Summary:Jeriah and Jemma go on their first op together. It … goes as smoothly as expected. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Reverbium to the left. Vibranium to the right. Jemma Simmons seems to be stuck right in middle of things. What's become clear though is she needs more samples of the synthentic vibranium - in the rawest form she can get it. It would also be nice to find the recipe for it.
Whatever AIM is doing, they seem to have diversified its use, even into medical applications.
Which is why she, a TAC team and a new consultant to SHIELD are onroute to a facility, thought to be operated by AIM, on a Quinnjet. "Have you got the blueprints of the layouts Agent Phillips, Mister London?"
Jemma is reviewing something on her tablet as the facility comes into view. Not long now and they'll be moving.
"I have them." London says. "It's a fairly large facility so I hope you're not planning on going room by room." He tosses the blueprints up to the briefing screen in the quinjet. It's so odd to him that these things have that. Combat aircraft in the army never did. Because of course there was an excellent chance they would be shot at.
"Two levels and a basement. Odds are good that the research is all on the top level. Roof insertion here will put us out into a relatively defensible place but it's a maze from there. And that's IF the building hasn't been modified."
"You've not worked with her in the field before, have you London?" Phillips smirks and settles back. There's a wink to Jemma to let her know that he's teasing. "If you don't tell her otherwise she'll have us combing that place with a fine tooth comb."
Jemma blushes a little and peers at the schematics that appear on the screen. "I think you're right, Mister London. That's where the research will be. Our target, people, is to get the data they have stored, anything that might be related to their experimentation and any raw materials they might have stored. Oh and to disable the place if we can."
Does it sound like she wants to strip the place? A little.
"What do recommend, then, Mister London? I'll take a team to the labs - top floor. I'll need to identify things of interest." She's going to need some brawn but it's possible she'll need some brain as well.
"Well I'd recommend that people without combat training stay on the jet." Jeriah says dryly, which most people don't say to Jemma. That might get some laughs. Two of his drones are in the jet with him and another smaller one that flies.
"Land on the roof, enter near here. Establish control over this hall and then sweep the building. It's not really a good idea to try to loot the place until AFTER we've cleared it of hostiles. What's the expected resistance?"
He hadn't gotten that part of the briefing after all>
"It's a good thing I'm cleared for the field then, isn't it." Comes Jemma's tart response. There's a few guffaws but London is mostly given sympathetic looks. "You're welcome to join me in the gym anytime you're ready, Mister London."
"Remember who does your physicals, London." Phillips mutters. "Suit up and get ready, we're boots on the ground in five." The rest of the TAC squad starts to get ready as they listen to the rest of the briefing.
"It's an active facility. Research from our intel. We're expecting a number of Beekeepers, sonic weapons seem to be their favourite. Maybe some drones. Usual AIM fare for that. Electronic surveillance and other inbuilding countermeasures designed to disable, disarm and kill."
They'll need to be careful but they're not expecting an army, really.
"Are you ready, Mister London?" Jemma stands making sure her SHIELD armour is in place. She's carrying a sidearm - a real one, not just her ICER. Jeriah can sense her implants though. She'll probably need those once they're inside.
"What's she going to do? Not clear me for duty? That's an expensive physical for SHIELD." Jeriah mutters.
"Yeah. I'm ready." Seconds before the ropes drop Jeriah's dogs both jump out, using their jets to land. They hit heavily and by the time the rest of the team has fastroped down they've already blasted the door open and gone inside. They're useful like that because their profile is lower, and they're not, you know, human lives.
The smaller flying drone also zips out.
"I've got video feed. We've triggered the alarms. Hallway is covered and clear. There's one stairway on the east side and an elevator on the north side. Gotta secure those points before they lock them down.
The first few seconds of a fight are critical. They have momentum. Now they need to retain it and not get bogged down in extended firefights.
Phillips just chuckles at Jeriah's mutter. It's not often anyone really takes issue with Jemma and it's kind of amusing to watch the biochem blush.
