1963-08-27 - The Great Escape (Conclusion)
Summary: The escapees from the mobile AIM base join up with the rescue team and discover where they've been held.
Related: Lethal Magnetism (plot)
Theme Song: None
akiva alex bobby darwin jess miles poindexter sam sousa 


Concludes the Rescue Team and Escape Team segments of the Great Escape.

*

Sousa looks back to Anna when she recognizes the other and lowers his gun. As the lights then go out, he reaches back to grab a hold of the doctor so that they can both walk forward towards the door. "Parachute in…so we're on a ship. Fantastic." It might mean flying back out but at least it's actually -out-. "They must have a way to land or get off said ship…if we have the time to find it, that is."

Of course, he didn't even think to bring a flashlight. "You didn't bring a flashlight with you, by any chance?"

*

After a grind and a shudder, dim red lights cut back on, and the electrical field sparks back to hateful life, just behind the last agent to escape the containment area. "Switching to emergency power," a recorded voice informs the base's occupants over strategically placed loudspeakers. "Main drive inactive." Behind them, the prisoners will notice that the cell they were held in for so long has collapsed into pieces. Apparently, it was not merely subject to magnetic manipulation, but held in place by the active application of those forces.

*

"Oh.. Sorry.. Surgeon.." There was a level of embarrassment where Anna was concerned. One of those asshole upper Agents gave Poindexter her name and apparently it was never going to leave her, not ever. Though as the lights are out, and she's grabbed, her eyes stare into the darkness with a slight little frown, her hand reaching out in front of her and then to her side to grab for her bag. "Yes.. I have a .." And the power is back on.

Level of Usefullness? ZERO.

"..flashlight.." She mumbles quietly.

*

Armando looks around as his eyes quickly adjust to the environment and he looks back towards the others. "I'm going to help guide you in the darkness." he announces to the others, "Sounds like it'll be me and Bobby." he begins, as his eyes- still glowing from the radiation energy are like wil-o-the-wisps in the darkness. He takes a moment to get his bearings before the lights come back on. "Wait. Maybe not." he smiles back to the others, "Well, looks like things are looking up!" he offers, "You know. Those suits those guys were wearing were pretty fancy- I wonder if they could get you guys down to the ground safely…"

*

"Probably not." Miles says to Armando regarding the suits. "Probably something on here for a situation like that though. Let's look around for whatever we can grab. No point in letting all of this tech go down without getting our hands on some to check out."

*

On every deck, there are equipment stations near the stairwells, stocked with yellow suits and instruction manuals in their use.

*

Akiva steps over to Anna, reaching out to take her hand quickly, "Are you…all right?" he asks, understanding this isn't the time and place for sentimentality, not that either of them were particularly prone to such things regardless.

"The suits seem to offer a degree of protection, at least - they were difficult to stab through," he says, perhaps providing an explanation for the blood spatters across his otherwise crisp linen shirt.

"Mission parameters are for rescue and extraction. If you want something, make sure it's mobile because we're on the move," he says, gesturing towards the maintenance ladder he took down, "That leads up and out."

*

As the lights come back on, Jess lets the glow around her hand fade. Excellent. Less need to draw any attention to herself. Staying on the ceiling, she crawls along toward the prisoner deck until she reaches the rest of the group. "Hey, don't shoot the ceiling," she calls to the group, freeing one hand to wave at them. Not coming down. Ceiling is better anyhow. "Mobility's down. Now we just have to get out of here."

*

Alex nods to Bobby, ready to follow his voice, until then the lights come back on, and that isn't strictly needed. Instead, he rolls his shoulders and looks around— blinking up to the ceiling for a moment, then he asks, "When you parachuted down, did you see any other… boats? Planes? For escape. Or do we need to try to take the whole… whatever it is we're on, I'm not entirely clear about that." He doesn't seem at all interested in the suits. Then again he has his own.

