2014.11.04 - The Red Hulk Gambit

There have been a few alien raids in the past few years, that is why S.H.I.E.L.D. and parallel organizations have a fat budget. But this might be the first time an American city has fallen to invaders from another time. They hit very fast, and even now the US army is still reeling and bringing forces for a counter-attack.

But there is no time; there are very odd readings from Star Labs Phoenix, where the invaders have set their HQ. Whatever they are building, it is coming into line soon, maybe within an hour. So the army will launch a few probing attacks, hoping to distract the invaders, and a small group of super-human operatives will strike Star Labs, disabling whatever they are building, neutralizing the invader’s commands, and if possible, rescuing the hostages.

It won’t be easy, since the leader of the invaders is the powerhouse known as the Red Hulk. Some alternate timeline Red Hulk, as dangerous as any Hulk.

Assigned with this seemingly impossible task, the forces they have available are doing whatever is necessary. A night-time HALO insertion with dark chutes has managed to put the personnel in question inside the enemy's perimeter. Using the assistance of the League's Martian Manhunter for secure, silent communications, the disparate personnel were able to stay in touch and maintain coordination despite landing all over the place and proceeding alone and quite stealthfully through the streets to their targets. Once reunited, the team has remained covert, gathering observable intel as best they can, pursuant to their entry. The Martian's talents have at least helped make sure a patrol or two never noticed their presence, but stealth discipline is still high. For her part, Agent Yamaguchi is prepared to follow the orders of The Captain tactically. But her specialty is stealth and intelligence gathering. "Signal and audibles confirm, Sir." she whispers. "Army ops have initiated. Estimate is one zero hours."

Right now, unless there IS a telepath with the other group, the only people who can even see J'onn are the Captain and Agent Yamaguchi. Yeah, he's in full stealth mode...and surprisingly capable in that role. "They should be careful. He is, after all, a Hulk." And J'onn knows just how dangerous that makes him. The Martian glances around, using enhanced vision to probe the area they're approaching for hostiles...or, for that matter, for any hostages trying to rescue themselves.

For a man who wears his identity so loudly on his chest, Captain America is surprisingly stealth-capable. His movements through the city were patient and largely silent, and now that they're all together again, he's hardly breathes as they consider their options. Especially when that patrol is being dealt with. Katsuko is a stealth specialist, so he lets her lead the way to STAR Labs; he happens to be wearing an unbreakable shield on his back, though, so he still sticks close by her. Just in case.


 * "I'd like to go in from below,"| he 'says' to the rest of the group. J'onn makes proceeding silently even easier, a fact which the Captain is grateful for; if only the Allies could've figured out telepathy during the War. Alas.


 * "If you're able to guide us to their scientists at all, Manhunter, it would make picking the appropriate access point that much easier; if not, we may have to settle for the place that's liable to attract the least attention and search from there. There are a lot of good men and women already set to be our distraction; for their sakes, I'd like to focus on learning as much as we can, then decapitating this invasion as efficiently as we can."| He focuses on Katsuko for a few moments before looking the other way to check for danger. |"Stealth insertion and reconnaisance are your wheelhouse, Agent; once we're inside, I'll be looking to you for guidance too."|

Star Labs Phoenix is at the outskirts of the city, an area of factories and warehouses away from private residences. Because the city is occupied, most of the people working in the neighborhood stayed at home instead. The invaders have parked some kind of futuristic hover-craft near the main gates of the building, and there are several soldiers one watch, in environmental body armor, carrying futuristic-looking rifles.

The Manhunter’s vision/telepathy can detect four men with the vehicle. Inside the lab, most rooms are empty, but several technicians; some invaders, some captured Star Labs personnel; are working in a hangar-size room. The Red Hulk is there, along with an armored man in silver and blue, and a cyborg whose human side seems quite decayed (and his mind is shielded). The hostages are in a chamber two levels underground, behind locked metal doors, watched by a pair of soldiers.

J'onn Jonzz will quickly relay what he's sensing. << We have the Hulk on site with two other supers. The hostages are in the basement >> is the quick version, but he's also sending images of the situation, mental maps. These two are trained operatives; they can handle that sort of data easily enough.

Agent Yamaguchi - face covered in the full-coverage grey-black hood of her ninja attire - nods to Captain America. ["Yes Sir. My suggestion, given construction and personnel, would be to attempt insertion at the loading bay to the rear quarter. Alternatively, I believe I am at least small enough to make insertion through the ductwork of the environmental plant."] That self-same enviro plant isn't far from the loading docks, but they are two different lobes of the ground-level structure.

