Isla Langosta / Lobster Island, Colombia

Fireteam Piranha

The explosions below were making it clear that Boomer was taking no prisoners, and with his rifle and club, he wasn't going to leave any scalp untouched.

"Noted. Not with that implement, I'm not. Fucking hellfire, Boomer." Tahlia's voice carried a certain sternity to it, yet watching what he was doing, she was rather in shock. It was time to change magazines, on that note, and well, put her eye to the scope again, knowing that the body count he was collecting was now making her sniper fire seem almost anonymous. Mateo must have been straight up a ghost now, and well, she didn't want to know how much she was turning Thiago inside out.
"They're dropping back, but with any sense, there'll be another layer. Let me dent their confidence a little." Tahlia called to Boomer on the comms, loading a new magazine in, this time with something a bit heavier hitting.

Back on the scope, and well, the pyro was right where she needed him. Dragged out of cover, and trying to torch Chuck, well, at the least making his life inconvenient. Trying, and no doubt the flames would be sticky, it wasn't as much of a straight up threat as some of the other troops firing RPGs wildly around him, Tahlia taking out the round in the chamber with a normal round and instead, loading a much heavier, armour-piercing bullet inside from the magazine loaded, one that would certainly get more penetration on.

"Right....let's see.....windage, range....there." Tahlia whispered to herself, and picking him up, adjusted her sighting, noting the composition of the armour. No sniper round she had was getting through him, but oh, a heavy like that should really have known better. You armoured your tanks the same, even Laura knew that, or else your big arse was getting exploded. And with a gentle pull on the trigger, she watched him move and stomp closer, putting fire on Chuck, yet right as he was stationary, being right where she needed him. The round flew and with a loud plink, slapped into the bottom of the flamethrower tank, ricocheting before the true extent was revealed.

The pyro's tank ruptured, and with fuel pouring, it didn't take much for it to light due to the volatile compound mixing with his ignition substance, and suddenly, the guy didn't so much explode as well....get turned into a missile. The flamethrower basically turned into a rocket, and sent him flying into the building he had walked into, and with a loud bang, set off a huge explosion, toasting him and everyone in it alive.

"Aw fucking yeah! Eat shit, cunt! Hope you liked that, Boomer!" Tahlia called into the comms, the excitement coming through, as she adjusted her rifle again, pulling the bolt, a little high on being back in the field, and well, back to work, realising her inner voice had come out.
"Sorry about that. Right. Where were we? Okay, that might help you a bit. Watch for RPGs, they're fortified inside too from the looks from it, but you'll have a little less resistance now. Go inside and get what we need, Spectre is yours. The exos will be able to punch you harder, so make sure you clamp them. However you do that, I will leave that creative part to you. Actually, let me bring you some help on the flank. It'll make your extraction quicker, and if I'm not mistaken....shit, yeah we got more choppers inbound. " Tahlia called out.

"Tiny Nord, you on station? We might need some help on the northern side of the base, where Boomer is moving in. I know, the boat isn't fun, but we haven't exactly got clear airspace. Bring the patrol boat in close, they won't see you coming and hit the flank when you're ready. I think we might be about to make a hell of a lot more heat. I got visual on helis in the far horizon, likely carrying heavy munitions. They do not want to give up Spectre easy..." Tahlia called, knowing that Tiny Nord was on hand for extraction - and while he wouldn't have expected to be getting his hands dirty, the armoured American counterpart to Boomer would certainly be keen to blow shit up. Bringing in more high-calibre support would help, and given the versatility of Tiny Nord's platform, anti-air and anti anyone was always on the cards.

"Right, bear with, Boomer. I need to relocate to get a better shot."

------

Observatorio Cruz del Sur, Torres del Paine, Patagonia, Chile

Fireteam Condor

With Sam supporting Freya down, Skye had the chance to secure the entry point, and well, tidy up the mess of bodies they'd been making. It was a quiet shift, but once they got inside, it would be a lot busier- after all, out here they were surrounded by snow white-topped granite mountains and it was a light dusting that was below feet here in the concrete, so nobody was out here in the pitch black, given they didn't expect trouble. Not the kind that would come in without a trace.

"Negative, Chaos, move to me. Frigga, cover our backs. It shouldn't be far up to me." Skye looked across, the dark blue paint on her face contrasting her burning red hair, professional yet well, a Pict through and through. As much as there was a human being behind those eyes, she looked like someone else, someone that had already pulled plenty of blood on her hands. And she would get plenty more. They had a job to do, and not much time to spare. Skye certainly felt like they were on the clock, and right now, they'd need to get in and out.

Looking across to Sam, Skye tilted her NVGs up for a moment, the Scot looking across intently to Sam, and her visored helmet.

"Alright. I'll stay on point. We might need your hacking skills in a moment, Chaos." Skye added, as she opened the door with a solid clack, moving inside and through the concrete walls, rifle raised, intent and sweeping, following the signage and covering the corners as best as she could within the lit-up environs inside.

Moving through the corridor, Skye moved slow on the approach to the observatory galley itself.

"Okay. Few inside. Slow and smooth, no rush." Skye retorted, hearing voices on the other end, and with it, gently pushing the door open, the telescope in a cradle above with its own cut-out with corridors below, filled with equipment and workbenches, like a library meeting a highly scientific laboratory. Moving slow, Skye readied up, keeping the rifle at a point position, as she picked out the first two on the walkway next to the telescope itself, clattering rounds into them as the others reacted, Skye letting Sam take on the other two closer to the actual optic itself, as Skye got to work on the far end of the room. They'd have a limited time to sort this before they got onto their communications, but given the work they'd done outside, they would have enough.

Moving around the corner, the man used his Glock to fire a couple rounds back, as Skye used his trace to get him out of position, and shot a couple rounds into his legs, baring his head and slapping another round in. With the room clear, Skye called it into the comms, reloading her magazine as she did so.
"Sound seems to contain well in these walls. But this is getting bloody. More of them awake than I liked. Scientists are up, but there's barely any." Skye called, giving the ping for the team to regroup at the end of the room, this time, one away from the specific one that Skye really wanted. Control Room.

Arriving on the door of that room following a short corridor, it was almost like a NASA-like arrangement, quiet for the night with a handful of technicians in the glass-adorned office. A singular guard in there visible through the glass window in the wooden doorframe. And with it, Skye nodded to Sam, as she moved inside and pushed first, and with barely a flinch, slotted the man with a headshot with the MCX tilted on her shoulder, splatting him into the floor as the techs yelled, Skye filling the void first with her booming voice.

"Freeze! Hands on your head, or you get a bullet, comprendo?" Skye yelled, rifle raised, the two technicians doing as asked, as Skye rushed in, the speed she had from the exo just adding that extra something to make her look very much not like the other man she'd just taken out.

"We're not here to hurt you. Just don't do anything stupid, answer my questions, and you might survive. Alright?" Skye called to one, switching into Spanish for the rest of the conversation, accented yet the one tech nodding, in absolute shit-filling fear at the look of Skye towering over her, rifle in hand, looking somewhat inhuman.

"Shit, ok! What do you want? Please, we're just working on the satellites, we have nothing to do with her mercenaries, please!"

"Exactly, so you can do some work. The Project Mercury satellite network. Can you take the data off it, and download it? And think about what I said earlier, no time for wrong answers. Because we can do it the hard way."

"It's not possible. Please, I beg! It's coded in a quantum-encrypted key for removals from the base station, there's no way, no way! We're just making sure it stays in orbit, and sending data....don't shoot, please!"

"Well, shit. Plan B then. I need you to drop the satellite. Right here, right now. There's a valley down there between us and the town, put it there. I know you can do it, it's reinforced. Quantum key or not, direct entry will always work." Skye simply retorted, watching as suddenly, the other technician raised his voice, concerned and realising that this wasn't going to end well for either if they did as the Scottish lady said.

"No....you don't understand, they'll....they'll kill us anyway. And if it hits...it'll....well, it'll be a big boom." The tech said to the other, as Skye lurched in closer between them, the slight whine of her exo and her mere look one of absolute, fire-starting rage, given how she was between the two.

"I can make it look convincing you had a gun to your head. Your chances are better than us just killing you both and figuring it out." Skye added, leaving silence for a few seconds, letting them soak this up, at least process that she was in their language, and well, certainly making a point of it.

"Okay, okay. I can do that. We can take it down. Please, I have kids, I don't want to die..."

"So do all the people you're hurting with this. You might yet live." With that, Skye looked across knowing he was back at work, to Sam and the others, headed over to the man on the ground. Ripping his headset off, Skye put ear to it, and heard the various chatter. They were right now finding bodies, and well, they had zero idea of what the hell was going on. They were being ripped apart by ghosts clearly, and the alarm would soon follow once that happened.

"Well, that was fun while it lasted. Chaos, get to disabling the anti-air system here. I think we may need to get ready to loud. Frigga, there's a QRF headed our way. Find somewhere quiet, and rip them a new one, would you? I'll leave your surprise to you. Meantime, I'll make sure we get our satellite down with these two. Once we're done, we'll need to chase it and get to it before they do. Which means that ATV, and those motorcross bikes in Hawk's hold might come in handy for us." Skye added, giving instruction to the other two, knowing shit was going to hit the fan soonish.

"We may need some help, mind." Skye called, as she put hand to ear, knowing that now they may as well as the fact that they were seconds from an alarm.

"Hawk, this is Queen, we're going to need support within ten minutes. Prep the VTOL for fire support, and I'm going to fire a GPS marker for where we might need some transportation once we're outside."

---

Somewhere in Geneva, Switzerland

Two Years Ago

The white-haired older man sat with a set of aviator glasses on, the quiet evening cafe in Geneva as cosy as it could be- and sitting upstairs in the quiet, empty room, outside the Jet d'Eau, it was as unassuming it could be. Set out for him, and his partner to meet, and discretion even here was helpful. But then again, when you may have been public enemy number one, but looked like every other banker in this city, that just came easy. It felt strange to be sitting opposite to the person he wanted to see- the redhead herself, Lynx. Quite the figure, from what he had read. And how remarkable it was to have her on board.

"I almost didn't think I'd get this meeting." He spoke with a cold unassuming tone, it must have been Scandinavian in origin, but it felt so international, it almost dissolved anonymously.

"Neither did I, Christian. But I guess we had some mutual friends, and some mutual views." Lynx responded, the grey-shirt, jeans wearing counterpart at the table as stoic as ever, her charm back on as usual, a grin hiding a calculated, firm look behind the woman that sat there, a demeanour that almost looked steely past and through the sunglasses he wore.

"Yes, indeed. I'm glad you view things similarly. Tell me, what do you see, when it comes to our work? What is it that you're looking at the most?" He asked, raising his sunglasses for just a second, revealing his bloodshot eyes.

"World's on fire, and well, some preparation wouldn't go amiss. That is you lot seem to offer. So I thought it may as well be worth putting myself on your side. I did my homework. I know what you are, what you want, who you're made of. Some I don't agree with, but that's never the point when you need to make change."

"Agreed. I assume it's not money you want, with the way you talk?"

"Not really. You don't need someone with money to change things. Just the key and a place in what's next. Your organisation wants change and someone to do it with. So do I, and I can offer you that. I'll personally make your wildest dreams happen, and anyway, you need someone like me who can make a template. Get things done where money can't buy talent. You need an investor with capital at risk in this, someone who is willing to die to make a world they might not live in. I expect some parity for that, not like one of your mercenaries, but as someone who has done, well, what you know I'm capable of."

"And you realise that the directors will not like this, don't you?"

"I'll give them what they want within two years. They'll be safe and sound. Comfy even. I expect you don't trust me. Just give me what I need and you will in time."

"I trust you. They won't."

"Well, there is one aspect you might want to see. Maybe it will convince them a little more. You know little about me. But I'll show you who you really do want to know about." She replied, and taking it out from her jean pocket, rather than Christian being the one to do it, it was Lynx, the hand revealing the image, and then, placing it onto the table.

The picture was pushed across the table, the Polaroid displaying a red-haired operative in an exoskeleton in a blurry CCTV image, that white-haired man could see as nigh identical to Lynx in front of her.

"So how is it you are you doing two jobs at once these days? I thought you just did work for SIS? A spook, right?" The question was clear, his eyebrows raised, given the situation, and well, how impossible this had to be. Lynx's look turned to a grin, as she leaned in forwards, pushing her cup of coffee aside, very much aware this one, oh, this would get him right away.

"Well...if I told you how, I'd have to kill you. She does seem awfully similar to me."

"Heh, well, I'll be damned. Well. Lynx, whoever you are. You may be quite useful yet."

---

Samantha chuckled at her large teammate as she took on a teasing tone. “Now Frigga, we are friends. I have nothing but love for you. Just because I could give you a bad time doesn’t mean I would.” Frigga was talking to her as she worked her way out of the suit. “Well I didn’t plan to leave it behind. All we need to do is cut the tether to the second vehicle and it will be pulled along the vehicle like a child’s helium balloon. And that is if we have to move fast.I wasn’t sure if our fearless leader had plans to blow up the observatory. Our leader plays things close to the chest sometimes.” She shrugged as she finished helping Frigga out of the suit.

She nodded in acceptance of Freya’s thanks as she had handed her throwing axes back. “I don’t like to leave gear behind either. If you need help modifying them, let me know. I am happy to lend my skills to a fun project.” Chaos nodded and led the way towards the entrance to the observatory. They arrived at the entrance after Skye had already cleared the entryway. The boss was not wasting any time. She raised an eyebrow as she looked around. She had been on ops with Queen before. She seemed scarily focused and in a hurry on this op. She shrugged as she had to trust her leader.

Samantha waited for Queen to tell her exactly what she wanted and moved up to join the red headed hellion wreaking havoc as she led the team deeper into the observatory. “Roger that Queen, I will stay on your six.” Chaos moved in sync with Queen as they cleared corners and moved deeper into the observatory. Chaos moved in smooth motion, with her knees slightly bent. It looked awkward but was proven to provide a smooth but stable motion to support firing from a larger carbine on the move. There was a saying that went with it that ‘slow was smooth and smooth was fast’. Chaos made it look easy, graceful, and fast. She kept pace with Skye and while she could barely hear Freya she could feel her presence bringing up the rear.

They had reached the observatory door and Skye shared there were a few people inside. Samantha kept her response short, “Acknowledged.” Skye pushed the door open and the space was dominated by a high powered high tech telescope. There were a series of computer workstations and worktables in alcoves built around the telescope. There were wrought iron stairs that led up to catwalks that were about 15 feet above the floor the telescope was on. The space read library meets a high tech mad scientist laboratory. Samantha nodded and moved into action. She used her silenced carbine for the first time on this op. She was testing a new bullet design that would act as a taser to incapacitate the target as the ampule of knock out gas put them to sleep. Samantha grinned as they worked perfectly. She had another new toy for stealth ops that would be useful for bringing back prisoners. Samantha moved up the stairs for a better angle so she could see the whole room. She took out another guard that had been stationed on the walkway. She brought her rifle around and scanned the rest of the catwalk. The rest of the guards were already down. She looked down and scanned all the alcoves from above. She pegged another two people who looked like scientific types. They were engrossed in whatever they had been working on. Their bodies slumped over the computer terminals they had been working on. “Room is clear. On my way back down.”

She listened to Queen as she quickly raced back down the stairs. “It makes sense for more of them to be awake at night. Night time is when observatories are useful. The research staff is probably full at night. While maintenance staff is active during the day. So far we are keeping it under the radar. It is only a matter of time before they start noticing people not checking in though.” Samantha followed the ping and noted the sign on the door that read the control room.

Samantha followed Skye into the room and covered the technicians as Skye took out the guard. Skye was yelling at the guards to freeze. Chaos called out “Freeze” in a few different languages starting with French and Spanish. The technicians were clearly frightened and had complied. It was obvious though that they knew they were not working for upstanding citizens. They didn't seem to be that shocked to have guns in their faces.

Samantha paid attention as the man started talking. She kept her gun trained on the one that had not responded to Skye’s question. She paid attention to what they were saying.

"It's not possible. Please, I beg! It's coded in a quantum-encrypted key for removals from the base station, there's no way, no way! We're just making sure it stays in orbit, and sending data....don't shoot, please!"

Samantha motioned for Frigga to cover the second technician. Samantha pushed him and his chair away from his station, the man’s hands still in the air. She Pulled out a cord and connected her laptop to the man’s computer station. He hadn’t locked it yet. She pulled another chair over and sat down and began to download all the data they had been working on sending. She didn’t have to hack anything; the terminal was still unlocked. She began countering and silencing any silence alarms that they might have triggered. She didn’t have a way to shut down their coms from here. She was a little surprised that Skye wanted them to crash the satellite. Samantha set the download going and turned to Skye. “He is right. The satellite was put into orbit with a vehicle assist. It is not designed to survive re-entry, however, the satellite does have adjustment thrusters to keep it in a synchronous orbit. Use the thrusters to slow it down and compute the angle to put it where she wants it.” Samantha had turned to the two protesting technicians. It took another threat from Skye and an up close and personal look at her gun and harsh face before they gave in and started working on doing as she asked. While Skye was giving orders to others she turned her attention to the man whose station she co-opted.

“Who is she? What is the name of the person you work for?” She hoped in their shock they would simply answer since they were already frightened. It couldn’t hurt to have more information. She waited for an answer, but she was soon distracted by Skye giving more orders. “Roger that Queen. I am on it.” She turned to her task at the station. This station didn’t have access to the anti-air systems. She began to hack her past layers of security. It is much easier to do from an already unlocked terminal. She just needed to convince the system software that she had access and authorization.

Samantha listened as Queen gave additional orders. "Hawk, this is Queen, we're going to need support within ten minutes. Prep the VTOL for fire support, and I'm going to fire a GPS marker for where we might need some transportation once we're outside." Samantha perked up a that. “Queen we can use their transportation for exfil and on the way out I can sabotage the remaining rigs. It will prevent them from following us on the ground. It won’t stop the incoming air support though.”

---

Boomer baited the big guy with the flamethrower until he began moving towards him and right into a kill box for Tahlia. He chuckled as he noted her energetic and enthusiastic response as the man was turned into a fuel propelled grenade. He flew back into one of the side buildings and exploded causing massive secondary explosions in the building. His guess was it was one of the drug labs that handled flammable chemicals. “Taniwah are you trying to get my job! It is my job to make things go boom!” Chuck couldn’t help teasing his teammate a little.

Taniwah gave him a tactical update as he noted that the guards around him were all down and those he could see were pulling back. They had taken out two exos and the one heavy so far. He expected to run into more exos when he went in after Spectre. He wasn’t leaving without finishing this mission. “Acknowledged Taniwah, helos inbound. Exos in with Spectre. Be advised, I am making my run on the building Spectre is in now.” Chuck focused on what he needed to do. He whistled for Duke and began to charge towards the building Spectre was in. If he was Spectre’s security he would try to exfil the man away from the heavy fighting. Chuck grinned as he triggered the detonators on the explosives he had planted along the backside of the facility earlier in the day. A chain of explosions began to light up the back of the compound making it feel like they were at ground zero for a war. Well it was a war. Raven versus dirtbag drug runner and smuggler. Chuck and his team were merely the instrument for this battle. Chuck hoped the explosions taking out the rear wall of the compound would have Spectre’s security scrambling for where to take him next.

He just ran through the door and kept Lucille spinning as he annihilated whatever was in his way as he charged down the corridor like a linebacker. He spun Lucille on the chain the weapon crushing everything it came into contact with. He saw two more exos ahead. They opened up firing at him with heavy caliber guns. He began to dodge and weave as those might be able to punch through his armor. He rounded a corner and dropped into a control skid as an RPG flew over his head. He barely saw it in time. He let of go Lucille knowing that the chain wrapped around his wrist would reclaim the weapon. He pulled his rifle back up and began to pick targets with care. He managed to take out one of the exo operators with a headshot. The other missed the operator but hit a hydraulic line. Chuck aimed for the person who had launched the RPG at him and nailed the man in the chest. Chuck closed with the other exosuit operator. The exo was struggling due to the hydraulic leak but there was nothing wrong with the man’s aim as Chuck took a bullet to the shoulder. It didn’t manage to penetrate all the way through his armor but he felt that. He roared and shot the man in the face.

The hallway was suddenly quiet as all his enemies were dead or dying around him. The bullets had stopped. He ran towards the steel safety room door. He put Lucille away and pulled out his explosives kit. He quickly set up a shaped charge designed to take out the doors hinges and lock mechanism. This was surgical explosive work. “Boomer is ready to dig our cockroach out of his hole. Fire in the hole!” He once more moved to one way away from the explosion and pulled Duke in front of him shielding him with his armor and body. He was glad that Samantha had thought about ear protection for his pal. He hit the button in his head to set off the explosives on the door. A series of four pops were heard as they went off in sequence.

Boomer released Duke. He changed the magazine out on his close quarters carbine. He was going to try the new ammo Samantha had given him that was supposed to knock out the enemy. He wanted Spectre alive for questioning. He slapped the magazine home. He racked a bullet home and then kicked the door in. His heavy armored boot caught the door with enough force to make it fly backwards with a heavy boom catching a guard that had been standing behind the door with a crushing blow. The door landed on top of him as Boomer rushed in. He fired at the remaining 4 guards in the room. They had been shooting at him but they were using pistols. He managed to nail everyone. Spectre was screaming at his guards to do something when Chuck’s bullet made the man freeze up and then slump to the ground. Suddenly it was quiet again.

“Duke search.” Chuck asked Duke to search. He waited patiently as Duke sniffed around the men. He walked over when Duke indicated he had found something. He pulled a variety of grenades off the men and then one man had a pouch of neon colored pills. He slid those into a compartment of his armor. He took a case of ampule vials from one of the guards. He put the vials into the saddlebags on Duke’s armor. Chuck then scooped up the man identified as Spectre. He threw the man over his shoulders after cuffing him with zip ties. He motioned for Duke to follow. He had Spectre but he knew the enemy would try like hell to retrieve the man. He began to move as quickly as he could back towards the pier. “Boomer and Duke have the pest. We are on the way back to RV.” He left the building and could hear gunfire and explosions in the distance. He hoped that they were on his side as he began to make his way out the way he had come as fast as possible.

Observatorio Cruz del Sur, Torres del Paine, Patagonia, Chile

Fireteam Condor

Skye nodded back, as she checked the room for anything else of use, any intel, anything at all, before looking to Sam and Freya.

“Affirm. Do what you can, sabotage the AA and we’ll sort the aircraft ourselves. There’s a chance Frigga’s balloon won’t hold once we get moving, so you may need to get base to steer it home and cut loose, or just pack it up. That Hagglunds out there should be plenty big enough for your size, Frigga!” Skye chirped, as she kept her rifle pointed at the techs, eyes on what they were doing, coding and programming away, the Scot acutely aware of the risk as she peeked back to Sam.

“We may need to divide and conquer here. Hawk can get me something a little more nimble than that ATV,, so I may need you to take some attention, whilst I go after the big game. That satellite, if intel is right, weighs about seven tonnes. Once that hits, it’s gonna make a really, really big bang. Tungsten carbide core, with a lot of radiation and heat shielding on it, so slowing it down will make sense, or else it’ll disintegrate whatever it hits. Probably still will….” She added, chuckling, knowing that today they would be playing with one hell of a tool. It was never a conventional thing to down a satellite, but it’d make a bang alright- and once cooled, they could recover something.

__________

Frigga had been a step or two behind Chaos and Queen, so as she comes into the tech room, she’s got a guard under her left arm, the young fellas face going purple due to his continued struggles to get loose, and well the sheer lack of air going to his head. She smiles and waves to the others before with an almost casual and well negligent heave the guard goes rolling over into a corner. A grin and Frigga reaches over her back and pulls Starbreaker, that incredibly heavy warhammer off her back. Walking towards the other techs. As she’s asked to cover them. She smiles and nods to Chaos, “Oh don’t worry Chaos, I don’t think they are going anywhere.” She lets the head of the hammer fall, and pulverize the tiles at their feet, powdered tile wafting up about her feet briefly. She leans on the hammer and stares down at the tech through her helmet, “Are you?” The tech quickly raises her hands shaking her head, struck dumb and mute at the moment from the towering armored “thing” before her. Frigga grins, “See? We have an understanding.”

__________

Samantha’s fingers flew across the keyboard as she focused on hacking into the observatory’s computer systems. It became quickly apparent to her that these were low level technicians without much access or knowledge of what they were truly doing with this installation. She was surprised that they understood that the work they were doing was for a shady organization that lacked official backing. Samantha talked to Skye without her eyes ever leaving the computer screen or keyboard. “Skye, if that satellite comes down and crashes, it is going to cause a huge natural disaster as the kinetic waves throw dust into the air like a volcano would. We need to find an alternative. I think I found one.” She concentrated as her fingers flew faster.

She blinked as dust flew into the air after Frigga let the hammer drop. She chuckled, “Thank you for the assist Frigga. Much appreciated. Maybe we should let you handle all future interrogations.” She grinned at her large companion before going back to work.

First the antiaircraft missiles and guns. She turned them off after getting into the sensitive parts of the server. They had made the mistake of thinking no one would ever find this facility or be able to breach it. They had all the computers on a network of shared servers. They had unwittingly given Samantha access to everything at this facility. She had found a section of code that she recognized from hacking the asswipes personal computer from Singapore. She followed his back door into the system. She chased down the hidden files. “Anti-aircraft defenses are offline.” She froze the lack of noise from her typing startling and sudden.

She looked over at the other technician that was trying to crash the satellite. “STOP! Back away from the computer.” Her fingers once more flying over the keyboard. “He needs to stop what he is doing. They have the whole complex rigged to blow if anyone tries what they are doing without the right authorization codes.” She didn’t look away from the computer but she could only imagine the technicians’ horror at that thought. They should pick better bosses. “The satellite was designed with an ejectable computer core. It is designed to survive re-entry. They didn’t want anyone else getting their hands on their data or know what they are up to. I found the codes. I am reprogramming it to come down where you want it to. The explosion will still be big but not big enough to worry the surrounding area.” She went back to work. “Do you want to set the explosives off?”

__________

Skye chuckled as Freya did her work, the hammer coming down and smashing the tiles to smithereens, the tech terrified out of her skin as she could only savor the work at play that the Norse woman was making.

“Yeah….noted. Fucking hell, Frigga. Got us playing good cop, bad cop here. Keep an eye out.” Skye broke a smirk, as she watched Sam at work, the turning realization making Skye a little sick, albeit, glad Sam had spotted it. It was helpful in this scenario to have her on board and with a pickup like that, whilst Skye would have queried it, she was glad that Sam was observant, and willing to do the right thing under that pressure, rather than give into Skye’s. She was a leader, but the team did know their roles, and Skye trusted them implicitly with it.

“Do it, Chaos. Bring the core down, and let’s get it once it’s on the ground. As for the charges….we’ll need every advantage we can get. I hate to destroy such a nice facility, but we’re going to be hunted after this. Can you set it on a remote detonator….or are we going to have to deal with the pressure of a clock?” Skye asked inquisitively to Sam, hearing her comms splutter with the sound of Vincent Cisse, pilot extraordinaire.

“Adieu, Capitane 10 minutes out till station. Call the rounds when ready, and I’ll send the fire down!” He called out across, as Skye looked over to Sam and Frigga, hoping that Sam would nearly be there.
“Alright. We’d best get a move on once that’s done. Shit is about to get real out there.”

__________

Frigga looked around slowly, her visored gaze and blue white “eyes” of her visor stopped on each tech still in the room, “Now we’re not going to have any problems are we?” She said it loud and clear. Lifting the hammer from the small crater she had created just by letting the head of it fall to the floor naturally earlier, “I don’t want to have to hurt any of you. You’re all good people, I’m sure, even if working for the wrong side.” She lifts the hammer up over her shoulder, a set of three 7 inch claws snapping into place on the pyramid like pommel of the giant thing, ominous clicks and the sound of loosening chain, “We have work to do here, and all of you, need to get out of here. Alive preferably yes?” She grins brightly.

Frigga looks like she’s about to leave it at that, when the guard she had come in with makes a noise, no maybe not him specifically, it’s his radio that gives a blurt of static then someone saying they are coming around the corner to the tech room to make their check inside it. Frigga, turns, waits, yes actually waits, then as one of the doors swings open she heaves back, and throws Starbreaker. The 5 foot long hammer sailing through the air, catching the guard on the shoulder (thankfully) and breaking something as he goes down in shock. A long line of chain attached to the hammer immediately reels it back into her waiting hand, “Case in point. I don’t want to hurt you good folks. Them though, well. Karma sometimes comes calling.”

__________

Skye looked on in shock yet a certain kind of delight as it smacked the man in the shoulder, the recoil from Freya’s hammer shaking the ground itself and making the Scot only remind herself that Freya in her element wouldn’t be taking prisoners today. Not after cleaning up a team coming after them, and well, using the good old fashioned, hammer-time approach to fixing problems. It was surely fixing this, but fuck, was it cool to watch. Must have been one hell of a thrill even if she was used to it, the team lead reasoned mentally, as she wanted to say something cool, but realized the situation at hand with Sam finishing up.

__________

Samantha programmed the self destruct to respond to her comms based on the software updates she had made for Boomer. “I can remotely detonate their failsafe explosives. I don’t need to put it on a clock.” She looked back as she heard the door and admired Frigga’s handiwork. “I do love your work!” She knew they were on the clock before Artemis discovered the infiltration and rained hellfire down on them. “Queen, they have an alarm rigged to send out network wide alerts if the core is ejected. There is no way to override it, it’s mechanical. They will know the core has been ejected as soon as it leaves the satellite. There will be maybe a 5 minute lead time due to the distances involved before they get the signal.” She finished up by locking everyone out of the system and changing all passcodes and passwords using a nice little program she had on hand.

__________

“That’s enough for us. Go for it. We’re nearly compromised as it is, so we may as well start the fire.” Skye replied, the Scot letting her continue at will, moving across the room, watching on as the techs and Sam worked away, the Scot not needing to add too much, other than the strategic and tactical situation as it played out, and then, only then, she would uncoil that tight spring on the bastards.

__________

She could decrypt the system but no one else would be getting in to change anything. Even a hard reboot won’t work. She changed the firmware settings too. She cackled evilly as she stood up from the terminal. “We are good to go boss. I have set the satellite to launch the core in 5 minutes. That gives us time to clear the observatory before they know what’s happening.” She paused and looked at Skye for any additional orders. Samantha turned and appreciated Frigga’s work as she looked at the aftermath of her work. She was very grateful that the giant was on her side.
__________

“Affirmative. Let’s go then. Back out the way we came, down to the tracked vehicle. I’ll see if I can call in something to help, given the VTOL can’t land here without getting obliterated, we’ll need to settle for what we can use. That hill is steep, so be careful when you drive down, mind? More for you, Chaos, I don’t want Frigga crushing you or something. Or do. I don’t know what you kids are into these days.” Skye retorted, a certain dryness to her voice, perhaps from babysitting the techs, as she turned to face them.

“In about three minutes, run for that door there, that goes to the lower cavern and out of the base, and do not stop until you are away from this compound. If you go early, you’ll die. If you go late, you’ll die. Three minutes exactly, because that is the schedule we will be on. Understood?” Skye spoke in her Spanish, the techs nodding, as the Scot shouldered her rifle again.

With it, Skye looked to the others, and with a silent, affirming nod, took point once more. They needed to get out of here, and with the Scot raising her rifle, she was back on the lead once again, knowing now this time, they were definitely going to raise some hell.

The bodies in the the observatory room with the telescope were still there, as the sound of footsteps could be heard from the door they came in from.

“Hang on, hold. Alarm hasn’t gone yet. Frigga, this one is yours. I’ll let you have some fun, Chaos, stay low with me. QRF will come through in a second…..oh boy.” Skye called, knowing that on this little occasion, Skye knew that an armored giant was good- but springing an ambush with one that could turn somewhat invisible, well, she needed her fill of entertainment, as she moved into cover behind a workbench. This was Frigga’s paradise- a giant fucking telescope, physics labs and books, and yet all in all, someone who knew more than those was about to do some damage.

__________

Frigga finished reeling her hammer back to her hand, catching it with a resounding clang, and swinging it up and back onto her shoulder, turning to the techs, eyeing them all carefully, “You heard the others. Three minutes, yes?” All the techs looking from Queen to Chaos and then UP at Frigga, and nodding almost as one, “Good. Very good.” She rounded back on Queen, then her head snapping up as the sound of approaching footsteps once again made someone's presence known. With a sigh the big woman nodded, and crouched down, almost reading minds. She got behind a bank of consoles, let out a slow breath. It took a moment or two, and anyone watching gets to watch as first her chest, then her arms, then her legs and ending with her head just vanishes under this interesting glassy, almost oily texture. Her armor's stealth field capabilities ticking on. And soon, maybe 50 seconds, the only thing saying Frigga is there, is her shadow, hidden by the consoles. Her voice soft over comms, “If anyone survives my charge, take them out please my angels? Yes?”

And waited…

And waited….

The door opened.

And Frigga lamented the fact she had to break so many computers and maybe lose a great deal of data on who knows what kind of experiments and what information is lost to her sudden near invisible charge.

But if you’ve ever seen Ghostbusters Two, the courtroom scene, with the court chairs flying as the invisible ghosts stalked the judge.

At this moment as computers go flying to the side, chairs whir off, the techs running for cover closest to the door they need to get out in a few moments, it’s a sight to see as an invisible train barrels up, catches three of the guards in her unseen grasp and carries them back through the door, leaving another three for Chaos and Queen to take care of. The sound of violence…so much violence can be heard outside the door, the sight of a body flying by the door a moment later, and the sound of a discharge of the AEW, followed by a rounding crunch as the Starbreaker hits something.

Oh the humanity.

__________

Samantha stood by at the ready as she focused her attention on the two technicians as Skye gave some last minute instructions. Skye started to take the lead and turned to give it to Frigga. They heard footsteps approaching again. She snickered softly as she faded out of view behind a bank of computer consoles off to one side of the room. She always loved watching Freya fade from view as her stealth suite kicked in. Knowing that whoever those footsteps belonged too would regret meeting the battle goddess. Sam didn’t have any more time to reflect as it was go time. She pulled a knife since it was close quarters. She very quickly put the knife through the throat of the first soldier headed towards her. He was wearing a Kevlar vest which didn’t do anything for the throat or head. Not to mention Kevlar will stop a bullet but not a blade. She whirled and knocked the second guard down with a roundhouse kick. She whipped around and caught the last guard with a fist to the head. The guard she had kicked stayed down. The second guard managed to partially block her fist. He jabbed at her and caught her in the ribs. She was pleased to note that her armor stood up to the abuse much better than her last set. She caught him in the throat with her knife. After taking the three that came at her, she looked to check on her teammates. Did anyone need any help? No… well time to clean off her knife then. She put her clean knife back in it’s sheath and pulled her carbine around to the front ready to follow Skye and Freya as they began their exit run.

__________

Skye put a couple of rounds into one of the men right behind Frigga’s rampage, in absolute delight, yet sort of a cosmic horror at the sight in front as Frigga went from invisible to invisible train in an instant, the rounds clattering as Skye put one into torso and one into head if the man she’d gone around, her point-shooting remarkable for the long-barreled rifle and the relative setup it had today. It was good enough to make it work, she mused, as she watched Sam get in close, slicing away, Skye clattering one last man that peeked the door, spraying rounds at Freya, to absolutely comic effect as Skye just put three rounds into his chest, the armour stopping the rounds yet dazing him- as the Scot then lept and with a subtle kick, smacked him into the ground, putting a round into the head if the blunt trauma of her exo hadn’t done it already. Kicking him aside, Skye could only nod, with a certain look on her face that didn’t say she was delighted, but beneath that stoic look, she was very, very impressed. If not a little embarrassed to admit that was cool as hell. Poor bastards were never going to stand a chance.

“Not bad at all, you two. We’ll call it a nine and a half out of ten. Let’s go.” Skye slyly commented, knowing that this wasn’t going to be it, considering how much more they had to trudge through. There was a lot more out there, and as Skye opened the door, the alarm came on, right on time, right on signal. It blared loud, and well, the sound of more boots, more men and women that were on the wrong side of Skye Rosalind Lyons’s and Co’s wrath were about to find out what happened when you fucked about.

“Well, here we go. Frigga, when we get to that door, it’s your time again, Chaos, pick up the flanks and secure the route down to the Hagglunds. I’ll lay down some suppressing fire and blast whatever we get with the M32, and will call in our fire support. Reckon it’s about high time to stop the pish, eh?” Skye called, as she yanked out the magazine from the MCX, sliding in a regular, armor-piercing mag, helpful considering their Kevlar and the fact that she’d had to double tap a lot more than usual. Out there would be an absolute carnival- they’d be heading onto the courtyard, and Frigga was going to step into the very fire first, the large giantess blocking any of the lights in front as Skye kept on. Skye had no intention of leaving, as instead of the MCX, she slid the M32 she’d brought along, shouldering the grenade launcher and with an arm on Freya’s back, readied at the door, the double doors just beckoning for the sound of music.

__________

She followed behind Frigga a step behind Skye. There was not enough room in this corridor for them to walk side by side. She did stay on the other side of the corridor so she could shoot around Skye. She turned and began firing behind them as guards seemed to be coming from passageways that had branched off the main corridor. Samantha had her gun set to semiautomatic so she wouldn’t burn through all her ammo too fast. Her gun clicked empty. She quickly traded out the magazine slapping it home. She began firing again and was walking backwards behind her teammates.

