Somewhere at FOB Grimsby, Wakhan

The fort had not been restored to it's former glory, but it was under maintenance, and most of the relics of this being occupied by the Taliban were being removed. 2nd "Whiskey" Battalion of the 16th Air Assault Brigade, the mechanized team that had helped to seize this place a few weeks ago had settled in, and the Royal Engineers that had been here had now left. The British Forces had not restored order locally, but the worst of their insurgency was being beaten, and this was now a forward operating base for the British against the forces left in the valleys of Wakhan. The area was desolate beyond this fort- the border was only 20 miles, but between Grimsby and that point, were a lot of angry AQ and Wolf's Claw insergents. And while the Battalion was not alone in the area, combat replacement hadn't brought fresh blood in. It felt almost half useful to the men inside, guarding it, to know they were going to hold the fort for the rest. It's former name, "Fort Tempest", had been left behind for something even more British.

Following the evacuation from Pakistan of Team Knight and eventually, Team Cordite, they had been sent to FOB Grimsby, over other more well-equipped sites, to re-equip and rearm, as well as rest. They had more fighting ahead of them, and with a large number of the British contingent based out of the Fort and it's surrounding village, which had been mostly evacuated, there was now a chance to help defend the area strongly. Challenger 2 tanks and FV510 Warrior IFVs, from the The Scots Guards Brigade, along with a pair of landing sites frequented by Chinook and Lynx helicopters, had meant that this base had a serious defensive capability, and had in the matter of weeks that it had been liberated, turned into a platform to attack into the area. Things had become tense- and Team Knight and Cordite were gearing up for an assault, one that was planned to liberate the rest of the Wakhan Corridor.

Inside a tent that had become a holding point for Team Knight in this area, Ross sat on a plastic chair in a standard British MTP uniform, with just a tan shirt on and combat trousers, Mk48 a couple of feet away from him as he leaned back in his chair, reading a debrief report about Pakistan, and what they had managed to do. The two SEALs were headed home for Rest and Recuperation; and Ross didn't blame them. If he went through that, even he would opt for it, they had been through hell at the hands of the Taliban and AQ on the other side of the border. They were at least going home, able to relax for a few weeks before coming back to kick some ass. For Ross and Carl though, they'd opted to stay. Get Carl's leg working again, and then back in the suits. Leaning back, he took a drink of water, putting the file down, seeing a certain burgundy-haired female walk in.
"Hello." He simply said, as Ross chuckled, the West Countryman putting the file to one side.
"You seem rather tired." Jenny said, as she looked over at him, looking at his general appearance. He had the chance to shower, but still looked pretty rough indeed from the operations of the last few days.
"Yeeah, well having your helicopter shot down on you does that to you." He simply said, looking at her appearance- she had a simular uniform on, but a different colored shirt, having a more green camouflage than his tan shirt, as he looked across the table, and grabbed his water, offering it to Jenny. She took the bottle and had a swig, taking a seat opposite him in the tent.
"I heard. We've been doing nothing but patrols, I've been giving a little additional firepower where our armor can't hit. EOD from yours truly too." She added, as she gave him the bottle back, looking out outside as the sound of a Apache buzzing past could be heard in the distant valley, before looking back at Ross.
"You've been doing bomb disposal? Shit, I suppose you have the kit for it." Ross said, as he had a sip of his water, cleaning the top of the plastic bottle before drinking a bit more.
"True, but it won't matter when there's two kilos of semtex in the road. It'll hurt, even in one of the suits." She said, as she took the file off the table.
"Two SEALS had to call the emergency services then? It cost six lives, and you scraped yourselves out of it. Was it worth it?"
"Well, they'd say so. We had no idea of the SAM site. It's been destroyed since by ISI, working for the Pakistanis, but it was going clean until that moment. SIGINT got the wrong place, so we ended up getting fucked over."
"We can't do anything now. The fuckers have to go down." Ross added to his previous statement, as he looked out at the gates of the fort, the sight of a couple of Jackals entering through the front door, parking up with a few figures in command, as Ross himself got up, picking up his Mk48.
"We've got a briefing in a couple of days. Carl should be on his feet then. Anyway, I need to retool this thing." Ross said, as Jenny followed behind, as they walked through the busy base, Ross heading to the armory with his Mk48. He had a few weapon modifications on his mind, that had sprung to thought since Jenny had arrived- and as much as he wanted to talk, he knew that she was here to retool her tan and black colored suit as well as her own FN MAG for some more combat.
"Likewise. You reckon Carl will be up to it?" She asked, as Ross looked back, his face certain.
"Oh, he'll be fine."

