|
  |
Deep in this Hydra base in Kamchatka where the weather was cold and the science was colder. Clint Barton, Agent Hawkeye, faces the truth on what seemed to be a simple retried or decomission Hydra's weapon.
The mission was easy.
It was easy until Clint, just now, saw the "weapon" in question was a scared as hell, blind 8 year old Mutant child being kept in a box like some volatile, radioactive animal. That 'asset' was huddled on the far side of the closed containment cell they were in. Bald, pasty, perhaps unaware of what was happening. Who knows how long this child lived like this. Kitty had shared stories in the lab about things that happened to her people. Bucky had stories. People had stories…
This was one of those stories and it's a very different experience to see and touch it.
The scientist was smiling so proud of their progress. The 'weapon' was just that. A thing to be used and controlled. This was Hydra for you. As the child got agitated the lights in the room bowed and fluxed.
Yup. The odds were great this kid was not going to just live on a farm somewhere if they even knew how to.
In Clint's ear Fitz was translating, "…The weapon's range has increased with practice…. Null fields have trippled in scope under durress… They seem to-"
It was then Kitty's voice cut in, "THEY?!" The earpiece squeaked faintly under pitch and Kitty's feed started to have Static on her end, "They have a person in there? ! Decommission like hell"
Fitz sighed. There was a concerning lack of surprise from the SHIELD lead engineer, "We're losing data" day-ta the way he says it. *"Team, focus or we'll all wind up decommissioned." * He had a grim point. "He's saying there's,… okay runnin the numbers it looks like there's a null field, and energy pulse wave…I don't-"
There was a quiet and the scientist started to laugh, muffled in his suit. He was so proud of their work. They had a breakthrough. The asset was shaking looking around at nowhere but seemed to know when the man in the big crunchy suit got near the glass. Tears stuck to the child's face.
Kitty spoke again. Her voice was infuriated and she ground her teeth to keep her words calm, "The Mutant can 0 out other abilities and emit some… what? Mental force wave? They're going to bring them to the UN meeting and powered persons won't be able to do… anything… they're going to use the kid like a bomb- a-and…"
And no one looks for a child…
Clint of ALL people there should know how easy it is to be a kid and go entirely unnoticed to handle all manner of business.
Fitz took a deep breath, "We cant let that happen… Clint. your call. How's the situation look?" In front of Clint there was one scientist and a very complex machine with the asset in it. There was Kitty on the computer end though… if they broke the Mutant out? Kitty might get stuck.If they freed the Mutant this whole Base would go on alert while the team was 5 levels deep.
Clint was right in the very beginning: If they're only sending three people, this mission required a scalpel and not a hammer… and they might not all make it back.
The call was on Clint to make how much they were willing to risk.
Kitty's outrage sure as shit cuts through Clint's general echo in his head while he tries to keep track of what he's being shown. Fingers clench tight behind his back, still looking the part of the serious supervisor with a tepid flit of an insincere smile toward the scientist in congratulations while they congregate around the terrified young person in a box.
He takes a long look around to check for cameras in the small room. Barton didn't expect to get lucky, but he could hope that even HYDRA knew that the shit they were doing here was so insane that having a video camera watching them torture a child would be too much of a risk to have one present.
Fuck, he seriously had to learn Russian, now. This mute bullshit wasn't helpful when his team was asking him questions and the asshole in front of him was asking for validation. Instead, he smiled broadly his approval and reached out to pat the scientist's shoulder. One moment away from using his grip to pull him into a sucker punch.
Clint was about to get his wish when Kitty said, "I grabbed the data we need off it. In any case-" All coms went dead for a moment. Whoo boy. It's always something.
Lucky or maybe unlucky for Clint the man turned to the 'weapon' and started speaking directly at him when the child tried to turn around and hide its face and started to speak very distinct words at the kid making them very afraid. Kitty's voice cut back in "These words make no sense. Tablecloth? Bus stop?"
Fitz cut back in "Hydra programming. I'm making a list." Because of course Hydra would be using conditioning on a child to control it. "We've got to move."
Kitty was the one to pull the trigger early and said "Someone's coming. I'm taking security offline now."
Brown-out.
In the room at the far end nothing seemed to happen. Same with the door Clint came out of. The Scientist, Dr. Needsapunchskiy, stopped and looked with alarm t and started pressing buttons trying to get an override to work as the Computer made a klaxon bleat and started to shut down various functions, and with a hiss, lift the side of the box like a gullwing door on a Delorean.
Fresh air. The frightened child turned and looked from fear into what was now trepidation and wonder and tried to scramble out of the box away from the people in the plastic suits. This is where the actual Lab doctor tried to push past Clint to grab the kid trying to escape.
All he needed was the words 'security offline' and like a spring that had been slowly wound over the last few minutes, all that potential energy was loosed as Clint pounced on the scientist from behind and swiftly wrapped his thick arm around the guy's neck, the other clutching the back of his head through the crinkling plastic as Barton yanked him backward and inhaled, deep. The pressure should have him knocked out in a few seconds.