__________

Frigga stepped back into view and let the last of her poor victims fall to the floor, his chest plate with a large burn on the front from the AEW discharge, “These all are taken care of, I don’t think I killed them.” She looks over at the guard who clearly has a broken back from the glancing blow from Starbreaker, “I hope.” She shrugs though. And turns to take the lead, making for the door ahead, the retracting claw on Starbreaker detaching as Frigga hangs the warhammer on her back. Great strides taking her down the hall, one of the axes in her off hand, the AEW held in the other. Sweeping the forward angles as they go. Unfortunately, she is not the High King of Skyrim so she doesn’t have to be nice to the one poor, mostly oblivious guard who steps into the hall from what might have been the washroom. He gets the tip of the AEW to the throat, his gagging cough cut even shorter when Frigga smacks him with the blunt pommel of the hand axe across the side of the head.

“They have the worst luck sometimes.” She mutters into the comms as she stops at the door. Sliding the AEW home and the handaxe into it’s place at her left hip. She checks it and looks about to just plain brute force it, hand over fist.

She then stops and shakes her head, if her hair had been loose her red hair had whipped from the force, “What am I thinking right?” Out again comes Starbreaker. She hefts it in both hands, takes a step away from the wall, tests the swing, heaves back, takes a step in again and swings.

BANG!

Now if this were a Video game they’d have a moment of slow motion to get in there and do a little damage.

But as it is, the adrenaline spike as the doors come off their hinges and frames is just about there.

And the Battle Goddess follows the doors out. The follow up of Starbreaker catching…holy shit was that an Exo Suit?

Yes it was indeed. The suit crumpled from the blow. And then it all begins.

__________

With a massive smash, the doors didn’t so much as blow open as blast open, flying into the abyss like a cartoonish ragdoll as with the swing it just so much as fucking yeeted into the atmosphere. The exo, similar to Skye’s was turned to pulp, as Skye yelled out, the dark night sky now replaced with full floodlighting and the glow of the alarm, as rounds started flying and primarily towards the large Norsewoman. Skye kept right behind and booted 40mm grenades over their cover and started blasting apart their position, giving prime time advantage for the larger woman to take advantage, as Skye knew their time was limited now, but they’d be blowing up anything in their way, breaking off and giving space as Freya started receiving the mother of all attention. Giantesses really did, and Freya was no exception, except this time instead of lustful viewers, they were a bit more angry than that.
__________

Samantha followed in Frigga’s wake. She dispatched any guards that might be still alive and trying to target the giant after she passed. She had her rifle snugged up to her shoulder and was sighting down it as she quickly followed as they began to fight their way out of the observatory. The blaring alarm was an assault on her ears. She used the settings in her HUD to dampen the noise from the input. That was better. As they made their way into the main part of the observatory. She blinked as Freya used her hammer to help open the door to the outside. There was a concussive wave that flowed past Sam from the impact of Freya’s hammer on the door. She actually swayed a little from it. She had never been this close to Freya before when she was in battle. She was usually hacking something away from the main battle. It was impressive damage.

There was a lull in fire as no more guards appeared to be trying to attack them from the rear. Either they were routing their attack elsewhere, or they were being more cautious about approaching from this direction. She followed Skye outside through the now open doorway. She slid behind a pillar on one side and began to shoot guards that had gone out the back of the observatory and were trying up come up from the rear of the building. She crouched low and peered around the side of the building. She fired double tapping three guards before ducking back around the edge of her cover.
__________

Pushing on, Skye skidded into cover behind a meaty looking pillar, reloading the M32 as another set of guards came dashing from another corridor to the side of the courtyard, Skye unable to finish her reload and instead, switching to her MCX. As she did so, she managed to get two of them, one of the others turning and spraying fire in Skye’s direction as she leapt forward, realizing at that point the exoskeleton he was wearing too. Without noticing, he had the advantage, pushing her back and skidding her along the floor, but not before she could switch to her M32 again, one round loaded in the revolver chamber and pulled tight, blasted at him. The man basically turned to a goop when the grenade hit, as Skye coughed, bouncing back and slinging the rifle back into hand, the symphony of shit hitting the fan going all to the wire. There were mercs everywhere, well armed and armored ones too, and equipped with rifles and guns that Skye did not like the look of. They had night vision, and would certainly know how to manage a response given they thought they were fighting an army, not just three people….and oh, their fire support.

“Hawk on station now, Queen. Call for fire.” Vincent called out, Skye smirking and aware that now they could respond.

“Affirmative, I need one Buzzard dropped down by the Hagglund, marker ping sent, and rounds onto the courtyard, send it danger close!” Skye called into comms, glad to hear Hawk’s voice at long last, the soothing tones of his Senegalese French accent like melting butter on a radiator. With it, Skye sent the ping to where the ATV was from earlier, and also traced up the far end of the courtyard with her HUD’s advanced targeting, using a camera on Frigga as part of her smart glasses setup to lace it quicker than she could even point, which would do the trick. And on that mark, Hawk replied in turn, the 20mm cannon blasting into life on the VTOL, linked to Skye’s call for fire, and he had the ability to prepare that very treat Skye had on offer. Clambering to the back, he pulled the matt-black, electric motocross bike level and set up the device on the front wheel, yanking it and suddenly, sending it out of the back door that was left wide open. It’d have a crash mat similar to the device that Skye had landed on in Singapore to cushion it- and once it hit, would be GPS guided to the location Skye needed it for.

On the ground however, Skye had more pressing issues.

“Frigga, once the rounds hit, disengage and get down the stairs, I’ve got your back! Move, move! Chaos, keep the front going, they’ll be moving from the caverns, do not let them get any vehicles moving and prep the ATV!” Skye’s voice was at a shrill, as she exhaled hard, moving up to the balcony and keeping in cover as the sound of what could only be a distant set of helicopters could be getting closer, and closer, and more and more troops were going. Skye raised her head over the parapet and laid down suppressing fire, clipping another two soldiers, before reloading her magazine, back in cover and aware Freya was taking the lion’s share of things. That cannon would help buy some time, but Freya would have bits to clear, and Sam would have a hell of a lot of resistance doing her job, as she reloaded her weapons in the safety of cover.

__________

Frigga continued the onslaught, there was far too much to worry about now. As the armed adversaries ahead of them now had targets. She stepped forward again, and like a Canadian Lumberjack brought Starbreaker back around and slightly underhand, and golf punted another exo square in the chest, sending the wearer and suit flipping back and landing in a heap. The giant let the hammer spin her a full 360 degrees, which was probably what caused the surprise. When her hammer stops. Yes it actually stops. The head held in two huge armored hands. She blinked, and it’s like time stops briefly.

Somehow the detail here, has another Heavy!

The grey, green and yellow armored giant holding Starbreaker’s head grunts and shifts it so Frigga has to take a step in.

Into the electrically charged fists of the enemy Heavy, who lands a one two strike across Frigga’s helmet. The hiss and clatter of the charge on Frigga and her armor makes her take a step back, “What the fuck who…”

And a voice the trio may remember growls, “You cost me a good job back there woman!” The voice of one Geza Ingwe growls from within the opposing armor.

Chaos and Queen’s own giant shakes her head to clear it, and rumbles into the comms, “Girls, move around me. I hate to do this but…”

And it’s a clash of titans. As Geza and Frigga engage. It’s as much weapons fire, as great swings of a hammer, and lashes of a truly huge iklwa spear, and great heaving blows of fists. Frigga ducking a wide slash of that spear and bashing the pommel of her hammer up under Geza’s helmet, rocking him back. A great shotgun blast catches Frigga on the chest.

__________

Skye’s confidence in Freya, even in the heat did take a more dour look given the other giant- and unexpected detail here- to turn up, as Skye realized there was no running. The 20mm was focussing on other targets, and right now, Skye knew that she couldn’t just run and help Sam down the stairs, when she was halfway on them. Freya was one on one given the 20mm had cleaned the rest of Ingwe’s entourage, and here and now, she had to do something. Something, anything….bingo.
“Frigga, on my mark!”

M32 readied and loaded, Skye didn’t spring from cover but lept, using the jump jet to leap around the side, rolling tactically and yelling. It was like for a moment, fear had left her completely- a sense of complete lack of self preservation and knowing that there was a good chance that without taking a big gamble in her ability, she’d be very, very dead in an incredibly brutal way.

“Oi, fuckface, over here!” Skye yelled, blasting the MGL at him from the flank, knowing it would be like nothing to him but it would concuss him a little- she could see his Trophy System snatch a couple, but the other four, they were direct hits, and well, straight to the top of him. Nothing to kill him, but a daze, because his armour looked as good as Freya’s, if not better in ways. Geza’s armour was tremendous, a suit of green, gold and grey, a custom suit for a bespokely tall individual that proved an equal to Freya with its significant layering, and well, was on the wrong side right now of explosive grenade launcher rounds. The man wearing it would turn quick, but not before Skye could dash once again with the combined force of the exoskeleton’s hybrid pneumatic-hydraulic system and jump jet, leaping backwards at full chat, sending her off the edge and out of sight, and before he could unleash hell onto her- the look even beyond his armor saying he was pissed he couldn’t fire one off at her.

“Shit!” Skye called to herself, knowing she was off the parapet, rolling behind and into the abyss.

__________

Frigga bent at the knees, from the shotgun blast. Lowering herself under the rain of MGL rounds. She heard Geza gasp then grunt in pain. The patter of his trophy system catching some of them but not enough. As Frigga is coiling back up, he can see the smoke billowing up from his back and shoulders. His dazed stance. She growled, “Sorry about this Geza. But I can’t let you stop us!” She tucked the AEW up and fired, not the bolt mode or the Anti Armor mode, but the gods amazing lightning bolt mod.

A squeeze and then the thundering BOOM! Of an electrical discharge so powerful that it’s natural cousins are hotter then the sun! And Geza screams!

Once.

Twice.

Thrice!

And then tips overs. His entire armor was smoking, sparking, and a large section of his abdomen plate sloughing off and onto the ground, bright red hot at the edges. Frigga pants and rubs at her neck, “I think I pulled something.” And then she’s lumbering off. Leaving the prone form of the other Heavy.

__________

Samantha could hear the gunfire hitting the edge of the building around her. She didn’t have all day to fuck around. She needed to get to the alcove and secure Frigga’s suit and their exit vehicles. She rose to her feet and pulled a grenade out of a pocket on her suit. She pushed a button to arm it and then leaned around the edge of the building and threw it as far as she could. She then made a concerted dash towards the steps moving down to where she had found their motor pool. Sam knew she had to trust her team to do their jobs. She needed to prevent vehicles from leaving and sabotage the others. The observatory had seemed to roar to life with guards and bullets as the chaos of battle seemed to separate the team a little. Chaos had to focus on her task. She knew what her job was. She had heard Skye over comms giving orders. “Roger that Queen.” She didn’t wait for Hawk otherwise their position would be overrun. She made a dash for it. She had to trust her new armor some time. She ran an erratic pattern and aimed for cover where she could find it. She used parkour moves as she flipped over the side of the stair railing. She fired at guards on her way by. She didn’t stop moving. Her only goal was to incapacitate them long enough to get by them. Samantha heard explosions and gunfire behind her but was hyper focused on what she needed to accomplish.

__________

Skye used the last bit of the boiling jump jet thruster on the exo to shunt her onto another ledge, the exo’s whine and the jump-jet’s strain evident as she switched to her rifle seamlessly, clipping a few more guards with the optic of the rifle. She was seeing Sam under pressure, blowing up and taking on enemies.

“Chaos, on your three, got covering fire, move! Keep moving, we stop and we’re iced!” Skye yelled supportingly, putting rounds accurately down range as she stayed in cover, the 20mm rounds from the sky clearing up another patch of guards on a railing and blasting apart a bit of the observatory, the explosions making night vision goggles. Leaping a balcony, her exo seemed to be a little healthier again as she lept up, leaping over a few shipping containers and clattering rounds into another couple of troops near a checkpoint post, the sound of a loud “THUNK” echoing as the sound of the bike hit into the snowy ground ahead into a rapidly inflated crash mat. Skye held back knowing that Freya still had to come down, and it was nail biting stuff right here, right now, given they were in a full firefight. Another strafe of 20mm rounds blasted a balcony, and Skye relocated, heart pounding, fully warm now in this state of affairs, Skye exhaling hard and feeling the burn as she reloaded, peeking cover and checking on both Sam and Freya’s HUDs.

__________

Frigga finally managed to catch up, limping a little, one of her leg plates grinding and catching on another, “Not often a Heavy is honestly put to the test. If it hadn’t hurt so much I would almost be exhilarated.” She pipes as she lumbers by Queen, “Come on my dear. We need to go.” She humps down the stairs. And crashes shoulder first into the wall at the bottom, “Queen if you would be so kind as to move.” As the giant turns and aims the Sun's Core up the stairs. “I’m not going to let them follow us down.”

Frigga waits only as long as Queen takes to slip by, before the plasma thrower whirrs and sprays super heated matter up the stairs. An Exo suit wearing soldier, getting absolutely covered as he tries to catch up. The layer of blazing hot matter slows pursuit.

Frigga stepped into the room and looked around for her suit, “I hope no one, ah haha good!” She makes her way over to the now semi deflated balloon rig, “Oh dear, you’re going to take far too long to reinflate.”

__________

Samantha heard Skye over the comms which broke through her focus. “Already moving towards the motor pool boss.” She almost missed a guard at the bottom of the stairwell. He managed to fire a pistol at her. She caught a round in the chest. It stole her breath for a moment and she stumbled. Her new suit worked the way she anticipated though. She might have some bruising later but she was not incapacitated this time. She grinned and shot the guard in the head. “Not today asshole!” She then continued her run towards the motor pool. She was seeing guards beginning to make their way into the area from the opposite stairwell. She had to stop and switch magazines. She pulled out some of the knock out grenades. She knew her comrades had sealed suits and began to throw the gas grenades to blanket the area around the motor pool. She saw guards start to fall. She ran as fast as she could towards the other set stairs on the other side of the alcoves. She began to lob the gas grenades up the stairwell. She needed just a little bit of time. Once she was pretty sure she had blanketed the area, she ran towards the motor pool. She saw Frigga at the ATV. “Frigga get in the ATV.” She began to run around the motor pool sabotaging as many vehicles as she could by slashing tires. It was effective and fast. She was running by a tarp that covered something in the corner.

She pulled it off and grinned. “Queen I found your ride!” Sam called out over coms. She did her best to sabotage as many vehicles as possible. She then ran for the ATV. She had already broken into it earlier and prepped it thinking this might be necessary. She released the lines that had tethered Frigga’s suit. “Toss it in girlfriend!” She then climbed into the ATV’s cab and took the driver’s seat.
__________

With a nod to Skye by Freya, the Scot got back up, Frigga in a hell of a state considering the fight she’d been in, like watching two lions go at it on the Savannah, or Polar Bears, more fittingly, considering the cold windswept place they were in right now. Probably weighed about as much too, and well, she’d rather take on a cuddly white thing than Freya right now, all things considered. She’d torched the stairs and the screams of the soldier that got caught in it, the near wall of flame and super hot fire making it easy as Skye moved on her command, rifle raised and putting rounds down range, aware Freya was the main target today, but not that she would care- Skye had the opportunity to take on two more on the near side of the cavern. Exhaling, Skye reloaded the mag, watching Sam clean the inside out, Skye’s cold demeanor just making sure that Sam’s net was fully closed and that nobody was going to leave, nobody was going in. It was working a treat, and making a mincemeat of this.

“Aye, both of yous, head for yours. I’ll get moving on my own steam. Oracle, this is Queen, we’re in pursuit of the satellite, we’re downing it and moving onto it. Situation is heavy, out!” Skye yelled, her shrill voice booming on the comms, left wide open now for the team to hear.

“Affirmative, you have significant Artemis presence, I’ve got a stack of radar signatures and significant thermals, enemy presence will know you’re there and moving. Presence is minimal in the expected crash site….are you sure about this?”

“Good, then we’ll fucking go through all of the fuckers! Queen out, Oracle, leave me to it unless it’s critical! Hawk, hit the ground targets ahead of us, danger close and fire on anything that isn’t going as fast as we are!”

“Oui, more rounds inbound!” Vincent called back, his tone raised and even though he wasn’t there, Skye’s tone was infectious.

With it, Skye saw another two move out of a cabin and she dived onto the floor, spraying rounds from around cover before leaping up and running for the bike, using a shipping container for cover to drag it away from the 360 degree firefight, and bringing it to bear. Now this, this was a toy and a half, as she put her NVGs back down again, as makeshift goggles, and yanked it out of the mat.

“Right, Condor, let’s get us a shooting star.” Skye yelled, her voice now at a crack, despite being a foot and a half shorter than Freya, making her sound like she was eight foot tall too! Skye pushed and shouldering the rifle over back with the MGL on her side and the stock pushed all the way in, then pulled her pistol out and placed it on the dash of the bike, attaching it to a mounting point and with it, pushing the motorbike out of the mat. This was going to get fast. She’d done this once, only once, but never in anger.

The mountain was steep, and virtually an impassible place- with snow, it was perhaps less bad, but the sinewing, windy road that was up it was not the route they were going to take. Oh no, they would go direct. The other three faces of the mountain were sheer, if not over-sheer with overhang, so this was about 40 to 60 degrees of steepness, and well, relentless hairpin bends, with giant slopes between. Speed was their friend, and if anyone could do it, it would be the three amigos. Out of the base, the 20mm fire raked the ground and clattered another set of troops as fire from the sky rained, the helicopters getting closer, and closer, and closer.

__________

Frigga caught the suit as it drifted towards the ground, and with a sigh at treating it so badly she packed it into the ATV’s trunk area. Growling knowing the amount of rips and broken lines. Her mothers going to kill her later for being so rude to one of these rigs. Frigga is stuffing it in there when a rattle and she catches a full burst from a five person squad that are firing from above through a sky light. She spins and fires the AEW, forgetting it’s still in Lightning Bolt mode. As another man made bolt flares up. Sending the enemy running and leaping for cover, they’d seen what that did to their heavy and don’t want to get hit directly.

Frigga finishes with the suit then with some grunts and having to physically manhandle her own bulk up onto the vehicle. She looks around then up and wiggles her way around, grinning, “Oh well hello, this is very interesting.” She sticks her upper half almost all the way up out of the roof hatch and works to get one of the guns into place, “Yes I like this. I don’t suppose we can keep this can we?” She calls over comms playfully.

__________

Samantha was grateful she spoke so many languages. She could read the words on the dash and controls. She got the ATV in gear and hit the gas. It lurched forward and began to pick up speed. Samantha chuckled at Freya. “I say we need to build one big enough for you and Boomer to operate. That could be some fun right there.” She shifted the large vehicle and it once more picked up speed. She could hear pings of bullets as they hit the armor of the vehicle. She laughed as she let gravity help the vehicle gain speed. They quickly pulled away from the guards trying to chase them on foot. She didn’t know if she left any vehicles operable behind her. She had to concentrate to keep the big vehicle on the road. She called Hawk over the comms “How are we looking Hawk? Anything chasing us?” She had no sooner asked as auto turrets popped out along the road hidden in what had looked like rock formations. “Shit” Sam cursed as she began to drive faster. She managed to drive fast enough that they popped up as the vehicle passed. They were spinning around to fire into the rear of the vehicle. The first one got a heavy caliber hit on the rear of the ATV and caused it to slide a little. She began to use the rear compartment of the ATV as a pendulum and swung it over the auto turrets to take them out as they passed.

__________

The mountain was lit up with fires, explosions and the base station at the bottom getting a few rounds pelted at it too, as well as the sight of rounds flying from the sky, Skye roaring across the steep slope and past a pylon of the cable car spraying snow, stone and gravel everywhere.

“Shit, choppers are trying to lock, you need to take the helis out, fast! I have eyes on a buggy 200m down the mountain from you, looks like they are preparing to head after you both!” Vincent called, the sight of flares suddenly illuminating the night sky, and ominously, the sight of three Agusta Westland Wildcat helicopters, armed with miniguns, missile systems for anti-air, and well, gunners on the side. It was going to get rather spicy, and whilst Vincent’s 20mm would put them off, they needed to be stopped from the ground, fast, or their air support, and they themselves were toast.

Skye kept on the throttle as she flew the silent yet snow-flinging electric bike on mush, skidding down an embankment and seeing a guard post ahead, drifting the bike to a halt and using the M32 at her side to blast it apart, before letting it swing on safe and then riding around the wrecked post, catching air and whipping the bike onto another icy patch, barely in control and skidding.

With it, she tried one party trick to turn, using the jump jet on her exo to physically send her and the bike over a rocky section and sending the bike high as the suspension brayed and barely held on by Skye’s reinforced limbs after the very large send, as she saw one of the choppers turn and bank heavy, this time picking her.

“Fuck, I’m feeling a bit rabbity right now, little help?” Skye yelled, seeing one Wildcat try and aim its AA missiles at Vincent, who was trying to adjust his arc from the VTOL’s fire support position, the orange flares it produced still emanating the dark sky with a golden white-yellow air, and the last one trying to make a beeline for the ATV. Skye skidded the bike and dodged a strafe, as the helicopter bounced past, Skye knowing they were nearly half down, but they had half to go, and a base station to race past still, snow thinning and turning to gravel and stone bit by bit, the chopper rolling back.

__________

Frigga held onto one of the hand holds as the ATV rumbled to a start and away they went down the mountain side. She pumped a few shots back behind them, to keep the enemy back there on their toes. But as they are pulling away she doesn’t waste those big rounds all that much. Turning the turret back around just in time to duck as the auto turrets pop free and fire down on them. She growls, “Oh you pieces of!” She levered herself back up and fired with her AEW, taking out quite a few of them with well placed lightning bolts. “We got out of there alive. I'm not letting a bunch of automated toys stop us.”

A brief lull, very brief, and she sees the Wildcats approaching, “You have got to be kidding me…Chaos, don’t slow down!”

And spins the turret about, fisting the .50 in one hand, and firing rounds up at them from below. And adding lances of bright blue-white bolts of lightning as well. Cutting up at the helicopters in the air. Shattering their formation with the first few bolts. The rounds from the turret gun hammering into the heli’s relentlessly. Sending a few of them whirling towards the rocks below as their rotors slow.

With a moment to spare she sees the choppers trying to make a run for Queen, “hold on there my dear!” She calls turning and aiming, lancing a bolt from her AEW down, and coring the air vehicle right through the cockpit, woe to the pilot and co-pilot. She watches as the heli rams into the mountain side and rolls clear of the ATVs path long before she and Chaos reach the spot, “If it weren’t so heavy, I’d almost be excited about what’s happening. How long until that satellite comes down?”

__________

Samantha selected an option on her HUD. Her AI had managed to infiltrate the systems control on the ATV. She had the AI target the incoming Helicopters. She wasn’t sure the guns would have the range or angle for them but she targeted them anyway. She let the AI do the targeting as she focused on driving. Sam had named her new AI Bob. “Bob target helicopters and fire rear 50MM cannons.” Her AI accepted the voice command and only she heard its reply “Affirmative.” She saw what had Frigga concerned. She didn’t know how much more speed she could get out of the armored behemoth she was driving. She floored the accelerator and the last bit of speed she could coax out of the vehicle had them plummeting down the mountain’s almost 65 degree side. Sam checked the timer she had set for the satellite capsule. “It has been launched. That is why we are seeing so much resistance. The alert must have gone out. It should be visible in the sky.” Not that she had time to look for it. She squealed as she turned the large vehicle as a huge boulder appeared and the path curved to the left.

__________

One helicopter down, but a buggy joined that chase, with the vehicle leaping over a wreck, the scene straight out of Mad Max right now, with the grenade-launcher equipped buggy bringing way more heat that wasn’t even needed, and skidding out and onto the icy and slush road, joining in the absolute rampage that was going on here. The sound of the chopper slamming into snow and ice rattled the mountain it felt like, and the fire itself turned the night into almost daylight.

“Woo, nicely done!” Skye yelled, hitting another bank, slowed and behind the crew given the diversion she’d had to take to dodge a helicopter.

It was a dark sky park, being made a bright star on earth, paired to the explosion that would soon happen with the observatory, then well, shit was getting real.

“You have a contact on your rear, focus on the helis, I’ll sort your tail!” Skye yelled, knowing now was about a good time to get a tit-for-tat- the helis had slowed her down due to her sub-optimal, icy and perilous steep route, so instead, she was behind the ATV now, rather than in front.

Well, Skye wasn’t having any of it, as she saw it join the switchback road, and with it, Skye kept on her course, knowing it was a collision inevitable. The buggy lept down faster than the truck went as it skipped a shallow meander, but Skye, somehow, went even faster now. Pulling a slight angle, she aimed at one of the hairpin bends and sent the bike over, and letting go, pushed the bike down while pulling the pistol to ready, using it as a platform mid air to leap, and using the jump jet, sending it past another hairpin to catch the buggy. It would take everything she had right now, and the absolute adrenaline, hardwired, pumping feeling was right in her. This would work, it just had to. And with every setting on overcharge, the jump jet recoiled a significant boost right before she went through the floor of the back of the assault buggy where she aimed herself towards, instead pulping the man in the back into two as she raised her pistol and clattered the two mercs inside, leaping down and inside the thing, kicking out the driver. Not barely a heartbeat had passed.

“Favour returned, now let’s keep going! Sam, blow the observatory, we’re clear of the radius once that thing goes up! We can cause some real chaos as we’re running past the base station, then we’ll have time for the satellite!” Skye called, taking command of the buggy, and realizing well, Sam would have a good opportunity now to do it. Fire was still raining down on the encampments around them, and well, nothing was short of noisy, loud, hair-rising fire. She knew this would be a hell of a call, and when that went, daylight would evaporate. Let alone when that unit hit from space…

Looking up, Skye held her breath, aware that what was about to happen next was going to be nothing short of absurd. If this whole five minutes hadn’t been already. It was continuous, Michael Bay, extravagant, over the top, explosions, mayhem and insanity.

__________

Samantha was hard pressed to keep track of everything that was going on. She was gifted but this mission was feeling like a scene out of an action movie. She chuckled at that even as her inner adrenaline junkie was thriving and rocking to the beat. She laughed as she called out to Freya “Are we having fun yet?” She giggled as she gave Bob a new instruction as Skye gave her the command to blow the observatory. “Bob trigger the self-destruct for the observatory.” Bob acknowledged the order. Above them a series of massive explosions lit up the night sky until it looked like daylight. Flames and debris erupted from the top of the mountain into the night air. Chaos swallowed as she realized what she had forgotten to take in account when blowing the observatory. “Heads Up! We triggered an avalanche!” Debris was rolling down the mountainside in a wave of dirt, rock, and snow. Samantha focused on taking tight curves. She gained as much speed as she could as she saw the rock and snow avalanche that was now racing down the hill towards them.
__________

The Giantess turned back to continue peppering the choppers in the sky. She could almost hear the alerts for engine troubles and rotor alarms going off as more than a few of them began to have visible trouble staying in the air. Frigga growled, switching to the AEW for a moment firing one handed, switching to the more concentrated more accurate Anti Armor mode, beams of energy lancing up, rather then ragged bolts of lightning. Fires a bit quicker too, rather than the click charge of the lightning mode. One hand trying to drive off the helicopters while she reloads the gun she’s on with the other, tossing an empty canister into the vehicle, and manhandling a new canister up into place, “Auto loading turrets! If we get one of these for ourselves. I demand turrets that are auto loading! I want to shoot things, not reload guns!” She ducked as one of the helis took that moment to swing in and strafe the vehicle. Her body panging off the brace behind her as a few of those minigun rounds peppered her, “Ah you sonuva!” A lance from the AEW sheers off the tail rotor of the offending chopper, sending it spinning into the abyss below.

Frigga chanced a look up into the sky. Her eyes went wide, “hellige ku! Look at that! It’s like being witness to the comet that obliterated the dinosaurs!” Above she can see a hurtling ball of fire. And it’s growing larger by the moment, distantly the sound of something large and burning can be heard.

Frigga wrenches the turret back into action, aiming and driving off more air vehicles, “Get off our asses already!” She shouts bringing down yet another. A large hand grabs the side of the ATV as the snow and rock from above approaches almost as fast as the great burning ball from above as well, “I’m loving this already!” Watching more than a few of the choppers getting clipped and driven down by the force of the rock and snow of the avalanche.

__________

“Fuck me! My ears are gonna take weeks to recover!” Skye called, and the echo boomed, the snow and air itself shaking with the explosion of the observatory, turning the sky orange…..and illuminating just how bright the giant white speck of light was of the satellite coming in, Skye exhaling as she yanked on her chest, feeling her heart as she hit the next switchback, rolling in front of the heavier tracked Hagglunds ATV, the speed needed considering the massive snow and rockfall now suddenly pounding from the mountain.

“Don’t stop at the base station, full speed, into the treeline track!” Skye yelled, her voice at full pelt as the buggy caught air on the next switchback, sending it over a checkpoint with rounds clattering her, the buggy and the sky, the white light in the sky that overrode the huge explosion of the observatory, helicopters left and bullets and gunfire. Skye appreciated the help of Sam and Freya a lot right now- but right now, trying not to die was her priority, the overwhelming pounding of her heart, lungs and brain fizzing like the most insane sugar rush ever. Her organs felt fit to explode, she hurt a lot, and it all felt dazzling. Artemis were not playing around, they had serious troops here and their defense had been tested through and through.

Skye led the charge as she didn’t go for the main bit of the base station base, avoiding the base while catching rounds, using her M32’s last remaining shells to blast grenades willy-nilly into a guard post, hitting a cluster of boulders and leaping the buggy over, the snow and rocks behind catching faster and faster and faster….
“Treeline, treeline!” Skye yelled, handbrake turning on landing with the heavy hit and skidding onto a track adjacent to the lift cables, and hurtling down, now fully in soaked gravel and mud, blasted the buggy on, knowing she was very much the hare in this scenario, even without the bike. Still, that was because the fire was going one way, direct to Freya and Sam who were making the racket of the day…..

The base station was getting wrecked, the gondola, cable line and struts ripped from the ground and part of the mess, being thrown as the Artemis men weren’t sure whether to shoot, or to run, or both.

__________

Samantha could feel the rumbling of the mountainside as she focused on getting them to the bottom and away from the trailing edge of the avalanche that was gaining on them. The fact that she could feel the shaking in such a heavy vehicle meant it was a massive avalanche. She was glad that she was inside an armored vehicle. Sam and Freya would be okay if they were caught in the avalanche. She was doing her best to make it to the tree line. The avalanche’s force would break up as it hit the trees. The trees would slow it down and reduce the impact and force of the avalanche dispersing that energy over a larger area. Sam focused on driving while she trusted Freya to handle the heavy hitting. She told Bob, “Bob Identify friendlies and take out hostile targets of opportunity.” Bob began to provide support fire for Freya.

Samantha saw the road break to the right into the tree line ahead. It was going to be a tight turn. She was going to have to slow down a little to make that turn. She slowed just enough to make it as she called out to Freya “Hang on tight! Tight turn!” The ATV rocked as the track on the left side left the ground as she swung the heavy vehicle to the right suddenly to get it moving into the trees. The vehicle made a loud sound as it regained traction once they straightened out around the curve. The heavy vehicle flew down the tree lined track. She picked up speed once more as the tracks began to tear gouges in the road behind them. She paid attention to the road as they were still moving at a high rate of speed. Sam spoke to the AI once more, “Bob eta to capsule impact?” Bob came back with “3 minutes.” Samantha turned the vehicle as the road had a long curve to the left this time. “Estimated touchdown of the capsule is 3 minutes.” Samantha watched as the force and strength of the avalanche covered the forest behind them. They barely outran the snow and rock as the track behind disappeared behind some trees.
__________

The battle goddess swung her turret around, rounds pattering and growling up at the choppers and only slowing as they entered the thick tree cover. She braced the AEW beside the turret gun, and fired once more, the lance of energy tearing through a tree and coring one more helicopter before the tree became far too thick to easily fire through. She spun the turret back behind them, seeing more bikes and another ATV behind them somehow surviving the avalanche and trying to follow them through the trees, “They don’t give up.”

Even through the tree cover she looked up and watched the ball of fire growing closer and closer, “I would say maybe two to seven more minutes? I’m probably being totally inaccurate with that guess though.” She spat rounds back towards their tails, picking them off one by one.

Finally as the bikes either fall back or are left in smoking heaps. She braces the AEW up again, taking aim, and pegging the cockpit of the ATV, a big smoking red glowing hole left where the driver would have been, “I think that might be it for now? I’m hoping anyway.” She relaxed her grip on the heavy gun and lowered her own weapon, scanning around, “How are we doing my dears? Everyone still alive?”

__________

Skye appreciated the explosions behind her, the snow, rock and ice one force of nature, Freya Kantaario and Sam Dalton, Frigga and Chaos, the other 50% of it that hit probably about as hard, and in each and every way detonating things, the base station getting swept in the end of the combined force of both and much of the Artemis force being suddenly clattered to bits, the momentum being winded out of them faster than that of Raven had. Skye for a moment stopped hearing bullets flying over and around her, and felt her armor over, checking for nothing serious, before exhaling, focusing on the road and feeling the adrenaline almost turn her muscles to wet paper. Soggy, horrid and sinuous, but she had to keep on. The gravel track winded deeper into the forest, and the sound of snow and rock clattered down a deep ravine to the side of the forest trail, the light in the sky getting brighter and brighter by the second too. The comet-like appearance was burning red in the sky now, reentering at a speed that was so fast that it almost seemed impossible to believe.

Screeching the exhausted buggy to a halt, Skye stopped and realized that this was as far as they could go for now. It was as far as SHE could go for now, as Skye leant over and with one foul motion.

Blergh.

With that evening’s snacks out of her with a solid chunder driven purely by the amount of adrenaline in her and her queasiness from what she’d just done, she leaned back, exhaling hard and took a long breath. She reached to her chest and tanked her first aid kit, pulling out a couple of needles and yanking them into her, the shot of “Blue Blood” another Soviet invention Skye could thank- a cocktail of drugs that her predecessor had perfected into an adrenaline-like, energy inducing shot that could right her up again, giving her a little more fight for the foreseeable, enough to get her home at least. With that pull, she could get back on comms, and into response.

“Yeah, not dead! You both not dead?” Skye asked directly, to the team in general.

“I’m not dead either. Thank you for asking, Queen.” Hawk’s voice calmly spoke on the radio, as Skye giggled, barely getting it out of her system.

“Vincent, head to stand off. That thing hits, if you’re in blast radius, it might throw you out of the sky from shockwaves. Then you won’t be, for sure.” Skye muttered, her voice gone, her ears ringing louder.

“Copy that, heading over the ridge.” The reply was simple as Skye cleaned the mess off her face as she crumpled out of the buggy’s open frame, on the floor and aching, feeling the adrenaline mess flow in and out, in and out, the heartbeat inside her skull it felt like.

With it, Skye heard suddenly the loudest crack, and snap, as the trees suddenly rippled, and the shockwave hit, the air physically feeling compressed and tight.

“Team, hold the vehicle, wherever you are. Oh shit….oh lord. It’s fucking coming alright!” Skye uttered, watching as the shooting star that seemed so bright and bright in the sky suddenly went supernova, and like a star colliding, smashed into the forest past the ravine, suddenly turning everything a shade of white.

The trees immediately around it eviscerated, and beyond, were flattened, suddenly turning the sky into a glowing blue-orange of sorts as everything immediately within 250m just caught light, the only mercy of a firebreak allowing the fire to burn incredibly hot, likely to be oscillating out of existence from the sheer cold in the forest floor in due course but still, blazing it up. It was a primal, rainforest-like environment, but right now, it felt like it was ruined completely and totally by that, the sight one to behold and the dirt and dust raining from the sky momentarily blocking any of the light from the other explosions. Dust, dirt and heat filled the air, and the noise was astonishingly loud, to a point where it temporarily deafened and blinded Skye, even in spite of the ear protection she wore, as she ducked in the ditch she’d parked the car in to protect both senses, at least, for the first few seconds.

__________

Samantha brought the heavy vehicle around the bend. She brought the heavy vehicle to a stop. She turned the vehicle off. “Yeah Frigga, I am okay. Not sure how much further this beast we are riding in is going to go though. It took a helluva beating back there.” Samantha looked up as the glow in the sky was closer and brighter. She tracked the capsule which looked like a falling star until it was close then she closed her eyes. She tried to relax her body as the capsule hit the earth. The capsule hit with enough kinetic energy to be compared to a large bomb going off. The concussion wave took out the forest around them. Trees exploded into nothing shattered by the force. She was grateful she was inside the armored vehicle which protected her and Freya from the full force of the blast. Samantha called out after the blast “Is everyone okay? How ya doing boss?” That impact was like a force of nature unleashed. It had to have been hell on Skye being out exposed to it. At least she was in her armor.

__________

Big Lady Frigga pants a little as things slow, she gulps in air, and grumbles pulling a minigun round out of a fold of armor on her neck, “I’m okay too. And this behemoth took us pretty far. It’s all beat up thou…” she just trails off and looks skyward then dives into the vehicle. Getting to a window. And even then being inside the vehicle, barely lessened the truly horrendous concussive force of the landing of the capsule.

Now Frigga and her siblings have caused explosions. They were within a mile of a Rwandan oil op that they caused to go up in flames, and that was big. Frigga was within 500 meters of a bunker buster that cored out a huge terrorist cave enclosure. But this, now this is something else!

The big woman holds on to a hand hold as the force buffets and rattles her insides. Alarms in her suit going off as systems are shaken. And she closes her eyes and can still see the flames through them.

