The problem about this place was, the wasn't a whole lot of cover. To Captain America, who had an invincible shield, this really was no problem. To two witches who could call upon the ether and shield themselves from enemy gunfire? This really was no biggie. To a guy standing all the way back with a sniper rifle? Hah... like they even knew he was there.
To Bucky who was wearing a Ballistic vest that would be like tissue paper when faced vaporizer rifles, and only somewhat useful when faced against assault rifles. In short... Bucky was at a disadvantage when he found himself charging HYDRA's lines. A tactical vest may save someone from one or two bullets, before said someone got riddled into Swiss cheese. Maybe he should have thought this through a BIT more...
Nah... acting quickly, the soldier threw a literal belt worth of smoke grenades, engulfing HYDRA in the mist. Having packed a pair of thermal goggles, the man put them on quickly as began to do what he did best a he unloaded on HYDRA, cutting down three of their soldiers in a heartbeat, and injuring several more... It would have been rather quick and easy fight for him actually, though it seemed that HYDRA did in fact come prepared when Reaper with his own thermal goggles jumped at him, kicking him so hard that it sent him skittering back several yards while out of the corner of his eye, he saw the approaching of three more choppers. HYDRA must have REALLY wanted these crystals...
Bucky would have been in trouble at this point, had it not been for the hail of machine gun fire, that was to anyone who was caught in it, more like a hail of rocket launcher fire as a single bullet tore a man in half. A literal hailstorm of bullets was absolutely devastating as what could be described as small craters in the ground, causing HYDRA to scatter in various positions. Due to the lack of cover down within the chasm just outside of the cave containing the tree of Harmony, it was easy to see why HYDRA was torn to shreds by the withering fire that Barkhorn provided, a blue shield of ether protecting her from mundane bullets... though she began to wonder whether or not the approaching man in a heavy suit of armor and with two glowing guns attached to the undersides of him arms would do anything. Naturally, she didn't exactly want to find out as she backed up, pelting the enemy with machine guns as the shield held against the bullets.
The loud screech of the vaporizer cannon, and the shield shattered...
Okay... so that's what it did....
Barkhorn didn't exactly have time to contemplate on the wonders of the Vaporizer cannon as she was thrown on to her back, the sheer force of the explosion not only shattering her shield, but sending her flat on her back. A second shot and she'd be...
CRACK*
The heavily armored man slumped down, a hole in his helmet as he awkwardly fell, ensuring panic from the HYDRA soldiers as they searched for the sniper, rather than fire at Barkhorn in the few moments she would allow herself to remain vulnerable. Getting up, she grabbed one of her dropped machine guns and opened fire, "bullet proof" vests would do little as the bullets tore gaping holes within their targets, dropping many bodies.
Rumlow grunted with frustration as he radioed in the retrieval team. Turning around, he saw Reaper pre-occupied with Barnes, while Captain America was figuratively turning anyone who happened to have been within a six foot radius of him into soup while near him, a small blond girl with an MP40... (where did she get that relic?) who somehow, with that SMG was turning men LITEARLLY into soup whenever they got hit. Behind her, another girl of average height with not one... but TWO LMGs in hand as though they were recoilless. Instead of just filling men with holes, she was BLOWING HOLES IN THEM. It was as though someone had given her miniaturized grenades and shoved them into mundane firearms... or rather... dated firearms when all things considered, it was a pair of MG42s and a MP40 that was tearing his men apart.
Slinging his two stun batons for now, he drew his pistol... no one had been paying attention to him yet... taking a look he aimed his gun... at Steve's unprotected back, Erica's unprotected back, or Trude... who happened to have had him in her peripheral vision... subtly, Rumlow aimed his weapon at the young girl with the MG42s... the uniform made him vaguely think about Nazi Germany's SS divisions... though that didn't exactly matter since Nazi Germany wasn't exactly existing anymore. He was about to pull the trigger on her, until he heard it.
click*
click*
click*
She was out of ammunition... well... it was time to do something he always had to. He spun around, aimed it straight for the back of Captain America's head... and pulled the trigger.
Only to have, the moment he fired, his gun was shot straight out of his hands by a sniper, and a man in quite the costume as well as a hockey mask appeared out of nowhere, as though he had JUMPED all the way from the top of the chasm.
"Shooting a man in the back?" Slade taunted. "Exactly what I can expect from the likes of you..."
Steve would have snorted at this. Really? A guy who kills people for money lecturing someone else about things like martial pride? Then again... Slade always gave his victims a "fair chance" for a personal challenge.
"Who the hell are you?" Rumlow asked as he took out his stun batons as Slade drew his swords.
"You may call me... Deathstroke." Slade began... and he got kicked in the back.
On the inside, he slapped himself for trying to showboat on this one. Turning around, he brought his swords up to block the massive scythe like blade of Reaper, looking back, he saw Bucky contending with a whole mob of HYDRA goons, probably the reason this joker managed to get all the way on Slade.
Rumlow chuckled to himself as he turned to face behind him. Looks like their ride was here and the retrieval team got the...
Bang*
Bang*
Boom.
"What the fu..."
