14267/In your own time, fire at will

In your own time, fire at will
Date of Scene:	04 April 2022
Location:	Weapons Testing, The Triskelion
Synopsis:	Real simulated combat. How far can the trainee be pushed? Featuring Goats and Vampires, oh my...
Cast of Characters:	Winter Soldier, Quake, Hawkeye (Barton), Phantasm (Drago)

---

Winter Soldier has posed:
    Early morning in New York, and dawn is just about breaking over the Triskelion, beginning to bathe the monolithic building in a golden glow. Usually that is just a curiosity, a sight to look at when the eye happens to wander in that direction. But here, at the rear of the building in the crisp cool air of the outdoors, it's hard to miss the spectacle. It is very early morning, the time of day only known to soldiers and burglars, and the unfortunate few pulling the swing shift. And yet today the training area is already a hive of activity, as technicians and agents who have somehow earned the ire of either Director Fury or Agent Barnes are preparing the live fire rooms colloquially known as 'The shooting house'.

    It's a rather drab structure of concrete and brick, looking for all the world like an old warehouse, which is exactly what it was until about a year ago. Now, it's the place where advanced courses are held in tactical movement, room clearing, and hostage rescue. All the things you may need a simulated set of rooms for...

    Looking alarmingly awake and eager for the time of day, Bucky is stood chatting with a rather harassed looking technician, going over the finer points of the exercise, and exactly how he wants to run it. Some of the details are clearly either hazy to the technician, or grounds for objections, because the debate appears to be rather lively... or, more accurately, the monologue, because Bucky isn't giving the tech any chance to get a word in edgewise.

Quake has posed:
Surprisingly Skye was still up - probably because she had a really late night looking over the reddits coming out of China. Regardless of what the regular agents said she found that if you wanted to know the people you had to troll their social webs every now and then.

Besides, China was a 'favourite' ever since she had learned of her dual heritage. Well.. sorta. Mom wasn't really from China, ahem.

She'd been down in the archery range, cooling off, when get got the news: Show up. And a time. Weapons range.

No sender. Just show up.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Hawkeye steps into the designated advanced training area, following Skye, a very large cup of coffee in hand. Wearing his operational tactical outfit and carrying his bow and quiver, he looks around and quickly spots the Winter Soldier. Actually, he heard Winty before he saw him. Despite the early hour, Clint Barton seems quite awake, having taken the set time for training as some sort of challenge. And we know how the archer responds to challenges.

"I've got lots of smoke bombs," Clint says as he approaches Barnes. "Mention goats only once," he warns, "And I'll show you how efficient they can be. You won't like it."

Nodding at Skye as she approaches, he offers her the cup of coffee which is half full.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
What on earth was he thinking?

Nope, not Bucky. Nick.

Considering how long Bucky had kept Nick at the range the first day of learning to shoot, Nick was having some doubts. Briefly he thought he was doing ok, but judging from the look on Bucky's face during that time, who the hell knows? So when the possibility of a second day was brought up, Nick agreed. God, who knew making bare minimum requirements would be so freaking hard?

And who knew getting up this early would be so hard too? Well, at the very least the gun was already cleaned. He took care of that when he got back from the first session. All nice and clean and sleeping soundly in its case. Which he is carrying. The holster itself is empty. Nick comes wandering up, once more pausing to shove a breakfast bar wrapper into a nearby trashcan before taking note of the gathered people. A curious glance is given to Clint and Skye before looking over to Bucky,"...Was the range taken?"

Winter Soldier has posed:
    The technician half flees when Clint approaches Bucky, casting an occasional glance over his shoulder as he hurries into the shooting house. Whatever had been requested was unusual enough that a group of techs are swarming all over the place, guided and quite frequently cursed by the agents who really wanted to be elsewhere this morning. Their beds, preferably.

    After the aside, Bucky just winks at Clint, patting the man on the shoulder. "Don't worry, your goats are safe with me. Just remember... far as Nick knows, this is a routine exercise, okay? Part of basic." And spying the trainee approaching, he gives Clint one last look of conspiratorial warning, and then goes to meet his guests. Plural. Because he needs an outside perspective, and whenever he's in need of sage advice or a different look on things, he knows he can always ask Skye. Or does he have an ulterior motive, inviting both Clint /and/ Skye to the same training session? Only time can tell.