"So gracious." Jemma mutters as she joins the others leaving the jet. This is the part she hates the most - jumping from a perfectly good Quinnjet - into trouble. By the time she lands though, the rest of the TAC team is on the ground and moving to secure the points that Jeriah has noted. Well trained and more than happy to follow the orders of someone who knows what they're doing.
They're none too as the sound of booted feet can be heard echoing up the stairwell on the east side. The lights on the elevator show it starting to rise too. Jemma stays to the back, letting the better trained combatants take point. "What's on your feeds."
London can see the lab spaces. He was right their on this level and there's squints inside. Four Beekeepers seem to be patrolling.
"Nothing ye- contact right?" London's dogs deploy their weapons and open fire. Sonic blasters similar to the ones that AIM is using. The flying one has a small blaster on it too. Pew pew pew. Well, not quite like that.
BOOM. The mercenary lets off a shotgun blast from his weapon which sends the first AIM soldier up the stairs back into his companions.
"They're coming up the elevator. Their comms systems are going off. We need to clear out this floor and then force them out of the lower floor. They're going to try to pin us in the hall way. Jemma, you need to keep them from locking down their security doors. Otherwise I'm going to have to take apart more of this building than is safe."
The TAC team deploys the elevator waiting for it to open. London gets the feed for that as well, four inside.
The dogs sonic blasters take out two of the four Beekeepers patrolling the floor. That leaves the ones coming up the stairs - there's not feeds on those, but he could assume four or six.
Probably. Well, one less now. His rifle sends the first hurtling backwards.
He's got a problem though as the remaining Beekeepers open with a barrage of sonic fire.
Jemma nods and ducks into the lab space. The three researchers sort of gape at her in surprise. They'd heard all hell break loose and were locking up their stations ending up caught in the lab when SHIELD arrived.
"Good afternoon, gentlemen. Surprise inspection." The biochem offers, drawing her sidearm and pointing it at them. Phillips follows her - they don't leave Jemma alone for long. The woman is a magnet for trouble. "Unlock your stations and give me access now."
"But but…" Jemma fires at the protestors feet. "I said now, please."
It's a matter of precious of seconds before she has the access "Alright London, I'm in." There's a silence "Don't any of you have any higher clearance?" She's going to have to work this through and she's not a hacker by any stretch of the imagination.
The turrets on the dogs are automatic weapons designed for suppression and squad support. They're very good at locking down corridors but the dogs don't have anywhere to maneuver and they have to try to stay out of the way of the tac team.
When the beekeepers open up Jeriah's disruption field from his implants flares. A purple haze around him that seems to absorb some of the weapons fire. He still tosses himself out of the way, into a storage room and lets his little flying drone take potshots.
"Okay. Okay." He mutters and pulls the pin on a frag.
"Grenade!"
That's likely not a call that Jemma is familiar with. Nor is the BOOM that goes with it going off.
It's all happening now. The elevator doors open and the Beekeepers within open fire immediately. If that had been the scientists waiting, they'd all be dead. Was that an accident or by design? Either way, the TAC squad was expecting and they return fire as well. One agent is knocked flying by the force of the shots landing with thud against an internal wall.
Two Beekeepers go down, leaving four.
Jeriah's flying Drone takes out one of the Beekeepers at the back of the frey in the stairwell, the dogs get another of wandering patrol. That leaves … still too many, but they're lessening.
"What?" Jemma asks at Jeriah's call. Too late. The explosion sends a concussive blast into the room where she's working, knocking the biochem and Phillips off balance. "Oooof" The desk rattles when Jemma hits it.
One the scientists who was huddled in the corner, grabs a weapon, pulls the trigger and fires at Phillips. Missing, of course.
The Agent recovers and stalks the miscreant, pulling his ICER and just shooting the man. "Anyone else? I'll knock you all too."
"70%…" Jemma grates out as she checks the progress. "I'll have access in a moment. Just hold them off."
The concussive blast seems to take those in the stairwell out. Which is a good thing, Jeriah finds himself the target of the last of the wandering patrol. No questions asked, he comes under more sonic fire.
