kore_logs | Welcome to the Jungle...

Entry tags:

Welcome to the Jungle...

Who: Sharon Carter and the other freedom fighters.
Where: THE WOODS. The big bad scary woods!
When: Day 31
What: Escape attempt numero uno.

Sharon stands facing the forest, standing perfectly still and breathing calmly. One hand rests on her hip with her gun, the other is held in front of her face so she can see the comm. What no one on the comm can see is that she's also holding her knife. You can never be too careful when planning to take on unknown legions of men that had managed to capture the Hulk. And Natasha. And Tony Stark. And her aunt.

And a bunch of kids. And Barton. And a Steve.

Really, it's hard to tell where these people screwed up first. Messing with Sharon? Messing with the people around her? It doesn't matter. Either way, she's tired of sitting around and trying to learn information about them. They may know now as much as they ever will. And that means that they have to fight. As much as Sharon doubts they'll succeed, she also knows that they have to try. They can't just sit around like lemmings waiting for the food to run out.

She studies the gaps between the trees, then the trees themselves. The captives don't control the environment here. Dangers could be hidden anywhere here.

She may have waited too long to try this. People might be too weak from hunger, not at their best.

But they have to try.

No matter what happens, that's what it boils down to. They have to try.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

No, nope, he's going to. If he backs down, he'll look stupid, and Jesse would rather die than look weak and pathetic. So he ignores both of them, and keeps going. There aren't any land mines, he's being careful, and all of his concentration goes towards that.

"C'mon, hurry up," Jesse says distractedly, poking at the ground with his pipe. "Bet we can go this way, looks --"

All of his concentration is on the ground. Which is why he isn't paying enough attention to stop the sabertooth that hurtles at him.

He's already chilled by Kenzi's words, so it almost feels like it's his own negative thinking that draws the motherfucking sabertooth closer to -- oh no, oh god, oh no --

"NO!"

Without thinking, Galen grabs the crowbar and wrenches it from Kenzi's grip, then dashes within striking range of the creature -- he aims for the head, pointed part up, but that only angers it, earning him a swipe of claws across the legs. Shit.

Running after Galen when he swipes the crowbar still doesn't get her there in time to prevent any gore. Fuck! Fuck. Fuckity fuck. Okay. That makes two bloody people she cares about and this is not okay. She had one job to do and she fucked it all up by being a total wuss. Yeah, no. Not anymore.

Good thing she's quick and little. She takes back her weapon and flips it, moving around to the side of the creature currently mauling her boys and jabs the straight end right into it's neck. Takes the heat off the boys, success! But that bitch still isn't dead and Kenzi barely misses those teeth taking her damn arm off. Goddammit.

Anna has been in the thick of things, which is why she initially doesn't notice their predicament, but there's no way she misses Galen's shout. Her head whips around in time to see the two attacked by the sabre tooth and that's it. No more secrets, not when this is happening. Hopefully Kenzi isn't jumpy because without announcement Anna appears by her side, blade in hand, and she helps to finish off what the other girl started with a rough stab to the chest of the animal. No time for guilt there - all Gods creatures nonsense isn't relevant and the moment - she needs to get these people safe and get them safe now.

What she needs to do is get them out of there, but first the priority is making sure Jesse and Galen are okay, because she can help them but she can't work miracles. Resurrection is beyond even her, so she grabs hold of Jesse quickly and goes to pick him up, turning to Kenzi with a serious look. "Galen, help him. We need to move them fast."

It's a good thing, because Jesse's down. He'd attempted to block the attack as much as possible, which means his arms got a huge brunt of the claws and teeth, but the long, deep gashes go down to his chest and stomach, as well. He hears Galen shout, and then the next thing he knows, the cat is dead and he's being lifted.

"Mmmnhfffffuck," Jesse manages, with a little whine, and he wants to say more, like Galen - Kenzi, are they okay, don't forget his pipe, but he's too out of it to do much more than stare up at the sky, glassy-eyed, and mutter their names dazedly. His breathing comes stilted and shaking and shallow, and it's almost like he can hear the drip-drip of blood in stereo sound.

The pain shoots up his body and concentrates as ringing in his ears, and Galen gets about halfway rolled over before he just can't -- Kenzi's movement, the blade, someone coming to help them, they're all a blur of vivid colour as Galen gropes for some kind of hold on Jesse. His sleeve, his hand -- no, someone is picking him up, where are you going --

"Ba -- baby, Jess, no -- Kenzi, help me f-fix -- I can't feel my legs --" His voice is a little dazed from the shock, but at least he's more coherent than Jesse is. Finally, the red hair in his vision registers.