    "Right, now that we're all finally here..." best start as you mean to go on "... we can get started. Mister Drago here has just about passed his static marksmanship test, so it's time to continue the training. As we know, in a tense situation, our targets rarely obligingly stand still. So today we'll be focusing on moving targets."

    He motions for everyone to follow, and leads them through the wide doors into the shooting house proper. The first room appears to be an antechamber of sorts, with tables along the side walls to prepare equipment and store surplus gear. A ladder leads up to the control booth, which sits two floor up to be able to see the whole area. "Gear up, we get moving in five."

Quake has posed:
Putting her bow and arrows aside, Skye thanked Clint for her coffee. "Have you any idea what we've been called here for?"

Mind you she never thought that Bucky was in charge of this! She thought he was a victim just like the rest of them were. No go.

"Ah hell." Quickly she drank up a few mouthfuls of her coffee. So far it looked like she was on the 'trainer' package, but she knew Bucky. Everything was a trainee package. Everything. The question was: How much?

Quickly she suited up, and waited.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Called for?" Clint answers Skye, "Not a single clue. But something tells me shooting, running, yelling and sweating will be involved. Just be ready to play the part of the /moving target/."

That said, the archer walks to Nick, supervising him putting on the equipment and making sure that everything is well in place. As for himself, the archer is not adding anything to his own tactical outfit, nor does he take any additional weapon. Which should be no surprise for anyone.

"Come on, Nick. You might have fun today, trying to hit us. You'll love it." To say the archer is confident would be an understatement: but is it about his own ability to dodge bullets, or about Nick's shooting skills?

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick arches a brow as Bucky mentions the need to move towards moving targets. Already? Okay. He follows the group in, glancing around. The place seemed a lot different than the one Clint had him come to the day before. But the tact suits wait. still look about the same.

Hearing Skye's utterance, Nick looks over to her. That's not a good sign, is it?

Taking a deep breath, Nick gets ready as well. But as the case sets on the table. He frowns, looking to the rounds available and then looking over to Bucky. "What are we shooting at?"

Winter Soldier has posed:
    "You'll see." Yup. Informative as ever. Bucky is already prepared, it seems, and his only concession to the exercise is to double check his pistol. Mag out, pull slide, check chamber, enter mag, rack slide to chamber round, engage safety, holster. He does it in a few seconds with the ease of someone having done this for a lifetime. Literally.

    Time goes fast when you're anxious, and soon enough a bell rings through the building, and the disembodied voice of the controller can be heard 'Finish prep. Range live in two minutes.'

    Once again, Bucky motions people close to him, and he starts explaining the set up. "As I said, shooting static targets is a good start, but in reality you'll rarely be alone, and you'll never get more than a second or so to get a sight picture. Targets come and go, and you need to take your shots when you can, while keeping up with your team. So we're going to be doing a room clearing exercise, simulating an assault on an enemy held building, all four of us." Yes, all four. Working together. Nobody shooting anyone else, at least not by design.

    Does he detect a few sighs of relief? Couldn't he have mentioned that to begin with?!

    "We'll be doing the standard four man team. I'm on point. Nick, you're position two, Clint you're three. Skye, I need you as four to watch our rear. Nick, because you're new, position two means you're watching the team's left flank. Clint, that means you've got right, but why am I telling you something you already know, right?" For the benefit of the trainee agent, of course, but Bucky's teaching style is... idiosyncratic, at best.

    "Remember, combat is fluid, and conditions can change rapidly. Stay close, stay on contact, watch your sector and remember your fundamentals. Once we go through the door, we have no intel. Could be anything at all in there."

    Nervous yet?

    With a gesture of finality, Bucky turns to face the door and pulls his pistol, carrying it in the low ready position, waiting for the door to open... and not checking to see if his team is in place. A sign of trust.

Quake has posed:
Skye levelled a *look*at Nick. "Each other."