The ones in the stairwell are probably a literal bloody mess at this point but that's what your workaday fragmentation grenade is for. Crude and messy, but quite effective. When the wandering patrol comes by, though he turns his weapon on them and fires several more spray blasts of electro-plasma. That is less crude, but equally messy.
One of the dogs turns and runs at the patrol, leaping at it with steel shredding claws.
"Are you done yet?" The hacker grumps as he scrambles for more cover. He's lost track of a couple of drones. They're still firing but they're operating on their last instructions and not anything he's telling them to do.
The Drones are helping clean up the Beekeepers in the elevator. The TAC team and Jeriah can hear the doors 'bing'. It's being called. Which means there might be more coming up those stairs too. The last of the Beekeepers from the elevator go down, about the same time as Jeriah and his dog take the wandering patrol down.
This is not clean or tidy - it's a damn mess.
"No. I'm not. 90%" Jemma shoots back. "95%, 99%… yes. I've got access now. Getting into the building management systems… " The elevator cart starts to descend. They don't have long. And it stops.
"OK. I've got control of the building. If you're down playing out there, I could use some help in here."
Phillips has the other scientists cowering in the corner.
"Access the security system and make sure there aren't any still hanging around downstairs." Jeriah says as he moves back into the hallway, sweeping the rooms as he goes. "I'm connecting in remotely. What do you need?"
That's going to give him a headache. He's already controlling as many drones as he really should. The fact that he's also doing computer work is going to make his implants hate him.
A lot.
"Security systems." It's quiet again as she works. If he's got access to the camera's in that room Jeriah will see Jemma bite her lip as she works. "Got it. I've got Beekeepers in the basement and a group on the first floor. The Elevator is shut down." Phillips barks an order to the team by elevator and they deploy on the stair well.
Jeriahs drones? Might just follow them for now.
"We can cut out the drives. I'm making sure we've disabled all their failsafes. I also need to find where they're keeping their materials. Can you scan for those? Intel insists there are some in this building."
If there are, they're going to have to go and get them.
When Jeriah connects, it's a different feeling. This isn't a standard computing system and it's reacting the presence of a third party. In a way it makes it easy to find what he's looking for, but he might get the feeling he's on a time clock here. More than one of his usual ones.
"Send the elevator down the shaft and open the doors." The mercenary says. As Jemma complies he shoots a big hole in it's roof. And when it gets to the basement…
He dumps four grenades down there.
That's going to make an even bigger mess. It is perhaps a much more tactical, much more lethal way of fighting than Jemma has ever seen.
Then he's in the room with her.
"Looking through files. Ugh, my head. Okay. No. No. No. Yes. They have a cold storage unit on the first floor and a hazmat unit on this one by where the elevator, uh… was. Looks like the hazmat's where the keep the reverbium. Oh… they've got… centrifuges and… they might have been making the stuff here."
Jemma diverts her attention from disabling failsafes, long enough to comply with London's request. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Comes the slightly angry response when the elevator car is shredded. It's effective but so incredibly messy.
Not that it distracts her for long. "I've nearly got these … fail … safes… What do you mean your head?"
Just as London finds the location of the materials, the system responds to his presence. An attack is launched, that adapts quickly to his processes. If his head before, it's going to pound now.
"OK. We can cut the drives out. Where is this stuff?" Jemma moves about the lab getting carriers. They're going to strip of everything they can.
There's boots in the stairwell, the TAC team has that covered and they're expecting the worst - grenades and sonic weapons.
"Killing enemy combatants still active and able to fight. What do you think this is, Simmons? A charity match?" The ex special forces soldier snaps.
"It's in here. Hang on." Boom. Boom. The shotgun severs the heavy door hinges and the hacker kicks it in. He hears the boots and turns around, the weapon reconfiguring into an automatic carbine as he does.
"Get what you need and hurry up about it." Where are his… ah. There they are. Jeriah calls his dogs. That stairwell is narrow. When they sight the first one both launch into jet assisted leaps. That is a LOT of metal coming down those stairs even without the claws and jaws.
