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 San Francisco they send members of the Secret Warriors and a few more agents for crowd control.
Armed with bullets 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.
San Francisco 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.
San Francisco 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 San Francisco proper where it can do the most damage, but has already begun to progress towards 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...
Post by Z inactive melindamay on Jan 21, 2016 5:55:34 GMT
The skies above San Francisco were considerably more dirty than Melinda remembered from her last visit to the city. It had always had a sort of smog above it - nothing like Las Vegas, of course - but there was no doubt that what she was seeing now had nothing to do with pollution. From her vantage point on the Quinjet, Melinda could see just how far the devastation had spread. Even if they could sweep in and cleanse the Chitauri from the city in the next few minutes, the city would never be the same.
The Golden Gate Bridge had been one of the first things to go, from the sounds of it. A herd of Leviathan had made short work of the beloved landmark shortly after arriving, egged on by the commands of a new breed of alien. The Chitilian, as they were being called, weren’t terribly different from their normal Chitauri brethren. But they were considerably larger, burlier, and smarter.
Melinda had no doubt it was their idea to strike the city where it would hurt the most. The Bridge, obviously. Alcatraz was being overrun right now, too, it seemed. Hoards of civilians were being set upon at the famous tourist trap, like cattle in a meat grinder. Two squadrons had been sent there to bolster the troops already trying to free the people ironically being held prisoner at the prison.
“Where do you want us?” Melinda called out into her headset, turning to glance at Coulson briefly. Before returning her attention to the sky outside, she gave the others on board a quick once-over, gauging their preparedness for what was sure to be one hell of a day. Phil would be able to keep his head when they got into battle, of that she had no doubt. She’d served beside the man for nearly two decades - he was a veteran at keeping calm, even in the worst of times.
The only other person on board Melinda had faith in maintaining themselves well once they touched down was the Asgardian woman. They were a race of warriors, and even though she’d learned that this Lady Sigyn was not a fighter, per se, what she lacked in physical prowess, she more than made up for with arcane capabilities. What all that entailed, however, was as good as anyone’s guess.
Offering one of the newest recruits to the Secret Warriors - a young agent by the name of Jessica Drew - a quick nod, Melinda turned back to the HUD. She was a fine SHIELD agent, and though Melinda would never say it aloud, a pleasure to have on the team.
Red dots dominated the screen, but she only focused on the ones moving considerably quicker - those would be the airborne Chitauri, on board their chariots. Banking right, Melinda sent the Quinjet rocketing down a main thoroughfare where a trio of chariots were raining death down onto the people fleeing below. The weapons system, already live and ready, responded to her touch in an instant as she returned the favor. All three chariots plummeted to the ground, their explosions hardly noticeable compared to the burning mess that was the Golden Gate City.
Well, this was certainly a sight Coulson had never wanted to see again. Sure, he'd been dead the first time Earth was hit with an alien invasion, but he had spent days going over every bit of footage he could find from the catastrophe when he... 'woke up'. More than anything else, he knew this was what SHIELD had been created to stop, and here for the second time it was being proven that they were far behind in the capability to keep this from happening. The shame of it galled him, but it wasn't an emotion that helped in the moment, and the veteran Agent locked it down.
He was sitting in the copilot's seat, looking out over the increasingly ruined streets of San Francisco with May, but he shook himself from the view and turned instead to the tactical maps on the screens. Chitauri forces in red, SHIELD in blue, police and civilian movements noted in green... the tac feed to the Helicarrier was still working at least, it was going to be an advantage he had to make use of while he could. Since before they had made it into San Francisco airspace, Phil had been giving orders over the comm net, setting up the teams hitting Alcatraz and elsewhere.
"Delta, you're landing on the piers, go for thirty nine, that's where most of the tourists are going to be. Sweep from the water out, then angle north, Echo I need you to cover the southeastern flank, link up with Delta and create a lane for the civilians to evac. Get SFPD in there and clear the streets, don't be gentle about it, we're past caring about property damage. Bravo, I want your shooters up high, spread out, pick your spots, and focus on the fliers. Reports are saying the big ones don't react as strongly to the nanite rounds, so anyone with a Barrett switch to HE and focus on those. USAF is fifteen out, buy them time and keep the Charlies from setting up any AA. Their job will be to hit the really big ones. Until then, keep clear of them, and get the civilians away, the zone around those things is going to get extremely hot when the fliers show up."
The battle of New York had taught them that while the great armored serpents were tough as hell, bringing enough firepower to bear on them COULD take them down. In the absence of a Thor and a Hulk, they were going to have to rely on the fast-movers the Air Force had promised would be on the way from Nellis AFB. Coulson had seen the gun on an A-10 punch through foot-thick tank armor like soft cheese, hopefully they could expect similar results against the Chitauri. The problem was, firepower like the USAF was going to bring was going to make controlling the collateral nearly impossible, which meant clearing the area, and fast.
Coulson barely glanced up when May dropped them into the fray and took out three of the enemy fliers in fewer than as many seconds. He had no reason to check on or second guess her flying, after all - she'd get the job done, get them where they needed to be, and take down as many as she could on the way. But she was right. Time to call their shot. He switched his comms over to the team frequency, and looked toward the back for Drew and Sigyn. Any other time, he might have had a joke - here he was again, all-lady team, and every one of them could kick his ass.
