PSL :: The blood that won't come out

[agentx13]

Twenty minutes, and not only had the two infiltrated the lab undetected, but they still had an hour and forty minutes before their transport was due to leave. Plenty of time to find out why several of the villages around this AIM base were turning up empty, their cemeteries desecrated. As far as SHIELD could tell, all people, including people who had been buried for decades, had simply disappeared.

Natasha knows more Russian than she does, and she lets Natasha take point on the computers as she explores around the lab to see if she can find anything.

"Medieval weapons," she calls over her shoulder, looking at several axes lined on the wall. "Axes, swords, bats, cricket bats..." What the hell have these guys been doing in their off-time?

Wandering further into the depths of the lab, she holds a hand to her nose. It reeks.

And no wonder. Is that a decayed arm? She crouches beside it. From the looks of the arm, it's from someone who's been dead long enough to partially mummify. What the hell is going on here?

Comments

[theassassin]

She looks up from the screen in the direction Sharon had gone. Did she say cricket bats? "Why cricket bats? Next you'll tell me the have croquet mallets."

Green eyes turn back to the screen, narrowing as she reads file names and scans the data in the most recently dated ones. One stands out a bit more than the others, but mainly because the information it contains is vague. She pushes back her chair and gets up, growling in agitation.

"There's nothing here. Have you got anything?"

[agentx13]

Sharon steps over the arm. "Just body parts. I found an arm for Bucky. Bit past its prime, but I'm sure you can slap him with it if push comes to shove."

She hears something and straightens, drawing her gun. She turns on her comm and lowers her voice. "Just heard something. Checking it out."

And of course the sound has to be coming from one of the dark corridors with lights hanging from the ceiling and... fantastic. A blood stain on the wall.

"Natasha. Trouble."

[wasrussian]

"He can use it as a backup, but he won't be touch--" She cuts off. Straining to hear... Something. She can't quite make it out. She's on her feet and on the move headed toward the source of the noise, and Sharon before the blonde has the chance mention the trouble. "Already on my way. Right around the corner."

[agentx13]

She should wait for backup. Waiting for backup would be the smartest thing to do by far.

And Sharon is going to wait for backup, because she's smart.

Something crashes out of sight, down the hall and behind another pair of doors.

It could be someone who needs help.

She slowly steps forward, taking care to avoid the blood and anything that might make noise.

This is so stupid of her.

Another step.

Damn it.

[wasrussian]

Natasha is right there, just as Sharon disappears around the next corner. "Shar... " She calls out hoping that her friend will stop, and at least give her the chance to jog up to her side. Of course, she doesn't... so Nat hurries to catch up silently pulling up beside Sharon and giving her a sharp nudge with her hip.

[agentx13]

Sharon jumps and half-turns to attack Natasha before she realizes who it is. She gives her friend an exasperated look and uses gestures to indicate that she heard a sound down the hall. She tells Natasha she'll cover the right if Natasha covers the left, and then she moves silently down the hall again.

Yep. This is how they're going to do things. They're going to concentrate on business, and Natasha is going to forget that she just made Sharon jump.

She should get a back-up plan for this, but yep. That's the plan.

[wasrussian]

If the circumstances were any different she might be amused by the way her friend starts when she arrives. Given things at the moment, she's a bit concerned what might be ahead that has put her on edge enough to create that sort of reaction.

Natasha follows her lead, taking the left as they advance down the hallway. She clears each door-- the rooms are small enough a glance is enough, closing the open ones as they go.

A sound in front of them makes her put her hand up, to indicate that the stop to listen. Her head tilts, she looks over to Sharon with a look that is equal parts curiosity and question, and mouths 'You hear that'?

[agentx13]

Sharon stops as soon as she sees Natasha's hand, and her body automatically does what it's been trained to do. Her breathing stays even. She doesn't strain her hearing. She tenses, but inwardly, goes calm. The sound of her heartbeat fades into a steady, quiet drumbeat.

She nods to Natasha. She can hear it.

She waves a hand before her and mouths back, 'Old women first.'

[wasrussian]

Natasha rolls her eyes, she'll pay her back for that later. The redhead moves forward without hesitation, her partner backing her up. She notes nothing obviously unusual when they first enter-- beyond the doors the next hallway is sprawling, and longer than the last. The main hall perhaps and not one of the shorter side hallways.

Oh.... the blood, and the smell, Natasha's nose wrinkles, disgusted, the scent of decay is strong and almost overpowering the further into the hallway they get. The sounds-- gone from vague thumps to more clear grunts, groans and scratching seem to increase as well.

She motions for Sharon to go left, while she goes right and they'll clear the rooms and continue to follow protocol until they find the target.

[agentx13]

Sharon tends to enjoy her missions with Natasha. In an odd way, they're usually quite relaxing. They each know what they're capable of, together and separate, and as a result, they're sometimes able to have a bit of fun while they work.

This doesn't seem like it's going to be one of those times.

As the smell of rot becomes nearly unbearable, though, Sharon tenses. No time for jokes on this mission.

She nods as Natasha indicates for her to go left and moves like a ghost into the other rooms.

In the third room, she notices that the sounds have changed. There's something familiar about it; she's certain she's heard it before, the dull gnawing. She'd been in Cambodia, hadn't she? And then she places it, her stomach turns and threatens to empty itself.

She moves deeper into the room and hears a low moan. Aiming her gun in that direction, she sees a man bent over another man, both wearing lab coats. The man on the floor is bleeding from his head, his eyes staring at Sharon. He's conscious, but he still doesn't seem to see her. Of course, with the other man currently gnawing on the victim's humerus, Sharon can't blame him for being distracted.

She shoots the cannibal and presses a finger to the comm. "Natasha. I've got one down. He was eating a coworker, and from the amount of the damage here, I'd have to say we're looking for more than one cannibal. I don't know what they were making here, but it's definitely given these guys a severe case of the munchies."

She goes to the man on the floor, making soothing noises (well, as soothing as she can manage) as she checks his wounds. It doesn't look good. He's already lost a lot of blood.

Just as she's about to radio it in to Natasha, she's hit by something from behind and goes sprawling.

[wasrussian]

Natasha is just a few doors down, but keeps clearing rooms even after Sharon gives her the update about the room she's in. The shot draws her attention in the direction of friend, but she's sure it was Sharon's side arm, another room cleared and she's right across the hall from Sharon.

She can hear her in there, talking to someone so she keeps moving-- for now, because there could be other threats in other rooms. She's about to ask for a follow up when a clatter from the room Sharon was in gets her attention and puts her on serious alert.

Nat calls over the comm first, "Sharon- Report." She pauses and calls again, this time out loud as she approaches the door. "Sharon?"

She knows the blonde will give her hell if the isn't anything wrong and she panicked, even if there's no panic in her voice, but...Natasha has to be sure... "Sharon.. Report."

[agentx13]

Sharon pushes herself up, her head throbbing too loudly for her to understand Natasha's words, though she can hear her friend's voice.

"Wouldn't say no to back-up. Hostiles encountered." She shouts as she feels something bite her leg. Luckily, her uniform is made for abuse. "And they're biters."

Her quiet voice does nothing to hide her disgust. She hates when people she doesn't know bite her.

But that's a conversation for another time.