__________

Skye got to her feet as her exo whined unhappily, looking on at the horizon, totally, completely transfixed, her NVGs up and her dirtied face totally in awe. Nothing but sheer awe, the light coming back from the fire as Skye got back to her senses, and cleared her pressure out of her ears from the blast wave, the light and explosion insane. As it wasn’t explosive force, the kinetic energy itself felt like it had shaken the very ground, at least a couple of tons of tungsten hitting like a bullet fired from space- even in spite of all the air braking and other measures.

“Well…..that was a pretty awesome way to end the fireworks show. Are we still breathing now?” Skye asked, hoping that the containment of the tracked and armored ATV had at least shielded them from the sight of it better than Skye’s somewhat shielded overlook.

“I bet that is oven ready in there.” She wryly commented, the heat of the capsule likely to be at least 1000C, and well, it would need a few minutes of them hiking in, and letting it cool before it would be ready.

It was off the road and in the now ruined forest about a kilometer away, so it was foot travel time for them, as she stood at the top of the ravine gap, looking over the stone, snow and rock filled river below, and the primal forest giving way to primal charred black hellscape beyond in the small pocket of the boreal virgin alpine forest, visible from their vista point.

__________

Samantha sighed in relief knowing her teammates were alright. She thought of them as family these days. She hit the start switch on the ATV. “Hey boss our ride has some holes but it will get us to capsule. Do you want to join us?” She looked out over the broken landscape that had been flattened by the capsule. There was still steam coming off it. She had expected it to be glowing. “Hey boss, they probably have liquid nitrogen in the capsule to protect the computer cores from overheating. I think that may be why it is not glowing. I bet it was programmed to release the nitrogen on impact.” Sam began to nudge the ATV into action. The heavy vehicle was armored and could take the heat which was dissipating quickly in this cold climate. The fuel for any fires were obliterated in the impact. She was pretty sure she was right about the capsule. She didn’t think that was smoke. Now that she considered it, it was probably the nitrogen cooling the surface of the capsule. Artemis wouldn’t want to stand around and wait if they had to retrieve a core.
__________

The world stopped shaking, finally. Or is that her just now reaching Valhalla? She’s not really sure. Frigga opens her eyes, and looks around, nope still in the ATV, “Okay, now…as seriously as we can…sound off? Frigga, okay.” She coughed then crawled back and pushed open the back of the ATV. having to crawl over her suit to do so. But out the back door she goes, her feet landing in fresh powder, and ash. Her helmet opens and she scans the area, AEW tucked up at her shoulder, just in case. Slowly turning and gazing out into the crater that the capsule made, “So now we know what happened at Tunguska.” She rattles nervously into her comms. Lost for words in that instance perhaps. She looks out over the destruction, then as calmly as she can climbs back into the ATV, “This will be a helluva debrief.”

Back up out of her turret and looking down into the depression left by the crater, flames flaring, trees burned or ashed, “Take us in, captain.” She calls to Sam, “At your leisure of course.”

__________

Skye spluttered a response, looking over at the ATV further up the track, dented, damaged and bruised, but alive. With the other two that mattered a lot to her, and right now, she was happy survived. The mission had gone off the rails significantly more than expected. Enemy coverage was half this, maybe a third, but they’d just run into ALL of them, apparently. It felt strange, odd even- they weren’t on alert, but they had bulked defenses and what they had in addition was a surprise. Probably just down to bad intel, but hey, the job was a job, and shit went wrong. Never knew with Artemis, after all.

“Smart of them. Like in emergencies they knew what to do. And aye….this is bonkers. Makes sense too, Frigga.” Skye replied to Sam’s comment, agreeing about the nitrogen, hearing them clatter along and come down the road, the vehicle hurting, clearly- the tracks damaged and the holes indicative of how heavy the fighting had been. Skye noted her earlier comment too, but didn’t add too much, working out how to get there. The nearest bridge had been blasted apart, and a ford further along was a much longer diversion, then back up.

“Route around is messy. Luckily, mine isn’t. Go around guys, without me. I’ll head directly over the ravine. Old girl’s got some last remaining juice on the exo. I’ll recover it, just in case we have any last remaining fuckers coming in before you get there.” Skye called, knowing it would put her split and away, but in this instance, it was unlikely that there would be anyone. Recovery would be priority, and it would likely be light resistance left that Skye would need to clean up, patrols in the lower forest, perhaps.

With it, Skye reactivated the exo once more, and with it, clambered down a bit of the ravine, before finding a narrower bit and with a solid charge, lept forwards, carting her forwards and allowing her to grab onto another section, clambering up the wall of the chasm and up onto the other side, away from the rest of the team.
“Moving for secure. Standby.” Skye called, moving through the forest, and through the thick vegetation, the lights going darker again as the burning fires began to quell, and slowly, even the fire below began to char out.

---

Observatorio Cruz del Sur, Torres del Paine, Patagonia, Chile

---

On the other side of the crash site and deep in the other side of the woods, the figure must have looked similar to Skye, in all but the exo she wore. Lynx was rather similar just like that. An exo clearly a little more armored than Skye’s, and a little more advanced too, a mirror in many ways. A matt black color to it all, with a thin red line across its front, the woman was listening in, a full faceplate over her face and concealing her features.

Oh, she was paying attention to it now they were in range on the tapped in communication channel. It had been incredibly difficult, and yet, quite simple.

And courtesy of Raven, it was quite a spectacular show she got to see. It was just incredible.

Explosion, explosion, explosion! Just when one firework wasn’t enough, the grand finale was something else.

And it was the direct delivery of her very favorite thing in the world right now. It was just so, so perfect. Timing had been perfect, and while it was a longer hike than she thought, it was around the right place at least.

She wouldn’t have personally done it any other way. Oh, and of course to meet Skye Rosalind Lyons, in the flesh, as she lived and breathed. Cherry on top. It was like this whole thing was just perfectly choreographed, every piece, every inch.

A bit of collateral and it would all be worth it for what this was worth for Lynx.

Valle Natales, Torres del Paine, Patagonia, Chile

Fireteam Condor

Moving through the burnt forest and in the darkness lit purely by only the remaining fires around, Skye kept her rifle high, the MCX in prime position as the trees began to thin closer and closer to the impact site, the ground suddenly having this black texture from the heat, and the kinetic energy that the core had turned this place into. Trees suddenly started vanishing, roots could be seen bare, and then, there it was. The crater itself. It was a hell of a mark on the landscape, a hole about twelve foot deep by about fifty feet across, scarring and directed rather than a vertical hit given the horizontal velocity. It had torched the forest coming in, which was still ablaze, as Skye saw the core itself down below.

With it, skidding on the dirt, she approached into the base of the crater carefully, the liquid nitrogen steaming off the core and cooling it effectively, as Skye checked the temperature with her NVG's thermal setting, before going in.

She gave hard kick to the side of the capsule at its top and knocked a small cone off, exposing the tungsten and revealing the top of the core, reinforced by another layer. Taking her multitool, she began to unwrenched the reinforced joints, yanking them off with sheer force, aware that the satellite's contents would be more than robust enough to be handled rough. Another sharp pull with the exo and the unit came out altogether, about the size of three house bricks, and was remarkably in one piece. All that destruction for one little unit, blimey, what a night this had been. Skye took her combat pack and stashing it inside, slung it back over, opening her comms again.

"Team, I have the core, secure...wait....standby..."
With almost a sixth sense, Skye raised her rifle to turn, but instead was hit in the back of the head, the knock throwing her onto the floor.

"Skye, Rosalind, Lyons....they gave you a really, really pretty name, didn't they? Don't move an inch. We have time before your two friends arrive to talk, and they may yet live." The voice called, masked, but certainly feminine, as she kept the H&K G36 pointed at Skye and stood over her, the two inside the crater and out of view of the rest of the team. Her cloaking suddenly deactivated, and revealed the 6"2, black and red exoskeleton wearing, visored operative holding a rifle at Skye's head.

"The hell are you talking about? And who the fuck are you?" The Scot's reply was curt, as she looked on dazed in confusion, the other exo-clad figure keeping her eyes locked on through her visor.

"That's no way to talk to me. See, you and me, we have a lot in common. We don't like Artemis. We don't like the world at the moment. Among other things. I was hoping we'd meet sooner, but you have served me incredibly well, so I didn't think to interfere. You really exceeded expectations, saved me so much work up there. Followed the breadcrumbs perfectly, like I knew you would, because I know you better than anyone. Now here we are." The voice was almost metallic, though it was probably the effect of the sealed visor and helmet that Lynx wore,

"Then if we have something in common, I'm here to help too. And what the hell do you mean? Come on. Who are you? Is being cryptic all you have?" Skye replied, the figure chuckling, shaking her head, Skye feigning how hard the hit had come in, built on her exhaustion. It was a heavy one, but the armour and foam in her helmet had stopped the worst. If she didn't, there was a chance she was as good as dead here. She noted the symbol on her shoulder, that of the Lynx's head, and well, putting two and two together, made that assumption as is.

"A much better version of you. But one with similar experiences, and understands. So do me a favour, sit still, and you'll get some answers and get to help. You might even get to live. For what it's worth, with the bigger picture in mind and the only people who matter to you, I'd advise it." With it, the exo-clad operative yanked out a vial that was in her hand and with it, leant in, and pulling the cover, revealed the needle underneath. She leant in and taking advantage, so she thought, got it ready.

Skye knew there was only one chance to stop this. It could be poison, or worse even. Skye couldn't have that or it was lights out. And what did she mean by that?

She brought her feet in close and kicked the operative hard in the stomach, sending them over as she stood, rifle up, and turning, sent rounds down range, full auto, full desperation, dumping the entire magazine into Lynx.

And yet nothing happened.

"Oh, you really are living up to your reputation, a hot head! Well, I didn't think you'd come easily.....but that just makes it a bit more interesting! Come on then, let's dance a little! I'm taking that core with me, with or without you!" Lynx grinned underneath her visor, the black tint making it invisible as Skye realised what had happened. That wasn't so much a Trophy System or something to snatch rounds out of the air as a portable field generator instead - the bullets held in mid air and then harmlessly deflected out, Skye in absolute shock. A portable forcefield, more or less. Something Skye had heard about in skunk works with a limited ability, but nothing like this. It was attached to Lynx's back, and coupled to the power unit of her suit.

"Shit!" Skye muttered to herself, in utter disbelief. This wasn't good. Oh, this was very, very bad. Something had to be done. And with a twist, Skye lept back, the exo clad rival following as she used her sidearm, rolling and moving out of the crater, skidding behind a stump and firing back at Lynx, in vain, yet knowing it had to overwhelm the system, somehow. With it, Lynx fired back, a couple of rounds clattering off Skye's armour, but Skye managed to roll, using her exo to dash out of the way, before laying down fire herself, forcing Lynx to do the same. She used a mini missile system on her shoulder to lock, then fire on Skye, but not before she used a treeline to duck and weave off fire, hailing more wood and chippings everywhere.

"Team, get onto me, now! We have a contact with an unknown operative, singular, highly advanced tech....they have a fucking forcefield!" Skye yelled into the open comms, knowing the shock that would hit- this operative wasn't like the other exo wearers, hell, even anyone she'd ever seen. It may as well have been an alien that had dropped out of the sky too, but Skye knew there was a person in there. With a sense of fucked up wit, no less.

Of course, Lynx wasn't going down without a fight. When you had an exoskeleton that was next generation, had cloaking, a field generator that basically doubled as a small-scale forcefield, and an exoskeleton that outperformed Skye's, you could do more damage than three members of the team put together. Plenty more power, plenty more tech too.

Skye switched tack, as Lynx fired rounds in the direction of Skye, as she got some back over, the rounds clattering her suit painfully, the armour holding just about as Lynx lept up and over the trees, crashing into Skye.
"Oh, come on, you can't run now! We barely even got started!" Lynx yelled back playfully, with her legs between Skye's body, as Skye wrangled and pulled her down and below, the Scottish redhead running on every cylinder left, yelled back.

"Argh....die, you fucking bitch!" Skye yelled back, and throwing a punch, Skye getting free and not held back, aiming straight for the faceplate and getting a hit, smashing it apart through the side of Lynx's helmet. And what she saw....well, it completely, if not totally, stopped her in her own tracks. The professional, cold, calculated and furious Scot for the only time she ever would, froze in almost dead disbelief, looking at the nose she'd detonated with the punch, and the bloody face it had left.

"Wait, what!?" Skye called, as the operative took advantage of the shock and with it, pulled Skye in close with a headbutt before kicking her away and yeeting Skye into a shattered tree, Skye's gut in agony with how hard she'd been sent. She yelped, standing up again and raising her rifle, Lynx in shock too, now angry, more than witty.

"Oh, you got me good now, Skye! Well, how does looking at you look? First time looking inside of what you are?" Lynx yelled, wiping the blood away, and well, it was all revealed. If she looked similar to Skye in height before, and the bare tone of her vocal cords in a neutral English accent, it was effectively because she WAS, Skye Rosalind Lyons. Or Skye was her. The Scot had no idea. The red hair, the face, the resistance, all of it. De facto, it was Skye's face and look, the same person, in another exo, in another setup. Lynx's nose was shattered, and her face was heavily lacerated, but there was literally no denying it.

It was far, far too much to take in. Was it a twin, a clone, a sister, someone from a parallel dimension, fuck, was something else going on, and what the hell was happening? Also, how the fuck was she this well equipped? An exo like that had to come from a place not even Skye had access to, which was even more harrowing. And worse, oh worse, she had the same tolerance. Like she was tough in her skin and fought relentlessly, unfazed by the fact she'd been hurt pretty seriously with Skye's armoured fist. Because despite the face of blood, she looked like she was just going up another gear. Exactly the same way Skye would fight. And exactly the same resilience.

Skye had no idea. And before she had to think, Lynx laid down fire more accurately this time, spraying rounds as this time into the stump Skye was backed onto, and with the reload, Skye took the initiative to run, and not hold, using her M32 instead to flump rounds backwards, darting between trees remaining and skidding through the muddy and gravelly forest. The explosions held the way for a little while, but not for anywhere near enough, as Skye charged every breath in her lungs.

She'd pissed off Lynx, and worryingly, she was doing exactly, if not precisely what she would do herself. Whoever this was, she was as well trained as Skye was, and trained the same. It was like two equal forces sparring, Lynx with an upper hand due to her tech, but Skye having the upper hand due to sheer bloody will.

"Team, I'm headed to you, I'm being chased....fuck, fuck fuck, she's me, the operative's me! Chaos, find whatever way you can to disable her electronics, exo and that forcefield, anything at all, Frigga, just fucking coat everything in fire and brimstone, get personal and rip her to bits if you have to once that's down! There is way too much shit to say right now, just put everything down onto her! She's got moves, I'll hold her as long as I can, she has way, way better kit than us!" Skye yelled, knowing that in this instance, there was no way she was winning alone. But even when they would arrive, they'd be up against it.

And for the first time ever, the team could hear it. There was always intensity to Skye, a fierce warrior. But right there was the sound of someone who was suddenly in complete, total disarray, in utter disbelief and shock, and unquestionably, a level of fear and horror.

She was terrified, more so than even death.

Frigga was hurting, and Sam was probably at the end of her line too- but they had to keep going. Skye was scared for them both, but they were all dead meat if they didn't win this fight. Even with her armour, if Skye knew what an exo was capable of in talented hands, it would be a match for even the giantess of the team, and Sam, well, Sam couldn't stand a chance in a firefight, not against that. What was even more terrifying is that Lynx didn't even stop though she probably knew they were there to join in the fight.

Lynx saw that as just evening up the odds a little. And for someone outnumbered one to three, did not back down at all. She went even fiercer.

The burnt forest was a hell of a place for a showdown, Skye taking a moment to readjust herself, reload and use the break. Skye herself was slowing, as she skidded behind a tree, seeing Lynx cloak up, albeit visible on infrared. She was moving just as fast, the blur giving her away, but right here, every millisecond would count.

Lynx slammed into the forest floor again, as Skye moved out of cover and yelling, went in direct with her combat knife. Forcefield or not, she could kill her another way, close in, using the blur to find her. But Lynx was just as fast, deflecting, going for a kick as Skye returned the move, throwing back. She was stalling. Not winning. Praying that any second, Sam could do something about that forcefield. And on prompt, get away before Frigga could torch her. Light her on fire or rip her apart with Starbreaker, whatever it would take.

"Fuck right off!" Skye yelled, hurling her into a tree, as Lynx sprayed rounds, forcing Skye to dive, Lynx coming back across and grabbing Skye and throwing another punch, throwing the knife out of Skye's hands, throwing her down onto the floor and getting ready to stomp on her head, as Skye rolled away, Lynx licking her bloodied lips, hearing the sound of the other two coming over.

"And no introduction to your friends? I'd expect better hospitality from a Scot, because they'll be joining you!"

This wasn't a boss fight, no, this was a version of the already supercharged version of the team leader in parallel. It didn't make sense at all, in any way. And as Skye switched to her pistol, she tried to re-establish herself, knowing she couldn't give much more, but she would give everything she had left in her tank.

----------------

Isla Langosta / Lobster Island, Colombia

Fireteam Piranha

Tahlia got busy relocating, as all hell broke loose down below, Boomer blowing up more shit, destroying as many people as she could, and then blowing up even more with the explosives from earlier. It was incredible, as Tahlia silently trod through the jungle, her prosthetics hurting a little from their attachment, as it always was. She knew she wasn't Skye, she wasn't Sam, Boomer, any of them. She wasn't exactly Scimitar material, but she knew how to survive, and hide.

A couple of guards were on patrol, clearly aware of the sniper's presence. With it, Tahlia got down, and laid dead still, watching as they scanned, looking for the shooter. Tahlia was a little wiser than to have the rifle in hand. The small MP7A2 pulled out, she picked up her sight, and for the first time in what felt like a lifetime, did what she had to. Hearing it up close was different to the world away that it felt from afar, so to see the whites of their eye, know it was her on the line if she got this wrong, that tension, that feeling...it felt strange, yet back easy.

Two dead Artemis guards later, and Tahlia moved on, continuing to relocate, hobbling through the rough terrain, and clambering up, the ghillie-suited Kiwi fining her next spot, by a clattered tree, and finding a perfect cubby-hole inside of it. Sliding down her spotting device on her rifle, she adjusted the bipod once again and sheltered herself in, using the foliage to cover herself, and the end of her camouflaged rifle, bringing the site back into focus.
"Back in. Still at work, Boomer?" Tahlia remarked to knowing it would be no response, the giant inside and now destroying everything in there, the explosions and him moving inside indicative of it.
"Jaguar, you alive?" Tahlia asked, the New Zealander's accent coming with that unique twang- it was almost indescribable, but like Australian with a weirder, throatier inflection to it, lower pitch than higher squeak. Her accent made her sound like a right farmer too, a rural charm to it in a way.

"Target is eliminated. Tejedor is dead, I have the intel. There are a lot of guards. Go without me. I'll find my own way off this island." Jaguar's response was cold, even by Tahlia's standards. He sounded like he had nothing inside, given what had happened, he probably didn't want an examination of his feelnigs.
"Shit, they are going to swarm, you..."
"Negative, go. I'll do my thing. I'll catch you up later." Tahlia sighed, knowing Jaguar probably would. He'd get out under his own steam. Right now, she had Boomer to help, because Spectre was a priority target. And what a shitshow it was. She got on the rifle and checked her optic, watching Boomer go in, and with it, seeing a squad run towards, through the blown up gate, as Tahlia sniped the one at the back, the one at the front, then with two more high power rounds, blasted the other two as they ran for cover, predictably in a sniper lane as she would have liked them to be. Sounded like Chuck had Spectre- and was getting out of there. With it, Tahlia repositioned her rifle's aim, new magazine loaded, and picked up another team on the dock. Picking the first man with a clean blast through the top of his torso, she moved to the next, hearing a few sprayed rounds come from one of the other posts, exhaling and dumping the air in her lungs, before refocussing, realising it was blind fire, at least, in her vague direction to try and throw her off. She didn't care. It was easy enough to shoot, as she found that place in herself, and with an adjustment of wind, clicked away, and blasted the man's head with another .338 round.
"Scratch a few. Head for that RV, Tiny Nord should be there, soon."

===

As Spectre came to a little bleary, he uttered up to Chuck, the large armoured man carrying him making it clear.

Spectre was slowly realsing how shit-showed this had been. The entire setup. Tejador hadn't sold him out, no, there was only one person. Raven were coming for them, but for him to be here, right in this moment, attracted to a setup, it felt like serendipity for some architect. And it was only in the bleary coming to, before he passed out, he could utter it out loud.
"Who are you? And are you with.....wait, it's her, isn't it? She fucking.....she sold us out. She was never in it for us. She's in it for her." She muttered to Chuck, before going out like a baby again, dribbling now.

---

Samantha was tired and sore. Her body was starting to feel the bruising from the gunshots she had taken. She would heal rapidly enough but now that her endorphins had stopped dulling the pain, she knew the abuse she had put her body through. The op had been high intensity fighting and running and now that the worst was over her adrenaline had stopped pumping. With that came the adrenaline crash. She had started towards Skye when she had told them the bridge was out and to route around that she would retrieve the core. Samantha began scanning for a way over the ravine. She spotted a section of the ravine that the avalanche had flowed into. It had created a nice little bridge. The ATV should be able to climb it even though it was on its last legs. She began to move towards it. She was glad they wouldn’t have to walk out. Frigga was hurt and she knew she couldn’t carry her giant friend. She wouldn’t leave her behind but getting out an unconscious Frigga would be tough. She would figure out a way though. “Hold on Frigga this might get bumpy.”

She eased the ATV towards the debris pile. She expected some bumps as the fall settled further and was compressed by the ATV’s crossing. The ATV rocked from side to side and dropped a few feet as its weight compressed the snow, rock, gravel, and dirt beneath the heavy machine. She winced when she heard some heavy grinding noises. She hoped it held till they got across. She forgot about the rear compartment connected like a train car. The grinding noise was the coupler for the car under stress. Samantha was going slow with a little caution since she had time. They were about halfway across when Skye’s panicked voice came over the comms as she was yelling into the comms.

"Team, I'm headed to you, I'm being chased....fuck, fuck fuck, she's me, the operative's me! Chaos, find whatever way you can to disable her electronics, exo and that forcefield, anything at all, Frigga, just fucking coat everything in fire and brimstone, get personal and rip her to bits if you have to once that's down! There is way too much shit to say right now, just put everything down onto her! She's got moves, I'll hold her as long as I can, she has way, way better kit than us!"

Samantha didn’t pause for a second as she punched the accelerator. Adrenaline was once more flooding through her. Anything that could scare Skye Lions made her anxious and fearful as hell. She was also very determined that she wouldn't loose another family member. She did think of Skye and Freya as sisters she never had. Samantha's thoughts were Not today! Not on my watch! I am not loosing anyone else! Bring it! The ATV lurched and rocked heavily side to side. The speed made it rock harder as it was still in motion before hitting the next uneven patch. They were almost to the other side when there was a huge crashing screeching sound of tearing metal. The rear compartment went over the side, falling down into the ravine. The rear compartment tore away from the front part of the ATV. The bad news was they just lost their rear guns and maybe some armor on the rear of the ATV. The good news was they now weighed less and were moving faster. The ATV was now across the ravine. Samantha was moving towards Skye as fast as the ATV would allow. Samantha said “Bob start scanning the environment. Give me the quickest route to Queen.”

Samantha used every trick she had ever learned to maneuver the ATV into an intercept course so they could pick up their leader. She followed the path highlighted for her by her AI. Her focus was on getting them there while she trusted Freya to handle the recon and provide distant support for Queen.

Frigga wasn't out of the fight. Sure that fight with Geza had rattled her and she currently working on trying ro remove that damned gibbled plate that's slowing her movement. Doesn't mean she's down and out. She feels the ATV rock sighing and calling again, "Miss a bump or two huh babe?" Call back to the first op perhaps. She giggles a little. And goes back to working the plate loose. It's not covering anything important. It won't cause any problems. She tosses the playe over atop the rumpled carcass over the balloon suit with a sigh, that's another thing. Her mom is gonna kill her over that.

Frigga hums and crawls up and pokes up out of the hatch up top.

Something feels off. Something feels wrong. It's like a pall on the air. A feeling in her bones. It's too quiet and calm. Where are the QRFs, the back up teams. It's not right. If this were a BlueSword op there would have been no less then five QRF teams scrambling for the site, and no less then 3 medium assault teams in their wake, one lead by her dad another lead by her mom and the third commanded by one of her uncles. Likely Carl or Ross. Ross more likely as Carl liked to do the top down satellite thing these days. So what's stopping these cowboys? She pulls the AEW off her back, scanning the trees.

The big woman grabs the edge of the hatch as they roll down the incline. The big woman scanning when Skye's cry of warning over the comms reaches over to them. She turns in the hatch her Helmet HUD flicking through modes and magnifying. The order to burn down the opponent entering her head, whispering into her mic, "I can do that."

Almost ripping herself out of the hatch she leaps clear, "Keep going. I'll catch up in a moment." She tells Sam. Takes a few steps forward and kneels at rhe side of the incline. Her HUD magnifies a heat based vision mode picking out two shapes below in the snow and trees. The weapon in her hands clicks and shifts. From anti infantry to lightning the to the pointed tip of the long range anti armor mode. The mode that fires a high energy high impact beam of charged matter. She takes a breath raises the weapon to her shoulder. Her visor calculating. A reticle showing her aim point. A slow release of her breath. And a depression of the trigger.

"...because they'll be joining you." Were the words being said. Before the sound of trees being ripped apart pierces the air. And a beam of blue white energy flares down from above. Deceptively thin and weak looking. It wings Lynx high on the left chest. And only because of her shield field does she merely get flung back...20 yards.

As the woman gets back to her feet there's another flash, and this time she dodges the lance of energy. But the damage has been done. There's another player now.

No more beams of energy. But through the trees, is that a mobile blizzard. Still not in a position to cause close range problems, but holy balls that's going to change fast. Frigga charges down the hill, her shield emitters lit, her rifle hung at her back. What is she? Some ancient warrior, she has guns! Why isn't she using them? And why is she empty handed?

The great warrior goddess tears through trees, dead fall and bush luke a storm given form, a length of gleaming chain in her right hand, trailing behind and off to her side. She yells into her comms, "Chaos love, when she lands get in there and grab Queen." Then she pulls.

Trees quake, the ground splinters. And Starbreaker on the end of the retracting chain comes hissing out of the dark, like a giant ball on the end of a rope in gym class. You jump or get out of the way and maybe you get hit if you don't do either. And maybe Lynx isn't sure what's happening, because the hammer just misses her though it's passage causes her shields to crackle..just rhe sheer pressure eave of the super dense hammer causing her systems to have a mini break down from the passage of what could have been death.

But then the real thing arrives. As Frigga is right there trailing snow and win and ice like some avenging frost giant of myth. The speaker on her helmet crying, "No one hurts one of my girls!" The retracting hammer arrives back in her hand just then. The resulting twist blow catches Lynx across the hip, and before she can go flying Frigga catches her by the throat, "I don't think we've met." Her glove sizzles as it rolls past the shield and wraps around the smaller woman's throat, "I am Frigga, the battle goddess of Raven. I don't care if you look like My Queen or if you look like Queen Victoria. You hurt one of my girls!"

Lynx gets to feel what it's like to manhandled by a fluke of nature. She's thrown up onto the air, caught again, and suplexed into the ground. The big woman moves with a massive grace. Lynx tries to get loose only then to be lifted again, and bost slammed to the ground in the exact same place she just got suplexed into. As she feels the weight of the woman who did this leave her she again tries to get up. Opening her eyes Inside her helmet, and moaning, "Oh...crap." just as Frigga falls on her again slamming her fists down into Lynx's chest driving her even deeper I to the crater of snow, loam and dirt. And then just to make it even more humiliating, Frigga stands once more, lifts her great bottled foot, and then stomps down on the woman with a boom of finally over taxed shields and armor protesting.

The Battle Goddess stands over Lynx panting staring down at her armored form, "Don't get up please..." The silver, blue and chrome armored woman says to the black and red armored woman, "It'd be a pity to have to kill you today."

Isla Langosta / Lobster Island, Colombia

Fireteam Piranha

A man stared over the edge of a ships railing, his eyes down on the dark water below him as he took a few deep breaths. “Who, ever the hell decided boats were a good idea should go to hell.” He looked at the smaller craft, the much smaller boat that was being lowered as the heli pad was in use for something else. Staring at the rope weave that was dropped down to it. He took a deep breath and he slowly placed his hand to the rope, then he let the suit take him the rest of the way down. His feet and suit landed at the bottom after a minute or so, he felt the much greater rocking of the waters, he felt the water spray, he hated that he was called in for this.

“My own personal d-day, well hopefully, the boat sinks after I land so I don’t have to touch it again, or get into it again, I….” a fish or something came out of the water and he spun quickly to look at whatever it was. He didn’t see it, but he heard it, some of the crew of the ship he was on was watching Jaws, the night prior after everyone had figured out he was deeply frightened by deep water. That did not do much for his nerve, and it did not settle him well.

Tiny Nord just stared at the controls, and he turned the radio on in hopes of not listening to the water, instead he just got communication channels. No XM radio here, with his other hand, he took his phone out and wished he had a speaker as he started to play Iron Maiden.

Once that was settled, he placed his hand upon the throttle and started what he considered to be a dingy forward; thankfully, it had a steering wheel so he could drive it decently well without confusion. But that would be his journey in the dark, a dark white wake behind him as he listened to the water, and then Metallica started playing. He loaded several heavy weapons, mostly a dual M2 browning naval set on the front, several grenade launchers on either side, and what looked to be a mortar on the back landing. He believed he was set if anything was to happen, and hoped nothing much would. If anything did, that is what his stuff is for after hopefully beaching the monstrosity onto a sandy beach so other insane people could possibly use it in the future.

_____

Tahlia kept eyes open, knowing that while Boomer was on land blowing stuff apart, Tiny Nord would be en route- the boat bourne heavy the extraction for the other American, their dog, and the HVT. She took a moment to give a wry response back, catching his comms.
“I know, Tiny Nord. But it’s just water. It won’t kill you. Probably.” Tahlia chuckled, knowing that well, all hell was going to break loose once he arrived.

_____

That is not what he wanted to hear, Tiny slowly pressed the throttle forward harder, and harder, and he thought it was going to snap before he let go of it, and let it just ride for a moment. He listened to it hum, and the motors turn as he hated the feeling of it going back and forth in the waves. He felt light for a moment before hitting the trough of the waves. He saw the coast in the distance, he saw the port.

“It is water, I am large, and sink. I don’t do water, specially when working. I don’t have little floaties on this armor, and it costs a lot. And frankly, I don’t want to see another suit go to waste, this russian stuff is hard to get, specially modified like this suit is. Now, which pier am I going to, or just blow it all up?”

_____

Tahlia shrugged, looking on down her optic and catching the distant sight of it, the large RIB making its way into shore.
“Your call, Tiny Nord. There’s a pier with a lot of goons that needs clearing, that may work nicely. Boomer, your ride is inbound. Recommend you move, post haste. Got eyes on a lot of movers, and….yep, one armored truck too. ” Tahlia called the Kiwi quick in her description, hoping the two would figure this one between them and raise all hell there and then.
“I’ll head to the alternative extract, to the other dinghy the squad visited me with. You two focus on getting yourselves out.” Tahlia added, keeping eyes on any enemies that looked like they were more armed or armored, and got ready to snipe on command.

_____

“I would just say that one, but that doesn’t mean much… Oh, the fishing one seems like it has a nice ramp.” Tiny said as he stared at the small ramp used to fish fish up. He pressed his hand against it, and he pulled a string over the steering wheel as he let it hang between them both.

He moved to the backside, and he sat by the mortar as he unlocked his arms from his armor, and he moved several rounds, first, a flare round, then three HE, and two smoke rounds. When he guessed he was a few hundred meters and closing, he began to just dump shells down the tube to get all six down before he started moving to the front, lowering the throttle down on his way to the dual .50s.

_____

Boomer was running as fast as he could with Spectre slung over his shoulders in a fireman's carry. Spectre’s wrists were zip tied together and bounced against his side. Boomer had slid his arm between the man’s arms to ensure if he would retain his target. He had the man as balanced as he could in a hurry. It was still awkward and the man must weigh close to two hundred pounds. It was a good thing he was a strong giant. Duke loped along at his side with his tongue hanging out. Duke loved to run with Boomer. Duke dashed ahead and wove between a few guards tripping them. Evidently they has somehow missed the big dog and Duke took full advantage. He ripped out throats and then moved on taking out guards trying to come at Boomer from the side. Boomer swapped out the magazine, slipping the empty into the compartment in his armor built to hold extra magazines.

“Taniwah I am headed towards the pier. Target was acquired. Heavy ground resistance.” Boomer was struggling some now. It is hard to run, shoot a gun with reasonable accuracy while carrying a full grown man. Boomer managed to keep moving. He was using his gun more now. It was not as satisfying but it kept the guards cautious and from rushing him as he began to make his way towards the front gate of the compound. He was about to ask for a status on Jaguar when Taniwah did. “God Speed Jaguar. Stay safe brother.” Boomer always felt that brotherhood with someone who went into battle at his side. He hoped the man made it out alright. He had his own issues to deal with. He was doing okay taking out the guards so far but he was running out of heavy ammunition. He wasn’t sure he could handle the helicopters. Grateful for the backup.

_____

“Affirmative. I’ll babysit Spectre if you want to go in close. Tell him I can see his bald spot clear as day from here, if he’s awake.” Tahlia replied, the Kiwi shaking her head as she saw a significant number of guards around the pier, the last way out and a messy place indeed.

“Eyes on a couple of helicopters, far away. You two may need to clean those up. Tiny Nord, not sure what your heavy weapon is, but you may need to take some shore leave after dumping mortar rounds. Target rich environment down there... .same for you Boomer, watch yourself.” Tahlia called from afar, sniping a man up in a guard tower, sending him flailing and out of the thing, comically past the tower end, before snapping onto another soldier, firing on Boomer’s flank, sniping them, clattering them out of the way as the round almost gibbed a part of them in the process.

“Couple more tangoes down. Lead away, boys.”

_____

“Two dual fifties on the front, how low and what kind of air is it, something heavy, or something you would imagine being in a South American warlords arsenal?” he asked as he got the swiveling down, and he saw the approach and lowered the throttle the rest of the way as he moved back to the gun and swung it to the side.

“But right now, I am working with an Anzio Vulkan on the shield, mostly because I got it for Vulkan’s birthday. Also, because it’s massive, and fun to use. But the .50s for now. Splashdown here in thirty seconds, two smokes, three HE.”

__________

Boomer noticed when mortar rounds started falling, providing a smoke screen to help cover him as he approached the pier. He headed towards the flare he had seen believing that was his backup. He felt contact to his rear as he was knocked to the side by a hit to the rear of his armor. He stumbled a little before spinning around. There was a five man team taking pot shots at him from about 50 yards away. Chuck snarled and lifted his rifle. He stopped and quickly double tapped the one with the rifle. He was satisfied when he saw the spray of blood indicating he had hit him. He noticed another one go down. He grinned as he quickly put down the remaining three. “Thanks Taniwah.” At that point Spectre began to squirm on his shoulder and was saying something. He didn’t catch it over the explosions and gunfire happening all around him. He would make sure to review his suit feed later. He would make sure Sam knew to look for it. He had a button in his HUD that said mark. It would allow him to place marker in the feed to find things like this easier on review. He put an arm up to stabilize the man, grateful when he stopped moving again. He put on a burst of speed and headed towards the dock as he passed through the front gate.

_____________

Tahlia had to admit, she didn’t feel she was adding that much as the explosions clattered the pier, the mortar round blasting apart bits and the smoke concealing the charging Boomer, Tiny Nord single-handedly sending fire support of all kind and type straight and direct to sender.

“No worries Boomer, keep up the fire. You’re making a mark….though the truck looks like it’s on the move…..bugger, hang on. It’s fairly armored. Might be one for you both to clip, my rounds won’t penetrate that!” She called, watching it come to bear, the remote turret on top swirling into action as it pulled out of a small warehouse-like building on the pier, likely where the drug subs parked in lieu of the fishing boats on this island, and where all of the cocaine was likely stored.

_____

Boomer felt adrenaline slide into his veins at Tahlia’s warning. He dropped his rifle to swing on its tactical sling. He pulled the almost empty grenade launcher up to his shoulder. He had forgotten that Samantha had made some upgrades to his suit. She had installed a custom AI for him and a shoulder based missile system which he had yet to use. He grinned as that thought crossed his mind. Nothing like a field test. “AI, target the armored truck and deploy missiles.” He stopped long enough that the missiles had a nice stable launch platform. Unlike Samantha he had not named his AI yet. It was the first time he had tried using it. Time to check out his upgrades. “I’d say hold my beer but sadly no beer in sight.” He grinned and took off again after the missiles launched. The missiles rocked him slightly as a group of 6 missiles flew out of the shoulder rig launchers. Three missiles from each launcher flew towards the armored truck. They hit and penetrated enough to blow the truck into the air flipping it upside down. Smoke and fire poured out of the truck.

_____

Tiny Nord stared at the engagement zone, and noted that he saw almost nothing but smoke and fire. He saw where almost everything was parked, and he looked at the radio, “Parked, get in, and we will get the fuck out of here.” he said as he tossed a line over to the ramp before he jumped out with a large crack as the armored shield hit the concrete ramp for once the helicopters were dealt with.

“Too bad on the beer part, I could use a few after that boat ride, but… if you see a helicopter or two, tell me so I know where to aim these 50s. I am as blind as a bat with these Russian bullshit visuals.”