----

Meanwhile,

Perth, Australia

Natalie looked over at Victor, smiling, sitting on the hospital bed still with her gown, her legs curled up due to the length of the bed being almost totally inadequate for her size. Being 7"2 had it's disadvantages, she reminded herself. But still, she had been able to sleep for the last few days, following the surgery that pulled the rest of the shrapnel out of her, and a scar was left just above her left breast, Natalie rubbing her fingers along it as she heard the door open.
"Hey, mon cherie." She said, as she looked over at him, a golden smile on her face as she brushed her blonde locks aside. She felt a lot stronger than about a week ago, that was for sure. She could walk, and had even tried to lift up the steel framed bed in the military medical center, this room being hers and hers alone. The PMC paid well for doctors and nurses for one out of their two greatest assets, that was for sure. She sat up a little, cracking off a little ripping noise that bellowed out of her rear as she did.
"It's good to see you." She said, as she reached up and hugged him, kissing him on the cheek, her Mohican fiancee feeling warm in her hands.
"I feel strong enough to walk out of here, but the doctors say another few days. Post surgery and all." She said, as she looked down at her scar, removing her hospital gown and revealing her bare body beneath, with a few burns visible on her legs and around her hip, a distinct few patches of red visible amongst her fair pale skin, kissed by her tanning sessions in the strong sun.
"I hope I'm as beautiful as I still was when I first met you. I know you are." Natalie added, giggling, pushing her breasts about, giggling further, as she sat up a little further, kissing Victor.
"Warrior's wounds. I guess I'm matching up to yours now." She said, rubbing her hand over his body, pulling him down onto her bed, as she felt him sit atop him, his weight on top of hers. Had she have been any smaller, she would have broken like a twig, but Natalie was one of very few that could probably support the colossus that was Victor, the raging Mohican that towered like a God over the mere mortals around him. Her body still bare, she knew that it was almost vice versa last time when Victor had taken some serious hits. A bullet close to his chest, and several more in him, it was a miracle that he was alive. Like she was.
"I guess some things are meant to be."

-------

A few days later

Natalie walked through into the armory, pushing the door open confidently, the 7"2 Russo-French woman moving with a pace that most would be jogging at, though this was just a walk to her. Her arms and legs were as tough as ever, thick as tree trunks, . She wore a black and red bra, her breasts jiggling a little up and down as she moved in, as well as a pair of black and red camouflaged combat trousers, that fitted her gracious frame well, at no point perhaps hiding the fact that this was a woman with bootaye. Walking through, she saw a few of the techs at the front, before she turned the corner, into their armory, hers and Victor's. His suit was sitting on it's mount in the middle of the room, as was hers, perhaps about five meters away. Since her original had been beyond repairs, she had opted for a new one, a suit that perhaps had a little more flair. Incorporating tech from the suit that they'd salvaged, as well as other new technologies that had emerged since she'd had hers built. Victor had opted for improvement, she knew that her old suit was at it's limit in regards to future upgrades. 

It sat held up not by chains, but by two black polymer tubes, that looked like they had a bend in them, though were somehow remarkably strong. the look of it was wonderful, as Natalie had a smile on her face, looking at it's every curve and every edge, from the sleek breastplate and pouches scattered across it's surface, to the weapon slung across the suit, multibarreled and impractical for anyone else but her. It was enormous, and screamed invulnerability. It was like an armored vehicle more than anything, for the two feet of Natalie.

[url=http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/wikimag/images/b/b2/Improved_Heavy_Armor_%28Heavy_Ceramic_Composite%29.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110414040048]The Suit[/url] had originally been a smaller, more infantry-focused design, with Natalie asking for it to be scaled up. That design had been combined with another [url=http://pre07.deviantart.net/adc0/th/pre/f/2011/281/d/c/le_mbsr_1_by_retal19-d4c6ppd.png]similar[/url] one- one that perhaps already existed. There were many combinations with Victor's suit- one particular design had been taking it forward from his, but in black, and with one or two alterations here and there. His armor was robotic, edged, tank-like. Even Natalie's previous suit had been a little curved, and had a certain texture to it. She wanted the same in her next armor. It's black curves and matt black, yet lusterous carbon fiber looked wonderful, just efficient.

