7952/Changeling: Finale

Changeling: Finale
Date of Scene:	19 June 2019
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	SHIELD finally tracks down Arnim Zola and enacts their plan not only to take him and his forces down, but to purge him from SHIELD's systems forever, in a finale to years of RP that brings the house down...literally.
Cast of Characters:	Hawkeye (Barton), Quake, Winter Soldier, Peggy Carter, Nyx, Jemma Simmons, Melinda May, Captain America
Tinyplot:	Changeling

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Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Austria

00:23 Local Time

Deep in the mountainside base, a panel bursts open and falls to the floor of the concrete passage below with a clang. Thankfully, this part of the base is little used, a remenant from the 1940's, but close to where the team estimates the core of the current base can be found.

As yet. No alarms have sounded.

Making sure, Clint drops down to the corridor, the bow comes out, he does a quick check of both ends of the hallway before calling in a whisper, "Clear," and makes way for the next person to come out, as he crouches down by the way into newer segments of the base ready to provide cover.

The mission was on.

Quake has posed:
Skye had briefed the team as to their assignments. Clint and Jemma. Peggy and Nyx. She and the boys. She'd taken a moment to tell Bucky, "Well, Bucky, this is it. We finish what we started."

It had been a long time coming.

And then there was no more time for nerves, jitters, second guessing, or changing plans. All that was left was trusting her teams to do their jobs, and to do her own part. Skye was grim faced and determined, leading with Bucky and Steve until they left Steve off to watch their backs. Goal was the server rooms. Or so they had to make it look like. And as she was the 'target' she was leaving Bucky to lead the way as any good front man should.

Winter Soldier has posed:
Lili's safely at home in the Triskelion. Now it's Bucky and Skye again. "We finish what they started," he replies, softly. Skye may be the current target, but he's the one who's suffered the longest from Zola, from HYDRA.

And now they're back in Austria, back in one of the bases they trained him in, that he fought out of. He knows these halls, he knows this place twice over - from taking it during the war, from being stored here as the Soldier. He's come heavily armed, in a black tactical suit, rifle, machine pistol, smaller pistols, and of course, the usual assortment of knives. The long, dark hair pulled back into a low tail. He's out in front of Skye, taking point - with Steve as rearguard, he's the toughest present, physically.

Peggy Carter has posed:
Home sweet home. Or, enemy's home, at least. It still smelled the same. Some of those vents event looked the same, especially this back one. The lighting around the place was a bit different but with the distance of memory and that aroma on the air, Peggy Carter could swear she was back with the Howling Commandos. That not almost a century had passed. It hesitated her steps one moment when they were first entering the infiltration point, but just a moment. Then she carried on, somehow more commanding than she was a moment ago. It was the steps of a woman on a mission.

Once out, she gives Nyx the briefest of nods, being certain the younger woman is tied close to her hip. Hopefully, her words of command said before they left the transport echo still in Nyx's head: "Stay in shadows. Head down. Find your port. I'm going to be loud and violent, looking for vengence and you should be nothing but a shadow, got it? If they tag me, finish your mission. I can manage out." And that was it. With that simple goal, Peggy settled her back against the wall of the corridor and stared down into too-familiar hallways. How had nothing changed?

Nyx has posed:
Well port in this case is within close proximity to anything on the critical network or computer mainframes, not necessarily a port to jam a drive into. She is the drive really.

Speaking of which, Nyx right now is effectively running 'dark' receiving but not sending anything outside of Samantha that a former human turned AI with sensors should be able to detect.

Sam meanwhile is a bit wide eyed like a tourist, or Agent in Training on there first mission. She definitely paid attention to the briefings. To the mission orders. To the everything.

Right now she is doing her very best to be Peggy's shadow.

One nice thing about Sam even if she isn't a ninja spy, shadows don't really hold anything from her modified vision.

Jemma Simmons has posed:
The usual laboratory ensemble has been traded for a more stealthy outfit. Standard SHIELD body armor, black on black, though Jemma's particular set seems just a bit more form fitting for her, perhaps a little thinner, proving that it is good to be on the research side of things. Hair pulled in a pony-tail, the good doctor does not show a sign of nervousness, at least outwardly.

A tap to the earpiece as Jemma slides up to stand just a little behind Clint. "We're in. Fitz, you set?"

A familiar Scottish voice chimes in on the comm. "Yeah. Ready on my end. Watchin' yer movements until time for da swap. You be careful on yer end. Don't forget about what I gave ya, just in case."

Jemma reaches around, tapping a small pistol holster on the back of her waist. "I have it, Fitz. You shouldn't have." There is a bit of a tease to the voice, mingled with true gratitude. Within that holster is a smaller version of a white pistol...the markings looking to be similiar to the cryo-gun that people might have remembered seeing before. "You be careful, too."

There is a non-verbal acknowledgement from the Scot on the other end, as Jemma slides out her usual firearm, the ICER, from her right hip. She looks around, then forward to Clint and Skye in succession. "Ready when you are."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
EVERYONE

As the teams begin to move out, Clint flashes a smile to Skye, "Try not to die out there, Keyboard," he says putting an arrow to the string., nodding to Jemma and leading the way down their corridor that should lead to the original labs and the likely location of the Inhumans.

After the all-stars decend into the base, their backup comes after them, dressed in the standard SHIELD black tac-gear, four spread out to secure their entrance, the rest break off and join the other teams as they filter through the base.

