614/In and Out

In and Out
Date of Scene:	25 May 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	SHIELD is sent in to investigate an AIM facility
Cast of Characters:	Nick Fury, Lara Croft, 271, Black Widow (Romanoff), Melinda May

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Nick Fury has posed:
THE BRIEFING:

"Alright, people," Nick Fury says, standing with the assembled operatives around a SHIELD holo-table.

He taps a few touch-screen controls and pulls up a map of the Indian Ocean, focusing in on a small atoll. "We've recently learned of a previously-unknown AIM facility in the Maldives. Surveillance suggests that whatever's happening there is occurring with EXTREMELY little outside contact."

"I'll be honest: we don't know what the purpose of this facility is. Because of that, I do NOT want this facility shut down as a result of our intel-gathering." Fury's jaw tightens.

"This could be nothing--in which case, it's a useful exercise to stay focused. It COULD, however, be something big. If that's the case, we don't want to tip AIM off in the slightest that we're on to them."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara was standing around the holographic display that Fury was referring to, she glanced at the other faces in the room and otherwise just quietly listened and gathered the information up that the Director was putting down.

With a light exhale, the Acquisitions Specialist reached up to tug at the brim of her dark navy-blue SHIELD hat that she was wearing on her head (pony tail poking out the back of it).

Lara had never served in the military, she'd never been a law enforcement officer either... but she'd been a one woman army, who'd saved several other people after a horrible ship wreck on a cannibalistic island... she was confidently capable, but also one of the quieter agents in SHIELD.

Keane (271) has posed:
    As if to one-up Lara Croft, the agent who wears a black hole as if it was his uniform stands there in one corner in even more total silence. Keane, whose S.H.I.E.L.D. file designates him 'entity P3X-495,' is like a statue. He doesn't even breathe while Fury lays out the briefing. Unfortunately the holo-map isn't much use to him, but he'd familiarized himself with the data while performing data entry and programming the geospatial algorithms that ultimately resulted in the presentation now going on for the benefit of other agents.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"Recon only then?" Natasha asks, standing nearby in her working gear. She's keeping her weight mostly on her right leg. Under the material of the costume, around her left leg, it looks like she has on a bandage wrapped around the limb. "Ghost in and out?" She rests one hand at her belt, close to the red hourglass buckle, green eyes focused on the display.

This must be something important for the Director to have pulled her off light duty. Certainly it isn't a battle scenario they are going into but with the lack of information, the situation is high risk.

Nick Fury has posed:
Fury continues, changing the visualization to show a number of highlighted points about a three-dimensional map of the atoll. "We know this facility has at least two dozen AIM operatives, based on thermal readings from a gathering on the atoll's surface. There's nothing to say that's the full complement of agents there."

"The primary mission is recon--optimally, involving no contact with AIM--unless there is an ABSOLUTE necessity to change the mission. We're talking imminent armageddon as the threat level to break protocol." Fury puts his hands on his hips. "Anything less than that and you'll be forced to evac on your own."

"Any other questions?" he asks.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara looked up to the other agents after hearing Fury's words, she regarded Natasha and her questions, observed the inury and spotted it easily enough... she'd had similar injuries in the past herself and it made her think of the throbbing pain that the redheaded agent was likely masking over with steely confidence.

Lara looked back then to the others and she shook her head at the questions bit. Stealth, she was familiar with and now found herself eager to get under way with this.

Keane (271) has posed:
    Keane continues saying and doing nothing. He stands in the back corner of the room, surrounded as he is in that inky black skin-tight energy field he might not even be noticed.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
There is a terse nod of Natasha's head but she asks no more questions. The map is studied, committed to memory. Then she looks over to Fury, expressionless. Seems a simple enough assignment. She glances to the other people assigned on the team, mentally assessing their skill sets and how they will best be utilized in the coming task.

Nick Fury has posed:
QUICK CUT TO ... THE MISSION

In the air not far from the target atoll, SHIELD support technician Lodge stands near the rear bay door to the Quinjet.

"The raft bag's got its own chute, so don't let it get out of sight! We'll be able to pick you up before dawn--or after sundown, if things don't go so well," Lodge says.

