2014-03-07 - You Can't Take a Hawk to a Party...

Finesse hadn't been lying. When Adam showed up for their daily training session, she instead drug him over to the simulation chamber, and started the infiltration program, telling him only their goal was to retrieve the blueprints for the WMD that HYDRA was reported to have, and to do so undetected.

The weather is hot, muggy, and utterly uncomfortable. But it's always like that, in the rainforest. This particular base is located within the side of a mountain, and after the hike up to the spot, and the initial breach into the facility, the two Young Avengers find themselves in a narrow, natural, carved out tunnel. Wires run along either side, branching off here and there into sub-passages, and occasional stand-up lights give brightness to the otherwise darkness. Occasional voices can be heard, but it's hard to tell exactly where they're coming from - straight ahead, or down one of those same passages? And presently their course leaves little room for maneuverability, or scouting.

"You have the sharper eyes," Finesse dictates. "You take point."

If Adam happened to see when the program was set? Finesse had it set on the highest difficulty level. If they leave? There will be trouble. But if they stay, it most certainly will be double.

"You got it," Raptor replies. He hadn't been arguing at all-- sims seem like less pain and suffering to him than being thrown into walls and workout equipment by Finesse.

How little does he know.

His bow is out, and instead of his backpack he has a legitimate quiver similar to Hawkeye's on his back, since he knew going in this was a mission. Still one of Hawkeye's old cowls, of course, since Ms. Janet was still trying to get him to come back and get a costume made. He's surprisingly silent as he moves down the tunnel, keeping to the walls and the shadows as best he can.

Shadows flicker on the wall ahead, and Finesse presses herself to the same wall as the flickering light fixture, to better meld with the light and not give her shadow away. Voices come down the hall, heading, it seems, towards the two.

But that's not the end of it. Another set of voices start coming up behind them. Finesse moves up quickly and quietly as she can, every bit as quiet as Adam, and shifts into one of the side tunnels, gesturing for Adam to move into the passage with her.

The voices are chattering in Russian, one set seems to be joking, almost amused. The other set, all business; almost anger. And, the laughter dies as the second voices begin to carry.

To move to the passage, Raptor would have to cross over through the light, throwing a shadow. He shakes his head, gesturing with a nod towards a passageway a couple feet away on his side.

Split up like Scooby Doo, gang? Looks like it, at least for the moment.

Raptor pulls an arrow, nocking it silently, before disappearing into the darkness of his own corridor.

While Finesse can't argue with the logic, she doesn't like it. In her mind, the thought turns; the human factor. It's something that burns brightly in her mindscape, and likely she'll never forget again. Just like she'd promised Black Widow.

Two men in slick green and yellow body suits, with the HYDRA logo on their arm and AK-47's idle in their hands walk slowly around the bend. And nearly at the same time, someone of import - a man who looks like he's half-cyborg, dressed in red and black, with what appears to be power gauntlets, and eye attachments followed by two HYDRA officers. Adam's HoloID will later pick the person out as 'Fixer', a specialized HYDRA agent.

The two 'jokesters' salute, pause, and then turn down the passageway Adam had chose. Fixer, and his two agents move forward a little bit, there are some words exchanged, before the special agent moves on, leaving the two officers to stand guard a few feet ahead of Finesse's own passage.

The human element indeed. There are reasons why Widow had assigned Finesse to work with the very person she found the most infuriating.

Infuriating partners are often damned good at improvisation. Widow knew that, working with Hawkeye as her primary partner for years.

And Raptor? He can be just as infuriatingly improvisational. He reaches back to the bottom of the quiver, pulling a pair of the taser arrowheads stored for just one of these situations out, backing down the hallway, his back to the wall, watching the two laughing HYDRA goons framed by the light in the corridor behind them. He swings his bow over his shoulder.

They don't see it coming. Raptor launches off the wall, one taser in each hand, making connection with both of the guards.

They drop to the ground, twitching. He taps his comm. "Uh, so, two down. Which way to the... blueprint thingie again?"

At first, there is no reply. Finesse moves silently along the edge of her corridor. She watches the shadows of the two men, until they turn to face the opposite direction from her corridor, and then she moves, silently forwards. There's a couple, brief, strangled gasps, but they're quickly cut off before anything close to a cry for help or warning can come through a couple back-knee-chops, and then using their heads as points to press down on, into the stone floor below. She drags each body into the corridor she came from, smoothly, quickly, so as not to leave a trail that's too obvious.