"Alright, we're designation Alpha. You all know the situation here. Word is Seattle is just as bad, the Avengers are tied up there, which means SHIELD is all San Francisco's got. May, bring us in here." He highlighted a section of the 'Tenderloin' on his map and swiped it up to her nav system. "We're the specialist team, so we're going into the worst of it. The biggest group of SFPD is tied up here, along with a heavy population center, and we're going to break them out so they can work the evacuation. Drew, you drop first - stay high and keep them out of the buildings, don't let them bunker down if you can help it. Sigyn, work on hindering their fliers however you can, let us keep the attention on the ground. May, clear us a path and put me down with the cops, I need to set up communications with the chief."
Phil chambered a round in his pistol - the ICER rounds having been replaced with something a bit more lethal to Chitauri, then holstered it again and dropped his hand to rest on the... somewhat more special weapon he'd taken out of the Armory for the occasion. It was about time he put the Destroyer gun back to use. "All teams, hit 'em hard. Let's make sure they know how much Earth appreciates uninvited guests."
Post by z inactive jessicadrew on Jan 23, 2016 20:48:09 GMT
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Jessica hadn't been on the Secret Warriors for long, as a late addition to the team itself, so this was the first real mission with them, and it wasn't even the whole team. Jess hadn't been involved the last time that the Chitauri had invaded en masse, but she'd gone out to battle a couple of the smaller attacks and she'd participated in plenty of training exercises. This, however... it was a whole other beast entirely. [break][break] Agent May hadn't said much since they'd boarded for San Francisco, but then again she didn't say much in general. Jess didn't know the Asgardian woman all that well, but she knew enough to be grateful that she was along for this particular ride. Coulson was the person on-board that she was most familiar with, and he was still quite an enigma. An impressive agent, and one that Jess admired, but not one that she really understood as of yet. These were people that she needed to pay attention to, in order to report back to her other bosses, but at the moment it seemed most important to work on the Chitauri. [break][break] Checking her weapons, Jess frowned a bit at the special bullets that they'd all been given. She hoped that they would work, but there hadn't been all that rigorous testing from what she understood, due to the complications that such testing brought with it. She hoped that a combination of those and her bioelectric Venom Blasts would be enough to put down the aliens, both large and small. She was pretty sure she wouldn't want to get near the Leviathans at all either way. [break][break] Raising her head as Coulson addressed them directly, she focused on committing his instructions to memory. She nodded as he pointed her toward her course of action. Gliding down to the right spot would be easy and she was sure that she would be able to take a few of the aliens down quickly - especially if she didn't have to spend as much time focusing on her blasts and was able to just go with all her power. They didn't care if these aliens were alive to interrogate, after all. [break][break] "Got it," she replied as he finished his instruction, giving him a nod as she stood and made sure everything was in place. Hooking the gliding flaps on her uniform to her wrists to aid in the jump, she moved to the ramp so that she could dive out as soon as it was open. Waiting for the go-ahead from May and Coulson, she took her leap, spiraling towards the ground before pulling up and opening the flaps and gliding to a landing on top of a building. "Touched down. Clearing the first building," she updated them before heading in to help the civilians to safety.
Sigyn had never been to this city, and in fact scarcely knew about the significance of the Golden Gate Bridge having been smashed and left to the depths below in the bay of the city. In fact, she’d never even seen much in the way of the Chitauri, except the footage from the last attack and the account that Thor had given them, and the run down SHIELD had on them.
Hive minded, dumb; newer breed was much tougher and smarter than the average soldiers, and the Leviathans were the giant flying whale like creatures. So this and the dark elves were the army the mad titan was using to invade this realm, and potentially others. The amount of destruction and death that was being rained down on the city was not good, as many of these people were not fighters, but mere civilians.
She was on a team with Agent Coulson, the only one she was familiar with. Agent May and Drew she barely knew anything about, except that they were also higher ranking SHIELD Agents and that Drew was an enhanced Midgardian, somewhat different from a mutant. She was neither, but being a magician of some skill, she was certain she’d be able to help out as best she could. The Quinjet was an odd thing, but then they needed a flying apparatus to get them anywhere close to the city to try and combat the forces in time.
May banked right, and using the guns, shot down three of the chariots that had been gunning down civilians as they ran for cover. The Mad Titan was throwing all he could at them, wasn’t he? Well, they’d give him a fight. Midgard had proven before that it wasn’t to be underestimated. Phil worked quickly to assemble the SHIELD teams down below, using terms that she wasn’t quite familiar with, but it was clear he was directing two of the several teams to the besieged Island below, and the others to other points in the city.
While still not used to the small communication devices given to many SHIELD agents, she was adjusting as quickly as she could. Sigyn listened to Phil intently, nodding when she was given the note to take out the flying ones. “Orders received. I’ll do my best.” Sigyn said in response to Phil; She was the only one with archaic weaponry; guns and modern weapons were not the Asgardians style. Agent Drew dropped first, gliding through the air to drop on top of a building, after the go ahead from Phil and May.