"About goddamn time. Christ. Someone tell me what the hell is going on in here. Why am I dressed like a microwave dinner? What's the status in the halls on this floor? And how the hell do I say 'we're getting out of here' to this kid?" Clint's tone is low and terse as he sets the limp body to the floor without a whole lot of care and looks around for the blind kid. "He's blind and looks like an albino. Young. Shadowcat, keep your distance, I need you to run scout."
That was a struggle but the scientist was neither equipped for the fight nor planning on it. His hand tried reaching for the tranquilizer syringe that was just out of range in the 'tool kit' but failed spectacularly. Arms flailed like a windmill and within seconds the scientist's body weight sunk back against Clint and then sank to the floor.
The child backed away seeming to 'see' Clint somehow in some sort of extra-sensory situation, or audial processing. Whatever it was he was very confused by the two plastic bag men fighting and slid down out of the box he was trapped in while he had advantage to. Smart.
Fitz was quick to rapid respond, "You try English? or 'Ya zdes', chtoby pomoch' vam'" Honestly his accent was passable. He tried repeating it slowly. "Cameras back in 30 seconds."
The room in a matter of minutes flipped the lights from amber to red and started blinking. Clint could see fingers on the side of the box and the kid not… looking but tilting his head to tilt an ear closer trying to ear what was going on.
Notably: the kid was compensating for the detriment to some senses by trying to use others. The body language read scared and confused and maybe curious. It was apparently that the kid didn't know here TO go but could identify that this new person in the suit also didn't like the person in the scary suit he was afraid of.
A grey-white finger from the child pointed to..Clint? No the doors behind him. Was it a warning? Maybe, or trying to identify what was happening.
Clint rolled his eyes at Fitz's obvious sass and stepped over the downed scientist to snag the syringe he was going for and failed to snag. Hey could come in handy. Turning toward the huddling young mutant while the whole room was stained that lovely shade of temperamental 'OH SHIT' red, he tried, speaking up. "Hey, can you walk? Can you speak English? We're getting you out of here." He didn't have time to bargain with the child, either, so if the kid gloves weren't going to do it. The crinkling of the suit got closer to the scared child when his hand reached out to point.
Hell.
Okay, let's do this.
Barton grunted and stripped himself out of the suit with all the efficiency of someone who has done a lot of speed-stripping in his life, kicking the crinkling plastic to one side, an eye on the door. Not enough time. He ran to the wall with the door set into it, pushing himself up against the wall just beside the door and palmed his side arm. Syringe poised with his thumb on the plunger, gun in his 'off' hand, he waited.
"Cover your ears and stay down, Kid."
The child was just cowed and the lights were definitely reacting to it. When Clint spoke English the Mutant didn't nod, but didn't run. It remained curious. When Clint peeled himself out of his suit though and became more a person than a scary space man making strange noises when he moved and casting strange shadows in occluded vision? The Mutant reached back for his hand, stopped, and pointed to the door behind him.
Now the klaxon sirens went off.
The other room adjacent showed one man suiting up swiftly and a couple more behind him likely, but not visible.. The ceiling was over twenty feet to get to. The door that Clint came through was far, but presently unobstructed.
What was telling was the small Mutant crouched and did put both hands over his ears. He may not speak English, but he seemed to understand it just fine.
A quick peek at the window to watch the men all try to suit up quickly, Clint grunted to himself. "Oh for fuck's sake," and gave the terrified young mutant a backward look. "Stay here. Stay down. I'll be back."
Okay, Arnold. Whatever.
Exasperated by how long it's taking the men to /get to him/, Barton carefully clasps the body of the syring between his teeth, exposed needle sticking out, and tries to open the door from his side.
This was taking too long.
An emergency button was available and there were two men in the narrow hall that was identical to the one Clint came through, fancy ugly squid on the wall and everything. The man in the front looked to Clint terrified. He was breaching the door?! He looked to Hawkeye and asked something in Russian confused to him.
Oh, OH! they were worried about the breech?? It wasn't until a moment later eyes found the other scientist on the floor the man in front covered his mouth and the man behind was yelling at him for letting the man inside the room try to escape and bypass containment.
When the door opened between them it finally occurred to them that Clint Barton was not a Hydra scientist.
Wait. What?
Looking like some screwed up mercenary-scientist with a syringe clasped between his teeth, Clint pistol-whipped the guy in front of him while he was being berated by the second. Sure the hazmat suit softened the blow a bit, but Clint followed it up with a thrust-kick into the guy's chest to shove him backward into his companion.
Hallways were helpful to fight in sometimes. At least for folks that didn't need a whole lot of room to accomplish their goals. Clint didn't always like enclosed spaces, but, eh, when it gave you fancy things like walls to bounce off of, they were helpful.