_____

Tahlia snorted at the banter between the two men. She continued to fire at targets of opportunity from her hidden blind. “Tiny Nord the helicopters I clock on my gear are coming in from the compound from the east.” She had noticed the guards pulling back towards the compound from the pier. “The guards seem to be pulling back. Get out of there. I am beginning my exit. See you on the flipside.” She watched to make sure she was right. She saw guards moving purposefully now. The panic seemed to be subsiding. She bet they had changed their comms channel. Whichever guard that had stepped up to bring order to Tejador’s chaos, was experienced. The guards were finally responding to orders. She wondered what it meant that they were moving away but it was an opportunity for Raven Squad. She began to carefully climb out of her hide. She kicked up into a light jog. She winced a little as it jarred her already sore stump but she needed to move as fast as possible. She slung her rifle over her shoulder and made her towards the little inlet where she had beached the zodiac she had come in on.

_____

He whistled for Duke. He wanted him to stay close right now. They were approaching the pier. He could hear some guards calling out over the stolen com he had in one ear in Spanish. Tejador’s men were in utter disarray. Some were screaming that Tejador was dead and others were screaming that they were all dead. Boomer felt satisfaction at that. Bad men should be eliminated. He could hear the fear and stress in their voices. There was one guard trying to take control of the situation. He must have been higher up in Tejador’s structure because he was managing to reorganize some of the guards. They had finally figured out that Spectre’s guards were dead and he was no longer in the safe room. “We have incoming, Time to GO!” There were two helicopters quickly closing in over the compound from the East. The wash from their rotors began to clear some of the smoke away.

_____

Smoke began to clear to two objects, Tiny swung the two mounted weapons torwards them and he pulled down the release as he stared at the two objects flying towards them. He wished he had missiles, but hindsight, these were meant originally to shoot planes down, why couldn’t they shoot a helicopter down.

“Come on now, hop on and pull the shield back on after you’re done using it as a gank plank, I had that that custom forged.”

_____


Tahlia had done all she could for her teammates. She needed to get out as well. She carried the backup that Jaguar had streamed intel too. She made it to the zodiac a few minutes later. She quickly tucked her rifle and gear into the rubber boat. The less weight she had to deal with the better. She struggled to get into the zodiac after pushing off lightly. She finally got it moving in the right direction. A helpful wave lifted the zodiac up and carried it away from shore. She tugged the line to start the outboard motor and began to head for her pickup point. She spoke into comms “Taniwah headed for the exfil RV. Good luck guys.”

_________

Boomer was racing towards the boat where Tiny Nord was waiting. The gunfire from guards behind them was retreating and moving further away. He kept moving as fast as he could. He didn’t miss when Tiny took out the two helicopters that had been headed their way. They went down in fireballs and crashed into the compound. He hoped Jaguar was well away. Boomer ran up the gangplank with Duke behind him. He unceremoniously dropped the man he was carrying into the boat. He turned and easily picked up the piece Tiny had told him not to leave behind. He set it in the boat. Boomer took up a watch position as he let Tiny do the driving.

Once they were safely away he turned to check on Duke. He turned to Duke and crouched to check him over. He pulled a cloth out of Duke’s saddlebag and wiped off his muzzle. He was relieved to know that the blood wasn’t Duke’s. He pulled out the collapsible bowl and gave his canine partner some more water. Duke had been panting from the exertion and heat. They would be out of the heat soon.

Valle Natales, Torres del Paine, Patagonia, Chile

Fireteam Condor

Skye fought back bravely, ducking into cover, yelling back across to Lynx.
"Seriously, we can talk this one out, whoever the fuck you are!"

"And come all this way to stop? No chance! I am enjoying this far too much, and your arse is mine!" Lynx yelled back in her distinctly neutral English accent, spraying rounds into the trees and rocks that Skye was covered in, Skye firing back but doing nothing in spite of the shield. She was pinned, and Lynx used the last of her exo's booster to leap over the boulder and clatter down in front of Skye. She had nearly nothing left to give. This would be it. Straight up, this is how she would die, if it wasn't for that split second moment of Freya firing that round, and then, in a sudden

And suddenly, the arrival of Frigga changed things altogether. Lynx had turned to shoot back, but well, Frigga was possessed. Driven by something animalistic, Lynx tried to dodge, using the exo, but it was no good. The shields were dead, and as she could hear the ATV coming, Freya began to finish the job. Lynx fought hard, throwing missiles, everything back, but Freya was unstoppable.
"Try it as you might, Frigga! You'd make one hell of a trophy if I could carry you out of here, come at me!" Lynx bravely yelled back, firing rounds at the ATV in the process too, knowing she could rattle them, at the least, delay. With it, Skye managed to relocate, and out of the way of what was coming.

Driven by something personal, and even Lynx couldn't understand it, Freya had gone from a cosmic horror to a real life one. She should have had the upper edge, but even through cloaking, it was like Freya didn't need to see, because well, there was only one place she could be, and one way it would end. Brutally, Lynx clocked the physical action from Freya and tried to overcome it, but to zero avail. Freya's work stepping on her caved her torso's entire bottom half in, cracking like the sound of wood being chopped in the forest, or a large branch howling off in a hurricane. Sam was closing in, as Skye peeked around the boulder, where Lynx had been sent over on the other side, and walked over with a slow hobble, looking to Freya, standing over, silent in her words, completely, totally dazed.

Laying there, blood pouring out of her mouth, Lynx was as good as dead. Skye felt rattled in her walk, and knelt by her side in the dirt, finding the last scraps of her own energy to look, looking directly at the other redhead, the one that wasn't much for the world and instead, the once with a smashed faceplate, and a wound that no doctor could cure. She didn't want to look. But she had no choice, she was compelled, utterly, utterly spellbound. And the words wouldn't come. Lynx's did.

"Remember when we were young, and......dad put on Heroes in the car? I remember it so well. It's our last collective memory. The last one, the last....innocent one. There weren't any others. None I can recall before then. And after, none that matter either." Lynx uttered, Skye totally fixed, the dying, spluttering blood version of her fading, slowly, drying.

"I wish I could even begin to start to explain it all. But you did exceed my expectations, and if you couldn't go easy, then it had to be this way. There's a greater good you just don't see, and it's us. Always is. Always has to be." Skye put her hand against Lynx's, the passion in the Scot's eyes intensifying.

"Please....please. Look, just tell me who you are, really. Whatever that is, I trust....us on that. No world ending scheme, just whatever the hell it means....please, don't leave me like that." Skye said, looking down at the poor girl, watching her coughing blood, her internal organs shredded, her body ruined, and no hope out. As mortal as it could be, and well, looking on, the other version of her knowing well, she was beaten. Lynx knew it had been worth the try. But well, it was in death that she could be honest with quite literally, herself.

"I just can't. I'm so sorry, Skye. You'll understand in time why all of this had to be this way." Lynx exhaled, before even she couldn't stop the inevitable. She rolled her head to the side, and like that, the life was out of her. Like a light, gone, and absolutely out.

With it, Skye sat by her dead doppelganger's side. She was utterly, utterly gobsmacked, broken, silent.

She sobbed a tear, the first that had left her tearduct in perhaps a lifetime, and that became a gentle trickle, as she leaned back against the tree, looking into the horizon, blank and away from Freya, or Sam, or anything at all. Her heart pounded and the tears became a flood that silently fell, Skye didn't so much as weep, as she just stared with a flood, the radio spluttering.

"Queen, it's Oracle. Do you read?" It uttered, Skye looking at Freya, a tear suddenly rolling off her cheek in a rare moment of exposure, and in return, finding the words was tricky.

"Affirmative." Skye's words were hard to make, they were tough to remove, hard even to extract out.

"What's your status?"

"Core is recovered. We just eliminated a lone contact, non Artemis I think, by the crash site. Highly armoured, highly experienced, and.....well, she looks like me. She IS me, Oracle. I'm looking at my fucking twin. Or a fucking clone. Or something, fuck, I don't know. I don't know what the hell is going on."

"Shit......Queen, are you sure?" He broke from protocol, and in that very moment, Skye nodded, breaking from her own trance, trying at least to focus again, objective word, trying.

"Positive. I don't know what's going on. I have literally no idea how this works....we need an extraction too, now."

"Shit. Artemis must have gone further than even we could have possibly imagined. Or they're trying something else on. Get out of there. Bring the body, and we'll do some forensics to figure out what went on. And her tech, too, if you say it's good. It could be a last play of theirs. Alright, I'll get Hawk back on the line."

"Roger that." Skye uttered, her words stumbling, looking to Freya, and then to Sam, utterly silent, distraught even. She looked back, as the radio hissed again.

"Queen, I have an LZ identified near your site. I've got no thermal signatures. There's nobody there, putain, you cleaned them out."

"Heh, yeah, I think we did. Well, you win some, you lose some. Freya, can you uhh....take her body. What is left of it. And uhhhh....thank you. Thank you. I'm really sorry I got a bit emotional. Just a lot to take in I'm afraid." Skye replied, and trying to hold it together and a little out of her own, with it saying nothing more. They'd understand, and well, it was mission complete. Albeit with more questions than answers. A lot more.

As the VTOL came in, the door opened, and the team rolled in, the dusty and dirty environment a shallow landing pad for them, and in this case, dead quiet. There was nobody here. Nobody at all, and it felt eerie, though perhaps it was a reminder of how much damage they'd caused in southern Chile tonight.

"Eyy, Queen, as I live and breathe! That was some crazy shit...." Vincent's tone was positive, Skye's was not.

"Vincent...not now, just fly." Skye retorted, sinking into her chair once again, and looking to the other two. Skye was valiant, resistant, hell, the one that pulled people together when shit really hit the fan. Even in Aralsk, physical wounds hadn't stopped her from running around and never, ever backing down. Right here, Skye had a certain wear to her that transcended physicality. It was like her very soul itself looked like it was utterly, paradoxically broken, looking to Lynx, and reaching across down onto the floor.

Pulling Lynx's hand, she revealed the vial, and pulled it out, examining it in curiosity as it was placed in the middle of the cargo bay.
"That is weird. Probably covering tracks. Or something. Fuck knows." Skye said quietly to herself, shaking her head, before going back to the seat, not wanting to interfere, considering a detox, report and detailing would have to be made. It was highly likely, if not certain, that Raven would not deploy until answers from this were made. Skye couldn't even think about it, she was so, so overwhelmingly flooded with emotion. A rational Skye would have hoped, dreamed even it was just as simple as mistaken identity, a girl like Freya that had a striking resemblance to Skye or a cousin perhaps. Maybe followed by a hidden sister, or cousin, then a twin, then last, a clone or a genetic copy. Which in itself, would be absurd. A non-zero chance. The worst one, which Skye was just thinking through, were those words. She knew her memory. Knew her skin. Knew everything. Fuck, it basically everything she was, in almost every single way. And she shut her eyes to it, trying to forget for a moment., sitting again.

"Sorry....I may need a moment. I'm really, really sorry. It is a lot to absorb. But I think we did it. That might be it. We have the masterkey for Artemis now. Just....she freaks me out a bit. I'm sure it will make sense. I am sure it will. Thank you both. I" She added, smiling at them both, the look in her face one of happiness to have such good friends, and yet, so unwound from it all.

The only thing that could break Skye's unbreakable spirit, rather poetically, was Skye Rosalind Lyons herself. It would last, but like all things, it had to stop somewhere, and inevitably, she would be thrown more to sort, and manage, and then, once they had some idea, what came next was on the cards.

She leaned back against the cushioned wall, humming and drying her eyes, the tears melting her blue paint and creating a horrible, sticky like mess of black and blue blended with dirt, grit and perspiration. The thing Lynx said about that David Bowie song, it stuck in her mind. That last, momentary glimpse, as she whispered it out loud.
"We can be heroes...just for one day....."

---

The phone buzzed in Skye's lap, as she picked it up, seeing Tahlia's secured and encrypted number come through.

"So, we tagged and bagged Spectre. As per sitrep, Jaguar has gone to ground. Makes sense, after all that happened."

"What is he saying? And agreed. I don't want to see him back until he's ready to go again. That would have been heavy after all the shit around Tejedor. Anyway, go, on."

"Not a lot. But we recovered something interesting. The drug, he muttered it's some sort of trial run, the intel from Jaguar backs that. It sterilizes people, but comes with some nasty side effects, mostly significant memory loss, but highly unpredictable. Which for the compound shouldn't really be a thing, Spectre thinks it should have been far purer, or altogether, something completely different. More like a sarin-like compound for Artemis's activities, so, lethal and extremely spreadable. He also said something about the fact he was betrayed. All of Artemis was, or something crazy like that, by some woman called Lynx. What does that mean for you?"

"It means whatever we do in Patagonia ends this then. All of Artemis comes into the light, because he got backstabbed probably by Pavel's leak. Or a contact there linked to Pavel who we identified after Aralsk. I assume it has to mean that, because otherwise, they're literally destroying Artemis from the inside out. Someone high up in Artemis lost their bottle and that was that. There's nobody else left. We just exploited a weakness and kept prying after they tried to kill us."

"If that isn't right though, Queen....what does it mean?"

"It means we know what loose ends are left, we'll find out about this time tomorrow. Either Spectre will succumb once he starts getting interrogated, or the data core will expose the whole network, and more likely, both, Taniwha."

"Have you got a working theory then?"

"Likely prognosis? Pavel meant by the fact they needed to do something about the problems the world faces, they meant they were going to start spreading that drug to people, globally.

Drop the population slow and quiet either by killing them or simply neutralising their ability to give birth, play the long game and promise governments that pay the cure or stop that train, keep them addicted, then suddenly, revel in the profit and chaos.

Project Mercury with the satellite network would exaggerate that, taking out key infrastructure and communications to make more chaos- a cover for rare earth and opportunity for Artemis to get monopolies too. Nothing like that to keep other eyes off the real problem, so the dragons can build their hoard bigger and steer the narrative.

It's literally their playbook since when I spoke to Oracle last, everyone wins apart from well, everyone bar them. Talking about climate change, resource depletion, inequality? They're full of shit, they want to survive the storm, and all of their boats need to float when it does."

"Jesus. That is a fucking lot. Never knew how sick the bastards were, but as a theory, it adds up. All that happened to us up to now, couldn't have been anything else. What do you want us to do, Queen?"

"Head back home, and I'll relay it through Oracle."

"Roger. Good luck riding her arse."

"I'm going to love it. Over and out."

---

Kaitiaki HQ, New Zealand

The gentle patter of rain outside the evening light of the base was rhythmic, if not a little repetitive, coating the base in a typically New Zealand drench. The kind of rain that made going outside not such a great idea, it was just endless, and the trees and grass shook in the wind, the light storm coupled to just a continuous, horrid drizzle. There was another reason this place was so green, and volcanism could only go so far.

Sitting in the lounge, the team had the opportunity to regroup. At the very least, Skye was back in some shape or form, undergoing an assessment at Doctor Keller's, and revealing none of the compound was in her bloodstream, or even in her presence. The other Skye, now formally branded as Lynx given her tattoo and mark on her suit, had been taken away at a fuelling stop-off in Santiago, Chile. It was agreed to keep her away from Skye, and well, for now, to assess the situation before anything carried on. Whatever happened, lessons had to be learned, and it had to be investigated, in detail. Something as serious like this had rocked Oracle's lead, because it meant that the entire organisation could be completely compromised, top to bottom. Sitting tight was best, using other support teams in Raven for now to quell any work.

It was standard procedure for dead HVTs, but this target was neither high value, nor a target. The link to Skye was overriding- and figuring her out, background, everything, all of it had to be poured through. Her armour in particular was of especial interest rather, as was the link to Skye- it was also being poured over by the techs and anything out of it would be recovered, salvaged and used for the team in an upcoming kit update. Nothing at all had been said, and the intel core, that was with the team here, isolated and any trackers deactivated. The HVT, Spectre, was isolated out for further interrogation. Raven was not a set of torturers - they were far too important to waste on that sort of thing, and after two incredibly intense missions, the action reports for them reading like 80s action movies and having more redactions even for a redacted document than a political blackmail piece, so they needed a deep, cavernous breath before more work came.

So flying across the Pacific Ocean, returning home had come quick following that- oh, of course including Freya's large yet deflated helium balloon for repair. Then, the server core itself was being studied by Raph and Sam in Kaitiaki on an offline repository and any tracking on it had been deactivated, whilst Spectre was being tortured by Oracle's contacts for anything he knew. Same went for the drug- . Blue Sword had been asked to clean up the mess in Chile, and for the first time in potentially forever, things were going better.

Coming in, Skye grabbed a seat on the sofa adjacent to the table, quieter than usual, the team in there waiting, making food, chilling out, and off-duty. Skye was dressed in her usual- a navy t-shirt and jeans, the casual officer as per usual. The outside world had been cut off, given the criticality of the situation, more than the usual- they were sitting and waiting with an intent, not really back in operational trend and waiting for missions. She turned to face the group, aware they knew exactly what had happened, her husky Scots accent as per usual coming in.

"Hey all. Sorry for the admin. I've gotten off the phone to Oracle. We're to sit here and wait, they will have more work for us, but as you may have heard....there are some complications." Skye started, knowing her presence might have raised some eyebrows, particularly during R&R between the team's various tasks to complete.

"But, good news....we basically just took out a significant amount of Artemis's operations. About a dozen people are going to be arrested, tomorrow across five different countries- for completely unrelated charges to what we just found, but there is a hell of a lot of corruption that is being found in some higher ranking political circles that just came out, from slush funds to money laundering, and beyond."

"They're in disarray, given their leadership got taken out and what Spectre terms as the "Directors", or effectively, his entire cabal of people, are now without any idea of what the direction is. He says he was solely responsible, but I mean, it is likely they probably have some idea what to do. Meaning, they still will want to do shady shit, but have no common target. Someone will rise up in time to fill that void, but like a weed, it's a lot shorter and easier now. We did an incredibly good job. And I'm immensely proud of you." Skye said, smiling, the rare break from what had been probably one of the most fucked up days in her life.

"The other news, then. We're waiting to find out about the DNA test, but initial autopsy shows that well, she's got some differences to me. Tattoos, freckles, a few other bits basically don't add up. So it might not be me. So....that is good. If not, then it's likely Artemis managed to...make a genetic copy out of me. Someone who got angry and probably tried to destroy it from the inside, but didn't need us to find something. Which seems pretty incredible. That would be likely our next target to find out how they did it, because likely they could be trying to crack Raven by brute force for their next attempt, perhaps to buy time is my working theory. Which relates to the fact that the bad news is, I think we know how capable they are. So our work won't be done." Skye retorted, as she stood, a little more frail perhaps in the mental than before, but putting on a brave, stern face once again. Reaching into the cabinet that was of their particular fame, she pulled it out, and undoing the sealed cap, poured a dram, finally glad to be seeing this come to fruition.

"So....I say we say cheers to that. Thank you, everyone. We got through a particularly bad day of work yesterday. And believe me...other me has zero taste in whiskey and nae fucking Scots roots, because I can tell you this one comes out only for special occasions. '65 from Tobermory, one from the old country. I'd say put some tonic with it if you're....less acquired in taste. What comes next will be difficult to manage. But we'll end this. Once and for all." Skye added, chuckling as she finished pouring, the bottle complete considering everyone in the team, including Tahlia were up here. Taking her glass, she put it to the middle, and for a moment, relishing in the fact that she had a team. Her stoic self had been broken, and now, there was this to reflect on. A crew, a team, people. It was home, and everything worth doing. Even in spite of everything, and how much her head was ruined by that. The first time she ever felt a certain kind of pain, a certain kind of hurt. The image had to go on, and Skye was too stubborn, too proud, too much to say she needed help. She wasn't an alcoholic, not by a long shot, and the alcohol wasn't that- but it was clear, Skye even as good of an operator as she could be, had something deep down in her.
"Sláinte, everyone!"

Kaitiaki HQ, New Zealand

Samantha sat on a cliff looking out at the ocean. She had gone for a run. She needed some space and time to think. The last operation in Chile had been insane. She had called to check in with her adopted grandmother when she got back to base. She had felt the need to tell the old woman what she had meant to her. She sighed as she thought about all the events that had brought her to this point in her life. She sighed as she pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them. She had come to Raven Squad hoping that she would find out more about what had happened to her father. She had a burning desire to see those truly responsible for that act of terrorism brought to justice. She knew revenge wouldn’t help her feel better. But the thought of those people running free without a care in the world after they had taken so much from her grated. She wanted to see them punished. She also wanted to prevent any other attacks such as the one that had cost her the only living relative that she had left, but also an adopted grandfather.

Samantha had been seeing a therapist since she lost her father. Therapy had uncovered a host of underlying issues that she had to confront, in order to pass Raven Squad’s psych evaluation. She sighed and shifted around with nervous energy. She couldn’t lie to herself, it wouldn’t be productive. She had to admit that while she still wanted to see those responsible for her father’s death brought to justice, it was no longer a burning need within her. She looked out over the ocean and let the tears fall. She let the pain of his passing out as she ugly cried where no one could see her. This last operation had forced her to reexamine her role in Raven Squad. If bringing those people to justice cost her the life of one of her team, it would be too high. She didn’t know when it happened or how but she had a new family. It was hard for her to comprehend but this new family had chosen her. She felt as if Freya and Skye were long lost sisters. She didn’t want her pursuit of justice to define her as a person.

Samantha could admit she was good at what she did. She was an asset to the team. She was struggling to figure out what she wanted out of life now. If justice for her father was no longer a goal, what was she striving for? Freya had her projects and research. What was Samantha’s legacy to the world? She left death and destruction in her wake. She built stuff for the team but it was not things that would help the greater world. She knew she was doing important work to help keep the world safer. She could do so much more with her talents to help the world. Was she putting her talents to the right use? Would her father be proud of the woman she had become? She wouldn’t leave Raven Squad because she knew that Skye and Freya would be safer with her to help them. Samantha was not so arrogant as to think others couldn’t do her job. She knew they could. Samantha knew she would always wonder if she could have made a difference if something happened to them and she was not there. She knew it was tied up with the guilt she felt over her father’s death. She wiped at her tears angrily. She hated admitting that she had vulnerable spots. It was easier to keep people at arms length than let them in. When you let them in you could get hurt.

Samantha's emotions and thoughts finally started to wind down. She had been sitting here looking at the ocean for a few hours now. She could do better and she would. She would contact the think tank that had tried to recruit her on societal issues when she was in college. She would start working on small projects for them in her down time. She could help the world in more positive ways without leaving the team. She felt better now that she had thought it all through. She felt more settled in her skin. She had found a new home here in Raven Squad. Maybe she could help Freya with her latest project. She resolved to find more balance in her life. It couldn’t be all fire, doom, and destruction all the time. She needed to have positive moments too. She needed to have some fun. She smiled as she remembered something her father used to tell her. “Slow down and smell the roses. Experience what life has to offer. Paint with all the colors. Don’t let others put you in a box. Create your own path in the world.” She smiled brighter as she stood up and dusted off her yoga pants. “Thanks Dad.” She tugged her soft worn t-shirt that had her dad’s mechanic shop logo on it down. She took off running back towards the base.

Samantha took a long hot shower when she got back. She felt better and more relaxed after. She pulled on her combat boots, jeans, and a simple black t-shirt. She pulled on one of her coveralls over it all. She rolled up the sleeves and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. She went down and laid out Freya’s suit. She began to check it out and take notes on what she needed to repair. She thought about upgrades and made some design notes to talk to Freya about potential upgrades if she was interested. She looked at the clock and swung by her room and pulled off her jumpsuit coverall and threw it in the laundry. She washed her hands and face. She was presentable again. She then made her way to the recreation room for the team meeting Skye had called.

She walked into the meeting and took one of the seats in a corner. She watched as Skye came in and began her speech. She narrowed her eyes and tilted her head. She had been with Skye on the operation and she had seen how impacted Skye had been by Lynx. She looked over at Freya and gave her a knowing look and raised her eyebrows and a slight head shake. Skye was wanting them to toast with whiskey. She politely grabbed a glass of ginger ale. She didn’t want liquor at the moment. She didn’t judge those who wanted it. She didn’t really like alcohol and she was still feeling a little raw after the self revelations and decisions earlier in the day. She put her glass in and toasted with the rest of the team. She was surprisingly quiet and withdrawn for her this evening. She was worried about Skye. She knew their leader was hiding and repressing how she really felt about everything that happened. How did Sam know? She knew because they were so much alike in that regard. Samantha had been working on her issues though.

Kaitiaki HQ, New Zealand

---

Chuck was grateful to be back on base. While he had enjoyed the mass destruction assignment that was the last op, the travel time to and from the base was killer. Duke was not very fond of helicopters, they were very loud. Chuck didn’t like leaving anyone behind. It grated on his sense of honor to let Jaguar find his own way home. He knew that Raven Squad had its own playbook and that it was different from what he was used to. It didn’t feel right to him. He felt he should have helped haul Jaguar off the island. He would have questioned the decision more if Tahlia had not been so supportive of Jaguar taking off on his own. Chuck’s armor had come through the operation like a champ. It had needed some minor repairs. His armor was already back in the armory waiting for its latest overhaul.

Chuck was feeling antsy. He and Duke had taken it easy when they had gotten back late yesterday. He was ready to get outside after being cooped up on a boat with Tiny Nord. He pulled on some jogging shorts, a tank top, and sneakers. He whistled for Duke who was watching him from the middle of the made bed. Duke came bounding over to him. Chuck laughed as he could tell Duke was excited sensing they were going for a run. He rubbed behind his ears playfully as he asked him “Do you want to go for a run?” Duke barked and wiggled his whole body, turning in a circle with his excitement. Chuck laughed and patted him on the head. “Alright buddy, let’s go for a run!” Chuck was feeling the need to push his body. He stretched out his legs and warmed up his muscles. He then opened the door and let Duke out. He then took off at a jog. He jogged until he had left the last guard check in behind.

He then began to slowly push his speed up. Duke kept pace with him as they took a track recommended by Skye. They ran the perimeter of the island. It was a long route but then Chuck had very long legs. He needed a good cardio workout and Duke always enjoyed a good run. One of things he loved about this new job was the scenery. He loved being outside. The island was beautiful and quiet since the only people on it were Raven Squad. He kept to a moderate pace as his long legs ate up the miles quickly. Chuck soaked up the serenity of being out in nature alone with his dog. Moments like this were where he found peace in life. He found the beauty in nature on his run, soaking it in like a sponge. He had worked up a good sweat by the time he had gotten back to base.

He jogged until he reached the main base building. He then slowed to a walk. He made his way into the heavy gym. He pulled a bowl for Duke out of his locker. He gave his canine partner some water before chugging some for himself. Then he refilled his water bottle before putting Duke’s bowl away. He had heard the heavy gym was equipped to handle him. He was hoping that was true. The gym at his last posting worked for the regular troops but he had broken the floor and bent bars trying to get a good workout. He had to get creative to keep his muscle tone. He entered the heavy gym. He gave Duke an at ease hand sign. Duke sprawled out on a gym mat nearby and watched Chuck as he approached the first weight station.

He grinned as he saw the heavy duty shock absorption flooring under the heavy lift station. He noticed the heavier reinforced bar for deadlifting with extra long end caps so he could load extra weight and grinned. He also noticed a hard welded bar cage connected to a steel cable with a pulley with hand grips contraption where you could just pile in rock or the weight rings. He decided to test the bar first by putting one hundred pounds on each end. He used the bar to do arm curls. He was pleased to note the bar didn’t bend or flex under the initial weight. Chuck began to slowly increase the weight as he worked different arm and shoulder groupings. Chuck was sweating profusely once more. He pulled off his tank top and used it as a towel to wipe off the sweat. His abs glistened and rippled as he moved from one heavy piece of equipment to the next.

Someone had rigged a simple teeter totter type of leg press. There was a chair welded into a heavy steel bracket with counter balance weights on it and bolted to the floor. There was a place for him to put his feet to push with rubber grips. When he pushed the pedals forward it lifted the bar with a foot long solid peg on it with a threaded bolt end cap that held the standard gym weights on. The difference was this machine was reinforced and counter balanced to handle much heavier weights than standard gym equipment. Chuck had never been in a gym that catered to someone of his strength and size before. He was finding that he was able to push his body and learn limits that he hadn't been able to do before. Chuck was wrapping up his leg routine. He wandered over to the large open area covered in gym mats. He began a kata. He could use a good sparring partner. Where was that Nord when he wanted someone to pit his skills against?

---

Chuck had showered and changed after his workout earlier. He had given Duke a bath and a good brushing. He had needed some extra grooming after their run earlier. Duke enjoyed the extra attention he had received and was relaxed as he padded along at Chuck’s side. He had fed Duke before they left the room. Chuck had pulled on jeans, a t-shirt with a beer logo, and his combat boots. He normally would wear a hat but he was indoors and his momma had beat basic manners into him. His hair was cut short and his beard and mustache were trimmed neatly along his jawline and lip. His light blue eyes stood out in his tanned face. He had made his way to the recreation room where he was told that the team was meeting. Duke was a constant warm presence at his side.

Chuck stepped into the room and noted the sitting arrangements. He took a seat at the table with Duke sitting next to him at attention. Duke’s eyes seemed to drift from person to person as something they did drew his attention. He lazily scratched Duke’s ears as he waited for the meeting to start. Chuck listened to Skye’s report with a slight frown. He would catch her alone later and get caught up on the latest op information. He had joined the team last minute and was not privy to their previous ops so he didn’t understand the significance of what Skye was telling the team. He accepted the whiskey and tapped Skye's glass with a hearty "Cheers". He casually threw it back saluting Skye as he did so. Damn that was good whiskey! He wanted a beer and a steak though. That would round out his day nicely. Chuck understood that Skye was hiding a lot under that facade. Chuck had led his own team until recently and he understood that Skye was hiding some things to show what her team expected to see. He would corner her later and see if she would talk to him. He knew what it was like to have that responsibility and not want your team to see your weaknesses. Sometimes even the leader needed someone to talk to. His eyes glanced around the room to check out other members he had met but didn’t really know very well yet.

Collab between BigPapa and FourtyTwo



Slow, harsh breaths. Or as slow as she could. The adrenaline of the moment. The idea of someone had hurt one of her friends, one of her girls. She’d seen red. And it’d all come back into focus, looking down at the pair. Skye to one side, and Lynx to the other. The repartee, and Frigga had taken a few steps back, giving them room. Watching, listening, swallowing thickly. Dear god what had she just done?

She looked at Skye, the vial trading hands from one to the other. And Frigga nodded, “Sure babe…” She stepped away, pacing away and flopping to the ground, coming down off that high, “Holy shit.” She muttered, “That was a little much.”

Their extract came in low. And she’d gotten up and made her way inside. Sitting across from Skye, looking at her, meeting Skye’s glance, and when Skye breaks the look to look away, she’d done the same. Whispering, “I’m sorry Skye. I don’t know what came over me. Probably come running like a madwoman if it happens again though.”

Skye nodded, shaking her head, knowing it had to be done. Skye was at risk- she would have been killed, and well, there was no telling what else could have happened. Lynx wanted Skye dead, and was more than any match for her. Hell, even for Freya, who she’d certainly fought valiantly against, but ultimately, in futility. You didn’t challenge the battle goddess when she was angry, that was for sure.
“It’s alright, Freya. It was me or her, you needed to stop her. Just….yeah, it’s hard to put things together.” Skye said, uttering the words, looking over, as she stood up, and instead of sitting adjacent, sat next to the large heavy, the Scot taking off her combat helmet and revealing her red hair against her camouflaged forehead to toe, leaning up close to her armor, and exhaling, hard as hell. Her body hurt, everything felt numb, from the exhaustion and now, more the emotion.

Looking up, she rested her gloved hand on Freya’s shoulderplate, able to just about see past, seeing the fearless warrior that had very well stopped her from being paste.

“Thank you. Not often I say it, but….I needed help there. Glad you were able to assist. Just hope we can figure this one out.” Skye commented back, her voice coming back, the cold metal and composite of the outside of Freya’s armor still not able to deny the person she was up against, the tears now mostly wiped, and her voice back from the croak.

Freya gulps then grabs Skye and gives her a hug, nodding across the way at Sam too, “Let’s go home hun. We need a break. And a while to recover. Take a seat.” She then gulps heavily and says as carefully as possible, “I’m sorry I killed…your sister? Twin? I didn't intend to. I just needed to stop her and to keep you from getting hurt.” She sighs and pulls Skye down into her lap, “Just yeah.” She takes a deep breathe and looks up at the ceiling, “What the fuck is going on…”

Skye shrugged all the same, taking the hug, looking back at Lynx for a moment, then back up at Freya, smiling, just glad to have a friend in a moment like this. She was emotionally not exactly the most rooted right now- there was a crack that had formed and no special forces operator would ever have something like this.
“You had to do what you do. It’s okay….it’s okay, Freya.” Skye said, leaning into the hug, nodding.
“Yeah, I do wonder what we are in for. She wasn’t as stubborn as me, that is for sure. World does not need two of me…though if she looks the way she does, fuck, I think it did get that.” Skye chuckled, breaking the levity at least, before leaning back into the seat, looking up at the other redhead’s eyes, the one that was alive at least. Freya was a warmth that Skye could at least rely upon, and in spite of the blood and guts that they’d both been through, it was reassuring to have a sister in arms.

The big lady grunted then grinned, “Oh I dunno a double helping of Queen Skye really doesn’t sound so bad.” She groans and leans her head back, with her face plate open she looks as tired as she really does feel, “I need a bath…and to see the Doc…and get out of this armor. And…try and forget what just happened. For a little while.” she sighs, “Being a huge warrior…hurts sometimes. Being a warrior in general is hell. The things we have to do, and the things that are left on our hands…and soul.” She chuckles and lets her eyes slowly close, “Wake me when the world starts making sense again Skye? Please? Or when we get back home, whichever comes first.”

Nodding, Skye looking over and put a hand against the paw-sized gauntleted claw of Freya’s, knowing she was probably a bit broken too, and well, as much as Skye hurt, she knew she had a team that had seen all of it first hand, and was equally freaked out.
“I’ll do what I can.” Skye merely uttered, before herself, leaning back, and looking out of a window for a last time, falling asleep, out of it and tired out.

—-------------

Kaitiaki HQ, New Zealand

The Doctor is still hovering around Freya, even after they got back. Even as she’s sitting in the rec room, the Doc is tending to a huge lump of bandages on Freya’s shoulders. Grumbling, “I swear to all that is good and holy, even the unholy. You all are going to cut off decades off my life! The fight with Ingwe was bad enough. You tore something, or he tore something or broke something I don’t know. But there are fractures all across your back and it’s bad. But I watched the helmet came footage…your hammer weighs almost three hundred pounds. Three hundred!” Freya winced and ducked looking around the room while trying to reach for a drink, but getting cut off again and ducking her head again as the Doc swats it down, “Don’t move! You’re hearing me right? Three hundred pounds AT LEAST!” She shouts the last word.

Freya can’t help but chuckle, “Yes madam I know I built the darn thing.” The giant eeps and ducks again at the death glare the doctor gives her, “Sorry…” The woman lets out a growl that honestly sounds like a panther ready to rip someone in two, “And you pulled that much weight along with the chain with one hand. You nearly tore every ligament in that one arm all at once. Not to mention dropping that woman on her head so many times, lifting her and throwing her around, just made the whole thing worse. No lifting, at least for two weeks.” The doc looked around at the gathered operatives, “Oh who am I kidding, none of you listen to me, you’re going to be killing yourselves in no time.” And she storms off.

Finally Freya can grab her drink, “I don’t think she’s happy.” She says to the others.

—

The look of Doctor Keller was one of scowling annoyance, but then again, the usual carried on as per. She didn’t join with the drinks, instead, leaving them to it. Skye nodded to her as she left, Sophie certainly aware there was far too much shit to be managing today. It was quite the scene, as she left scene, and with it, Tahlia came in, the New Zealander, half Maori wearing a t-shirt and jeans all the same, one that revealed the tattoos across her entire arms and the sculpted koru and forms that wove their way across. The team were chilling, but Tahlia had a quick word to have- with the bandaged giantess, who sat in her robe, hurt yet somehow still in a fighting condition to push through Sophia’s listed ailments that would normally do far more damage to someone….not of size. Gigantism had the trouble that bones were normally far frailer on someone of that size- yet due to probably what must have amounted to some superhuman genetics, Freya was inverse to that, and no doubt, Sophia must have just been marvelling at it all the same, still in shock that someone that big could throw that much heat and keep going. Tahlia would join for a drink in time, but before, she did have some updates on a few aspects- some that would interest Freya with regards to the suit. She knew that Sam was also working on upgrades- but Tahlia, as the team’s logistics person, had access to that initial manifest for tools coming through.

“She never is. But then again, I ain’t got a leg to stand on when it comes to fractures, hah!” Tahlia called out to Freya, clicking her prosthetic, sighing as the very, very, very rare joke that came from the Kiwi, as she looking over, the look on the giantess’s face no doubt of interest.

“Hiya. So, I might have something for your suit, Freya. Sam’s done a heaps mighty job on fixin’ the thing, so I thought it was about right we do something. I have some parcels and just need you to do some fitting for me. Does that work?” Tahlia was direct, her Southlander, rural NZ tone coming across as she stood there, waiting for a response, the directness of the farmhand come sniper come logistics co-ordinator all merry for a response.

Freya lifted the glass slowly to her mouth, lots of damage back then, and here she is, telling at her durability. She smiles, “Ahhh Tahlia, hello, been a bit.” she sets her glass down and leans back wincing, feeling one of the many aches she’s fighting, “Oh something for the suit? What’d you manage to get?” She smiles, “Fitting then? I don’t have to take this robe off do I? I can barely lift my arms over my head at the moment.” She groans, “herlig, wonderful. It works just fine Thalia dear.” She carefully gets to her feet and motions, “To the armory then? I imagine it’ll be easier there, yes?”

