2012-07-18 Some Assembly Required II

It's Quiet. Too Quiet. For this being the City That Never Sleeps, it certainly is taking a cat nap right now. While there are still people rushing this way and that way on this night. it is Times Square that happens to be the center of attention at this juncture. Maybe it's the lights. Maybe it's the crowd. Or maybe Times Square just happens to be the perfect place to hide a special and powerful artifact: Because nobody's looking for it.

Wrong.

The shadows are what give them away. One after another, huge green air shuttles arrive overhead and the heavily armed men in green are not Army. No, they are much worse than that.

"HAIL HYDRA!"

The scream echoes throughout the Square as more and more HYDRA soldiers come out of the woodworks. They arrive, en masse, from almost every turn. From store fronts, from street vendor booths, from beneath the streets and from above, the amount of HYDRA soldiers that start to converge on Times Square is uncanny. And each of them is armed to the teeth with weaponry and armored up just as well. Trained professionals, indeed.

High above the streets and a block away, the HYDRA Terror-Carrier looms ominously with its tremendous size. Standing out on the deck is none other than Madame Hydra herself. Her green lips curve up into a smile as she watches her HYDRA soldiers move into position to secure and lock down Times Square. After all, holding everyone in the Square hostage is much more efficient.

"It's time." she finally says, pulling her gaze from the going ons down below. She turns to look at those still gathered on her ship. "The energy signatures all point to somewhere in this area. Whomever hid it, hid it well as the constant technology seems to be interfering with tracking it. No matter, we will tear this city apart until we find it. And anyone that stands in our way. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Madame Hydra. We understand perfectly. " comes the soft voice of Asp. She turns to those gathered around her: Black Mamba, Cottonmouth and the Rattler. "Get to the Serpent Saucer. We have a Cube to find."

The Serpent Society falls into line as they head off towards the launch bay, climbing into the Serpent Saucer and launching off the Terror-Carrier with ease, skimming through the air and off towards Times Square, all the while following the unstable blip on the vehicle's radar.

Madame Hydra turns to watch the Serpent Saucer fly off and she narrows her eyes, almost untrusting. Even still, she's smiling. This is going to be a good night.

Pepper Potts has the misfortune of being one of the people rushing through Times Square, and of not being fast enough to get out again. Damn Tony for wanting a particular pastry from a particular store, and damn herself even more for offering it in the first place. Pastry container in hand, she watches the green-clad men converging and preventing people from leaving, and already has that horrible sinking feeling. She should never have mentioned cheesecake.

Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes? Ok, the Black Widow doesn't really mind snakes, except when they are upsetting a perfectly good 5 minute cat nap. She hands her binoculars to another agent on the Helicarrier's deck and heads for a flying car. "Anyone need a lift?" she asks the others around her.

It was a quiet day and a quiet night, and so the Asgardians have a day in. Sif made pot roast. Thor sneaked some potatoes and carrots. THey'd eaten, and were just sitting on the roof, chatting and relaxing when, Thor's eyes suddenly snap up. Without a second glance, Thor says merely that he is Called. Summoning Mjolnir, the Lord of Storms hurricane flings himself toward Times Square; storm clouds trail him as he flies rapidly. His red cloak snaps along behind him. A faint grumble of thunder heralds his arrival.

From the rooftops, Spider-Man appears to be looking down over the city. His city. It should be one of those heroic poses where the vigilante is about to take action for a city that cannot bring itself to truly love him. To assist those who would have him strung up. Lynched. This should be a moment of total pathos that would take your breath away with a nearly 360 camera shot just as the sun was setting or something like that, but instead, Spider-Man has his cell phone out and is sending texts. But then his senses start to tingle and he looks over down near Time Square. "Oh snap!" he exclaims. "The Germans really /were/ invading. It's just like 70 years after the fact." He sets his backback down between a ventilation shaft and the wall and leaps off the side of the building.

Despite the late hour Sharon has been awake, too much on her mind to allow her to sleep. The time she'd be in her room normally was going to be spent in the gym but the call comes in, putting an end to that plan. It took her no time to get ready and get to the deck where Natasha is, Sharon's expression displeased and entirely too grim. "I'll take you up on that."

There's this hot dog vendor. He's been working Times Square for years. Sells damn good hot dogs, believe it or not, and he has for the last thirty-five years. When Times Square was a run-down and dangerous place at night with peep shows and open drug use, Manny was there. When it got slowly cleaned up into the tourist destination it is now, Manny was there. The TV execs know Manny. They send the interns out to get hot dogs from him every Friday. The businessmen know Manny. Some of them. The ones who have been here for a long time do, anyway. They know Manny like they know three-martini lunches, like they know expensive scotch.

Manny's a good guy. Kosher dogs. Plenty of relish and onions. And if he knows you, sometimes you get a dog for free.

