Following The Stolen Tech

November 17, 2015:

Following the theft from the Miltary Facility, Falcon and May, with the help of Oracle follow up on the Purifier thefts

East Shore - New York

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions:

Plot:

Mood Music: None.


Fade In…

After the thefts of Sentinel equipment the other day, Falcon has been busy surveilling. He might have tapped the resources of a certain Gotham Information Goddess to speed things along. The investigation has led him to a facility on the outskirts of New Yorks West Sides and he'll know from the information provided that it's got high tech security and if it's anything like previous facilities that have been raided, it will have infra-red motion detectors…

This facility has a high metal fence circling the permiter and cameras are obvious to the casual observer. It's what they can't see that might be a problem.

"Alright, Falcon." Oracles digitally disguised voice filters through the comms system "I've access to the building the schematics, you've got entrances on the west and east side of the building. Windows, of course and it looks like a service entrance on the roof." There's a pause "I'm accessing the building management system, and will have control of the systems soon."


Sam Wilson knows better than most human beings that New York's commercial district features one of the world's highest densities of truly excellent perches. Certain areas of Gotham probably have it beat, what with all of the moody gargoyles and vaulted architecture, but his current spot on an architectural flourish of a cornerstone is nothing to sneeze at.

His goggles give him a great view of the target building, even from this distance. "I like windows. Nobody ever seems to realize that they're also doors, if you have a little imagination," he tells the voice in his earpiece. He glances upward and then whistles, making a circular sign with his fingers and then pointing at the building. Redwing, above, dives and begins to closely patrol the building. He's trained to do this sort of thing in order to spook other animals, but that air patrol should also have the handy benefit of tripping any overly sensitive motion sensors. Any guards checking on the tripped alarm will just see a harmless bird of prey… which will make anything Falcon trips seem like another false positive.


"A lot of those I work with like windows." Oracles quips to Sams comments. Batgirl and Fox are particularly good at those types of things.

As Redwing flies over, lasers fire into the compound … good job. Two armed guards, high tech weaponry in hand, step out from an sheltered alcove, look up at the bird and then too each other before heading back to their observation point.

"When you go in, Falcon, I'll cut the systems. I don't want to do it too early, it will tip our hand." Gothams information goddess advises "Activating the video feed in your communicator. Whenever you're ready."


Redwing keens at the guards, either chiding them for overreacting, or taunting their stormtrooper-level marksmanship. "Might as well get this show on the road," Sam answers, signaling the hawk in sign to resume his higher patrol. He reluctantly gives up his choice spot on the neighboring building, launching himself into a fast downward glide.

He'll be tough to spot on his way in: the gunmetal-colored stealth jumpsuit he's wearing was mainly designed for a low radar profile, but it makes for damn fine urban camo as well. Not to mention, thanks to Redwing, he knows exactly where the guards are stationed. He swoops around the building to a spot they'll have trouble seeing and anchors himself to the side in a practiced climbing hold.

"Thing about minimum-size manifold ailerons," he whispers conversationally to Oracle, "is that they end up having a lot of really sharp parts." A few careful swipes from certain metal feathers in his wings — or 'manifold ailerons,' if you want to be really pretentious, I guess — and what was a sealed window is now open for business without the frame being disturbed in the slightest.


Agent May doesn't have nifty wing-like things, so she has to go with the old tried and true rooftop hopping. She's not nearly as practiced at it as the usual Gothamites that Oracle works with most of the time, so after Redwing indicates where the guards are she plans for a zipline across so that her shadow isn't thrown where it can be seen.

Almost at the same moment that Falcon hits the building, May lands on the roof lightly. "Oracle. May. How's the roof access look?" She doesn't have an actual avian to spot for her after all.


"May, there's a service entrance on the roof. Checking it now." Oracle conferences Falcon and May across the comms system. "Falcons on his way in. And …." A final sweep of her hands across her console. "I have control of the security system, now." The door on the roof, near May 'clicks' as it unlocks. "Exercise caution, the intel provided by others is that these guys have top of the line security." Whilst the Towerbound redhead can control the system, who knows what surprises there are.

When Sam enters that window, he'll find himself in an office. Abandoned and empty. The door leads out to the corridor and. from the information provided, he'll need to head down to the ground floor via the stairs located at the east end of the floor. But first "Falcon, single guard security patrol, about 12 feet from the door of your location." He'll have to do something about that first.

Mays entrance will take her downstairs, two floors worth, and she'll exit at the West end of the floor that Sams heading too… "May, I'm detecting movement where you're going to exit. Single guard, well armed." Comes Oralces report.


"Not a problem," Sam answers in a murmur as he hops down onto the carpeted floor of the office. The flier retracts his wings and switches one goggle lens over to an infrared scanner overlay, allowing him to see a ghostly outline of the nearby guard right through the wall. He positions himself by the door and waits for the guard to pass.

At the right moment, Falcon steps out behind the man and, in a fluid motion, captures him in a sleeper hold. One muscular arm around the guard's neck, the other hand over his mouth, Sam cuts off circulation to his quarry's head, wrestling with him and waiting for the moment he'll pass out. It seems to be going well, but the man's thrashing attempts to escape manage to knock over a shelf stacked with office supplies. The noise is sure to draw attention.


Melinda May slips through the roof access door and moves quickly and quietly until she reaches that exit, where she pauses. She pulls a taser baton, listens to the guard pass by, then shoves the door open abruptly and stabs the guard with the zappy end of the baton. And then reaches to grab him by an arm so he doesn't make too much noise falling to the floor. "Handled."


"You need to get downstairs, Falcon." Oracle resists the urge to sigh at the racket. She's watching the video feeds to see what attention he's drawn. On this floor, he's clear … he can get down the stairs without incident.