From out the open door, the atoll can be seen. From this distance, it appears to be an entirely natural paradise.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara was head-to-toe in her gear, she'd sorted it out prior to the mission and was going over it again during the flight. When the announcement came over that they were nearing their target she stood up and moved with the others, holding onto a metal handle from the ceiling of the jet she waited for the others to do their thing first as she prefered to follow and observe the group in its entirety.

Melinda May has posed:
Having just transferred control of the quinjet to the copilot, May joins the others preparing to 'disembark'. Aka, throw themselves out of a perfectly functional plane. She snags a parachute and steps into the straps a LOT more gracefully than a particular flaxen-haired supersoldier is reportedly capable of. It's all about practice.

Once she's got the thing secured, she puts a pair of thin, clear goggles over her eyes and steps toward the rear bay door. She looks back at others as if to imply they're being slowpokes, then simply steps off the edge of the bay door like walking into the event horizon of a stable wormhole. ...not that that kind of thing exists outside of TV shows. But still.

Keane (271) has posed:
    P3X-495 doesn't wait for the parachutable raft to go out the back of the jet. He just trots out the open door and into the waiting emptyness beyond, sans parachute. Speaking of stable wormholes, or at least singularities, the black-hole-clad alien freefalls a lot further than those who have to rely on modern physics and airflow before activating some feature of the field around him which radically slows his descent by some antigravometric means.

    He still hits the water at a speed that would shatter every bone in the human body and liquefy their organs, disappearing beneath the waves.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
Natasha does one last check of her gauntlets, having already checked the guns strapped to her thighs during the flight. Each piece was checked and double checked. Now she pulls on her parachute, not nearly as gracefully as she would if she didn't have a bum left leg. A few Russian words are muttered and those in the know will realize she's cursing. It's only a moment then she moves to the ramp. She takes a leap out of the exit instead of just stepping, diving headfirst. She allows herself to plummet for a good distance, turning her head to spot the other team members and then the bag floating with the raft and gear. At the last second, she pulls her chute, body jerked upwards by the sudden deceleration. About ten feet above the water, she hits the release. The chute is carried away by the sea breeze before falling into the water. Natasha crosses her arms over her chest, going into the drink feet first.

Nick Fury has posed:
Not far away, things are quiet on the small island in the middle of the atoll, consisting primarily of a large hill and a forested patch.

The forest canopy, of course, hides the entrance to the AIM facility at the base of the hill.

A single AIM agent stands guard outside--or, rather, leans, sleeping-upright, against the entrance. His beekeeper outfit is not the standard AIM yellow but instead sports a camouflage pattern.

The raft makes a quiet splash on the water, its parachute having released at a pre-timed moment in the electronic harness to which it is attached.

Lara Croft has posed:
Once in the water herself, Lara detached her chute from her body harness and she shook herself out of it. She kept herself afloat in the drink and moved to trail after the raft once it had touched down. Lara took a moment to spare glances around at the other team members, counting heads and IDing everyone based on their different gear choices. She was decked out much like that of Hawkeye, with high-tech archery equipment strapped to her back, ready to be deployed once they were on solid footing.

Taking focus on the raft, Lara swam behind it, looking over the raft at the island ahead of them and the facility that they were here to observe.

Keane (271) has posed:
    The alien in the black hole suit hasn't shown up, at least not with the others. He's still underwater, making a pass around the island seeking submersible patrols, mines, and possible entrances.

Melinda May has posed:
May used the low-altitude deployment method that Natasha did, though she makes it to the raft after Lara. She also stays in the water instead of climbing into the raft, though she does rely on it for floatation. Even though she doesn't appear to be carrying anything at all by way of gear, all of her concealed weaponry IS a noticeable weight when swimming.