"Four down. I am uncertain of the exact location. Further into the base. We should remain together." At least, that's her plan. She slips forward and into the main passage again.

"Got it." And Raptor reappears in the main corridor, squinting against the bright light from the standing lamp. "Taking point."

He moves forward, slowly, watching warily. It may just be a sim, but injuries can still happen before the computer turns off. When they get to a junction in the corridor, he breaks right without checking with Finesse. Just a gut feeling.

Which of course, only seeks to infuriate Finesse. It's like Natasha's and Clint's first mission together. Her mind is yelling at her 'Why isn't he staying to the plan?!'; not that she's not good at impovisation herself, merely in an entirely different facet than Adam is. She doesn't risk speaking over the comm, though.

Still, Adam's intuition proves to be correct. As only a few steps ahead, if he hadn't turned right, his vision catches the play of dust on -very- well hidden, and holographed into the rockwall laser detection sensor array. The beams themselves seem to be on a frequency that mostly hides them from human vision. Mostly.

Finesse follows up, warily, pausing only to see if Adam completely left her, or where the hell he went, while at the same time attempting to keep an ever watchful eye on her surroundings.

Voices can be heard coming behind the pair, distantly. Perhaps thirty or so seconds out?

The hallway isn't well lit, but it's lit enough that hiding isn't an option. "Go ahead," Raptor says quietly. Let's try and outpace them, but if it goes sideways, I got frick and frack back there." And he begins speeding up, his gait a rolling one designed to eat up ground without being a loud run.

Kid's done some B&E in his time. He's not entirely lacking in stealth. Yet.

Finesse doesn't see the lasers, she wasn't warned of them -- but, she chooses to follow Adam. If nothing else, to ensure that they are successful. Though she may wring his neck afterwards. Afterall, he didn't say anything about wringing his neck; just no breaking his ribs. She remembers.

The cavern floor, as is likely expected, continues to slope downwards, rather than going up. Adam's ears will pick up the sound of a little running water, but the dim light makes it hard to see.

Finesse moves quietly as she can, lifting her finger to her lips to shush the man. Afterall - voices carry. 'Frick & Frack' continue to press forwards, but as the two infiltrators move, they seem to be gaining distance, until a wide slope leads down into a very open chamber. Lots of wires feed down this slope, which has a ton of computers, armaments, and workers busy as bees. The central hub of the base, as it were.

The running water cuts into a stream, just before the chamber and runs into an unlit area that might seem to wrap around the chamber itself? Hard to tell.

And the voices continue to come towards them, their target likely the chamber as well. And nobody within the chamber is looking up, yet, too busy scanning their monitors. Finesse ducks low, so as not to be spotted, her eyes shifting over the various items, trying to get information. Her bearings. Any ideas.

Fixer is busy working on some workbench, manipulating a few items that looks like they could've come from Stark Enterprises, or Wayne Tech, or LexCorp. But they're not. Something of his own cunning invention.

The ceiling is high, at least. And the thud of footsteps and voices, and the noise from the workbench...

If they stay where they are, Frick and Frack are certainly going to see them when they come out the same corridor Finesse and Raptor had.

Adam puts the taser arrow he had nocked in his teeth, reaching back and fingering for another arrow, which he nocks and fires-- UP. At the cavern's ceiling.

Without telling Finesse. Actually, not only does he not tell her about that, but he grabs her around the waist as he fires, and the two are yanked upward by the grapple arrow and disappear from sight right as the two guards on their patrol?-- or maybe about to report the unconscious bodies left behind? who knows... come out. They barely evaded detection.

Human element. Also known as chaos. Chaos is something that Bartons excel at.

Finesse is, at least, composed enough, calculated enough to -not- make a yelp of protest, when she's snagged up into the ceiling and height, left to dangle there with Adam; and who knows how long they can maintain that position. Still, she is light, and she knows how to keep her weight so it's not as much a burden on him.