"An -- Anna? Anna, be careful --"

How the fuck did she get here so fast? Where the fuck did she get that sword? How the fuck is she carrying Jesse-- oh my god, he's bleeding so much. Kenzi turns white as a ghost watching Anna carry him and doesn't snap out of it until she hears Galen. He needs her.

She's at his side, crouching down to get his arm around her neck. Can he even walk? Look at this shit. "Oh my god, Galen." Holy fuck. She should have been in front of him. She should have taken the hit. She whispers as she attempts to help him stand so they can follow Anna, "Squishy, I'm sorry.

And since her crowbar is now stuck in the neck of a dead, giant cat, she picks up Jesse's pipe just in case.

"Uh, Anna-banana? Hate to be a buzzkill here, but we're in the middle of a freakin' battlezone. How fast are you expecting us to move with two injured dudes?! Just wondering!"

Anna frowns as she stays close to Kenzi, looking around them for other options. This is too open, it's going to give everything away, and Kenzi? Kenzi is aware enough that she can't play this off to her. She can't do it, her secret is going to be out the moment she does this.

Jesse is bleeding though, and there's a lot of blood. She can't walk them out of this, and she hasn't even had the chance to see how Galen is yet. There's no other option at this point, she has to do something.

Mouth determinedly set into a line, she turns sharply and stops them, and she has to adjust her grip on Jesse slightly as she looks at the other two. There's just a split second of hesitation, then she laughs nervously as she gets a hand out enough to reach out and quickly grab Kenzi's arm.

There's enough time for her to yell "hold on" to her, and then without warning they're out of there. They're not in the woods any more, they're at the house instead and all the people she's brought with her might feel is a slight dizziness as they touch down. If anyone is paying that much attention they might have caught the quiet sound of flapping wings in the background, but there's more problems at hand right now. Like Galen and Jesse's injuries.

Three people takes it out of her though. One is okay, two is hard, but three. Anna is still holding Jesse tightly, but she stumbles back a couple of steps and, after a moment, stoops to set him down carefully on the floor. "Kenz, bring Galen here. I need you to tell me how bad he is okay? How long have I got?"

It's lucky that Jesse doesn't throw up after the abrupt - teleport? What the fuck was that, anyway? It's not like he's coherent enough to really figure it out, but the dizziness and change of scenery sends him reeling. There's not much else he can do, and the pain seems to flood up, like the shock is wearing off, like his body is finally registering it, and he lets out a sharp, muffled whimper when he's set down, barely cognizant of the fact.

Jesse closes his eyes and coughs weakly, dizzy as hell and breathing rapid, shallow. He'll just take this opportunity to pass out from the pain. Yes? Yes.

Galen nearly throws up, himself, and if Kenzi doesn't catch him, his legs give out underneath him; they're just sources of pain, right now, and he can't even think to move them without his vision going white and his head swimming. If he does fall, he tries to land on his arm, next to Jesse. His mind is just a constant stream of panicked thoughts: make sure Jesse is okay, make sure he's okay, don't let anything happen to him. It doesn't even register, at first, that they've completely changed location.

"I'm -- m'okay," he nearly giggles, breath choking in his throat. Jesse's chest is so bad. Oh god. "I -- I. Oh, god, oh god, J-Jess, wake up --"

It's really not that weird. It should probably be weird, but Kenzi doesn't even flinch and barely gives it a second thought. Anna got them out and that's all that matters.

Of course Kenzi catches Galen. She catches him, but she can't completely support him and they slowly sink to the floor. It's fine. She can see the damage to his legs better like this anyway. After a brief inspection, she nods to Anna. "He's good for a bit. I can try to slow the bleeding. Just fix Jesse however the hell you're gonna fix him and do it fast."

No questions. No judgement. She sees this all the time and if it's going to save her friends, she doesn't give a fuck.

Kenz lays Galen down as gently as possible and pulls her hoodie off, using it to apply pressure to the wounds. It's probs gonna hurt. "Sorry, sweetie. Just stay with me, okay? He's gonna be fine. You're both gonna be fine."

Alright, that's good. She's got a bit of time then, which is a relief because the flight has really taken it out of her. It's harder without the direct connection to Heaven, it puts more of a strain on her and for a moment she just has to close her eyes and take a deep breath. She's dizzy, things are spinning a little but she gets it back.

