.

Captain America has posed:
Okay, time to tango.

With the familiar deafening ring of close-quarters carbine at his ear, Steve narrows his field of focus to the sudden appearance of the cyborg guards. With his past experience in dealing with the sudden upraised hands, he's darting quickly in beneath the line of Bucky's upraised gun, knowing by the half-inch on the horizontal where the man holds it from years of experience. Any hand-beams shot directly at Barnes, at least, will be deadened on impact given vibranium's freakish physical abilities. Now, plasma eye-beams?

That's a whole other reflective game, sure to be turned against the ones aiming it at the Captain.

Melinda May has posed:
Upon seeing what was behind door number one, May tucks the blades away again and instead brandishes a pair of taser-ended batons. She might not be able to hurt them by hitting them, but maybe large amounts of electricity would do something.

Of course, with the Rogers and Barnes Review going on here, she really doubts she'll be able to get anywhere close to those things. She's really not that sad about it. Instead, with Steve going low and Bucky aiming a little higher, she triggers the taser on one of her batons and throws it at the face of the rightmost sentinel. Fingers crossed it actually has an effect.

Loki has posed:
Another massive vibration happens: intense, at this proximity, and with the security door open. It comes with a LOT of screaming from the lab. Six or so voiced raised in sheer agony. It's noisy, and is going to cover a lot of the fight from the front elevator.

But not ALL of the fight.

A scientist from the end of the room visually points, and those down at the end begin to orient.

A sharp eye will see one Dr. Weiss down in there, who turns away from the computer banks to look where another scientist is pointing. They do a few hand signs: 'go deal with it' in sign language.

At the elevator area, blasts at the super well-armored chests of the cyborgs find little effect. The ICER seems ineffective, at their well sheilded mid-body points. As the limbs are raised, though, those seem like excellent spots: their weapons aren't guarded. Sure, they're now firing pulse bursts, though, at the front targets: Bucky and Steve.

Only the center one employs plasma assault from the eyes, which reflects off the shield and sheers off the legs of the cyborg next to it. May's baton smashes into the head at the same time, and electrocutes through into one of the eye sockets, setting the thing to shake and tremble like a loose limbed doll.

Winter Soldier has posed:
He doesn't trust voice to be heard, amidst all the noise present. So Buck's indicating Weiss with handsignals...and coming up with a taser of some kind. If electricity messes them up, well, he may have sympathy.....but he'll do what's necessary. The metal hand is out to defect those bursts, even as he tries to get the leads on the right-hand cyborg. Let's make this little puppet dance, and prove that the original model is still the best.

Captain America has posed:
Each pulse burst is like taking a punch from a metal arm. The shield resounds with each impact, impressively hidden beneath the heavy vibrations surrounding them. Steve's teeth feel to tingle in his jaw as he grits them, planted at least for the moment to guard Bucky sharpshooting overtop him. Bulwarking, the Captain provides cover for him to duck and then emerge again, scooted barely but an inch in his half-crouch.

He marks the weak points in the weaponry on display. Surely Pinocchio's rolling over in his grave to see the loose-limbed clattering of cybernetic horrors on the floor, dancing to electricity. Yanking his attention from the sight he's sure to see in his nightmares at least once, Steve sees the distant forms of Weiss and the fellow scientists. He can't see Bucky's hand-signals, but what he can do is huck his shield at the last standing cyborg of the initial three with all the force he can muster.

Melinda May has posed:
There's an opening. May takes it. Here is when being small is an advantage. She ducks out of the elevator around Barnes, scoots past Steve as he aims his shield to take down the last of the three sentinels, then unholsters her ICER and begins firing it at every standing person she can see while charging toward Weiss.

Yes, this is likely suicidally stupid, but she trusts the three behind her to be backup before she gets too far into trouble.

Loki has posed:
The three cyborgs fight, but the force they're hit with has dropped one, and the other two don't have the maneuverability to react properly in the small space. One did get smart and went for Natasha instead of the reflective shield, trying to strafe around one side, but that just leaves it open to being pummeled if the heroes turn on it soon enough. The melee ends up with the rightmost bashed to hell at Bucky's feet, the center one fully engaged with Steve, and the third trying to flank them, but leaving itself open.

Behind them, the elevator doors start to close, as the thing is being summoned from another floor.

Ahead in the room, Melinda isn't met with immediate violence, but the scientists go for cover very quickly, including Weiss. And there's some horrible distractions in this room: six cyborgs all arranged around a center machine of some type, hooked into it, monitored with an array of computer equipment. Weiss himself was no fool, and ducked down behind one of the cyborg beds to avoid getting shot. May picks off a few of the scientists as she charges. There's too much noise and screaming for much of anything to be said, even if the villain wanted to monologue.