Despite not being able to fly on her own power all too well or easily, from what she gathered about Agent Coulson’s words, she was to attempt to take down the flying units, somehow. This without the aid of the Quinjet, if she was interpreting his words correctly. Well, this was going to be tricky. Her magic could only do so much and only take her so far, and she was going to try and keep it in reserve for as long as possible, just in case a sky whale showed up in the city.
If only she had Valkyr wings or something to aid her. She was already wasting too much time as it was. “Agent May, if you please, pull alongside that chariot.” Sigyn said, indicating a flying Chitauri. The Quinjet moved close enough for leaping distance, and Sigyn took the jump, landing on the back of said Chariot, and causing it to lean away from the Quinjet as it took its flight elsewhere. Sigyn managed to knock the beast from his ride and send him plummeting to the Earth below. She couldn’t be concerned about where his body would fall, but could only hope that it was not on a person.
She did not know the controls for these chariots all that well, but she did not think that mattered, seeing as two of the other fliers were heading straight toward her. Easy enough to take out, so it would only be a matter of leaping and fighting. Not exactly great for her spear use. Perhaps energy blasts would be more useful here. She had to wait until they were in range, and attempting to keep this thing afloat until then was a bit more difficult than one imagined.
She would have to soldier on. As a daughter of Freya, it would be embarrassing to allow herself to be taken down by simply not being able to pilot a flying chariot.
Post by Z inactive melindamay on Jan 24, 2016 8:48:31 GMT
If Melinda was bothered by the chatter going on beside her, she certainly didn’t show it. Phil was one of Fury’s best and brightest when it came to logistics. Not only that, but he had a certain charisma about him that made people want to follow his commands, which her quiet, icy demeanor just seemed to lack. It was one of the traits that had endeared the other agent to her, even if she seldom showed it. Being the resident ice queen of the organization was perfectly fine by her - the less interaction she had with some of her colleagues, the better.
Phil’s switch from the SHIELD-wide communication to their personal team comms caused a bit of static to echo in her ear, but she barely even blinked in response. It was time now for his big morale-inducing pep talk, it seemed, so she braced the muscles in her face to remain perfectly stoic as he spoke. A nearly imperceptible nod was all she offered in response to his command on where to bring them down. There was no need for verbal affirmation between the two of them, with how long they’d worked side-by-side.
The newest member of their little team was the first up to bat, and Melinda turned in her chair slightly in order to watch the girl. She had cajones, that one. Even Melinda would not jump from the jet at this height without a parachute. But if Agent Drew thought she’d be fine with the simple gliding panels, more power to her, the veteran thought to herself. After that came the Asgardian sorceress, Lady Sigyn. If the stories were to be believed, she was the ex-wife of Loki. She was also a kind woman - again, if the stories were to be believed.
Hopefully all of the rumors about her pleasant disposition didn’t mean she would be nice to the aliens currently devastating Melinda’s planet.
With a quick nod in response to Sigyn’s request, Melinda released the throttle somewhat before banking down towards a nearby chariot. Once she was all but on top of the alien craft, Sigyn made her jump, the results of which Melinda could feel instantly. She didn’t look like much, but Asgardians were naturally heavier than humans and it showed as Melinda fought the steering column to pull their jet back up and away from where Sigyn was laying waste to the aliens around her.
Agent Drew’s report of a successful drop was good to hear on the comms, but Melinda allowed Phil to respond instead. He was team leader; he was the man she’d look to for a bit of an encouraging word if that’s what she needed. Instead, she focused on following Phil’s previous instructions, finally easing the craft down where he’d pointed. Cops littered the area, some of them more than a little out of their league if the panicked expressions on their faces were anything to go by.
As soon as Phil was out of the craft and far enough away from the ramp, she lifted back up and into the air. She’d provide as much air support as she could for now, at least until the Air Force arrived with the big guns. Slowly turning the jet in a circle through the air until she found what she was looking for. It was just a big, red blob on her screen, but unlike all of the other red blobs, this one was steady, rather than comprised of other, smaller red dots.
The Leviathan was a ways off still, so Melinda kept low in the city, keeping to the streets where there were no green dots visible on her HUD. Armor-piercing bullets lanced out from the guns attached to the Quinjet as she flew, raining down on Chitauri and Chitalian alike. From this high, she couldn’t tell them apart, but nor did it matter. If it had greenish skin and a severe lack of clothing, it was being riddled with holes.
WORDS: 664 || TAG: @coulson z inactive jessicadrewSigyn Iwaldidottir Figure she’ll actually make a dent next post before other pilots arrive and she can land before beating the crap out of them by hand.
Phil had actually been expecting a bit more chatter out of Drew and Sigyn, but it seemed they both had a lot on their minds, too. May's silence of course he was well accustomed to, but she was a comforting presence all the same. No one better to watch his back - after all, he'd only gotten stabbed in it when he'd been working without her. This whole situation brought back bad memories - though there was no indication yet that Loki had anything whatsoever to do with this invasion. Of course, that brought up a great many more questions, things he'd have to look into after the fight was over. First things first, of course... and with a team he didn't know that well at all. He wished Dugan and the others were around, but they had been needed at Los Angeles, and he'd had no choice but to split the team, and leave the others to Hill.