HYDRA doesn't know Manny. They don't really care. He's just another poor schlub who happens to be in their way. So when the HYDRA soldiers are running into position they're shoving Manny's famous hot dog cart aside, staggering the chubby old hot dog salesman and onto his rear. He's rising up just as one of the HYDRA guys points a rifle...

Say, what's that rumbling sound?

A flash of red, white, and blue and Captain America's standing in between the energy bolt and Manny, raising the Shield of Freedom to deflect the HYDRA soldier's bolt. It bounces harmlessly away and Captain America reaches down, helping Manny to his feet and dusting him off. "Run!" he says quickly. "Get out as fast as you can and get to shelter. Underground. Call the authorities and tell them..."

He advances suddenly, suddenly quite quickly, and lashes out to knock the soldier cold. "Tell them that HYDRA's back in business."

No doubt, this is serious. Serious enough that Karl is in full tactical kit, and serious enough that transport is catch-as-catch can. "Here, ma'am," Karl quickly answers Black Widow and moves to board the car behind her.

Madame Hydra stays put where she is, in command of a fleet, a legion of loyal HYDRA soldiers. In conjunction with the Serpent Society? Oh, this was going to be quite the affair, indeed. She is clearly focused on the battle, though, the moment she spots that shield... she knows that they are going to be in for a world of American hurt. Luckily, she planned for this. "You. Get them up here. Now." Madame Hydra points at one random Hydra lackey that stumbles over himself to get to the stairs. He stops, turns around, salutes, "Hail Hydr--" "GO!" And then he's off again, practically falling down the stairs as he goes to get whatever it is that Madame Hydra is referring to. The mistress herself? She merely smiles again as she looks out over the battlefield. "It's time for a Wreckoning."

Iron Man, of course, is en route. Whether he picked this up on SHIELD frequencies or something, that doesn't really matter. What matters is that he's on his way, repulsors blaring and everything. He's certainly making with the dramatic flying entrance from a direction that HYDRA is not. So he doesn't get the luxury of blasting any drop ships out of the sky. He does, however, drop the robotic quip of the moment, "Celebrating St. Patty's Day a little late, are we fellas?" And the repulsoring begins.

HYDRA Soldiers are swarming without fail on Pepper. Her status makes her a target and therefore, she's getting swarmed on with the quickness. Pastries be damned, they're going to get her for hostaging if they have to pick her up by her fitting business attire!

S.H.I.E.L.D. is going to have their hands full flying in, thanks to the Vipers that are skimming around the drop ships, as they are ready to provide cover for those that are being dropped low to deal with the crowd and whatever's on the ground.

Thor's Thunderous Arrival shakes some of HYDRA's soldiers in their boots. Some of them scatter, but most of them pull together and get their weapons at the ready, shooting bolts of pitiful laserness off in his direction.

Spider-Man is likely to have a HYDRA-filled landing as they are down in force and already starting to blast upwards. Laser Bolts away! Keep the Spider away!

Captain America is already laying into HYDRA agents and the one that gets cold-clocked is sent flying over a random NYPD car and into the street. He rolls and actually squeaks a moment before losing consciousness. This is before about six other HYDRA agents come rushing for the Captain from behind.

The Serpent Saucer is bobbing and weaving through all of this, attempting to use the chaos as cover as it heads for a specific location. "I've got it. One Times Square." "Little obvious, isn't it?" "Whatever. We're getting paid." "He's right. Let's just do this and get outta' here. I think I heard Thor." "Is... is that Captain America down there?" "Asp. Fly faster." "On it." Zooooooom!

Once the Agents are inside, Natasha fires up the repulsors and sends the SHIELD car at breakneck speed towards Times Square. "Walters, take the controls," she calls, as they weave amid the chaos high above the area. She then leaps out of the car. Yes, she just jumped out of a perfectly good flying car without a parachute while bad guys shoot at the vehicle.

The Black Widow swan dives with uncommon grace, firing off her Widow's Bite at the driver of one of the shooting vehicles, and her Widow's Line at a tall building so she can slow her descent in a long, sweeping arc. She flips and lands on the side of the building, clinging there like another resident wall crawler, before running down it to the ground below.

One quick swap of the area from on high, tells Thor where he should strike. Ignoring the pitiful laser blasts, the God of Thunder drops from the sky into the middle of the fray of HYDRA Agents, Mjolnir batting them this way and that. A punch to one, a froward kick-shove to another, the Asgardian Prince is leaving a path of fallen HYDRA foot grunts on his way toward Potts.

"Traffic these days!" exclaims Spider-Man as his body bends impossibly to get out of the the first blast that comes his ways. He shoots off a side web to pull him out of the way and towards one of the buildings. He clings to it but quickly uses his hand to smash in the window and take some cover. He's a sitting duck out here. Better to come in from the other direction. So he's running now in the middle of an accountant office. "Pardon me. Comin' through. Excuse me. Comin. Whoa!" He notices a plump lady with red hair, "Looks like someone's got a case of the Mondays." Bursting into an office he leaps over the desk of one of the higher ups and brings his feet up just over his head before smashing through the window and continuing his descent down another path.

