Samantha stepped off the plane with the team. It was cold. Her stomach was turning itself inside out with nerves and emotions. She had known this was coming. She wouldn’t let them hold the team responsible for her decisions. She schooled her face to cold indifference, showing no emotion. She stepped off the ramp from the cargo area. She was still in her armor but had her helmet off in her hand. She didn’t have any clothes to change into. Samantha was looking around at their welcoming party when the man began to talk. She recognized the voice, Oracle. She met his eyes and held them with steely determination. Anger was building. Tahlia lashed out verbally saying much of what she was feeling. It just made her like the Kiwi woman even more. She gently put an arm in front of Tahlia and stepped forward in front of her. She let Oracle have his say.

Samantha straightened her spine and glared at him. Her voice started off soft but carried as the emotions she had been holding at bay began to manifest. Her gray eyes flashing with anger and frustration.

“I am Samantha Dalton, callsign Chaos. I was placed in charge of Raven during the attack by Skye Lyons and you. If you don’t trust my judgment, then you should not have put me in charge. If you don’t want my expertise, there are many others who do. I chose Raven Squad.”

She started to answer Oracle when she was interrupted by Athena mouthing off. “You shut the fuck up! You know nothing little girl. Freya is like a sister to me and we have had each other’s back in the field. She has saved my life and I have saved hers. I would never knowingly put her in harm's way. You have no idea what the hell this team has been through. YOU DON’T GET TO JUDGE!”

She turned back to Oracle. “This team has been through back to back dangerous missions where we almost didn’t make it out alive several times over. This team retrieved and completed everything you have asked of it time and time again. This team has been nothing short of exceptional, just like its leader, Skye Lyons. The same woman you are furious that I didn’t let you poke, prod, and lock up. This team works because we are all creative independent professionals not meek lambs who need directions and guidance for every decision. If anyone is to be punished for anything, It will be me. It was my decision to let Skye leave and mine alone. None of the others had the opportunity to stop her. I will answer your questions. I will be a professional because Skye would want me to cooperate with you. If this is how you treat the best of us, I have no respect for you… Sir.”

Samantha was red in the face from anger. Her whole body was shaking. She was taking big gulping breaths. She began to walk forward. She just followed the road headed towards the base. She had to get away from these people before she hurt someone. Samantha allowed the armed men who were acting as guards to guide her where they wanted her. She was fine with it as long as it was away from their welcoming committee. She couldn’t believe that he tried to turn it around and give compliments about their competency after questioning her integrity and that of Skye and the team. She had no more fucks to give these people at the moment.

Well rested her ass. She knew the team was not well rested. She knew they needed to be debriefed. Not that she could sleep at the moment if she wanted too. She was full of angry energy and frustration. She just wanted to run until she dropped.

---

Sam was in no mood to talk to anyone. She walked along with the rest of the team as she was shown to their quarters. She just nodded to Adam and walked into the room that was indicated. She had no clothes. They had literally donned armor and went to fight. The base was blown up with all their stuff as they were escaping. She should be glad she had anything she supposed. She closed the door to her room and pulled off her armor. She found some towels and took a shower. She had nothing to change into and simply crawled into bed, pulling the covers up over her. She curled into a ball and finally allowed all she had been holding in… out. She cried and screamed into her pillow. Fatigue finally sucked her into sleep where nightmares found her.

Chuck had put his armor back on so he could walk it off the plane. He stepped off the plane with the team. He stayed towards the back since he could see over everyone’s heads. Chuck called Duke to his side. Chuck had experience keeping a professional cool demeanor. He knew they would be called to the mat for not delivering Skye. Chuck had accepted that Samantha had made the call. She was the lead at the time and he had accepted his decision. He was new to the team and knew that there were team relationship dynamics and politics that he might not be aware of. Chuck was still not sure what all had happened or the ramifications of it all. He was a military man of action and tactics. He didn’t understand enough about what he had heard about the technology in question to form a definitive opinion.