She doesn't have time to be out of it, after all. Jesse is...well, he's pretty much dying here.

Anna doesn't waste any time, just frowns as she rests a hand on his head gently. It happens all in a rush, and though no one can see it and Jesse's probably the only one who can tell, it's like a soft breeze just brushed over him. His clothes are still torn, there's still blood covering the two of them, but if you look at the wounds they're just gone. Not a scratch or a scar, and Anna just turns again.

Another deep breath, another closing of her eyes. Angels aren't meant to rebel and this is her punishment, but she can still do it. She's not that bad. Another couple of seconds and she's already looking better, enough to turn to Kenzi and gesture to Jesse. "He should wake up soon. make sure he doesn't freak out."

Seriously, what would she have done without the other girl here? She moves to Galen's side quickly, and smiles faintly as she touches his cheek. The feeling might strike a familiar chord in Galen, given her accidental slip up at the Christmas party when he'd lost his voice, and when she lets go she just sits back, looking at the two of them. This was a close call, too close. They should have known better, really.

Finally, sounding far too tired for any of this, Anna addresses everyone. "You're all okay now?"

Somewhere he feels the rush of air over him, and it cools him off, cools him down. His body settles, breaths and expression evening out. He looks much better, even with the blood, just maybe a little worn out around the edges. He'll be freaked out when he wakes up, anyway, but for now, he's fine, and he'll be alive, thanks to Anna. Somehow Jesse will thank her.

He stirs, just a little, but doesn't wake up quite yet, just sighs, and murmurs something.

Galen tries to see what Anna does to Jesse, but she's in the way, and the stab of the pressure Kenzi is putting on his legs makes it hard to concentrate on anything but gritting his teeth -- but then Anna comes to him, touches him, and the pain disappears so fast that it's like having a bucket of cold water dumped on him. Galen gasps, grips at the bottom of her coat, breaths coming out short. What the fuck was that?

"Holy -- holy shit," he breathes, leaning one foot to the side experimentally. It feels fine. "What the hell did you just do?" It's not accusatory, or scared; it's a mixture of shock and amazement.

"Yeah, I second this question. What did you do, life-saver extraordinaire?" Kenzi's smiling so wide it's starting to hurt her face. She stands up, grabbing a pillow off the couch, and kneels next to Jesse's head. Just gonna gently lift that brain full of dumb and slide the pillow under there just in case.

She also takes one of his hands and holds it in both of her own because you fucking idiot, you scared the shit out of everyone here. Thank everything you're okay. "Just for the record, I hope you still have some juice left in you, Banana. Because when he wakes up, I'm smacking him. Sorry, Squishy. Just look away."

Everyone is alright, thank Christ for that. Anna lets out a sigh of relief and rubs her hands over her face...and then the questions start, just as she has expected. It's not like she hadn't known this was coming, she'd just hoped that it would take a little longer to kick in. She tries to smile, really she does, but this is it. It's over now.

"I, uh." She's not really sure where to start, to be honest. It's not the most believable thing in the world to come out with, and she could probably come up with some sort of plausible lie if she thought about it hard enough, but Anna is tired. She's tired, and she just stopped some people she likes to think are her friends from dying, and someone's going to figure it out anyway, so why the hell not.

"I'm...an angel."

And cue laughter in three...two...one...

Galen doesn't laugh. Not after feeling that rush of calm and relief flow through him just before the pain disappeared, not after seeing the deep gashes in Jesse's chest and seeing, now, that they're completely gone. No, instead his eyes widen, and he pushes up on his elbows, stares at Anna and pauses as he edges closer to Jesse.

"Wh... holy shit." He glances at Kenzi, then back to Anna, one hand coming up to his cheek where she'd touched him. There's no denying that right now, he feels better than he has in days.

"You're not kidding."

"That's a new one." Angels. REALLY?! Well hey, if there are real vampires, there can be real angels, too. Apparently. No laughter from this one, either. "Anna, you are so awesome. Was that an ANGEL SWORD? Where's the halo? Do you play the harp? WIll you be in our band?"

She grins at Galen, totally not even bothered by this new revelation. "That's pretty freakin' awesome. Dude, you just got your ass saved by heavenly intervention. You were totally touched by an angel. And not in a creepy way. How do you feel?"

This...certainly isn't what she's expecting. Cries of bullshit, assuming she's joking, disbelief in general yes, but this? She hadn't planned for them to believe her at all, and so after a moment of silence where she actually processes the reactions she starts to smile. She's still tired, and it's still a sad smile, but it's such a relief for someone else to know at last.