LABS

The corridor towards the labs sweeps downwards, it's dank, wet and nasty, not speaking well of the conditions they'll find at the end of this particular road. Joined by two tac agents, they reach the corridor's end, a formerly secret door. Clint taps his ear, upping the gain on his SHIELD issued hearing aids, "Yeah, definitely people in there," he says flinching at the sound of his own voice and turning the hearing aid down.

"So, I'm going to wait until we hear noise from upstairs, then, I'll blow the door and get the party started. You good with that?" he says asking Jemma, he knows the tactical folks will be ready.



MAIN BASE

Bucky leads the team on down the straightest of the corridors to a set of double doors, likely blocked off, but there's definitely signs of activity beyond those doors, light filters through and there's the sound of voices. Best guess, what with Skye's new found sensitivity to sound, likely seven or eight, milling about, likely not waiting in ambush, good targets for a sudden surprise attack and a way to kick off this shindig.

SERVERS

Indeed, the base looks much like it did in '45, there's even a few tattered posters reminding long dead Hydra agents that loose lips helped the allies. Though as they get on down deeper into the base, there are more signs of the 21st century. Wires running along the floor and ceiling, the sounds of electical generators and is that vape smoke?

There's voices ahead, belonging to two men in coveralls, one is smoking one of those vape pens, another a genuine cigarette. "You hear the rumours?" cig says to vape. "The boss loaded gas into the air system."

"Bullshit," says vape. "Why would he do that? And if he did it's probably knockout gas."

"What if it's the other stuff? The stuff that makes the goo people?"

"What goo people? You need to get your head out of your ass."

So far neither Cig nor Vape has spotted Peggy or Nyx.

Quake has posed:
Clint gets a likewise smirk from Skye, "Same, Hotshot." Signing ~I love you~ before drawing her ICER - a weapon she really doesn't need to use, what with her own natural powers. But appearances and all that.

She's listening for activity, and to warn her team. As well as reassuring and reminding herself that her teams are the best she could assemble. She wonders when this gets easier, even though this is the first time she's been this directly responsible for sending folks into the fire, so to speak.

She gestures to Bucky what they're dealing with, noting probably positions by gesture - her hearing attuning to how near or far the sounds are. Letting her point man know so that he's not taken by surprise.

"Thoughts?" she asks him, happy to let him call the shots on this one. Not only for appearance sake.

Winter Soldier has posed:
There's a weird pleasure in all of this. Adrenaline's just about the only high left to him now, and he's always loved the fight. That love of violence he frankly can't blame on HYDRA, much as he might like to. And then they say that revenge is a dish best served cold. Hard to get much colder than seventy-five years of cryo.

So now the deadpan's actually a grin suppressed, the pale eyes alight. Skye explains what they're facing. "I'm thinking I'll just do this old school," he says, softly, taking a grenade from his belt. "Grenade, rifle, machine pistol - at this point, I'm used to dealing with a squad on my own."

Suiting action to word, he squares up on the door, kicks it open, lobs a grenade in, whirls to the side of the frame neat as a matador, and lets it do its work. Having announced himself Howling Commando style, he then donkey-kicks it open again with a heel and enters, rifle low. Short bursts, as he opens up on what goons might be left standing.

Peggy Carter has posed:
Down and down deeper. Peggy, the moment the initial corridor is cleared, has nodded off towards ANOTHER side hatch that goes immediately downwards. It's probably some sort of sewage or old power lines access, but it's something with those hard metal rung ladders than hug a wall too close for comfort. She climbs down in a surprising amount of silence for a woman her age, but she's dressed for infiltration and she's used to these hallways. In fact, there is a single rung that she taps lighter with her toe, it used to be loose... It still is. She skips it. "Loose rung." She whispers up to Nyx as they descend lower. Soon to the lowest levels. The server areas. Things that surround her with less memory and more current motivation. Probably for the best.

She barely breathes as she slips out into the side of a hall near the voices. Her brows furrow and she gives a furtive glance around the area and a questioning look to Nyx. Are any of these things somewhere Nyx can jack in? Peggy still entirely wasn't certain what a proper connection or node would look like, but they probably weren't there. She gives Nyx a single motion to stay still and quiet. The coverall men would be better taken out without alerting folks. She motions to vape guy for Nyx to take, and nods she will take Cig. A fast count down and Peg is cutting the side of her hand across that very sensitive cluster of nerves at the back/side of Cig's neck and reaching up to grab him before he falls, makes noise, or drops his cigarette. SHe's done this before. Hopefully Nyx can be as sleek. She's trusting the agent to be that trained. She winces slighly as she hears the echoing above. Hopefully it doesn't bring more down on THEIR Heads.

Nyx has posed:
Down and down deeper. Right.

Sam follows along trying to keep her head on a swivel. Someone told her to do that in combat situations back at base during her training.

Honestly it is an odd mental image.

Sam is wearing SHIELD infiltration tactical armor. Someone thought it was a good idea to dress her up like the other agents accompanying them. Probably to try to keep it from looking like Sam was important to this plan.

She slows down on the ladder to compensate for the loose rung, because honestly she weighs a lot more than she looks these days.

Sam looks around where Peggy is indicating and then shakes her head very carefully.

Message clear, not in the right spot or in deep enough yet.

She manages to figure out what Peggy is telling her to do and once Peggy is in motion she moves out of the shadows.

Sleek and elegant, not so much. I mean it is effective though. She just gib slaps him upside the temple, liable to bounce his head and him off the far wall and back into her arms to catch him if he isn't superhuman.

Jemma Simmons has posed:
There might be a wrinkling of the nose from Jemma as the team of four, with Clint in lead, walk down the corridor to the labs. It is only for a moment, but enough to show Jemma's displeasure with what she will undoubtedly encounter when she gets to the labs.