Well, he'd always worked with what he had. And if that seemed like half of what he needed, he found a way to make it twice as effective. That was how he'd made it as far as this in the first place. Why he'd been so important that Fury had gone so far to bring him back...
"Copy." he acknowledged as Drew called back, then he watched with a slightly surprised look as Sigyn leapt into the fight bodily. And here he'd thought she'd be more into using the magic... another reminder that Asgardians just were a breed apart from humans. She'd do fine, he was confident. The Chitauri were going to be in deep trouble with her after them. "Here we go again, huh?" he said, clicking the channel off and looking to May as she began angling in for the drop zone he'd indicated earlier. "Don't let anyone take my seat." He hit the release on the harness and climbed out of the cockpit area, taking his oversized weapon with him. When she brought the Quinjet in low, he lowered the gate again and ran down the plank, keying his radio when his boots hit pavement.
"Dustoff!" he called over the roar of the engines, then turned to watch her take back off into the sky. Some aliens weren't going to like what she did up there, and that was just fine by him. The streets were exactly the mess he'd thought from the sky, so the Agent started on his path, weaving through the stalled and broken cars toward the sound of the fight ahead.
There were almost fifty SFPD agents, pinned down behind their mostly disabled vehicles as the Chitauri fired at them, so the first order of business was getting them out. May had already begun lighting into several of the groups, but as the aliens gathered up to make a push for the police, a bright lance of orange flame burned several of them in half. The others turned, lifting their weapons to fire again, but Coulson pulled the trigger of the Destroyer gun a second time and burned those down as well - the beam lit into a car behind a few of them and blew it apart in an impressive fireball as the human-Asgardian hybrid tech ignited the gas tank, but Coulson ignored it, lowering the weapon and walking toward the group of police.
"Excuse me! I'm Agent Coulson, with SHIELD. We could use your help down near the water, so I thought I might come collect you folks."
One of them, a man with more than the usual amount of gold on his uniform, stepped out and looked Phil up and down. Phil knew he didn't cut much of an imposing figure, but then, the gun he was carrying, with its glowing barrel, probably helped. "Don't suppose you got more of those, mister Coulson?"
"Sorry. One of a kind. But my team and I would be happy to cover your movement. We need to get as many people clear as possible before we take the fight back to these things."
"Music to my ears, Coulson. Alright people, move it!"
z inactive jessicadrew --- If you and or Sigyn want to meet up with Phil on the ground, go for it! I figure they won't stay split up too long.
Post by z inactive jessicadrew on Jan 30, 2016 3:04:24 GMT
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Stumbling a bit with her touchdown, Jess brushed herself off and started towards the rooftop door. There wasn’t much to do after that but head down into the building, so she quickly made her way in. Windows were busted open on the top floor, Chitauri wreaking destruction on the interior. Luckily there didn’t seem to be any civilians, at least on this floor, any longer, so Jess ran straight at the first Chitauri and released a venom blast into its head. It jerked, twitched, and crumbled to the ground and Jess spun to fire a couple rounds into the neck of another Chitauri, who followed in much the same way. [break][break] This seemed to only grab the attention of the rest of the aliens on the floor, who turned their attention to her. She spent some time fighting them, and as soon as they were all on the floor - or out the window in one memorable occasion - she headed down again to find that the Chitauri had blocked the escape of many of the employees,who were scared and hurt. [break][break] Jess was sure that they wouldn’t be much help in clearing the area of aliens, so she stopped to take a breather before heading to the aliens that were blocking the exit. It was more of the same until she got to a big one. The bullets didn’t do much to him, so jess lept onto his shoulders and dug her fingers into his neck before firing out another venom blast that had the creature toppling to the floor. Luckily about this time the SHIELD agents that had been working their way up from the bottom met them the next floor down, so it went quickly and Jess handed off the civilians. [break][break] One of the windows on the floor was busted open and in the next building over, Jess could see Chitauri bearing down on more civilians. With a running leap, she glided over through the window and right onto one of the aliens’ backs. [break][break] “In the next building,” she informed Coulson, taking out her gun again to begin taking out the Chitauri, putting herself between them and the civilians. “Bullets aren’t working on the Chitlians, but high enough shock fries their circuits and takes them down,” she added, hoping that it would help the others. [break][break] Working her way through this building was both easier and more difficult. There were more aliens, but she also knew better how to take them all down. “Coulson, do you want me to stay high or come help you?” she asked as the battle on the ground sounded like it was getting more difficult.
The other woman was as silent as stone; Sigyn was definitely reminded of Vidar when she’d met May. Silent and serious. Unlike many in SHIELD, she didn’t even balk at the other Agent leaping out the window of the jet; she did not think the organization would let their agents purposefully go to their deaths. There were certain risks, of course, but she suspected that Phil knew what he was doing with assignments. With only a nod as a response to her request, Agent May pulled close to a chariot, and the quinjet groaned a bit as the dense woman leapt off of it; she did weigh a little over three hundred pounds, according to earth scales at least.
The battle with the sky warrior Chitauri was taking a good deal of maneuvering, since she didn’t want to risk using her magic to make herself levitate. Perhaps on Asgard, but on Earth? She didn’t know how long she’d be able to keep it up. May dropped Phil off on the ground, and Sigyn found herself with more air support as May rained death and destruction down upon the invading alien groups.