Who else. When the training ws aat this level - it's always each other in the end. She remembered one time where Clint and she were up against Lara Croft and May was watching and evaluating. In the end she'd tied up May (in the air!) to keep her out of Lara's hands. She had won, but May said they will never speak of that again..

As Bucky went over the rules, Skye nods. Sure she had flank. But she knew never to trust things as they were 'written'. Always be aware. Things changed as a dime during training. Especially when Clint and Bucky were in them

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
By the time Winter Soldier was done with his pre-op talk, Hawkeye was already in mission mode, bow at the ready. Now is not the time to discuss and even he knows when to shut up and do as planned. To a point. Personally, he'd trade places with Skye, so he could find a nice sniper spot and take care of long-range targets. But it is as it is, and while he would critic the tactic if laid out by any other one than Barnes, he'll just go along.

"Nick," he tells the young man, "Take cover if you have to, remember yesterday's training, kay?" That said, Clint glances over at Skye, and after making eye contact, signs to her //Live rounds?//. That done, the archer gets ready to follow Winter Soldier and Nick.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick stares at Bucky for a few moments at the non-answer before giving a reluctant nod. Bucky wouldn't steer him wrong, right?

...

Right?

Whatever internal debate there is is done quickly but Nick does end up trusting the soldier to know what the hell he's talking about with firearms.

He sighs, moving over as he's beckoned towards Bucky, listening to the instructions. Oh thank God. Dammit Bucky. Could have just led with that!

Skye's joke leads to him slowly looking over to Skye. Nothing is said verbally. Just an expression. No.

He moves into the indicated position, drawing his weapon and readying it, frowning.

Just a basic exercise...

Nick cants his head to the side, hearing Clint's reminder about yesterday's training. Oh yes... good to keep in mind being any red today won't be from paint.

...WHAT THE FUCK ARE THEY DOING?!

Winter Soldier has posed:
    The door buzzes, and Bucky quickly applies a boot to the metal. With slightly excessive force, the door opens with a slam that reverberates through the building. Double reinforced hinges, it seems, because although the frame might have buckled, and there's a clear dent in the concrete wall where the door hit, the door itself is still attached. Rapidly and silently, the Winter Soldier enters the room, glancing left and right before advancing.

    It's a large room, with a few standard wooden obstacles clustered around the center, and plywood boards strewn around the floor. Frame drywall sections loom up ahead, dividing the spaces ahead into rooms and corridors, with who knows what lurking inside? It all feels a bit like a SWAT unit training.

    Once he's certain the entire team has made it into the first room, Bucky comes to a halt, still scanning his surroundings. There is a loud SLAM as the door through which they entered resets and closes itself.

    And just then, just as that door slams shut and nerves are at the high point, Bucky grins and calls out to the controller.

    "Hit it!"

    Instantly, the lights go out.

    A dull red glow suffuses the area, robbing everything of detail and clarity. Smoke begins to billow into the room.

    And then the music starts. Loud. Very, very loud.

    ~Getadelt sind wer Schmerzen kennt
    Von Feuer das die Haut verbrennt.
    Ich werf ein Licht~

    Cue the strobe lights!

    ~In mein Gesicht.
    Ein Heisser Schrei!~

    Cue the very, very loud scream coming from everywhere at once.

    ~Feuer Frei!~

    In the haze, multiple targets pop up, and Bucky opens fire, almost perfectly in time with the beat, the muzzle flash of his pistol adding to the chaos of the environment.

    ~Bang Bang!
    Bang Bang!

    Feuer Frei!~

Quake has posed:
Skye should have been surprised. Maybe this wasn't quite exactly as she thought this would go done, but she was prepared.

First of all she had to lower the ambient noise. Figures, Bucky would pick something loud. She wondered how Clint was doing with this. She was almost at the edge of being able to shut it down. Almost. Thank goodness she had extra training for just this thing.

Considering her position, and that Bucky was in charge, she turned around and watched for the sneaking up behind them. Cause that's what she would have done: sneak up behind them.

Fuck. Right on time.