Hence her reasoning for being here and her insistence on liberating the test subjects. An angry Jemma is not one to be messed with.

Her voice, however, is cool. Unwaivering. Answering Clint with a terse "Sounds good."

And now, it is just a matter of waiting for the fireworks to begin, which, judging from the sounds echoing in the hallway, indicates that she doesn't have long to wait at all.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
MAIN BASE

Bucky's enterance makes an impact. Literally! The grenade goes off, sending men flying, then as he bursts in the men are still trying to recover, easy targets for the deadly accurate Winter Soldier. They drop quickly.

One of those thrown by the grenade isn't all the way down, he sits up, drawing his gun and taking aim at Bucky's exposed back, finger tensing on the trigger.

Beyond the carnage, and potential catastrophe is another set of double doors likely leading closer to their destination.

EVERYONE

There's a boom in the base followed by alarms. The base wakes up to the attack.

SERVERS

The alarms get Cig and Vape turning their heads back towards the base proper, leaving them open to Peggy and Nyx's attack. They drop before they know the ladies are even there.

Beyond the two layabouts is a door, where the wires are leading, the Server Room? Most likely. A quick check inside, shows there's four men in there, two guards and two techs as well as some sort of machine laid out on a table.

LABS

"Good," Clint says offering the scientist a fistbump, awkwardly (or Hawkwardly perhaps) trying to keep up morale.

When the exposions go off, Clint grins, "That's our cue."

The archer turns, places a charge on the door, motioning to the others to get back.

*BOOM* the door flies open showering the room beyond in debris. Clint bursts through into the room, arrows flying, one guard, down, two, a lab tech is pinned to the wall.

It looks like the archer's got the room handled all by himself, until something bursts from a cracked cannister fixed to the wall, a white, pasty--- something. That reaches out with tendrils of goo, grab the archer and fling him hard against the wall.

Quake has posed:
Oh, he'd like to shoot Bucky's exposed back, but Bucky's back has a friend. A friend who is *pissed* with all that anger hyperfocused down to precision. Skye holds out a hand and casually blasts the man back into a wall, hopefully knocking him out.

Beyond the doors, she can't hear anything, Skye telling Bucky to secure their entrance into the next room.

Winter Soldier has posed:
Skye's save gets her a thumbs up, even as he unloads a few rounds into the guy knocked into the wall. No one gets to stay behind living, if he has anything to say about it.

He's in full on Soldier rampage mode. Taking a leaf from Steve's book, he's giving the next door the same treatment, this time with the alloy hand going first, the better to bat aside anything that might come at him, in return. Though the element of general surprise has been lost, who's really expecting the Soldier to come bursting through the door?

Peggy Carter has posed:
Well, there's no time to be subtle any longer. Peggy gives Sam the briefest of approving nods and then a motion to stay back as she basically, guns out and distraction causing ready, storms towards room ahead of them. She's trying to be as loud, obvious, and attention drawing as possible so Sam can access whatever Sam needs to get into the servers. She takes a page from Bucky's book and tosses a grenade to the right of the door, "Remember me, BOYS?" She calls, opening fire from the left the moment they come out in confusion and ready to attack. The plan here is to draw all the people OUT of the server room so Sam can sneak INTO the place without, hopefully, being noticed.

Melinda May has posed:
A second pistol echoes Peggy's, catching still more of the people reacting to her yell and her grenade.

"Has someone been forcing you to watch recent movies, Carter?" May quips as she appears around a corner a little further down with her own non-ICER pistol in hand. "Sorry I'm late, had trouble finding a parking space." Which, considering how they arrived here is likely a reasonable thing to have trouble with. She fires her pistol one more time, then tosses a quick look to make sure Samantha is okay.

Nyx has posed:
Sam knows what her job on this mission is, but that doesn't mean she doesn't want to protect Peggy from the guards eventual gunfire as Peggy makes such a big splash and target of herself.

Honestly there is a sigh from the young woman as she sticks ot the shadows by the door and waits for them to storm out and then duck in behind them.

I mean dollars to donuts she may have to disable the techs as well in there to find something useful as far as servers go.

Honestly if all goes to plan she will slip in behind them and once her tactical HUD locks on, fire two ICER rounds into the technicians. If all goes to plan.

May's arrival and banter does make Sam feel a bit better about leaving Carter out with the guards though, on the bright side.

Old Warhorses.

Jemma Simmons has posed:
The fistbump is met with just as much awkwardness as one would think. Jemma does offer a smile, but yeah...totally awkward. Still, she appreciates the gesture.

Taking up a defensive position, Jemma holds back while the charge is adfixed to the laboratory door, taking the time to plug her ears as the charge delivers its payload, blowing the door wide open. It only takes a moment for her to recover, following behind Clint as he proceeds to systematically take out the room.

Except when he doesn't. The alien entity emerging from the cannister gives Jemma a shock. Especially when it tosses the archer like a ragdoll. That shock is only temporary, though, as SHIELD training takes over, the ICER in Jemma's hand whipping around and sending two rounds of dendrotoxin towards the seemingly living mass.

It is only after two of the shots are away, which takes milliseconds, before Jemma speaks...using a line that she has heard multiple times.

"What the bloody hell??"

Spending too much time around Fitz, it seems.

The two other tactical agents follow in, balking for a moment at the ball of dough, but quickly recovering to scan the area for any other possible threats, seeing how it seems Jemma has the anomaly covered.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
MAIN BASE

*THUD* the would-be gunman is driven into the wall and slumps there unconcious. Points to Skye.