Darn it. He can hear these voices in his ear but he doesn't really know how to talk *back* to them. Cap reflects, a little ashamed, that he probably should have figured out how to talk *back* to SHIELD. Yeah. Especially when he gets tackled by six guys from behind. With a shout he throws one over his shoulder with a Judo move second to few, whirling around to slam his shield into another and send a third crashing into a fourth with one good punch. He's laying in around him and tapping his ear and shouting: "HYDRA's everywhere! We need to coordinate! Who's in command?!"

Once the operation of the vehicle is handed over to someone else the car is brought down as low as it can while being a target for HYDRA attention, it brought to a hover above a low roof. Sharon and a few of the others hop out and start to scale a fire escape. "Don't hold back," she lets the men she led down to the street know, her words clipped. Sharon is not a happy camper.

She is certainly trusting of his training (and reflexes). Thankfully, those hold. The car shakes and levels as Karl grabs the wheel and slides into the seat, then banks once Natasha is away, heading up Broadway to drop Sharon and her team. "I'll set it down there!" he tells Sharon, pointing to the roof of the Belasco Theater, across Broadway from One Times Square. He accelerates away, banks again, and then drops the car hard, straight down onto the theater's roof and directly onto a group of HYDRA agents clustered there.

Back on the Terror-Carrier...

"Yo."

"Yeah, it's 'bout time."

"We been waitin' for like a damn week!"

"Hey. Youse guys chill." The last voice seems to be the one that's the most commanding. The voice that belongs to a man by the name of Dirk Garthwaite. Also known as...

"Wrecker." Madame Hydra speaks as she turns around to greet him and his Crew: Eliot 'Thunderball' Franklin, Henry 'Bulldozer' Camp and Brian 'Piledriver' Calusky. "S.H.I.E.L.D. has decided to raise the stakes. I'm ready to call their bluff."

Wrecker smirks and slams his giant crowbar into his hand. "Leave 'em to us. We got this."

Iron Man circles the action, firing off repulsor blasts on the occasional, while trying to get a bead on what's actually going on. "There's too many of them for this to make any kind of sense. We're missing something here." J.A.R.V.I.S. is on it but he's still dealing with helping Tony target and blast anybody that gets too close to an innocent bystander. Or... ping-ping-ping. "Pepper."

Black Widow is in action! The pilot of that Viper gets bitten by the Widow's Bite and there's pretty much nothing that's stopping him from losing control of that vehicle and sending it TIE Fighter style into another one. The resulting explosion probably means there's some dead HYDRA agents involved but nobody would care, really, would they? It's HYDRA. Soldiers down below are already blasting at her and her running down of the wall. Pew pew!

Thor has no trouble at all getting to Potts. It's really quite simple for a THUNDER GOD to layeth the hammer down on these puny HYDRA Agents. They are barely any match for Mjolnir. "Yipe!" "Urk!" "Whuff!" "CRUNCH!" ... that one was trying to block with his laser rifle. Idiot.

Metal Gear Spidey is smart. Too smart. Because those HYDRA agents have no idea where the hell he went. "Where'd he go?" "Huh?" "What was that?" It is almost as if they had Exclamation Points over their heads, the way they are focused on trying to get a bead on where the wall crawler went. "He's gotta' be around here somewhere!" Meanwhile, that other path he's taking? That's going to put him right by some HYDRA Agents that are not paying attention. These are the ones that ran from Thor.

"Ah. SHIELD. So we meet again." This mouthy HYDRA Agent thinks he's got the drop on Agent 13 and her crew. Which is why the smug bastard is just standing there, with his laser rifle held on his shoulder. "This time, HYDRA will be victorious! And you and all your pals will perish beneath our might!" Yeah, he's just going to keep talking. n00b.

Captain America has no trouble at all getting rid of the HYDRA agents swarmed all over him. They go this way and that way as he takes them out with fist or shield. It's really a dedicated artform. Or something. A second wave comes at the Captain from all sides, though. These armed with glowing staves of energy blasting destruction. There's no way he can take them all out! Surround him!

SPLAT! That's one way of putting it. Agent Walters makes short work of the HYDRA agents on the roof, which pretty much means he's got a clear path for a bit. Y'know, if he doesn't count the six paratroopers dropping from above. Concussion grenades are dropped as the HYDRA agents attempt to get the drop on him and his ride.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! If the ground's not shaking when the Wrecking Crew arrives it's certainly not a party. Anyway, the ground does tremble beneath their mighty arrival, as they land right in the middle of this war zone, armed and ready. "Ooooh. Can we play too?" comes from Piledriver as they start trying to spot the more 'super' of the heroes gathered.