["From there, Sir, I would have to suggest we consider splitting our team. Yourself and Mister J'onzz would likely be best at handling the threat of those in the lab proper. If we want to extract the hostages, it might be best if I went there."] Of course, Agent Yamaguchi knows who is in charge; she would never dare to give orders to Captain America, and she'll follow his orders - or even his suggestions - without hesitation. She's loyal like that. Handy trait for a SHIELD ninja.


 * "We need to get them out of there,"| the Captain resolutely thinks when the hostages' location is mentioned. His mind is quite capable of handling the stream of information J'onn's pushing to him, thanks to the Serum coursing through his veins; he even starts working on plotting out potential in/egress routes as he learns more and more about the structure of the facility.

"Mmm," the Captain lowly vocalizes as Katsuko walks through her suggestions. |"We'll probably want to plan for creating a distraction of our own, then,"| he thinks as he looks towards J'onn. |"If the Red Hulk's two superhumans are with him, we may just be able to hold them at bay for you, Agent; at the very least, we're going to have to corral the Hulk himself as best as we can. Once you've gotten the hostages clear and the lab is offline, we'll link back up with the other forces to see how they want to handle the rest of the occupying forces."| Unless there are objections, the Captain will begin creeping towards the noted loading bay, on that note.

<< I would phase in, but the second I do the cyborg will see me. See if you can get in. I'm going to increase my chances of surprise. >> At which point J'onn...is gone. Yup. Invisible, through the wall, heading for the nearest patrolling guard who's foolish enough to be on his own. Said guard will be on the receiving end of a mental command to "sleep."

The loading bay door is closed, but it is normal steel and is easily cut by Katsuko’s tools. There are really not enough guards to watch over a building that size. But then again, the Red Hulk needs little guarding. The first pair of patrolling guards falls asleep to Martian telepathy, and the team moves in.

From just outside the large room, the heroes can hear the Red Hulk giving orders by radio, although he seems to be using some kind of combat code. The technicians seem to be working under the command of the cyborg. The third man, white haired, very tall and strong, seems to be relaxing with a soda seated on a computer chair.

But he is not relaxing, he is listening. Suddenly, he stands, drawing a huge broadsword. “Ross, we got company,” he states. Then he puts on his mask, it is half orange and half black, and readily recognizable. He is another (in)famous US soldier. Slade Wilson. Deathstroke.

["Good luck to both of you."] Agent Yamaguchi offers, after she gets them inside the building by laser-cutting their way through the sealed loading bay door. That done, the dark-grey clad ninja scampers quite silently out of the way, slipping through a door and making her way right down the central wall of a stairwell - never one to trust the steps themselves woulds tay clear of traps and sensors - as she approaches the underground level where the hostages are being kept. She creeps along as stealthfully as she can until she is positioned just outside the placement of those two guards, and then spreads out one of those 'windows' on the wall, that lets her see what's going on inside without actually breaching anything. She has to plan the timing of this precisely, if she's to assure they can't harm the hostages or sound the alarm before she can neutralize them.


 * "We're in, Manhunter,"| Captain America says as the door is breached. |"I'm headed for the lab; I'll see you there."| His thoughts have a determined quality to them, but there's still an unmistakable doubt there; he's reasonably certain that J'onn will make it to him safely, but wartime has a way of dashing even the surest of expectations.

Once he splits from Agent Yamaguchi to begin stalking towards what seems to be the heart of the Red Hulk's operations, he's able to push those doubts most of the way out of this thoughts. If nothing else, they're buried deeply enough in the margins to not intrude on the link he's sharing. In fact, barring a brisk 'good luck' in reply to the Agent and responding to any other communication, he doesn't have much at all to 'say' as he works his way to the lab; his mind is too busy crunching the variables surrounding the lab.

Upon drawing close enough to the lab to get a glimpse at its occupants, he slings the shield from his back and hurls it into the room without breaking his stride. Whether or not J'onn is there, his job is to keep the Red Hulk and his men occupied, and so--occupy them he will. The star-spangled disc whizzes towards a piece of machinery at just the right angle to send it ricocheting - hopefully - into Slade's back; from there, it should travel towards the Hulk, and finally, to his hand. Unless it's interrupted, anyway.