With the raft angling toward shore, she looks at Lara and silently questions the whereabouts of the Singularity Man.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
Natasha joins the pair by the raft a moment later, surfacing near them but keeping only her head above water. Her arms stay below the surface, not wanting to add anymore splashing noises after their landings. Sound carries too well on water. She too catches the side of the raft so that they can conserve strength, adding her personal propulsion to their shore approach. Her eyes are on the treeline as the raft brushes the sand of the shore. She waits, making sure there is no motion in trees nearby and only then does she emerge from the water on silent feet, taking a position in front of the raft, crouched low and looking to the pair. Probably their best bet would be to split up, pairs or singular.

Nick Fury has posed:
The atoll does not appear to have any sort of underwater component to its facility--at least, there's nothing articially added to the structure. The island extends down perhaps enough for one or two subterranean floors, tops, but even that might be a tight squeeze.

The facility must be quite small indeed.

There's a rustle in the bushes on one end of the island--not incredibly close to where any of the SHIELD operatives are arriving--and a second AIM agent appears, zipping up the front of his outfit's pants. He waves a hand in front of his mask and suppresses a gag, the other hand on the strap of a rifle slung over his shoulder.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara saw the look from May and she looked around to try to find the missing agent, but she was well aware that he had powers beyond her comprehension... Lara returned a downward look to May, suggesting that he must be swimming beneath the surface.... or he drowned right out of the jet, which would be horribly sad.

Lara looked to Romanoff, seeing the veteran agent advance forward to the front of the raft. She came along to a corner of the raft and followed it to shore. Creeping up out of the water, shedding it off of her person as she went, she reached around behind her to grasp at the high-tech compound bow limbs that were now being joined together and locked into place. Lara silently pointed to the AIM Agent that had been dumping in the bush down the treeline, she could take him out... but wasn't sure if she was cleared to do so.

Keane (271) has posed:
    P3X-495 slips out of the water like a stone, not dripping with it but emerging from it and leaving it behind him not long after the others speculate on his ability to drown. Keeping low, he crouch-walks to join the other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and kneels nearby.

Melinda May has posed:
May does her expressionless version of a frown at Lara's 'reply', but there's nothing they can do about P3X's disappearance until they're ashore. Which, once they are, she gestures for Natasha to go one direction and... oh, there's Singularity Man. And take P3X with her. Another gesture indicates that Lara's to stick with her.

The bow and Mr. Taking Care of Business get a 'no' from her. They need to remain unseen. And taking AIM goons down WILL get noticed, even if not right away.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
There is a nod to May as they agree on the splitting u. Natasha motions to the guard, giving a two finger 'walk' motion then points to the raft. If there are going to be roaming guards, it needs to be out of sight but they can't just shove it back into the sea or it will float away. Best bet, pull it into the treeline, between all of them they should be able to get it there easily without scraping a path through the sand. They'll have to cover their tracks but that's easy enough. Once it's out of sight, they can do a quick recon of the outside then try to get through that door.

Nick Fury has posed:
The patrolling guard meanders his way toward the snoozing doorman.

"Jesus, Dreher!" he barks, the sound almost like a gunshot in the silence.

The doorman snaps awake, beekeeper helmet looking back and forth. "What? What? I'm up." He yawns. "I'm up. Screw you, man. This duty sucks."

"Yeah, well, you're getting a demerit for sleeping on the job. Get the hell inside and get the next shift going."

"That's not for another hour. Miller's gonna hate me."

"I don't care. You're SLEEPING. Now make the change happen. I'm going to make another pass."

As the doorman enters in a combination and passes a biometric scan in a small interface next to the door, the door opens and he enters.

Meanwhile, the patrolling guard strolls back out to the island perimeter and begins walking, somewhat circuitously, toward the SHIELD agents' general position.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara took note of P3X's arrival on the shower and then saw May's orders not to let loose on the guard who'd been evacuating himself. She exhaled and went to help with the raft, seeing Natasha take it toward the treeline, she assisted with this until they got seemingly to the place it needed to be.

Lara then crouch-moved to join May at her side and wait for their next directionaly orders, clutching that formed bow in her left hand, gloved fingers gripped about it. Lara looked up when she heard voices... trying to listen to what they were saying.