"Uh, yes it was, I don't have one, no I don't and you'd be far better without me," she says, shaking her head a little at the questions. It's not exactly anything she hasn't heard before, but they're far more amusing than usual when coming out of Kenzi's mouth.

Here's where it gets awkward though, and Anna rubs the back of her neck lightly as she starts to speak again. "The thing is...no one else really knows. Kind of been trying to stay under the radar and well..."

She's not good at asking for favours, much less trying to get people to keep secrets for her, so she just trails off with a small shrug instead.

At this point, Jesse stirs again, and this time, he mutters something that sounds suspiciously like Galen's name and, a few seconds later, inhales sharply, waking up. He flails a little, and he's not quite sore, that's not what he'd say, just - feeling weird. He's also not bleeding to death, and neither is Galen, he's relieved to see as his sight settles on the singer.

Sitting up, Jesse presses his hand to his face, staring at Anna through his fingers for a moment. "I was -- what'm I doing on the floor? What? Did I miss something?" A beat. "Did you teleport?"

He's about to swear to keep quiet, but, well, Jesse wakes up, and turning to fling his arms around his not-dying boyfriend's neck takes precedence for a moment. He'll just ignore the blood all over his front, thanks. "Fuck you, Finch, you scared the shit out of me!"

Let him just -- he quickly kisses Jesse, then turns his head to look at Anna and Kenzi again, mouth going a little ahead of his brain. "I won't tell. This is fucking -- Jess, Anna's an angel. Which I normally wouldn't even believe, but I felt -- shit. Yeah, she teleported."

He decides shutting up is the best option, so he reaches to tug Jesse's head a little closer and plant a kiss in his hair. He's just so glad they're all okay.

Kenzi backs up to give the two men some space to be totes adorable and instead smiles at the angel. "I'm good with secrets." Seriously. Really good.

Her expression starts to go from totally ecstatic back to mild concern. She doesn't need to... feed now. Right? Or whatever the shit angels do. Maybe normal food? Or ... holy communion. Or some joyous choir singing. She just looks worn down, that's all. "You okay, Anna? Want... some yogurt? At least, I think it's yogurt."

See, that just about sums up why she doesn't regret doing what she did. Besides, if there's anyone she could come clean to without having a freak out on her hands, it's probably these three. At any rate, she's not seen any evidence that Heaven is still sending its goons out after her, so she'll probably be fine, right?

She'd still prefer to keep it somewhat quiet though, so when the two of them both agree to keep things quiet she straightens herself up a bit, and her smile is much stronger now. "It's appreciated, really. I just...I'm trying to stay subtle I guess, that's all."

And what a good job she's doing of that too. She couldn't let someone stay hurt on her watch though, not again. This was different than with Tony, too, there were lives at stake. Anna can only be so selfish, after all. She's pulled out of these thoughts at Kenzi's question though, and confusion is written all over her face as she looks at the girl.

"Yogurt? ....Where did you get yogurt from?" Look, Kenz, you even managed to get a laugh out of her. "It's okay, I just need a minute. I'm kind of rusty at all that."

Jesse's distracted by Galen, but it's alright, because he feels sort of dumb, and he can hide that by curling up against Galen. He can conveniently ignore all that blood. "Sorry," He mutters, resting his head on Galen's shoulder, trying to catch up with the conversation. "No, I, uh. I won't tell, holy shit, you're an angel?" Captain Late-to-the-Party, everybody.

He's a little overwhelmed, but he needs to ask Anna like, nine million questions and make sure Kenzi isn't freaked out and pull Galen into a bed somewhere and sleep forever and -- okay, yeah, see, a lot of things. Jesse exhales slow, first.

"... I wouldn't trust the yogurt, Anna," He says, grinning a little, peering at Kenzi. "Thanks, though, it's lucky you were there." He curls into Galen's side, gripping at his shirt a little tightly. Close call.

Galen keeps his hand in Jesse's hair and looks up at the other two. He's dying to ask Anna everything, but she looks worn out, and he knows she has other friends that need her help. It's hard to keep himself from jumping into a deluge of questions.

"Yeah, jeez. We owe you." Smiling, he looks over at Kenzi. "And you're a badass. You're okay?" He glances at her arm, and... wait, he gets an idea -- but he doesn't say anything just yet, just looks back up at her.

Welcome to the Jungle...

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)