The guard crumples to the ground...and is fairly carefully and gently relocated to a nearby janitors' closet. And then...well...J'onn can't use psionics when there's somebody so heavily shielded, so he just shapeshifts into the guard and walks right in. That should give some moments before any of them realize it's not one of their own people. And is certainly enough to get him to the lab, at which point...the shield is in the air, but he doesn't reveal himself right away. He's hoping to distract them for a moment of "Why are you here?" as the projectile leaves the Captain's hand.

Red Hulk glances at the entrance of the lab, his eyes narrowing when Captain America appear. He barks some orders at a comlink. Then addresses Deathstroke, "he won't have come alone."

"I know," replies Deathstroke. He is not even following the shield with his eyes, but he half-turns, quick as lightning, and grabs it with his left hand. "Predictable. But I have always wanted to have one of these shields, thanks." Then he lounges at Cap, his promethium sword aiming to cut him in half. He is as fast as... well, a super-soldier. But neither Hulk or Deathstroke seems to be paying attention to the disguised Manhunter. They are probably expecting Iron Man or Thor coming through a wall.

Meanwhile Katsuko can see how the two guards watching the hostages leaving their post, drawing the rifles and moving swiftly, likely trying to get to the upper room to help Ross.

Down below, unaware of Captain America's most unfortunate circumstances - and in absolutely no position to do anything about it even if she was - Agent Yamaguchi watches the soldiers' movements, and times her entrance as best she can to catch them three quarters of the way to the stairs that will take them up to support Ross and others, well and thoroughly out of position to cover the hostages. Then she taps the control for the laser cuter, slices right through the /wall/, and dives through in a roll, coming up in a full-on sprint to cut them off from the hostages' location, firing a spray of ICER shots at them as she does so. It's possible they may prove resistant, or even immune. But she'll try to disable rather than kill, since she has the opening to do so. For now.

Captain America still refuses to break stride after the Terminator catches his shield--until the sword comes into play, anyway. He fully expected any one of the assembled men to be up to the task of intercepting the weapon, but losing it in the short term isn't such a problem; letting them leave with it would be, and he has no intentions of letting that happen.

Of course, being sliced in half would be a pretty major short term problem, and the shield probably would have been handy for preventing it. Still, the lack of it just means that Cap has to improvise: as Deathstroke lunges, the original super-soldier gets low and pitches his body towards the assassin's other side, avoiding impalement by a matter of inches and earning a thin, but lengthy cut along his rib cage for his efforts. Instead of coming back up, after his evasive maneuvering, he plants a palm on the ground to support himself as he twists the lower half of his body into a pair of rather acrobatic sweeping kicks aimed at taking Deathstroke's legs out from under him.

The presence Martian Laboratory Guard is not ignored as Cap tries to contend with Deathstroke, but--he's fighting Deathstroke; tracking and/or subduing a normal guard is not high on his list of priorities right now.

And the laboratory guard just keeps walking forward...trying to position himself in between Deathstroke and Hulk. He's about to give them something else to think about...and he's hoping that he won't be noticed UNTIL he tries to nail both of them with strength not far below Superman's...melting back into his normal green form as he does so. (It's not his natural form - very few have seen that). "Greetings, gentlemen."

The soldiers in the lower level are taken completely by surprise by Kastuko. They wear armor, but it doesn’t completely cover their bodies, and before they can turn to shot back, they are downed by the incapacitating rounds.

Deathstroke jumps over Cap’s sweep, and raises his sword for another blow, this time from above and harder to avoid. Fortunately that is when the Manhunter strikes. And it is quite impressive how he still manages to twist his body and put the shield on the way of the Martian’s blow. Still, he is sent flying several yards away, and barely manages a three points landing before hitting the wall. Cap’s shield rolls away, but he keeps the blade.

On the other hand, Red Hulk takes punch right on the face, and he flinches briefly. “Rrrh,” he grunts, “not the green giant I expected. But nevermind. Deathlock, flamethrowers.” He commands, throwing a devastating punch to J'onn J'onzz head. However, the cyborg Deathlock completely ignores his command and keeps working on the machine.

With the guards incapacitated, Agent Yamaguchi readies the last of her laser cutters and slices open the heavily reinforced holding room where the hostages are being held. She then steps into the smoking breach and stands, still masked, almost blending into the smoke in that dark grey outfit of hers. "I'm with SHIELD. You all need to come with me, immediately. Assist each other as much as you can, let's move before we are intercepted."