The rest of the reistance is down for the count so there's no one to stop Bucky as he bursts through the door into the next room... some sort of robotics lab.

There's gunfire from behind them, rounds pinging off Steve's shield as he calls out, "We've got company," the shout is followed by the sound of the shield rebounding off of walls and shouts of surprise. "I've got them but keep going, I'll catch up."

That leaves Skye and Bucky, to go on to the robotics lab. The room is circular, with a dozen alcoves, like something you'd see out of a Borg Cube on Star Trek. Each one contains a headless robot body, humanoid, but definitely not able to pass as human, with it's rounded chest, and thick metal arms ending in two big fingers and a thumb. In the center of the room, a projector springs to life, a massive green hologram of Armin Zola appearing there.

"Ah, the prodigal children have returned," he taunts, his words flat but tinged with just a bit of a Swiss-German accent. "I had hoped I would have more time, but, I am still happy to see you both. But let us do away with the weapons... Omega. Seven. Steel. Nightfall. September. Red. Fire." More code words, a final little present Hydra's brainwashing had left in Bucky's skull. "Subdue Agent Johnson, Soldier."

SERVERS

Peggy drops two of the men before the others have time to duck. When dekes away, two men follow leaving the room to Sam, May, a couple of crouching techs and the machine on the table.

That machine, a black steel robot like the one in the robotics lab above sits up, the space it's head was, filled with a hologram of Arnim Zola.

(image: )

The robot pushes off the table, the hologram head, turning to the techs. "Get back to work. I will handle the intruders," then he strides towards the SHIELD agents.

LABS

The anomoly takes the two shots of dendrotoxin like they were misquito bites, the blue of the ICER rounds being quickly absorbed by the thing. It does however notice Jemma. Whipping a tentacle of pasty goo in her direction, two more send the tatical agents flying.

For his part, Clint shakes himself off, standing with a whistle. "Hey Pillsbury," he calls out. "Take it easy, man we get it Cheddar Bay's got you beat, you don't have to be a dick about it."

Clint gets a tentacle thrown at him for his trouble too, and the archer dives, and rolls his hand reaching out for his fallen bow and the explosive arrow laid across it.

Quake has posed:
"Wonderful," Skye mutters. "He's building his own Sentinels."

Her gaze narrows down on the holgram. "Fuck you, asshole," she bites out at Zola's image, not bothering to fire at it. "I'm going to hurt you where you live." Though his barking out codewords is a bit of a surprise. Okay, more than a bit of a surprise. Turning to her partner, "Bucky?" Hoping against hope she isn't going to have to attack him.

Peggy Carter has posed:
While Peggy is being bigger, louder, and a bit more careless than she might have been back in the day, there is full reason for it. The more people are looking at her, the less they are looking at Sam. But she also can't just stand outside and hope the whole room will be abandoned, it's never that easy. May isn't even given a double look, but a single flicker of eyes as Peggy yells over the chaos, "Saved a few for you!" But she's still charging forward. No time for lots of banter, too many to put down as there were more ahead than she thought.

Then the second round of men come out, clipping off some shots in Peggy's direction. Her shoulder jerks back slightly, a hit of some sort, but she hisses through it and forces ICER to remain aloft, snapping off two more shots. It's enough to at least clear her part of the hall so she can spill into the servers room with the other two agents, weapon still up and ready to fire. The sight of Zola stops her more than the bullet wound did, but only by a second. "Bloody Bastard..."

Winter Soldier has posed:
Skye can see him stiffen, in reaction to that string of words. See the gleam of anticipation fade into that icy blankness. All his body language changing, as he rounds on her. Poor Skye. Not again.

Except....when he's angled so he's facing her, and away (presumably) from the camera feeds HYDRA's using to observe him, he winks. This was an eventuality they planned for, HYDRA trying to activate another set of programming codes....and one option is to make it look like they still work. This is the plan on offer, it seems.

Melinda May has posed:
May charges forward right alongside Peggy, her own very much real pistol picking off the ones that Carter misses. When the black-bodied robot approaches them, she reaches behind her back and brandishes a matched pair of small swords in her free hand. Firing a round off at the robot with the intention of the bullet ricocheting safely away from the three of them, she tries to get Zola's attention, sidling as if to try and get past him.

She's actually trying to get him to turn his back on Samantha. And, to make sure, she tosses in a little taunt at the digitized madman as well.

"You talk too much."

Nyx has posed:
Huh okay. Robot body.

Sam doesn't have to feel bad about what will happen next really.

Also that is brilliantly useful, though to be fair Nyx is the one who has the brilliant idea not Sam.

Alas.

Once the distractions are in full gear and hopefully May is able to distract the Zola drone Sam will run forward and leap hard onto his back.

The force is enough to topple the robot and drive it front down onto the flooring, which then grinds as they both skid along with the physics of that tackle.

Reaching down Samantha grabs both of the things arms and pulls back, wrenching hard and there is a horrible rending of metal as the very petite young woman rips the things arms clean off.

"Now where were we." which almost sounds not at all like Sam, but more like Nyx as she twists and starts to dig around in one of the arm sockets.

The technopathy connecting.

The transmission drops the viral payload, but also Nyx stays there to distract now. ~Hello Fascist Hydra Scientist known as Zola. This is going to be disappointing for you. Stand by.~ working to make sure now that no security failsafes slam into place and isolate the payload.

Alien AI of no small ability vs. Hydra Scientist Ghost in the Machine all in Hydra's compromised network now.

Jemma Simmons has posed:
"Oh dear."

