El!
El has been with the site for nearly two years now and has continued to prove her value. Currently, she is heading up our site event, Battle for Liberterram, on top of keeping up with her own personal plots.
CHARACTER
SPOTLIGHT
Peggy Carter!
Lux's posts are all wonderful to read. She has done a wonderful job of grasping the new universe and incorporating Peggy into it.
CHARACTER
SPOTLIGHT
Peter Parker!
It's good to see Spidey back on the site. Watching him deal with the universe shift in his own snarky way has been nothing short of entertaining.
THREAD
SPOTLIGHT
Eight O'Clock on the Dot!
El and Lux are making magic in this thread. Straight up fireworks, and the way they've played with drawing out the reveal is top class.
Chitauri have begun an assault on the West Coast of the United States, and SHIELD wants to neutralize the threat as soon as possible. Noticing that there are three hubs for the attack, they have split their forces among those cities. To Seattle they send the Avengers and a few more agents for crowd control.
Armed with bullets, arrows, and other projectiles that contain nanites that should be able to shut down both the biological and electronic systems of the Chitauri at once, they are more prepared for that threat than before, but the Chitauri have brought with them beasts that Earth has not seen before.
You are allowed to control as many enemies, allies, and civilians in your posts as you need to.
Event thread should take priority over other threads.
You will have three days to post once its your turn. If you miss, the next person can post. If you miss twice, your character may receive a more serious injury that will disqualify them from further phases.
Leviathan: Large, flying, whale-like creatures built for destruction, the weapon is not effective on them due to their size. Armed with teeth and size. (Approx. 5)
Chitlian: Bulked-up Chitauri soldiers that are more machine than biological. The weapon will take them down for brief periods, but they do reboot the system. Stronger than regular Chitauri and exempt from the hive-mind. Armed with Chitauri guns and spears. (Approx. 250)
Available Allies:
SHIELD Medics: Deployed to assist with the civilians more than anything, they are not particularly useful for fighting.
SHIELD Field Agents: Deployed to help take down the aliens, they are armed with the weapon in their favorite gun, in addition to a close-quarters weapon.
SHIELD Snipers: Deployed to buildings and surrounding areas or in choppers and planes above the battle with long-range weapons, they function as eyes in the sky and long-range gunmen.
Seattle Police: Armed only with their issued weapons, the police will mainly handle crowd control.
The emergency signal rang out on the Helicarrier without much warning, with Chitauri flying into cities along the Western Coast suddenly. The Helicarrier changed course to intercept the attackers, deploying agents to the cities and special teams to those hardest-hit.
Seattle was already a disaster area by the time it was in view for the planes carrying agents to the site. Buildings smoking and rubble hitting the streets as the Chitauri wreaked havoc on the populace.
The police force is trying its best to keep the aliens at bay and get the civilians to safety, but they are clearly outmatched and the arrival of SHIELD could not come at a better time.
The attack is concentrated on the downtown area around the space needle where it can do the most damage, but has already begun to progress to the south. The hope is to contain it before it can get too much further.
With aliens screeching all around, there is already chaos while agents get into position above and boots hit the ground below...
Even from the quinjet, Steve could see it was bad. Plumes of smoke were twirling up from the ground into the sky so it blackened the smog of the city. Some of Seattle's infamous skyline was on fire, and other skyscrapers were raining down onto the ground below as one leviathan circled the downtown area, bloated body scraping the architecture. The rest of the leviathans were nowhere nearby; updates were coming in from SHIELD agents suggesting that they had gone farther away and were working their way into the suburbs. It was odd considering that most of the Chitauri and Chitlians were downtown, with only a few on the backs of the leviathans elsewhere. Steve didn't like it, and tasked a few SHIELD snipers to keep their eyes on those leviathans at all time while he put priority on the downtown area, which was devastated.
The downtown area was a wreck. Cars had been stopped and littered the streets and sidewalks like blocks tossed around by a kid. A few fire hydrants had been burst from the unexpected collisions. Most of the civilians were off the streets, though whether they'd been dragged off or were taking refuge in some of the nearby buildings, it was difficult to say. There were less Chitauri on the streets and in the air than he would've liked as well, which put the skyscrapers (especially the ones on fire) as top priority. The other top priority?
The space needle. Some of the Chitlians were swarming the base of the saucer of the Space Needle, with flashes of light accompanying whatever they were doing. Steve really didn't like that. While he wasn't a gambling man, he was pretty comfortable in guessing that they were dismantling the careful architecture of the thing to send the saucer crashing down to the ground below. God only knew how many people were inside, how many people would be hit below, and what would happen if that thing did fall.
As the quinjet had them circle the area for initial assessment, the Captain turned to the team. With the hour of the morning, more people would be at work than at home. "Danvers, Stark, I need you guys putting out those fires and cleaning out the Chitauri inside. Prioritize the businesses, then hit the torched apartment buildings." Both of them would be able to reach the floors that were the source faster than anyone else, and both would be able to withstand the heat and more than stand up to the Chitauri on their own. "Barton, Romanoff, grab some parachutes and climbing harnesses. We're going to the have the quinjet take us to the supports of the saucer and stop them from bringing down the Space Needle." He figured he didn't need to say what the parachutes were for.
Reaching up to his comms, he assigned a squad of snipers to provide them supporting fire since they were going to be more than exposed and in a precarious position while they were clearing off the Needle. Several groups of FIELD Agents were tasked with setting perimeters to contain the Chitauri, with some doing building-by-building sweeps from the edges of the perimeter inwards. Another group was put at the base of the space needle, taking the much-needed action of clearing out the streets and other nearby buildings in the event the Space Needle did come down.