Keane (271) has posed:
    The alien went ahead and let the women do the heavy lifting, even though he could have done it pretty effortlessly and by himself. He's more interested in staying where he is, close enough to those sentries to listen in - if what you can call how he perceives sentient communication 'listening' at all - on that conversation between them. As the sentry goes inside and the apparent shift supervisor heads toward the agents, P3X-495 creeps back toward the water's edge, and slips almost into it where the dark mass of his energy field can blend with the dark mass of the tide.

    Even though May already told Agent Croft not to do anything, the alien does something. It's silent, a frequency well below the range of human hearing, and so narrowly directed that it's focused intently on that supervisor's skull. The volume is low too so it should take some time to really kick in, giving him plenty of time to wander out of sight of the building, and no reason to report any strange feelings over the radio. Binaural white noise pulses gently, coaxing his brain into doing exactly what he just got after an underling for - losing alertness at first and then wanting very much to take a nap.

Melinda May has posed:
Also helping conceal the raft, it's the work of just a few moments, but when Natasha's leg decides she's done after the drop into the water, the swim, and hefting the raft she can only look at the redhead without a hint of surprise. She silently 'orders' Natasha to stay with the raft, knowing that that's going to earn her still more snark. But, she'd rather get snarked at than have the agent permanently damage her leg.

With that done, she gestures for Lara and P3X to work together to head up to the building. She'll do a perimeter check on her own.

Nick Fury has posed:
The patrolling AIM guard's eyes flutter as he walks, his steps faltering, and then he drops to his knees before lying down to start snoozing.

The door, for the moment, remains unattended. While there may not be an immediate way of knowing when the replacement guard will arrive, the door's security system should be easy enough for any SHIELD agent with a few moments to crack.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara went to Natasha's side and looked down at her leg, it was covered, but she assumed it was in bad shape once again... yet more familiar experiences coming to her mind from her own past injuries. Lara put a hand on Natasha's shoulder for a moment and then patted the fellow agently and moved to join May once more. They would hopefully be through this and done and back to Nat's side in little time.

Once at May's side, Lara looked around to see where P3X had gone... he'd slipped away, he was quite effective at that.

Keane (271) has posed:
    The alien stands up out of the water and rushes up the sand, picking up the fallen guard and moving him up the beach to a spot where he'll be out of sight of any newly arriving sentry and the tide will conveniently wash over his feet, erase the footprints and dragmarks from the sand, and make it look like he sat down to literally cool his heels and just drifted off. With that done, P3X-495 heads rapidly up into the trees and races to meet back up with May and Croft. Finding them still at the raft he turns his head between the two, since moving his eyes would be pointless behind the concealing energy field, and finally looks down at Natasha.

    When he looks back up between May and Lara again it's with a shrug of his big, wide shoulders as if to say, 'She will live, right? Why are we dawdling?'

Melinda May has posed:
May is going to have to have words with P3X. Later. She's about to move on when he catches up with them, and she levels an unimpressed look at the alien. Then, she gestures for the pair to follow her. They're getting in the door, and quickly.

Getting to the door was the easy part, and May bypasses the door's security system in even less time. And then they're inside.

Nick Fury has posed:
Inside the door, there's a single hallway that appears to have only five doors branching off from it: two on either side and one at the end of the corridor.

A window into the first door on the left suggests it's a small mess hall. The second appears to be a barracks.

On the right, the first door appears to open into a recreational area. Within, there are sounds of an argument--apparently, there's some disagreement over whether or not the next door shift is willing to start an hour earlier than scheduled.

The second door on the right appears to be storage, but the shelves all appear to be empty, or at least almost so.

The door at the end of the hall is reinforced. Like the front entrance, there are several means of electronic security to pass.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara nodded to P3X when he rejoined them and she trailed after May, watching her do a number on that security with the door. When it was opened, she went inside and cut to the edge of the interior once on the other side. Lara started looking around for security cameras while progressing forward at a slow and steady pace.

Her eyes started to take in their scenery as a whole, noting the windows and doorways to other rooms. Internally she was getting quite curiosu about what this place WAS for.

At the sounds of the argument, Lara went in thir direction, crouched and sneakily she moved, holding her bow at her side. She started to listen to the argument, then looked back to check on May and the Alien.