Off in the distance, one of the large space whales was closing in, but it wouldn’t be here for some time yet. She hoped that Midgard had something to deal with that; she knew that the Avengers team certainly did. Could SHIELD take it down? Well, they did have her, and while she wasn’t one of the most powerful sorcerers on Asgard, she still had quite a bit of a magical punch to her. She was aware that this force was the one Loki had tried to warn Asgard about before, and though she did not trust him, in this instance, he stood to gain nothing.
He was in the custody of his brothers and SHIELD; arranging an invasion of earth as a distraction was not his style, nor was he the type of man to endanger his children, this she knew for certain. The fight was the current focus for now, and Sigyn aimed the current chariot she was on toward another one bearing a Chitauri, leaping off of it at the last second and on to the roof of a building.
There were some trapped civilians inside this one as well, Sigyn noted, as she effortlessly ripped the heavy metal door off of it’s hinges, the improvised weapon lodging itself into another chariot rider. “Clearing a building, over. Civilians coming up from the ground, I believe there is a small force of Chitauri inside this building.” Sigyn said, moving downward, thrusting the glaive forward to stab one of the basic units, and slamming his body against a wall, before she freed her spear from it.
Moving deeper in and subsequently closer to the ground, She ran into a pair of them, easily dispatching them as well. Real trouble started when she ran into a larger, tougher, and meaner looking one of them. Chitilian; the commander. He was not so easily fooled, as she swung her spear down in an arc to catch him, and he danced out of the way.
Moving quickly and seeking to strike again, she swung up this time. The Chitilian expected this to happen and just barely got out of the way, but she nicked him a bit. Tricky. How to best handle it? Perhaps this was they way.
From the Chitlian’s perspective, Sigyn launched herself at him, leaving her weapon behind. In actuality, she’d created an illusion and quickly maneuvered behind the alien, swing the spear down across his back as the illusion faded, and then stabbing him through the chest.
“Indeed.” Sigyn said over the comm channel. “How far off is the Leviathan now? Will you need my assistance dealing with it?” Sigyn said, clearing out the last of her building. She could help better on the ground anyway, and could definitely get herself over to where Coulson was much faster than many mortals could.
Sigyn continued to fight her way down to the pier, waiting to hear Coulson’s order on the matter.
Post by Z inactive melindamay on Feb 1, 2016 4:10:10 GMT
Melinda kept quiet in her seat as they flew. Phil could keep the men - well, women - rallied, leaving her with the task of making sure they all got from point A to point B in relative safety. Agent Drew was the first to depart, but it didn’t take long for her callback to echo into the comms in everyone’s ears, letting the team know she was down and safe. Next to go was the Asgardian sorceress, whom Melinda definitely noticed when she leapt. The woman was tall and lithe of frame, but Melinda had to keep a firm grasp on the steering column as she exited. Asgardians were not light by any means.
Turning at the sound of Coulson’s voice, Melinda let out a quiet grunt of acknowledgement. “No thrilling heroics this time,” she muttered, one brow rising as a tiny smirk sprang to life. “And no promises.”
Nobody else was going to take his seat, but sometimes it was nice to let out a little tease now and again, especially with Phil. He was one of her closest - and only friends, so he was spoiled in that regard when it came to her sense of humor. As soon as the call came over the comms that he was clear of the jet, she punched the control to raise it again and lifted back up into the sky.
From the sounds of things, Agent Drew and Sigyn were managing their own down in the buildings below, so Melinda made sure to hold up her end of the bargain in the sky. The bullets were high caliber enough to take out Chitauri with ease, it seemed, and only required a few extra hits to take down the beefier aliens. What had they been called? Chitilians?
A flash of red on her HUD dragged Melinda’s attention away from the aliens littering the skies and rooftops, and with a press of a button, the map zoomed outward to cover more of the city. “Make that two Leviathan,” she called out over the comms. Keen eyes marked their trajectory on the map, and without a second thought, she veered the jet towards the closest one. “I’ve got an idea. I’ll let you know if I need assistance, Lady Sigyn.”
Melinda’s heart beat wildly in her chest as she swung wide around a skyscraper and finally saw the thing. She’d watched the footage from a few years ago on the news, but seeing the enormous aliens in person was a different matter entirely. Maintaining an aura of calm, she continued dead ahead, releasing a few of the heavier hitting missiles towards the space whale’s open maw as it was about to turn north. They hit their mark, but much as she’d expected, the explosions did nothing more than agitate the creature.
“Come on, big guy…” she murmured to herself, a determined grin settling on her lips.
Before she got too close to the Leviathan, she jerked hard on the jet’s controls, effectively pulling off a tight U-turn in mid-air before hitting the thrust and rocketing away again. According to her HUD, the creature was giving her chase. Good. The destination was only a few dozen blocks ahead, but at this speed, that would only take them a minute to reach.
Keeping the jet low to the street, she used the city’s natural hills as a means of cover, so that her current predator was kept in the dark as to her plan. The hill that began halfway to her desired intersection was a steep one, but she altered the angle of the Quinjet with ease. Only four blocks left… Three… Two…
Melinda gave the jet everything she had, sending the engines into overdrive as she punched it upwards. The Leviathan on her tail followed suit with a roar more like an ominous groan. It wasn’t as quick as she was, thankfully, and instead of gaining altitude, it slammed headfirst into the second Leviathan, whose trajectory Melinda had been tracking since expanding the map.