Chuck watched as the scene unfolded. He had expected a pissed off superior officer who was looking for someone to blame. Chuck braced at attention as he eyes went from speaker to speaker. Chuck listened as Oracle seemed to be focusing on Samantha and her leadership. He found the whole interaction interesting. Coming from a military background as he did, usually if an op went sideways, debriefing happened as quickly as possible. They also tended to interview team members individually before bringing them together to discuss what they could have done differently to change their outcomes. He was a little surprised by the animosity that was being thrown at the entire team. It confused Chuck and he didn’t understand it.

Chuck moved to intercept Athena. He stepped between her and Tahlia as the conversation became heated. Chuck had been in the thick of it with Tahlia and she had his back. He would have hers now. He understood that Athena was Freya’s sister and he could see the family resemblance. She was drop dead gorgeous but he didn’t like her attitude one bit. You would think that her sister would have more respect for the team that Freya was on. That didn’t seem to be the case. He would not allow Athena’s worry over her sister to spill over onto Tahlia. He simply planted himself between them and gently guided Tahlia back behind him and Samantha. He knew that would piss the Kiwi off but she would forgive him later.

The focus shifted back to Samantha as she went off on the leader. Chuck didn’t know the woman well. They had just met after all. He could respect that she was taking ownership of her decision publicly and emphatically. He appreciated that she felt she was protecting her team. As someone who had been under bad officers, who didn’t hesitate to throw their team under the bus, he appreciated the grit that it took. He watched her walk off shaking with rage and once again wondered if his transition to Raven Squad was the right one. He then thought back to the drugs and what they had found at the compound in Columbia. He knew he was ridding the world of a bigger evil. He kept his mouth shut and followed along. He stroked his hand down Duke’s back. He could read the tension in Duke’s body language. He didn’t like the raised voices and the tension between the people.

---

They had entered a building that would house the team on base. He took one of the red painted doors in the hall after they were told to take a room. He smiled seeing a basic set of gray sweat pants, sweatshirt, sneakers, socks, and boxer briefs on the unmade bed. He took his armor off and set it up to charge. He then went to the bathroom and pulled off the inner ballistic suit. He washed it out in the shower with the wand attachment and hung it over the shower door. He then gave himself a nice scrub in hot water. He was feeling the need for a run. He was pretty sure Duke was too. No one had told him that Duke needed to go to a kennel. So he kept his dog with him. He then whistled for Duke and took off for a run. They needed it to finish releasing the tension from the battle and the escape. After being cramped up on the plane, he needed to be outside in the crisp clean air. He needed to feel his body stretching and moving. He didn’t leave base but he did run along the fence line to limber up his body. He figured by the time he was back, maybe they would be ready to debrief him. He let his worries fall away as he took in the natural beauty of the land around him.

---

Before landing, Ebrima donned his exosuit once again. No way he was carrying that thing, even if it was just into a truck parked nearby. He walked out of the plane, blissfully unaware of the Gurkha in the audience as he watched the minor shitshow unfold. He was missing a lot of context so he remained silent, but it sounded like both sides were talking crap, one making it seem as if Skye was somehow responsible for Rose, the other as if she was the second coming. What the fuck did he find himself in the middle of?

He was working with a very limited sample pool, but so far he’d seen little that would make him shed a tear over the command change. Saying ‘She’s like a sister to me.’ to Freya’s actual sister was… let’s chalk that and the blowout up to fatigue, benefit of the doubt and all. If anything, the new commander made a good impression straight out of the gate, directly to the point without unnecessary sauce. Sauce was good for morale at times, but this was not one such time. Say what needs to be said and let them settle in.

That didn’t mean he didn’t want to say something to Athena. Something that probably would’ve earned him an enemy, if he could judge the woman by this brief interaction, but managed to stay his tongue. The eye roll, that was out of his control. But as Adam would later note, he just got there. Perhaps he could run with that little bit of goodwill and leverage it to mediate the next time people felt like arguing. Or perhaps not, Athena hardly seemed like someone who would care to differentiate. A voice of reason finally cut through the air, the Finn speaking sense and hurrying them along from the cold. Ebrima already liked him for that alone.

