rapture | itf gathering post

[onlyapassenger]

It's a hell of a thing.

When Ishiah first informed them of his discovery the day prior, Bucky had met the news with equal parts wariness and excitement. Combat is his first love, what he genuinely considers himself born for, but the prospect of adventure is a close second, as whimsical a notion as that seems when he knows deep down in his gut that

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[blondrussianspy]

Natalya was intimately familiar with derelict ships and ruined cities. It was part and parcel with being a special operative for the Motherland- it was a vast country, and pieces of it had been forgotten, let go. Not pieces anyone knew about, or that could be easily found, but they were there. She had buried a few of them

[mutant_gi_jesus]

Cable had an opinion on everyone in the ITF and he had fought with several of them in real combat but undoubtedly he was far closer to Natalya then anyone else, bar Zell.

It was only natural then that when they started pushing out through the halls of the city, eyes peeled for any movement, that he'd fallen into pace alongside her.

He would rather have her watching his back then someone else.

[blondrussianspy]

She stopped beside a doorway, putting her back to the wall and listening for anything beyond the echoes of drips and decaying metal. There was the soft whirr she was coming to associate with the cameras that were mounted in some hallways, but no sigsn of life. She looked at Cable, then stepped away from the wall and continued into what looked to be some kind of medical pavilion. The stylized posters advertising cosmetic surgeries and dental practices were somehow disturbing.

She paused, and knelt to pick up a small, clunky contraption that looked like an old fashioned tape recorder. Curious, frowning, she stood and pressed 'play'. The sudden sound of a human voice was jarring, but she didn't start, merely turned and held it aloft toward Cable as the increasingly perturbing message played.

"Adam?" she repeated, when it had finished.

[mutant_gi_jesus]

"Some kind of drug, I expect," he replied, keeping his voice quiet even thought the message had likely given away their position to any listening ears. "Back home, the cosmetics guys invented ones which could rewrite the body's code. Effectively shape shifting."

[giftless]

Edmund was there by their permission. As a Council representative in charge of exploration, he had felt it simply his duty to investigate the discovery when he had heard of it. But he acknowledged that, in all ways, they were best suited for this sort of thing, so he had asked permission of Barnes and Thrace. Sometimes this is the kingly thing to do

[giftless]

Observing sometimes means that you don’t see everything that’s around you. Edmund looked at the brightly lit signs in the darkness, heard the drip from destroyed pipes, the soft clamor of heavy boots, smelled decay on the air and sensed, distantly, that he was being watched. But he did not observe everything, including the creature hidden in the shadows until she (it?) was shouting and nearly upon him.

There isn’t time to think in all battles. Sometimes, all you can do is draw your sword and react. Edmund did so now, his sword making a broad, bloody slash across the creature’s middle before they both fell, one under the weight of the other, and scrambled for dominance.

[irisewiththesun]

This is the first major operation the ITF's been involved in since Zuko joined, and he can't help but be both a little excited and a little annoyed. Excited that they're getting to explore, that they're getting to put all their hours of training into practice. And annoyed because Zuko knows that while he can definitely hold his own quite well without, he would be so much more useful in this situation if only he had his bending.

He's got his swords, though, and he's not worried about his ability to take care of himself. Zuko's never seen anything like this underwater city, and he takes it all in, keeping an eye out for any trouble and hyper-alert as ever as he makes his way through the various rooms and halls of the city.

[irisewiththesun]

Zuko doesn't draw his swords just yet, not sure whether this - is it a person? He's not sure - is a threat or not. She, or it, seems pretty unhinged, though, so he keeps a bit of distance between them, frowning slightly as he calls out. "Hello?"

[newkindofcop]

If anything, Steve is accustomed more to this kind of scenario than the cases he used to take back home, with Five-O, where sticking to the rules of black ops wasn't so applicable in the face of police procedure and proper protocol. The Navy had its rules, besides, but then there were the SEALs, who knew how to take orders followed by improvisation if things didn't go according to plan. Somehow, Steve thinks, as he adjusts the holster strap around his thigh, keeping his gun close and at the ready, not everything is bound to go according to plan down here.

He's got his fighting knife in his boot too, but he really hopes he doesn't have to use it - or the gun, for that matter, though he's carrying both as a precaution, as a safety measure. Observe, don't engage. Bucky's orders echo through his head, an unconscious reminder not to engage with any potential hostiles unless absolutely necessary

[niceofyoutoask]

Reconnaissance, unknown hostiles, don't be the first to fire. Lipton filed it carefully away as he listened to the man's speech, finding Bucky's style of giving orders close to what he'd become intimately familiar with in the war back home. His own rifle was equally familiar in his hands, when Bucky dismissed them to patrol the city, and despite the vast foriegn element of this underwater metropolis, Lipton couldn't help but feel even more nostalgic of home at the city's aesthetic. It wasn't quite what he was used to from the 1940s, but it was closer in feel to home than he'd been at any time other than when he'd inexplicably dreamed he was home last year with Jane for a few days.

"Not too bad," Lipton deadpanned, but there was some truth to it in the nostalgia it gave him for home. "Don't think I'll relocate my wife and daughter down here quite yet, but I've seen worse." He gave McGarrett a small smile - he didn't know the man through much more than the ITF, but it was enough to go on. "Start close and work our way out?"

[newkindofcop]

Steve's already slightly familiar with the man standing next to him - not to mention it was his wife's dog who'd had the litter that Danny had gotten their dog from - but there's also some familiarity in his overall demeanor, that Army calm that's difficult to lose even after so much time has passed, the ability to make jokes and quip in a relatively serious situation to keep the mood light when most civilians wouldn't be able to push past their fear.

"Sounds good," he agrees, keeping Lipton visible in his periphery as he starts out walking. This place is big enough as it is, but they know so little about what's down here that he doesn't feel comfortable going solo on recon. Besides, he's pretty sure Danny would kill him if he doesn't take at least one person as back-up. "So how much of this looks like what you remember from home?"

[niceofyoutoask]

"The storefronts, the posters, they could all be from downtown Huntington." He didn't used to be at all forthcoming about home, but just as the war had changed him from the loner he'd been before it the island had continued that progression. "We didn't have too many neon signs, but there were more in Paris." He scanned the area as they moved, on high-alert for any kind of movement that might indicate one of the city's denizens. "So all in all, pretty similar, aside from the technology and the water." He added, almost as an afterthought.

[widowskiss]

Natalia peels herself away from the group at first opportunity. She respects the team they make, and certainly their sincere efforts to ready themselves for any need or call to arms, but the fact remains that, apart from James himself, she doubts a one of them can perform reconnaissance here as silent and efficiently as she

[widowskiss]

Though it would take someone who knew her well to see it, Natalia is stricken by the sight of the young girl, her arm - and aim - lowering slowly as she processes what it is she's seeing.

The girl can't be more than five, unremarkable in appearance, if not surroundings, until Natalia takes in her glowing yellow eyes. Frozen, she listens to the little thing as she kneels next to the gore that is, apparently, the late Dr. Suchong, babbling to it. If the girl is bothered by the dried blood she's standing in, she gives no sign.

"Yes," says Natalia, her voice pitched soft and small, and holds out her hand, unwilling to mark the girl a threat until she has to. "Wouldn't you like to come away from there?"