A perfectly innocent expression for an otherwise chaotic situation. There was hope that it would have been just as simple as putting the doughboy to sleep. But, of course, nothing is ever that simple. Simmons reacts to the appendage, trying to turn and step out of the way of the swing, even as the ICER is returning to its holster, but she wasn't quite fast enough. The tentacle catches the back of her left shoulder, sending her spinning down into a lab table leg, landing on the floor with a thud, back to the table and facing the creature.

However, if one was watching Jemma as she was knocked down, three things would have been noticed. One, she did manage to holster the ICER before she caught the blow to the shoulder. Two, when she was spun around, the pistol holster on her back waist was momentarily visible. And three, that particular holster was empty. The reason becomes apparent enough as Jemma hits the floor, with a white pistol in her hand that, miraculously, she did not drop. A pistol that looks remarkedly like a smaller PPK model, similar to what Fitz made for Peggy....only white with blue accents.

And, as Jemma again instinctively shoots without thinking, a few more tricks than just a regular gun. The unthinking shot is wide, missing the central mass of the creature, but catching the tip of the tendril. As the round hits, there is a definite crackling in the air...as the cryogenic payload is delivered, threatening to freeze the offshoot of the creature quickly.

If it wasn't for the fact that she's in the middle of a fight, the scientist in Jemma might actually find it fascinating to watch the freezing process. As it is now, she keeps the cryo-pistol focused on Dough Boy, in case there is an urgent need to make with the popsicle.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
MAIN BASE

"Really? Is that all you have?" Zola taunts Skye. "Just think what Captain Rogers would think if he heard you use such language." The hologram turns to Bucky. "Now, Soldier."

Three of the robots sprout holographic heads. "Or I will do this myself." The robots begin to advance on the pair.

SERVERS

Across the room, Zola spots Peggy and tilts his head. "You? How is that possible?" his eyes grow distant. "Ah yes, Stark's project. Interesting did not expect it to work. Anyhow, I am sure Herr Schmidt would call this fate. After all I am about to accomplish a project that began under you at SHIELD." His face flickers away for a second replaced by an image of a file, at this distance not much can be seen, but the name: Project Methuselah. "Immortality."

May is noticed too, a hand raises and a sonic pulse is shot at the Deputy Director just moments before Nyx has him.

"What?" Zola exclaims as its arms are ripped clean off.

Then the holographic head begins to glitch. "No. That is impossible. How are you doing that?"

The head blinks out, replaced with a swirling of alien shapes and strange letters. The robot belonged to Nyx now and the connection to the system is secured with it, Zola unable to shut it down short of blowing up the transmitter that links all his robots to the central core. Still Zola wasn't without defenses, an army of programs spring up on the far side of the 'bridge' of the robot's connection to the central core, to defend Zola's system from the attack.

LAB

The freeze round does it's damage, the tendril freezing and cracking as the heat is dispelled from the goo. The creature growls and flings more tenticles at Jemma, before a chunk of it is blow away by the explosive arrow that Clint fires into it's back.

"Keep shooting!" Clint calls, reaching back for his quivver, Jemma's hit on a good idea and his freeze arrows are made from the same tech.

Winter Soldier has posed:
He doesn't use any lethal means - he's let the rifle drop to its sling, and all but pounces on Skye like a cat on a mouse. The struggle's enough to be convincing; perhaps shock and betrayed trust can excuse her lack of resistance. Or reluctance to hurt Bucky.

But then he's got her, metal hand around her throat, pistol at her spine, as he looks past her to the hologram.

"Ready to comply," he says, flatly. Nevermind that it's only the most token force.

Peggy Carter has posed:
Under *her* at SHIELD. Peggy insisted they not hire him. She fought it. But still there were others that fought for him, tried to bring him into their ranks, apparently were working with him already. Her eye just slightly twitches, a mental note to go through more records when they were back, but she couldn't let it distract her now. ICER still in hand, ready to fire on any other back up that comes even if she's shooting off handed now because of that clip to her shoulder, Peggy doesn't give Zola the pleasure of reacting to his gloat.

In fact, she smiles, just as Nyx does the seeming impossible and very quickly disables the thing. Then starts diving into disabling the mind driving the thing. "You might always grow another head. We'll always be ready to cut it off." She hisses out to the seemingly dying thing, her part of the mission mostly done. She does, however, lean into her comm unit to radio to everyone else, "We caught word of there being some sort of gas in the vents, just a heads up. There could be a fail safe flooding this place any time."

Quake has posed:
As far as plans went, it wasn't a bad one. Skye lifted by Bucky, the Agent freezing up, looking for all intents and purposes like she's Bucky's prisoner - and worse, unable to use her Quake powers. Skye is really glad she's not having to try for real to see whether or not she could use them while being held in this manner (she suspects not), for the moment seething at Zola.

"Cap can't hear me," she hisses. "And I don't care. You waste of code. Always hiding behind your fucking toys."

All she's doing right now is buying time for Jemma and Clint to rescue and retrive, and for Nyx and company to succeed with the virus.

Melinda May has posed:
May throws herself to one side, but isn't completely able to get clear of the sonic pulse shot at her. It knocks her away with enough force that she drops her pistol. But not the swords. It takes her a couple of seconds to push back to her feet, and in that time Nyx has knocked the robot over, ripped its arms off, and is already starting to infiltrate the computer systems.

Seemingly shaking off the effects of the sonic pulse (in reality she knows she'll be feeling that for days), she approaches the one of the computer panels and hastily brandishes a USB stick and plugs it into the first system she sees that's spooling information on its display.