---

---

”And the blade too. I will not talk of it yet, but you should have a good story to tell, yes?”

Fuck…

Finding himself pitted against a Ghurka had been unexpected enough, but he’d considered working with one completely out of the realm of possibility given his usual line of work, so this was a complication he’d never given any thought to. ‘First time for everything.’ as they say. There would be no story, just a presenting of facts - being economical with the truth in some areas the Gurkha didn’t need to know - and then Ebrima would start barricading his door when he slept. Purna being an infiltrator did not help the Cameroonian’s peace of mind. He doubted there could be any set of circumstances under which a Gurkha would be okay with him keeping the knife. At the same time, he wasn’t giving it up while he was breathing. It was only fortunate that blade’s previous owner wore a helmet to battle and not a terai, because Ebrima would’ve stolen that too.

But for the time being he let it be, stowing away his equipment in the armory, cleaning the three weapons he had on him and finally hooking up the exosuit to charge before finding his room. Normally Ebrima would have eagerly gone out to explore the base after a shower and being released from the one on one with Adam, were it not for the arctic temperatures and the somewhat worrying presence of a certain small man on site. He may have been going a bit paranoid in the moment, but going outside and out of sight felt like painting a target on his back and making it easier to hide the body. In the end, necessity won. Refusing to live in what little he wore under the armor, Ebrima put the undersuit back on and headed out in search of the base’s equipment warehouse.

Some time and a bit of arguing with the Blue Sword quartermaster later, he made the trip back to the house with two sets of clothes, two pairs of boots, a winter jacket and a warm hat. Unloading the haul in his room, it was just about time to see about some proper food to get the taste of what they found aboard the plane out of his mouth.

In spite of the cold welcome, the team had at least gotten settled into the place, the wooden lounge now having the fire going, to add a little more warmth to it. In the interim that had followed, the team had mostly all been debriefed- all bar Sam. Supplies were rolling in- including more Finland-appropriate clothing generally all around, Blue Sword troops, vehicles and gear that had beaten the arrival of the other Blue Sword upper-tier operators. It was rare that a private military company was on the good guys side- typically, most operatives would think it’s the private companies against them, but in work like this, mercenaries like Blue Sword very much leaned on the side of good, Oracle had reasoned. They had to have a reason to keep business going and were the only ones dependable enough in this situation.

For Adam, he had more business to attend to, sitting in his office, reading up. He’d gotten most of the details on the team, from a secure dead-drop that was kept on operatives within Raven. After all, a small subset of the team was only here- plenty more operatives were out, like Purna had been, and if they were centralized under his command, then they’d need to be called, known, and read up on. He’d been mostly looking at Sam, the one he had the most concern about. He wasn’t sure how he felt, but the other debriefs had been relatively straightforward so far.

On the one hand, the anger initially felt, well, it had reason behind it. Skye going AWOL was a serious, if not almost existential threat to everyone now, because she was as good as dead the next time she came up. And Adam had feelings. Many feelings about that. He respected her, even to some extent, admired her ability in the field, the fiery Scot doing things her way, all day, all the way. But she was one to adapt and let things loose. She focussed on her, and let the others focus on them. Adam preferred to support, help, but more importantly, direct and control that side of things. Combat was chaos, but he was order, a semblance of relief in the bigger picture.

So on the other hand, he respected her talent, and her ability in the field. Skye had wrote very positively about Sam. What would initially look like an unassuming CIA operative with a lot of family issues, a lot of turmoil behind her, had become a lethal, sharpened blade in modern espionage and combat, enabling the team to their successes, and becoming so much more. A perfect operative in Raven….bar her shenanigans, but in some ways, Adam had to shrug. You took rough with the smooth. You took mercenaries bad and good, you even took gang members, you took whoever did the job. So, it left him knowing he had to at least set the problem straight, but in some ways, know she was up to the task. Loyalty to people wasn’t what this was about, it was about the structure, and he knew she was next, the glass-framed room of the wooden structure revealing the low sun in the sky just beyond the lake and forest. Trauma likely must have permeated through, and Adam knew that. Skye was like that to him once, but eventually, the sting of the cut begins to die down, and it’s back to work.