Winter Soldier has posed:
May is not wrong. Buck is keeping pace with her now and there's that terrible light in his eyes. This is another iteration of his own very, very personal hell, only now he's not helpless. Now he's broken his strings.

It's a Rogersian lack of subtle tactics, but truth be told, Buck isn't thinking very clearly. Rage is like ice in his blood, like the cold burn in his veins as cryo takes effect. He just sweeps through cyborg or scientist foolish enough to get in his way, beelining for Weiss. For all the world like he woke up and put on the Hulk pants this morning.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
Natasha learns quickly. Seeing the one May hit in the head going down, she puts the Icer away even as she leaps out of the shot the cyborg was lining up and goes for the leap its direction. As she goes airborne, she manages to put a hand on its shoulder as she passes. Only to bring her other hand up by the head and fire off a Widow's Bite, point blank, against its head.

Even as it is taking those volts and falling, she is clear, landing easily on her feet but she glances backwards at that elevator. That probably isn't good. Reinforcements could come in and block them from the rear. She twists her right wrist, dropping out one of the tonfas from within which she snaps out to full length and locks into place. Then she flings it, enough to get it in the doors of the elevator and stopping half in and half out. If the doors have a sensor, hopefully they will hit the tonfa and stop then reopen, instead of allowing it to go wherever it was going. If they don't? She just reduced herself to one tonfa for no reason.

Captain America has posed:
The central cyborg is hit dead-on to the face with the flung shield. It shears the robot's head clear in half, revealing metal skull and sparking innards. With a clang to dent a nearby wall, it returns to Steve's hand like some impossibly loyal falcon. Vibranium's odd physics remain useful. Steve squints and rises smoothly to one side, still an uncanny half of the Brooklyn Boys on display. After all, he's got a scientist to --

And there goes May. "May, w -- "

And there goes Barnes, and now the Captain's heart is in his throat. "Shit," he hisses under his breath. "Nat, we gotta get in there, I dunno if he's going to leave Weiss alive!"

Turning on a dime, he darts over and shoves himself through the momentary gap in the elevator's doors caused by the Widow's tonfa. Slamming his hand to the HOLD button, he too sincerely hopes this keeps the car present and not disappearing. The doors are only open wide enough to admit someone his size or smaller at this point.

Boot's on the other foot now as the Captain then darts past the security doors and into the lab. Normally he's being chased, not the other way around. "Cease fire! CEASE FIRE!!!!" He tries for a belted command with the full force of military muster, knowing it might check both May and Barnes if not startle anyone thinking to draw on them into freezing in uncertainty.

Melinda May has posed:
May is very doggedly NOT looking around too much. She's got enough horrors in her mind, the last thing she needs is to add to them. Despite Steve's yell from behind them, she keeps on firing at the various scientists fleeing for cover, hoping to catch a last one or two before she has to ferret them out.

She doesn't get in Bucky's way as he's clearly targeting Weiss. If she needs to, she'll get him to stop. But, if this guy is as much of a cyborg as was suggested, Loki didn't exactly demand that the man be brought to him intact. Only alive. She's willing to skirt that line.

Loki has posed:
The three cyborgs have now fallen, though one is trying to sort of claw it's way towards Steve, it isn't going to be worth even paying much attention to, at the rate it's going.

The elevator doors close hard on the tonfa, a buzzer sounds. They open, and close again. Buzzer. Then the buzzer just starts to repeat loudly. But at least the elevator hasn't left... it should, for now, reduce the company that is immediately on top of the infiltration team.

As Steve warned the group earlier, Dr. Weiss isn't helpless. He rotates back a little and flings out a heavy blast out of his left arm and wrist, throwing it over the computer terminal at the Winter Soldier bearing down on him. It's electrical in nature, an arcing flux of power emitted from cybernetic implants in the doctor's forearm.

The vibration from the machine stops, and begins to quiet down, which makes the fight suddenly extremely loud: to those who can still year more than the ringing in their ears, anyway.

May catches a few of the scientists, but the cyborgs that are present are standing up and starting to get involved. There's probably four that are operational, more that clearly aren't (or are hooked to the center thing and screaming). The room could, very soon, erupt into a more total chaos.