"There on our backs." Followed by coordinates. Once she'd said that she let loose her clips.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Hawkeye moves to the right, in his sector, reacting instinctively to the targets appearing here and there. It would be easy for him to blast the whole flank, but since there might be friendlies in there, he just can't blast everything with a well shot explosive-tip arrow. Instead, the archer moves swiftly around the room, hitting each target that pops up in his allocated sector.

For a moment, Clint is very tempted to say something in the line of how fun this is, but finally refrains. The loud sound is almost hurting his already damaged eardrums, but he can still hear Skye in the comms.

Stopping his progression, the archer quickly looks around for cover, unsure of what Winty has in store for them. So far, they weren't shot at, but hey, who knows! Once Hawkeye has secured a relatively defensive position, he can take care of the targets in his sector while taking care of some targets at their rear.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Ladies and gentlemen. May we present to you the Buckering Ram. With one swift motion and some wall repairs to be scheduled at a later date, it will get you through any door. Interested parties may call 555-5...

As they enter in, Nick focuses on his assignment, trusting the actual agents to their roles. When they drop into darkness and the mood lighting kicks on. Nick gets an odd sense of familiarity.

A subway car. Flickering lights...A pale face.

Wait a minu-

Nick's arms lift, taking out those targets first without hesitation

"BUCKY YOU-"

BANG! BANG!

"ASSHOLE!"

Feuer Frei!

GOD he hopes those are cutouts and not the real thing.

Winter Soldier has posed:
    Targets are coming thick and fast, and after a few moments, after being told that there are enemies in the rear, Bucky bellows a few simple words. "Moving! Forward!" He needs to trust that his team has their sectors as he shoots his way forward, and then boots his way through the next door.

    At roughly the same time there's what sounds very much like an explosion, and the wall to the back of the room erupts in flame. A sheet of fire billows up and starts to crawl along the roof. Clearly, staying here is not an option. And neither is retreating... that way's /on fire/.

    The next room is larger, with what appears to be a catwalk on either side... a corridor with no cover, and elevated positions for enemies. The corridor quickly fills with smoke, acrid and thick, cutting down visibility to brief snatches as an eddy of wind creates a small break, with targets and silhouettes glimpsed on the move.

    And still the music plays!

    ~Geadelt sind wer Schmerzen kennt,
    Von Feuer das in Lust verbrennt
    Ein Funkenstoss!~

    A sudden loud explosion rocks the corridor, and part of the right hand wall blows in, sending splinters and shrapnel flying just ahead of the team.

    ~In Ihren Schoss~

    Another explosion, and this time the wall to the left and rear of the team explodes. Through both rents, targets appear, moving, shambling...

    ~Ein Heisser Schrei!~

    ... WAILING! That's an air raid siren!

    ~Feuer Frei!~

Quake has posed:
The trouble with this is Bucky had put her at the rear.

Still..

Keeping her eyes pealed she, as much as she wanted to take the lead, she didn't. (Who was she and where did she come from - wanting to take the lead?!? Something in her had changed a lot since working here, especially when she had her powers.)

She kept to the original orders.. for now.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Contrary to the gunslingers who can carry half their weight in ammo, the archer has access to a very limited number of arrows. Shooting yet another target at the rear, and one to his right as he runs toward another downed target, a target suddenly appears a few feet from him. This one is dispatched with an imperative kick of a boot.

The sudden explosion at the rear and Winter's order prompt him to move forward, but not before making sure that Skye is following. Fuck orders, Hawkeye doesn't leave until he's sure that everyone is safe.

Once he's certain that Skye and Nick are safe, Clint moves to the next room, where they are rewarded with explosions on all flanks, but to the front. As soon as he enters the room, well placed arrows hit targets all around. Once again, retrieving some arrows becomes a priority. And this siren, this screeching sound, is killing him.

Just as he was about to grab one of the arrows from a downed target, another one pops-up a few feet away from him. A well-placed kick with his boot would have taken care of it but, uncharacteristically of him, the archer grabs the bow with both hands and uses it as a decapitation weapon. Target down. Still, another blow with the bow is applied to the downed target, followed by a couple of vicious kicks. Overkill.