Tahlia nodded, looking across as she knew that Freya would certainly be piqued by it, and with it, watched as she stood tall, suddenly going from just the regular large girl she was to well, a totem pole, at least another quarter of a Tahlia tall, which in most sense, made her crick her neck up.
“Yep, it’ll be much easier. I’ll show you what I’ve got you so far.” Tahlia added, as the two started to move, walking out of the room and headed down to that sector of the base- of course, in Freya’s lead. Tahlia could only follow, as they headed down the multitude of steps, and leaving the rainy outside behind, made their way to the first of the two armouries, and then, to the Heavies section. They would chat, talk, as per- it was a distance, after all, before they reached it.
“Yours to get us in on. Lemme grab the bits.” Tahlia commented, reaching across as she pulled the secured locker open near the entry, bringing it to task, a little difficult given the counterweight in her legs, but still, carrying the heavy box as best as she could.

Freya paced along with Tahlia making light little conversation of no real matter along the way. Observations about Tahlia’s legs, their homes and backgrounds, all that common stuff. And quickly soon they arrive at the Armouries. Freya nods and has to work a bit to lift one of her arms high enough to pull the lever to open the long, broad door, into the second half of the room. She smiles and stands there, looking within, “Never cease to amaze Tahlia. Never ever.” She heads over to the place her armor, still a little banged up sits, hanging from it’s wires and hooks and chains, “Seen better days too.” She groans and she turns and watches Tahlia then comes over to grab one end of the box, hey it’s not entirely on her own right? This ought to at least partially placate Keller if she finds out! “So, what did you do? And what kind of present is in this box? What’s the box?”

Tahlia helped lower the thing, a two person job as she pulled it apart, yanking open the wooden and composite crate with a couple of latches, before pulling out a few bits.
“Alrighty. So, first things first, upgrade for your shielding module. This little bit came in and you can fit that direct in. Port on the side of your emitter’s current position should be fittable, with a few impact bolts. This thing can hold off a tank round, believe it or not. Burns a lot of energy, but will do the trick if you need it to. On top of your Trophy System, it should offer you a lot of protection if you get someone like Ingwe trying it on with you again.” Tahlia noted, passing the large metallic box across to Freya, the device clearly able to re-route power, or at the least, regenerate some.

“Then, we have this thing. Another module for the AEW. Saw you used the armour-piercing mode on it as a long-range tool. So this one reduces the power output, but keeps the same magnification. Paired to a magnification tool inside your helmet, it should turn it into a rudimentary sniper. A sort of merge of a sniper, railgun and uhh….well, melter once it’s positioned onto a target. It’ll be like a really powerful microwave. Just a lot more crispier.” The Kiwi added, passing it over once Freya was ready.

Freya carefully took the shield module first, looking it over, finding the maintenance clasps and opening it up. The science woman within her wanting to see the internals, “Let’s see. It’s a upgrade, and huh this connects to the emitter…and these are condensers…and these are capacitors…a lot of them too. So it shunts all the shields together into one big one, that will then weather something heavy. That’s amazing!” She grins, “Great work here Tahlia.” She closes it up and puts it aside carefully.

Taking a seat this time and carefully reaching for the new AEW module, “Ahhh yeah I just kinda did that one a whim out in the field. I had to do something in the moment to get Lynx off Skye. And I was too far out to try and use the lightning mod, sure the bolt mod would have reached them, but there’s a chance that it would have also fried Skye in the moment. A big blast of lightning crawling through the trees and across the ground would have just as likely killed the boss girl as well as Lynx.” She looks at the new module over, “So the AP module was the only idea I could think of at the moment. I’m honestly surprised it worked so well on the spot.” Carefully reaching up she pulls the AEW down off the holder, setting it down beside the new module, “So a sniper module, something a little more well I like your word crisper. Gonna have to try it out on the range when I’m allowed to practice again.” She hums, “What do you think the range of this thing is going to be?”

Tahlia shrugged, seeing her appreciate the module, considering the story that worked out, playing around with the internals and getting her hands on it as keenly as she did.
“Not too sure. But theoretically, it should be significantly more concentrated. Way that the research team explained it to me, it’s like condensing a garden hose into a really, really thin stream. So theoretically, as much beam as you want, but you’ll need to play with the charge. Not too sure, but that was the idea, at least.” Tahlia commented, noting that indeed, she may not have had the technical nous, but she knew at least what to present.

“Glad to see you like the new toys. I know that there’s two new heavies, with their own. Chuck has jump jets, and Oliver his extended capacity on gear, so between the three, there should be some nice overlap. I’ll do what I can to make sure you all get the advantages between you in anything related to the development of your armour. We’ve never had three heavies on site before…rather interesting to work with, I’ll say.” Tahlia commented, the large Norwegian come Russian come American applying her scientific nous, as the Kiwi watched on, letting her geek out.

Freya nods, “That’s spectacular.” She sets the AEW and the new sniper module down carefully. She then looks at Tahlia, “So…I have a favor to ask then.” She looks pensive for a moment, “Look at the fight with Geza. It kinda rattled me, and resulted in the damage you see here.” She kinda motions at her shoulders, “I need to up the tone.” She puts her hand on the sniper module and the shield module, “These are a start. But I know I didn’t kill Geza. I hit him hard there in the fight. Just like he hit me hard. And I don’t think we’ve seen the last of him. He’ll come back. I think we really pissed him off. And he’s got a vendetta.” She sighs, and tries to reach for Starbreaker, but reaches too far, and winces, letting out a sound of pain, “Ah…fuck…can you, do something for Starbreaker? Make it, more gnarly? Make it so getting hit by this thing is something of legend?” She grits her teeth as she lowers her arm, letting it hand at her side now, doing her best to keep the pain off her face from the moment.

With a deep slow breath Freya looks across at Tahlia, “I’m not going to let something like that happen again. The other side are growing wily to us Heavies. They’re going to start employing them more often too. And we need to be ready. I’m not going to be a weak link.” She nods slowly, “I swear to that.”

Tahlia nodded, looking at the large warhammer, and hearing where Freya was coming from. She was hurt, but no doubt, wanted to keep going, holding back the pain considering how much she’d worked out. Giants were an odd breed- to fight and go that hard made most people cringe at how much they absolutely went in, like they just couldn’t be stopped. It was a different plane almost, and well, she could tell, the relationship was not one of just knowing each other, but a personal one. How many could there be like Freya? The idea did not need thinking about for too long, because whoever Raven didn’t get to first, the money did.

“You’re no weak link out there, Freya. Way Skye talks about you after saving her hide, I haven’t seen anything like it. But it already is pretty good. Might need something creative from the techs. I’m not sure about you, but that thing went out of fashion 600 years ago, and was probably last used by the rulers of blardy’ Asgard, you know?” Tahlia was brutally honest, as much as she could be to someone who could probably crush her skull with one hand.

“Does a good hit mind. You’ll get him back, if he’s pissy, just aim for the head when you can. It’s what I do, works a treat, though….with an arm like that, I suppose you get personal.” Tahlia added, smiling up at Freya, the compliment paid as the Kiwi bounded around, knowing she would want more.

Freya blinks and honestly blushes, “Wow…well thank you Tahlia, that’s actually very kind of you to say.” She nods slowly, “For a moment there I really did feel like one.” With a slow movement, she sits back up straight, resting her arm in her lap, “Hey something like this doesn’t totally go out of fashion. Starbreaker still has the clout to rock anything.” She taps her finger on her thigh, “What would it take to create a kind of kinetic impact mod for Starbreaker? Like when it hits it releases a blast like getting hit by a beanbag round? Know what I’m trying to say?” She sniffs, “Maybe I’m hoping for too much. But just an idea.”

The giant of a woman pats the new additions, “But this here is a good start Tahlia. And I am very grateful for it all. You all do great work.” A big ol smile and a bow of her head respectfully and appreciatively, “And I look forward to what else you and Sam can put together.” She rubs the shield mod, “And I’ll take copious notes and cams of the integration of this, just in case we need to tweak it.”

Tahlia blushed, smiling as she watched Freya came up with the idea and passed the compliment, the Kiwi taking it positively, breaking even her resolute demeanor. After all, if Skye was the team mum, she was the one making sure it all ticked along.
“I’ll pass it along. Sadly less my forte. I’m less engineer, more….pass-through.” Tahlia replied, though noting it down on a tablet she kept on her person, noting it down for something for them to work on.
“Hits like a fucking tool, I bet. I used one of those on the farm for putting in stakes on the fence. Bit smaller mind.” Tahlia commented, chuckling as she looked at the size of the thing, then up at Freya once again.
“So, that was what I wanted to show you. That’s my bit done, but while you were here, I might have something to ask you.” Tahlia queried with Freya, knowing that this conversation wasn’t completely done, something else, more personal coming back to mind. Something she’d wanted to ask, but couldn’t go to Skye about, not considering the situation at hand right now on the base.

“As you can see, I’ve got these legs of mine working good. But on the last op, there’s not a lot I could have done if things went pear shaped. That boot of mine gets stuck in the bog, I’m screwed. And you know how bad that would be when we’re up against bloody Artemis.” Tahlia said, walking around, the clack of the shoe from the titanium spring clicking onto the concrete floor, as Tahlia sat down on a bench, opposite Freya, somewhat more on her level.
“So I may have a bit of a….well, ask for help. Something like that. I’m like bloody Skye, far too stubborn for my own good. But if there’s anyone back at Blue Sword who might have a line on prosthetics, I’d appreciate it. I don’t need to be bionic woman. But just something more adaptable would be nice, that feels better than….well, a couple of titanium bits with a claw and a joint. I can’t find anyone who does anything better….it’s not exactly fun standing. But I know it exists, and even I can’t open that door really. But if you could ask nicely to someone who might in the people that make the mechanicals for you…I’d really, really appreciate it. It would mean heaps, even though I know it’s…..well, not really something I should have access to.” Tahlia asked, initially confident, yet somewhat sheepish of the fact that she had to ask someone. She hadn’t even run this by Skye yet- the fact was, she did want to be of more use but right now, while Skye was in the shit, she didn’t want to bring it up- at least, not really to any further extent to add another thing to her own twin, clone, whatever being killed. Sitting at base wasn’t going to help when her shot was good- she had self belief, but those leg of hers, it was useless- to a point that that she just felt like she couldn’t do the team any good.
“Sorry, that might be a lot to ask. Look, don’t worry, I’ll….”

Freya rested there abit, nodding slowly, “Well thank you for your work Tahlia really.” She quirked her head to the side abit, her hair waving as she leaned forward abit, “Oh well let’s hear it.” And listened to the story attentively, “Ahh yeah I can kinda understand where you’re coming from.” she nods slowly.

“Us types, the fighters and warriors, we do kinda have trouble asking for help huh?” She chuckles, “I get that really.” She nods, “Well lemme tell you a story.”

She took abit, then started, “We had a guy, or have a guy who runs a desk now, but does alot of the PT. Name of Gus Stanse, when he was in the field he was a speed freak. Always be the first to stack up, and the second man through the door.” She smiles, “I was fond of him, not to the extent I dated him, Jamie would have killed him, but fond of him. But anyway, one day his speed cost him. We were both out that time. And he went charging ahead. Recon he called it. And stepped on a AP mine. Tripped from the first one, and just missed landing on the second one stomach first. The first one took off his left foot at the ankle, the second one cut off his right one at the knee. It wasn’t pretty.” She sighs, “But one of the guys we contract through, name of Bitfor Killicka, he’s Russian if he’s nothing at all. A whiz with prosthetics. Built these prosthetics for Gus, and got him moving again. Couldn’t run the 100 in 8 seconds anymore, but he could still truck it on the field.”

The giant smiles, “I can find Bit’s contact info for you. I know he’s still in business. And if you drop my name, I’m sure Bitfor will gladly do some work for you. Fix you up with something. Make that boot look like a leather sandal.” She grins, “We help each other remember that Tahlia. And Bitty would do great for you.” She giggles a little. “When we’re done here I’ll go and look him up.”

Tahlia smiled, nodding back, glad to have asked. It was sometimes good to go out of her way and well, go do that thing- say something, given how for a long time, she had struggled personally and on her own. Disability was not something that came easy to a warrior- and there was never any permanent fix, there was adaptation, and well, something like this could be helpful. Resilience found a way, even through her own self.
“Thanks, Freya. That would be amazing….sounds like he might have something. Cheers. What I’d do to be able to go do more stuff….I mean, I can, but just not having to worry would be much better.” She mused, standing back up on her legs, the metal clicking a teeny bit on the floor, as she looked around the armoury, and then, with a nod back to Freya, a rare smile that continued. One of hope, in a way.
“Shall we get going? I imagine if we keep talking the boss is going to be pissed we’re not around for another round.” Tahlia chuckled,
“Although…she really seems rattled. Never seen her like this. Between you and me, Oracle has the same concern from what I think she went out for a chat with earlier. I really, really don’t want to see her go. So hopefully, we can just pull her back onto page. If you know what I mean.” Tahlia said, the team’s homebase tech sharing some gossip, the usual office banter that would transcend most places- and in Raven, it was much the same.

Freya nods and stands to her feet again, groaning a little and stretching but making sure not to over exert, “Yeah, I really don’t wanna leave Skye alone for too long. Even with everyone else in the rec room she’s, off her game. Big time. Seeing your double, then seeing your double die.” She trails off for abit, “something I didn’t intend to do. But all that and the doozy of an op. It rattles us all. I can’t even begin to guess what Sam is feeling. If I could hug everyone at once I would.”

She starts to move walking along side Tahlia, “Hey if anyone can do it, the team can bring our boss girl back around. We’re pretty much family. And family takes care of their own. We’ll all pull her back around, help her back through this. And it won’t ever be like before, but we can all work to make it right atleast. And then, the only way is forward.”

A sage nod which makes her wince, “Ow…now even nodding hurts.” And there goes the image of the sagely giantess.

“Blimey, Freya you definitely seem more hurt than usual. Whatever cocktail of drugs Sophia said you should be on, I reckon you could double it.” Tahlia observed, the little things adding up a bit more and more, as they walked alongside, the Kiwi comically small compared to everything about Freya, from her gigantic arms, legs and other assets to the team’s quartermaster.

“We’ll pull her through. Get some answers, figure this out and put a stop to it. Same with Mateo. Skye said he went dark, but if you ask me, I think it’s that once he got rid of Tejedor, I think he’s realizing revenge isn’t all it seems. He has a lot of demons too. But nobody here doesn’t, I don’t think…” She observed, noting that indeed, he’d been caught up in something too, but for now, had been let off the leash considering how heavy things had gotten.

“I hope it doesn’t come to anything more serious, you know. I’ve only worked with her, but I guess she gives us a good leash. Anyone else, I don’t think so. From that perspective I guess, while I….find her to be tricky at times, she gets the job done. I kinda respect her, in that way. Same back to me. I create her shit, she creates it back. A good pair, but blimey, you get me someone full of shit….and I’d be creating a storm in a teacup, I tell ya. And I’d need those bloody legs to go running.” Tahlia opened herself more, smirking and smiling, looking up steeply, not hurting her neck as much as Freya did, but certainly straining to see.

Freya nods “We’ll manage it. We always do.” She tilts her head down, and winks at Tahlia, “Luckily no one is obligated to hold you down for the boss lady.” She chuckles, “As far as I know anyway. Unless she has blackmail on someone on the team who she can order to grab you when you run.” She picked her way up the stairs back towards the rec room, the sound of the chatter from within starting to get louder as they got closer.

Her smile gets bigger, “There you go, that’s what I’m talking about. Skye may be feeling low. But she’s not alone. Everyone has a place to fill, a spot to watch. She and we may all get shit faced drunk tonight, and all maybe even have to indulge in abit of the hair of the dog tomorrow, but we’ll all get through this. I’d be willing to bet every single iota of knowledge I’ve learned and spawned, and every last cent I’ve earned and made. The state of our family is strong.” She grins and nods, “And when it’s all said and done. We’ll all be standing like badasses. And some one can use my cheeks for pillows to help keep them upright.” A wink and then she manages to reach back and give her rear a light smack, “It’s what they’re there for.”

The Kiwi grinned, as they headed back up the stairs, Freya’s almighty rear right in front of Tahlia as it sounded like a thunderclap, shaking and wobbling all over the place.
“Jesus….if the world’s held by those, I think there’d be more traffic collisions on the roads. I won’t even ask how much creatine you’re inhaling these days. Look like more a bloody hydraulic press than pillows. More Sam’s department of tooling.” Tahlia giggled in return, following up, as they headed in the direction of the rec room, headed back towards the gang having their party, and to meet the rest of the crew.

Freya smiles and waved, “We’re back folks. So how’s the party going hum? Skye you doing good there babe? Sam? How are we doing?” Yes, they’d survive this. The family all in one will make this work. She sat back down and playfully hip-bumped Skye, “Pass me a glass.”

Kaitiaki Homestead, Raven HQ

(A Collab between @FourtyTwo@BigPapaBelial@LadyAmber@Jamesyco)

The team coming together was a happy sight, with everyone in place that was here to grab a drink or at least, come together after it all. Even Tahlia and Freya were back, and grabbing their drinks, though Skye could tell the mood was unbalanced. A lot had happened, and the team had much to relax over, but they would see the latent tension in her. Skye could spot the look Sam was giving her, and well, it was fair to say the least. She was no alcoholic, but well, maybe the whiskey had come out too quick. And she had been withdrawn, more than usual, more….contemplative. A little inside herself, thinking about Lynx. A lot more. It made no sense, the lack of fear, the happiness, the memory. The David Bowie song. Shit, that rang in her ears.

Skye felt a little memory come back. Sitting there, that long drive away, all of it. The whole memory felt hazy, but in some ways, it wasn’t a bad memory. Just that it felt taint, contaminated by all that had happened.

As she went to say something more, her phone rang. The name listed up on it that would have their updates. So it was about time. Hoping that this was it. All clear. It wouldn’t be, as she picked it up.
“Oracle, is everything ok?” Skye’s voice responded professionally, the news less than stellar.

“Nope, opposite. You need to cut everything related to your personal data access, now, down all accounts immediately. We have a serious problem. I can’t even begin to explain it. Do it now, then we need to talk properly. We may have a breach, serious one…..Lynx is not at all what we expected, she’s used you. I’m getting intel as we talk, but if it’s true, we are in seriously deep shit. We may need to trigger the worst case….” Oracle’s voice carried, as Skye left the scene and the sofa, and walking towards her office, she knew what had to be done. If this was true, then well, things were about to get real. Seriously terrifying. Skye looked back to Sam, with a look in her eyes, a fear of sorts, one that seemed to be tripping inside, as she walked off, and out of the lounge.
“Fuck, don’t say that. We’ll have time to do something….hang tight…” Skye replied, ominous as she walked away from the team, panicked and worried, and well, off onto her own. Oracle sounded like the hairs on his back were raised, and from it, Skye’s were too, hand to phone, as she stepped into the office. She hoped it wouldn’t be too long; this was secret, and the team would know as soon as it was done.

Walking inside, the baton slapped into the back of Skye's head and with it, a sharp pull into Skye's side, of what felt like a screaming needle-like pain. It was too late, as she crumpled to the floor, and the door shut.

-----

Samantha had started her day out with a run. She had needed some space to do some thinking. The last op had been very intense. She had needed peace and quiet to really comb through how she was feeling about things. She was grateful to Freya for forging ahead and engaging Lynx to save their leader and her friend. She felt guilty that Freya had come out of that fight with some pretty serious injuries. By the time she had managed to get to the battle it was over. She had come home from the op with some minor bruising. Seeing Skye in a desperate battle that had almost killed her and Freya had made her pause and reflect about losing them. Freya and Skye had become like sisters she had not known she ever wanted. Skye was like a big sister to her. She offered counseling and guidance while giving her the space to be herself. Freya was a like mind and kindred spirit that she could let her hair down with. She had found herself socializing more and spending more time with Freya. She found herself enjoying their interactions and seeking them out. Samantha had always been a very private kind of person and a loner. She had always felt different from everyone else with her intelligence and abilities. She had never really had friends. She didn’t follow normal child development rules because she could understand quantum mechanics and math by the time she was 10. Girls her age had been playing with Barbie and she had been building guidance systems for Uncle Sam. She had understood why others were not like her but it didn’t stop her from feeling lonely. She had never had anyone who really understood her or sought her company until she had come to Raven Squad.

The two women had come to be very important to Samantha. It was for this reason she had needed to really take a step back and re-evaluate what staying with the team would mean. Could she really go back into battle next to them knowing that they might not live through it? Would she care if they died and she wasn’t around to stop it? The answers had surprised her and opened up more questions and areas of growth for her. She hoped she was making her father proud. She had decided that she needed to work on building more things and creating things that will help mankind. She couldn’t continue to just cause more destruction. She wanted to put her skills to work to help solve some of the issues plaguing the human race. Humanity was on a one way trip to extinction if it didn’t turn around and change its ways. Overpopulation of the Earth was causing critical harm to the planet and its ecosystems. There was already a lot that humanity could do to stop and begin reversing the damage, however, finding the collective will to take and support those actions was nowhere in sight. She understood Artemis’ reasoning on that point but trading in superficial representatives and oligarchy for dictatorships was not the answer either. She also knew that if something happened to Freya or Skye and she wasn’t around to help prevent it, she would always wonder if she could have changed the outcome. She had chosen to stay with the team. She knew she would make a difference here. She would just take up some side projects like Freya.

Samantha had been quiet most of the day as she worked through all the emotions and thoughts that had bubbled up because of the intensity and actions from the last op. Others probably thought she was brooding or moody. She had not spread her typical cheerful mischief around today. She had carried on her work but had done so by herself without her typical sassy attitude. She was concerned about Freya. She hadn’t realized how hurt her giant friend had been in that last battle. She might need to rethink bracing inside her armor to help her prevent fractures. She already had ideas on how to improve her flight suit.

Samantha had sat through the meeting Skye had called. She had refused to drink with Skye tonight. She wanted to have a clear mind when she confronted her friend and tried to help her through the mind fuck that the last op had put her through. She understood why the powers that be had benched Skye after the last op. It had to mess with your mind to fight your doppelganger who seemed to know more about you than they should. She wondered how Skye was working through the information they had gained and processing it. She had a feeling that something was very wrong. Skye was typically confident and projected strength. Sam could tell Skye was faking cheer during the meeting. She knew that the last op was bothering her. Hell that last op had bothered her and she was still working on processing everything that had happened and it was not her face that the bad guy had mirrored. She had hoped to confront Skye with Freya and get her alone for some girl talk. She knew Freya wasn’t up to anything strenuous. She had left Freya behind sitting and enjoying the company of the rest of the team. She hoped the giant would start to feel better. She would confront Skye alone. Perhaps she would feel more like talking if it was just the two of them.

---

Bleary eyed, Skye looked up as she came back to her senses, leaned against the concrete wall.
"Evening....would you look who decided to wake up at long last." Skye fully opened her eyes, and....there she was. Skye Rosalind Lyons, doubled. She looked maybe a couple of years younger, but oddly, had the same wear, tear and scratches, cuts, marks. She was alive, completely well, like she hadn't been in any firefight at all. And was dressed identically to Skye, no less. Blue shirt, jeans, hair, everything. She had put the phone down that was in Skye’s hand, back on the desk and into place.
"No....no way. You're dead." Skye called in fear, in a desperate yelp, hurting from the pain in her side. The needle had definitely gone through and out, but it felt like she’d been stabbed, the feeling coursing through her something akin to it. Lynx didn’t really care so much.

"Very much alive. And to be honest, still not over the fact that you just didn't do as I said. I told you then, it's an easier way. Because, if you had any memory left, you know I don't really do that sort of thing. So I had to take a different approach when we met next." Lynx leaned in, smirking, aware this time, there was no running for Skye. No fighting back.

Looking at her hand, Skye saw it. Tape, and a clacker, pulled in tight. It was live, from the pulsating beep on it. This was a setup that would certainly kill if done wrong, because if she even so much as gently moved her hand a little, it would release and blow up whatever was on the other end.

"Wait, what!?"

"Dead Man's Switch, obviously. Have you never done this? See, you really aren't as clever as you think you are. You reach for a weapon, all I have to do is hit your arm really hard and a bit of amount of pressure will dislodge that. Even better yet, the walls are concrete. They'll die out there with the explosive I packed into the sofa earlier. I'll live, and then I'd just put you out of your misery for just being difficult. For someone like me, it’s rare that I'm undecided." Lynx mused, walking about and looking over Skye’s phone, the print unlocking it because of course, it was literally Skye’s prints.

"What the fuck.....and how did you find us? No, no….I saw you fucking die…..no chance!"

"Well, you saw THAT version of me die. That ranked as one of the more painful ones, I’ll admit, being ripped nearly limb from limb by the other redhead, who, may I say, is an absolute bombshell! So she is dead, but well, I’m still here. And did you really think I just put normal blood into that body? I've got nanite-covered smartblood. Recent addition, but my word, it is so good. Means I know where I am at all times. Even if I was splatted over your larger companion, the particles follow and do their job, just means I follow the satellite trace of it, because that’s what I do. I guess I had to make sure you got personal at some point or else it wouldn't have worked."

"So I'm you then? And who the fuck are you, another copy, working for Artemis? None of this is making sense…." Skye bluttered, feeling pretty helpless, as the other Skye towered over, sitting on her own desk, looking rather victorious at this point.

"Ah, Skye. See, the thing is, you must think you're the real me. Normal consciousness does that. The truth is, you're just a defect. A copy that didn’t work out." Lynx called back, Skye looking in horror, her body hurting, her mind in particular hurting from whatever she was stabbed with.
"What the fuck are you saying?" Skye’s confusion intensified, just realising her worst, most strangest fear. This wasn’t a clone. This was someone who seemed to be her more than this.
"Oh gosh. I have a lot to catch you up on, but fine, since they think you’ll be here a while on the phone, I should explain it to you. Maybe you’ll understand and come around, after all, you are reasonable, from every psych eval I have read. Do you really not remember any of our childhood?" Lynx seemed to query, the empathetic tone coming back, somewhat showing that while she seemed to not really care much, she did at least see half of herself in Skye. Which, in all honesty with how weird this was to Skye, may have made half a bit of sense.
"Does anyone?" Skye replied, confused about her line of questioning. She was psychotic, sociopathic, hell, just right now, straight up philosophical.

"I do. Have you ever heard of the programme run by the University of Edinburgh where they cloned a sheep, some years ago? Dolly the Sheep?"

"Well. The Americans had MK Ultra, the French, British, Germans, Belgians, they had to have something to counterweight it throughout the late Cold War, and then, in the new millenium. Initially, genetic manipulation, then playing with embryos, stem cells, that sort of thing. You see it all the time. But behind all of what happened to Dolly the Sheep, was a programme so incredible, it has never been even equalled.

"About thirty years ago, a brilliant scientist finally goes and does what is considered the holy grail of genetics as part of a joint project in NATO He spawned a human embryo in the egg of a donor, and put into her, the most brilliant, perfect genetic strand there was, manipulating the very fibre to create perfection. It, of course, would normally break every moral, cultural, scientific rule there is, but he did it because there was a lot of money, and a lot of possibility on the line. He saw it as a chance to fix genetic disease, but also, contribute to the betterment of humanity. And through a bit of IVF, he created us. The problem is, of course, genetic copies rarely last in animals, in humans, even worse odds. Well, they didn't have back when we were born.. So what's even more incredible...he understood the most unwritten code there was. He looked into the eyes of existence itself, and found everything. The understanding of human consciousness. And turned it into pure data, ones and zeroes, or at least, a quantum-encrypted version of it that does both. People are paradoxes, after all. And more importantly, how it works to flicker it out and in. Being alive is a neural network so complicated that it can't be made artificially, but it can be copied, duplicated, and wholesale, transferred into a host so it can parse, interface and work in another form that has the same layout. Memory, thought, feeling….your humanity. All of it. Who you are, perceive, and see, what you remember. That can't be copied between different minds from ECG scans to another host like a computer, or another brain of different capacity. But say, you had an identical host, one that you could just cut and paste into....well, that would change things."

"That is immortality. You can network into another brain, another body, of same type, same kind. The neurons are there, developed out to their logical conclusion in a carbon copy of you to work just the same to fire on. Synthetic external uteruses, or basically a giant plastic bag, and a few feedstuffs later with a networked connection, and you have as many versions of the girl that can live forever that you want, but of course, grown out in age and type for the moment being. Of course, provided that you do all of this perfectly, and have every prerequisite like we do, any slight imperfection wouldn’t work at all. So to answer your question….you aren't that! You’re not a version of me that does that." Skye's mouth completely, if not utterly dropped at her response. Lynx continued, sitting on the table, watching as Skye struggled a little, listening in hypnotically.

"We were born to our mother, all normal, but as an implant of that…..like IVF but more complex, as you can imagine. Anyway, we had an normal upbringing. After all, we had to. A child in a lab constantly becomes feral, a plaything. We lived, breathed, explored Portree and home, and had a happy childhood with him, and his recently married other half. A normal little girl, and it was a lovely time. Our dad, of course, being the chief researcher on the project was entrusted with his creation and enthralled. Our dad picked out our red hair, our little freckling, the blue eyes, the physicality, mind, all of it....very much so, he made choices that resulted in us being the cute little Highland girl we were. It’s needed because he realised that if he just made a cookie cutter lab rat, she would never be anyone human, that was his dream. But when we were listening to Heroes, they were taking us back to Porton Down, the laboratory where he had it all arranged. It's where I imagine it goes fuzzy for you. Because they parsed us over for the first time. Saw what they could do with another body. But instead of a cut...they copied. And had two versions, at once. Worse than twins, they had parallel minds. There is no merge function to that. That is a failure of the system, because me, and you, are BOTH alive."

"And Dad couldn't bare doing what any father ever wants to do. Adoptive or not, he couldn't kill you, the copy of the girl to the one he watched grow up because they’d kill her otherwise- and keep the other. He took you home and quit. Left the whole thing behind, and then...I guess he disappeared six years later when they realized he might not hold his end of the bargain and live a quiet life as a fisherman. To quit his life’s work for you, Skye, that is incredible. Because the UK Government and NATO realized that they couldn't replicate it without what he knew. Because he'd stolen it, destroyed it, and well, rendered it corrupted because he wanted them to never figure it out, understanding how ... .challenging it could be for humankind. The UK, US, European Union, NATO, China, Russia, everyone, have attempted dozens, if not hundreds since to do what our dad did, and they have all failed. Died before they were ten, because they were wrong in every possible way about understanding the human inside. A pair of giants that the Soviets did are the only ones I heard even came close, but they were incestual fuckwits with zero transfer capability. But not you, Skye. You're the girl that also lived, because you're remarkably, the carbon copy that doesn't shatter, and not the shell that should have been me. I know your records, you get periods, everything. You're completely normal. Your genetic structure is stable, with zero deterioration. Just....no way to work with my mind because your synapses have gone the other way due to a tiny genetic mutation caused by ... .well, I have no idea on that one. It means you have zero correlation to who I am now in my mind." She paused for breath, knowing Skye was going to be screaming internally at all of this. If there was any way to hear it, it was hearing she was a lab-tissue based freak, not even that could make any possible sense. It was a cosmic level of horror, the kind that would hurt anyone’s head, but right now, it was an answer. The answer.

"And that's why you're defective. You're the only version of me that isn't cut, and paste, and I can't fix it now we’ve deviated. You're a version of me that hasn't got any neural networking…. because dad took you home, and treated you like his daughter, cutting out the lump above your spine that contains a neural node that is basically, a plug to your consciousness, memory and brain matter. The lion on your back covers it, I believe. Dad loved you so, so much, before and after. But he left me in a boarding school as part of the deal....as a fucking orphan. Because he knew what they would do, what they would want…it was like it was he knew he would lose his only daughter and so made a deal with the devil to perhaps save you. He left me to be experimented on, tampered with, tested. I was told they both died in a car crash, that I was special, that in spite of it, I was to be able to change the world. When I found that out it was a lie, do you know how close I came to just ripping out your throat?! And your mother…you wonder why she can’t handle this? She knows you’re a bastard child, an adoration of a man addicted to his work. Well, I couldn’t stop." She called the sealed door keeping the noise out. The other Skye that wasn’t on the floor with a DMS looked on, holding back every inch right now, and blow up her friends too by just ending it with a bullet in Skye’s skull.

"They put me into private school down south and only when I was 9, was I even allowed back for more testing. They did it for the first time, the transfer worked seamlessly. One body, to the next, clean. It felt good, suddenly, seamlessly going from one to the next. At first, it was direct, then broadband, then fibre, then it was satellite based. After all, the algorithms did their job, they did exactly as they needed to with the complex, infinite biomechanical machine that is a brain wired into a specien that doesn't get ill, hurt or anything. I learned how to fight, then to kill, then, how to do the work of someone who doesn’t have to worry about death. You learn so fast when you can take every risk without consequence. Just respawn in a liquid sack and drop out of it onto a padded floor. Which….I still can’t believe. I worked for good old Britain's Secret Intelligence Services, just the same as you, and I died at least a half dozen times. I was betrayed, killed, raped, all of it. I went through all that pain and learned so much. Lived lifetimes. And then I fucking learn that they want me dead...because supposedly, my actual double that for decades I claimed I was.....you.....were leaving.” Lynx seemed emotional, even for someone without much, she seemed to be bleeding it. Skye could begin to understand why. Jesus….that must have been rough as hell. To do that? Lynx didn’t stop.

"After everything, they realize I might be a threat. I cut them off first, feigned I was dead on an op with the server out too, and transferred an entire server room's worth of gear out of one secure location to another. Which was risky....got a feel of what it's like for you to suddenly not be immortal for a few days. Artemis were the only ones that could help me, so they stepped in nicely. And in the process, I made some upgrades to make sure I kept up with the times.. No more physical interfacing. It's to the cloud via satellite, wirelessly, every thirty seconds updating all of it. I've got an AI that basically works for me to parse it, and the terabytes and terabytes of data just rushes out without even a hitch. And well, when you have no fear, you can do anything. You also realise how fucked the world is. Can't you see? Run the numbers, run it all, and dreamers like Pavel Andros and Artemis think they can hide in bunkers, tell you the world’s going to be a better place if you only give them more power. Hah. Then there is you and everyone else, who thinks we can have it as normal. The truth that people never get, is that we are facing the end of us. Heat that kills, crises after crises, the full collapse of the order as we know as humanity falls apart. I can see that now. And we're not going to perform a miracle. I served Artemis. Now it just goes for me."

"So you're some omnipotent being now? That makes you God-Emperor of everyone, with the fucking AI that biases to you?"

"Not quite. For starters, there's no living in a computer, it's black or white, you're in a physical core or not, the parsing just gets done a lot better. There's no real way to kill me, I suppose because it always redirects to one, to a point it's a failsafe. But the point is, nobody has done this. Not even dad would have believed it's possible to harness an AI to improve cognitive ability. The other part of course, was it confirmed my worst suspicions..about everything."

"Then you didn't go far enough if you're that good."

"Well, here's the thing. I don't want you dead, them in that room, I might not either. In Chile, I guess I had to make you fight or else I'd lose my lead on you, so I made sure you felt it, the way I would...given we probably have the same training and capability. As much as you're full of feelings and lacking in immortality, you have been incredibly useful. I need another shell, and yours, yours would be unbelievable. I already lived through you as a double, came so close, but now, you have given me all that Artemis couldn't. They held the strings, but you, you dismantled them from the outside in to give them over to me."

"Everything that happened, it comes to me. I made sure that the moron himself, Pavel Andros had his grubby fingers over the hack that Mercury did to you with the weapons deal you couldn't miss, then once you took him out of the equation, I knew he'd leak the rest. Chile and Colombia, and poor old Spectre just had to go see Tejedor to accelerate their program knowing Raven was closing in, which Mateo wanted to see as well, and you wanted to take down a satellite network so you could pull apart Artemis. And did. So you in one fell swoop, got me the drugs, intelligence, and fuck, even the satellite network node that I needed. You basically set me up completely, because the other assets, they'll be mine in time. And now, here we are. I've got you here, your friends next door rigged to blow if you decide that's a bad idea, and well, the next phase to go on."

"You're a fucking monster.....and maybe you played well. Doesn't make you right though, makes you just a bigger murderer."

"And what do you think, are we really so different in philosophy than you think? You killed dozens, if not almost a hundred mercenaries, just in Chile alone. What's your bodycount, Skye, I reckon a few thousand? You kill people in cold blood, and I have to admit, proves that even without the ability to do what I can, our mortal coil is so fucking good as is. Tell me where we're so different because I just did the same. Only difference is, you were willing to die for what you believed was duty. You can't imagine what it's like to actually do it like I did. And then realize death means nothing. It’s pointless. Futile. But life, life is worth having."
"I do that work for the greater good, one that stops terrorists selling nuclear material, secrets, the lot....whatever your name is."

"Hah, the greater good. Do you know how many times I've heard that? You kill for the "Greater Good". So do I. We do it so much, didn’t we? Getting told by superiors that this time, we’ll win. But what are you going to replace that evil with? The status quo? You mean, the one that is basically Artemis anyway? Come on. You know this needs transformative change. You believe that, you say it. What's holding you back? I don’t see anything. I see a girl who just served a purpose like me, more useful because she has something special yet held back."

"You want to go further? Because you think they all need to fall? I don’t want this. Nobody wants this."