An Austrian-Swiss-French defense agreement had been created to facilitate it, and much like Victor was testing it for the American government, she was testing it for the company, as a user that had "specialist testing status". Or in effect, her muscle and body was more than enough to put in the momentum for the incomplete exoskeleton that was inside. So Natalie had a few things changed, from that picture that was sent to her. Firstly, the suit was given a bolster in armor, from an inch to six and a half inches of ballistic materials. On the outside, the outermost layer was a carbon-fibre and nanoweave mixture, that could resist small arms fire up to 5.56, and it was only 5cm thick, giving the suit a honeycomb and carbon-fibre look that was ideal for conserving the armor below it. It had a lusterous but dulled look, like it shined at one angle and then at another was blacker than black, the honeycomb hexagonal carbon fibre weave looking like it was something out of some cyberpunk vision, albeit perhaps very real and much more effectual. Underneath that, was about three inches of solid titanium and composite weave armor, a "shell" that the armor was effectively fixed upon, this going from the suit's feet to the neckbrace, which covered from the chin to the centre of the back of the helmet, giving a huge area for bomb blasts to be deflected away from. Under the three inches of hell that was the titanium and composite armor, able to stomach .50 rounds easily, was three inches of dragonskin and kevlar composite, interwoven to be the last line of defense. This was designed predominatly to stop shockwaves hitting, so much so that you could hold a grenade in your hand and not even feel it go off, with a prototype anti-blast material employed throughout to stop the shock waves puncturing lungs or damaging the internal organs. Below that, was perhaps the workings of the suit, and a soft blue satin material, Natalie's favorite choice when inside her suit. Comfy, against her bare skin. The helmet was made out of polycarbonate, dragonskin and kevlar, with a set of ballistic inserts across it's area, and even the gauntlets were about an inch thick, made of almost solid titanium and dragonskin with the hand designed to grip around her multi-barreled weapon. The suit had a large ammunuition rucksack, made out of kevlar an inch thick, and it went from her ass to her neckbrace, packed full of .50 rounds, matt black and honeycomb in color. Inside the suit, she had opted for her traditional fan and cooling system, which could double up as a heating system too in colder climates. She never tired of having the wind blow between her legs, or up her cleavage, that was a feeling that made bearing the brunt of a suit like this worthwhile.

Other changes, she thought to herself. Well, firstly, the neckbrace was higher, and of course, the boots in the suit were far more than a regular infantryman's, they were almost as thick as the main torso of the suit's material without compromising mobility, being elegantly designed. Compared to the robotic structure on her right, Natalie's felt far more rigid. She had opted for a large kevlar groinplate, which dangled loosely, and the suit had also had a few more than just external changes added to it. A basic exoskeleton, operating in the main legs and body of the suit, helped to prop the suit up- powered from a hydrogen fuel cell that was hidden within an armored insert on the back, that could keep it going for eight hours at a time. After that, Natalie could still move, but it was a far more limited range of movement, that was sluggish and far slower due to the increased weight. That said, the exoskeleton meant that the suit which was already weighing in at over a few hundred kilos excluding the weaponry and ammo, could be easily held up by Natalie and that she could move faster with a little more armor than she already had before. Which was scary, even to her. Inside the helmet, the visor was made of a prototype one-way transparent nanofibre, that she had seen resist a direct .50 round to a small area, with only a tiny hairline crack appearing around the area. It worked differently to regular glass, in that it did bend, but that generated an equal pressure that forced any round that hit it to back out, and crumple so inefficiently that it lost it's velocity. It was stupidly expensive, millions of dollars for such a visor, but it meant that she had a wide field of view, perhaps only 60 percent of that what she would have if not more if it wasn't for the enclosing neckbrace. It had a holographic HUD integrated, with the suit having an voice recognition system that actually worked perfectly, and an arm-mounted GPS and multipurpose system for configuring "modes" in the suit- to harness the exoskeleton for either a more charging mode, or a more stable shooting platform.

Weaponry wise, she had opted for something different, and with a badder foe, came a bigger gun. The GAU-19 was a weapon uncommonly seen, but Natalie had wanted more firepower for a while. Explosive 7.62mm rounds were good, but when you had .50, there was no need to argue anymore. The three-barreled weapon weighed a number, Natalie knew. But that wasn't her concern, because when she carried it, it put her M134 to child's play, it was a weapon like Thor's hammer. When spun up at 2,000 RPM, slower than her M134, it could stop a IFV in it's tracks, down a helicopter in sheer seconds. It sent so much rounds down the tank range, that Natalie was instructed to avoid hitting the traditional metal targets her M134 was used for and instead, focus fire on tank scraps, like Victor had done. It felt like a weapon of hell, and with tracers, it could set light to whole areas with little to no problem.