Natalia RomanovaClint Barton @capmarvel Tony Stark (that's the posting order!) figured we could have a quick round assessing damages, maybe Tony and Carol going off then have the three squishies go jump onto the space needle. *cackles*
Last Edit: Jan 21, 2016 1:15:45 GMT by Steve Rogers
Post by Natalia Romanova on Jan 21, 2016 18:57:17 GMT
Natalia put on a mask of stoicism as she watched the scene unfolding in front of the quinjet. This wasn’t anything she’d ever been trained for by any means, but thanks to the invasion a few years ago, it also wasn’t her first rodeo. Still… Seeing Seattle going up in flames like this was never something she’d hoped to see. She’d always enjoyed her trips to the Emerald City. It was home to some of the best coffee shops - not Starbucks - and there was a little shop in Pike Place Market that served some of the tastiest pierogis she’d ever had, period.
Swallowing past a lump in her throat, she let her gaze wander towards the massive form of the Leviathan, slowly gliding through the skyscraper jungle. She couldn’t quite make out all of the individual Chitauri from here, but only a blind man could miss the gargantuan snake-like creature crumbling buildings by simply rubbing against them like a cat. Her knuckles were stark white as she gripped the steering column of the quinjet, and her eyes flickered occasionally from the HUD to the airspace in front of her as they grew ever closer to the most prominent landmark in the northwestern metropolis: the Space Needle.
The Chitilians seemed hellbent on destroying the tourist attraction, and as such, it was their job to keep the aliens from succeeding in their endeavor to bring the spire down. Already, she could see the aliens fast at work in a race to dismantle the structure. Engaging the weapons systems, Natalia aimed the jet’s turrets at the few chariots circling the Space Needle while she waited for an order from on high. It came soon enough in the form of Steve’s voice, and Natalia turned slightly to acknowledge the Captain as she was jarred back to the present.
His first order was directed at Carol and Tony - the two hard-hitting aerialists. Rather than continue to face the back of the jet, Natalia turned her gaze back towards the view out front. She tilted her head to show she heard him as her surname slipped off of Steve’s lips. The stoic mask shifted to a look of stern determination at the command and she nodded her understanding. “You heard the Captain, JARVIS,” she purred into the headset, smiling as the AI responded immediately by taking the controls. Once she was no longer in control of the jet, Natalia got to work unbuckling herself from the pilot’s seat and stepped towards the back in search of the items Steve recommended.
The climbing harness was the first to get pulled on, tugging the straps tight around the black fabric of her SHIELD-issued uniform. It felt odd, but familiar - like coming home after a long time away. Any doubts or concerns about the situation, she managed to hide behind the mask of a soldier she’d let slide onto her face as soon as leaving the cockpit. She was a spy, an assassin… She’d shown the world a few months ago how a woman like herself fought a war and the world had cringed.
All of that seemed to be nothing but a bad memory. Fury, Steve, and Clint had all wasted no time in contacting her, and before she could fully grasp the situation, she’d found herself in the pilot seat of a Quinjet headed west. Shrugging into a parachute pack, Natalia fastened the buckles around her chest and double-checked that everything sat right on her body. It all seemed secure, so she moved her focus to the other items adorning her person.
Her signature Widow’s Bite bracelets hugged her wrists snugly, the feel of them giving her the biggest sense of security if she was being completely honest with herself. Tucked neatly into one pouch was a cannister of her aerosol - aptly dubbed the Widow’s Kiss. It was highly effective at knocking out humans, but she had yet to try it out on any Chitauri. Hopefully it worked. If not, she had a complete arsenal of other tricks littered around her body. A pair of Glocks were holstered, one at each hip, and she’d even brought her new batons out to play. Spare clips filled with the experimental drug Stark and Morse had concocted were connected to the utility belt slung casually about her waist.
Once certain she was as ready as she could be, Natalia turned back to the two men. Stopping beside Clint, she reached out and gave his hand a gentle squeeze, whether to assure herself or him, even she wasn’t certain. Her adrenaline was already racing as she pulled her hand back again and grasped the straps of her parachute in anticipation. “Ready when you are, Rogers.”
Clint hated aliens. They were awful and destructive and ugly and he saw no point in not taking all of them out. He followed the other Avengers onto the jet and set about prepping the arrows filled with the special nanites that Bobbi and Tony had made; he wanted to make sure that he had as many of them as he could fit on his body so that he could just take out as may Chitauri as possible.
A small part of his attention was on Steve, though; awaiting instructions and generally paying attention to his field leader. He could see Tony fidgeting out of the corner of his eye, messing with something on his gauntlet, and a glace at Nat showed her stoic and ready for a fight as she stared out on the city. Clint himself couldn't spend time looking out the window; he was too busy prepping his weapons. Checking his fletching, making sure he had the right arrowheads, and checking the various straps that kept his abundance of weapons attached to him. Dwelling had never done him much good.
He turned his attention towards Steve completely at the sound of his name, nodding and making sure everything was settled and strapped as he stood to get a chute and harness. Though he really wasn't planning on using said harness since usually that just made things more clunky and not easier. Better to have it. He reached up to check his comms and gave Steve a thumbs up to let him know that he'd heard, making sure that the chute he picked up was good and turning to give Nat a smile that was about as close to reassuring as one could get in a situation like this. Giving her hand a squeeze back, he hoped that it wasn't nerves. Going into something like this nervous was never a good plan.
Still messing with the straps of the chute and harness, he nudged Nat slightly with his elbow. "Can you get my quiver strap out of the stupid harness?" he asked as it got caught on that. As a man that already had a ton of things strapped to his body, adding more wasn't really that easy. Once that was all taken care of, he wandered over to where Carol was prepping. "Ready for your first big drop?" he grinned as he fixed the cap on his quiver for the chute jump that was definitely coming up.