*

"Are we over water?" Iceman asks, looking to Jess and Akiva since they're the ones who'd know. "Because we should blow this thing up. Or if not blow it up, destroy the engines so it crashes. It shouldn't be too difficult if Havok can see where to target."

*

"Wait… what about the nukes?" Falcon asks wearily. "We need to find the base's command center, figure out — oh."

He has just stepped out onto the roof of the base. It looks like the top of a squarish aircraft carrier, but in every direction, all that's visible is a massive ice sheet instead of water. There are rotored airships docked here and there on the flat surface, and towers around the edges; however, two of the airships are flaming shells and one of the towers has crashed down to leave a path of destruction across the landing pad. Half of the surface, in fact, has been scorched by a recent explosion, and part of it has been peeled away to reveal the command center Sam was just asking after. If the team is in need of information, that's where it will be.

Banana-suited AIM troopers are climbing aboard one of the functioning airships; a second is already taking off. A third rests in a corner, inaccessible behind the crashed tower but available without a fight — to anyone who can get to it.

*

Sousa also looks up at the ceiling as a voice comes from there…and he looks as Surgeon and Poindexter greet each other. The question, though, catches his attention, "The nuclear missiles. Are they on this ship? Or do we think that they were deconstructed to fuel these guns and ships?" It's not great but it's better than someone amassing them for later threats and possible annhilation. He nods to Sam, they're still on the same page. REscue is important, but they haven't completed their mission.

*

The hand that captures Anna's was squeezed lightly in return. With a slight nod and a lean in, she murmurs quietly. "These people are extremely mean to each other." Quiet observations, made. The suit was something that Anna was particularly going to go for, abandoning Akiva to quickly move towards a station, picking out the smallest suit for her to quickly climb into. SHIELD drills teach you to dress quickly! At least she has that down.

"Don't shoot me!" Was said, and with that banana suit powered on she was ready to go.

Go up the stairs, that was.. out into the open where fresh air was missed due to that weird ass helmet, her little body waddling along with flailing arms that obviously doesn't match the size as she skitters towards the command center. She's totally got this. Even if she's tripping up on those long, yellow ass pants.

*

Miles climbs out with the rest of the group, attention shifting over to the command center. "Well, no point in standing around then." He claps his hands together before pulling his gun out. "Ready when you guys are. Still have work to do, and the sooner we do this, the sooner I can make sure Amelia isn't dead." He does sound worried about that.

*

"You're right." Darwin says over to Sousa, before looking towards the base. Then over towards the others. "There's an airship over there." he nods towards the edge of the base. "But, we need to get those nukes." he looks towards the base proper. "Okay." he points towards the command center. "That's where we need to go." he looks over, "We need to evac Sam and anyone else who doesn't want to be a part of this. Again.. I'll take point." Armando says as he waits for the others.

*

The wrecked command center has been evacuated; apart from the freezing arctic air, there's nothing to stop them from searching through it. A central dais supports a large planning table, lit from underneath. On it, there's a map of the Arctic Circle, with a large spiral that Fibonacci fans will recognize traced over the top of it. Fifteen points on the spiral have been circled in red. The northward progress of something over Greenland — this very base, as Akiva and Jessica will be aware — has been tracked closely with a blue line. Flight paths leading to and from the base have been sketched out, connecting it to those circled points — those that have been visited have been checked off. Only four locations remain unchecked… but all four have flight paths in progress to them.

The more computer-literate among the team will recognize several tape-drive mainframes off to one side of the planning table. They're in bad shape, but the tapes themselves should be recoverable.

*

With a nod to Darwin, Alex heads up to him, intending on once again sharing the point position.

*

"We're in Greenland on the ice pack," Jess clarifies for Bobby as they come out on top. "And I already took out the mechanics. This place isn't going anywhere without a whole lot of repair work. Unless it can also fly, but I don't recall seeing any propellers down there." Not that she's ruling it out at this point. Place is weird.