Natalie had gone through a few of the other features for the suit well, one being that she had decided that if Victor was the anchor, she was the sledgehammer. With his GMG, he could rain down fire for days without any trouble, but Natalie had the same armor with a very offensive capability. Dual PDWs or a flamethrower were too unwieldy for a close combat scenario, so Natalie had looked to whaling for an alternative. And in turn, installed a singular cable-tied titanium harpoon, sharpened with something that Wolverine would have probably liked on his hands on her left arm, with an airtank hooked up on top of the suit's ammunition rucksack, that worked as an air compressor. Charging that tank and firing the harpoon, it could go through several targets at once, through brick walls, through lots of items. Then, if she pulled back, the harpoon would retract, and hopefully pull itself out of whatever it got lodged in. She planned on making it into a grapple hook that would support the suit's weight, but knew that Wakhan had put that on hold temporarily. In close quarters, if targets were coming close, firing these would deal a devastating blow where her minigun was sheerly impractical, and her accuracy, despite the armor, was good. It could be fired repeatedly, and when that didn't do, Natalie had added one last piece de resistance. Victor had his signature tomahawks, ones that he could swing like a warclub and turn his foes into pieces. She loved that idea of brutality, but hers was one of precision guided severity. And of course, it was always her dream to be a swordswoman. Like something out of that fantasy show she watched, there was that man with his big sword that was the size of a normal person. That was something she could see herself doing, and finding that her melee component was never as strong as Victor's, she saw no reason to take it up. So she had a two-handed sword, forged from titanium and a carbon nanotube edge, making it several times sharper than a regular blade. It sat in a holster on the suit's hip, and if the minigun or grapple were not enough...then swing them to the side, sword out, and red mist descends upon her, she reminded herself. She hadn't killed anyone yet, but she knew that when it came to clearing buildings, there was no point fucking around when you were nearly invincible. She had liked her oversized Spetsnaz Shovel very much, but there were times that it was not sufficient. It wasn't enough to deal with multiple combatants that were still firing at her. So this would do perfectly. Pulling it out, she saw the inscription near the top. It wasn't a beautifully made sword, it was just a practical one. Just a fuck-off claymore, with machined edges. It wouldn't matter around her gauntlets. But there was an inscription. "Athena's Wrath". Every good sword needed a name. And even so, there was a pair of .50 Desert Eagles kept within the suit's chest, in case there was a greater deed to do than just take out a few targets.

Last of all, Natalie had made sure that there was one detail. Stepping under her suit, she smirked, as she saw what she saw. Her underside was armored by a solid metal plate, but further up the suit's curve, was small mesh grate, with a tiny fireproof label above it. It read "Warning- Fire Hazard." Just like she wanted it, she chuckled to herself. The mesh was surrounded in a sea of titanium and carbon fibre, but was precisely where her big rear would be in the suit. And her party charm would be unobstructed, assisted by a methanol burner she had installed in the leg of the suit. It never hurt to scary your enemies further with something surreal, she reminded herself. There had been a Trophy Light system installed on the suit's right shoulder, adapted to fire against targets in the 180 degree to the rear, though against advanced warheads such as the RPG-30 or heavier missiles such as the Javelin or Hellfire, diving for cover was still the best course of action- and of course, anything from the front. 

Looking around, she exhaled, breathing out. She felt exited at this prospect. She had worked with parts of the suit, had fitting for it, fired the large weapon. But never worn it. There was no reference level, not even to her previous one. Lifting the top half of the suit up, she slid herself in, having to push hard to get herself inside, as it was all one piece apart from the part that she had opened up. Squeezing her features in, she felt the satin rub against her bare skin, as she dropped down, the 7"2 woman now standing at about 7"6 due to the suit's heightened boots and general build. She moved a little, the exoskeleton strange, the suit heavy in her body, recently recovered. She had put herself through a tough regime the day before in hospital to prove she was capable of lifting it, and indeed, she was. The exoskeleton made the suit feel lighter than her old one, yet just as bulky and armored, reacting to her spine well and holding it up while she made the movements. Keeping her helmet up, she chuckled, as she walked around, the footsteps heavy and mechanical. The suit felt more rounded in places than Victor's, feeling like something that was designed perhaps very differently. It was laser precise, rather than all out raider. It felt more in touch with her French side, Natalie felt, but this wasn't a suit for retreating. She had to occasionally stop to breathe, just to get air in her lungs from the excitement, as she looked around the armory. Putting the GAU19 down, the huge weapon attached by a very strong composite cord to her ammunition rucksack from where a chain of scary looking ammunition emerged, she withdrew Athena's Wrath, the sword simply immense, in a word. To her, it was like a sword would be to a normal person, she could hold it one handed and it must have been around the size of an average person.

"Now this, I like." She said, as she swung it, amazed at how light it was, as she chuckled. Letting loose a fart, she felt it catch light and it roar from her backside, as she cackled, her helmet still off as she turned to the door, to see one and only one person that understood this feeling.
"Oh, hey Victor. Just another day being a Goddess." She said, as she still had to look up at him, even in this armor, brushing her blonde hair aside from her fair face as she walked up to him, no loud mechanical whirr audible but a slight feeling that her armor was partially supported.
"It looks like I brought a sword to a gunfight, but it can cut through kevlar like butter. I might as well improve my hand to hand, too." She added, chuckling as she lay it on Victor's shoulder, not the pointy end at least, but the flat and cold side of the sword. She pulled it back, and put it back away, as she walked up close to him, smile on her face.
"I heard news that they need us again. Good pay. And I think I'd like to go kick some ass. Would you, honey?" She asked, smiling as she reached up to kiss him, knowing that even with this much armor on, she could show love for the one person who mattered.