Jemma colours at that retort. He had called her Simmons - something that she noted keenly. He's right, she knows he is but that doesn't mean she has to like it. "Get the scientists on the Quinnjet, Phillips. We'll join you as soon as we can." What the hell they're going to do with this lot, she's no idea but they're not leaving them to keep researching these weapons.
"Just a moment …" she's got to the drives out. That's not as hard as it looks, it takes precious time though. Once she's got them free, they're put in her pack and she's hurrying after the ex-soldier come hacker.
"Aye aye Sir." The biochem mutters, putting the carriers out and starting to collect the materials. It's an interesting combination of organics and materials. Some of these things might not have anything to do with what they're looking for. She takes everything.
The Beekeepers do send a grenade up. It rolls out in the floor by the TAC team.
Jeriah's dog makes a mess of the first Beekeeper - the stairwell too narrow for more than single file.
It could just be that he's used to calling people by their last names. In fact that's near certain, since he's been either in the military or private military sectors basically his entire adult life. That also explains his very 'final' view of what a firefight is. Engage quickly, kill until either there are no more enemies or the ones who are left have surrendered. He's good at it. Brutally efficient.
The dogs rip into the meat bags in front of them with no regard for the mess they're making. They'll only stop when the beekeepers have thrown down their weapons. If they do that in time.
"GRENADE!" Jeriah turns and gives it a kick, then pulls one of the tac agents to the floor. Grenade blasts go up conically, more or less. Being flat on the ground is the best way to avoid them.
Jeriah had been calling her by her first name up to that. Maybe it was just the battlefield situation but it's enough to make Jemma colour anyway.
The grenade is kicked back towards the stairwell. TAC agents hitting the deck at London's call. Phillips has just about made the egress point with the Scientists and tackles the group of them to the ground.
BOOM
The concussive force takes out the top few stairs in the stair well and sends Londons Dogs and the Beekeepers flying back. The Beekeepers aren't getting up from that. The dogs? Well …
Behind him, Jemma hadn't been quite so fast - preoccupied with collecting what she could while they handled the fire fight in the corridor. She's sent hurtling back into one of the cabinets, knocking her silly - not out, but certainly dazed. With great difficulty the SHIELD scientist pulls herself upright and tries to focus enough to gather the last of the items.
Time to to go.
Jeriah's dogs will get up from that though he can tell that the front left ankle actuator on one of them is sticking. He'll have to see to that later. It might be jammed up or it might need replacing. He recalls them, bringing them up as people begin to exit. There are possibly still enemies in the building - though maybe not they've been hit really hard - and he's still wary.
"Everyone out." He calls as he leans down to help herd Jemma toward the exit.
"Come on, Devon. Time to go."
Devon. Did he know or…?
Jemma had told him, hadn't she? That she was from Devon. Right now it's really hard to focus, even with all her enhancements she still very, very human. Or at least squishy like one. "I'm trying. Just let me get the last of all this…" A few precious minutes more and she'll have all the samples.
"OK…" She glances at the dogs as one limps by her "Are they repairable?" She's moving a little more slowly than she should be they make the exfil point just at the Quinnjet hovers and they can board.
Are there more in the building? Quite likely but they're going to have a hard time making the second floor and that gives the team time to extract, three scientists, data drives and samples in hand. A good heist?
Possbily.
"Yeah, but I'm going to need a workshop. You've got one in SHIELD, right?" He can't imagine that they don't. But right now he's focused on getting everyone out. Up to the roof. Into the quinjet. His hounds still have their weapons trained on the exits, ready to fire at anyone who comes up after them.
"Do all SHIELD raids go this well?"
From the dry tone he's clearly thinking it possibly could have gone better. Still, it was a good heist.
"And some of the finest engineers in the industry." Jemma answers, hoisting herself into the quinnjet and strapping herself in. "The only thing we didn't get was a sample of the reverbium. We'll have to find another facility for that. Fortunately intel is looking for them now."
Once everyone is in, including the dogs, the Quinnjet takes off and cloaks.
"Some go better, some go worse. Depends really. This was a hit and run, so there's that."
It will take some time to get back to the Triskelian and then the work of cataloguing all they've found can begin.