Since she'd joined the team, there hadn't been anything like this, and some part of her, just like when she'd been in the military, had started to think there wouldn't be. But here it was - Alien invasion. The third one Earth had been subjected to in the last decade now, though the second even the rest of her team didn't really know about, thanks to Mar-Vell's sacrifice. It was the whole reason she had her powers, and the codename she was going by. Major Marvel just was too damn alliterative, she hated it, so Captain it was.
Major Danvers also hated being in a plane she wasn't flying, but Steve had said to let Nat fly, and Carol understood the logic. Right now, with Thor and Hulk both away (great timing, guys), Carol and Tony were the only Avengers who could respond to an airborne threat, which meant keeping her free and available to punch out of the Quinjet to engage hostiles at any time was more important than keeping her hands on the throttle and stick. It wasn't that Carol doubted Nat's ability to get them there, but she was a fighter jock through and through, and her hands practically itched for the controls. You're a missile on your own now, Danvers - and you don't keep weapons in the bay just because they're more comfortable there.
She spent most of the supersonic flight there watching the live feeds on their screens, a tablet in her lap showing the news reports from the city. War had come to the United States again, and here she was going to be, right in the middle of it. She felt a moment of regret for her old squadron - no doubt they'd be deployed against the incoming threats, but she had her own corner of the war to wage here. She had to do her job, and count on her friends both here and there to do theirs. She'd have to call her old wingman to compare kill counts afterward.
When the jet slowed, pulling a lazy loop around the city, she punched her release and climbed out, walking up to the cockpit with Nat and looking out the windows, wanting to see the picture through the glass for herself. That... was a lot of aliens, and a lot of humans in trouble. Well, this is the job you wanted to sign up for, isn't it? Not about to back out now. People need you. She pulled back from the canopy as Steve started talking though, crossing her arms over her chest and standing next to Nat as the spy climbed out of her chair, leaving the flying to JARVIS. "Keep her above ten thousand until we call, eh buddy?" The Chitauri didn't seem to have anything that flew that high, nor did they appear to have a lot of dedicated AA, so the Quinjet ought to be safe from fire up that high, for now at least.
Carol nodded sharply when Steve finished with the orders, sketching a salute by way of reflex, then she turned and walked for the back, punching Tony's armor lightly in the shoulder as she did. "If you want to take the higher part, I'll head down the slope toward the bay, work the market district. Bound to be a lot of people there." She left unspoken that a lot of people would mean a lot of Chitauri. The last time she'd come to Seattle it had been for the seafood down at Pike Place - now she'd be trying to save the people there from aliens. How times changed...
At Hawkeye's question, Carol turned to look at him, grinning sheepishly. "You know, if this is all a big initiation you guys are doing for me because I missed the first invasion, I appreciate the thought, but you REALLY shouldn't have." She reached up then, touching the collar of her uniform, and the cowl unpacked itself, gathering her hair back and locking into place over the upper portion of her head. Alright. Game face.
Once she was sure everyone had their gear on, she signaled thumbs up - old military habit, probably only Steve and Nat would know the convention, but when she knew they all got the message, she reached out and hit the ramp release, opening the Quinjet's cabin to the roar of the sky outside. She held back for a moment waiting for Steve to give the signal, but not long after, Captain Marvel hit the ramp and kicked herself out into the slipstream. "Fangs out!" she called, light erupting from her body and turning the newest Avenger into a golden streak heading for the city.
Time to kick some ass.
Tony Stark --- "fangs out" = fighter pilot slang for 'spoiling for a fight'
Part of Tony wanted to fly to the site of the attack on his own, because he hated this standing around and waiting while the jet was moving. The rest of Tony just wanted this time with his teammates before the end of the world came down on all of them. The helmet wasn't on yet, and Tony kept a careless smile on his face as he looked around at his teammates, in varying degrees of seriousness. The smile was all that he could do, really. Everything would be fine. See, he was smiling?
Yeah, right.
"Sure thing, Cap," he replied to Steve's orders with a nod, still standing in the back part of the jet. He had some of his and Bobbi's nanite weapons installed in this suit, and he checked them one last time as he watched Clint and Nat and Steve all get ready for their own drop.
He turned his everything's-fine smile toward Carol as she bumped his shoulder, nodding a bit at her suggestion. "Sounds good to me. I have better visibility with JARVIS than you do, more than likely. Given the computer thing," he agreed. He'd take the high ground quite happily. He paused a bit, giving Clint a suspicious look as he moved over towards them. He snorted a bit at Carol's response, shaking his head.
"Before we head out, I'd like to make sure I have everyone's vitals," Tony said to the plane at large, holding up the little patches that would send him that information upon being attached to his teammates' chests, handing them out to each of them. "This way I know when one of you gets into trouble," he added with a grin.
Soon enough, Tony slid his helmet on and saw everyone's vitals pop up in the side of his HUD, giving them a thumbs up to show that he was ready and everything was working.
Carol hit the ramp release and Tony sent a salute to the other three before following Carol out the back and boosting himself high into the sky before zooming toward the buildings that he was tasked with protecting for this fight. "Heads up, guys; JARVIS is counting five of those leviathans," he informed the others, "I'm going in." The last time they'd faced these aliens, those sky-whales had done the most building damage and Tony wanted to take care of them quickly.
"Hey Marvel, could use your blasts real quick," he added to her as he dove through the mouth of one of the leviathans, blasting as much as he could from the inside as he rammed through.
"Ten thousand's fine after we jump onto the needle, but we're gonna need it close for the jump, JARVIS. I'm not wasting the parachutes on a high drop. The Chitlian aren't stupid; if they reach our harnesses in the fight, they're going to sever the cords. We need them in case that happens." Five-hundred feet wasn't ideal for a parachute deployment, but it would slow the momentum and turn the impact from definitely lethal to maybe a few broken bones at worst. And he didn't need to say what he thought about Carol and Tony. As fast as they were, he didn't think either would be fast enough to drop what they were doing and snatch one of them out of the sky before they became a smear on the pavement. And he wasn't sure he wanted to have to pull them away from fire-fighting unless absolutely necessary.