"Well, I want to kill all of them, Skye. All of them. The drug you found, the satellite network you just got a key for, the resources of Artemis, and now....the cherry on top. You. Now, you've just given me everything I want, your access just means I know what to do with it. I can't be mad at you, you're just a victim of it, though I'm jealous of your normality. I want to spare you, but you need to accept facts. You need to understand, root and stem, this needs a reset. Population needs thinning far more dramatically, money needs gutting, control needs asserting, and we need to make human beings better, far, far more than what they are now. We’re a template of it. Our body can survive climate change, and with enough work, so can others too based on what we are….and well, you would be a leader in that world, a fragment that can still be whole. Enough to keep me human, because you have that about you that I can’t have fixing issues in the day to day. You keep me going another twenty, fourty, sixty years with the servers that you stopped Artemis getting at Wildspitze, and I could make a world so much better than any vision of what you can believe. A world where we can have accelerationism, a cure for resources, and everything in-between, a human race that can't die, that spreads beyond this soil and has it all. None of their bullshit. Just us.

"Utopia, Skye. You stand between me and that, and you don’t understand that was literally what we were born to do.. Our blood can survive, so humanity can too. The many die so the few thrive to see a world beyond. And I'm not going to waste a version of me that might stand a chance in that world to ensure the feelings carry on….that'd be cruel. It pains me to hurt you as much as it did you, Skye, so if you agree to submit, you can live in that world. And I’ll find a way to put you into it. Just yield. Because if you don’t, this gets worse and I’ll ruin everything you love, before I have to do this again."

"You are beyond demented. You talk about people like they're things, like they're inferior?"

"Artemis would do this so they can live in their cells to ride the storm....they'd be swallowed in before they even tried. Didn't you identify it correctly? They would hold nations ransom, kill hundreds of thousands, millions, creating a black hole of despair and poverty. The only outcome, poor Spectre didn't realize, is that the world would disintegrate pretty fast at their expense. Look at how we dealt with disease, war, famine, before. Human beings are not made to co-exist when there are limited resources. We are animals in a non-infinite system. And without getting into semantics, the richest use the most. So I'd start with them, start ripping it apart. Scale back and retreat in the face of odds we cannot win against. That won't come from politicians, activists, generals, CEOs, bankers.....no, it will have to come from someone else with power, real power, that can do something. Someone like me. Humanity needs a cut, and it starts with the people you work for, Artemis, then the reality people won't say. A lot of people will die, but look at them, and how hopeless they are. They’re greedy, selfish, fuckpigs who want it all and can’t even admit they’re boiling alive....fighting over bloody shopping during the sales. So a lot of people will one day live in a world our father wanted to make humanity live in."

"Then give me your name at least. Because if you're going to swallow me whole.....I'd like to know. You will never take me. Never. I’d rather die than live in that shithole of your existence. You’re beyond mental. And I’d fight you to the last cell if that is what it took."

"Fine, I may as well considering I've told you what's going to happen, and well, there isn't anything you can do now, and you're going to want to die with it. It's Rosalind. Your middle name, I believe. But, call me Rose. Now, you're going to pass out, shortly. Neurotoxin's going to kick in, and you'll start getting a feeling of what I felt like at the start of this process to start a transfer, it’s a drug that in time, would click off that big boom in your lounge and kill you. I would pass you the cure if you decided to be a good girl, maybe even find a place for you in all of this, but you know what ... .I can’t if you’re going to be this hateful. This opposing fury, after all of it….no, I can’t work with that. I thought you’d understand, but you clearly can’t find the capacity."

“So here’s what’ll happen. After I stop you blowing them all to bits, I'm going to walk out of this room and see what it's like to live a life in your shoes. I think I look the part. And you know what? I'm looking forward to it already. Then you? I'll tell the team all about it. And then, they'll get to see you, who tried to kill me before I got you pinned with that same vial again. Then they’ll probably lock you away too, dissect you like they did poor old….what did you call her, Lynx?"

"You sick...no, they'll know. You can’t…."

"Do they? I'll have the ability to take your voice on, that's not hard with a modulator. Thanks to what you did, there's a good chance they'll have to remove you from your position as the team lead. And even more so when you sit there with a dead man's trigger in hand and they think I'm you. Can you believe that?" Rose chuckled, looking on at the helpless Skye, who even in this situation, was turning her gears in her head.

"But they would come to serve me well in time too. You are a born leader, and my, you really put people in the right place too. Like Freya. Do you have any idea how much her eggs would be worth? My gosh, you could make a better version of me on her. Wouldn't take much of Vale's genetics team, after all, splice it with a body for short-haul and you'd have someone unstoppable in combat. Or perhaps Sam's? She has that ability to hack anything. Cognitive processing power like that isn't easy to find, she has so much I’d want to unpack. Thing is, they'd have to die for that....so I guess you'd just be left. And clearly you don’t want to join in."

"You are beyond ludicrous. Crazy. This is your fucked version of morality?"

"Morality is relative, Skye. I call it survival of us as a species so we can go on for millenia, not a few more decades. Ta-ta, Skye."

With it, Rose left the room, and headed back down the hallway, hearing footsteps beyond the slightly sealed door. With the patch on her throat back on, she yelled out, and well, emulated Skye’s accent perfectly. There was Sam coming over quickly, and well, Skye, sorry, Rose, whoever it was, had to act natural.

"Shit…..Sam, Lynx is in my fucking office! I managed to take her out, come quick!" Rose yelled, and, realised oh, this was all too perfect. They'd have no way of knowing, the little sticker across her throat, putting her Scots accent back in, a teletype of Skye’s given it was literally from the same vocal cords, and well, sort of the same sample range.

Maybe she didn't realize that Skye didn't, well, hold on with that neurotoxin. An error on Rose's part had done no favours for her, as she clambered up, bleary, but aware, for a few minutes longer at least. She had no idea how long she’d been out, as Skye hunked up against the door, coughing hard, the trigger in hand as she reached across for a lamp on her desk, bringing it into hand. There was no time to think. Only to do. Once she rounded the corner, hoping to see Skye on the floor, the Scot had the chance to spring a trap. And pray, just pray she could hold the trigger as tight as possible and plead, beg and beg that Sam would figure this out. Somehow, there had to be a difference between them.

“Sam, she’s fucking lying! It’s fucking Lynx!” Skye yelled from inside, and getting ready, knew that any second now, Rose would meet Sam, in that corridor, as a first responder. Out of it, Skye had to be ready. She’d be the aggressor, and everything was set up to make her look like she was….well, going to kill the rest of the team, in a heartbeat. The only way she could pray, hope, was that Sam knew what was going on. She had to even the odds somewhat, at the least, put distance between the two, so they would be a 50/50. Otherwise, Skye was truly screwed.

She gave Skye a few minutes to disappear before she quietly slipped out of the room and went in search of Skye. She decided to try her office first. Skye didn’t like to sit still any more than she did. She was willing to bet that the redhead was working in her office or moping about waiting on the next update. Skye had been the one most impacted by Lynx. She was still waiting to find out more about who Lynx was. She couldn’t imagine the doubt and worry that Skye must be experiencing. She had just rounded the staircase to the landing by Skye’s office when she heard Skye yelling that Lynx was in her office. She took off running towards Skye’s office and the voice that had called out to her.

She saw two Skye’s battling it out on the floor. What the hell?! How many damn clones of Skye does Artemis have? Her eyes trailed over them both trying to decide what to do. Nope she couldn’t tell who was who. They were dressed alike, they looked alike, they sounded alike, How was she supposed to tell who was who? She needed to put a stop to this. The first step was to get control of the situation. They had both been yelling back and forth trying to win her attention and support to their side. She needed some help. She was only one person and it had taken Skye and Freya to take down Lynx and Skye herself would be a challenge for Samantha if she needed to fight her for real. Samantha ran over to the wall and slapped the alarm button. She pressed the intercom button “The base has been penetrated. I repeat intruders on base. I need help in Skye’s office.”

Chuck looked up as alarms started blaring. Duke surged to his feet and let out a bark, his body tense. Chuck’s eyebrows rose as adrenaline kicked in. Years of training and he slid right back to a state of readiness. He was however not in armor or even had a weapon on him. Well that never stopped him before. He looked around the room. Chuck didn’t even think about chain of command. He honestly didn’t know who was next in the chain past Skye. They were all such specialists and professionals. Everyone knew their role. Chuck simply took charge because he was trained for it and until recently was the person in charge. Chuck started pointing “Tahlia get on the intercom and get base security moving. Javi, grab some guards and get to Skye’s office now.” Chuck turned to the others in the room. “Everyone, pair up and help sweep the base. Be careful.” Chuck began to pace to bleed off energy as he waited to find out more. Duke began to circle the sofa.

Javi had been enjoying some rare downtime with the team. He had been called by Skye and invited to this meeting. Evidently that was her way of filling him in on what was happening with the team. He had heard the rumors and from overhearing some of the team talking of course. He was still trying to process what she had shared. He had startled when the alarm began to blare. What? He looked around as if expecting an attack. Chuck’s strong voice snapped him into focus. It was a shock to his system to hear the base had intruders. Javi took great pains to hide his equipment and its movement to make sure they weren’t tracked. How had Artemis found them? He surged into action and ran out of the recreation room. The whole base was coming alive as the alert and alarm sounded through the base. Guards armed with rifles and in kevlar began to pour into the main building. Javi only stopped long enough to tap two guards on the chest “You and You are with me. We are responding to Skye’s office. Sam said she needed help there.” Javi hoped the spunky genius was alright. He loved the ideas that woman came up with. He began to make his way towards Skye’s office.

Tahlia did as she heard, running over to the intercom on the wall, yanking the headset and pulling it in. The groundskeep come to grab it, repeating the words of Sam, specifically hailing the small, but not insignificant security team. They’d have access to a concealed SAM site, weapons of their own and ability to at least hold back the river of soldiers coming if there was an assault about to come in, or here. Chuck was quick to note the situation, considering his history- but this was the Kiwi’s home to provide for Raven, so she made it very clear on what needed to happen next. They’d have to lock down, and get mobilised.
“Kaitiaki Security, we have a breach! Get to emergency stations, we have an intruder on site in Kaitiaki Main!”

—

As Rose came around the corner, Skye smashed the lamp against her, kicking her to the floor, and backing over, falling over and putting two hands to her hands to pin the trigger into place, ensuring it wouldn’t even try to move. Rose belted up, drawing her pistol, pointing it dead at Skye. She couldn’t shoot, because it would mean instant kaboom. The door was left wide open, and that would release any explosion in. Even though Rose had no reason to care about leaving Skye alive, the only way she was tapping into Raven was by this very moment. That and the other aspects she would get to work on. So it was do or die. She had calculated it as a risk, because if Skye was dead, then Rose was in……permanently.

“Sam, she’s fucking strapped a DMS to me! It’s Lynx, I can’t explain, but it’s…it’s her, she’s setting this up, she’s drugged me and is trying to pass off as me!” Skye slurred, the toxin slowly building in, but Skye resisted everything, her voice slurring while Rose’s did not.

“Bullshit, you look like me, ey! Strapped that thing to yourself to make yourself look like a fuckin’ victim, Sam, she barely looks anything like me, it’s a ruse! We can’t shoot her given she blows that up, she’ll kill the team in there….we need to back her down, or we’ll be toast, and the bitch is going to come back again!” Rose called back, her voice modulator back on, her accent, calls, mannerisms near identical to Skye. Tiny tells would give her apart, as she raised the pistol back up at Skye, keeping off of Sam, praying that the American would buy the bait.
“Back down, fuck, you strapped this to me! Sam, I can’t…..I can’t hold this long….she’s done this to me to look this way, listen, please….” Skye looked to be breaking, but so, on cue, was Rose.

Samantha looked at the two Skye’s.She didn’t typically walk around base with a gun. It was supposed to be secure. She used her voice to indicate she meant business. They both were trying to convince her that they were Skye, which meant they needed her help in some way. She would just need to swing things in her favor as much as she could. She needed to get them away from each other and she needed a way to control the situation. She was wary of getting too close to either one of them. “Step away from each other. We will figure this out. NOW!” Samantha walked over to Skye’s desk and pulled out a handgun that she knew was kept in the drawer. “Back away from her! We will deal with the switch.” She cocked the gun back and aimed the gun at Rose’s head. “Get moving.”

Rose looked to Sam, the fear at least palpable, even though she’d been here enough. She’d have to do this, keep going, keep the mirage going, stepping back, but responding.
“Sam, wrong girl, she’s trying to fucking detonate us. She’s a fucking clone. Told me she’s going to detonate the rec room, with all of us in it. She can do this, ‘cos she thinks she’s fucking invincible!” Rose yelled, in fear, as Skye looked on, breathing out a deep exhale, knowing she couldn’t carry on this. She had the right person, and while Skye wanted to yell deep at Sam to shoot, that would potentially lead to them both getting killed.

Samantha nodded and moved closer but stayed well out of the lunging range for both women. “I will figure it out but you need to drop that gun. Now!” She backed up till she could see them both. “And you, keep your damn hand on that switch until I can figure out how to deal with it.”

Rose did as she said, putting the gun on the table, hands up, Skye putting her hands up with the trigger, the two standing side by side, and well, it was impossible to tell.
“Okay, okay….you need to figure out which is which. Sam, listen to me. I’m the real one. Born in Portree, grew up without a dad from twelve, and I know you’re the same with the stuff that happened in your family. The talks we had….I know you better than anyone.” Skye yelled back, hoping, praying it would come out. Rose knew that already. Nobody stupid would let that go so easy.
“You read my dossier? Fuck, no wonder you hacked everything here! Sam, she’ll know that. It’s knowledge on how we hired you. She’s going to break into whatever that is, play you against me.” Rose replied, looking across, scowling in her face, Skye looking on dead into Sam’s eyes, just praying. Please, please, please. Don’t get this wrong.

Samantha looked at the two of them and pondered how she was going to resolve this. “Keep your hands up where I can see them!” She was uncomfortable as hell and confused. Samantha’s brain raced as she tried to figure out to solve this problem. How was she looking at yet another Skye. She knew the one called Lynx was very dead. Yet here there was another one. How many other operatives had helped her get onto base. Hell she looked like Skye, it might just be her but she couldn’t take that chance. Her friends were here. What if Artemis had planted explosives? The dead man switch certainly added to that possibility.

Samantha thought back to the interactions she had with Skye. She gave both women a wicked smile. “What did we talk about when we got back from the Singapore operation? Answer the question one at a time. Let’s start with you!” She pointed the gun at Rose. “What did we talk about?”

Rose struggled, realizing shit, this wasn’t it. She had to think on her feet. Think of something, while it was asked, and Rose realized she could tap into the only bit of knowledge she had on Sam. The part that Skye had kept as a note on her, the part that existed within the case files of each operative, redacted to most but to Skye, open.
“It was revenge. Revenge for your parents. Revenge for what they did to your trainer, and I made you a promise.” Rose replied, as confident as she could be, hoping Sam's memory might play up, or at the least, Skye wasn't attentive enough in a moment like that. A risk, but a risk worth taking given she knew Sam well enough from the file.

Skye shook her head, looking at Sam, her weary and weakened blue eyes coming through.

Samantha kept her face from showing anything. She listened to the woman and a deep twinge in her gut said that was not her Skye. They had talked about revenge but that is not what was most memorable about that talk. Samantha’s attention focused on the other woman as she began to speak.

“I made that promise to you too. But I made one about compassion. She won’t know it. Because she doesn’t understand how that works, she’s a a fucking psycho. She only knows wants, needs, hate. And you are more than that, Chaos. Please. Sam, I fucking know I can’t convince you looking like this, but I know you aren’t here for that. You want to have it drive you, but you know you are so much more than that. So much more good…and a family here that you found in us. That’s what we said…because revenge was what you want, but family, Freya, Mateo, me…we’re that for you. None of what she knows about.” Skye emotionally called back overriding the slurring in her voice, Rose hoping her own bluff would work, against Skye’s very real, very heartened call, the fragile state of Skye giving way, even past Rose’s complete crocodile tears. She was getting ready to do something, Rose knowing she might have to pounce.

Samantha turned the gun back to Rose. “Stay where you are.” She walked around the woman carefully. Samantha used all the skill and speed she had. It was the one area where she was better than Skye. She was faster but just by a smidge. She dashed forward and hit her over the head with the gun hoping to knock her out. She went down on top of the woman to hold her down in case the blow didn’t knock her out. She knew which one was her Skye. They had talked about their fathers and Skye had shown the first bit of vulnerability as she shared stuff about her mother. They had talked about the family they had chosen for themselves. She had not hesitated to act once she was certain of who was who.

Thankfully, Rose didn’t make that move. The way that Sam hit her with was like a freight train, right to the core of her head, and well, fumbling her onto the floor. Skye looked exasperated, the one that Sam probably prayed was the real one.

---

Kaitiaki Homestead, Raven HQ

“Fuck…..that was close. Sam, there’s a lump on her back. Quick, we have to check. That is her, no time to explain, but I promise, if you don’t trust me, that will prove it. It’s an upload node. I’m gonna stay here, I’ll hold it tight, just…shit, thank you, thank you, thank you….” Skye yelled back, cradling the device hard in her hand. Standing, she kicked over Rose, and well, it would be an incredibly subtle thing. Rose hadn’t seen it coming, but it was worth the gamble. Worth the punt.

More opportunities would come for Rose, none as good as this, but when risk was death, then any chance was risk free, right?

The implant would be a small protrusion- next to a vertebrae, a tiny little lump that would harness itself to the back of Rose’s ribs, and already there.

Samantha moved quickly and yanked up the woman’s tshirt as she began to examine her back. “There is a lump what I am supposed to do with this Node?” She was trying to understand what was going on. It was a lot to process and she was certain the explanation would take longer than they had.

Hyperventilating, Skye came down onto the floor, the neurotoxin slowly beginning to fugue in, Skye’s slurring increasing as her heart played all sorts of panic, and her body, brain and all of her was beginning to recoil. Whatever it was, the slow burn would have worked rather nicely. It would have made Rose look an absolute hero holding it tight, but right now, it was backfiring.

“She’s a genetic copy that can jump across to other bodies identical to mine, look…..I don’t have one, check. Sam, there’s a bomb in the kitchen, and she’s stabbed me with….I think that vial there, she said it was a neurotoxin. She has to have something on her, some cure, she said something about it, she was talking about keeping me alive if I changed my mind. Crap….you need to cut the connection to this, stat.” Skye yelped, looking across, on the other side of the floor to Rose,and spasming, tried to push in the trigger. She was struggling though.

Skye was definitely feeling it now- the trigger would go as soon as she fell out of consciousness, and that pressure had to be applied. A bomb needed defusing, urgently, and before that pressure went. However it had to be kept on, it had to be done, as Skye only prayed, prayed and prayed, Sam would have her back on this one. She was a clever girl, and right now, she needed everything from her.

Samantha was never more grateful for her big beautiful brain. She rose to her feet and lunged for the desk. She had helped review the digital security at the base and had helped install additional security into Skye’s office. She had built a faraday cage into the walls that could be activated with a switch. It was the ultimate protection against digital breeches in an emergency. She flicked the switch to activate it. That would shut down all incoming or outgoing signals. “That should shut down any transfer. Now let me get Boomer to take care of the bomb. Where is it?” She said that as she began to search Rose for any vials. She believed Skye because she could tell that she was fading rapidly. Skye was already slurring her speech.

“It’s….rec room, sofa. Shit….” Skye slurred more, the usually unstoppable team leader crawling on the floor, and looking back at Sam, watching as she looked through Rose, trying to find something. If Skye had last utterances to make, she’d make it now. Because it was worth it, protecting them, making sure the team had been at least alerted, stopped.
“Thank you.” She mumbled, the electromagnetic field allowing her to release the clacker but with it, fading fast from being awake.

Samantha found a pouch in Rose’s jean pocket. She found a vial there. But could she trust it was the cure? She didn’t know. She needed help. She did her best to tie Rose up. She picked up the phone and used the landline to call the recreation room. “Boomer, there is a bomb on base. It might be in the rec room sofa. It was on a deadman’s switch. I have the switch inside a faraday cage. It needs deactivated pronto! Send me some help to Skye’s office. I need medical.” She hung up the phone since she had a crisis to deal with. She would have to trust Boomer to take care of the bomb.


Chuck had been pacing and waiting as intel came back from the base. Tahlia made a great second in command. She jumped right in and started providing him with what he asked for. He trusted the Kiwi to have his back after the operation in Columbia. Guards had been reporting back that they had begun sweeping. No one had reported back anything of significance yet. He knew the base was mobilizing against the threat but full mobilization took time even with training. That is what made operatives like Samantha so valuable. They were in and out in the chaos with the goods before the target knew what was happening. He hated feeling like the target. Chuck was preoccupied with trying to figure out what was happening and had not noticed Duke pawing at the sofa. Chuck’s attention spun towards the intercom when he heard Sam call his name. Chuck catalog that important information. His attention spun to the sofa in question that Duke was doing his best to tell him had a fucking bomb in it. Chuck looked around the room. “Clear out of here. Tahlia get to Skye’s office to see if you can help with whatever Samantha needs. Get Sophie moving there as well. NO ONE gets back in here till I have cleared the fucking bomb.”

He moved to Duke and gave him a well deserved pat. “Thanks buddy. Sorry I wasn’t paying attention to the signs.” Boomer needed his bomb removal kit. But did he have time to retrieve it? He would make do with what was in the room. He moved over to the kitchen and bean to pull open drawers. He pulled a few knives out of the block. He found a screwdriver in a junk drawer which didn’t surprise him at all. This was a base of badasses used to maintaining their own equipment. He bet there was a bottle of gun oil hanging around too. The drawer had a few other items that might be useful. He looked around the room. The one thing he really needed was a mirror. He grinned as spotted a decorative mirror behind the bar. He frowned.it was too big. He sighed. He hoped it was not some irreplaceable antique or sentimental piece. He used the screwdriver to break it on the corner. He just needed a piece small enough to handle. He took the piece about the size of a cell phone. He went to the kitchen and pulled out a metal spatula and the duck tape. He taped the mirror shard to the spatula, leaving the center clear and free to use. He then began to carefully inspect the sofa. Once he was certain that the cushions were not wired in any way. He pulled them off the sofa. He called Duke over to check them. Maybe they made it easy and planted the explosives into the cushions. His luck never went that way.

Tahlia moved on call up towards the stairs and onto the office, security starting to sweep, the rain intensifying in the overcast yet evening sun, bounding her way up. Sophie could be seen outside, in the rain between the two bases making her way in.

Sophie joined in as well, turning a full 180 and headed up to the base again, the team doctor hearing the call. For what was supposed to be another day of moaning at the team, well, this could be getting more serious. She knew how to hold a pistol, but she was no soldier- and with what was going on, she prayed that the team would know how to handle this, and she could do her job too. It sounded like Skye was in dire need of attention, and that never boded well.

Samantha looked down at the vial. She couldn’t wait. Skye was already struggling. Neurotoxins worked fast. She had to hope this was really the cure. She took the vial and slammed it into Skye’s thigh. “Please be the cure!” She prayed verbally over her friend. She hoped the psycho that had been trying to convince her that Skye was her enemy wasn’t lying about the cure. She hoped she carried the cure on the off chance that someone turned the tables on her and shot her full of the neurotoxin. That made sense considering Skye and the team had already taken out Lynx.

Skye yelped, her lungs filling with adrenaline from the needle at first followed by the antidote, forming fully and the saliva and kick of the initial bit of the drug slowly trickling in. It would take time for it to counter, given there were probably mere seconds before Skye would have lost her cognitive ability and just died there and then, right in time for Rose to do her thing. But of course, with that plan foiled, not being dead was rather a perk. Skye felt the light come back in, the toxin neutralizing in a coloured haze, as she spluttered out, coughing and yelling as the light kicked back in fully.

“Ah!” She yelled out, looking around, seeing Rose on the floor, still in total shock on what was going on. Clambering onto her feet, she leaned hard against the table, still a little disoriented, feeling blurred, weird and like she’d drunk a lot of beer.

“Are we alright? You…..you didn’t shoot me. Cheers. I can’t believe we did that.” Skye mumbled, coming back to herself, albeit very confused, disoriented and unsure of what was going on- drunk almost. Rose had seriously underestimated Skye’s ability in fighting the neurotoxin, hoping it would have pinned her rather than made her fight- most people would have been almost instantly dead from that neurotoxin, but Skye and her particular nature now seemed to make a lot more sense- that resilience was baked in naturally, like it was her entire body pulling in one way to stop it slowly swallowing whole. Putting her hand over her back, she felt nothing there where the lump may have been, relieved and breathing a long, hard sigh. She knew it wasn’t. But it was always safe to check, almost like this wasn’t a dream.

Samantha looked on anxiously as she hovered over Skye praying that the cure would work quickly and not doom her friend to death. She let out a painful sob as Skye showed sounds of improvement. She hugged her friend tightly, grateful to hear her snarky Scottish accent. “Cheers?! I can’t believe you are still alive.” Samantha closed her eyes for just a moment, overwhelmed by all that was happening. She was almost dizzy with relief. She released Skye as she began talking again.

“I owe you so much after this. She said her name was Rose….she said something about blood. It tracks, apparently, so whoever she is, whatever is following her, will know where she went. We need to kill her, quick before she comes back awake, or we have trouble….verify it if you can, but likely she’ll have something to differentiate her, even tiny changes. Sam, this is surreal, but basically, she can jump bodies. She’s got a bank of them like me…and we just gave her everything, because she had all the permissions I did. Fuck, we might be completely, totally compromised…..damn, I can't even start to explain it all.” Skye uttered, looking over at Sam, in a total shock. First time this had happened, it had sapped Skye, but to kill her, in exceptionally warm blood while suffering from poisoning?

This was getting beyond ridiculous. And discombobulated. It felt like she was having an out of body experience, like a really, really bad fever dream. Like this was a fantasy, and she wasn’t even real, or in substance. Looking at Sam, she awaited a reply.

Samantha gave Skye a look. “I do believe that you're Skye but really? Kill her quick?” She shook her head and rose to her feet. “She is sitting in a faraday cage at the moment and can’t send or receive any signals.” She tried to reassure Skye that she couldn’t jump. She still wanted a second opinion before she put a bullet in the brain of someone who looked like her dear friend.

Skye nodded, looking across as she headed to the base of her spine, at the very least, taking a knife from across her desk and rather painfully to the unconscious Rose, knowing this could relapse her. She stabbed into the spine, and the node was there and then. With a yank, Skye pulled it completely out, keeping the knife in position against her, ready for Sam. A tiny plastic box, maybe the size of a matchbox followed, as Skye yanked, the composite severing from her spinal column.
“This is how we know it’s her. She would have followed us here, from splatter, and she’s just going to know where she went. Like her own personal chain… like crumbs for her to follow. Even with the Faraday Cage, she knows we’re here from entering. Only choice we have is to go before she can follow us up. Or, someone comes here following the signal.” Skye spluttered, knowing she was going to be feeling the effect, her head pounding with a head-splitting migraine, making her physically feel nauseous and sick, knowing Sam was going to get none of this.

Chuck called Duke over and told him search. Duke dutifully sniffed the cushions and sniffed. He went back to the sofa and sniffed all the way around it before sitting next to the side arm closest to the door and barked. Chuck nodded and told Duke “Good boy!” he moved the two cushions out of his way and then motioned to have Duke move. He pulled out his makeshift mirror tool and very carefully slid it under the sofa. Chuck laid down on the floor and pulled out a small pocket flashlight that he had found in the kitchen drawer. He clicked it on and froze. Sweat immediately began to pour from his brow. This was a very special bomb. How the hell had anyone had time to get that in there? How did they even get the parts on base? Chuck began to follow the wires. The set up was pretty simple. The kitchen knives would cause too much tension before breaking the wire. He needed something to snip it. He laughed as he pulled out a pair of fingernail clippers that had been in the junk drawer. He opened them up and then very gently clipped the lead wire. He breathed a sigh of relief and pulled the wire off the battery on the device and disconnected the cell phone that was being used as a receiver. He then lifted the corner of the couch carefully and gently pulled the bomb away from the bottom of the sofa.

The bomb was some kind of experimental explosive he was not familiar with. He didn’t know its properties. So he treated it cautiously. He set the bomb down gently on one of the sofa’s cushions. He rose to his feet and went over to the base intercom. He spoke into the com. “This is Boomer, Bomb in the recreation room has been disarmed. Be on the lookout for additional devices.” He took a deep sigh of relief. Damn all his support had gone. He needed to find out what was happening. “Duke, come and search.” He began to run towards Skye’s office. Duke at his side. Duke didn’t deviate so he hadn’t found any other devices.

Samantha was having trouble following Skye. She was still reeling from having to figure out who the real Skye was. She was starting to understand there was a lot more going on though. “Nanites? Those must be some special nanites to be able to transmit from such a small surface area. So we need to be sure none of that blood leaves the room. Shit, but that blood has already leaked the location of the base. We need to evacuate!” Anything that blood had touched had compromised safe houses, locations of where they had been. Artemis could have been tracking their operatives and equipment. That included the lab doing the analysis on the blood. This blood had handed Artemis an inside look and painted a target on their most secure and secret locations.

Skye nodded, as Rose yelped out, coming back to, but before she could, Skye did what any person with any left reason could considering Rose had tried to kill her. She pushed on the knife, and through her throat, tore the life out of her own copy.

Read that back a second. Yes, this is getting confusing. Skye’s killing Skye? Or Rose?

Well, it had to be done. Skye Rosalind Lyons, the version that Rose had called the defect, the version that Sam had probably not a full understanding of, wasn’t dead, but Rose, the version of Skye that was the original, albeit not the one the team had known, now was with a knife sticking out. So Skye nodded to that effect, knowing full well, they could still be under attack. Too much adrenaline was through her from the shot, so she had to keep on it, as best as possible. She used the knife to at least rip the tape off, the clacker now no longer active as a device given the defusal, and the faraday cage activation to cut out any EM signals.

“I get what she meant now. This is insanely complicated. But in a nutshell, you’re right. There shouldn’t be any in me, but you may need to run a check on my vitals with Sophie, completely run me through because otherwise, Oracle will treat me the same. She said I was inert, a defect of some kind. Sharing genetics, but beyond that, very little of actual substance. I can’t do what she does like that, switching bodies and all because I lack that. But I suppose that means I’ve actually got some humanity left. Shit Sam, she was talking a lot about some horrific, world ending stuff. Worse than a nuclear bomb. But if we don’t get out of here fast, we’re all going to follow her. Artemis may even be expecting Rose to deliver the goods….oh shit, of course. I didn’t even say. We gave everything to Artemis because of her, the intel, the drug…... All of it! She used us….knowing I’d fit perfect. Now it makes sense. Shit, shit, shit!” Skye yelled, her sadness conflated with how angry, and distraught she was about just how totally screwed they were.

A look of horror crossed Samantha’s face as she saw Skye push the knife through the imposter’s throat. The flow of red blood is so utterly bright in this dark situation. It seemed to highlight how ludicrous their situation was. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the blood pouring out of the neck of the woman who looked like her friend. Samantha was trying to keep up but it was hard with so many shocks in so little time. Sam closed her eyes and turned away from the sight. Samantha had taken lives before and spilled blood before. It was the shock of seeking someone who looked like her friend dying in such a way. It was a shock to the system. How does one deal with that and just move on? She had to keep moving. She understood better than anyone else on the team the breadth of information those nanites might have shared with Artemis. She took a deep breath and compartmentalized this trauma like a champ. “Nanites are like little tiny robots in her blood. Hers are evidently revolutionary. The only way I can see them working like she talked about was if they work together to amplify their capabilities, maybe using the iron in blood to boost the signal.”

Skye nodded, looking down at the version of her that was dead, the second in only 24 hours. You only lived twice? Well, Skye had no idea how that song played now.
“With a signal, they just need to emit anything on any broadcasted trace it can leap onto and transmit geolocated data to. So we may have half a chance they haven’t worked out exactly where we are. But I think they know. If she knows, whoever she might be with in Artemis that she convinced to her side after literally destroying their command structure will too.”

Samantha looked at Skye. “We need to make sure not one drop of that blood leaves this room. We need to strip and wash clean before leaving. We don’t want Artemis to have any clues as to where we have gone. We can destroy the blood with fire before we shut down the faraday cage. We need to evacuate as soon as possible. The VTOL will need to be abandoned. Anything that had her blood on it needs to be cleaned or abandoned. We need to regroup.” Samantha’s eyes widened in alarm as a thought struck her. “Skye they have already found us. The proof is dead at your feet! They know where we are!” Her voice rose in urgency and fear as the thought that attack was imminent rose to the front of her brain.

Skye nodded, looking down at Rose one last time, trying at least, before sitting up.
“Agreed...this is messy. Oracle....he wanted me to deactivate my data links. Basically lock me out because he said there could be a breach. Turns out it’s a physical one, with literally her!” Skye swallowed a very deep lump in her throat, thankful Sam had saved her, yet the situation became more, and more frightening by the second. She was realizing what it meant. This wasn’t even some simple situation of data transfer now. It was way, way worse.

“Artemis will be already on their way too, if Rose left last notes with someone, before she comes back again. We may need to get ready for a fight. There’s a series of tunnels that leads to an exit point near an old mine and runway for the support team, less so for us so we may need to go overland. There’s an F35, and a stashed patrol boat that can get us off island back to the mainland. Then from there, we can probably make our way through to an NZRAF base overland. I don’t know where after. But from here, you can’t trust anything I would think. Rose will know all my contacts, everything I am because she’d be me, and I have no recourse to respond. We just need to follow protocol now like I’m dead, until we get to safety. I’ll go through it with you now.” Skye’s mind raced, knowing shit was about to get real- the brief interlude the team had coming to an end.

“Sam….same way you got me, I trust you. We’’ll be on our own because once I tell Oracle what’s happened, he’ll go dark and I’ll tell him we’re in the Omega Protocol for a team lead. I’m going to give you a code. It’s a response for it, a 2IC code for someone to take over as if I was dead, or worse, compromised. Listen to me close. I’m going to need you to call out that code, and stay on the line to Oracle. Protocol is always to regroup and then, a new team lead outside the team will take over. I think the guy is a bastard if I know him, but he’ll do what’s right. I can’t work it out what I do. Either I need to disappear, or hope Oracle has some answer to this quandary we’re in..” Skye called back, moving along as she got to her desk, readying the comms, and the mic she had in place for the intercom.

“I’ll be there with you, I’ll try afterwards. We are a family, and till the end, that carries on.” Skye smiled, knowing that she had to hold back some of the worse news. Even in nearly dying, the reality was slowly fading in. Skye was no longer the team’s strength, she was their achilles heel, and right there with Rose dead, she was absolutely personifying it.

Samantha was shaking her head no. “Skye you do what you have to do. So we don’t use your playbook. We use mine. You come with me. I will keep you hidden and informed until we figure a way out of this bloody mess. Don’t you think you are going Lone Ranger on me!” She glared at Skye. She had a nagging feeling that she was trying to cut and run leaving them all behind. That made her angry. Even badasses needed their friends every once in a while. She glared at Skye with her hands on her hips. Not that her impassioned plea moved the Scot once she had made up her mind.

Skye noted it but in her usual focussed stoicness continued on, stuck in her mode of operating and trying to get the team together, for their ends, not hers.
“Team, all stations. I'm alright, no need for medical here right now. There’s a clone of me, verified it’s her, and verified by Sam, neutralised. Everyone, gear on, immediately, prepare for immediate contact. We have a critical situation, repeat, situation is critical. Support teams, head for Kaitiaki Centre, Raven Squad, I need you all ready to move on an emergency, full combat gear for potential attack. There’s a possibility we’ve been found, and that Artemis may be on their way, imminently.” Skye called into the base comms, the last thing to do, and with the bloody mess of Rose on the floor, they had no time to lose. Rose had gambled completely on this, but then again, what gamble wasn’t worth taking. She’d gotten all of Skye’s accessible data, and done absolute carnage with it. Finished what Skye had started. She had used Skye like an absolute fiddle, and now, everyone would pay that price. Not unless they could escape, because Plan B even seemed like an absolute win for Rose. Destroying Raven in the process? Perfect.

Samantha glared at Skye. She understood time was of the essence but if that damn woman thought she was going to fade to dark and disappear she had another thing coming! “I understand this is situation critical boss. But if you think I am leaving you on your own to deal with this, we are going to have an issue!” Her voice had risen as she made her feelings known. Samantha was breathing hard and her heart was pumping. She took a deep breath. Skye had said she was going to be there. For once the stubborn Scot did not take the expected road and try to say she didn’t need help. Samantha calmed down some but was still running on the edge.

Taking her phone, Skye made the call again, the last one she ever wanted to make, but right now, had to. This was it. Last chance saloon. The pickup was instant, Skye aware Sam was angry, fuming even. Skye was trying to play it out in her head, to say something. She would have to come up with it.
“Oracle, it’s Skye…..situtaion is FUBAR, Code Omega. Cut any link to me, I’m passing it across to a secondary. She’ll verify and you talk to her. Do the same with the data links with her, anything. I’m going to get the team out. I’m really, really sorry about all of this.”

“Affirmative. You have Artemis inbound, I have multiple radar signatures five minutes out from you, helicopters and air, likely to be a significant force. They are moving on contingency, so it seems like you actually killed the right one, Skye. Still makes things complicated, so agree with your reasoning. We’re getting more data in and we need to understand the situation better. I’m scrambling channel and awaiting a new signal pickup for someone in your team that isn't compromised. And we’ll speak later. Out.” The link died, as the phone itself bricked, dying out. Pulling a drawer cupboard open, Skye pulled out another device, the spare that she never thought she’d have to give. She also pulled out some hand gel, wiping her hands out after she passed it across, wiping her fingers clean with disinfectant.