The Serpent Saucer crashes through the glass of One Times Square and causes whomever is inside to get the hell out. Running and screaming is the order of business as Asp, Black Mamba, Rattler and Cottonmouth jump out of the vehicle. "It's here. Somewhere in this building." Asp says, pointing off in random directions. "Find it. Tear the place apart if you have to. Quickly. Before they figure it out." And the Serpents slither!

Sure enough, Tony's cheesecake is the first casuality of HYDRA's attack as green-suited men come straight at Pepper. They don't look anything like the typical muggers she thought she'd learned her self-defense skills to defend against, but an attacker is an attacker. Also, she remembers her Sandra Bullock movies. The first one to put a hand on her gets a knee in the gentleman area, the second an elbow to the diaphragm, and... the third picks her up bodily. She throws her head back and hears a kind of satisfying thunk and sound of pain from the man, but he doesn't let go. Damn! She tries to bash her assailant again by throwing her head back, but that doesn't work a second time. She does, though, notice a certain flaxen-haired, hammer-wielding person approaching at all speed. This could be ... noisy.

Yes! Who is in command here? Thor glances toward the Captiain, drawn by the authority in the man's voice. The glance lasts only a moment, but the warrior's ears are trained to hear his orders and to react as bid. With more HYDRA swarming over to help cover the one that's collected Pepper, Thor is forced to drop to his thigh, baseball sliding into the feet of a few HYDRA before he tornado-yanks himself back to his feet and flings a small bolt of ball lightning at another two.

Spidey hits the ground with a quick, almost serpentine grace, and he's moving immediately. Webs on either hand splay out and trip up two HYDRAs. A yank together pulls them into two more, causing four to get all tangled up in Blue. Well, they try to anyways. One pulls a lazer gun and takes aim, but Spider-Man deftly dodges in a quick backflip and the lazer wipes out one of their teammates. Good times.

"Oh what the..." Sharon calls over her comms, that said when she gets surprised by a swarm of soldiers, "Sorry Cap. I think Widow's the one you'll be calling 'ma'am' at the moment," that punctuated by the sound of someone expelling air from their lungs harshly. "We're going to be busy here so might be a bit silent for a moment."

As soon as the agent's voice drops she's throwing fists and kicking HYDRA personnel wherever she's able to, those with her following suit. For the most part the SHIELD people are victorious but not without taking some blows in the form of blows to the ribs, shins and even a nose or two.

Whoa, is that Thor up there? Say, that's good news -- augh! The Star-Spangled Man is surrounded, and though he's trying to block the blasts with his shield, he can't block three hundred and sixty degrees at once. In desperation Cap charges, bullrushing two of the HYDRA agents and breaking through the line so he can at least get a better vantage, but he calls through the comlink -- assuming he's supposed to press here? -- "I need backup! I'm pinned down over here!" Dodging behind Manny's poor hot dog cart, he glances back and forth, judging the angles before winging the shield out to take out several soldiers before it gets back to him.

The Black Widow moves fluidly as she dives, clings, leaps, swings, and tumbles her way to the ground. Once there, she begins firing gas pellets in the path of HYDRA agents who are advancing towards civilians. "I need this area evacuated," she barks into her comm, giving a few shocked spectators a gentle push out of the square. When Cap's call comes, she sprints his way, running up the back of a car, sliding over the top and down the hood, and sommersaulting to the ground. She stands, and goes back to back with Cap. "Got you, Uncle."

Karl's path was out of the car, and he is moving at a half-crouch, half-roll that (with added impetus from the periphery of the grenade blast) drops him hard onto the next level of the roof. The car does its job as well - shooting back up off the theater's rooftop and automatically dodging a collision with a HYDRA skimmer. Even six paratroopers aren't likely enough to set off its collision avoidance circuitry, though, and particularly not when Karl, turning onto his back with a grimace to look up at the sky above, finger-taps a sequence into the digital pad he's caught up from his belt. The car corrects and speeds upward toward the HYDRA chutists, spinning and spitting projectile fire like a heavy metal Gammera. Smart technology, indeed.

"What!" HYDRA Agent sings soprano as he goes down from Pepper's knee. "Th-oof!" HYDRA Agent stumbles away, even dropping his Stun Baton on the way, as he tries to recover from being elbow'd all up in himself. "FUUUUUU---" that third HYDRA agent is dealing with the pain of being headbutted all up in his grill and trying hard not to let go. This one's got some fight in her. He likes that. Maybe a little too much.

Thor's HYDRA swarm is only delaying him for the moment. Just enough time to not get to Pepper. Which is not good for Pepper. But Thor's from Asgard. And this is how Asgard gets down. And this is also why HYDRA agents are flying through the air again, because Thor don't play. Please, Mjolnir, don't hurt 'em. But yet, there's a path cleared. Hm.