Winter Soldier has posed:
Poor Weiss. With adrenaline dumped into his system, the movement of even an augmented human is slow. James manages to fling himself aside, out of the way of that blast, and then he's pouncing over the terminal like a cat leaping on a mouse behind a sofa. The metal hand leading, a blow intended to knock out the scientist. All the rest of this mess is just gravy. Not even a glance back at Steve.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
Natasha managed to hear Steve since they were closer to the elevator. She charges and follows, pushing a button and lighting up the tonfa with the blue power signature to show it is live. Now she has even more electricity to play with.

Once in the room, talking isn't really going to work well between the screaming and sounds of combat. Speaking of, she adds to that by firing a Widow's bite at two of the cyborgs that are still functioning and preparing to engage the infiltration team. She gets close enough to those in the center to bring a tonfa up, trying to hit one of the screaming things in the head as well with the electrified baton. Even while she is doing so, she's trying to get a look at what they are attached to, in the hopes of figuring out what they are doing.

Captain America has posed:
Yelling didn't accomplish anything, so this means the old fallback of actions meaning more than words this time around. Gritting his teeth, Steve trusts his oldest friend won't succumb to his temper and end this entire affair in a bloodbath.

Jury's out on that one.

He can see Natasha's blurred efforts in the side of his vision, her tonfa crackling and sparking on contact, and he knows May must be still herding scientists to the best of her ability. The shield CLANGS against an approaching cyborg's head, taking the appendage clear off the thing's shoulders, and then he turns to level an ear-high whipkick at yet another shambling mess aiming for his back.

If only Tony knew how literal 'Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots' is for the Captain right now.

He ducks a lab chair thrown at him by an enterprising cyborg and hucks his shield back in retaliation. Another bites the dust and he catches the shield again on its return, turning in place to eye the field of combat in a moment of breathless pause.

Melinda May has posed:
Yup. They have her back. Like always. May keeps chasing down the scientists despite the horrid noise all around them. Honestly, this is one reason for wearing her comms as she does. They double as earplugs. And, unlike SOME super soldiers, her hearing WON'T recover if she destroys it. She'd rather not end up like Brian Johnson, thank you very much.

Tagging the last still-awake scientist with her ICER, she turns and flings her remaining baton at the nearest cyborg, again aiming to zap the crap out of it.

Loki has posed:
Dr. Weiss should not be underestimated. That said, a scientist with cyborg upgrades is still more a scientist than anything else: he's not a fighter. He can shoot well, but he's going to suddenly get into melee with a Bucky, and it's not going to be a great situation for his side. Except, of course, that he has more electrical blasts, and many of them can outright kill a man - if he could land one, that is, and he's trying not to shoot his own equipment. There's an emotionless quality to him, as he tries to evade Bucky's attack.

The cyborgs are more interested in helping Dr. Weiss than they are in defense against Captain America or Black Widow, which means there's suddenly a lot of blasts aimed towards Bucky, but it leaves them pretty open.

The thing in the middle of the room, with the six cyborgs attached, looks like a bizarre open brain, or head. It's about the size of a car. Most of the insides are exposed: it's clearly in progress.

As May works on the scientists, she'll note many of them have given up, and are laying on the ground, hands on head. They seem mostly cowed.

Winter Soldier has posed:
What Buck is really interested in is beating this guy to a pulp. A breathing, sobbing pulp, but a pulp. He's like a weasel on a fat rabbit, managing to evade the Doctor's attacks and striking in, again and again. But with the other cyborgs swarming, abruptly he's yelling....and it isn't for backup from his companions.

No, the name he's yelling, in a voice strained almost to breaking, is "LOKI!"

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
Now Natasha focuses on the cyborgs. She does fire off a few Widow's Bites in the direction of those firing, aiming for the head since it seems most vulnerable. Her main focus is on the ones attached to the device, the ones screaming. The tonfa and Bites are used with equal fervor, determined to take them out. Especially now that she has seen what they are doing.

She begins cursing, loudly, in Russian. The only good news is she doesn't have her commlink on yet. She does reach up and tap it before going for another tonfa to a cyborg's head. Otherwise, no one will be able to hear her. It still might be iffy.

"They are trying to make a Master Mold! It's a mix, still in fledgling stages, but they are trying to make a version of one." How does she know this? It's really better not to ask questions like that.

Captain America has posed:
Seeing Bucky still engaged with Weiss and his cybernetic enhancements, Steve then takes up defense on behalf of the man with the metal arm. It's far more harrowing than a simple playground scuffle, but no one's taking Barnes off-guard, not if the Captain can help it. He bodily throws himself at a small clot of cyborgs and takes them to the ground with his shield leading the charge. Parts scatter and the super-soldier steadfastly ignores the appearance of human skeletal framing as he digs left and right with the edge of the vibranium buckler.