He was lost for words as he just recalled what happened.
1. Captain America see's the incoming chopper.
2. The girl who had the LMGs see's it too.
3. Captain America throws his pistol to her.
4. She starts... glowing? And has canine ears apparently too.
5.She shoots the gun.
6. Two bullets... and the chopper goes down as though it got hit by a rocket launcher.
"How the hell?"
"Magic." Erica chuckled as she looked at the look on Bucky's face. It seemed as though everyone had decided to put the huge brawl they were having on "pause" as Bucky found himself looking over at the chopper wreckage as he grabbed someone by their face, the same time as the thugs around him just gawked at what happened.
Reaper was having trouble coming up with what the hell just happened... it didn't matter as the moment he stopped, he had hit with the full force of an airplane as Slade kicked him across the chasm.
Rumlow was lost for words... he looked at the gun... then the chopper... than Barkhorn... then...
"Nice shot Barkhorn." Steve commented. "Okay... where were we? Right..."
And fight was back on "play".
"Give us another god damn Chopper!" Rumlow screamed into his transponder. "And have it at the top of this goddamn hole!"
The retrieval team had the things they were looking for in one briefcase, and judging from the way that they were treating it, it was pretty important. The only problem would be how everyone was buried in HYDRA's seemingly endless supply of goons.
Everyone except for Barkhorn, who squeezed off the last bullets into the retrieval team, causing Rumlow to have to pick it up himself, grabbing it and running. Screw Reaper and the others, they can make their own way out.
But as he ran, "Barkhorn" made pursuit... Barkhorn... wait a minute...
If that other girl they had... who they were using for her blood was called Christiane Barkhorn... then that meant... Barkhorn...
They were sisters....
He looked back at his pursuer, and put the other part of the puzzle together.
She was a witch.
This was going to be interesting as he turned around still holding the briefcase.
"Hey kid... you wanna know a good idea?"
"What?!" She asked angrily, fists at the ready.
"You know... I suggest you run. Besides... this shouldn't be your fight anyways..." Rumlow reasoned. "You know kid... how old are you now? 18? 19? Don't throw your life away... besides... I am certain there's a someone in your life who would rather have you alive than dead."
"This is my fight..." Trude said intently, a hint of menace within her voice. "I was sworn to protect others from anything... be it Neuroi, or men like you."
"You really think you're going to win kid? You really think so? HYDRA is more powerful than you can imagine, you don't know what you're dealing with now do you?"
"Do I now?" Barkhorn asked as she lunged at Rumlow. Fortunately for him, he was able to side-step from her blow as her fist connected with the edges of the chasm instead. The blow caused the earth to shudder and rocks to rumble.
Damn... so this is a witch with powers... no wonder Skull wanted one that didn't have any. He thought as he took the briefcase and hit her in the back of the head, causing her to stumble and nearly trip before regaining her footing and turning around. Dropping the briefcase, the man took out his stun-batons and swung them at Trude who ducked and weaved.
Heh... whoever taught her to fight must have also been from the 40s as he swung the batons, connecting right with her gut causing to cry out in audible pain.
"Hey kid... you know something... Barkhorn is it?! Lemee tell you first off... this ain't..."
Two hands grabbed the two batons, despite being "gloved" whatever material that Twilight used to make them with really did not stop the flow of any electricity.. heck it seemed they were even more vulnerable to electricity than a human body. Despite the fact it hurt like hell and almost caused her muscles to go haywire, the witch managed to grab both batons, before bending both of them in half with nothing but her bare hands. The two gloves slid off by themselves, turning into little better than rags. Useless.
"That must have hurt." Rumlow quipped. His mouth was rewarded with a blow to the ribs... damn... Cap must have hit this heard... the crack of the rib was the most obvious sign that he shouldn't have been messing around. Swing his fist, he connected with Barkhorn's face, sending her back. Again, he swung another blow, which was blocked by Barkhorn who being stronger than him, was able to keep his arm from connecting. Regardless it did pull them closer together, to which Rumlow headbutted her causing her to stagger back. Not giving up, the witch struck again. Blocking the blow hurt like hell, but it would stop him from having a split nose or missing teeth. Knowing exactly what to do, he punched her again, causing her to stagger for a moment. It would be all he needed as he grabbed by the arm, and flipped her over. The loud snap echoed throughout the chasm as he twisted her arm in a way that normally would have been impossible...
She cried out in pain alright. But even then, Rumlow barely noticed the movement of her hands as she grabbed unto her knife, sinking it right into his upper leg, causing him to scream like a girl.
"Little bitch!" Rumlow spat out as he aimed a vicious blow at Barkhorn's face, knocking her out stone cold. The knife in his leg was pulled out, at the price of a ton of blood and a lot of dignity. Taking a look at the unconscious witch, he thought of driving the blade into her neck... until a better idea struck him.
If she really was that other girl's sister... than maybe she'll really want to see this...
Making his way out of the chasm, he limped out. Amazingly... Reaper had gotten away too, though he was missing his blade-arm.
"You're late."
"Shut up.... I got the package." Rumlow said as he made his way in.