Teeth the size of two human men gnashed awkwardly as they sunk into the plated armor of the second Leviathan’s maw. Neither Leviathan seemed happy by the collision, least of all the one whose face had been bitten. As she turned the jet in the air, Melinda watched the slow, but vicious fight - if it could even be classified as such. The pair of too-large creatures were attempting to wriggle free of each other in an agitated fashion, destroying a nearby building in the process. Both went careening into the old multi-storied building (a bank, by the looks of it), carried by the momentum of their opposing trajectories.
She couldn’t see what happened next, but after a few moments, the thrashing of one Leviathan tail slowed to a stop while the other disappeared through the rest of the building. Guiding the jet around to the other side of the skyscraper, Melinda waited for the beast’s appearance and unloaded a volley of missiles towards its face. It ground to a halt with a roar of displeasure as the rockets exploded against its maw, some of them finding weakened areas where the metallic plating had been sheared off.
A second volley of missiles - Melinda’s last - stopped the creature entirely, and it flopped to the ground with a resounding crash while the building finally came tumbling down on top of the pair. She sincerely hoped no civilians had been holed up in the building, but now wasn’t the time to think of that. Sighing with relief, she pulled up on the steering column and started off in the direction she’d dropped Coulson a few minutes previously. “Two big hitters down… I’ve only got a bit left in the jet, but I’ll rendezvous with you on the ground, shortly.”
One of the main issues with the Destroyer gun was the fact that Coulson honestly wasn't sure how many shots the thing had in it. It had been rarely used, and considering it had rarely been taken out of the test labs, he didn't even think Fitz was sure how long it could go. So far, it hadn't seemed to require any sort of recharging, but that could just mean it was coming up on some sort of absolute limit, and after that the thing wasn't going to work at all. Phil didn't like that idea, so he tried not to rely on the thing overmuch. Which did mean he had one heavy gun to be carrying around. He slung the weapon over his shoulder, then drew his pistol, rounding a crashed SWAT van and opening fire on a pair of Chitauri who were pursuing the retreating officers.
"Stay high. You and Sigyn back each other up, keep them off our heads. I really don't have your high jump, I'm sorry to say." He turned and almost casually shot down another of the aliens, before one of the hulking mechanical ones came around a corner, casually shoving a car out of the way before it turned on him. "Crap." It charged, and taking Jessica's word for it Phil didn't bother with the pistol. Instead, he calmly unslung the Destroyer as the monster charged at him, swinging the muzzle up into line with its chest as it lifted a hand to strike, and blowing a hole the size of a manhole cover in the thing.
Coulson stepped to the side, letting the sparking corpse fall on the spot he'd been occupying, then he turned and started back after the cops. Another of his teams called in, reporting the even larger numbers of the enemies coming in. Things were getting worse... but they always did before the got better. Phil stopped to reply into his earpiece, checking the magazine in his pistol before he lifted the weapon, shooting another pair of Chitauri who made the mistake of crossing his path. He might not be the fighter May was, but the years had made him damn handy with a weapon.
The call over the radio that they had Leviathans incoming, however, wasn't necessarily a welcome one. The Quinjet didn't have the firepower to punch through those things at full armor if even Iron Man couldn't do it, and he didn't think he'd have much luck trying to burn one down with the Destroyer gun... which meant he needed a new plan, and -
Well, maybe he didn't. May beat him to the reply, and Phil gave a little shrug to no one in particular. "Alright, May - you're up. Drew, Sigyn, work your way south, cover the police convoy and I." If Melinda said she had it, then she had it. He just hoped she came out of it alright when all was said and done. He had no idea what she had in mind, but there wasn't a better pilot in SHIELD. Still, when he looked down the street and saw what she was doing...
"Didn't we just have a talk about thrilling heroics?" he said, though his tone was more amused than worried. When it came down to the actual destruction though... Coulson let out a low whistle. "Show off." Still, he was about to have his own problems. He shouted to the police chief, and Phil joined the police behind their makeshift barricade just as better than two dozen of the aliens leapt down and charged for them. Phil's Glock barked repeatedly, dropping Chitauri one after another before he set the weapon on the hood of the car and pulled the Destroyer out again, focusing its lance of fire on the Chitilan's - the police just didn't have anything that could damage the damn things.
And here the military was still minutes out... well, if SHEILD had to hold, that was exactly what they'd do. One of the Chitauri leapt at Phil, having lost its weapon somewhere in the battle, and the Agent took a half step out of the way of its swipe, then smashed the stock of his rifle against the side of its head. It dropped, and he smashed it again for good measure, before standing up and burning another glowing hole through the last of the oncoming Chitilans. He was going to have to start watching the gun - he didn't know if it was going to start running empty, but it was getting decidedly and disconcertingly warm in his hands.
May called just as he slung it again and snagged his pistol to reload it, getting back on the move with the police. "I could use the company. I remember San Francisco being friendlier than this. Alpha, let's regroup at the pier, it sounds like Delta is getting pinned down, and I aim to clear a path."