Oh, she's learning alright. Learning plenty. Quietly, she tells him, "Maintain your hold." And, very carefully, she begins to move around him. With one hand, she snatches, Adam will recognize, a glue arrow. Then, just as carefully, she wraps her legs around his waist, and lowers herself down. She begins to swing. Back, and forth. Pendulum, her movements precise, and her weight remaining even, balanced, as the pendulum progresses. Once she is near the ceiling, she slams the glue arrow into the ceiling, creating another anchor point. She lashes a part of the free rope to the end of the arrow cleanly, smoothly, to create a 'bridge' of sorts. One she's less of a burden on Adam, she notes, "The blueprints." Pointing to a drafting table a few feet behind Fixer and off to the side. "Do you have a rope arrow?"

It may become obvious, then, to Adam what Finesse just did. Gave him a vantage to fire behind; if he's acrobatic enough to fire upside down, with his legs hooked to the rope-bridge.

Clint's the circus-trained acrobat, not Adam. He's just agile, knows a little gymnastics, and does parkour.

He does, however, make a note to himself to get with the family circusbro mentality at a later date.

"Never tried firing upside down," he admits. "But first time for everything." He scans the area. Then his eyes widen. "Finesse, wait. Look, in the guardpost room."

His keen eyes can see, and Finesse? Probably not with the clarity he has, definitely not with the clarity. Adam can see down to the wristwatch on the man's arm. But even without the hawk's-eye vision, with her attention drawn there, she can see two white lab coated men tied back to back in metal chairs.

"Those must be the guys HYDRA kidnapped who designed this WMD in the first place."

"Perhaps," she agrees, her voice quiet and low. "There is likely no way to free them, and remain undetected. If we are detected, the mission is a failure." And that's the last thing Finesse wants; a failure on her record. Especially judged by Black Widow. It's not so much that Finesse seeks Black Widow's praise; just her approval. "It is also possible they have other copies. But the blueprints will allow for an examination of exploitations to take advantage of. And what to look for." A practical assessment, and a reasonable loss acceptance. Something, perhaps, Widow herself might do. Or have done, in her younger days.

Finesse's assessment of what the Widow may or may not have done? Probably accurate.

Problem is? She's on a mission with a Barton, even if not in name. And that means--

"Change of plans and mission parameters," Raptor replies tersely, swinging his legs up and hooking over the rope, leaving Finesse on the grapple rope, hanging upside down. Don't-look-down-don't-look-down at the dizzying drop... very glad for the quiver that holds arrows in place until they are pulled out. A red flagged arrow comes out, nocking, and flying across the cavern, landing in the center of a small gathering of HYDRA agents, who stare at it in surprise for a couple moments.

"Tick tick boom," Raptor mutters.

On the boom? It explodes.

That, of course, gets Fixer's attention. "What's going on?!" And the man glares, suspiciously at the sound of the explosion, then the stupefied HYDRA agents. The fact that an explosion just happened - and that the HYDRA agents are now scattered, some laying down, some hurt, some unconscious, leads to an immediate high alert. Fixer lifts his wrist, and begins to sweep it across the area, slowly.

Finesse doesn't have to guess. "He is scanning for us." And yes. There is irritation in her voice, palpable. Her tone harsh, despite the surprise that she's not yet failed the mission.

Raptor nods, fixing another arrow, aiming with narrowed eyes towards the guard shack still. "I got the other goons and the scientists. You get the paper and dudebro there." He draws, and as he releases, "Least he's not looking up yet."

You know, the particular way of thumbing one's nose at the universe that just asks to be replied to with--

Fixer looks up. A purple cowled guy with a bow and arrow with a woman in a skintight bodysuit?

"Well, shit," Raptor says as his acid arrow hits the window of the guard shack, the glass beginning to melt. "Uh, good luck?"

"You should -not- have done that!" Yes. Finesse is actually upset. Which, perhaps, was also part of the point of this. Some lessons after all, are harder than others. Yet again, the mission does not end.

There is no safety net. There is no mat. But she is -not- about to be a sitting duck for a guy whose entire arm could be an energy weapon. She drops. Drops, the thirty some feet down to the ground ...

... and lands on a HYDRA officer who'd been aiming his rifle at her, her feet pushing off his back and slamming him into the ground with enough force that the wind will be knocked out of him for the rest of the fight.

The suit that Janet just gave her helps absorb some of it; her gymnastics another part, even as she tucks and rolls. It takes her a moment to shake the rest of the brunt of the fall off; despite how it looked, it wasn't a pleasant thing and her ankle stings. She shifts behind a bank of computers before the fire brigade begins.