He's On Fire! Spider-Man is doing his thing and HYDRA just cannot keep up. "When the hell did we get to the Superhero Olympics?" "We do not get paid enough for this!" Those are the only two agents left in Spidey's immediate area, since the rest are having a Nightmare on Web Street. Go Web. Spidey's got a clear path through the HYDRA fools.

Sharon and the S.H.I.E.L.D. Squad get some relief in the form of their enemies getting trounced. It's like Toy Story Chess. But with more movement. Rooftops, though, are fair game and from their HYDRA Snipers start aiming and picking off the S.H.I.E.L.D. Squad members around Agent 13. Isolate and Destroy is one of the first lessons taught at HYDRA Camp.

Captain America is getting the bulk of the focus of the ground brigade because HYDRA hates Captain America. While his Super Soldierness is clearly superior to these agents of terrorism, there's only so much that he can d-- oh wait. SHIELD! Yup. That cleared a path. Another one. For both him and the Black Widow, with her stylish arrival.

"Oh Sh--" That's the look on all the HYDRA Paratroopers that get Karl'd. They are in the air and have nowhere to go but get blasted by the Smart Car that Karl's got beneath his fingertips. This is really, really, going to look bad on their permanent record. Y'know, if they live.

LEVEL CLEAR!

Those paths, though. Those paths that were cleared are suddenly being used. It's almost as if HYDRA decided it was high time to even things up and thus the empty paths leading towards the heroes... from the Wrecking Crew. One after another they start running down the paths with mighty power and speed behind them. Wrecker? Is headed towards Thor, crowbar up and ready for war. Piledriver? He's stomping his way towards the Webslinger and immediately taking to the air to see if he can't get the drop on him. Meanwhile, Captain America and Black Widow have the pleasure of dealing with the Bulldozer... who happens to be coming at them at 50 mph. As for Thunderball, well, he's holding his ground and swinging that wrecking ball of his around his head in preparation for something. Maybe he's back up.

Iron Man's back up in the air and blasting off in the direction of his friend. She's in this mess because of him and he can't let her get hurt. "I'm coming." is whispered beneath his helmet as he tears through the HYDRA agents and comes Full Stop right next to Pepper and her assailaint. "I come in peace." is said through the armor... and his hand raises to aim the repulsor at the dude's helmet. "Nah, actually I came to kick your ass." BLAST! And when the HYDRA's body goes flying, Iron Man gets to grabbing Pepper to take her up and airborne. "Guys. I'll be back. Gotta' get Pepper to safety."

The Serpent Society is tearing through One Times Square with ease. Asp hypnotizes anybody that Rattler doesn't knock the eff out. Within moments, they've torn through most of the building, using the portable tracking device to get a lock on whatever it is they are looking for. "We got something here." Black Mamba says, as they get to a wall. A heavily reinforced wall. "That's it. It has to be behind this wall." Asp turns to look at Cottonmouth with a pout. "Open." Cottonmouth grins and starts dislocating his jaw...

Pepper Potts keeps struggling, trying to get an elbow into the man's diaphragm, but he's just too savvy, or something. And then just like that TOny's there. She can't help but gasp at the sound of the repulsor-hand-laser-blast-thing going off so close to her head, but the momentary disorientation is enough time for the red and gold suited hero to execute a quick snag and drag. "Tony?" Yeah, too much happening too fast. Her mind is stuck on 'I dropped the cheesecake'.

Thor flicks a glance to Iron Man as he arrives to collect Pepper out of harm's way; after all, he called her by name. So he turns his attentin fully back to the fight, and spies Wrecker. The god smirks, twirls his hammer once in his grasp, then flings himself toward the on coming mortal, Mjolnir poised and ready. Thor, SMASH! He closes the distance between them with a mighty leap, seeking to overhead BRING THE HAMMER DOWN on the poor soul's head.

"Uhhhh," says Spider-Man as he looks upward to see Piledriver coming straight at him. "Would you believe me if I told you you had the wrong guy?" Spidey bolts in a double backflip with one of those handsprings things lookin' like a gymnast and almost splatting against the far wall of a building. Suddenly he takes a split second to think about bugs and windshields. THWIP TWHIP! He fires two globs of webs at PD, trying to slow him down.

"Oh crap! We're taking fire!" Sharon's voice rises over the chaos, tense but not panicked even though several of their people are now dead on the ground. Seeking cover, a dumpster is discovered about fifteen feet away and is ran towards. "Someone with eyes in the sky better tell me where that bastard is otherwise you might have my foot up your ass when this is done!" A rifle with a folding stock is pulled from where it was held to her back, strapped in place. Fight fire with fire, Sharon... as soon as you can find the sniper to do so.

The relief on Cap's face is undisguised when Black Widow lands there with him. Back to back. He grins, glancing back to her and flashing her a quick thumb's-up. Nevertheless, there's a whole heck of a lot of HYDRA down here. They've got a path out, thank goodness... right? Right?