Going back to where the parachutes were, Steve basically engaged in a game of musical harnesses. Off went the Shield's harness, on went the climbing harness. After that, he strapped himself into the parachute, which left him in a tricky spot where the shield went. He could fight without it, but not as well, and he couldn't risk giving it less than his all, especially against the Chitlians. But the harness couldn't go over the 'chute or it wouldn't deploy and it would be too hard to fish out if it were fully under the 'chute. Tossing the harness aside, he shifted the shield's strap up onto his forearm. He was going to have to make the jump over one-handed, or lodged the shield into the structure once they got closer.
"You got good instincts and a lot of talent. You'll do fine, Carol." Steve looked over her way and offered her a reassuring smile as JARVIS began their steady descent toward the needle. "This is routine for the rest of us." He looked between Nat, Clint and Tony with a quick glance. "Any of you guys mess it up, you're obligated to buy the after-battle drinks. Same goes for me." Assuming the person that flubbed up survived, but he wasn't saying that and it sure as hell didn't register in his voice. He was the leader; he wasn't going to get all somber before something like this. They all knew the risks and didn't need reminders, they needed a morale boost.
Not long after, Tony passed out small, adhesive patches. "Good thinking, Stark." Unzipping his suit just a little bit and exposing the underlying sleeveless shirt, Steve reached under the collar of the cotton shirt and slapped the thing on his chest, over the heart. With comms working and the vitals in place, they'd have a bit more coverage in case someone got in over their head. Zipping his suit back up, he turned back to the group.
"There's a lot of scared people down there right now. People counting on us and SHIELD; we aren't going to let them down. We're better outfitted, we're better prepared, and we're better organized. We're going to wipe these bastards off the map and remind Thanos what happens when he invades our planet." There was no doubt in his voice. He couldn't be sure that all of them would make it back, but he was damn sure that they weren't going to fail.
With Tony and Carol leaving the plane shortly thereafter, Steve watched as furthered its descent. Soon the skyline was all around them, and the carefully polished windows reflected the quinjet back as they slowed to a hover just off the most cleared side of the structure. The side the turrets had worked to clean off, but there was still a good ten to fifteen feet between the platform of the plane and the structure, and while their height gave them more room to work with, it was going to require a bit of finesse.
Not wanting one of the others to be the most exposed, he opted to go first. "Romanoff, you're up after me. Barton, pick off anyone that gets too close while we jump." With little in way of hesitation, he leapt off of the platform and landed on an outcropping in the support structure. Already on this side he could see the scorch marks that cut deep through it, and there was the sound of whirring machinery. Son of a bitch. Clipping the harness onto some handles designed exactly for this purpose, he swung off the platform and around to another to clear room for Nat and reclipped the tether of the harness there. As soon as he was stable, he pulled the shield to its proper position and found a glock, opening fire on some of the Chitlian that took notice of the quinjet.
Natalia RomanovaHere I saw them being on the center "pole" that supports the whole structure, just beneath the saucer. They're working from all four vertices but are swarming some of the sides on the lattice as well.
Post by Natalia Romanova on Jan 24, 2016 20:41:42 GMT
Natalia blinked at Carol’s suggestion to keep the jet at 10,000 feet, and she could feel her heart jump into her chest. Higher up meant more room for error, and their LZ was pretty small to begin with. She was in no place to argue with the other woman right now, though, since the only reason she was even here was due to a handful of phone calls. Thankfully, Steve followed up with an addendum to the Major’s request and Natalia sighed with relief mentally.
While everyone participated in idle pre-battle chatter, Natalia kept quiet. It was still a little weird being back in the same vicinity as the team, especially since she hadn’t actively been a part of it for a few months now. Lucky for her, she’d always been fairly quiet, so it was doubtful her silence now would be construed as anything more than her game face. Clint at least had been on enough missions with her to know that she was always quiet on the way to their agenda - like the calm before the storm.
Feeling Clint respond to her gentle squeeze of the hand was enough to soothe any feeling of nervousness she might have felt previously. She didn’t even care if he’d only returned the gesture out of reflex rather than genuine camaraderie. It had happened, and now she was ready. Unfortunately, he was stuck somewhere in the middle of preparedness and it took every ounce of willpower not to chuckle at the ridiculous mess he’d made of the harness straps. Elegant fingers slipped around and through the straps, efficiently working to disentangle it all before smoothing it down to make sure nothing else was out of place. Satisfied with her handiwork, she patted Clint’s shoulder and nodded for him that she was done.
A pang hit her somewhere in the chest when he wandered away from her, over to the newest member of the team, but her face remained impassive at best. She had other things to focus on soon enough, however, and turned her attention to Tony as he requested everyone don patches that would send him their vital signs. One hand reached out, deftly snagging a patch from Tony’s gauntlet as he offered them to her. Her eyes danced around the cabin, watching everyone slap the patches on without a second thought. After a moment, she finally slid her hand into the collar of her suit and smoothed the patch out onto the flesh over her left breast.
Her mask of stoicism remained in place, though the right side of her lips twitched slightly at Steve’s comment about post-battle drinks. The look was gone as soon as it had appeared, and she nodded to Carol, signifying her readiness for the ramp to drop and one hand curled up into the netting above in preparation for the slight jostle as the rush of air slipped in. She waited to pull it back down to her side until the pair of fliers were out of the jet, at which point, she turned to face Steve and Clint.