Melinda May has posed:
They're distracted. Good. She moves quickly and near-silently to the reinforced door and gets to work bypassing the security there as well. One of the gadgets she brought with her looks like a USB stick, but it's a portable back door device, and once connected to any computer with an internet connection will allow SHIELD analysts to sneak into the computer and 'appropriate' whatever data they like. SO much easier than trying to download everything while hiding from patrols.

Keane (271) has posed:
    P3X-495 follows the women into the facility and like Lara stays alert for surveillance of both biological and technological varieties. His alien vision not only seeks out items that might be mounted on walls but looks through and into the walls and doors, follows conductive wire and gauges the type and amount of power flowing through it.

    He brings up the rear while the women take care of the security measures, his thorough inspection of everything slowing him down.

Nick Fury has posed:
Behind the reinforced door is a massive power source (or, at least, massive in relation to the power used throughout the rest of the facility).

Just as Lara opens the door with a soft *hiss*, an AIM agent storms out of the recreation area. She punches the wall opposite the door and turns toward the front entrance.

Behind the reinforced door is a room perhaps twenty feet by twenty feet, with a forty-foot-high ceiling--clearly the bulk of the space in the island's hill. Most of the space is taken up by a giant device pointed down toward a large 'X' on the floor.

A computer sits nearby, wires running to the device. Nearby is an empty hand truck and several large stacked crates.

Another AIM guard opens the recreation door to walk into the hall.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara was just about to step out into that area when the woman came out and punched the hallway wall, which made Croft slip right back to where she was! She ducked back down with her compound bow and sucked in a breath of air that she held onto within her chest, listening intently to see if any footfalls were coming her way. Her other hand reached into her leg sheath and she pulled out a combat knife from a pocket.

Lara was ready to strike/kill should any AIM soldiers come her way and discover her... she spared a glance around to try to look at May or P3X...

Keane (271) has posed:
    Lagging behind the women, P3X-495 is almost on top of the A.I.M. agent who comes out of the rec room. Lucky for him she's all pissed off, even luckier he's fast enough while crouch-walking to dart to the storage room door, luckier still that it's unlocked, and that just when he turns the handle the telltale click of the latch is covered by her fist impacting the wall. He slips inside and very, very gently closes it behind him, keeping the knob turned so the latch doesn't click as it closes but instead eases silently back into place.

Melinda May has posed:
The moment the reinforced door opened May ducked inside so she's at least not in the line of sight of anyone that might step out into the hallway. Their window is closing. Noticing the computer, she hurries over to it and promptly searches for a USB port to hook that backdoor device into. Preferrably one that won't be immediately noticed.

She's expecting the other two to be capable of concealing themselves, but she's still listening for one of the AIM people to try to raise an alarm. And of course hoping they don't.

Nick Fury has posed:
There's not a whole lot of software installed on the computer--and it's clearly not networked to the outside world at all.

The shortcut in the center of the GUI is labeled 'MiniaturizerPRO'.

Files indicate a series of tests relating to shrinking things, inorganic and organic alike (with much more focus on the latter).

There also seem to be a set of files whose contents aren't immediately comprehensible.

In the storage room, the shelving units that seem to be mostly empty are, in fact, stocked...only it's with an assortment of differently-sized tiny objects (on a shelf labeled 'Phase Alpha' and 'Phase Beta'), clusters of objects (labeled 'Phase Gamma' through 'Phase Psi'), and, finally, what appear to be incredibly small scale city blocks, labeled 'Phase Tau') It may be difficult to tell at initial glance, but there are tiny things moving about in these spaces.

Outside in the hall, a voice says, "Alright, time to get the next month's kibble all moved downstream..." its volume increasing, its owner's silhouette visible outside the storage room.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara watched as P3X slipped into that room for cover, in a way that reminded her of her childhood when she used to sneak through her parent's home at night and creep around down into the kitchen to steal cakes from the pastry shelves... She used to hide whenever one of the kitchen staff was still awake and sitting in the lounge near the kitchen, sometimes checking on the noises she'd make.