After that, she starts chivvying them towards the exit, the stairs, and the loading bay as quickly as possible, as she activates the encrypted burst transmitter to inform her SHIELD cohorts that pickup will be needed soon. Meanwhile, she patrols around the group as she keeps them moving, ready to intercept any problems that may arise.

Cap's immediate instinct when Deathstroke goes high is to uncoil from his crouched position into a back handspring; odds were good that he'd have taken another cut from the blade if not for J'onn, but he instead lands unmolested a foot or two away. Conveniently, the shield ends up bumping into his ankle shortly after his landing, allowing him to bend and scoop it up.


 * "I appreciate the assist,"| he thinks as he takes a moment to slide the disc back onto his arm. |"Agent Yamaguchi:"| Process of elimination tells him that either the cyborg is Deathlok, or one of the technicians has an incredibly unfortunate name. Either way, the cyborg is the last overt threat remaining, and his focus on the machinery makes him that much more noteworthy. As soon as the shield is secure, he pulls it up in front of his body and takes off running towards Deathlok, intent on interrupting his work by roughly smashing him into his machine.


 * "What's your status?"|

<< I'm on these two, Captain America. Please deal with the cyborg. >> He's going to have to trust Cap, even as a bit of a shiver goes through him at the mention of flamethrowers. "The Hulk was occupied elsewhere, but he sends his regards." J'onn does not psi blast the Red Hulk, worried he'll trigger a gamma powered rage. And, distracted by the flamethrower mention, he takes the punch, being thrown backwards into some lab equipment, but the lab fairs far worse than he does and he's quickly charging back towards the red-hued giant.

Things were going well for Katsuko, the way is clear to get the hostages out. Then something happens:

[“We have an incoming. We have an incoming!”] Someone is screaming in the S.H.I.E.L.D. channels, and ignoring all the stealth protocols. [“Alien spaceship incoming. We have S.W.O.R.D. warning, it is entering atmosphere over Phoenix right now!”]

Red Hulk takes a second when the Manhunter goes flying, glancing at Deathlok briefly. Clearly surprised he didn’t obey. “What the hell, Manning, we could have... argh.” The Martian charge pushes him to the wall, and then through the wall, before he can brace himself. “Fool. I am far stronger than you!” He roars, trying to head-butt J'onn while his massive arms reach to grab him.

Deathstroke shakes his head and stands up, racing after Captain America. But not fast enough to prevent the hero from slamming against Deathlock, shield first. Yet the cyborg barely budges. It is like slamming against a wall of granite. Fortunately said wall of granite seems too busy working on the machine, thin wires, like tentacles, going from his wrists to the circuitry, switching chips at alarming speed.

["I have the hostages, we are about ready to break cover heading for the extraction point."] Yamaguchi responds to Captain America, having no idea just how difficult things are inside the lab right now, or how badly she herself might be needed to help out. Her assignment was clear, and given by the Sentinel of Liberty himself. Only Maria Hill could countermand those orders, and she's not going to be doing that today.

Then, suddenly, comm traffic goes to Hell. Katsuko squares her shoulders, and mutters. She hates exercising command authority; she's usually so far out of the command loop that her rank is effectively null and void. But she has no choice. Cap is way too busy right now to deal with this, and she knows it.

"This is Silver Shadow. Are you telling me my extraction is no longer possible? Confirm now! I have two dozen civilians in my charge, so get with it, mister! If you have to, float the damned Argus and blow that thing out of the sky!" Yamaguchi sends, while she pulls her civilians together to crouch under cover in the loading bay area, waiting for confirmation before taking them out into danger.

Captain America slams into Deathlok like a red, white, and blue freight train and then just kind of--stops. No having to pull back from his followthrough to avoid going down with his quarry, no stutter-stepping through the rest of his inertia after sending the cyborg moving, just the total cessation of forward momentum. And Deathlok doesn't even move; he isn't sure which concerns him more, and there's no time whatsoever to ponder it.

"Do we have any access to the city's communication bands? We need any civilians left in the city to remain calm, and I need to know what we're dealing with out there!" the Captain says into his comm device. Since Deathlok is so sturdy - and so completely unfocused on anything but the machine in front of him - Cap drops half a step back, then hops forward, intent on planting a foot on the cyborg's back and using it to launch himself into a flip over the incoming Deathstroke's head. Upon reaching the apex of his graceful leap, he'll send the shield hurtling at a sharp angle aimed directly towards the exposed circuits of the machine that Manning is so dutifully working on, then twist his body into a landing. The plan from there is to catch the shield as it rebounds back to his hand, but that's hardly something he can count on with Deathstroke in play.

