2014-03-19 - HYDRA's at it again...

'Part One of a three-part series Part Two Part Three

[Avengers/Young Avengers/Avengers Academy] An alert goes out: HYDRA activity near the Avengers Academy grounds.

[Avengers] Ant-Man says, “What are they, stupid??”

[Avengers] Natasha Romanova says, “...you have to ask? HYDRA.”

Gawd, what is it with HYDRA? They never seem to lack for green-suited thugs willing to sign their lives and freedom away for whatever their cause is. Apparently just causing problems in the Bronx, because that's totally what's going down now, guys.

Only this time, they made the mistake of passing the Avenger's Academy building, close enough that the security totally recognized the green uniforms and the yellow octopus-kraken-cthulhu-whatever symbol on their sleeves. Morons.

Or maybe it was part of their masterplan. Unknown. But an alert goes off, all the same, pinging through to all active, on-duty Avengers and Academy students cleared for patrols-- approximately a dozen of Strucker's finest stomping by the Academy. Finest may be a misnomer. Or... yeah. Something.

The great thing about having your uncle-guardian-babysitter-whatever in charge of the Academy? None of this lame 'you're too young' crap Stark tries to pull. The bad thing? Well, crap. You're actually expected to do things. Like drag your recently concussed ass out of bed and do something about the cookie-cutter villain-lites tromping around outside.

"What the hell is around here that these mooks would even be in this area /anyway/?" Raptor grumps as he pulls himself into a vantage point, looking for the HYDRA squad.

JARVIS responds-- he knew he should have turned off the damned holoID--"Perhaps the proximity to the Raft may be what they are here for, given the current incarceration of their leadership."

"Got it JARVIS. Switch off, wouldya?"

Beast had been out and about when his Avenger's Multipass had went off. He landed upon a rooftop after a flip. He answers the pda, "This is Beast, I'm in route from patrol. I will be there as soon as I can." Then he turns and takes off running and bounding towards the site of the Hydra goons.

When they come into view of Ant-Man he's the picture of relaxation leaning slightly against a building. Only he's about 50' tall. He casually puts a foot in the street blocking that way. "AHEM. ARE YOU GUYS LOST? NEED DIRECTIONS? MAY I ASK ... WHAT DID YOU GOOSESTEPPING SCREWHEADS DO TO PULL AN ASSIGNMENT LIKE THIS WHILE THE BIG WIGS PULL OFF THEIR LATEST SCHEME TO RATE AN ARTICLE ON PAGE 32?" It's one of those times he wishes he smoked so he could hurl his cigarette in contempt except ... throwing a three foot lit cig is reckless and smoking? Ick!

"Yeah, I mean...seriously guys. Is this some kind of initiation? Get yourselves tossed in the Raft and learn how to play "don't drop the soap" for a few months to a few years before you get to do real Hydra jobs?" This is the voice of Hellion, as he hovers down into a position above and behind the cluster of green-and-yellow goons, arms folded over his chest and a skeptical expression on his face. "HYDRA pledge week or something? Throw me a bone here, guys, I'm trying to understand, really." Or not really, if the boredom-bordering-on-contempt in his voice is any indication.

Rina had come to the city...there was always something to do...some sort of trouble in a city...but then she caught a glimpse of something she never thought she'd see...HYDRA! wearing a borrowed outfit from...Well who knows where, Rina took out her cell and called the school "Yeah Wild Thing here, I got HYDRA goons, I'll keep them in sight" snapping the phone shut she put back in her pocket before smirking as she hears the jokes. Still she stays back, keeping them in eyesight as she moves silently. Who needs a trace when you had a Loganette

Raptor smirks at Julian's snark. "I guess they miss their Papa Baldie," he comments, sending an arrow into the midst of the surrounded goons.

Of course, they fire back at the Avengers and Young Avengers.

But something about this is too damned easy. Smells like a setup.

Rina sniffs the air and starts to wonder as she pulls her mask up over her head and sets it into place. Then steps out of the shadows and looks up at the hooded boy she'd seen at the snowball fight. "They done anything wrong yet?" you never just happened to see bad guys wandering about....that's what you called bait. From over a roof top comes a barreling ball of blue fur. He got his knees tucked to his chest as he goes rolling to strike one the goons. He pushes off the guy's chest with a hard kick and lands on the ground, "Avengers and Young Avengers Assemble! Or at least Congregate! Ah.... I had hoped for AIM. They're more amusing and I can make fun of their costume. Though not hearing the diatribe of 'Die Mutie, Die' is rather refreshing.

"JARVIS, keep an eye on all the usual bands and ping us if anything unusual is popping up." Julian pipes back towards the Academy on his own communication band, carefully angling his telekinetic shield so that the shots directed his way deflect upwards and away where they're less likely to do any harm to bystanders or property. Much like the others, he can tell this seems entirely too easy right at the moment.