Meanwhile, a guided missile launches from Fixer's arm, headed straight for Adam.

"Whoa, it's Psycho Von Strucker the second!" Raptor twists, reaching up with a hand to grab the rope--

Timing is everything. Especially when it comes to sheer dumb luck. Raptor moves out of the way of the guided missile too late for it to change course, which is good! /He/ didn't get blown up. But it's bad! Because the part of the rope his knees were just wrapped around?

Totally did.

"WHOOOAAAA!" Raptor barely keeps a grip on his bow, one arm wrapped around the rope-- the new 'bottom' of the rope on fire, and he swings, as gravity works, yanking him down and over.

Still, he's nothing if he can't improvise. "Come on, Struck Junior! Hit me if you can!" he taunts, between the flames and taunting, acting as an effective distraction for Finesse's next move.

A few of the HYDRA agents open fire on Adam's position, while he does seem to have earned Fixer's attention. There's a soft 'thhpt thhpt thhpt' as three solid balls are ejected out of Fixer's other arm in a triangle pattern, intent on surrounding Adam. They begin to hiss, exhaling a sleeping gas on the Young Avenger, quickly, and dangerously.

Finesse moves, and takes down two of the agents firing on Adam from behind, then she begins running straight at Fixer, as if he were a pole vault to launch herself off of at the Olympics.

As she does, a drone shoots out from a corner, and begins to spray fire at Finesse, whose forced to duck for cover again. The drone follows her around that corner, but it meets the hard end of her eskrima stick in it's sensor array, and she slams it into the ground; the device is stunned, blind, but not out.

Time is running out.

"OOF!" Adam slams into the wall, but he lets go of the rope, allowing gravity to take him, half falling, half running down the wall, rolling and landing on the ground with a thud. The gas balls are above him, emitting their sleep-gas.

You have to be a really good marksman to hit a moving target. Most of these HYDRA guys don't seem to qualify.

Most. But Fixer isn't most. The man lifts his primary arm again, letting another blast fly towards Raptor's new position, just as the teenager is barely getting back to his feet.

The drone itself? Explodes.

< Mission Over. Data uploading to Instructor. >

Not a note of success or failure, it seems.

Finesse seems about ready to move, ... when the mission ends. She -glares- at Adam. "You sabotaged the mission," she accuses, harshly. Yes. This is - perhaps, the most emotional Adam's ever seen her, flat out. Turns out she's not quite the robot everyone presumes she is. At least, not all the time. She begins to stalk towards him, "We could have had the plans, and escaped!"

Adam drags himself to his feet in the simroom, rubbing the back of his neck. Damn, that bruised. "Yeah, and left the science geeks to either make them all over again? Or worse, something new and better?" Raptor scowls at her. "I didn't sabotage it, the intel we had was incorrect! We got new information, so we needed to change the mission parameters to get them out too, otherwise what was the /point/?!"

"The point was to succeed, by getting the plans! It is impossible to save everyone. The mission was to get the plans. Without being discovered!" She just -glares- at Adam. Infuriating? Absolutely. But she has, at least, enough self control to not murder him. At least, not right now. "And how did you expect to get through the caverns back to the surface, with the entire base on high alert?! With two scientists? If we did not get back, no one would. The scientists were an acceptable loss, for the greater good." She exhales, finds her fists are balled. Tight. And, states evenly, still heated with anger, "I am going on patrol." And she begins to move past Adam.

Raptor scowls darkly. "Acceptable loss? Those are people's /lives/, Finesse. We're supposed to defend and avenge those who can't do so for themselves, and they looked pretty damned helpless. We'd have figured something out. But whatever. Go patrol, I got a paper to write anyway." He yanks his cowl off, gathering the 'trick' arrows made for the simroom-- just regular trick arrows with simulated tips, but they work as directed inside the room, to shove them back into this quiver and put it back in the equipment closet.

"People die. Every day," Finesse states back. "It is statistically impossible to save everyone. There are some we will not be able to save. That is something you will have to face. Now. Or later. It is inevitable. It is unlikely we would have survived the evacuation of the base. And if you are dead, you can save no one." Having said her peace - and, likely, them both needing their space, Finesse exits the chamber. Pity the fool who crosses her path, tonight.