"This is not the time or the place for you," he informs the cyborg, the general, and the super-soldier as he maneuvers. "I can't pretend to know the paths you walked to become who you are, but their detour through this time, this place--it's over." Upon landing, he drops into a defensive posture with an eye on each of the Death*s before him.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. channel is suddenly full of static. Communication breaks down quickly. [“Alien... system... pull back, pull back!... oh god!...”]. When the hostages get out, they point up amazed and terrified. There is an alien ship over the city. Larger than a helicarrier. And it looks like a metal skull!

While Red Hulk and Martian Manhunter are exchanging titanic blows that make the walls of the lab rumble. Deathstroke’s is smelling something rotten going on. Instead of stabbing Cap in the back, he has taken a few seconds to talk with the troops outside with his own comlink. So the shield causes a good deal of destruction on the exposed circuitry, and Deathlok turns to face him. “So. Ignoring you was a miscalculation. Now die.” He raises his hand and blasts at Cap with a massive plasma bolt.

["Captain, extraction of hostages is on hold. A giant skull-shaped spacecraft has just taken up position over the City, and all comms with SHIELD has broken off. Should I run them to ground? Or cover here and wait? Do you need support?"] Yamaguchi sends across the psilink, hoping it is still active when everything else is on the fritz. Damnit. This is not good. And she's not happy.

Pro: The shield doesn't ricochet smoothly from the console, but it does bounce out, hit the ground, then wobble its way through an awkward arc that eventually leads it back to the waiting Captain.

Con: Deathlok is armed with a plasma launcher. Literally, the thing is sticking out of his arm.

By the time Cap has his shield in hand, there isn't enough time to position it properly for the blast: some of that scintillating energy splashes harmlessly against the star-emblazoned surface, but plenty slips right past the barrier to slam into the Captain's armored body and send him flying across the lab until he bounces along the ground a couple of times. All he can do is try to roll through the fall and try to shut out the searing pain until he eventually, he skids to a full, smoldering stop.

"Ignoring me--nngh--" Captain America grits out as he painstakingly pushes himself up from the ground amidst wisps of smoke, "--is always a miscalculation, soldier--but where does the space ship fit into your figures?" Once he's up again, he adopts a wide stance that is mostly intended to help him keep his balance as he tries to recover from that shot. "Just what kind of service did you all enlist for?"


 * "Agent Yamaguchi, the lines are down: what can you see on your end? How many more hostiles are we dealing with?"|

Telepathic lines go down too as the Martian Manhunter comes flying and crashes against a row of mainframes just behind Cap, stunned. Red Hulk comes back into the lab and glares at Deathlok. “What is going on? Report.” But it is Deathstroke who answers, “we got one of Brainiac’s ships over the city.” Ross seems startled, “what? Why... no, wrong question. How did he know we were here?” Both men look at Deathlok.

Shaking his head, the stunned Martian starts to pick himself up. He glances at Captain America...and if he's injured, it doesn't seem to be slowing him down any. As they talk, though, he stays very quiet. Maybe they won't realize they're listening and say something important...

["Captain, no additional hostiles. Just a really huge skull ship out here. Extraction is out. I'm going to run them for the hovercraft, try to take it over and get them out of here to safety. Captain?"] Yamaguchi tries to respond. But it doesn't go through. Nothing does. Now all of her lines of communication have been cut, and she has no options. She has dozens of lives depending on her, and she has to do all she can to secure their safety. "Good luck, Captain." she murmurs, softly.

"Alright. Form up, stay as close together as you can, and stay under cover. We're going to run to the front of the building. Their ship is at the main entrance. I have to take out the guards, and get you aboard and out of here. That ship out there has cut off our extraction, so this is our only way to safety." The grey-masked form crouches in front of her hostages, staring intently at them, willing them to buck up and follow her. "Let's go."

What follows is a flat-out sprint. She knows they will follow, but she has to get there first. And she can. By quite the margin, thanks to her enhancements. It's not something she brags about, or shows off. But all bets are off. She has to get to and subdue those four guards or her civilians will get hurt, or worse. That cannot be allowed to happen. Hence the almost blurring ninja rushing into their midst with fists, feet and ICER rounds a blaze.

