They blew the lock off the back exit and hustled inside, switching to infrared vision. Rhea saw well enough in the dark that she didn't need the infrared, and she could feel when someone was close. Since she was possibly the world's worst shot, she had been given a taser rod instead of a gun. It seemed silly, but she was supposed to be learning how to operate without powers as well as with them. The evac teams were to wait three minutes then follow the offense teams. Rumlow lead team two through the pitch blackness of the building. The team spread out every time they came to a split in the passages. They hadn't gotten too far into the building when Rhea encountered her first guard. She could feel them looming up ahead of her. She ran forward on cat's feet past Rumlow who reached out to grab her. She slipped past him and could see the guard now. He was starting to turn in their direction. Rhea pounced like an animal, landing with all fours on his chest and rammed the rod against his neck before he could make a sound. As the guard fell back Rhea slipped off and around him, to catch him and lay him gently on the floor. The team continued on their way and Rhea fell into place next to Rumlow. He gave her a quick sideways glance, and she smirked, though he could not see it.

You thought I wouldn't handle that right, she thought.

The next guard was taken out by another member of the team. They were coming to the end of the hall. It opened onto a huge room that was as tall as the building. On one side were the blacked out windows that they had seen from the trees. There was a cat walk near the ceiling that went around the whole room. There were eight people walking around on it looking down on the room. The large space had been separated into about five different sections. There were people in each of these sections and then about eight more people who moved around freely. The rest of team two came out of a couple smaller hallways off of the one they were in and rejoined the group. Rumlow motioned with his hand and they began to steal into the large opening. They stayed low and close to the walls. Some of the team went to the left, some to the right. Rhea followed behind Rumlow as they stalked along by the left hand wall. They passed by one of the fenced off the areas. It was just a large cage for the people that lay sleeping inside it. A guard was walking parallel to them on the other side of the cage. As they reached the end of the cage, Rumlow darted out and grabbed the guard. He dragged the man back to the wall, his hand firmly over his mouth, and his arm around his throat. Rhea wrapped herself around the man's legs as he tried to kick out. After a while the struggling stopped and the man went limp. They layed him down and continued on.

They could see team one now; they had entered from the opposite end of the room and were making their way up the steps to the cat walk. Across from her Rhea could just see through the blackness as another member of her team dragged a guard away. Up on the cat walk, a guard turned around just in time to see the agent closing in on him. He cried out and let off a shot before a SHIELD bullet sent him over the rail. The rest of the guards now began to shout. Gun shots started to ring out from both sides; stealth was no longer needed. Rhea darted out into the center where a guard was taking aim at one of the agents on the cat walk. She forgot about the rod on her belt, and instead charge her hand with electricity. She slammed her palm into the man's back. There was a loud zap, a flash, and the man went flying. Then something hit Rhea's temple and she was spun around and landed on her hands and knees. She shook her head, trying to rid her vision of the bursts of lights. She staggered to her feet just in time to see another guard was now charging her down. The man was intercepted by the butt of an assault rifle. Rumlow then flipped the rifle around and shot the man in the forehead.

Teams three and four had by this time arrived and were pulling people from the large cages and leading them out of the room, and harm's way. Rumlow grabbed the weapon that the man he had just killed had been holding, and then lead Rhea back against the wall. There was large pillar and he pulled her behind it to provide some cover.

"you okay?" He had to shout a little. SHIELD used silencer's on their weapons, but the few remaining assailants' guns were loud and echoed in the open space.

"Fine, why?" she rubbed her temple and blinked.

"You just got shot in the head."

"oh... Told you I didn't need the vest..?" she shrugged.

"This gun is wrong," Rumlow held up the guard's weapon.

"What's wrong with it?" Rhea asked. The lights had stopped flashing in her head and she could only hear one more gun firing.

"Because they energy based. A small time operation like this shouldn't have weapons that advanced."

The sound of the last gun stopped. Rumlow stepped out from behind the pillar and spoke into the communication channel.

"Where are we at?"

"All threats have been neutralized; all victims are on the way out."

"Wait, did you see that?" a voice asked.

"What?"

"I thought I picked up three more with the infrared vision, but then they disappeared."

"You sure you saw i-?"

Just then there was a sound like, wumpf, and suddenly there were three more figures standing in the center of the room. Two immediately lunged at the nearest agents. There was another 'wumpf' and the third disappeared. Rhea and Rumlow charged towards the two new assailants. One was huge and looked almost to be a gorilla. That one was heading towards the cat walks where team two was. The other one wasn't much taller than Rhea but was fast, and was wielding several knives. This one was taking on several of the strike team. Rumlow made it to him first. He ducked into the fray, and delivered three blows with his fist to the man's ribcage. The man yelled and turned his full attention on Rumlow who sent him back a few feet with a kick to the chest. He then whipped out his pistol and fired right at the man's heart. The man looked down then lunged at Rumlow. Rumlow fired three more times. The man didn't even slow down.

"Shit!" he shouted and rolled sideways as the knives the man held came down at him. Rhea leapt over him and round house kicked the man in the face.

"He's got some sort of regeneration," she shouted.

"Yeah I noticed!" Rumlow yelled back.

"Let me deal with him," Rhea said ducking a swipe at her head. "Go get that other guy!"

"No!"

"Which-" she dodged again and punched her attacker in the face. "One of us is walking around after being shot in the head!?"

Rumlow got to his feet and ran towards the cat walk. The other assailant had already thrown off two agents. Rhea turned her full attention on the man she was battling. She kicked at his knee and threw her elbow into his face. She felt as three blades were plunged into her side. She spun around behind him off of the blades and twisting his arm back as she went. From behind him she brought the side of her hand and then her elbow down on his neck. He reached over his shoulder and grabbed her arm. He flipped her over his head. She managed to twist as he did so that she landed facing him. He thrust his free hand upwards under her ribs. The again felt as the triple blades pierced her. She looked down and suddenly realized that the man wasn't holding the knives, they were protruding from his hands. Rhea could hear the sounds of the skirmish with this man's ally. She leapt towards the man, pushing the blades deeper into her chest. She wrapped her legs around the man's chest and thrust her claws into neck. They were now locked together. The man tried to pull away Rhea kept them too intertwined. He called out for his companion to get down here and lend him a hand.

His companion had been facing off against Rumlow and about half of team two, but he grabbed Rumlow and leapt from the catwalk to the floor. Rhea could hear Rumlow shouting as the stranger leapt forward.

"OOoh Shiiiit!"

This second assailant came racing to pry Rhea from off his associate.

"Hold it!" she shouted. "Your friend has some impressive regenerative abilities, and I would hate to test them!"

His companion slowed in his tracks, but didn't stop.

"I will make him burn his intestines and then explode him from the inside if you don't stop right there!"

This time the stranger did stop.

"so," she huffed. (The blades in her chest were right in one of her lungs.) "this doesn't seem like the sort of situation to handle in the dark. How about a little light?"

A low flame covered her body and lit up a good section of the large room. She looked at the man she was currently being impaled on. He had wild black hair and some impressive side burns. His companion looked like a cross between a gorilla and a lion, except that he was totally blue and wore glasses. Rhea looked at the two men and said, "And I thought I had bad hair."