Lara was at the end of the hall just near said Storage Room, she could hear the AIM soldier drawing near to the door... she was ready to strike if P3X was going to need her help.

Melinda May has posed:
When the USB device faintly pings the lack of an outside connection, May promptly pulls it again and goes with the old tried and true 'download everything' memory stick. Downside: it takes time to steal everything. And what little she catches of the files as they copy honestly worries her. C'mon hurry up already. She HATES waiting on slow tech.

Keane (271) has posed:
    Inside the storage room and confronted by an A.I.M. agent who's about to open the door, the perfectly mimicked voice of that unconscious shift supervisor (who's currently unconscious on the sand outside) emits from the fluidy-black field around P3X-495. "Jesus, Dreher," he shouts through the door. "Do you ever listen? I said get the next shift out there on door duty and get your ass on calisthenics. Go, GO GO! If you aren't on your face pushing the floor in that rec room the next time I see you, you'll be licking the urinals clean for the next month!"

Nick Fury has posed:
The progress bar slowly loads on the file transfer. The computer is definitely not as up-to-date as the USB drive.

Progress Complete: 31%
[                         ...]

Meanwhile, at the storage room door, Dreher bows his head and sighs, hand about to push the door open.

"Fine!" he shouts angrily, and then mutters to himself. "You're only going to be team lead for another week, you know. Then it's DREHER'S time to shine..."

Dreher turns, head lowered, and enters the barracks area.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara heard the faux-voice from within the Storage Room and it impressed her that the Alien could mimmick a voice that well... Lara was envious of the super powered people around her on an almost daily basis...

When the guard went off down the hall in the other direction from her she sighed quietly in relief and then turned to go back toward May. "Is this what we came for?" She whispered now that there was a moment of respite from any obvious dangers.

Melinda May has posed:
Not realizing that that was P3X mimicking the sentry on the beach, May mentally curses up a storm, and looks for some place that might conceal her if that becomes necessary. There isn't really anything anywhere. Frustrating. But then Lara whispers her question in apparent unconcern, so they must be clear. "Yes, still downloading," she whispers back.

Keane (271) has posed:
    If P3X-495 knew somebody was impressed he might hope they were impressed at his keen foresight; that he took out the highest ranking officer on the island in such a manner as that nobody would be able to tell he was taken out even after he came to, just so he could borrow the guy's voice later if he needed to.

    He spends another minute in the storage room to study those communities in that unique way of his while staying well back from the miniaturized city blocks on the shelves. He does that since he has some idea that he may be looking at actual habitats inhabited by sentients, sentients who might testify to what they've seen if they spot an interloper staring down at them. Finally he quietly opens the door and peeps out to see if the hallway's clear before he creeps out and darts across to join the others.

    Using his own usual voice, something like Bill Nye (the Science Guy) sunken in pitch toward Isaac Hayes, he quietly fills them in on the number and variety of miniature communities and estimated populations just across the hall.

Nick Fury has posed:
The progress bar finally completes less than a minute later, though it probably feels like it's been several hours of agonizing wait.

After P3X-495 makes it to the back room, a stream of four AIM agents walks from the recreational area to the mess hall, and several more begin moving out from the barracks to the same area. It must be meal time.

There's still a guard outside the front entrance, too.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara exhaled a little sigh of relief that they'd found what they'd come for, she glanced at the progress bar but 'Nope' that stuff annoyed her just as much as it annoyed May... So Lara went back to where she had been, pressed up against that corner and peering around to see if P3X was about to join them yet or not.

When she peered around the corner of the hall and saw the fource AIM soldiers she looked back to May and lifted up a hand to show four gloved fingers and then motioned with her head which direction they were going...

Keane (271) has posed:
    The alien hunkers down on one side of the door, whichever side Lara isn't on to be specific, in order to be ready if any of those A.I.M. agents get curious. He just waits, letting May finish her hacking.

Melinda May has posed:
The instant the loading bar shows complete, May pulls the USB stick and returns to stand to one side of the door into this large room. She nods when Lara lists who is going where and listens to the sounds of the footfalls in the hallway, waiting for them to die down as the people get to their various destinations. And then, the escape. She's getting too old for this gos se.