Soon enough, the jet was in place, hovering a short distance from the platform Steve had designated as their target LZ. There were no enemies on the thing, at least, thanks to JARVIS’ control of the jet’s turrets, but it was a long ways down if anyone missed their mark. Calculations flickered through Natalia’s mind as she assessed the jump from where she stood, but she looked back up at Steve as the sound of her name echoed through the windy cabin. She nodded her understanding, and then he was gone.
Unlike Steve, whose leg muscles could easily send him flying across that space, she was not made of superhuman strength. Taking a few steps back, she focused on keeping her breathing steady before launching into a full-on sprint towards the end of the ramp. Her petite frame sailed through the open sky long enough for her to seriously question some of her life’s choices up to this point. By the time she collided with the metal structure, both hands and feet grasping for purchase to steady herself, she had alleviated herself of the doubt.
Sliding around to clear the area for Clint, she climbed around the opposite direction Steve had gone, each piece of metal she grasped becoming more an extension of herself as she moved. Like a little spider in its web. Once her feet found the stability of another platform, she quickly attached the clip of her harness just in case. Her guns were out as soon as she was attached to the structure, bullets lancing out from them towards the same batch of Chitilian Steve was working on dispatching to clear their jet - and their comrade - so that both were safe.
Luckily, Nat had managed to unwrap the tangle he'd made of the multitude of straps he currently had on, so he lent down to press a quick kiss to her cheek; a gesture of trust and affection that he hadn't shared much with her recently. He loved Nat, though; even when they were on the outs. As such he wanted to make sure that she knew that before they went into battle.
"Awww, but we wanted to do something special just for you," Clint joked with Carol in reply. This was why he liked their newest addition so much; she was quick with a joke and certainly way more fun than some people could be since she had an actual sense of humor as opposed to so many of the SHIELD Agents he was commonly forced to work with.
He turned his attention to Steve when the man corrected their flight height and looked down at where he was strapped into his parachute. "You mean we're not making an actual jump? Why am I in this thing?" he grumbled, half a mind to take it off. It was too clunky and would just get in his way while he was fighting; he needed maneuverability more than anything. He'd been raised in a carnival. He could fight on the space needle without falling off with no need of a 'chute.
"I have no money, so Stark will cover me if I'm buying," Clint grinned, winking at Iron Man as he attached the patch to his chest. Tony slapped his ass in reply, causing Clint to jump a bit before shooting him a glare. How rude. He needed that ass. Steve drew his attention before he could retaliate, however, and he nodded as he listened to further pep-talk from the man in charge.
Nodding at Steve's final instruction as they stood at the ramp, Clint drew out his bow and prepped a shot. "Got your back, Cap. Widow," he replied, sending them both a wink before taking down a Chitauri that was flying by on one of their little air scooters. As Steve jumped, Clint took out a couple more Chitauri that were threatening his landing. He quickly nocked another arrow for Nat's jump, taking out anything that looked like it might threaten her safety.
Once she seemed to have a hold, he clipped his bow to his back for his own jump, heading to the front of the plane to give him the best running start that he could. He considered dumping the chute, but Nat and Steve would probably glare at him if he did and he could always rip it off later if it became a nuisance, so he took his running leap.
His carnival training always kicked in at moments like these, and he landed lightly on his feet on the side of the building, drawing his bow back out and taking down a couple aliens in the sky almost in the same motion as the jet pulled away from them. Darting across the surface of the space needle and firing some electro-shock arrows at some of the Chitlian things that seemed to be more machine than creature - if those arrows could take out an Iron Man suit, he was sure they could shut down the aliens.
Letting out a slight whoop, Clint spun to take out another of the creatures, watching it fall from the structure as the arrow shut it down so it couldn't save itself. "Where do you need me, Cap?" he asked, eyes scanning the whole skyline.
Carol nodded once when Steve clarified, letting out a low whistle. Well, that's what it was like working with the Avengers... Even working with SEALS they had dropped in with 'chutes. Here these three were just going to make the damn jump onto the Space Needle, and only one of them was even a little bit superhuman. At his reassurance, though, Carol just flashed the legend a grin. "Appreciate it, 'Cap - you need me to save your butt, just call" She was a fighter pilot, after all... a projection of boundless confidence came with the territory. she also had the decided advantage of being the only one there who was a real honest-to-god super - even Tony was going to be in deep trouble if anything pried him out of his armor.
Shit, Danvers... No pressure. She grinned again though at the mention of the drinks. Some military traditions never died. "I find out these do anything else, Tony, we're gonna have words." she murmured, taking the patch and pulling the collar of her suit down to slap it over her collarbone. After that, there was just a little time for Steve to give his last pep talk - which earned an appreciative nod from the Major before she took off into the clear blue.
"Roger, five big ones." Carol called back to Tony, the callback a reflex to confirm she got the message - old habits died hard, she didn't know if the Avengers held to any protocols along those lines, but she had yet to adjust to working with non-USAF or NASA personnel. She cut her speed slightly as she approached building level, then caught sight of one of the Chitauri flyers and angled straight at it. The aliens caught sight of her too, but she was on them too quickly, punching clean through the linkage that held the engine to the rest of the chariot and sending it plummeting. She twisted in flight then, golden light lancing out and blasting two more off the building they were trying to climb before she caught Tony's request for backup.
"On it." She'd kept track of his vector before she dove into the fight, so she took herself up above the buildings again, blasting the pilot of a chariot that tried to pursue off his mount and into open air, before a quick sweep of her sharp eyes caught the trail of Tony's repulsors headed straight for one of the monsters. She'd watched the video of the first invasion more than once, and this looked like... "You sure you wanna lead with that?" she asked, but he was already going in, and she shot off toward him, clenching both fists and charging up as much as she could muster.