Thrust-kick into the guys chest to knock him backwards into his pal, Clint took two running steps and kicked off the wall to get enough height to rotate around and level his foot into the second guy's helmet, landing on the ground just beside the two Hydra astronaut rip-offs in a crouch. Looking ahead through the door they'd come through to see if more were coming.
|ROLL| Fitz +rolls 1d20 for: 20
As the room was all cubicles on one side it was super fancy by parkour standards. Ht men in the hall were not prepared to fight, not dressed for it and not equipped for it either. The men in the hall Clint made efficient work out of as men of Science and not men of action. With a careful look out the door it didn't look like much, then? Oh a better look of, oh yeah, 9 guys looking in his direction trying to figure out why the lights were lit and inbound.
As if to really complicate things as a standard safety precaution they hit the intercom. Not the optimal reception.
Kitty reported, "There's an alert that there's a breech. Unclear if they mean us or the …" she didn't want to call the Mutant an 'asset' or 'weapon' and opted for, "Person with you." Judicious.
Fitz hopped on comms, "We have activity surface side. Let me know when we can start clearing so I can get into a position for evac"
For all the trouble over the Mutant he stayed put and was right where Clint pointed to.
Well at least those two were down, and Clint hadn't accidentally broken the glass into his own mouth. That would've sucked.
Nine, huh? Okay.
Barton stayed low in the red light. It provided a little bit of cover by the merits of being a non-standard color and a darker one at that. Why the hell anyone used the red-scale to tint rooms in when they were /looking for someone/, he never knew. Spitting out the syringe into his hand, Barton glanced backward into the room he had left the kid in and ran in that direction. "Fitz, give me some panic phrases. 'Evacuate', 'breech', 'contamination', scary stuff. We need panic and evacuation protocols. There's a whole lot of white coats down here."
Making it back to the kid, Clint ordered him, briskly, "Stay fifteen steps behind me and stick close to cover. If you get in trouble, scream. Is that you making the lights flicker?" The final part occuring to him last minute.
The room found? Less than optimal. So far at least he wasn't spotted directly. Fitz' voice crackled over the speaker, "Eevakuirovat! That should get them to run. Maybe. That alarm is mobilizing the surface. Shadowcat how are you at getting out?"
It was Kitty that had the bad news, "I can't get through the walls. I'm going to try to make it out on foot. Uhhhh south side of the building?" She wasn't confident Her voice came back on and reasoned, "The Mutant they have nullifies mutant ability. That's the EMP. Take out staff defenses. Great that's… I'll work it out . There's an emergency stairwell on the south to south east corner It's not too far from you. I'm a floor above. I'll try to meet you there."//
Looking up to Clint the kid listened and was, for whatever point, still groping around in the dark. A hand found Clint's shirt and held onto it. He seemed reluctant to let go, but time was short. With coaxing he nodded, paused and… he nodded to the question too. Oh hey the red lights were him.
"He's affecting you from /that/ distance?" Clint asks lowly as he plucks the hand off his shirt and holds onto it, trying to reassure with a squeeze against flaky little fingers. Then he remembers the kid's sight doesn't seem to be the best. "Going to need a manual way out of here. Like…" Clint grunts and grabs the small kid around the hips and stands up to double back. Like hell he's leaving his bow behind, and with an asset to protect, fighting his way through a whole bunch of people is not the smartest move. "Yeah, like stairs." He agrees with Kitty's assessment. "Kid's blind. Ish. Got a staff room full of confused white coats down here. Doubling back toward the south east corner—god I hope that's right. Skip the 'surgical extraction' plan, go straight to 'flee'. Gotta stir up enough chaos to fall into it." He looks back to the kid. "Can you keep the lights going nuts? Freak 'em all out."
The voice over the comms was, well, concerned, "Yeah, I -… I think so."
Fitz's voice carried over the comms, "Kitty, you'll want to move quickly. They're going to mobilize like they were trained for this" And he wasn't wrong. Those red lights already would have more people suiting up to come into this room and then start fanning out. The go window was now. Small fingers let go to hold into Clint's hand. He might be the first and only person not to treat him like a science project in memory. Maybe he sensed in Clint that he understood or just appreciated it. The time for speculation was not now.
As if to comply with the mission lead's wished Fitz replied, Copy that in 3…2…1…" And when he finished there was something that felt like the whole base shook a quarter inch to the left but unlike a blast it kept… rumbling. Fitz targeted not the building but the snow in the side of the slope outside Likely he had the foresight not to cover the base in snow so they were trapped inside. What it did instead was create a secure hatches situation to protect their infrastructure from being thrown offline by an avalanche.
At least Clint could bypass the dance in the clean room and rescue his gear without an issue and get back to the first room he was in. He'd just have to dance through patrolling bodies and hallway traffic to get there and hope the lockdown wasn't going to be absolute, but that's why they brought a computer tech.