Ant-Man shields his eyes from the gunfire, not really noticing the hits on his chest and arms. The one that hits his palm stings a little. "HERE'S THE DRILL YOU DO NOTHING WRONG. WE SHOW UP. YOU START SHOOTING AT US. THAT'S ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY WEAPON. I HAVE A RIGHT TO BE HERE EVEN IF I'M 50' TALL. I HAVE A RIGHT TO SELF DEFENSE WITH AN APPROPRIATE LEVEL OF FORCE." He stomps the street close by the squad sending shockwaves at them.

Rina just stand back and watches beast before closing her throat as she pops her claws "Yo Beast! When wad the last time you seen any bad guy take a stroll in numbers down the street? Smells like bait to me" shaking her head she backed up into the shadows again. Beast looks to Wild Thing with a raised eyebrow. The new Wolverine sister, not Laura. He shrugs, "Not very often. Though the could be meeting at a club house. We should technically catch them doing something wrong." He says this while dodging laser blasts. He swings up on a fire escape. "Hey High Pockets, do you or Mr. Hellion see anything that our dastardly malcontents could be trying to misdirect or attention too? I mean it is the first law of misdirection."

Ant-Man throws two squaddies aside with a swipe of his hand. He misses a third who raises a large handgun with a grenade mounted in its barrel. How can something that big move that fast? Not very well. In fact he doesn't recall anyone ever using that hoary line on him before. The grenade fires and hist him square in the chest. Not tat dodging is an option. The headlines would read, 'Ant-Man Dodges! Grenade kills 11 living on the third floor!!' It hurts. True Janet took a torpedo in her ribs but she was way bigger. That still hurt. Hank Pym reels from the blast and tries very hard to find a place to fall that won't kill someone.

Hank would suddenly feel what seems like a wall behind him, but it's comprised solely of pale green telekinetic energy...a thin field just large enough to cover most of his back, but enough to keep him from toppling over and hopefully giving him time to reclaim his footing. Hellion seems to have no trouble multitasking, as he not only keeps up his own field (albeit only on the side facing the HYDRA goons now) and even yanking a few weapons from their hands, sending them skidding down the street. He does give a look around before shaking his head, "Not seeing anything, Beast. If they're doing something else, I doubt it's nearby." But then...why the Academy and not the Mansion? "JARVIS, is there anything unusual on the security feed?"

Rina nods her head from the shadows "Yeah they wandered in plain sight, we show up and they start firing....what part of that seems normal to you? or are they hoping to trick us into a fight...all this anti hero propaganda going on? my bets on they're just a steak on a hook" It was clear she didn't want a part of this fight as she hunted and growled her claws disappearing as she got shot by a few laser blasts, the smell of burnt clothing and flesh filling her nose "You guys can have this one" always up for a fight...but this fight? Something seemed off. So wild thing retreated rather then engage the enemy.

Raptor fires a couple more trick arrows into the crowd, wrapping one goon in a net, and sticking another to the ground with putty.

"Incoming," JARVIS intones from the Academy holoIDs.

"What do you mean, incoming?" Raptor shoots back-- about the time the bow is shot from his hand with a pinging sound.

From above, a man in black with a target symbol on his forehead smirks.

And a man with a prosthetic arm that is rapidly growing into a long scythe steps out from within a nearby alleyway, launching himself towards Beast.

Hank pushes off the fire escape hand rail with a half feral snarl, "Reaper!" He's twisting and turning to avoid the scythe his claws coming around to rip flesh. The jovial Beast less than happy to see the villain. "Of the Williams brothers, you are the one I am less than pleased to see. Though these heavy hitter does leave to question why just as much as the goons."

Ant-Man feels his head reeling from the concussion of the blast. He grabs the wall behind him willing his balance to stabilize. Then he experiences a moment of clarity. He is the senior Avenger after all. Time to rejoin the vertebrates. "Hellion, team with Raptor with Bullseye! I'll finish these goons off! Hold on Hank!" His actions suit his words as he draws his blaster, now the size of a field piece and fires a stun blast at the remains of the squad.

"SONUVA--!" Raptor snarls, his bow clattering to the ground below, twisted at the grip. "Who's /that/ tool?" he stares up at the guy who shot him. Oh yeah. Adam's gonna have /problems/ with that guy. Dick.

Bullseye sneers at the kid-- amateur hour at the miniAvengers clubhouse, it seems to him-- and turns his energy weapon (HYDRA special) to bear on Rina, firing. Bullseye never misses what he's aiming for, after all.

He just wishes that bitch that nearly destroyed his hand was around to shoot.