Cap's raising his shield to block off gunshots and staff-blasts, even tossing it now and again and knocking the block off anyone who gets close. It's just good luck (good?) that he happens to be facing Bulldozer when he starts to charge. Pokepoke to Tasha's shoulder. "Plemyannitsa." Point. "Got any bright ideas?" This would be a good time for them.

"Dyadya, do you remember the days when housewives used to hang their laundry on clotheslines?" the Widow asks Cap idly. As she does so, she spools out line from one of her bracers, sliding him one end surreptitiously. She exchanges a look with the man, sliding her eyes to one side, then to another, to indicate they should dive opposite ways and use the line to trip up the charging Bulldozer.

Natasha waits, patiently, for Bulldozer to get close enough that he is at the point of no return, then she dives to one side as Cap dives to the other, pulling the cable between them tight, right at Bulldozer's shin level.

Another grimace as Karl turns and crouches against the parapet, looking across Broadway. Light chases and strobes redwhite across his face, flashing from the ticker and billboard that hang crazy-angled from the face of One Times Square below the gaping hole in which the green saucer rests. He grabs the glasses from his belt and lifts them as he keys his com unit. | Window, a hostile vehicle is inside Times Square One. Looks on purpose. Hang on, Carter. | Then, the flying car is on the move again, heading toward the sniper positions (and leaving him exposed again from above).

"Hey." Tony says while carting Pepper off towards somewhere safe. Which is where this firefight is NOT. "I heard these guys were going to feed you strawberries. I couldn't let that happen." He's probably grinning beneath that mask, but he's focused on getting Pepper out of range. Pay no attention to the way he's flying with her. He totally didn't steal this from Superman and Lois. Really.

CLANGALANGALANGALANG!! That's the sound of Mjolnir connecting with Crowbar. That's right, Wrecker stops and crouches low, grabbing his Crowbar with both hands and withstanding the Mighty Thor's Mjolnir. In fact, that's enough to have him grinning. "Youse wanna' try that again, Blondie?" But that's just his witty banter because he's pulling that Crowbar around and giving it a heavy swing to see if he can't knock Thor back a few feet! Mortal? Thundda Please.

Piledriver's boots crunch the concrete as there's no Spider to splat when he comes down. Frowning, he looks up and spots where the webslinger is. "Cheater." And that's when he gets webs all up in his personal space. This only makes him growl. "Here. Let me give you a hand." And here come two huge fists (like overly beyond human sized) aimed at Spider-Man and his wall.

"Your 12, Agent 13." comes a voice through the comm in Sharon's ear. A voice that she may recognize. Or not. Either way, J.A.R.V.I.S. is all about helping out, while it still has the range. Ping! Ping! Those shots are still coming at her, attempting to find where she took cover. So You Think You Can Snipe Her?

Never let it be said that America and Russia cannot work together. This ain't no Space Race, this is War. And Captain America and Black Widow certainly no how to handle a war. Bulldozer is too busy running to really notice anything until the last moment. "... hateyou." comes from him, but it's too late. Shin. Caught. And there he goes! Airborne! Bulldozer is about to take out one of those -very- electric signs. Or is that the other way around?

Karl? Karl's good. Karl's really good. Which is why it seems like he's getting away with his good/bad self. Nobody else is even daring to Paratroop his way. Instead, he's got about four Vipers zooming after him, speeding and firing that he can't be in anything but a Danger Zone. Copy, Gold Leader?

Thunderball narrows his eyes as he sees that Bulldozer has just been fried. Stupid metal suits. He narrows his eyes. "Shock. Awe." is all he has to say to himself, before extending the ball from the end of the chain. It glows for a moment and energized electricity comes blasting forth from the ball, sending bolts of electricity off in the direction of Widow and the Captain.

Cottonmouth is putting his jaw back into place, now that the wall has been chomped through. Asp leads the way in and in the center of the hidden vault a glowing cube of mystical proportions. "Ooooh. Shiny." Rattler says, ready to stomp his way to it. "No." Asp holds a finger up and Rattler heels. "Black Mamba? Do the honors." At Asp's command, Black Mamba hoists up a huge metal briefcase and pops it open. Steam comes from it and she moves with a slithering grace to transfer the cube from its holding pedestal to the briefcase. Locked, she nods to Asp.

On the Terror-Carrier, Madame Hydra is listening to Asp's transmission, "Mistress. We have it." Madame Hydra smiles once again, turning and allowing her cloak to flow as she stomps towards her seat. "Do not move. We are coming to you."

And the HYDRA Terror-Carrier is back on the move. Incoming Looming Shadow!

Somewhat startled that Wrecker blocked his shot, Thor doesn't let that stop him. Instead, the Storm Lord smirks and nods.