Then, she's brandishing her swords at the remaining computer techs. They're REAL blades, and somehow have a faintly golden sheen to their steel. "Tell us how to disable the gas in the vents."

The unspoken 'or else' is very clearly implied.

Nyx has posed:
In that virtual place that is the connection to Zola, that bridge, well Nyx unspools.

Since Zola is a sentient ghost in a machine as it were, it is easy enough to give visualizations to really describe what is happening there.

A dark figure races down the bridge very fast, the viral payload shimmering and becoming two hounds keeping pace with it.

One of the figures hands upraises and lightning crackles out and then lances into the bridge, trying to prevent whatever deadman switch could blow the connection.

The other hand points outwards and lances aggressive attack programs in the form of scintilating beams of light into Zola's defenses.

Really what Nyx needs to do it keep the connection active until the hounds, ur virus, can get into Zola's core.

In the real world the aliens images and language continues to skitter and speed over the holographic screen and Sam stays with her arm up to her shoulder in the bot.

Jemma Simmons has posed:
    You don't have to tell Jemma twice. A couple more shots are fired. The second shot appears to go wide, as a tentacle smacks Jemma's hand to the side, a tell-tale patch of frost quickly spreading on the back wall of the lab. However, there was two shots...and it would seem that the first shot at least was aimed more in the central mass of the creature.

Not that Jemma is actually looking. The flick of the tendril managed to disarm her, so now it is a scramble to retrieve her weapon. It would be rather comical under normal circumstances. But...now? It is just a frantic crawl under the table to get the one thing that seems to have some effect on the rouge science experiment.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
MAIN BASE

Zola's robots hold position as Bucky and Skye fight, ending with Bucky pushing a gun into the Inhuman's back.

"Excellen-" he begins before the face on all three robots flickers. "What? No. This is impossible!"

Realization spreads across the central holographic face of Arnim Zola. "This is a trap."

He works quickly, cutting the robots in this room off from the attack going on at the central core, as their holographic heads spring to life and all twelve of them advance on Bucky and Skye. "Whatever happens here today you will not escape."

SERVERS

Peggy gets the satisfaction of seeing the desperate anger in the Zola robot's eyes before the hologram winks out and is replaced as Nyx takes control.

The techs surrender at the sight of the blades. I mean getting shot, you expect that but being cut up by swords? That's next level. No more guards come either, the remainder laying on the floor wounded or dead.

In the virtual world, as Nyx storms through Zola's defneses to let her viral hounds into the core, digitized faces, like masks, appear, to aid their journey, a few at first then more and more, chewing through what Nyx doesn't destroy herself.

The battle is very one side and the virus reaches the central core.

LABS

Jemma's shots have the thing roaring, as more and more of it freezes and cracks. Then as she scrambles under the table to recover her weapon, much of the creature is covered by ice. An explosive arrow shatters it to chunks.

A moment later Clint offers a hand up to Jemma. "Come on, let's get our friends awake and get find what we're after before this thing goes all T-1000 on us and reforms."

EVERYONE

There is a scream across the base intercom, as the virus reaches it's destination. There's a battle still, Zola vs the virus but the virus is custom built and is working quickly. In the central room, the main Zola head begins to glitch heavily struggling to stay on even as the robots continue to advance. Though slower now. Less sure of their footing.

Elsewhere a new alarm goes off, and the Hydra agents in the base begin to look for the exits.

Winter Soldier has posed:
Buck's voice is almost conversational, as he drops the ruse, brings the rifle up to sight along it and fire at the first of the robots. Relaxed as he can be, considering he's facing off against these metal minions.

"Hey, Arnim? Fuck you."

Watch Steve show up just in time to scold Bucky for his language.

Peggy Carter has posed:
A nod of approval and thanks to May, the other woman having really rather quickly and cleanly taken care of the rest of the fighting. Peggy stands guard now, waiting for Nyx to finish her work, but the quirk of satisfaction across her lips as Zola's image goes out cannot entirely be hidden. "Good riddance." She breathes out quietly. Once it's done and other alarms start soundig, though, she brings up her gun once more. She's expecting to fight their way out and jerks forward, flanking the door and getting ready to prepare the way. Going out she's a lot more neat than she was going in, not doing it for show and splash, but for the quickest movement with the least amount of casualties.

Jemma Simmons has posed:
Cryo-pistol retrieved, Jemma manages to free herself from under the table, accepting the hand up from Clint. "Thanks." Pausing only for a moment to glance back at the frozen exploded bits of sentient Play-Doh. "That...wasn't fun."

As more alarms sound off, the doctor returns to the task at hand, offering Clint a firm nod. "Right. Sounds like we don't have much time left. I'll worry about reviving the people. You look for the terrigen." She summons over the two other tactical agents, giving them some quick orders on reviving (and escorting) the Inhuman test subjects, then proceeds inward.

When it comes to laboratories, Jemma may know her way around. She hurries to make short work on the medical side, awaking the lab subjects. She ignores files, for the moment, as her focus is on the people...but hey, that is what Clint is there for...to snatch and grab anything that looks interesting.

Melinda May has posed:
When the techs surrender, May pulls her ICER from her jacket and shoots them both, then turns back to where Samantha is still completely still.

The alarms going off are a bad thing, but she sees that Peggy's already ready to ... how do the younger agents put it? GTFO. Yes, that.

The instant Nyx is done destroying Zola and Samantha is able to move, she gets them started back out, letting Peggy take point as she's clearly in full mission mode and bent on getting them out fast. Besides, she's still hiding that she got her bell rung pretty good.