Reaper gives Beast a grim smile, slashing and blocking Beast's claws. "How /is/ my dear brother?" he asks. He's not pressing his advantage. Not yet.

The remaining HYDRA goons get knocked back or out by the stun, leaving only Bullseye and Reaper. For now.

A TK-field pops into life around Adam to cover him from any follow-up shot from Bullseye, and then with a tilt of his head, Julian reaches out to try to telekinetically "grab" Bullseye's hands and feet and just lift him off the ground so he can't gain any leverage. Hard to fight if you can't move your limbs or push off of anything, after all. "This is getting weirder by the second. You OK, Raptor?"

"Raptor, that's Bullseye. He's an assassin that never misses." He considers for a moment, "Giant Man, you got any orders?" He rolls out of Reaper's attack, "Better than his sibling will be after this fight." The blue mutant moving to strike at the metal rod of the scythe. He hopes to grab and give it a good bend.

Ant-Man picks up his foot and aims it for the Reaper, "Yeah science-bro git outta the way 'cause the foot is no one's friend!" He aims to stomp the Reaper into the pavement or at least knock him the hell away from Hank McCoy.

Reaper shimmers for a moment, dodging out of the way with a short-range teleport.

That's... perhaps... new.

Bullseye snarls, flinging a knife at Julian's chest.

"HYDRA, retreat." Reaper's tone is calm, but firm and unyielding. And he smiles up at Bullseye, still caught in Hellion's TK field. "Sorry," he says in a tone distinctly not-so. The HYDRA goons who aren't unconcious begin scattering, retreating.

And Reaper seems to vanish.

Ant-Man shrinks back down to normal size, holstering his blaster. He rubs his head slowly. "Ears still ringing..."

Bullseye never misses, and so that knife he throws is dead-on target. It sails through the air with blinding speed, poised to squarely pierce Julian's heart.

Or it would, if it didn't clang against another TK-shield just before it reaches its' target. Still, Julian looks a little surprised...he threw it so fast he barely got the shield up in time. Guy's no joke. "Someone wanna tell me what the hell that was all about? And I can hold onto Bullseye or I can mop up goons, but I can't do both."

[Avengers] Black Widow says, “HYDRA is attacking the Baxter Building in force. Engaging with Black Panther.”

"Hellion, keep that guy. I'll try and mop up." And a flip off his perch, landing on a rail, then running down it and leaping off, kicking one of the rising HYDRA greensuits in the face as he flies, before landing heavily in the middle of them.

Impetuousness, thy name is Raptor. "Bring it, nazi dilches."

[Avengers] Black Widow says, “...also, if Stark asks, I am still in bed. Absolutely still in bed.”

[Avengers] Beast says, “Beast in the Bronx, Ant-Man and the Young Avenger's team got snared by a Hydra distraction. Grim Reapers running with Hydra. We have Bullseye captured.”

"Got it." Julian eyes Bullseye warily, keeping him at quite a respectable distance, and making sure the TK field keeps him fully enclosed. He watches Adam drop down to deal with HYDRA goons alongside the others and just shakes his head, a rueful grin on his face. "I'm guessing we -don't- want to keep this guy anywhere near the Academy....?" He directs his question more towards Dr. Pym than anyone else.

[Avengers] Black Widow says, “Bozhe moy. Reaper is with HYDRA? Will talk later, Hank. Stay in one piece-- *sounds of heavy weapons fire* --Widow out.”

Ant-Man shakes his head. "He needs immediate transport to the Raft and a special holding cell and guards. He's ... very dangerous."

"Convienently," Raptor pulls out a taser arrowhead and punches a rising HYDRA agent with it, shocking him back the ground, "I'm pretty sure those accomodations are nearby and they should have a vacancy sign lit for him."

He looks around. Reaper's nowhere to be seen. Some of the goons got away, but most are laying around in varying stages of knocked-out.

"I call this a win." But he doesn't have access to the Avenger's comms.

Beast nods, "Can we incapacitate him or sedate him." He frowns as he looks up from his Multipass. "Hydra has attacked the Baxter Building. We were at the wrong place. Either this was a distraction or a multiprone attack."

[Avengers] Beast says, “Code names, Please Widow. What's the status of the mansion. Either this was a distraction or they were hitting the Avenger's Academy in a multi prong strike.”

[Avengers] Black Widow says, “*click and pause* Mansion is currently secure.”

[Avengers] Beast says, “Any other Superhero facilities in NYC? No Spider-Cave?”

"Damn." Julian notes, shaking his head, "FF wasn't at home?" He queries, then looks back to Bullseye, "All right, I'm gonna go drop this guy off. Then we can figure out our next move." And with that, Julian zooms off towards the Raft with Bullseye in Tow, using his Communicard to let them know he's on his way...and who he's got with him.