Without the armor, she certainly wasn't following him in there, but she followed his vector as the monster began to erupt in fire from several spots along its serpentine body, flight beginning to skew. So Carol flew straight at it, the golden aura around her body growing blinding as she did, then she put on the brakes and threw out her arms, blasting the monster full in the face with one of her better photon blasts. The energy wasn't quite enough to stop the massive thing dead, but the added stress clearly didn't do it's riddled body any favors - armor pieces broke off and fell in more than one place, and she saw it begin to fall, no longer able to keep itself aloft. Danvers had an axious moment before Tony blasted his way clear of the falling monster, and Carol gave a light shake of her head before she took off again.
"One down." Except that Tony had just used up who knew how much of his ammo supply, and she couldn't summon blasts like that over and over again. A few chariots flanked her as she shot down one of the streets, and a pair of aliens leapt off to try and tackle her. One she intercepted in the air with a punch, the other got an arm around her, but she put on the brakes hard and threw it over her shoulder - the combined speed probably sent the thing half a mile, but she didn't stop to watch where it landed. There was a group of people on the street, trying to run from a pursuing group of Chitauri, and Carol swept down onto the street. She kicked one in the chest as she landed, almost certainly killing it from the sickening sound of the impact, then she turned and back-fisted another. A third she hit with a blast, which was when the last, one of the big ones, brought both of its hands down toward her head to try and crush her.
Carol's hands snapped up, crossing over her head and catching the blow, though the weight of it drove her to one knee... for a second, at least. She came back up with a vengeance, leaping into the air with a devastating knee to the alien's chest that lifted it up into the air with her - at least for the second before she pivoted in the air and kicked it hard down into the concrete. She landed atop it, then turned and motioned for the civilians to keep going. "SHIELD cordon, four blocks east, go! These aliens got Avengers to deal with."
The civilians took off running, and Carol turned around at a great crashing sound from the north, only to see another of the Leviathans breaking through the corner of a building as it angled toward her, letting out a roar as it did. Awesome. She and Tony had too much ground to cover, she was going to have to handle one of these on her own at some point... Well, if it was good enough for Namor... "Got another big customer, Tony..."
Carol crouched, then kicked off into the sky with all the power she had, sending out a shockwave as she broke the sound barrier only a few dozen yards off the ground. Captain Marvel kept that pace for a few seconds, carrying herself more than a mile up above the city in that short span before she broke hard around, pulling the sort of gees that would have shattered her body only a little over a year ago. But she was built for that kind of thing now - and more. Now with gravity to aid her, she poured on even more speed, unaware of exactly how fast she was going as she drew a brilliant golden trail back down out of the sky - and straight into the spine of the leviathan that had been pursuing the group of humans.
The impact was thunderous enough to make Thor proud, and most of the windows of the closest building shattered from the shockwave, while Carol's full-force tackle punched pieces of the Leviathan's plating deep into its flesh and broke even its massive bones. It's body twisted at an unnatural angle, and she drove it down most of the way to the ground before she turned and rebounded off it, dazed herself from the crash. It turned out, she'd gotten better at it since she'd run into the King... but hitting that thing hurt like hell. She was still trying to get her bearings back when one of the Chitauri blasted her, and she was knocked a few yards through the air before she caught herself, spun, and gave it that energy back with some interest. Stay in the game...
“You say that as if I haven’t been running tests on you ever since we re-met,” Tony grinned behind the mask at Carol’s comment, pretty sure that he’d taken enough measurements of Carol and her powers by now that a simple vital sign patch wouldn’t make that big of a difference on her and her ability to continue being all alienly-superhuman.
Blasting through aliens wasn’t necessarily his best move, but it at least worked. “Too late now,” he quipped in answer to Carol’s question about being sure that he wanted to lead with diving through an alien’s digestive system. Blasting out the other side of the monster, he shot a salute in Carol’s direction. “Nice blast,” he added as he started to shoot down the Chitauri in the air again before busting into a building that they were currently attacking with great force. He counted life signs inside that hadn’t managed to evacuate yet and began fighting towards those,
About the time that Carol mentioned the Leviathan, it blipped onto Tony’s radar majorly. The remaining three seemed content a little out of Carol and Tony’s focus area. ”I’m a bit tied up,” he replied as he ripped one of the Chitlians apart, ”Think you can handle it?” He was pretty sure that Carol could at least damage the thing without his help, and be could go her way if he absolutely needed to, but the civilians trapped inside this building were a more major issue at the moment.
Then Carol’s readings started going crazy. Tony jolted in shock at first, blasting through a couple of Chitauri. ”Carol what’s going on?” he called to the woman. She hadn’t sounded distressed, so Tony hoped the readings were going crazy due to not being used to someone as superhuman as Carol was.
He let out a sigh of relief when he heard her crowing her victory, punching through a Chitlian’s head before ripping a pillar out of the way to free the civilians that had been trapped in the building. ”C’mon, folks, let’s get out of here,” he instructed, leading them in a route out of the building that went by the pockets of other injured civilians so that he had gathered a rather large group by the ground floor - and an impressive amount of alien corpses as well.
”Got one high-rise cleared,” he informed the others as SHIELD agents came forward to continue escorting the people to safety. He set his sights on the next building. Man, he needed to get the Iron Legion working.
"Because if you don't wear it your body will be hitting the floor of the jet rather than the ground below the Space Needle," Steve quipped. There was no way in hell that he was letting Clint make that jump without the parachute. "There's little difference between a ten thousand foot jump and a five-hundred plus foot jump in terms of how dead you'll be after you stick the landing. Keep the damn thing on." His 'Mission Voice' left no room for argument. He didn't care if the man had all the acrobatics training in the world, courtesy of every circus and crazy stunt performer the world over. Clint was wearing it.