Post by z inactive jessicadrew on Feb 7, 2016 4:19:42 GMT
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"Yes, sir," Jess huffed in response to Coulson's order as she jumped on the shoulders of one of the aliens in order to send a shock straight into its nervous system - or what counted as one when you were made mostly of metal and synthetics. Hitting the ground, she was quickly on her feet again and running to the next target. Conscious that she couldn't tire herself out too early, she retrieved one of the Chitauri spears and began using that in addition to her firearm to take down various aliens until the floor was clear and she could wave the trapped civilians down a level. [break][break] This building's top most of the way to clear, Jess went to the window to see if there was a good way to get to the next. Sure enough, she was pretty certain she could easily make the leap and she took a running start to glide to the next building over and repeat the process of clearing aliens from the top floor. [break][break] It was getting both harder and easier at this point, as she better knew how to take the aliens down, but she was also attempting to avoid tiring herself too much as she knew that this battle had the possibility of going on for a long, long while yet. As she was clearing the next floor down, she heard Coulson over the comm unit again. "I'll head South after this building," she replied, knocking a Chitauri out the window. [break][break] As soon as she could, she contacted a ground team to come up and get the civilians. Luckily, the aliens seemed more interested in starting at the tops of buildings and the way up was mostly clear, so they were soon able to retrieve the injured civilians at the top. With that, Jess moved to the window, where she saw Sigyn flying by on one of the alien chariots. That seemed like as good an idea as any, so Jess set her sights on one that was approaching and took a leap, gliding to the chariot and landing on the driver's back. A shock to his system and she was gone, leaving Jess to follow the Asgardian woman southward. [break][break] "Do you see the convoy?" she asked over to the woman as she puled alongside her, pointing down to them on the streets. "You cover that side and I'll cover this one?" she suggested, hoping that between the two of them they could manage to keep the skies clear.
“Understood, Agent May.” Sigyn replied into the comm easily, figuring that the SHIELD Agent knew what she was doing. If she thought she could take down the Leviathans, then Sigyn didn’t doubt that the woman had some sort of scheme hatched or some sort of tech that could help. She could glimpse the armor plated space whales from her vantage point, but she could see little else besides that they were closing in on the city, and her focus was redirected toward her own fight.
“I’m not really built for flight capable combat, actually, but I’ll try.” Sigyn replied on the comms. “Not unless you want me to be more useful for the entire fight instead of ten minutes of it” And that was a generous estimate; she’d probably hit magical burnout far faster than that on Earth. She supposed she could blast them with magical bolts, but that was not how her powers typically worked; she could channel them that way, of course, but it would take time they did not have. It would be better if she kept the majority of her magic in reserve for the big guns, or in this case, potentially using it to take care of a huge sweep of the forces
“Right.” Sigyn replied over the comm channel, before jumping on top of the roofs of abandoned cars, and swinging herself back up on to a chariot once more, though directing the things was difficult when she still had no idea on how to steer them, which was why she had initially dropped back down on the ground. Crashing these things into each other constantly was not the best form of combat. Hopefully their aerial forces showed up soon to take over on this type of thing.
The ground teams were contacted and started clearing out more civilians, though not by Sigyn. She was still unused to the technology in use; she was more used to being linked through the mind rather than having these voices on the outside, orders being shouted in them just to be heard over the explosions created by the aliens themselves. The chariot, without a driver that knew how to steer it, was descending slowly, as per usual.
At this point, the woman known as Agent Drew pulled alongside her. Surprised at the woman’s question before remembering that occasionally mutants did not get everything about them enhanced, Sigyn pointed to a large black blob, or at least that’s how it would appear to most. Sharp vision was also a thing for Asgardians, it was why none of them had to worry about bad eyesight at all.
“I can attempt such a thing, but these chariots do not seem to take well to being piloted by anyone but the Chitauri.” It was another one of their weird bioengineered creations, and Sigyn was not at all comfortable looking into the hive minded network of the Chitauri to learn how to work it; she could just as easily become part of the collective if she didn’t keep herself together. Tricky, tricky.
May and the quinjet were already running low on ammunition, and it seemed as if a bunch of the SHIELD agents had gotten themselves pinned down on the prison island by the invading Chitauri. Coulson had confirmed that the armed forces of this nation would be coming into assist them at some point, and Sigyn was hoping that it would be soon. She made her way onto another chariot, slamming the side of it against another one and pushing the Chitauri off, as it fell to the streets below, just as the other one had last time.
The other chariot riders were soon shot out of the sky by the timely arrival of the scrambled jets of the Air Force, providing air support for shield, with three of the jets veering off to make sure that the two crashed Leviathans were down and out; they were tough suckers, so it was possible that the beasts were still alive, albeit heavily damaged. With the army keeping the airborne Chitauri occupied, it became a lot easier to keep everything off the Convoy and drop down to the ground to assist those in down on the piers, where swarms of Chitauri were attacking agent and civilian alike.
Of course, next to large source of water was not a good place for them. “Other Agents, I suggest you get down if you can.” Sigyn said, on the SHIELD Frequency, before stepping out on to the pier herself. This spell would take a little bit of time, but it would be very effective against the monsters.