Time for a grapple arrow, the movement is also instinctive, and in a split second the archer has reached the catwalk.

And still, always, this deafening siren. Madening.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
BANG! BANG!

Hearing the order to move forward, Nick gives a parting assessing glance to one of the plywood boards lying in the room. Eh. With a quick motion he swipes up a board, braces it against the ground and stomps the side of it to splinter the wood. Taking two impromptu stakes, he tucks them into his belt and shuffles towards the indicated way while glancing to the left, looking around any more of those damn-

Ugh.

There's going to be a discussion later about this. Well. Maybe.

Who are we kidding? Bucky will change the subject.

The blast from the right causes for Nick to give a quick glance over before he looks back, just in time to see the left explosion. He crouches down a bit in reaction, straightening up when stuff stops flying. The gun lifts up, blasting away to try and ensure that they're not coming closer to the group.

Ok. This is TRAINING. With FIREARMS. PROBABLY won't need the stakes but... might as well.

Winter Soldier has posed:
    The situation is rapidly turning chaotic. Smoke is now so thick that it's hard to see anything beyond a few feet, and there is nothing to navigate by except the shapes of the team members silhouetted tentatively in the fiery glow of the inferno that's spilling from the first room into the hallway. It should provide light, but all it really does is introduce heat and even more smoke into this loud, chaotic, stifling situation.

    Targets appear behind the group, in their dozens, moving at a walking pace... well, shuffling really. They're irregularly shaped and sized, none of them identical to any of the others.

    At the end of the corridor, a set of stairs leads down from the catwalks back to the ground floor.

    ~Gefahrlich is wer Schmerzen kennt,
    Von Feuer das den Geist verbrennt~

    A pair of targets appear directly in front of Bucky, taken down with rapid fire.

    ~Bang Bang!~

    Sudden targets pop up all around, out of sequence.

    ~Gefahrlich das gebrannte Kind
    Mit Feuer das vom Leben trennt.
    Ein Heisser Schrei!~

    Once again there is a loud wailing sound, but this time it's coming from a target that is seemingly running towards the group. With three shots, Bucky gives it the old Mozambique drill, instantly silencing the wailing. It's certainly overkill, but clearly that was getting on his nerves as well, or else he'd never have spent the extra bullet. Which leaves him short when the next target pops up, and the slide of the pistol locks open.

    ~Feuer Frei!~

    Knife to the face. Bucky has several, he won't miss one. And that was /cathartic/.

    The music suddenly goes silent. Or near enough. It's time for the bridge, and after the din of combat, gunfire and air raid sirens, it may as well be silence.

    So, of course, the lights go out.

    Dein Gluck, ist nicht mein Gluck,
    Ist mein Ungluck~~

    There is the sound of a pistol being reloaded, a series of rapid clicks and the unmistakable clunk of the slide chambering a new round. Of course, in this darkness, reloading has to be done entirely by feel. "Someone make us an exit to the front!"

    ~Dein Gluck, is nicht mein Gluck,
    Ist mein Ungluck!~

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Running along the catwalk and shooting targets, Hawkeye reaches the middle of the room. At this point, the matter of the available arrows becomes a serious concern. "Time to try these new pocket arrows," he mutters, his hand reaching for his tactical belt. Affixed under the quiver, an extra section has been added which can be loaded with the pocket arrows - a nickname for the auto-telescopic arrows he designed with the SHIELD engineers. Once loaded, they set neatly in their sockets awaiting the selected arrow-tip to be attached. Once the shaft and arrow-tip connect, the arrow automatically extends to its normal length.

It's a good thing that Winty has such a loud voice, sounds are getting muffled up on the catwalk. Sounds, or whatever. But Clint got the message and was about to do it anyway. A few seconds later, an explosive arrow hit the wall in front of the group, providing an exit. As soon as the exit is created, the archer runs to the end of the catwalk, reaching the main floor using the stairs. "Let's get the hell out of here," he says, looking slightly more annoyed than stressed. As he turns around to check on the others, the archer has a better view of some of the downed targets. Narrowing his eyes, Clint stares at a target that has a striking resemblance with a goatman? The narrowed eyes then slowly move to meet Bucky's. "So funny. Ah. Ah."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
BANG! BANG!