Nyx has posed:
The go order is not ignored, though it is executed in an interesting manner.

Nyx roots around in the Zola that it is currently owning and rips out the network uplink and keeps the assault active.

Sam suddenly gets control back and blinks and looks around. "Are we bugging out?" unsure as she blinks and then stands, her hand still clutching the network uplink and powering it.

In the Virtual space that is Zola's core the viral hounds run wild. The figure that is Nyx is through the bridge and a 'sword' of energy springs from one hand even as angelic wings of energy sprout from its back. Honestly Nyx is enjoying this probably way too much. Way Way Too Much. ~This is not impossible. This is simply beyond you. This is necessary. I believe the humans refer to this as removing a cancerous mass." slice, blast, slice. All just representations for Zola's consciousness but really Nyx is moving around and making sure Zola doesn't escape down a bolt hole.

Captain America has posed:
"Alarms are going off, people! Rise and shine! Get moving!"

Steve's voice travels from down the hall outside. There isn't any other signs of struggle from his end of things. Everyone's either been smart enough to disengage from him or ended up prone on the floor, about as useful as sacks of potatoes.

"And if Zola's still around, tell him he can go jump off a bridge!" The Captain adds. A beat.

"LANGUAGE, BARNES!"

Quake has posed:
As soon as Skye sees Zola begin to falter, and that look of panic in his holographic eyes, her features narrow down into a smugness. Bucky has let her go to take down the robots. Steve is, well, hopefully helping Bucky clean up both robots, and his language. As for Skye..

Skye gives the bugout order, and stands there, confronting Zola. "I didn't come unprepared, asshole."

Yeah, Steve had two potty mouths to mind.

"I want you to remember my face, asshole." Her smugness turning into a grim amusement. "Hello.." she drawls softly, beginning to focus on the bedrock beneath her. "My name is Daisy Johnson." There are telltale rumbles beginning, the building thrumming slightly. Threatening. Skye's 'Bug Out!' demand clear now. "You killed my mother...."

The rumble transitions into trembling and shaking. The foundations creaking. Groaning. Cracking.

"Prepare to die motherfucker."

And that's when all hell begins to break loose.

Winter Soldier has posed:
He's been wreaking havoc among the robots - with the rifle emptied, he's reduced to the machine pistol. But now Skye's really bringing the roof down, and he says, over his shoulder, "Skye, let's get out of here. I don't wanna be buried with this jackass."

A beat, and he adds, "Though I'm honestly kinna sorry I didn't get a chance to torture him a while."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
SERVERS

There is no attempt to escape Nyx's attack, instead in one fateful counter-attack, Zola rushes forward trying to hit her back with everything he's got.

The sword hits first, and in that virtual world there is a brilliant flash of light and what was once the core shattered into a million pieces, raining down and fading to nothing like ash. His connections to his robots winking out one by one as it falls.

Nyx returns to the real world then, and it's very much time to go.

MAIN BASE

Steve doesn't have to pass that message on to Zola through Bucky, out of one of the corrdiors comes one of the Zola robots, trying to join the fight in the main chamber Steve's guarding, acting on a final command and coming on like a berzerker it's metal arms flailing, the face of Zola being projected is distorted into a look of rage like the scientist never wore in life.

Bucky's fuck you, is met with a snarl as more robots throw themselves at him to be cut down by his machinegun.

As for Skye, he when she speaks Zola's head turns towards her, looking at her, as she gives those final words, allowing her to see the fear flash in his eyes as the connection to the center is lost. He's the last shred of Zola's mind on the system, and as the base begins to shake, slowly, then with greater fury he realizes, he too is going to die.

EVERYONE

Clint's voice crackles over comms << We have the Inhumans, begining exfil., what's everyone's status? >>

Quake has posed:
Skye shakes her head at Bucky, "You go. I have to finish this." Her features set in grim determination, her hands pressed to her sides for extra stability, palms faced to the floor.

The buildings are really starting to destabilize now.

"Don't worry. I'll get out. Promise."

Melinda May has posed:
And there's the official call to bug out. "We're going, Samantha." She doesn't bother telling the young woman to keep up, it's pretty much understood at this point. They take the fastest route back out, Peggy and May dispatching anyone blocking their path with brutal efficiency.

"Barton, we're about clear. Bus should be at your location in thirty seconds. Be ready." Because even though she's not the one flying the giant bird for them, she's the one making sure their ride is where it's supposed to be when it's supposed to be there.

Nyx has posed:
Samantha follows May and Peggy, crushing the network uplink as she trots to keep up.

Once they are clear of the lab, well opposition... at least once during the run out of the place a beam of white energy zzzzzztzzzzs past the two senior agents and hits a bad guy in heavy armor leaving him down forever.

What May is using brutal efficiency, she learned from watching you!

Quake has posed:
The world around Skye narrows down to herself, and the sounds of the building around her. The feel of the bedrock beneath her feet. Her will directed at forcing that great slab of rock to move in ways it wasn't meant to, and as a result, destroy the buildings that rested upon it.

She has no sympathy for Zola's fear. In fact, it fuels her. For all the people whose lives he destroyed, that look gives her nothing but more reasons to bring him down. The man having long outlived the body that once housed him.

She can feel the bones in her arms starting to fracture, echoing the cracks in the building walls. A trickle of blood running down from her nose, and over her lips as she struggles to keep control of the destruction. To force it to its full conclusion.