“Agent Coulson, can you provide cover while I prepare this spell?” She said, on their other chat. Magic was scoffed at by this world, despite it providing an abundance of its abilities on humanity. Perhaps now they’d learn a thing or two of what was possible when magic was at their disposal.
Post by Z inactive melindamay on Feb 10, 2016 15:45:54 GMT
Melinda nodded to no one in particular as Coulson gave her the okay to enact her plan. She hadn’t been intending to heed him if he told her ‘no’ anyways, and she was certain he knew that. At the sound of his next comment, she grinned despite herself. “That order was for you, Coulson. Fury gave me permission to be as heroic as necessary to keep the city safe.”
No sooner had the words left her mouth than the two Leviathans crashed into each other below the tail of her jet. It was a mess of teeth and armor and just an all-around hot mess, especially once the mammoth creatures went crashing into the old bank. But it did the job. And as soon as her large weapons cache had been unloaded into the remains, a trio of Air Force jets soared by in order to add their own damage - just in case.
Ground forces were probably still a few minutes out, but the jets could definitely help keep the large groups of Chitauri and Chitlian busy for the time being.
Melinda was still in search of a good place to let down when Phil’s next call came out over the comms. Eyeing the HUD, she altered the trajectory of her jet before punching it towards the pier. She spied Sigyn’s marker already making its way there at a high speed - either the Asgardians were frighteningly fast (which could very well be the case), or the woman had snagged one of the chariots. Looking up and out the front of the jet, Melinda saw that her second guess was correct.
“I’ve got your cover, Lady Sigyn,” she called out over the comms, her finger resting lazily over the trigger. As soon as she was close enough to discern alien from SHIELD agent, she pressed gently. Round after round pounded into the chest and skull of the aliens swarming their colleagues, quickly thinning the herd closest to the SHIELD agents. It was enough for the friendlies to dispatch the remaining few in their immediate vicinity before heeding the Asgardian’s suggestion and taking cover so that she could potentially handle the rest of the horde.
With that handled and the jet’s weapons frighteningly low, she lifted back up in order to dispatch a few chariots to expend what was left in her cache. As soon as she hit zero, she found an open area and set the jet down on Pier 39, right next to a large crab. Giving the odd amalgamation of plant and metal a quick arch of the eyebrow, Melinda made certain she had everything she needed on her before closing the jet hatch. Hopefully the aliens didn’t destroy the thing, but if they did, they’d at least have to go through one layer of protection to get to the controls inside.
Two pistols with the Stark-Morse compound bullets: check. Half a dozen back-up clips: check. SHIELD standard medical kit: check Fists: check.
Cracking her neck, Melinda bounced onto the balls of her feet and began jogging in the direction she’d last seen Coulson heading towards on the HUD. Soon enough, her longtime partner came into view and she slid through the group of police and SHIELD agents. She recognized one agent as someone she’d seen working in the infirmary before and handed the medical kit off to him without a word. He seemed relieved and without needing any explanation, got to work seeking out anyone who needed medical attention. Finally making her way to Phil’s side, she stopped beside his right hand and crossed both arms over her chest as she silently watched the Asgardian’s spell take effect.
Sigyn didn't sound the most comfortable with her job at the moment, but Phil still needed the overwatch. She might not be able to fly, but considering the strength he knew Asgardians had, her ability to jump ought to make traversal over the rooftops simple enough, and he and May didn't have anything that would let them deal with the Chitauri climbing the buildings that way. "Understood - Both of you hit the ground with May and I once we hit the pier, see if you can't bring some of those fancy alien weapons with you when you do."
Of course, he still had a ways to go on his own with the cops before they got there. Whoo - He was far from out of shape, but he was going to have to push to deal with all the running. His job usually involved a whole lot less being on the front lines of an active war than this, actually. The Agent kept pace with the cops though, pistol barking in even time as he tracked smoothly from one target to the next, always dropping his magazine and reloading when he was on the last shot, so as to keep from ever being completely out of ammunition. He kept the count in his head as he went - good trick if you could manage it. "Well that doesn't seem fair at all." he complained at May on the comms, stepping behind an overturned florist van as a cluster of energy blasts came his way.
three, two, shit His pistol clicked open one round early - must have lost track somewhere. Oh well. The Destroyer gave another Chitilan its own pyre, and Phil made it to the intersection of the Pier just as Sigyn called out her request.
"Coming up on your eight o clock now. Delta - overwatch, give Sigyn her time."As promised, Phil and the remaining agents of the team they'd come to reinforce moved up, spreading out into formation and hammering the aliens as they did - though it was damn good that May had a little ammo left in the Quinjet, because they were all getting a bit light themselves. Phil accepted an MP5 from one of them to give his big gun the chance to cool, and was pulling the pin on a grenade to try and finish one of the big bastards when May showed up at his side.
"All out, huh?" he asked, lobbing the explosive underhand - it hit and rolled under the already burning police cruiser before exploding, sending the ruined hulk of the Chitilan stumbling out and crashing to the ground. The roar of the USAF fast-movers overhead was a damn welcome sound, of course - the best of it was the deep, almost tearing sound of the A-10s laying into the remaining Leviathans with their 20mm vulcans - the gun was called the Avenger, and while he'd rather have the real Avengers any day of the week, those monster guns were a damn good substitute.