Nick Fury has posed:
The sounds of chow call dominate the hallway soundscape. There's a lot of cameraderie, it seems, although--visible through the barracks door window--at least one person is doing calisthenics by their bunk.

At least a few other beekeeper helmets can be seen hanging out in the recreation area.

There's no security measures on the inside of the facility exit, but it's impossible to tell what the guard outside is up to. (She's definitely out there; P3X-495 can sense that!)

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara looked over to P3X when he took up the opposite side from her and she nodded to him. She reached over her back and pulled an arrow out of the quiver indicating that she had a 'bad feeling about this' exit they were about to make. Lara momentarily thought of Natasha, wondering how she was doing out on the beach, if she was in a lot of pain or if she was just laying there enjoying the stars and the sound of the waves.

When May appeared to be ready to go, Lara nodded to the others and put that arrow to her bow, indicating she was ready to cover their retreat.

Keane (271) has posed:
    When the hallway traffic dies down until it seems it's done for a few minutes, the alien slips out of the 'miniaturization room' and crouch-runs up the hall to the exit. When the door whooshes open he turns quickly around and leaps hard, straight up, grabbing the edge of the little facility's roof and pulling himself up. From there he races to the back of the building and mimics Dreher's voice to call out, "Miller, come quick, you gotta see this!" in more excitement than alarm. It's the kind of tone that could just as easily turn out to be a view of coworkers skinnydipping as the zoological find of the century, or a childish practical joke.

Melinda May has posed:
May indicates to P3X and Lara to stay low and move fast, and then follows P3X as he leads the way to the exit. And then he's off doing some crazy acrobatic thing that May might not be able to keep up with, immediately followed by that sentry's voice again. The hell? Wait, NOW she's cottoning on to that. Clever boy. If the woman outside the door doesn't leave her post to see, May try to catch her in a sleeper hold before she realizes what's going on.

Nick Fury has posed:
"Jesus, Dreher," the guard mutters to herself, leaning against the hillside next to the entrance. She pushes herself off and slowly moves to turn around and look back into the facility. As she does so, she asks, "if you're still up and about, I'd DAMN sure better not be doing this extra guard duty for nothing..."

Keane (271) has posed:
    "No no," Dreher's voice calls out assuringly, still full of excitement, "hurry up, you're gonna love this! C'mon!"

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara stuck with May, she figured she could chase after P3X and do that same parkour to scale the building... but May needed backup here and P3X seemed as though he could take care of himself pretty damn sufficiently.

Lara knife was afixed to her bow and she hand her drawing hand resting on its grip, waiting to pull it... she almost seemed overly eager to kill someone here tonight. She listened to the voices being cast about and was just glad they hadn't been found quite yet.

Melinda May has posed:
May does NOT need backup, thankyouverymuch. She rushes out the door while it's still open and hopefully catches the woman by surprise. Sleeper hold, don't fail me now. She fully expects Lara to get out the door and keep going and she will get a GLARE if she doesn't.

Nick Fury has posed:
The guard in May's hands struggles for a moment but begins to slump only moments later. Soon, she's hanging limply in the agent's grasp.

Once the SHIELD operatives are all outside, the entrance slides shut behind them.

The island is almost silent again after that--at first, anyway.

In the distance, a voice can be heard shouting, "What the--?!"

A burst of semiautomatic gunfire follows.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara exited the doorway behind May and while May dropped that guard with a classic maneuver, Lara watched all around them. When the voice in the distance shouted, she went to take cover and released a heavy exhale, hearing the burst of gunfire... was it Natasha they'd found? Was it P3X? Or had she and May been seen on a security camera that had been missed?

However it stacked up, their stealth was seemingly gone now and she gripped the fletching of the arrow on her bowstring... it was a letheal arrow, but it also held a gas despersal agent that would effect others in a radiums around wherever it may strike...