"Any time, Danvers," Steve gave the third blonde in the room a small nod and a soft smile. Everyone else after that fell pretty silent. Nat hadn't said a peep for a while and kept it that way and Carol didn't respond to the drinks thing either, just leaving Clint. "Nah, that's not fair to Stark. We'll just have Fury take it from your salary," Steve grinned pretty easy despite the earlier threat and Mission Voice to go with it. But that was the way it always went. On any of the big drops levity came easy. It was like a natural response to knowing what was at stake. No one wanted to go down and end on some note about how much longer it'd be before they reached the LZ.
The other two got out easy enough, leaving Steve and the others to make the jump and do their job on the Needle.
When Nat made the jump, Steve used the second, maybe two that he had to spare when he was shifting down the shield into a more comfortable position to look over and made sure she stuck the landing. And of course, in proper super-spy fashion, she stuck it beautifully. Steve smiled to himself at that. He hadn't really doubted her much, but he'd be a pretty poor Captain and friend if he didn't double-check before he went about his business shooting aliens and deflecting their energy blasts back at them.
Most were still focused on the jet. But the more he and Nat worked on them, the more were becoming invested in them. Likely because the jet had already delivered most of its payload and would be a great deal more difficult to harm than the humans that were crawling all over the thing, only held up by a climbing harness.
Once Clint was up, Steve crouched low on the platform and held up the shield to cover all of his body as he turned to make sure the archer stuck the landing. The running leap with Clint required even more distance, but he managed to make it judging by the loud thump on the actual surface of the saucer. Damn it. The plan wasn't actually to go up top. Clint was a lot more exposed on the saucer, and while he had a better vantage of the rest of the city, he'd have one hell of a time firing down at the Chitlian from his angle.
Pumping some lead into some Chitlians before they ducked back behind cover, Steve began the process of moving over to where Nat was moving. While he would've divided the team into two sides--Clint and Nat going one direction and working around, and him on the other--with Clint topside that wasn't an option, and he wasn't leaving Nat exposed. "I need you to get down here so you can actually get an angle on these guys." Steve growled. "And no explosive arrows up here. If they're compromising the integrity like this, we don't need to help them out." There was a pause, then, as he tried to use this twisted situation to his advantage. "On your way down, keep your eyes peeled. There's some kind of machine in action. Taking it out's top priority, so if you get eyes on it, do what you can."
A blast came his way just as he was securing the harness. Bringing up his shield at the last moment, the energy bolt ricocheted back and took a Chitlian parallel to the firer off the Needle.
Post by Natalia Romanova on Feb 2, 2016 1:50:41 GMT
Every last inch of Natalia’s body stiffened as she felt something warm press against her cheek. Lips. A kiss. Her face hardened in an instant at the sign of affection. It had been a long time since he’d put himself this close to her willingly. Perhaps it was the thousands of aliens attacking the entire West Coast that had him trying to work at repairing the damage that had been done to their friendship over the past several months. She didn’t return the gesture, but he was gone - flitting off to flirt with Carol, as per his usual - anyways. Some things would never change, and she was okay with that.
“You’re wearing it,” she shot back, her voice sharp as it mingled with Steve’s somewhat lengthier response. Rocky friendship or no, she had no intentions of letting him die today. She still owed him a debt, and if he fudged his landing, she’d never get the chance to do so.
All of the snarky talk of drinks may as well have gone in and out Natalia’s ears. She had no intentions of messing this up, but if she did, she had no qualms with manning up and doling out the cash for a few beers. Spy or no, she wasn’t a woman who reneged on a deal. One eyebrow lifted at the playful slap from one of Stark’s gauntleted hands to Clint’s backside and it was all she could do to hide the look of confusion from becoming fully realized on her face. When had the two of them become so chummy?
She didn’t have time to ponder over it, thankfully, as Tony and Carol slipped out and Steve drew her attention to the jump at hand. It went smooth as butter, and soon enough, she was clipped to the metal scaffolding beneath the enormous saucer. With both Glocks in hand, she managed to wound the Chitilians enough so that Steve could successfully finish them off before Clint jumped.
All of their efforts were in vain, it seemed. Instead of jumping onto the platform where she and Steve had landed, Clint went soaring overhead, his boots (or body, she couldn’t be sure) thudding loudly on the saucer. Dammit, Clint! Scowling, Natalia focused on the Chitilians trying to advance on her position, emptying both pistol chambers into the pair before they fell. Already, her heart was slamming against her ribcage, a mixture of adrenaline and fear. She’d been with the Avengers for a few years now, but playing the part of a soldier still wasn’t something she could easily pull out of her bag of tricks - especially a soldier on a high rise being swarmed by enemy aliens.
Steve was quick to answer Clint’s question, and was infinitely more diplomatic than she would have been. Gritting her teeth as she slid two new clips into her guns, she whirled to meet a Chitauri attempting to sneak up on her with the heel of her boot. Caught unawares, it lost its footing and went tumbling towards the ground below. One of its scaly green hands grasped out in an effort to catch the platform, but instead wrapped around Natalia’s ankle as she was just about to set it back down.
She let out a strangled cry as the weight of the alien dragged her off the platform with ease. Releasing her grip on both guns, she flailed for a moment, trying to do what it could not and catch the platform. She succeeded with a loud grunt of pain as they both jerked to a stop. Opening her eyes, she noted quickly that one gun was gone - probably on its way to the ground far below. The other managed to land on the platform and, steadying herself with one arm, she strained to reach it. Her first bullet to the alien’s face caused it to release her immediately as death overtook it; the second one was just plain revenge.
By the time she finally managed to scramble back onto the platform fully, she was breathing heavily. Working her way to her feet once again, she slowly leveled it out - no need to send any red flags out to Stark this early in the fight. She was back to normal in no time, it seemed, using her remaining gun to chip away at the number of enemies surrounding them.