THWACK!

Thwack?

One of the painted board vampires falls down to the ground. A piece of plywood impaled where the heart would be. It appears the time training with Buffy has paid off.

"Hmmph."

BANG!

As the shout asking for an exit to be made is soon followed by Clint more than willing to deliver on the required route. Nick moves forward with the group towards the exit.

Quake has posed:
Still, Skye takes up the rear.

"Come on, come on, come on.." This was as bad as a real mission. Shooting and ducking and watching everyone's backs.

Winter Soldier has posed:
    The smoke is sucked out through the hole in the wall that has been kindly provided by the man with the paleolithic weapon, and more light is filtering in now. "Let's go!" With the wailing having finally stopped, Bucky can be heard more clearly, and he plunges through the gap, the sound of fast pistol fire betraying that there's more targets beyond.

    And oh my, are there targets.

    They come at the group in their dozens, from all directions, while the music continues to wind down towards the conclusion. It's back to back fighting now, with no room for error. As long as everyone watches their sectors, they'll be fine, but the least distraction would see the whole team overrun.

    And then, suddenly, there are no more targets, and the lights come back on.

    ~Bang Bang!~

    'Range cleared, safe weapons!'

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
As the training comes to an end, Clint starts walking toward the exit, shaking his head. Someone else will collect the arrows for him. "Great training, Wint," he says, a bit too loud, as he walks away. "Good personal touch, too. You know you won't get away with it?"

As he reaches the exit, Clint turns around, looking at the training room, a puzzled look on his face.

"Tell them to turn this damn siren off, will you?" And on that, he leaves.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
There's a flurry of fire and curse words being directed towards the left. Although Bucky's name seems to be featured quite a bit in the discussion as the full daylight illustrates all the vampire targets he was being given for the whole thing.

When things have cleared up and the order's given, Nick lowers the gun, checking and clearing it.

Nick takes a deep breath and looks over to Bucky, "Seriously? Vampires for a shooting exercise? Couldn't even think to do werewolves?"

Quake has posed:
Meanwhile when the shit hit the fan, Skye was ready. She ran out of bullets, and began to use her powers. Everything was falling down with prejudice.

And then they weren't.

Silence. Sheer unadulterated silence.

"That's it?!?" Then followed with a quieter tone. "I mean.. that's it! We made it!" But when Clint makes a comment about turning the sirens off, she has a bad feeling about that. Hopefully it will fix itself. Hopefully?

Damn.

"Go to get my wrists checked.."

Winter Soldier has posed:
    There's a sudden look of concern on Bucky's face as Clint moves off with the comment about the siren. Crap... he'd forgotten about that. And, naturally, Skye is gone soon after, leaving Bucky just with Nick, and a nagging sense that he hasn't heard the last of this. Ah well.

    "We're lucky we got vampires and goatmen on short notice. The guys were painting the targets all night." No wonder those techs were giving him odd looks. But hey, it was worth it. "Heard you hit one of them with a stake though. Good initiative. And good shooting."

    Exactly how good? Well, the next announcement from the control booth is a simple 'Clean sweep' after the targets have been tallied. And Bucky nods at that, as he hadn't expected anything less.

    "We'll make an agent out of you yet."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
"That one was to make a point." Nick admits, tugging out the remaining from his belt, he hands it over to Bucky. "Here. Have a souvenier. And remember." He gives a slight smile, "Bullets on real vampires. You're going to have a bad evening."

Nick turns his head, listening to the results being announced, The smile strengthens a little bit before Bucky's last comment reaches his ears.

The smile fades.

"...I wonder if they're serving breakfast yet." He glances to the building, "So do we walk around the building or back through to get to the first room?"

Winter Soldier has posed:
    Bucky sees the smile fade and puts a hand on Nick's shoulder as he walks past. "Nick, you passed every test I set for you yesterday afternoon.." Wait what?! Then why the whole... and this... what?!

    He makes a circular motion with his hand. "Around. Very much around. Until they put out the fire, at least."