I'm gonna shake up the system

[heismymission]

Who: Bucky, Steve, Fortuna, and Diarmuid.
Where: The building across from the welcome center and into the underground tunnels
When: January 9th, in the dark hours of the morning
Summary: It's time for a rescue mission.
Warnings: ???

After Zeloph sent him and Steve the map of the underground tunnels, Bucky had been reminded of the predicament the priestess had been in while he'd been sitting around feeling sorry for himself. He cursed internally over the lack of focus and almost immediately began to plan on how he would help the priestess, going over all the information he'd acquired in the past few months that would help. It was easy enough to figure out the other two key holders the mysterious figure was referring to with a little process of elimination, and he'd visited Fortuna and Diarmuid before the day was over, discussing plans with them and what they might expect.

When he returned and asked Steve to accompany them, they'd had an argument about the kid's presence, but Bucky had placated him by saying he'd already tried to suggest Diarmuid stay home, and that the boy had been adamant in joining them. It didn't make Steve happy about it, but it was enough to let them move on and start to prepare.

He had several weapons now, even if it wasn't nearly as close to his old arsenal in size, and that reassured him somewhat. A pistol he'd save for emergencies, several knives, and something else he'd acquired in case Burnie got involved. He'd stick with hand-to-hand and the knives if he could, as much as he wanted to use the gun. The strange bag that was larger than it seemed was also taken in case they found something they needed to store and bring back with them, but he left the medallion key in one of his normal pockets for easy access.

It was early enough in the morning that it was still about as dark as it could get when he arrived, wearing the armor HYDRA gave him--though he left the mask and goggles so he could easily communicate with the others--in addition to his leather jacket to help conceal his arm. He had no need to conceal his face when he didn't plan to be seen anyway, and even if he did wear them and was spotted, he doubted it would hide his identity.

All that was left now was to retrieve Rhea and Mai.

Bucky stood near the door to the building, wondering if he might have to break in to enter--the palm reader the elemental had used was still there, but he thought it unlikely it would accept his hand print, and even if it did, he didn't want to leave a definite trace of his presence. Giving Burnie any more obvious clues as to what he's been doing probably wouldn't be a good idea.

Comments

[noparachute]

"Heard a strange sound earlier, might be from that summon you're talking about. Is it still there with you?" Hearing about a summon doesn't sound so strange, so he's just gonna go along with it. And if it worked in their favor, he's definitely not going to complain. He'll ask more about the details from them later on.

"Other than that, heard gears working from somewhere in the room."

[heismymission]

While Bucky doesn't believe the tonfas any more useful than the knives he already has, he takes the weapons anyway and drops them in his bag of holding. After that, he takes the handcuffs and rips off a part of the guard's shirt to use as a gag as he looks for something--a pipe, for instance--to handcuff him to. If there is nothing, he'll just find a way to keep the door closed.

[smallspot]

Diarmuid watches Fortuna closely as she puts hers on and then does the same with his. He is very surprised when he hears Steve talking on the other end. He is also relieved to know his friend is okay.

The boy whispers 'thank you' to Fortuna and then makes his way over to the door. Once he listens for a short time and hears nothing on the other side, he carefully opens it just a little bit and peeks out through the crack. A moment later, he closes it again and turns to the others.

"The door we need to open to let Steve in isn't far away. I will go while you finish with the guard."

[shadowsgambit]

"No, but I don't think the summon's ended. She's just gone back to the astral or whatever, waiting for another command. The gears, though...don't know what they're for, but what's a place like this got heavy machinery for?"

She looks up at Bucky, but speaks to everyone when she says, "Any ideas?"

[noparachute]

Huh, she can be summoned at any point to help them. That is good to know.

"Not too sure." Of course the easiest way to find out is to go and explore, but Steve doesn't have any real helpful ideas at the moment.

[rekindlenpcs]

There are no pipes in the room that are not partially imbedded inside the cement brick walls.

[heismymission]

Bucky leaves the handcuffed and gagged guard in the corner and grabs the edge of the opened crate, intending to drag it behind them to keep the door shut when they exit the closet.

"This building is an entrance to the underground tunnels. The scientists could have anything set up here," he says plainly, seeming impatient. "Go. We need to get Steve inside."

[smallspot]

Diarmuid doesn't need to be told again. He nods to Bucky and then pulls his cloak hood back over his head so he's invisible again. After taking a moment to listen at the door and make sure no one is out there, he opens it again and slips out. His footsteps are silent as he makes it way to the door. Part of him expects there to be something he needs to unlock when he gets to the door, but after looking things over, he finds nothing.

"I guess it just opens," Diarmuid's words are barely a whisper as he reaches up to push the door open. He then braces, ready to run if some kind of alarm goes off. Hopefully, though, nothing will happen besides the group finally being reunited when Steve joins them...