Keane (271) has posed:
    The gunfire in the distance gets Keane racing from the back of the building. He drops off the ledge at the front, grabbing the limp A.I.M. agent and her weapon as Melinda May drops her. "Was it too easy to just wait for her to investigate and head for the raft?" he asks drily.

    With one arm around the agent's waist, facing ahead of him like a human shield, her weapon in his other hand, he starts running toward where he left the unconscious shift supervisor.

Melinda May has posed:
Okay, as much as May hates the meatshield tactic, she's not going to argue. This time. Their cover's blown, they need to get back. Now. Letting the other two hold the lethal-looking weapons for now, she races after P3X toward the beach and hopefully Natasha and the raft.

This went pear-shaped all of a sudden. And she's not in the least bit surprised.

Nick Fury has posed:
Near the SHIELD raft, the groggy AIM supervisor is holding his rifle over the corpse of the Black Widow, whose injuries must have cost her her life.

"Lucky thing I have night terrors, I guess," the AIM agent mumbles to himself, looking over the body. His attention seems focused entirely on Romanov and the raft. He steps softly about, trying to make a sense of the scene.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara moved with the others, taking up the rear she fired an arrow back into the building that they'd come out of, sending a cloud of gas all around the exit to cover their retreat. She then jogged forward to catch up with Melinda and P3X.

When they reached the raft and she saw what appeared to be a man standing over Natasha's... lifeless looking body, Lara pulled another arrow... lined up a shot and would go to release it, right for the AIM soldier's eyeball!

Melinda May has posed:
The moment they burst out onto the beach to see the man standing over Natasha's corpse, May snarls something particularly vile in Vietnamese as she rushes the guard. Lara's arrow can likely go right over her head if it's aimed at the sentry's face, but she's only going to get the one shot. Better hope it hits. Because if it doesn't, May will. And she's currently VERY displeased.

Keane (271) has posed:
    The alien's purpose with the lady sentry's body hadn't actually been meatshield at all, as evidenced by the fact that he discarded her and her weapon as soon as Croft fired a gas arrow back into the base. Whatever pretense he meant to build using her was shattered by that piece of evidence left behind. After that, even though it seems like he could move a bit faster than either Melinda or Lara, he stays with them - kind of circling the two as they move as if he could somehow provide the benefits of being a one-man boxing formation.

    Arriving at the raft to find Romanova dead doesn't have the same emotional effect on Keane that it does on the others, either because he doesn't have emotions or because he had some sense that she wasn't human in the first place. Or maybe Natasha Romanova didn't come to his birthday one time and he just doesn't care. Who knows? In any event he leaves the bewildered A.I.M. guard to the unmerciful hands of Melinda May and Lara Croft.

Nick Fury has posed:
Croft's arrow pierces the AIM agent's helmet--and face--a split-second before May collides with him.

A split-second after that, the AIM supervisor drops to the ground, dead.

Romanova's corpse, meanwhile, appears to have a skull filled with circuitry, and she's not bleeding so much as leaking some sort of coolant. It's definitely an LMD. The real Black Widow? Still recuperating back at the Triskelion.

The raft awaits its passengers, along with whatever 'cargo' they bring with them, and the Quinjet continues to silently circle above until the extraction signal is transmitted.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara rushed over to help May, she brushed past the form of P3X and disconnected her knife from her bow's limbs ready to assist May if she were to need it... but it seems the AIM Soldier might already be dead, and... Lara had seen the circuitry coming from the Widow's deformed body. "What the hell..." Lara uttered. She was NOT familar with LMD's, this was a tech she had NOT seen before.

Lara sheathed her knife, look at Natasha and then looked up to May and P3X... totally dumbfounded by this.

Keane (271) has posed:
    "Artificial life form," the alien explains to Lara as he hefts the raft over one shoulder and the wrecked android over the other and starts jogging toward the ocean. "Let's move."

Melinda May has posed:
May promptly steps back from the downed sentry and turns to ... watch P3X heft both the raft and the LMD like they're mere toys, still cursing up a blue streak. "Call in the extraction, Croft. I need to have words with Fury." It's not Director Fury when she's this angry. It's just Fury. She stomps off after the alien, because the sooner they're gone from this place, the better.