"Seems like a fair question," the Captain agrees as he, too, turns his eyes towards Deathlok--over the edge of the shield, of course The three displaced soldiers are distracted now, but it'd only take a split-second for that to change; after that last plasma blast, he has to be careful.

"Of course, the better question would be:" he continues, picking up on what seems to be distress from Deathstroke and General Ross, "what are you going to do about it? Are you ready to take him on, you and the men you have occupying the city? Do you like your chances of finding a place where he won't track you again?" It is, all in all, a long shot, his best attempt at twisting an unforseen complication into an advantage; given that, he doesn't hold a ton of hope for successfully talking his way out of the rest of this confrontation, but--the lives of those hostages demands that he try whatever he can to buy Katsuko the time she needs to get them clear. His body, enhanced as it is, just isn't strong enough to bear the full load of occupying them, and J'onn seems to still be reeling after his throwdown with the Hulk.

"Or do you think it's possible that maybe it's time to consider another course entirely: a truce, for example..."

The men at the hovercraft were rushing to the lab to help Ross with the fight, so Katsuko meets them halfway to the main doors. They are ready for trouble and wearing advanced armor. Although the close quarter makes unwise to use heavy energy weapons, when Katsuko tramples the first of them, the rest draw charged blades and try to surround and stab her.

Meanwhile, in the lab, the Red Hulk seems to have made a decision. “Traitor!” He charges Deathlok, and the cyborg can’t ignore over a thousand pounds of charging hulk, which pushes and pins him against his own machine. Ross’ fingers dig on Deathlok shoulders, shattering his red armor and tearing intohe internal mechanisms.

“Human fool. I am no traitor, I am fulfilling my purpose. And you are no threat to me: I have long known how to destroy you.” The cyborg eyes glow green, and the Red Hulk huge bulk is bathed in gamma light. He staggers back, screaming in pain, and also losing mass quickly. Before he becomes fully human Deathlok blasts him with plasma, killing him instantly.

The cyborg turns to the others. “Now, leave this building if you want to live. This city is mine.” Chunks of red armor fall from his chest, revealing dull grey underneath.

The guards want to confront Yamaguchi Katsuko in melee combat with blades? Seriously? These guys have definitely bitten off more than they can chew, not the least of which because they are relatively normal humans. The SHIELD ninja is not. It is by no choice of her own, but that makes it no less true.

Yamaguchi's blows are capable of denting steel armor if she wishes; directed in blurring speed and with incredible accuracy, she allows the men to surround her, then grabs the first to attack and drives his charged blade into the body of one of his compatriots, then she flips up and over him to drive her heel through the face plate of the third target. Twisting the body of the stabbed one to rip the blade from the hand of the original attacker, she then pushes the two apart and drops down, ready for a combination to sweep his legs and then kick up through his chin. She hasn't time for more, as her civilians are going to need evac, quickly.

Captain America's eyes widen as Red Hulk renders his verdict, but despite his desire to intervene, he doesn't make it more than a couple of steps from his position before the cyborg is ripped in half before him. So it also goes when Deathlok responds in ultimately fatal fashion; despite a reaction time hovering on the bleeding edge of human potential, he's no match for the savage cyborg's speed, so all he can really do is watch as Ross' grotesquely twisted body hits the ground.

Now it's just him, J'onn, Slade, and Deathlok; his gaze darts between the latter two as Deathlok issues his ultimatum, and then it settles on Slade. "We may want to consider leaving," he tightly says to both the super-soldier and the Manhunter--even if he only really expects one of them to comply. "Communications are down. We don't know what's happening outside, the status of the other elements... we have to regroup." Leaving the cybernetic conqueror to his no doubt sinister devices kills him, but--there are too many unknowns, now; if they're going to have any chance at saving Phoenix, they may just have to pull back and make plans to fight another day.

J'onn Jonzz isn't fast enough either. A bit of anger shows in the red eyes. "Regrouping might not be a bad idea." He can't read or affect Deathlok's mind and a plasma blast strong enough to take out a Hulk might also be strong enough to take out a Martian. He's not happy about it, but Steve's right.

“We couldn’t go far,” notes Deathstroke. “That thing is not Deathlok, and I bet the spaceship out there will put the whole city in a bottle any time now.”