“This is yours. The print on the phone will bind to you, and on it, a quantium-encrypted link to Oracle, not one through me, but through you. For now Sam, you’re the ears of the team, commander of Raven. For everyone’s safety, I hope this works. Oh….and for now, I am coming with you. You’ll need me and I’ll do my best till I do need to do that.”

Samantha took a deep breath and closed her eyes to cement the code words and memory for easy recall. A trick she had long learned to deal with her eidetic memory and to help with critical recall of details. She opened her eyes and focused on what Skye was telling her. She accepted the phone and told Skye. “I will do as you ask. But know that no one replaces you, my friend.” She looked Skye in the eyes. Her feelings about the Scot on display. If Samantha had to flee the base, then Skye was going with her.

Tahlia arrived inside following that, seeing Skye, Sam, and oddly, Skye on the floor, again, dead.
“Holy shit!” She yelled, probably in utter bewilderment seeing this for the first time.
“I’m going to assume this is way, way too complicated. Sam, Skye, what do you need from me?” She said, looking at Skye, then across to Sam.

“We have incoming. Aerial assets, and a shitload of Artemis are coming to us. We need to gear up…now. You too, and get security ready to take out aerial assets, and any contacts. Then we need to all run.” Skye looked blankly, and with a resounding nod. Walking out of the room, Skye led the way, no time to do anything more with the dead body of Rose, and certainly no more time to pack things up.

“Fucking hell, Aotearoa is not exactly full of military so they’ll stick out like a sore thumb off the island. Works to our advantage. There’s a tunnel network out of here, but we need to go to the bottom of the base to get support staff out, but we may need to fight them off to keep it open without them realizing we’re running. I’ve got a few tricks up the base’s sleeve, so they’ll be on our pitch.” Tahlia commented, falling in line, following as they made their way out of the office.

Samantha calmly walked over to the comms on the wall. She spoke into comms “Rafael, this is Chaos. Execute program Safestop.” She waited for Rafeal’s confirmation before turning back to the room. Rafeal had set in motion a program that Samantha had developed with him that would shunt all sensitive data to Samantha’s secure site before wiping all the servers and triggering the program that would have them overheat into slab. There would be no intelligence gained from the base from that area. She had set up this contingency with Rafeal without Raven’s Squad knowledge on the off chance the base was breached. She knew it could get her killed or backfire impressively when it came to light. She was very grateful she had done it though. There had to be more about Artemis that they could use to track them down and stop this madness.

Javi had been doing his best to honor the order to get to Skye’s office. He had gotten bogged down as guards seeing him with two others began to ask him for orders. It was like no one ever expected a breech and were reeling, forgetting their training. Javi began orders to have them begin the bomb sweep that he had heard Chuck order over the comns. He had sent the two guards to Skye’s office ahead of him. He had ordered them to follow Samantha’s orders. He gave orders to secure the garage and vehicles. He wanted to be sure if they needed them they were available. He finally managed to get free and began to head towards Skye’s office.

Freya for everything done so far had begun to get a little antsy. Skye had left awhile ago, and Sam too. The giant of a woman still in the mind set that she ought to be protecting her girls some. But then it’s like the accelerator had been pushed through the floor. Tahlia and the guards were moving. The big woman had ducked up and out of the way as Chuck jumped to his feet, the news of a bomb being passed around. Freya looked around, analytical mind jumping from place to place in the room, trying to get an idea. But Chuck is already at the sofa she had just been sitting on! Freya swore in no less then six languages.

She looked to the door and nodded, “Where’s Sophie? I’m going to need her help.” As she said that she’s pulled the medical robe she’s wearing down off her shoulders, damn modesty, she’ll apologize for flashing a full room later. With a pull and a rip the bandages on her shoulders come clear, revealing red and angry looking skin, covering the fractures in the bones beneath. Shrugging the robe back up over her shoulders she makes for the door, “I’m going to go find the Doc, then head for the Armory. I’m going to suit up. Someone hurt one of my girls. And I’m going to hurt anyone connected to them.” She growls.

You don’t mess with a Mama Bears cubs. Not unless you want to try and slow down the raging charge she commits to protect them. And Mama Freya is in that situation. Someone hurt Skye, again, and put Sam in danger. Then the rest of the team on top of that.

Freya stormed out of the room, and down the hall, and almost as if providence is with her runs almost into Sophie, bowling her over nearly. The wide smile on her face is…terrifying, “Doctor! Good. Come on. I need you to hit me with your most potent painkillers.” The big woman had dragged Sophie off then almost carrying her by the scruff of her neck.
Sophie was stopped on the stairs, as Freya nearly bowled into the Swiss Doctor, boobs first. For the shock of the situation, Freya had almost dragged her back, and with a wry nod, followed along.
“Okay, we can do that for you. There’s a drug I’ve left in your armory, it’s a mix of steroids and painkillers that aren’t exactly sanctioned, I can do that for you but after it will hurt. It’s a modified version of the blue blood I gave to Skye, you can use it to amp yourself up. Mein Leiben Freya, the things you make me do, but if it keeps us alive, it is ok!” Sophie yelled back, following Freya down, knowing that like Skye, Freya was a bit of an animal. A good doctor tried to help a patient, stabilise them and make sure they would do no harm.

Freya was going to do a LOT of harm, but to everyone else. That was the mark of a real professional.

—-

Maybe 5 minutes later, and herself tearing a empty syringe free from her back, Freya is in the Armory. The spot repairs on the Gjallarhorn will have to do. And even with who knows how many millileters of painkillers running through her system, and the growing adrenaline of wanting…no needing to protect the crew, she’s still slow as she gets her armour on.

"Okay, drugs are in you now, Freya. It’ll take a minute or two to kick in, but you’re going to feel particularly alive. Everything is going to be very focussed, sharp, vivid and you’ll feel more invincible than usual. The long term will mean you’ll hurt a lot more on recovery, but it’s a cocktail of adrenaline, painkillers, and a lot of material that’ll make you feel pretty superhuman. Don’t go running through walls though, because I promise the physical side isn’t going to heal. You’re just gonna feel really good, then you’ll hate me a lot later.” Sophia replied, in the heavy armoury for the rare occasion it was, seeing her get to work on tooling up.

Freya moved shakily at first after that injection. The door finishing it’s trek to open, “Running through walls? Me? Oh come now Sophie dear? I’m no Koolaid Woman.” She chuckled. She could almost feel it burning through her arteries and veins. That cocktail of chemicals and medicines and who the hell knows what else, “Thank you Sophie. I know you don’t like us operators doing even more damage to ourselves like this. But it’s imperative at this point. One of our own got taken right here in the base. Someone, somehow, set a bomb in the Rec room, a room we were all in for a time just recently. Listen, you need to get to the medical offices, tell your staff to lock and barricade the doors in, and only open them for one of the on duty team.” Sophie looked up at the giant of a woman. Then gasped as Freya slapped one of her larger then normal throwing axes into Sophie’s room, “Arm yourself and arm your people. Just in case. Gå min kjære, get moving.” Sophie taking off at a run then to get to relative safety, and to the support team, including Raph, who would need to head for the tunnels.

Palming the comm. Line button on her equipment table, “What’s the situation? Hows the bomb looking? I’ll be suited in a few moments here then I’ll head top side. I’ll support the guard contingent and provide first line defense. But how are we doing? I don’t like being in the dark over here.” Her words say she’s worried but her tone hides the fact she’s secretly horrified that this could happen to them. They were supposed to be safe here. The base just like the compound that Blue Sword operates out of, should be a place where the team could be isolated from their enemy.

So how did they get in? How and when and where.

She tried to keep it from showing in her voice, but the worry, and terror and horror is there.

Tahlia got on the comms, in contact with the security team, and the others.
“No contacts yet, but they’re coming for us, any minute. Skye is fine, but….shit, we’ll regroup in the armory, soon as.” Tahlia commented, looking to Sam and Skye.

Javi got to the office and felt ridiculously late as everyone appeared to have gathered there and were looking ready to move out. “I won’t ask. Just tell me what you need?” He looked at Samantha for orders as well after flicking an apologetic glance to Skye.

“Come with us, stat. We may need the Land Rover, compadre, part of our defence. For now, we just need to kill lots of people. Same thing as we usually do, but they came here to pick a fight.” Skye called back, the aggression back in her system as she felt the haze clear a little, the mindfog give way again and with it, Skye Lyons was back in some sort of semblance, as the whole group moved together.

Samantha nodded and motioned towards Skye. “She is still the leader as far as I am concerned. We need to get out of here. Artemis is coming to end us. We need to live to fight another day. Gather up. We need to stop by the armory and get everyone’s gear. We need that. We need to protect the base long enough that personnel can evacuate.” She gently nudged Skye. She knew that she was struggling to process everything. Hell she was too! But time to hit the gas. Actions were needed.

Chuck had shown up shortly after everyone else. He was one of the newest members of the squad. He knew the shit was hitting the fan. He would ask questions later. Now he just needed to know his job. He got the gist of it. Their base location was compromised and they had incoming and needed to evacuate the base. He kept a close eye on Duke. He relaxed after Duke sniffed Skye and rubbed his body along her legs as a greeting. That reassured him more than anything that he was looking at Skye. Chuck and everyone else to the armory.

--------------------------------




Moving downstairs, the team went at a pace- Chuck, Sam, Skye, Tahlia, Javi, Oliver together. The security team was just doing its gig, to hold the line, and monitor, and watch. But in the face of what was coming, there was a chance they wouldn’t last, not until the rest of Raven came out fighting.

“All yours, Sam. Code’s on the phone, repeat the six digits to Oracle and he’ll set you in.“ Skye called, as they headed down, and into the armoury room itself. Freya was standing tall in her armour. With it, Skye ran across to her section, yanking the MG3 and ammo pod, and began to start gearing up, not even taking fatigues, just the exo, gun, MAAWS and her pistol, taking the critical essentials here and now. She looked across as the others geared up, Skye putting her helmet on, syncing up her PDA to her combat glasses, offline from the team and now just set for diagnostics. The exo felt good, the t-shirt wearing, part-armoured operative ready to get back out there and respond. As bleary as it all felt, she had to find a way.

“Freya, you ready to go?” Skye called, watching as Javi grabbed an M4A1, Tahlia a Steyr AUG and her Ballista sniper and the two taking plate carriers, helmets and ammunition, being ready for a fight even despite the fact neither of them weren't exactly soldiers by usual trade.

Freya shrugged her upper suit on and then stepped up and hissed as the leg portion snapped closed, reaching up and palming her helmet on, “Ahhh Skye.” She gulped and as the legs hummed to life then crossed to Skye, their Queen. Screw protocol, she grabbed Skye up into a hug, and maybe made it awkward as her upper armor is not fully closed, and she had taken the robe off, she doesn’t even have her usual body stocking on under that thing, so Skye gets a face full of Freya’s boobs in her face, “I’m glad you’re okay.” She says. The sets Skye down, going over and grabbing Starbreaker, hooking it over her shoulder, attaches the Stars Core, and pulls the AEW down, and finally with careful clicks the new shield module on the front of her armor after she’s sealed up the upper portion, and the new sniper attachment for the AEW.

The Battle Goddess Frigga turning, “Ready.” She says with a finality to her words.

Samantha entered the armory and headed to her locker. She took a moment to do what Skye had asked her to do. She hated every minute of it but she did it. She pulled the phone to her ear and lied her ass off to Oracle in a hard voice. “This is Chaos. Confirmation code…” She rattled off the code that Skye had given her. Oracle wanted to know the status of Skye. They were demanding a status update. With tears in her eyes and a crackled voice loaded with emotion Sam replied “The Queen has fallen.” The words tasted like ash in her mouth. She hung up on Oracle demanding answers. She had a base to protect. She looked over at her friends gearing up for war. She wiped away the tears. She turned her back on the room as she got ready. She needed just a tiny moment to pull herself together. She quickly pulled on her armor and all her gear. She strapped it all on. She made sure her laptop was slotted into its protected spot in her armor. She pulled the helmet on. Her systems integrated and she heard her AI “It is a good day for a fight Chaos. Syncing with a new line from Oracle. Special com line added.”

The radio for Chaos flickered back on.
“Chaos, Oracle copies. You’ve got the line in. Skye will tell you what to do, but I can tell you the situation, secure to you now she may be compromised for Raven’s systems. We’ve got at least six V22 tiltrotors with full combat teams and vehicles, a couple of Mi-28 attack helicopters, two F18s and it looks like they’re trying to bring everything more than that to the fight, but they haven’t all made it yet. You may need to hold the bridgehead for the support crew, then move the team out. They have more coming, so resist what’s coming, then use the rest. I’ll leave the rest to you. Get to the boat, get offshore and head for Wellington, and I’ll call in the next part of the plan.“ Oracle called, now coming through to Chaos’s helmet, pinging data, feeds, everything across. She’d feel like she had the insights that Skye had, albeit in a way that would ensure that Skye was now no longer able to be compromised by her literal twin.

Samantha took a deep breath and stepped into the role that Queen had asked of her. “Oracle, Chaos acknowledges incoming enemy forces.” She sighed and switched com lines. “Raven Squad we have Artemis inbound. We have a shitload incoming, six V22 tiltrotors with full combat teams and vehicles, a couple of Mi-28 attack helicopters, and two F18’s. We need to hold the line until our forces can evacuate the base. Emergency evacuation protocols in place.” She then deferred to their actual leader for Skye to determine where she wanted them. Samantha was gratified when her work on their SAM emplacements proved to work. She had rigged each one with its own targeting computer system separate from the base. She had thought about that after the havoc she had caused in the Aral Sea when she co-opted their own defenses. She didn't want that to happen to Raven Squad. She heard the thump as the SAM launchers began to pelt the intruders with missiles.

Skye looked at this situation, and herself taking a deep breath, looked on, watching everyone gear, ready and tool up. She appreciated Freya’s hug, one hell of a lot, all geared and ready, the warmth of Freya’s boobs reminding her that indeed, Rose probably had every right to probably be obsessed about the tech-giant’s bones. Blimey, that was…whimsical. And yet, a moment of comical giddy, as she looked to the others one last moment.

The sound of a massive explosion hitting the base above almost sucked the air out of her lungs, but it was expected. First hit, but the armoury was at least safe, the walls shaking with the impact, the SAMs engaging with air and starting to pick a few out of the sky, unexpectedly to the attack team, and the sky lit up with flares, as some dodges, weaved, and some blew up, creating one hell of a scene. But that meant they were here. Bringing jets, VTOLs with combat troops and no doubt more moving vehicles and jeeps, they were on full attack. There was one problem for Artemis, of course.

They were fighting a battle on Raven’s home turf.

The forested fields and green hilly fields on the lush green soil of D’Urville Island’s rainy evening just got a lot more interesting, and Skye was already ticking through her brain of what to do. She wasn’t done yet. Neurotoxin or not, and her official comms line cut off, she knew she had to give the team direction, or at least, an idea..
“Alright. We need to fend them off. Nord, Frigga, blast anything helicopter or heavy, hold the line. Chaos, Boomer, Javi, I need you in the Land Rover on the vehicle pool level, relocate and find another position to flank them from. We need to make sure we fire on them from an angle they don’t expect, and more firepower from somewhere else, we can at least catch them out as they try to rush the base from a flank. Use your initiative on that one….there’s more assets down the other end which you may be able to use. Taniwha, need to make sure the rest of the support team escapes, including Doctor Keller, Vincent and Raph. Protect them and stay with them in the tunnels, and get to the other side of them. Does that make sense?” Skye called out, giving everyone a specific set of instructions.

“Frigga, I’m with you. I’ll take out any armored assets and exos, just focus on the bodies they’re gonna throw….they are going to hurl themselves at us. Let’s fucking show them you can’t kill us that easy!” Skye called coldly, her voice holding firm, despite every cocktail of emotions going through her wanted her to stop, she had to fight, and keep on.

Chuck had gone with the team to the armory. He had quickly opened his locker. He put Duke’s armor on first. He then quickly got into his armor and carried as much gear and ammo as he could. He focused first on getting his canine companion protected. Then he focused on gearing himself up for the action to come. He then attached all his guns and shoved as much ammo as he could into his armor and pouches. He then made sure every weapon he had was on the tactical sling or stored in his armor. He was ready to go by the time the Queen began giving orders. She wanted him to go in the Land Rover? He wouldn’t fit in the Land Rover! He was going to have to do something he didn’t like to do. He went towards the motor pool. Once he got there he realized that the Land Rover had been customized and he would fit. He brightened up. He motioned Duke up inside. He looked over at Javi. “I will take the back.” He climbed up into the back of the vehicle and settled into place.

Samantha nodded and took off for the garage. She ran to meet Javi. She hopped into the front seat next to Javi. She had her visor down and her HUD up so she replied on team coms. “I’m ready let’s hit it. Maybe we can find a hill top to rain pain down from. I would be more effective in the sky though.” She didn’t have an armed and ready aircraft at hand that was not being flown by other operatives at the moment. “I will just have to make do.”

Javi had grabbed what he could of gear leftover in the armory and then made his way to the garage. He hopped into the driver’s seat automatically. Chuck gave him a heart attack when he opened the door and let Duke in. He forgot how tall he was. Then you put that man in heavy armor and it was the god of destruction that had loomed over him. Duke gave what sounded like a happy bark. He hoped the dog didn’t get car sick. He had managed to snag a set of the special coms that Chaos had created for the team. He was grateful since he needed them today!

------

“Who has seen my box of manpads?” a stumbling hulk of an armored suit said coming out of a slowly increasing hole where a door once was. He turned around, and slowly placed the door back into the spot it was meant to be, and turned back around. “I know I had a box of manpads somewhere, and I think they would come in use right about now?”

Tahlia looked over as Tiny Nord came out, the titan a hulk as he was barking it out loud, admittedly so considering how mad the situation was.
“Right there, shitload of Stingers, all yours, Tiny Nord. All geared for you to go!” Tahlia yelled back to Oliver while pointing out the crate at the far end of the armoury, nodding to the commander, and the other one on the line with Oracle.
“Affirm, boss.” She called, and with it leaving Tiny Nord with Frigga, aware that the two giants probably hadn’t fought before together- but well, it was likely that they would shred things up.

“Right on then,” the mountain said as he lifted up the box, “wont do shit for the F18s, but that’s what the other box is for.”

Tiny Nord, lifted up the second box as he rolled his shoulders a bit, the other much smaller box, well crate just jingled with a bunch of his other things, and on the side was strapped his shield. He rested it against the door, and he smiled a bit.

“Well, if you need me call, I’ll be outside having fun.”

Freya then makes for the door, and the outer sections of the base. Time to protect their home. And even then, this place may not survive. She turned to peer back at tiny Nord, “You know, we haven’t maybe officially met yet.” Her helmet still open so he can see the smile, “I’m Freya Kanatarrio, Physics PHD, CEO of Jotunnheim Energy and Defense, and resident Heavy dealing with Energy and Theoretical Physics attacks here on the team. Pleasure to meet you Mr. Black. Though really you can call me Frigga on the field, so I’m looking forward to working with you out there Tiny Nord, I’ve only ever heard good things about your work.” She gives him a wink, “So what do you say? Ready to go and blow some people up?”

”It’s what I’m here for.” Tiny Nord said nodding towards the woman, “No where near the titles of you, but I am glad to know you’ve heard of me. Now, I know I had iglas around here also, back when all of these things were made, they made them to fight their own countermeasures, not their opponents. So, hopefully there wont be many Russian attack helicopters about, but hopefully we can get rid of the F18s with something else…”

--------

Javi waited until Tahlia had made it into the vehicle. She had slid into the backseat with Duke. Chuck was standing in the rear holding onto the cross brace across the roof. He made sure everyone was braced and hit the gas. “YeeHaw! Isn’t that what you yankees say Samantha? I always wanted to be a Cowboy!” The Land Rover flew out of the open door of the garage and bounced like a tiger on the attack as it rocketed away from the base.

As Freya's climbing with Tiny Nord and Queen she radios Jotunnheim, “Freya here, Black Level incident. Get to the test site near Kaitiaki, liquidate everything! Get it to site Tertius, bypass Secundus entirely. Contact my parents in Perth, tell them I may be going dark. And for fuck sakes make sure to tell tell my mom and dad to keep my brother and sister on a short leash for now!”

And by then Frigga reaches the surface level, looking around, and calling to Tahlia, “Sit Rep? Contacts? Potentials?” She scanned the horizon, scanned the skies, this is the kind of nightmare scenario every operator has night terrors about. Your home base, your safe place, has just been lit up by the enemy, brighter then the Luxor Pyramids apex light. Now what do you do?

“Shitloads, helis and a lot of infantry with modern kit and exos inbound!” Tahlia stoically replied, being thrown around in the Land Rover.

And indeed, so many. She can see rotor vehicles in the skies approaching low and purposefully. There could be dozens of men in each of those tilt rotors. And those MIs were going to be interesting to deal with. Frigga takes a few steps over and braces her AEW on a boulder. And never gets a shot off at the start as a pair of jets scream over head. She follows their path, “They have fast movers too? Who the hell are these people? Attack rotors? VTOL tilt rotors? Fast mover jets? Who has the time and money for this?” She growls, “Not in my house!”


Skye had too many feelings. Everything. The two titans in front of her, gunfire and missiles flying into the sky, the sound of the hillside getting bombed, the base getting attacked, the security team trying to fend off in vein as the VTOLs landed in at the bottom of the island and flew out, firing close air onto anything, the sight of armoured jeeps, infantry, exos, all kinds being thrown up. At the top of the hill, it was like they were in a castle, except all on show. Skye stood valiantly, looking down at the world that she knew crumble. And yet, it felt….sweet.

This was Raven Squad. And no thing, person, anyone, was going to rip them apart. Not even Skye herself could. Cue the music. Because from one childhood memory, to another.

Skye hummed it, the other song that was on the radio before Heroes had come on. The Chain, by Fleetwood Mac....and that riff. That sound. It was like a trigger in her head, instead of this time being bad and overwhelming, just pounding out the adrenaline inside of the Scot's mind. A reminiscence that sort of harkened back. Defect or not, real or not, one or many, no, Skye Rosalind Lyons was ready, and for one more roll, ready to do her bit and counterattack.
“....keeps us together.....” Skye broke into a smile, tapping both Tiny Nord and Frigga on their gigantic armoured shoulders.
“Pride before beauty, come on then, let’s go get the bastards and make them work for it!”

Javi drove the modified Land Rover off road. He was headed for highpoint on the island inland and up the hill away from the base. They would get a good 360 view of what was going on from there. Javi had not been in the field as an operative in a long time. His role was support. He was the fix it and made it work vehicle guy. He knew they were facing a tough fight. He would do his part to help everyone get out safely. He could handle himself in a fight. He was not a special operator like Chuck or a sniper like Tahlia but he had worked inside the cartels. He was tough and knew how to duck when the bullets were flying. He had to admit that running into a fight with Raven Squad had a very different feel for him. He actually trusted them to back him up and not shoot him in the back. He whooped with glee as the Land Rover bounced as it went over a small boulder. The Land Rover roared up over the top of the hill and came to a rest rocking on the top. He looked over at Samantha “Ok boss now what?”

Chuck bent his knees and tightened his hands around the roll bar he was hanging onto. He could take the bumps and rolls better that way. He was moving with the vehicle. Duke had laid down in a tight ball in the floorboard in the back seat. His poor dog was doing his best to keep himself from being thrown around too much. Chuck was already scanning the forces he could see. It was not good. He could see that their docks had already been overrun. Artemis troops were hitting the shore in Exos in fireteam squads of 4.There heavily armored troops waiting to offload while the exos went unchallenged to create a beachhead. The guards that had been duty hadn’t been enough to stop such overwhelming numbers and force. He noticed the SAM launchers were active and causing some havoc with the incoming helicopters. He was scanning the area around the dock when he did a double take as a submarine surfaced off shore. “Shit!” He cursed under his breath. He spoke into his coms since he had his helmet on. He was using the optics built into his suit and its magnification to check the battlefield. “Chaos, we have a submarine off shore by the docks as well which have been overrun already. Artemis has the beach and docks.”

Samantha knew she would have time to fall apart later. She knew that base personnel had received the order to evacuate to the RV point in the emergency evacuation plan. She had BOB pull live satellite footage from Oracle so she could see what was happening. She was relieved to see the first of the support personnel were close to reaching the hidden evacuation boats. They were well hidden. Artemis seemed to think they only needed overwhelming force in a shock and awe campaign. They were all coming in from what would be the easiest and typical approaches to the island, from the location of the docks and mainland New Zealand.

Her attention was returned to the dock area as Chuck told her about the submarine. Losing people made her angry. She called into the coms “Raven Squad, I estimate our people need about 10 minutes to fully evacuate. Let’s buy them the time they need. Fire at will on targets of opportunity with extreme prejudice.” Samantha looked back at Tahlia “Tahlia use your gun to provide overwatch. Chuck I want you to mop up the docks and if you can target the sub. Javi get on the M2 Browning and give Chuck a hand.”

Samantha focused on her HUD and used the interactive haptic features in her armor’s gloves to interact with her laptop. She launched the drone caches that she had programmed around the island. She programmed the larger ones to target the incoming aircraft. She then took control of a large drone that she could remote pilot. It launched off the hidden airfield. It was spotted quickly by the enemy aircraft. She had better mobility than they did and had better dogfighting skills. She got a few missiles launched towards the submarine. She strafed fire on the troops on the beach as she joined the fight leaving chaos and destruction in her wake.

Tahlia stood up and braced her rifle along the roof. She got as comfortable and braced as well as she could. She began targeting heads along the beach. She began to fire smoothly, reloading and moving from target to target.

Chuck told Duke to stay. He was going into the thick of it and knew his armor wouldn’t hold up to this kind of firepower. He ran to the edge of the hill. He had pulled everything he could carry and put it in the Land Rover. He put the rocket launcher up to his shoulder and began to fire down at the troops on the beach. Behind him Javi began to let loose with the heavy guns mounted to the back of the Land Rover. He fired the short range missiles from his shoulders at the sub. He wasn’t sure if they had the range for it but his AI did the targeting for him. He kept reloading and firing at any exo he saw moving.

Freya smiled down at her friend then around at rhe rest of the gathered team, "I for one do not welcome our new house guests." She broke ranks and headed over to a wall of crates. She gave a sniff and rested the AEW on the crates bracing it, activating the sniper attachment. "Now let's see. Let's reach out and touch someone." Her visor popped closed and a single big red "eye" blazed into light on the front of it. She looked out and down to where thr enemy are landing, "They brought a fair amount of people and gear with them..." She said almost conversationally. She took aim and carefully squeezed the trigger. A pencil this lance of energy racing down, and missing one of the soldiers by a hairsbreadth. She hums, "Oops..." She lined up and fired again this round taking the radio antenna off the shoulder of the soldier this time, "okay I swear I'll get better with this thing
"

Her shots sending that particular squad of Artemis soldiers running for cover and distant calls of "Sniper! Sniper!" Could be heard as the jets flashed over head again.

Frigga grinned and sing-songed softly, "Yes sniper sniper watch your heads." She let them scramble abit and feel like they are safe in cover before taking another shot. This one burning their squad exo down. A shot to the side of the throat, as good as a slit throat really. And then she saw something she thought only happened in movies. The exo fell to his side still gripping his throat. And another Artemis soldier ran over a red cross on his shoulder. Frigga blinked as the medic started to tend to the exo soldier. And Frigga said words into the radio that likely drew chills from some perhaps,"Well in tomes of battle the Geneva convention really more becomes a checklist.." She lined up the shot, and fired the medic flopping over the exo soldier a hole burned into his chest. With a nod Frigga lowered her gaze, "Okay not bad." She moved to line up another shot.

Elsewhere on the Island

The team has scrambled. Freya didn't like to admit it, buy BlueSword worked closely with Jotunnhiem. And often had several mobile teams ready to help out Freyas operations. This tactical team luckily had been nearby. Not too far out. And the Kaitaki research team on site had immediately started to pack up everything vital. Hard drives, prototypes, the muzzle of the rail cannon, as it wad still under investgati9nnas to why it exploded a few weeks back.

So when a BlueSword osprey came in on an aggressive flight plan and swung in on the small landing pad the research crew had scampered out and started loading tech and gear and information into it.

As they did two older men stepped out. One Carl Cardinal in a command vest and a command headset. The other an older man carrying a best up rifle with a scope atop it. Not often Carl and Howard come out into the field these days. But their favorite pupil needed their help. With Carl out on a overseer position and Hiward guiding a new sniper team through a long involved stalk practice mission they were in good place. So the pair look towards thr main base seeing the flash and hearing the distant bang of weapons fire.

One of the snipers called, "Almost all loaded their demo charges are set!" Carl made a circling motion with his hand, "Cover team start falling back up." Howard growled "Think she'll be alright." Carl hummed, "That girl doesn't know the meaning of give up. You ought to know, you taught all of them how to stalk. What was her record again? Six days hiding from our best? We just need to trust she'll call when she needs our help."

A researcher shouted, "Two minutes on the demo charges." Carl jumped aboard, Howard backed up slowly, "Snipers mount up. We are moving. And wish your senior good luck." The sniper team loaded up, Howard thr lady aboard.

-------

A distant crackle, nearly unnoticeable as several termite charges ignited and started to incinerate the research site. An Osprey exiting the combat zone.

Frigga aimed again. And fired cutting down another soldier. The AEW then protested and over heat warning. She sighed, "Had to be something. Fine, I'll do it myself."

The charge of a very passed off battle goddess down the hill, Starbreaker in hand, and the cacophony of her impact into a squad of exos backed up by two squads of infantry is like a thing of beauty. Her hammer whistled and rent open armor and all alike.

Kaitiaki Homestead, Raven HQ

The scene unpacked itself, as exos could be seen in the far end of the forest getting sniped by Freya, whilst the Land Rover was on the flank. There was too much going on. Explosions, shit getting blown up, it was utterly bonkers. The house itself had been hit, but in the forest below, from the hill downwards towards the beach, there were soldiers flooding in. Finding a suitably large branch, Skye laid herself down and sprayed with the MG3, blasting a group of enemies on the flank, watching Frigga set herself up by the base's supply point, further down the hill, then breaking after some sniping and going head-first into a whole group of enemies. She was doing her bit. Skye had to do hers.

"Frigga, I've got your flank, keep the breach going then let's get the fuck out of here!" Skye called out on the comms, knowing that Frigga was going straight into the mess of this- starting a fire and probably then some. With a jolt, the exo sent Skye much further down the hill, and a group of soldiers were quickly flanked, Skye picking them out. An exo lept the treeline, and with her now known ability to fight back in this regard, Skye rolled sideways, using her FNX to clap them with a smooth headshot, before rolling back up. Home had become a warzone, but defending was easier than attacking.

Skye herself could only duck as the house took another direct hit from a JDAM, the whole site blasting apart, sending shrapnel.
"Really!? That took at least a year to build!" Skye yelled, watching as another group came charging up the track, getting a faceful of lead from her MG3. The open field with Freya and blasting shit, clattering enemies, with Tiny Nord likely doing the same. It would hold the breach for now, as Skye had her work to get to.

The situation was tense. The hillside was swarming now with enemies, fire and rounds being sent up, a hell of a lot, and it was clear, that way was a no-go. The only way would be back- and towards the emergency RV point, where the airstrip and boat would be. They needed to get off this island- there was no way of putting it, support from the New Zealand Defence Forces wasn't going to arrive anywhere near in time, hell, they'd end up in the country capital faster than that. And that scared Skye. If they turned around, all shit would hit the fan. It was a scary prospect, so as many of them they could take now and delay, the better. While somehow making their own way out of the grinder. Skye knew Sam was in bits, but she was leading well- holding it together, and she just hoped, prayed that they would make sense after this. The members of Raven were exceptionally talented and physically conditioned, mentally so too, but most normal people would barely last a few seconds of what was going on. It was intense, and with what had happened with Rose, doubly so. Skye knew the team would have more questions than even could be answered, it was just beyond absurd at this point, and even more so, just wild. But the classic point in hand stood- survive now and worry about it later, or die thinking.

Exo-equipped soldiers were moving through the forest below the ridgeline the base sat on, up the sinewing tracks in the forested ancient woodland, whilst from above, the sound of 20mm rounds was ringing out, pattering the area down. There was no denying. This was Ragnarok, the end of things, but by hell, the team had the war direct to deliver. And they had plenty up their sleeves. Rose had found lots, but not clearly enough. Almost in a way, Skye was surprised- it was like the team had done something to home to make this better, without her knowledge. It wasn't for now to think about. It was their creativity, and she had to applaud that, even if it wasn't right. The good old ask forgiveness later, don't ask permission trick.....but well, who was to complain as the SAM took out one of the two Mi-28s, clattering it down with a massive explosion.

With it, Skye made her move towards the support area, the area made up of a couple of concrete pre-fabs. With Tahlia on the vehicle, Skye knew this one was up to her. The teams would be able to get out, thanks to the cover fire- but Artemis's troops had already made it here. They needed clearing, and with Frigga, Tiny Nord and the others absolutely lacing fire, she could get to work.

Making her way towards the supporting area, hearing enemy chatter, Skye stopped, holding short before moving inside. Leaning down, she took her frag and pinning it off a wall, lobbed it, before moving on the other flank, enemies scattering as she took nobody out with the grenade- but got the others once they split. Bit by bit, the German-made machinegun buzzed, rattling away as Skye clapped them down, the volume over accuracy doing the job as she moved through the supporting compound, aware the computers were frazzled, but likely, there were two members of the team that needed help. They were the only two that she'd know would have been here, in the situation that had been posed.

With the dust clearing, Skye moved inside, and called it out. They'd been pinned down, and so far, couldn't make their move to the.
"It's Queen, Foxhound!" Skye called, as Vincent, Sophie and Raphael made their way out, nodding to her, all armed. The call was good- just to avoid friendly fire considering they weren't on the comms network.
"Foxhound, we're ok." Vincent took the lead, the only one of the three with active combat training, carrying an H&K UMP.45 as did the other two, the spares for an emergency situation like this. It was always handy to have lead on availability, especially in this sort of place.
"Okay, what's the situation? Where the fuck are the others?" Skye called, barking the order direct, dragging whatever energy she had after the incident earlier.

"All in the tunnel, but we were pinned. Thank you for coming....merde, they are serious. I got one of them, but we're lucky not to be dead." Vincent called back, the body in the room evident of that, probably one of the forward team.
"Okay, entry to the tunnel is there, other block. I'll carve you a route out. Just move quick. Follow me." Skye called back, as Vincent took his hand on her shoulder before she hustled, looking into Skye's eyes, the one that was a little bloodshot considering well, neurotoxin after-effects. The t-shirt wearing Scot was soaked, her eyes resolutely with a distant stare, the emotion now only to save them, help them and get out of here. Vincent had something to add though, beyond just survival.

"The new VTOL, it needs to be destroyed....they cannot have it, mon dieu. Your Gustav will do the trick. Aim for the right engine, it's got fuel and it'll blow the rest. Merde, what the is going on...." Vincent said, his confusion making it clear, Skye coming back to sense and nodding back, the ginger-haired Scot resting her hand back on his broad shoulder, agreed.
"Got it. Too much to explain right now, just follow my instructions, and you'll live. Vincent, you stay on point, Sophie middle, Raph on the rear. I'll clear the inside, the hatch is underneath the fridge in the welfare room." Skye directly replied, checking her MG3's belt, and her clutch on it, the exo back on a regular setting once more on her arm-mounted PDA.

"Oui, Major. We have this. You go out there and make sure we can run." He replied, as with that, the team then did move.

Skye nodded back, and leaving the computer den and the support amenity, including Sophie's office, supply point and telecoms array, they moved across the courtyard, headed to the other building, Skye up first before waving to them. Stacking up, Skye heard voices inside, enemies. Looking to Vincent, she gave him a wry look, taking a grenade and with it, asking him to pull the door. As he did, she lobbed the grenade in, and well, concrete did the rest. The door blasted outwards as it blew up, Skye charging inside, and well, showing off her prowess in a situation like this. It's hard to explain what her ability was like, but when she was fluid, like a squirrel on crack, just faster and quicker and able to block out the other distractions. Only living in the moment and fighting back.

Spraying the room, Skye took a few rounds herself, knocking her into the floor as she coughed, back up again and moving into the next, kicking someone over and hosing them down, inside the large canteen for the support team. Looking around, she whistled, and the other three ran inside, Skye noticing the horror on Sophie's face- no doubt from all the chaos unfolding and what their team lead was capable of doing. This was not an easy business. Sophie was into saving lives, not ending them, and while she could deal with grizzly wounds, the horror of it being caused by their own people was always unnerving.
"We're going to be okay. Get to the other side, the others will meet you there. Fire up the boat and have it ready, we may need to go, quickly." Skye called to them, then looking to Sophie, who looked like she was on the verge of crying.
"Sophie....please, please listen to me, you need to pull through. I know this is difficult. Trust me. You're going to be alright. You have to keep going." Skye said, the silent look in Sophie's eyes vacant from the horror, the smell of bodies, the explosions and cordite, as another one boomed, interrupting the moment.
"Shit!" Skye yelled, as she moved through the room, the dust kicking up, Skye shielding her face before then looking back. They had to get them out. And with a kick only described as superpowered, kicked the heavy fridge out of the way, sending dozens of chocolate bars, fruit, milk and dairy everywhere, all over the room, making it even messier. It was almost a comical moment, a levity in the absolute dark.

"What a waste, but alas. See you on the other side, look after yourself, Skye. Do not go dying on us, eh?" Vincent added, giving him a smile, a reassuring one as she put his hand on Sophie's shoulder, Skye giving a wry smile and nod at his never-ending humour in a situation as bad as this. With it, they clambered down into the tunnels, which would lead them to the RV. Skye had done her bit. They were out, and aside from that, they all needed to leave. Things were getting spicier out there as a jeep rolled by, Skye ducking inside and switching to the Gustav, checking her backblast and.....BAM!