But still -- there are more shambling horrors and Steve takes another resounding blow to the shield as one particularly blunky model tries hitting it away from him. Another swing catches him across the cheek and there, a bloody gash even as he tumbles to take the blow without lingering on the lab floor.

As he rises, lip broken, eyes blazing, he hears the ragged yell. It causes an almost fatal break in concentration, hearing the Trickster God's name, but Steve gets the shield up in time. Adrenaline fuels his blurred escapade to clear the immediate space around the brawling Soldier and scientist; flaring frustration tastes even more like pennies than blood does on his tongue. He pauses again, panting like a cornered animal, upon hearing Natasha.

"Wipe it, Nat! Wipe it or email it, do something!" Another snarled punch drops an approaching cyborb.

Melinda May has posed:
May shoots the clearly surrendered scientists with ICER rounds anyway, just to make sure they don't try to do anything else, then charges back into the fray to help Steve fend off the cyborgs trying to get to Bucky and Weiss.

One little problem. She threw her last taser baton already. Time to improvise. She looks at the device that Natasha was just yelling about and rushes over to it. Cable, cable, there! She yanks viciously at the power feeds into the bizarre open brain in the hopes of both messing with the thing and giving herself a nice, juicy, fat source of electricity to zap these bastards with.

Yellow, orange, brown. 277 volts. Perfect.

Loki has posed:
May's unplugging makes all sorts of alarms go off, but the center does clearly shut down. Vibrations and screaming all end. Natasha pitches in to help May, and they're efficient together.

Weiss goes down, unable to match the superior fighter. He's not dead, and probably not even unconscious: the cybernetic parts of his body are keeping him in relatively good shape, considering the pummeling, but he's down for the count.

At first, yelling to the trickster god doesn't seem very effective. No blessing appears, no shaft of angelic light. But that's not how Loki works.

No, they'd have to turn to look, to see Loki seated on top of one of the closed pods containing a cyborg, leg crossed, looking skeptically at the battle. A soft disturbance is behind him: an open portal, to somewhere sandy and salty. "If I help you, that's hardly you handling this situation by yourself, I want to point out," Loki observes. "I'm going to /suggest/ that you not leave that there," Loki adds, with a flick of hand towards the head of the thing they're making. With that, he steps down off the pod, and saunters off into his portal.

A portal which does remain open: for the moment, anyway.

Winter Soldier has posed:
"Jesus H Christ, he's a bastard," Buck says, under his breath. And does not add the coda that that's *his* bastard. "Somebody get the head....and we need to get those guys out of the pod." He's beyond rage into weary, sickened disgust. The sights he doesn't have time to process now will have him up all night, retching.

Captain America has posed:
"You're telling me," Steve echoes sotto-voce of the brunet's sentiments. With the temporary cease-fire hard-earned, he licks at the inside of his broken lip before he jams the shield onto his back. His first movements are over to the freaky would-be Sentinel head; this, he takes beneath his arm like a giant metal football of pure sci-fi horror and decides, to himself, that it's going immediately into R&D, one way or another, and someone can pry it out of his cold, dead hands before it goes elsewhere.

Regardless, he's quick to walk over to the portal created and linger by it. Sounds from beyond the immediate area of the lab have him staring back towards the elevator. Oh god -- the shaft. "Hate to see that welcoming committee." However, the Captain won't leave until everyone's through and beyond...to the beaches of...

Honolulu.

No points earned in his favor by the Trickster God.

Melinda May has posed:
May's head snaps around to look at Loki when he speaks up, her eyes narrowing at the immaculately dressed man suddenly in the middle of this chaos. With the fighting finally done, she takes a quick look around and immediately starts going from pod to pod, forcing them open and pulling people free. If they can walk on their own, she pushes them toward Steve and the portal. If they can't, she gets them there however is fastest (not caring one whit about dignity), but not a single pod is left unopened.

While doing this, she managed to recover one of her two batons and ... damnit. She'll need to talk with the agents on the surface to tell them to lock down the entrance and let NO ONE out until a properly prepared (and heavily armed with electricity) TAC teams can be sent in to deal with what's left.

How she wishes she could just order an air strike on the area and be done with it.

Loki has posed:
The area through the portal is, indeed, a beach. They'll learn pretty quickly they've been left at a tourist trap on Maui. What they needed, no doubt, was a vacation after all the gunfire.

And a lot of paperwork and confusion. Chaos god, after all...