Deatlhok smiles arrogantly, his disguise falling in pieces to reveal a robot body, with only a human-like (if green) face. “You are partially right. I am not, and I never was, Deathlok. I am Brainiac. I infiltrated Chronopolis disguised to take that city. And now I will take Phoenix and the rest of the Anachronauts as well as some... interesting specimens. Martians are almost extinct.” Meanwhile Katsuko finds the soldiers outside pretty competent and the armors good enough to protect them from her fists and kicks. She manages to stab one of them with the borrowed knife, and the charge knocks him out. The others are tossed around, but get back to their feet.

Captain America grimaces at the Terminator. The city is occupied; Brainiac might happen to be a common threat to occupiers and heroes alike, but he, J'onn, and Katsuko invaded first. There's no telling how many of the Anachronauts might be willing to set aside their enmity for the invaders for the sake of dealing with the mechanical tyrant--if any of them.

In other words: there's nowhere to regroup to; if the city of Phoenix is going to remain in its oppressively warm place, he and J'onn will have to fight for it here and now.

"Alright," he evenly says, masking his ill-ease with the stout, commanding tone he perfected in the trenches. He turns his head towards J'onn and concludes, "then we stay." He tries to share a look with the Martian - a pointed, 'go on my signal' sort of look. Finally, he turns his attention to Brainiac: "I'm Captain America; on behalf of the City of Phoenix, Arizona and its citizens, these assorted time-travellers you're attempting to kidnap, and these United States--"

He hurls his shield towards the machine, aiming to stun or stagger it by burying the discus in its chest. He moves as quickly as his wounds will allow towards a cover-worthy piece of equipment as he finishes, "--we intend to see to it that you never threaten another civilization with your brand of research!"

"Entirely agreed." J'onn moves quickly to try and hit Brainiac from behind, apparently not too concerned about friendly fire from Cap's shield...with his resistance and regeneration, it would hurt, but it wouldn't do any permanent damage. He's moving at full speed, too, visible to the Captain only as a blur of green, a couple of shades darker than the Coluan robot. Oh, and red. But before he moves, he re-establishes the lost telepathic link for better coordination with the Captain. It's only the two of them, but he's faced far, far worse odds.

Brainiac covers his damaged chest with an arm and the shield bounces off (and back to Cap’s hands). Then he fires his wrist-mounted plasma blaster at the Avenger. “Your desires are irrelevant, human. You will be collected, or destroyed.”

But them the Martian slams against him, pushing him against his machine. Circuits shatter and metal grinds. The robot is pretty strong, but the Red Hulk damaged it quickly, and that means J'onn is strong enough to get through his defenses. “Fool, you can only delay the unavoidable,” he yells at the Manhunter. For a few seconds, it almost matches his strength, but then metal groans in protest and sparks flare from his form. “Release me!” He commands, sending a massive electrical discharge through his frame, trying to force the hero to let him go.

Cap hears his shield ricochet from Brainiac's chassis, so instead of diving behind the console he's eyeing, he plants a foot on the lip of it, then vaults off at just the right angle to pass perpendicular to his shield and snag it on the way down. The fancy maneuvering is mostly meant to make him a harder target; it's pretty much entirely unsuccessful on that front - Brainiac tracks and shoots at him anyway - but at least he has his shield. Upon landing, he skids to a crouched stop and jerks his shield up in front of the blast moments before it would have otherwise seared him.

"Deathstroke!" he calls to the mercenary as he stands back up. "We're going to need help--those people outside are going to need help." His eyes shift between the machine and Terminator. "He betrayed you," the Captain then reminds him. "Are you the kind of man who can let that stand...?"

And J'onn can't quite keep a grip with that electricity, but he wasn't trying to keep one for that long anyway. He leaps back, but tries to smash as much machine as possible during his retreat. Cap's trying to convince the mercs to switch sides. Good move, as far as the Martian's concerned. He can't use psionics against somebody who doesn't have a brain, so he's restricted to physical attacks.

Brainiac crackles and shifts, trying to self-repair quickly. Then he aims the plasma weapon to J'onn. Best weapon against Martians, and he seems the most dangerous of the heroes. The machine is further thrashed and well into the hours of work to repair. But with Brainiac spaceship outside, he might have those hours.

Deathstroke was actually heading out. But Cap’s words give him pause. “He deceived Kang for a decade. A decade he had to study us,” he glances at Ross charred corpse. “But... he doesn’t know you.” With a swift move, Deathstroke tosses his blade to Captain America. The promethium sword is massive, too heavy for a normal human. But Cap would find it the perfect weight for a man of his strength.