*

Akiva follows along and quickly moves his steps to head towards the command center. He doesn't worry about things outside his personal mission parameters - that isn't to say others can't, he just knows his place and is better off not meddling with others. He and Poindexter have already gone ahead a bit, "We should split," he calls out, "Anybody capable of getting to that airship should do so and get it secured and moved over so we can use it. The rest of us should head for that command center." he says. He doesn't particularly care of the nukes end up at the bottom of the ocean - honestly, he felt they were probably better off there than in the hands of either side. He wasn't particularly fond of the bomb, philosophically speaking.

*

Bobby walks out onto what ends up being the upper deck of something. "Havok, I've a feeling we're not in Detroit anymore." He takes a moment to look around before adding "So were we teleported or knocked out instantly and then moved?" Not that he expects anyone to have the answer to that. An ice slides makes getting down to the ground very simple for those who can't fly, climb, or thwip.

*

Sousa nods to Darwin. They may be rescued, but they still need to get information. He might be slower than the others, but he also makes his way to the Command center, looking over at the maps and the tapes. He then takes the map, rolling it up carefully so that the markings aren't disturbed. "Do we have comms to the rest of SHIELD?" He then nods towards the tapes, "Get all of those as well." He's not a computer sort, but he knows what looks important.

*

It didn't take long for Ann to reach the command center, probably bypassing a few protocols and leaving people behind and what not, but she was inside, helmet already shucked aside as she begins to gather papers to stuff down her shirt. With her leaving her bag where it was, there was little to no need to run back, grab it, then step inside again. But once she gathered all that she could, she finally takes a look around, the glasses soon pushed up upon her nose as she begins to tippity tap along the console that wasn't outright ruined. "Where are these going.." She mutters to herself regarding the four flight paths.. "..and what in the world is going there.."

*

Miles may not be able to fly, but boy can he leap. He drops into a squat and springs up, clearing the distance in absolutely no time. He goes straight into thumbing through documents and whatever else may be useful, trying to determine if what they're looking for is actually here or not.

*

Alex eyes the surroundings a bit, and flashes a grin over at Bobby, "Apparently not. Either that or Detroit has entered something of an ice age." But then he heads off towards the command center with the others.

*

Bobby just stays outside making sure none of the enemy decide to make a last stand. Gathering enemy intelligence and ransacking tech is so not his thing.

*

There was a slight gasp as Poindexter continues to rifle through the computer system. Her head shakes as she takes a slight step back…

"They're gone.." As if to be more clear. "THE NUKES ARE GONE!" She steps forward again, her fingers tapping away quickly. "Eleven of them are deployed. And four more are enroute.." She was mumbling now, her eyes darting back and forth, the green lines upon the screen whipping fast.. "No no no no no no nono no nonono.." She slams her hand upon the console, she was done here. "We need to leave, -NOW-.."

*

"Yeah, looks like the were moved out this week." Miles chimes after Poindexter. "Son of a bitch." He slams his fist down, "Bastards are one step ahead of us right now. But we can change that."

*

Sousa steps up behind Poindexter as if he could read the computer lines. At her announcement, however, he looks back to the others, "To Headquarters. NOW! If anyone can make the comms work, we need to alert SHIELD ASAP!" If someone on the rescue team has working comms, use that. If not, someone needs to make their transport's comms work.

*

"Hold on, clarify what you mean by "en route" and "deployed."" Jess doesn't panic, but there's definitely a very stern look in Poindexter's direction. "Do you mean they've been launched, or do you mean they're being shipped, because I for one am not starting that panic unnecessarily." She's got a finger on the button, but she's definitely waiting for a clear answer.

*

Armando nods, shaking his head. "Grab everything." he says, "Data drives, papers, everything." he says taking a slow breath as he starts to gather all he can. "We need to go through all of this- we know where they're going, and where they've been 'deployed'. MODOK wants a war- I promise this. He wants a never-ending conflict."

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