A Hotel of Two Tales

[ngm_hydra]

The decrepit-looking hotel near a waterfall in Colombia was a case of the facade not quite matching the interior. Early 20th century grandeur fought against years of disuse and nature's reclamation. While the first floor retained some of it's moldy and waterlogged appearance, it was a deception to keep the local guerillas uninterested in the goings on inside the building. With late night experiments leading to flashing lights in some of the windows, the locals, gun-toting or not, spoke about the old hotel as a haunted location.

The head of that nest was counting on interlopers of the goody-two-shoe variety. Though the planned team wasn't the ones in blue and white. Either way, Huntress 19 had called in assistance from extra nests.

Comments

[grandson_of_coul]

"Minion, huh?" Steve says, his attention definitely on the woman being shot at. His own weapon was something that could help, so he also dives to cover, intent on getting a place that would allow a good line of fire on her.

"She doesn't look small and yellow to me. But she does seem willing to follow jerks."

[agent_timeout]

Sammy had both guns palmed. She fired at their target as well. "I'm taking a look ahead. It'll be fast. Who's coming with me?"

[simon_didnt_say]

Simon managed to squeeze off a few shots as well, ducking behind cover.

[lilbrownspyder]

"Minion?" she retorted, firing back at the two closest men. "From a SHIELD lackey?"

[the_next_avenger]

"Coulson, cover me!" Joe yelled, slipping back around the corner to reload his weapon.

As soon as Coulson needed to reload, he'd step out and fling his shield at the Recluse's head, attempting to end the fight before either of them got hurt. If he missed, the shield would bounce off the nearest wall and return to him, a simple gesture activating the built in control system.

He couldn't sling a shield like his father or sister, but he'd could fake it with the best of them.

[hisstress]

Ariadne had held back for a moment, just to see what the Recluse would do.

Of course, she'd gone for Joe first. That was obvious.

The poisonous HYDRA agent appeared behind Simon and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hi, handsome. Busy?"

[simon_didnt_say]

Simon let out a very girlish scream as he spun around, falling backwards in the process. His handgun fell from his hand and clattered away, forcing him to fumble for his back-up armament, a new prototype night-night gun.

[hisstress]

Her face scrunched up at that scream. "Damn," she said. "And you were so cute, too." She whirled around, lashing out with a high-heeled boot to knock the night-night gun out of his hand. "Pity you'll have to die."

[simon_didnt_say]

Oh God, I'm going to die... Oh God, I'm going to die... Oh God, I'm going to die... Oh God, I'm going to die... Oh God, I'm going to die... Oh God, I'm going to die... Oh God, I'm going to die... Oh God, I'm going to die...

Simon groped futilely for the gun.

[hisstress]

"No no." Ariadne said, clamping her high-heeled boot down onto Simon's seeking hand. "No guns for you." She dug the heel just a little into his hand. "I'm more of a touchy-feely girl." With that, she reached out to touch Simon. Just a light graze across his cheek was all she intended.

Of course, her nails were poison, so Simon would probably want to get away.

[simon_didnt_say]

To his credit, Simon didn't scream or cry out when she stepped on his hand. Because she was focusing on that hand. Which meant maybe his other hand...

He pulled the taser from his belt and jabbed for her leg.

[hisstress]

She didn't yell. She didn't scream. But she did hiss.

Bright eyes flashed with anger and fury as Simon tasered her.

She should have seen that coming. Had it been anyone else than this little cutie with the unfortunately girlish scream, she would have seen it coming.

But she underestimated him.

But that was okay. She scratched a thin line across his cheek, too, before going down. Enough to hurt but not enough to poison, unfortunately.

[simon_didnt_say]

Simon let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, coupled with a wince of pain.

"Oh. Oh dear..."

[lilbrownspyder]

She dropped one of her guns to catch the shield. This couldn't have turned out better. Now she wouldn't have to duck behind walls to avoid the bullets. She holstered her gun and used the shield to cover herself as she picked up the one she dropped.

"Well, fuck," she said with a grin. "You really didn't have to get me a present."

[the_next_avenger]

"Sorry, Shrimp. I only buy presents for three women and you're not on the list." U.S. Agent said, looking the woman over.

"You can come along quietly or you can get carried out with a few bruises. Your choice."

[lilbrownspyder]

She shrugged. "So you didn't buy it. It's still a good present."

She shot at his head. "What makes you think I'm going anywhere with you? SHIELD can go to hell."

[the_next_avenger]

Even with peak human reflexes, the shrimp nearly hit him. She looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't think of why. He ducked and rolled toward her, attempting to tackle her to the ground.

"When you're unconscious, you can't really protest."

[lilbrownspyder]

She yelped as she fell, hitting at his head with the shield. She was not letting him take her back to SHIELD.

"Hard to knock me out if you're unconscious."

[the_next_avenger]

Joe's vision swam as she smacked him in the head with the shield. If not for his helmet, he'd probably be out cold right now.

Now he was annoyed.

"Sorry, Short Stuff, but I've got a team to back up."

So he tried to punch her in the throat.

[lilbrownspyder]

The punch to her throat caught her off guard and she let go of the shield to block any further damage to her trachea. He hit harder than anyone she'd fought before. He shouldn't have been able to hit that hard after how hard she brought the shield down on his head. For the first time in a long time, she was actually scared. She was struggling just to breathe. She knew she would heal by the end of the day unless he killed her but she couldn't fight when she couldn't breathe.

[the_next_avenger]

Joe's head was still ringing from that shield shot, but she let go of the shield when he hit her. A part of felt bad for resorting to those tactics, but a fight was a fight. His helmet wasn't sitting right on his head.

She cracked it. I bet she freaking cracked it.

She was struggling to breathe. Joe could see a lot of the fight had gone out of her, which was the point. He needed her to stop fighting and hear him.

"Look," he said, panting. She'd taken him a lot further than most people he'd tussled with before.

"Whatever HYDRA tells you they can do for you, whatever they can say they're giving you...they're lying. I don't know you. I don't know your story. But I know that these people will use you up and toss you in the trash when you have no more value.

You can do better than all this. You can be better. If you come along quietly, I'll help you." Joe said, offering a hand.

"This isn't a SHIELD agent talking to a HYDRA agent. This is one person talking to another person."

[lilbrownspyder]

She grabbed an empty clip and threw it at his head, rasping out something in Russian. She wasn't going anywhere with him if she had a choice in the matter. She belonged here where she'd always been.

[the_next_avenger]

Joe dodged the clip and aimed a poweful kick at the girl's face. The sooner she was out, the sooner he could get her out of here. Something in him said that she, alone among the number of people here, needed to be saved.

Or maybe that was just his hero complex talking.

Either way, Joe Rogers is going to do his best to take her down so she can't hurt any of his teammates.

[lilbrownspyder]

Or maybe it was her youth. She didn't look like she could be more than a child, after all.

She was too distracted, trying to breathe to dodge his kick. When she regained consciousness, she'd have to practice so this wouldn't happen again. The glare she gave him just before everything went black should have been enough to kill the Hulk.