A pair of the burly soldiers were working their way down; she could see their beady eyes fixated directly on her position. Ignoring them for the time being, Natalia aimed her gun first at a Chitauri coming in from her left, and once he was down, at the one charging from her right in a failed attempt to flank. With a few bullets remaining in the chamber, she leveled the barrel of her gun at one of the Chitilian heading down, quickly introducing him to the beauty of Midgardian science. Chemistry and Physics: a deadly pair.
As its companion dropped, the second Chitilian lashed out with its glaive, much to Natalia’s initial confusion. Unless it had powers the likes of Dr. Reed Richards, or unless it was intending to throw the spear (and failing to let go) it was still too far up to reach her. Keeping the odd antics of the alien in her peripheral vision, Natalia turned to face a regular Chitauri as it approached. With an empty gun in one hand and nothing in the other, she shoved the pistol back into its holster and leapt forward.. just as a thick, black rope drifted down from where it had been keeping her connected to the massive landmark.
“Der'mo,” she breathed, continuing on with her attack. There was no time to pause now, even with her cable cut. A quick spin up the Chitauri’s body, followed by a zap from her Widow’s Bites (odd… had they always glowed red? no…) downed the creature and gave her a moment to breathe. “Watch your cables. The Chitilian are smart bastards,” she growled into the comms. Loading a fresh clip, she sent half the contents into the one who’d cut her loose before he finally fell.
Shooting Cap and Nat a wounded look as he was ordered to keep the 'chute on despite not actually needing it in the grand scheme of things, he kept it on nonetheless since Cap and Nat had ordered him to and it really wasn't worth an argument where there were more important things to worry about, like the alien invasion currently going on around them.
"But," Clint protested as Steve said Fury would take the drinks from his salary, "I need that to live! That's not fair! Stark has plenty of money!" It was hard to tell with the mask on, but he was pretty sure that Tony was laughing at him in that moment.
Before Clint really knew it Carol and Tony were gone and they were making their jump onto the surface of the building. With bow back in hand, Clint was ready to take out some aliens.
The instruction to join the others wasn't exactly a surprising on, so Clint made his way across the surface, trying to look for a machine that he didn't find."I've been using the electric ones," he informed Cap, "They're shutting down systems on the big guys pretty nicely."
Finally near the edge under which he'd find Cap and Nat, Clint slid off the saucer onto the platform they'd situated themselves on just as Nat was punching bullet holes through the last one actively surrounding her, landing right next to her. "They cut your line?" he asked, honestly surprised at that news. Clearly they were more than just bigger, and that was a bit worrisome. "You got an extra?" he asked with a frown. He'd give up his own if she didn't, since he was pretty sure that Nat being safe was far more important than him being clipped to the ledge.
Nocking another of the electroshock arrows, he sent it into a Chitlian's face as it came around the side into view. It tensed and spasmed, the motion causing it to knock into the Chitauri behind it and send them both flying off the platform on a long drop to the ground below.
Looking around Nat to Cap, he lifted a questioning eyebrow. "What's the next move, Cap?" he asked before turning back to face the other direction so that he could watch for any approaching enemies on that side.
Carol winced a bit as she landed atop one of the buildings, bracing herself and driving a boot into the chest of one of the Chitilans - the kick caved its chest in and sent it flying off the roof, after it punched through the low wall that surrounded the surface. "I'm fine, Tony - guess your FM patches aren't calibrated for my level of awesomeness." she replied, more than a bit of carefully disinterested fighter pilot's drawl in her tone. FM of course being a bit of Air Force code for 'fucking magic', which applied to just about everything Tony built as far as your average airman was concerned. He was known as the Wizard to plenty of the units she'd served with, back before she'd left the Air Force for SWORD. She might fly unaided these days, but she'd always be a fighter jock at heart.
A small group of Chitauri leapt up onto the roof, having scaled the building from the windows they'd been smashing in below, and Carol kicked off her spot at them. She'd had her moment to recover - that was going to have to be enough. She blasted one off the roof to fall to his death, then took two more in a spread-armed tackle that carried them up with her (while breaking some bones, it felt like). She spun and hurled the both of them out in the direction of the bay, then took off in the direction of the market, where she'd meant to head in the first place.
"Who, me? I'm just in a furball over here, you know how it is." She tended to forget that she wasn't talking to other pilots - then again, Cap might well recognize the term for a complete mess of an engagement, most Air Force slang dated back to around his time after all. She came in low over the market, aiming for the spot where a large group of aliens was pushing back the SHIELD forces trying to protect the people. A Chitilan waded through the nanite-based firepower, lifting its arms to crush one of the agents, but got a face full of Captain Marvel's fist instead, She nearly tore its head off throwing it to the side (atop a couple Chitauri), then landed and opened fire herself. Her blasts were a good bit more effective, after all.
"Any of you need a lift off that thing, you just call now, eh?" she called back to Cap and the others, ducking a Chitauri's swipe and knocking it away and through both walls of an empty bus with the back of her fist. A Chitilan made contact though, smashing her into the concrete with enough force to crack the surface. When it drew back for another attack though, Carol reached a hand out, grabbed a parking meter, and ripped it clear out of the sidewalk before swinging it like a bat. She crushed the armor on its side with the first swing, then leapt up and buried the municipal annoyance in the alien's head before letting it fall.
Suckers punched hard... just not nearly as hard as she did. A woman's scream caught her attention then, and she turned her head around just in time to see another group of aliens closing in down another one of the streets. "Oh, like hell..." The aliens were firing at the crowd as they moved, but all of them stopped to aim at Carol when they saw her - it just didn't save them from the SUV she hurled at them, which hit the road with a tremendous crash before tumbling end for end, crushing most of the group and sending the rest scattering.
"Keep your eyes on the ball, uglies! I'm the one you want!"
Tony Stark --- Next up, mister Vastly Superior Toys