Captain America catches the flung sword almost as effortlessly as Deathstroke stole his shield and gives the mercenary a firm nod and a genuine, "Thank y--" that is interrupted when he flicks his gaze towards J'onn and Brainiac's battle and sees the plasma blaster being levelled at the Martian.


 * "J'onn!"| he 'exclaims' with widening eyes.

The shield goes whirling towards the machine's blaster arm; given the ease with which it seemed to deflect the disc, though, Cap grips his gifted weapon in both hands and charges into the fray, intent on giving it as many varied threats to cope with as he can.

Swordplay is definitely not his forte, but he's had a lesson here or there - both in classrooms and the field; for the sake of overthrowing this tyrant from the stars, he's willing to do his best with what he's learned.

Hearing the Captain's warning, J'onn leaps back and then phases through the wall behind him. He doesn't return right away, no doubt planning on sneaking up on the robot from some other angle. Yes, there he is, behind Brainiac again in a different place.

Sure enough, the shield impacts the arm with the plasma cannon, throwing the robot’s aim off for a second, when it finally fires, J’onn is behind the wall. Brainiac still shots several times through the wall, but the Martian is already moving.

Then Captain America drives the massive broad sword through the metal chest, impaling Brainiac to the wall. “Error... error... zzzzrk...” Brainiac jerks several times, trying to grab Cap’s head with a hand, but he is visibly slower now.

Cap snags one of the shield's grips as it whirls by him, but he ends up being so busy trying to withdraw - and then withdraw from - the sword while also contending with the discus' positioning that he can't escape the machine's mechanical grasp.

"Nngh--!" he exclaims, his cry of surprise and no small amount of pain muffled against Brainiac's palm. One hand grips the machine's wrist to try and pry it free, but he's no match for its strength--not that that stops him from trying as he slowly sinks to his knees beneath the terrible pressure closing in on his skull.

A steadfast, but plainly agonized |"J-J'onn!"| bleeds into the mental link.

And yes, J'onn is behind Brainiac, but he shifts position before firing a blast of Martian Vision designed to make him...let go of the Captain. That's the primary concern, because if he doesn't, the man's likely to be dead in very, very short order indeed. That's not an attack that a human can survive for any length of time.

Brainiac releases the Captain when his wrists is hit by the Martian force blast, but then he stumbles forward and grips the blade of the sword with both hands, trying to pull it off him. The heroes can hear a rumbling sound just above, as the alien spaceship’s tentacles hit the ceiling of the building and begin to tear it open, to reach the lab room.


 * "Thank--thank you,"| Captain America thinks as he stumbles out of Brainiac's grasp.

Brainiac can basically have the sword right now, for all Cap cares; as long as the machine is busy trying to dislodge it, the alien is, ostensibly, distracted.

And if Brainiac's distracted, it means that the Captain - who is seeing in red-tinged double-vision and trying to ignore the horrible throbbing in his skull - might manage to catch the machine off-guard when he drops back just far enough to let him build up a little bit of momentum, then sharply twists in towards Brainiac with the edge of his shield leading the way towards his neck. The sword would, of course, be the ideal implement for decapitation, but the thin edge of his unbreakable shield combined with his own enhanced strength might - if they aren't entirely up to the task - at least be sufficient to drive a little more of the fight from the machine while J'onn delivers the final blow.


 * "If you have any ideas about his ship..."| he adds without ever finishing the thought; there isn't much point with tentacles tearing the roof away and driving home the danger they're facing.

And then, now the Captain's clear, J'onn charges in...once more disregarding the risk of being hit by the shield and reaching out to try and finish the job by simply ripping the robot's head off. It's not like it's not...a robot. He's absolutely sure this isn't all of Brainiac. They do that.

The shield backed with Captain America’s strength is not enough to decapitate Brainiac, but when the Manhunter joins the effort, it happens. With a terrible noise of shredded metal and an mechanical scream, Brainiac’s head comes off, and immediately the light goes out of his eyes.

The tentacles tearing at the building shudder, and then withdraws, and the skull-shaped ship gains height quickly, pretty much ignoring the energy blasts and missiles of both the anachronaut army and S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier.

Brainiac’s body and head themselves quickly dissolve into monoatomic sludge. The space villain doesn’t like to share his technology.

Deathstroke is nowhere to be found. In fact, the Anachronauts withdraw from Phoenix swiftly and quietly, leaving behind just the half a dozen men that Katsuko knocked out. The invasion is over, the city is safe.