The jeep flew past with a large crackling explosion as the AT round detonating, as the one person wrecking crew came around and hosed down two more enemies, before being flanked by another, to which Skye turned and coiled down into the mud. With a hard turn, the exo-equipped soldier tried to go for Skye's head, but she'd had experience of that too. With a weave, Skye wrestled them over and shanked them with a hard hit of the soldier's own knife, standing up once more and reloading her Gustav in the rare opportunity. So much was going on, it was hard to track. That was why she did what she did, but still, a radio message would be good.

"Chaos, last batch of the support team are going to make a beeline through tunnel. Recommend we get the hell out. Frigga, Tiny Nord, cover each other and retreat, I'm going to try and lay down fire and cover you, just make a move and run. Do not get bogged down in fighting, clear who you have to, they pincer you and you'll be toast. There's a thin forest track we can use to get to the RV. Chaos, take your group and get to the RV with the Land Rover, disengage and get back. I've one last thing to sort." Skye added, drawing the Gustav, and with an adjustment of the optic, spied the VTOL further down the hill, in the clearing it always was in. With a gulp, she sighed, and well, clacked it away. The jet-equipped VTOL was state of the art, prototype for them in fact and an advancement of the V22- but they'd have to live without it now, as the round hit and detonated it. It gave Skye away for that moment, as she ran from where it was, gunfire now towards her, the ginger-haired rabbit now
"Fuck, there's a lot of you bastards!" Skye yelled, clambering a fence and rolling as gunship fire came in, with it making her way into the woods. She coiled over seeing another group come after Frigga's flank, and with it, laid down fire, clapping them out.
"Well come on then!"

---

“...and you shouldn’t have to worry about it too much, I’ve seen it get run over by an MRAP. You’ll break the launcher before the FCS module.” The bespectacled boffin finished, notably more relaxed now that Ebrima had put his helmet on. Before that, he kept staring at his pale face and Ebrima had to bite his tongue to stop himself from laughing, aware he had that effect on some people and not about to grow tired of it anytime soon. The tube attached on top of the scope indeed looked sturdy, the Cameroonian merc giving it a good whack with his fist to verify the claim. To his credit, the engineer just winced without any protests. Loading a magazine of frags into the M25, Ebrima had to admit it was a useful gizmo: The grenade’s flight path was projected on his HUD as a white line, ending in two translucent, concentric spheres indicating the kill radii of pressure and shrapnel, updating in real time to reflect the airburst settings. Shouldering the launcher, he picked out a target, sending a round down the valley and obliterating two dummies behind a low wall with an echoing, rumbling boom.

…that wasn’t the grenade…

Turning to face North, the trio of men watched in various levels of disbelief as a cloud of dust and smoke rose above the hill. Soon after, the roar of jet engines cut through the wind and rain. Alright, let’s unpack this: An explosion in the base’s general area and a fast mover. Ebrima wasn’t officially on the active roster yet, so he didn’t have access to the squad’s comms and the two eggheads busied themselves explaining the toys to him and neglected to monitor the radio in their Discovery parked a few dozen paces away. Ebrima tried the link to the squad’s leader he’d been given, but that line was dead. Hopefully just the line, not its other participant. The first piece of useful information came from the Land Rover’s radio, a looping message for the staff to evacuate. ”Do you know where the evacuation point is?” He asked.
“Yeah.” The first engineer nodded, his skin tone now closer to Ebrima’s than a minute ago.
’Good, because I don’t.’ He thought as he threw out the remaining blank mags from his pouches and replaced them with live ones from the Land Rover’s trunk, ”Then go. Keep your lights off and don’t stop until you’re there.” He handed his spare NODs to the engineer, leaving it to him to figure out how to use them without a helmet to mount them onto. They had duct tape in the car, they’d manage.
“And where are you going?!” The other boffin asked.
Ebrima simply pointed in the explosion’s direction before taking off.

Running with an exosuit was a strange sensation: Faster than ordinarily possible, with less than half the effort. With a long gun and a grenade launcher on his back. It allowed him to reach the top of the hill and get a good view of ‘the house’ just in time for the second JDAM strike. Those fuckers just destroyed his model collection… Deep breath. Fuck it, violence is the only language these people would understand. Ebrima started running again, downhill actually being harder than up to avoid busting his ass, more sounds becoming clear as he got closer. Gunfire, explosions… helicopters? He didn’t have much time to ponder what on Earth was happening as he came upon an eight man infantry team bearing markings he didn’t recognize as friendly. But why were they marked as friendly on his HUD? Safely hidden from view by foliage, he turned his attention to the suit’s controls on his left arm, navigating through a couple menus to confirm the suit was still set to training mode. Disabling it with an annoyed grunt, the green tags over the infantrymen turned red. Unloading the M25, he swapped from frags to thermobaric shells, firing one at each end of the staggered column while picking up speed, their blast areas overlapping in the middle. He didn’t have to stop to mop up.

Approaching the base from the direction of support personnel housing, there wasn’t much going on. Good, that likely meant that the support staff had evacuated already, less people to worry about. Now just follow the gunfire-

BANG!

…or an explosion not fifty meters away, that works too. With the Origin in his hands, he cleared the fence around the compound in a single jump pack-assisted bound, hitting the ground running. Yeah, he could get used to this. Rounding a corner, he was somewhat surprised to see the backs of two infantrymen and one exo operative, the latter turning to face him as he spoke. “The bitch went that way! Ramirez, take the rest of the squad and follow, I’ll circle-”

The exosuited man’s commands were cut short by a series of seven impacts against his armor. Ebrima didn’t have high hopes of the flechettes making a dent in the exosuit, having not had the time to swap magazines, but it ought to keep him off balance long enough to deal with the rest. The infantryman farthest away was brought down by two shots, the tiny steel darts tearing flesh and snapping bone wherever they found a piece of him not sufficiently protected. The other infantryman reacted quickly, actually having fired before realizing he found himself between a rock and a hard place. Two sections of chest armor turned yellow on Ebrima’s HUD, warning him that there’d be bruises tomorrow, and although he definitely felt it even without that, at that point there was no stopping the charging Cameroonian’s momentum. The infantryman got squished between the wall and Ebrima with a wet crunch, probably the sternum, and got finished with a kick to the head as he slid down the wall, the exosuit making quick work of the helmet and the head inside it.

He’d already been raising his weapon partway through the kick, just in time to hit the enemy exo picking himself up. It gave him enough time to drop the shotgun and draw his knife - well, on involuntary long-term loan from the Nepali government - and charge. The other guy refused to go gentle into that good night, using his exosuit to stand up and kick in the same stroke, a knee to the damaged plates definitely felt, in turn allowing the Artemis exo to draw his own knife. His combat knife may have been about half the size of Ebrima’s kukri, but what mattered wasn’t the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog. He clearly knew what he was doing, his first strike aimed at Ebrima’s throat to feint followed up by an upwards thrust to the armpit, trying to get at the brachial artery. With a puff of his jump pack, Ebrima got his arm clear and his knee into the Artemis exo’s chin, hacking halfway through his right wrist on the way down and finishing the job with a draw cut. The sounds the exo operative made as his hand was held in place by nothing but the exosuit were not pleasant, but fortunately only lasted as long as it took Ebrima to load a magazine of slugs to put the bastard out of his misery.

Reasoning that following the Raven operative directly was a good way to get shot, Ebrima took a page from the dead exo’s book, vaulting the fence and taking a wide arc around the forest, following the chatter of a lone machine gun until he spotted a figure. A tartan-patterned exosuit, that could’ve only been one person. ”Queen! Friendly, eight o’clock.” he called out, standing out in the open between two trees with his weapon pointed down to look as unthreatening as possible. ”I would appreciate full team comms. Couldn’t raise you.” He said, pointing to his ear. He’d love to say he was fashionably late to the fight, but he was just late. At least now that he found the team leader of all people, he could stop running around like a headless chicken.

Javi’s adrenaline was pumping. It had been years since he had been in the shit. He was out of practice for this kind of excitement. It was a wonder he hit anything with the way his hands were shaking from the adrenaline. He had gotten comfortable with Raven Squad and felt secure. He hadn’t realized how much it had impacted him until he was thrown back in the deep end. Watching the place that had been his home being invaded and blown up left him angry. He knew the kind of work Raven Squad did. He never regretted joining their ranks. He used that energy to stay in the fight. He had been firing the heavy machine guns at targets of opportunity down the hill. He felt a deep gratification when he saw enemy troops going down.

Chuck let out a roar of frustration. He was not able to stem the tide of enemy troops. For every one he took out, three more seemed to make it to the beach. He quickly slid the underbarrel grenade launcher into position and took off running down the hill. He would make a difference here. He needed to make sure the support staff could pull out. He sprinted down the hill. The polymer and hydraulic assists built into his suit allowed him to move faster than he could on his own even in heavy armor. He hit the enemy line like a fully loaded freight train. He didn’t stop and just crushed anyone in his way knocking them aside like bowling pins. He was firing grenades into clumps of soldiers targeting the officers in exos giving them orders. He grinned and pulled Lucille off his back, while dropping his gun to hang on his tactile sling. He gripped up on the handle of his long metal club that looked like a solid metal baseball bat with spikes. He began to spin the club and swing it large arcs taking out two to four men at a time. He grinned as this was working faster. He targeted an exo officer who managed to dodge and avoid getting hit the first time. He didn’t miss with the backswing though. The side of the exo crumpled and pinned the man as he screamed in pain as the crushed metal cut into his body. Chuck just kept going. The soldiers were attempting to get away from him now. Those who had seen what he had done to the exo were trying to get out of the line of fire. He had them routed now. The constant stream of soldiers that had been unloading on the beach had slowed.

Tahlia was standing in the backseat with her body braced on the roll bar. She used the solid support to brace her body and keep her steady. The vibrations from the heavy machine gun Javi was firing was throwing off her aim a little and was distracting as he worked next to her. She inhaled and put her eye to the scope and began to scan the area they were working to cover. She began to fire at targets of opportunity when she saw Chuck pass her scope in a mad dash towards the docks. She stopped shooting long enough to search the area. She whistled appreciatively at the destruction he was leaving in his wake. Sure enough Chuck was in the thick of it bogged down by the sheer numbers surrounding him. She saw a new squad trying to flank him by offloading directly on the beach behind him. She aimed at the exo wearing commander and aimed for his head. She took a deep breath and pushed out all the distractions and fired on the exhale. She was rewarded with a spray of red indicating she had hit her target. She began to pump bullets into the group of soldiers behind Chuck as fast as she could since she didn’t have to worry about hitting him.

Duke remained curled into the ball where Chuck had ordered him to stay. His fur was standing on end bushed out. His body was rigid with tension and stress. He was panting heavily.

Samantha had a better view of what they were facing as she piloted the drone and pulled her focus into her HUD. She piloted the drone to support Chuck at the beach. She had already strafed the beach to take out some of the soldiers there. She came back around and targeted the docks so they could not unload troops as easily. She hit it with high caliber rounds shredding the wooden dock. She saw Chuck was doing a good job slowing down the tide of incoming troops and those that had already made it ashore. She took the drone up high to get a better view of what was incoming. She took in a sharp breath at what she saw. It looked like New Zealand was being invaded when you looked at the number of assets being leveraged against the base. It looked like the beginning of World War III. She began to target the incoming helicopters and took down two gunships. The drone had been clipped but was still in the air.

She came around for another pass and noticed that the submarine was still launching missiles and farther out to sea were support ships holding off at a good distance. They needed to get out of there. Artemis was throwing everything they had at them and the kitchen sink. They had not committed all the assets they had brought to the party which begs the question of how many assets they can really bring to bear. That thought was terrifying. She had no sooner had that thought when Skye came over coms ordering the retreat. Samantha had taken over official command from Skye according to Oracle protocols which was something she understood but didn’t agree with. Samantha needed to send it out over coms as well to be sure everyone was notified. She wasn’t sure if Skye was still linked into everyone’s comms as leader.

She heard Skye say: "Chaos, last batch of the support team are going to make a beeline through tunnel. Recommend we get the hell out. Frigga, Tiny Nord, cover each other and retreat, I'm going to try and lay down fire and cover you, just make a move and run. Do not get bogged down in fighting, clear who you have to, they pincer you and you'll be toast. There's a thin forest track we can use to get to the RV. Chaos, take your group and get to the RV with the Land Rover, disengage and get back. I've one last thing to sort."

Samantha frowned as she spoke into team comms “Boomer get back to the Land Rover. We need to pull out. Taniwah cover his retreat. Javi get ready to get us out of here. Raven Squad is ordered to retreat. We are pulling out. Repeat. Raven Squad is ordered to retreat. We are pulling out.” She switched over to individual comms so she could send a private message to Skye. “Well get it sorted Queen and get your ass to the boat. You had better be on the boat or I am coming back for you.” Samantha was worried about Queen, who had suffered a serious shock. It would be like her to feel responsible for everyone and do something stupid. She wouldn’t stop Queen from doing what she felt she needed to do but she would step in if sees her needlessly throwing her life away. There would be no suicide by Artemis on her watch.

Chuck was in the middle of clearing a mob on the beach. The stream of enemy troops landing had slowed to a trickle after Samantha took out their pier with the drone. Lucille was quickly becoming his favorite weapon. It just worked so great up close and personal to rain destruction in a short amount of time. The weapon was only able to be wielded due to his size and strength which added to its destructive kinetic power. He kept swinging as he began to make his way back towards the hill. “Boomer acknowledges Raven is bugging out.” He began to fire his remaining grenades in a barrage to cover his retreat. The explosions cleared a path for him as he began to sprint back up the hill towards the Land Rover. He could hear gunfire and explosions behind him.

Tahlia was moving smoothly from target to target. She had a target rich environment but she still made sure every shot counted. She heard Samantha order the retreat. She just kept firing. She noticed when Javi stopped firing the heavy machine guns. Maybe he had run out of ammo. She was startled when she felt his arm going around her waist. She growled at him “Oi what do you think your doing?”

Javi looked up at her startled a little as he was working on steadying with an arm around her waist. “I am rigging you up with a harness to help support you. So you can continue to fire if I have to move the Land Rover.”

Tahlia blushed and nodded, working him as he rigged a makeshift harness to hold her tight to the roll bar in a standing position. She continued to take shots as those chasing Chuck. It was awkward and uncomfortable but she was grateful he had thought about it.

Javi worked with gear that was already in the Land Rover. He had taken a rappelling harness and used his leather belt and loading straps to secure it and her to the roll bar.

Tahlia blushed a little as she looked at the surly mechanic “Thank you Javi.”

He just nodded before looking out over the battlefield. His eyes widened at the destruction that Chuck had left behind him. Artemis soldiers were falling behind him as he moved faster towards them. He saw a group of four exos take off from the regular troops in pursuit. “Chuck is coming in hot with exos on his tail.”

Samantha assessed the battlefield. She had managed to take out a few troop carriers before the gap left behind by the gunships had been filled with more. She got unlucky as one of the new gunships managed to damage the drone’s engine before she managed to put some high caliber rounds into the rotor taking the helicopter out of the air. The drone was not responding as well and had lost maneuverability. The drone was going down and there was nothing she could do about it. She grinned at the thought that she could guide it down. She knew just the target as she saw the sub launch another missile towards some of the outbuildings on the base. Samantha fought to keep the drone in the air helping it glide in a downward descent. She aimed for the sub. She managed to keep the drone on target as the large unmanned craft hit the tower of the submarine in a massive explosion of fire and crunching metal. Smoke poured out of the damaged submarine as it began to take on water and sink. Samantha switched back over to cameras in her suit. She got a good grasp of what their immediate situation was. She grabbed her sniper rifle and climbed over the seat to stand next to Tahlia. She began to help her cover Chuck’s retreat. Between the two of them, they managed to take down the exos. Samantha told Javi. “Get ready to get us moving as soon as Chuck is in the vehicle.”

Samantha kept taking shots of opportunity. It was easier to act than to think right now. She would stay hyper-focused until they were out of here. She would just switch what she was focusing on.

Chuck had to slow his momentum or he would damage the vehicle. He managed to climb in delicately without adding any destruction to his movements. He hit the top of the vehicle to let Javi know he was in. “Let's roll!”

Javi punched it and they all held on as the vehicle lurched into motion and speeded off towards the hidden airstrip.

They had managed to slow down the flood of troops coming in at the docks and beach to give their people a fighting chance to get out. There were random troops here and there, but the numbers flooding onto the island had slowed down. The ones already on the island had been met with Raven’s Squad defiance and had their numbers quickly whittled down. The break in troop movements allowed personnel the time they needed to make it to the hidden landing strip and hidden boat.

Samantha heard over the command line she thought the voice was Rafael “Chaos, support personnel are loaded and ready to go. Confirm waiting for Raven Squad.” Samantha breathed deeper knowing they had managed to give their people the time to reach the escape boat. “Chaos confirms. Raven Squad is moving to join you know. Prep the boat for departure. We will be coming in hot.”

Tahlia was grateful for the bracing. She would never had been able to keep her balance well enough to fire while Javi drove over the rough terrain without out it. She was always so self conscious about her legs and limitations. She had to admit that Samantha was struggling next to her and she had two good legs. They continued to support the Land Rovers retreat by taking out troops that spotted them on their way to the hidden airfield.

Shortly after, the Land Rover was pulling into the hidden airfield. They had taken out the few pockets of troops between them and the airfield easily. Samantha got out of the vehicle. She turned to the others. “Javi and Tahlia head to the boat. Make sure they are prepared for departure as soon as the rest of the team gets here. Chuck, you and Duke get to the boat and take charge of defending it. Give cover fire to the incoming members of Raven Squad. Protect them and get them out.” They looked at her in confusion and started to protest. Samantha turned to the hidden airfield and the experimental bird she saw there. “I am going to get that bird in the sky and provide air cover.” She looked at them all and told them “Get moving!” They seemed to break them out of whatever protests they were going to make.

Samantha put them out of her mind. She ran to the modified F35 jet and climbed up into the cockpit. “Bob, interface with the aircraft systems.” Bob’s mechanical voice told her “Initializing.” She strapped herself in and quickly began a preflight check as she began to turn the aircraft on. The jet engines rumbled to life vibrations pouring adrenaline into her system. Bob’s voice came back “Start up sequence completed. HUD updating now.” Samantha blinked as her HUD display changed to her preferred set up for flying. She hooked up her helmet to the onboard oxygen system. She tugged her harness straps to make sure they were snug. She was pleased to note the aircraft had a full tank of fuel and the weapon systems were fully loaded and ready.

“Oracle be advised Chaos is launching the hidden bird.” She switched back to team comms “Chaos is going airborne. Raven Squad, get to the ship NOW! I am going to cover your retreat. I want you out of here as soon as possible.” She heard Oracle acknowledge her notification.

She let out a squeal of delight as she let all her emotions and worries fall away as the speed and jolt of launching the jet pushed her back into the seat. The familiar feeling of gravity being defied always made her feel free as the sleek jet streaked up into the sky. She circled the island and began to lay down some cover fire for Freya and Nord to retreat. She then turned her attention to the incoming gun ships. Now that submarine was out of the fight, enemy aircraft were the closest and most serious threat to her team. The modified F-35 handled like a dream. Samantha was in her element. She buzzed past a gunship grinning knowing he was trying to stabilize the craft from her jetwash. She swung around behind him. They tried evasive maneuvers but she had fired and was pulling up and over him as the craft exploded as her missile hit. She cleared the debris zone and swung around and began to hunt Artemis’ air assets systematically destroying them one after another. Her dominance in the sky was unchecked until Artemis sent in their own jets. She hoped her team was evacuating as ordered.

Frigga swept her hammer through several exo suited soldiers. The blow cleaving through them, for all that the weapon is a hammer, the blows hit heavy and arc through them. Where with an axe it'd produce two hefty pieces flying asunder, but instead these blows from the great hammer in the Battle Goddesses' hands, shattered and broke the things it hit. The poor exos sent flying and sprawling under the great thundering blows. She moved through the unit she had jumped down into. She swept her hammer through them like she was reaping wheat. And then suddenly she has to dodge away as ong to the chopper comes in and sprays at her position. Big rotary cannon rounds impacting around her. DEceptively swift for her size, dipping through the fighting until she found cover. She growled, "Little Nord." She grunted into her comms, "I've got a chopper trailing me, start falling back. I'm going to try something really stupid here."

She looked around trying to see where Nord is in comparison to her. But in the flight and flare and fighting she can't get a clear tell on him. She didn't have the time to figure it out though. The retraction chain and claws attached to Starbreaker as she wound up, and threw it, back behind her, clearing out her flank for a time, sending infantry and exos running for cover from the giant hammer and chain. She then took a bold step out from cover, the AEW sliding into hand, the configuration shifting, Rifle mode, Sniper Mode, Anti-armor mode, then to Tesla Mode. The tip blossoming open into a faint dish shape. Which already crackled with energy storing up into the emitters. In plain view the chopper that had been trying to find her again turns and swoops in low.

Frigga herself stood firm, shouldering the AEW.

In the chopper the pilot spoke to his gunner, "Get a bead on her, we take out their so called Battle Goddess, we strike a sure blow to Raven. Break their spirits." The gunner worked his panels then nodded, "Rocket rounds primed." The gunner depressed the firing button several HE rocket lanced down at the silver, blue and grey armored woman on the ground.

Frigga stood proud. Her armor clicking, the shield emitters shifting, and with feet left to go, her shield emitters glowed bright searing white. And her position is covered in red, yellow and black as the rockets hit. Just enough ordinance to obliterate a heavy like her.

The chopper pilot chuckles and begins to radio in, "Control, Chopper 1A here, we've just taken out..." He never finished his report.

Out of the still roiling cloud of smoke and flame a brillant blue-white bolt of man made lightning lances forth, strikes the chopper just fore of the cockpit, and cores right through it. Lightning dancing down the length of the air ship, electronics blowing out from overload, pilot and gunner fried, the last part of his report throught he radio is the pilot screaming in pain and horror. The last thing sent from the choppers camera is the smoke clearing, and the disappating glare of the Shield of Asgard, as Freya will name it later, fading away having negated the explosive attack. The AEW lowering, and then the chopper exploding just before it hits the ground.

She pants and smiles, "Tahlia, you mad genius the new shield mod worked aces. I'm falling back to the pickup exfil. Nord? How we doing buddy?" She turned and slid the AEW back into it's place, and the Starbreakers retraction chain blurring, as the mighty hammer snacked back into her waiting hand, "I think we better get out of here." She spotted Tiny Nord up ahead, spitting fire done to cover her retreat. She put on a little speed.

Up the hill they went, leap frogging, spitting bad news back down behind them. At one point Frigga bracing and emptying the contents of Suns Core back down the way they came. Super heated matter spraying forth and blanketing a section of the hill below them, "Where's that exfil!?" She called. When she heard the approach of what sounded like an MRAP from ahead, "That better be you guys!" She called as she turned and leveled the AEW in Anti-Armor Mode ready to fire, just in case the enemy had flanked them.

A collab with @Starlance





The sound of the Cameroonian creeping in was an oddly reassuring one, considering she’d forgotten to even make an introduction. Then again, when new operatives rotated in and out, and rejoined the team then left, it was sometimes difficult to keep track. Ebrima was a wise head, a capable soldier that she was glad to have on side- Skye lowering her MG3 at the sight of him, the Scottish exo-clad operative a parallel to him.

Skye looked a little different to the other medium, his exo a cutting edge unit and shinier, hers a little more bashed, open, and more than anything, Skye’s face left open by her helmet with her tactical specs, MNVGs and comms framing her dirtied red hair and face- the navy shirt and jeans a weird combo outside of the frame of the exo’s relatively comprehensive plates. Skye should have gone for a faceplate really, but the tactical glasses and chops of the helmet she wore did most of the protecting work, as well as naturally benefitting peripheral. The damage she’d done to the team on her flank was appreciated, given she was getting surrounded rather quickly, and a face like his was never forgotten and never not appreciated when he could do what he did. A capable medium after her own heart, well, in killing people, that was.

Seeing him come over, Skye nodded in reply and nonchalantly walked over, bringing her PDA off her arm and without a reply, tapping a command into it, and tapping it against his chest, near where his own comms link would be, syncing it in quickly and clean.
“Now you can hear me. Good to have you, Boraro. Picked a time and a half to join me. Appreciate you taking that lot out..” She replied, looking keenly into his eyes, dry as you can imagine the Scot would be, her stern look turning to a wry smile, appreciating it, the look saying more than words as she peered at his visored face, barely able to see the operative behind them. She backed away, checking her own MG3 over, and the environment over, hearing the sound of booming come into sound, not of the enemy F18 Hornets, but of the F35 itself. Now the fight was on level. The submarine had gone up, the pier on the flank was clear, but the bastards were still coming up. It was a headfuck of a scene, but then again, when the war came home, it was getting a reply.

“Sit rep isn’t good. There is way more than I can even begin to explain right now, but Artemis is after us, and they are coming thick and thin. We’ve got a good chance to make a run for it back over the ridge through the woods. Sounds like if Chaos is airborne, we have a chance at not getting strafed or lit up. And my comms aren’t on lead…again, lots of factors..” Skye replied, the ardent Scot holding a certain kind of hold in her voice, one that cracked a little and clearly looked like she’d dealt with a lifetime’s worth of mindfuckery in the last twenty four hours. Even killing people as an operative for a living didn’t really compare. Her red hair, freckled face and all around well-looking demeanor couldn’t hide the weariness and prying away at her self, and she was glad he was here to help, because they’d need any advantage they could get, and he’d have the energy.

Friendly air was always good, he had been wondering where an F-35 came from all of a sudden and knowing it was on his side was the first bit of good news in the last 15 or so minutes. ”C’est la vie.” He shrugged at the bad sitrep. It sometimes came at you like that. ”If it’s just us, we can likely make it easy. That land rover will be a more visible target. But what if Chaos needs a hand?” He gestured vaguely to the sky. If that Lightning was the only asset covering their retreat, nobody was covering it and retrieving a downed pilot in the Artemis soup didn’t sound like it mixed with living to tell about it too well.

The last comment did warrant a raised eyebrow. ”Cliffnotes, then?” Abrupt leadership change was something that ranked pretty high on the list of things he wanted to know about, ”Who took over?”

Skye nodded as she pointed up at the Lightning, blasting past and with the sound of Chaos in Skye’s and Ebrima’s ears being rather….excited, yes, that would say a lot.
“Her. Oh, and riiiight….in a nutshell, there’s an evil clone of me that’s a crazy bitch, and I mean, she’s fucking mental. Like worse than me. And her blood has a tracker in it. Mine likely doesn’t, so her insurance policy is caving us in and well, trying to fucking kill us. Can you see what I mean?” Skye retorted dryly, looking around the corner of the concrete structure, keeping an eye on Freya and Tiny Nord, absolutely laying down all manner of shit down below, from the energy-based smacks of the AEW to Tiny Nord’s usual blasting apart with his fifty. And speaking of, they had their route out. With the prototype VTOL destroyed, the team evacuated, the two were now the last remaining hares. Now or never really, as Skye took a last moment to chat, knowing they’d need to get a move on.

“I’ll lead us ground based folk. But the link to Oracle, the drones, the lot, goes to her. She’s a smart lass. She’ll be right. Anyway, we have our bits to do. You good on ammo, munitions? Exo feeling nice?” Skye retorted, knowing Ebrima would want to skin her alive for her mannerisms, but then again, the Scot was beyond being particularly easy on the truth. To Sophie maybe, not right now when shite was getting real, albeit the last part, well, she checked in a little, twitching her NVGs back down, the quad-optical device covering her weary eyes back up as she switched to the thermal, before flicking back up, readied and prepared.
"Chaos, got Boraro on the line. He's with me, we're moving out to the exfil."

For a small moment, he wondered that maybe, just maybe, he should’ve shut up and done his time. Clones and blood trackers were something he’d have to learn to live with. ”Good for now, but conserve thermobarics. Get them clear and run?” He asked, taking two seconds to count remaining magazines, colored tape around their bases denoting different loads making it easy. ”After you.” He gestured to the furball, shouldering his shotgun. Really should’ve brought the rifle to the training outing.

Having Chaos in charge of the big picture brought yet another unwelcome input into the ‘what if…?’ scenario of the Lightning getting into trouble, though with a handful of Raven operatives being the only ones remaining in the fight and no support on the way, that was where she was most useful.

Skye nodded, beauty before age, or something like that she reasoned, taking point, heading out of the support site and up the hill, following the sinewing gravel track out of the exposed sheep-roaming fields on the lead up to the beach and up into the forested chunk, the comms messy and more going on than she could imagine. While the two Heavies would retreat one way, Skye and Ebrima had the other route to take, the Scot keeping her wits about her, and yet for a brief moment, the two pacing nicely on the track. The forest kept them out of view for the most part, and they had some reprieve, some moment to get a breath back, and at least take it in.
“Yeah, we’ll get them clear. You’re on the network now, so should be able to see where they are in your display. Two heavies together make one hell of a team, Tiny Nord and Frigga, if they ring a bell. I’d not be too worried, except for the fact that Frigga right now is running on an absolute cocktail of drugs. Trust me, that shit would send most people to the moon, stimulants. Once she crashes out after this, she’s gonna be like a fucking tranquilised elephant. You know how hard it is to move seven foot of a giant like that?” Skye retorted with that classic Scots charm, filling in Ebrima in, knowing full well the Cameroonian probably had little context, little idea and less belief in what the fuck was happening. That would come later- but could at the least punctuate something.

“Alright. Hold a sec.” Skye called in the comms quiet, as the sound of another MRAP, an ex-British Army Cougar of all things could be heard, the vehicle cutting the two teams into halves, given past this bit of the forested track, they’d be on the slope down to the beach, and where a fishing boat come emergency extract would sit. A risky option, but they just needed to buy time to fend off any more waves of Artemis from sky, and with the Lightning in hand and the combined firepower of the team, they’d probably stand some chance of crossing the Cook Strait and heading for Wellington. Skye had to wonder, they had a hell of a surplus from somewhere. But they had some exquisite buying power, and well, that got them some very interesting connections indeed, and people to maintain. After all, mercenary groups were more common in the contemporary security sphere, and if they had the dollar, they could get their hands on more than just a few Hiluxes and M4s, they could kit themselves out with the latest and greatest. The soldiers were well trained, likely ex-US Armed Forces, NATO and others- not all Russian or Chinese mercs, but a multi-cultural force of paid troops.

A group of soldiers clambered out, a couple exo-equipped in shiny looking suits a grade down from Skye and Ebrima’s, but no less capable, three more in the front as someone stayed on the mounted gun and drivers seat.
“Okay, that might be handy. Saves us a drive to the airfield if we can secure the MRAP, and we may even be able to scoop up Frigga and Nord, if it works out. Question is though ... .who you having?” Skye called to him, knowing that whilst they were being hunted, sometimes, it was good to have the advantage the other way around. In the foliage and in the dirt next to the road’s ridgeline type, she felt not like Frodo, but like someone else in the Fellowship in this part of The Shire….sorry, New Zealand. The dark rainy evening made things trickier for the Artemis mercenaries to spot them, so Skye knew herself holding was not a bad call. She looked on, before looking back at his face, holding her crouch and checking the German-made chainsaw of an LMG one more time, her explosive nature matching hers. Skye was a force on her own- with Sam, Freya and the others, she’d adapted her game plan to be the all-running team mum, bouncing between the two- but with a dedicated exo-carrying operative like Ebrima, she knew things could go much further. Someone matching her pace, aggression, fire. Quite a charm.

Ebrima indeed did not have the context for the situation, but what he did have was experience with drugged up combatants. Sicarios whose most protective piece of equipment were cargo shorts shrugging off jacketed rounds like BBs was bad enough by itself. Just the thought of someone that strung up in a heavy suit… oh boy. If he detested drugs among the enemy ranks, they didn’t get a pass on the other side of the barricade either though. People he had to trust doing who knew what to their bodies, for an impressive short term gain, maybe, but at what long term cost? That was of course assuming the giants even followed the laws of human biology.

And Skye nodded on that, moving around the rear and checking her MG3 over, and knowing she’d have to get in close. A batch of them were sweeping out, and Skye had her eyes on an exo and one of the men at the back.
“That works. I’ll try not to cover you in shrapnel either. All you, Boraro.” Skye responded, following the sunken part below the road, and ready facing the two troops at the back, the female merc in her exo considerably more fucking ugly than her counterpart next to him. Well, it’d be over quick. Exoskeletons were good, but this thing was a racket- the team locking the road down yet paradoxically, making their own trap. She noted the gun was active, so any fire would need to be quick, to then get inside the MRAP and evict the guy. And well, that was that. She unloaded her fire onto the two, and whilst the other exo managed to get a few shots off, from half-prone with an LMG that she could fire on the move, well, it was fairly easy how that went down. With a roar, Skye went from prone to upright, and moved around the other side and onto the next two, using the exo to leap hard upwards, and play her part.

Skye was onto something though. The MRAP, initially an obstacle, might have been a blessing in disguise. He withdrew his hand from the M25. The vehicle should handle shrapnel just fine, but why tempt fate? As long as Artemis didn’t look too closely. ”Divide and conquer?” He gestured for Skye to go around back, himself taking the vehicle’s front as long as they minded each others’ position. Friendly fire was not on the menu today.

He set out through the undergrowth, waiting for the MG to play the part of the starting gun. First order of business was the mounted gun. As its operator instinctively turned it backward to see what the machine gun fire was about, that was all the opening he needed to cross the bit of open space between him and the Cougar. The first couple of shots struck the driver, probably giving the Artemis mercs a nasty surprise. That sinking feeling that you were in a vice, pressure on two sides and hardly a way out. Now in the gun’s dead angle, he could finish the wounded one with impunity before the big show. The exosuits they used meant the grenades he had were out of the question, as much as he would’ve loved to chuck a smoke int the truck and let the guy stew, the situation called for something faster. With the two others now turning to him, he he flung the left passenger door open, something that took some effort usually made trivially easy by the exosuit, and unceremoniously emptied the rest of the magazine across the passenger seats, reasoning the turret operator had to be disabled, not necessarily dead. But that left him facing the two with an empty weapon.

Skye came back down on the other side of the bank, rolling out and blasting one of the men without the exo with her MG3 as she came back down off the part above the sunken road with just a satisfying drop, then slamming into the other like a sack of potatoes, punching the man hard in the head with a satisfying twack. She looked up like a rabbit in the literal headlights of the MRAP, exhaling hard, the MG3’s barrel cooking hot from the moment to moment, as she nodded to him silently, taking a breath back and walking with an intent back towards the MRAP. The Cougar was a 6x6 variant, an odd one to have somehow driven onto the island, but was clearly one of the more tooled variants that Artemis was trying to use.

“We make a team. Even held a door for me. Alright. Keep the wheel. I’ll get on the weapon. Looks like we have room on the back for the two to clamber into so we can make a pickup, albeit like a sandwich. Mind you, that’s like loading a tonne….we’ll see how we get on.” Skye retorted, dragging out the dead driver outside, and the gunner too whilst at it, manning an RCWS platform, a remote weapons station with an old-school M2 .50 hooked up to it. She shut the door in, the exo-clad form of Skye very cramped in the seat yet able to network into the device, using the joystick and haptic of her exo’s PDA in sync. The Scot would normally drive, but in this instance, knew the Cameroonian had his talent in that.

He expected he’d need to argue about not sitting in half a dead merc. ”Minor teething problems.” He allowed himself a rare moment of levity in such a situation as he swapped out the magazine, having been about to use the door as a shield. Maybe now that he was working for rich people with R&D, he could inquire about 30 round drums that worked. Not even an hour on the job and he was already making a shopping list. ”Let the team know we’re coming under enemy colors.” That wasn’t an accident he wanted to be a part of.

“Aye, I’ll agree on that. Smells bloody horrible here. Don’t want to add to that. Alright, all yours.” Skye called back, and with that, knew that Ebrima would be taking them down the road going back to the fire- the outline of Freya and Oliver soon to be seen, as she checked comms one more time.
“Frigga, Nord, we’re coming to you now in a commandeered MRAP. I’ll pop the door and lay fire out with the MG but you need to get the fuck in, stat.” Skye called, checking the area with the RCWS turret, the sound of gunfire calming down indeed suggesting that they’d at least held a wave for the moment being. It was a rare drop away, but there could be plenty more, and it sounded like Sam’s team had fought through hell to get to the exfil. Now they’d just have to join....no time to put the stereo on, but if there was anything playing, it sounded like Supremacy by Muse. Brooding, dark, deep. The way the Scot liked her rock music.

With gunfire coming in, Skye turned the turret and tried to pick up the angle, clapping a few troops further down the bare green hill, the plasma coating the retreat but giving Skye the chance to paste everyone else. The .50 barked, clapping out shell casings onto roof, as Skye kept up the fire till it could no more, the heavies closer, and closer.
"Hold here, I've got this." Skye called, leaping out, giving a wave, seeing the scorched look on Freya and the battering of Tiny Nord. They'd taken some hits alright, but thrown it back.
"Alright, get the fuck in!" Skye called, the twin doors at the back open, and able to fit the two inside the tight space, as with it, Skye banged the stock of the MG3 into the side of the wall, indicating once they were in, they were gone. She clambered back into the gunner's seat once more and started firing out rounds, lacing another buggy down the bottom, a few 40mm grenades blasting the hill around them too as she hoped this was it. They'd need to get to the runway and the boat there, and get going from that.