She has no awareness of Bucky anymore. Or the comms. Or even the sounds around her, the pressure of keeping this up a dull roar in her head, and then with a sudden explosion, the buildings can't take any longer, earth upheaving and buckling under what Skye has created, and the young woman's eyes rolling back into her head as her arms shatter in sympathy for what she's done, and she slowly crumples to the ground unconscious.

Winter Soldier has posed:
Luckily, James Barnes has long practice in ignoring heroes who try and tell him to get out of danger while they stubbornly remain in it.

Remember Italy, 1943, Steve? The first time Steve saw Zola, in fact. It really is like their fifty year high school reunion. If only Schmidt were still here to complete the set, instead of moping around on Vormir guarding a magic pebble.

Buck remains as true as ever to this pattern, hissing in exasperation. "Our status is 'self sacrificing idiocy', Barton," he snarls over the comms. "I'm getting her out, though, before this whole place collapses like a house of cards." He's got Skye hoisted over his shoulder like a sack of playground sand, just like he was with Steve the other day in the Triskelion.

He's even left his rifle, in his hurry to get them away, trying to dodge the falling rubble. Let Zola be entombed here.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint is waiting when Nyx, May and Peggy arrive. He'd sent his tac team on with Jemma and the rescued Inhumans. "Good to see you guys, go on through the tunnel, May, I am sure you know where to go," After all she brought the Bus.

As for Clint though, he's not budging, even with the report from Bucky. << Coming to you guys, >> he calls turning to head down the corridor that Steve, Skye and Bucky had taken.

All around them the building is shaking, it's like one of those bad movies that when the villain dies, his fortress just collapses for no reason, but in this case Clint knows the reason, it's Skye.

Even when Skye stops, the building keeps shaking, hell the whole mountain does. Chucks of rock and metal fall from the ceiling.

One of those chunks of metal, falling quick, spikes Bucky's leg as they pass out of the robot lab, into the hallway, right in front of Steve.

More rock and metal begins to fall, they need to get out of there or they'll all be crushed.

Melinda May has posed:
They make it to where Clint is, and May sends Peggy on ahead to help get the rescued Inhumans onto the Bus and ready. "Twining, go and help get everyone onto the Bus." She fully expects the kid to do as she said, and there will be HELL to pay if she doesn't.

"Barton, don't. Barnes and Rogers will make sure she gets out. To the exit." She'll bodily stop him if she has to.

Captain America has posed:
<<Clint, listen to May,>> the Captain shoots back loudly over the comms. It's chaos around him in crumbling architecture and sparkling failures of power lines, heavy-duty rebar beams screaming in distress at excess weight, and oh look, there goes Bucky and his bundling of unconscious Skye, courtesy of shoddy metalwork.

Cursing to himself under his breath, he slides under a falling chunk of cement in something akin to stealing third base to end up beside Barnes and Skye. The shield is clicked into its holster beneath his shoulderblades. "Take my arm, Buck," he says even as he does indeed steal Skye up onto one shoulder.

And there goes Bucky over his //other// shoulder. "I'd tell you to walk this one off, Buck, but there's no time for it." Like a juggernaut, he picks up speed in his run, dodging around the collapsing pieces of building and leaving dust in his wake. "You better heal fast or I'm naming you as 'Gimpy' on every SHIELD dossier," he adds, running his mouth in his worried state.

Out bursts Steve into view in a forwards-flush of dirt in the wake of his speed, huffing and grunting as he tries to clear the immediate area of imminent implosion.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint doesn't glance back at May's words. He was determined, but the base had other plans, he'd barely made it a foot before the corridor begins to go and suddenly there was no way back to Skye.

<< Better get them out Cap. >>

He turns back giving May a nod. "Guess I'm coming with you."

From there it's through the tunnel out into the night. From outside the damage is even more obvious with the whole mountain shaking itself apart. Before too long, the whole place is going to be buried under tons of rock.

"C'mon Cap," Clint all but prays as he makes his way to the waiting plane, pausing at the doorway, looking back at the base and hoping.

Melinda May has posed:
May sticks with Clint until he's actually out of the base, then runs ahead to the Bus, taking over the piloting duties from the person there. Unlike most SHIELD pilots who don't get much flight time on the Bus, she's exceedingly familiar with the giant bird, and in moments has her engines prepped for an emergency takeoff. She suspects it's going to be necessary.

These people and their penchant for waiting until the last possible second.

Nyx has posed:
Sam did wha she was told, she is feeling pretty chipper.

People loaded. Cats herded. Sitting on the bus and ready to rock and roll.

"Should I go get them?" she asks while having to endure waiting for the last possible second.

She just might be able to all said.

Captain America has posed:
Here comes Steve with his bundles of human, one upon each shoulder. He puffs as he sprints towards them, completely ignoring the chaos exploding behind him. Just another day at work, his expression seems to say, as he approaches the Bus at the speed of a galloping horse. Poor Barnes and Skye -- all jounced and probably semi-breathless at this point. Those shoulders may be broad, but they aren't that padded.

"Buck," he grunts as he runs up and into the Bus.

"You keep calling me that under your breath, I'm telling Peggy about the time you tried to convince Dernier to pilfer her hairspray."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint shakes his head to Nyx. "Cap will get them," he says. And if not they'd need her strength to dig them out.

Then Cap appears, running with both Skye and Bucky over his shoulders, Clint lets out a laugh as much out of relief as anything. "Someone get a pic of that, that's some quality blackmail material right there," he says and when Cap and his cargo is on board, Clint hits the button to raise the ramp, before putting his hand to his ear.

<< May, they're on, let's get out of here >>

As the ramp raises, the remains of the base collapses giving the agents a final view as Zola and his ambitions are buried at last.