Mays efforts are rewarded and the Purifier drops, silently. "OK May and Falcon, time to look around there." the redhead directs. "Camera feeds tell me there's something in the room on the North West wall."

As both agents start across, they'll hear something hum, like a small engine starting up…. From that same room that Oracle directs them, the door bursts open and both Falcon and May will recognise a Sentinel … or something closely resembling one anyway and an blast of energy shoots from it's hands towards the pair.


Sam hisses out a curse as he quickly gags and zipties his — finally — subdued opponent. With the guard restrained, he hightails it toward the entrance May used, catching sight of the SHIELD agent only a few seconds later. He smiles a greeting, then wordlessly joins her on their way to the room Oracle identifies as a point of interest.

Just in time for grim robotty death to explode out from it. Of course.

Falcon hits the dirt, trusting May to do the same. There's no cover in the room but flimsy, prefab office furniture: it might block vision, but it disintegrates under the Sentinel's guns. Well, almost no cover…

Falcon's wings extend and curve around him, forming a barrier that can withstand a pretty significant energy blast. He strafes toward May's position: with his wings held in front of him and his body braced against the force of the blasts, he's offensively useless, but she might be able to do better while using him as mobile cover.


Melinda May drops and ducks to one side at the same time as Sam, and then as he moves to provide cover, she pulls her sidearm (the only thing on her person that isn't a melee weapon or a blade or an ICER) and carefully aims to take out whatever resembles the thing's 'eyes'. "Be ready to move." She's hoping that these things were built to be shooty only, and can't handle up close attacks. Because that's where she's going next.


Mays shot hits true and the Sentinels head rocks backwards slightly, but it doesn't stop it coming towards them, those energy blasts still emitting from its hands … and now the two are together it's easier to target them.

"You're going to have to take it apart." Oracle advises "I'm checking through the systems, looking for an 'off' button." For the all the world though, this thing seems to be autonomous. It's going to take the redhead some time.

Close examination will show that it's unfinished and exposing the inner workings to disable it might have an effect.


Falcon's flight frame shudders under the deflected impacts from the Sentinel's energy blasts. "Hip holsters!" he shouts over the din. A quick jerk of his head indicates the lightweight machine pistols strapped to his own hips; he's offering them to May as an alternative to her sidearm. Whether she takes him up on his offer or refuses, he can tell they're going to need a change of tactic: he charges at the bot, drawing as much fire as he can and attempting to flank past it so that May can search for vulnerable spots.


Melinda May promptly ducks to the side as Falcon charges straight at the thing, moving to flank the automaton seemingly empty-handed. If she can get all the way behind the thing, she'll slap a pair of those little shocker disks that are part of Romanoff's usual arsenal onto the Sentinel's back. Take that.


Falcons flight, pardon the pun, has the desired effect and the Prototype Sentinel turns towards him, aiming those viscious blasts at the winged man. Which leaves it perfectly open for the shocker disks to land on the Sentinels back … when they go off, it shorts out.

Not quite down, but it's close! The energy weapons have stopped at least, as has the creatures movement.

Time for May and Falcon to knock the thing down, before it resets.


His wings literally steaming from residual heat, Sam fully unfurls them: a setting designed for maintenance, but excellent for heat dissipation as well. He takes full advantage of this opportunity to rush at the disarmed Sentinel. He draws one of his modified Uzis and blasts at its identifiable sensor hotspots at close range, then starts trying to pry away armor and expose vital components. "Why do I always end up fighting robots? Aren't there ever regular squishy crooks around to fight?"


"Welcome to working with WAND, Wilson." She then pulls a small but wickedly sharp-looking knife from somewhere and digs it into the Sentinel's back, trying to expose its inner workings. Because as all the sci-fi movies Coulson has subjected her to shows, robots are just as easy to damage under their shells as humans are. It's just a matter of getting past the shell.


Mays going to struggle to find a way through to the inner workings although Falcons shooting keeps it at bay for the moment. The pair can hear though, the stamp of booted feet running towards them, from the East entrance.

"Be careful what you wish for, Falcon." Oracle counters. "I'd suggest the two of you …. " her words cut short "You've got incoming, a lot of them, all very highly armed. Leave now!! West exit is clear and I'll give you cover." They hadn't been subtle about this, not that they could have.

Through the east entrance, come at least a dozen Purifiers sporting laser rifles and starting to straif the room. Some of the automated defenses kick in and fire back at them - thanks Oracle but there's more coming… They mean to keep this Prototype it seems.

At least now, though, they have a feel for how far along the Purifiers.


"Aw, hell. Hold on, May." What Sam means by this warning immediately becomes clear: he takes hold of her, wrapping his arms around her waist even as his still-cooling wings snap back into their live flight configuration. A sharp burst of thrust from his pack kicks them both into the air, then a sustained burn sends them rocketing toward the exit Oracle indicated, bits of paper and splintered furniture spiraling in their wake.

Even speeding indoors with a passenger, Wilson is a deft enough flier to keep them clear of obstacles, although there are a few narrow scrapes as they bank to pass through doorways or over cubicle partitions. Soon enough, they're clear of the building and gaining distance through New York's concrete canyons. Redwing escorts them outward and upward, screeching some birdy insult at the Purifiers they've left behind.


Melinda May doesn't have time to put away the knife she'd been using to dig at the Sentinel, but she does have enough presence of mind to not slice Wilson or herself with it. Still, she's got one hand clamped onto the arms encircling her waist. She's not afraid of heights or of flying. But this. This is way too close to falling with style than she cares for. Still, it got them clear post haste, so she's not about to complain out loud. She's merely thinking unpleasant things.

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