"Aye, puny mortal. I think I shall," Thor booms, pulling himself backwards with a sudden low pressuure vortex behind him while hefting his hammer toward the sky. The clouds swirl, a thunder crack rings out, and a fat bolt of blue-white lightning streaks down. No sooner does the bolt strike Mjolnir than Thor levels the hammer at Wrecker and lets loose his electrical fury. Well, Wrecker DID back him up a few feet...

"Smooth move, Ex Lax" Spider-Man says just before the fist crushes the wall in the space he was just at. Spidey sense. Cool beaners. WebHead is one step ahead of Piledriver know, skittering between the behemoth's legs and firing a web up and under his waist at the wrists. Spidey comes out the other side and arches his back as he yanks upward hard, pulling the large man's hands between his legs. And where his hands go, his arms go. So do his shoulders. Eventually, the face follows once the center of gravity reaches its tipping point and has Piledriver smash his face down into the concrete with a sickening thud. "Things fall apart. It's scientific."

13 pops out from where she had taken cover, peering up right at 12 o'clock. "Thanks," she calls out while lining up a shot. The sniper has the same idea in mind as they too peer out from over, about to take a shot, his fired just before Sharon's. The SHIELD agent might have gotten winged, hard to tell for how close that shot was but hers is dead on and the enemy sniper's life ends in a blossoming of blood that runs from the through and through that starts where it hit him right between the eyes only to exit the back of his skull, resulting in a puddle of red and gray. Got to feel bad for the poor person who discovers that mess.

Flip! Wheeeeeeeee... thunk! Bulldozer is in a pretty bad way, and Captain America is looking reasonably satisfied with both his and Black Widow's work. He doesn't get much of a chance to be satisfied, however: not with sudden blossoms of electricity going his and Natasha's way. He gets a quick peek of Thunderball. He smiles. Grimly. Shooting a glance Natasha's way, he calls out: "Serpentine!" And that's how he's moving. Left, then right, rolling and jumping and making himself a really obnoxious target until he's getting in range of Thunderball himself. The Shield of Freedom is raised high to catch the ball and chain. The Fist of Freedom is going to get that guy right in the head.


 * "Agent 13, we're pinned down here. STARK! If your comm is on, see if you and Webhead can check out the interior of Times Square One!"||When life gets tough, delegate, or call in some air support. ||"Helicarrier Argus, this is SHIELD Agent Natasha Romanoff, emergency code Alpha Tango Delta Five Zero Dash Five One. We need backup from the big bird in the sky!"|| she barks, requesting the Helicarrier be brought to their position.

The Widow turns to Steve. "Cap, I'm getting reports of something bad going on in Times Square One. Hostile vehicle inside," she informs her fellow super soldier. She watches as Thunderball ramps up his weapon while glaring at the two of them. "Perhaps we should go look RIGHT NOW!" She leaps upwards, grabbing a lamp post and swinging up to perch atop it, avoiding one bolt, before, flinging a pair of her explosive belt discs Thunderball's way. A second bolt hits her square on though, and she lets out a strangled sound before she falls from her perch, unconscious.

Fire strafes the theater's roof. The air car, cutting across the sky toward the sniper positions, jerks and skitters sideways through the growing shadow, then abruptly brakes, rights itself, and settles to rest on the pavement not far from 13. Automatic landing - automatic pilot. Above, the data pad lies red-spattered beside Karl's hand.

"It's not the cheesecake I care about." Tony says to Pepper once they are finally out of harm's way. He's off to set her down on the rooftop of some apartment building of some chick he knows. Or about six or seven chicks he knows in there. Well, kind of knows. It's a long story. Still, though, once she's safely on the rooftop, "I should get back to the saving the city. Wait for me?" And without waiting for an answer, Iron Man is back in the air! WOOSH!

Wrecker is all confidence and smarty pants when he's watching Thor do the light show. "What, youse think I scared o' you? Let me show you why they call me Wrecker, aight?" Wrecker takes a step. One step. And it's all he needs to walk into the NORSE LIGHTNING. There's really nothing else for him to do but get fried to holy Asgard and back in mid second step. His body tilts backwards, smoke comes out of his mouth a bit and he SMASHES into the ground. K! O!

Piledriver is not the sharpest butter knife in the breadbox. And by the time Spider-Man finishes Web-O-Nautics, the only thing he has left to do is lift his face up to groan and let a tooth or two fall out of his mouth. He tries to move his arms again, but the damn webbing is still there and he ends up smacking his face back into the ground again. K! O!

Agent 13 with the kill shot. Achievement Unlocked: 13 Days Of Murder. A door opens on the roof and out steps J. Jonah Jameson. He's got a cigar in his mouth and he's pulling up a match to light it when he spots the mess. "... the hell?" In moments, Jameson is at the edge of the roof and looking down. "What?!" The cigar falls out of his mouth and down towards the ground below. "BRANT! GET BROCK ON THE LINE! AND SOMEBODY TELL ME HOW THE HELL WE'RE MISSING WORLD WAR THREE!" Stompstompstomp SLAM!