[noparachute]

Steve steps back when the door begins to open, a little tense despite the fact that he's positive that Diarmuid is behind it. He was also expecting that some kind of alarm would trip because of it, but nothing seems to be happening... guess they lucked out. He's not gonna second guess it.

He walks inside and closes the door behind him, taking a quick look around the room he's in. Always important to note the surroundings after all. "Thanks."

[smallspot]

Diarmuid tilts back his hood so Steve can see him just a little and then nods, "The others are over here. Follow me." He's not sure if Steve saw the other door or not when he looked around, but just in case he didn't Diarmuid points in that direction and then starts walking. Hopefully, the others have finished with the guard and are ready to move on now. They shouldn't waste any more time...

[shadowsgambit]

Fortuna is guarding the door, a tall barrier between anyone who might want in or out that isn't one of the group. She tilts her head towards Steve in acknowledgment.

"Welcome to the party. Didn't mean to hold you up out there."

Now that everyone's accounted for, she sweeps her gaze along the walls. If there are gears moving...machinery generates heat. Is there any section of wall hotter than the rest?

[rekindlenpcs]

As Fortuna looks, she will find a spot on the wall opposite the entrance that seems a little warmer than the rest. Other than that, it doesn't seem to be the walls. However, the floor is another story. Anyone with good hearing can probably hear the gears turning beneath their feet.

From the other side of the room from the door to the storage room, a red light begins to flash where there wasn't before.

[heismymission]

It doesn't take long for the soldier to drag the crate behind him and make sure it's at least partially blocked the door, and he exits the room in time to see the light flash. It's likely they've been spotted--avoiding that would have been much easier if he was on his own, he thinks--so it's time to move.

"Get your keys."

He digs the earth medallion out of his pocket as he approaches the pedestal in the room that had been revealed by the elemental several weeks earlier, and he examines it to see if there's a specific place he needs to put his.

[smallspot]

Diarmuid doesn't notice the light until he sees Bucky starting at it. When he does see it, though, he can't help but frown. He might not know what it is, but Lord James doesn't seem happy about it, so it is probably not a good thing.

He follows Bucky over to the pedestal and then digs in his bag until he finds the fire key. However, he doesn't look for where he should put his key right away. Instead, he holds it close to his chest. He will wait until everyone is together and putting their keys in just in case something happens before they are all ready...

[shadowsgambit]

Fortuna takes out her key, regarding the red light warily and staying out of its direct path, and follows Bucky, keeping an eye on the faint heat source too. It might just have a high concentration of wires or something. The difference is faint, but anything could be a threat...

[noparachute]

Steve kept an eye on the light, at least until everyone else started to gather around the pedestal. He didn't hold one of the keys, but Bucky showed him the earth medallion before they left, so he knew what they were doing at least.

For now, he just remained quiet with a hand on his shield, in case if anything would go wrong.

[rekindlenpcs]

As they gather around the pedestal, the heat signature on the wall seems to grow a little warmer. What's' more, they could likely hear the sound of a siren in the distance...

There is one slot for each medal. One imprint of a snake intertwined with a turtle, one imprint of a tiger, and one imprint of a vermillion bird.

[smallspot]

Diarmuid's eyes grow wide when he hears the siren. For a moment, his hand tightens on his key and then he dashes forward to put it into the matching slot. Once done, he looks to everyone else.

"We have to hurry! They are coming!"

[heismymission]

The soldier doesn't need to be told; he places his medallion in the slot and steps back, waiting for the door to open. Flexing his fingers, he prepares to retrieve one of his weapons if they come under attack.

[shadowsgambit]

Fortuna hurries to put her own key in its place. Not good, what's going on here? Did the summoning alert them? Or did the bird breaking the security camera do the same?

It didn't matter. They knew someone was here, and they'd have footage of them standing outside the door...and the guard's eyewitness account of her drones...

...That had been spectacularly dumb. Hopefully they'll have time to take care of that, or her plans for a safehouse are dead in the water, and she and any potential guests, well, could just be plain dead.

Truth be told, though, this is the sort of thing that keeps her going.

[noparachute]

Steve's hold on his shield only tightens when he hears the sirens. It's obvious that they've been noticed and he looks around for a moment, making sure that no one else has arrived at their location yet. He doesn't really know much about the medallions themselves, but he hopes that they've worked.

Sticking around in this room won't be fun for anyone.

[rekindlenpcs]

As the third and final medallion is placed within the final slot in the pedestal, gears could be heard even louder as the floor itself seemed to sink from beneath them by six to eight inches, parting to reveal a staircase with the pedestal and the small platform as its landing. The staircase rises to become level with the platform, lights flickering on to reveal a metal door and granting them entry to the city tunnels below.