"Take that, you sexy Russian minx, you." Thunderball is too focused on making sure that he's gloating about taking down Black Widow to realize that Captain America's in close. He spins, swinging his ball (ha!) right for... SHIELD'd. His body shudders and trembles from the POWER of AMERICA. "Aw sheeeeeeet." WHAM! Thunderball goes down and his ball lands right on top of him. K! O!

Those Vipers that were after Karl are already turning back, since the Mother Ship HYDRApop is on its way. They might as well get docked again. Target terminated or not. It's time to goooo!

Cover fire is laid down from the Terror-Carrier, especially since the Helicarrier is en route also. Madame Hydra is out on the deck, once again, as it pulls to a stop above One Times Square, where the Serpent Society is waiting. Asp is holding the briefcase in hand, while the others are behind her. "Is that what we came for?" Madame Hydra asks, before sending a line over the side. "Yes, Mistress." Asp responds, grabbing the cord and wrapping it around her wrist. And off into the sky she goes.

Black Mamba, Rattler and Cottonmouth all look at each other and then back up. "Hey! Asp!" "What're you doing?!" "Bitch!" The response is deafening, yet Asp does nothing but smile as she's pulled up onto the Terror-Carrier's deck. Once there, she holds up a small remote and presses the only button there.

BOOM! The Serpent Saucer explodes, creating an even bigger mess and sending her Serpent Society cohorts flying through the air!

LEVEL CLEAR!

Pepper Potts is set down on an apartment rooftop and Tony's gone again before she's really processed anything. She can still HEAR what's going on, but she's too far away to really see what's going on anymore. For the best, really, but this is unfamiliar territory being a damsel recently rescued from adversity. She looks around the rooftop, folding her arms tightly as if cold, and steps over to sit gingerly on the edge of a section of air duct.

With his foe incapacitated, Thor glances about quickly for more enemies to fight. With none left, the Thunder God grins, and moves to the only others he can spy on the ground: a one Captain America. His steps carry him over Wrecker, whom he leaps lightly over. Once at Cap's side, the Adgardian offers his hand in a warrior's handshake.

Of course, the Adgardian doesn't recognize the Captain (doesn't watch TV and so didn't see ANY hype about the Super Solider) and so offers the man his name and titles ((+finger Thor, it's all there)), before finishing with, "Twas an honor to defend Midgard at thy side."

The call from Natasha is responded to by a grunt, one that's fairly pained. Seems the sniper's aim was better than Sharon had anticpated. The adrenaline starts to wear off enough that she's feeling the wound in her side, it bad enough to impede motion. "I... think I am going to be a bit late regrouping." Biting her lower lip, Sharon tries to get to where everyone else is, the stock on her rifle refolded and strapped to her back again, swapped out for a pistol.

He can hear Sharon in pain. He can hear the static coming from Karl's comm. This has gone so badly, and Black Widow -- Captain America rushes her way, catching her as she falls and cradling her against his chest. With a quick shake of Thor's hand, he speaks sharply: "Pleasure to meet you, but we've got more going on. Can you fly? Can you chase down that craft?" He's already raising his hand to his ear, trying to get his communicator to function: "Whatever hostile vehicle was in One Times Square, they're airborne! Hunt them -- " *KABOOM* Well. The Serpent Saucer's kaput. But that Terror Carrier is still problematic, and for all that Cap is awesome, he can't so much fly.

An intake of breath. Karl's hand moves, makes a fist, then flattens red-wet against tar as he pushes himself up from the rooftop. He unsteadily cranes his head back and watches, seemingly unaware of the blast of glass and rubble that rolls across Broadway as One becomes No Time At All, watching the HYDRA carrier reeling in its catch as it ascends into the sky.

Madame Hydra stalks down below, briefcase in hand and off towards her personal quarters. He punches up a viewscreen and a familiar shadowy figure appears, immediately inquiring, "Well?"

Madame Hydra has the briefcase on a stand and flips it around to open it up. The glowing cube inside still eminates with power. "As you requested, Master." she says with a slight bowing of her head.

"You have redeemed yourself, Viper. Now bring me my property." The screen blips out and Madame Hydra closes the case once more. Smiling. Proud. Victorious.

Iron Man is back on the scene, but much too late. The Terror-Carrier is gone. Bodies are all over the Square. Fallen on both sides and Iron Man just hovers there, above it all, looking down as if this was all his fault. "JARVIS?" the words are spoken to his AI only this time. "What were they after?"

"Sir, you don't. You had no idea that--"

"JARVIS!"

Tony's HUD pulls up Times Square Schematics and it locks onto the No Time At All. Tony turns his head to see the crater which used to be One Times Square. And the chunks of the former vault that was holding something important. Something he thought was important anyway.

"... And this is why we can't have nice things. Shit."