Samantha woke up a few hours later after falling into an exhausted sleep. Her face felt puffy and warm from crying. Her body felt stiff and bruised from being thrown around the cockpit and flying in the fighter for so long. Samantha knew she needed to get up and move and stretch. She knew her body would feel better if she did. She felt numb from head to toe. She should check on the team to see how they were doing. She had new team members that had only seen her at her worst. She wasn’t used to thinking as a leader. In the past, she had operated as a lone wolf without a team. When she had chosen to move from the CIA to Raven Squad, she did it with the purpose of using Raven Squad to help hunt the group that was truly responsible for the terrorist attack that had taken her father and last living relative away from her.

Samantha still didn’t have any clothing. She had collapsed naked into the bed after showering and drying off. She began to warm up with some yoga stretching her tired body and muscles that had tightened up from stress and limited mobility. She was feeling better than she had since boarding the A400. She had barely been able to walk when she had boarded the plane. Then she had watched one of her best friends jump out of the plane and into a dangerous and unknown situation where the whole world would be hunting her. She had to let Skye make her decisions and she had to believe that she had made the right one for her. She went through her yoga routine and was pleased when she started feeling better physically. Mentally she was a disaster still.

Her mind kept replaying taking Rose out and watching the life drain from her eyes. She kept replaying that moment of doubt hoping she had killed the right person. That moment when pain sliced through her psyche thinking she had just killed Skye on purpose. It was like she was caught in a cycle of the worst moments from last week: the mountain exploding, a wall of snow racing them down the mountain as explosions rained all around them, and Freya being injured and almost unable to move one arm. Being in the F35 and unable to rejoin the team knowing Freya was injured. Skye putting her in charge. Samantha did not think of herself as a leader. She had joined Raven Squad with the idea of being support personnel, yet here she was being held accountable for the team’s actions. Samantha was struggling to see how she fit into Raven Squad. She had trusted Skye because she had earned that trust. Skye had taken the time to figure out what made her tick and along the way they had become close.

Sam was jerked out of her thoughts by a knock on the door. She wrapped one of the towels from the bathroom around herself before standing behind the door and opening just a little so she could see around it. Tahlia stood there with a duffle bag waiting patiently for her to open the door. Tahlia cocked her head to the side as she stepped into the room appraising her with a knowing look on her face. She set the duffle bag on the bed.

Tahlia: “There are some clothes and things in there for you. When you are dressed, you should take your armor and put it in the armory.” She turned and faced Samantha with a careful cautious expression on her face which was odd for the outspoken Tahlia. “If you ever need to talk about it, come find me. Get dressed and report to Adam’s office for your debriefing. He is expecting you.” Tahlia gave her an odd look before nodding her head and leaving as quietly as she had come in.

Samantha focused on what she needed to do. She was still not ready to dive into the chaotic mess of emotions swirling through her. She unzipped the duffle bag and began to pull out what was some hastily gathered clothes. She figured that they probably came from the base’s quartermaster considering most of it was items you would see in the gym or training. She pulled on the stretchy sports bra and boy short underwear. She wasn’t surprised to note that the sweat pants were a size too big for her. She had to roll the waist down so they didn’t slide off and roll the pant legs up so she could walk.She pulled on the pullover sweatshirt that had a Blue Sword logo on it. She was grateful it had knitted cuffs so that she could push them up over her hands allowing the extra sleeve length to stay out of the way of her hands. She pulled on the sneakers after heavy woolen socks. The shoes were a little loose but doable. She would have to order some stuff in her size. Samantha was petite where most of the people she worked with were giants, tall, and muscular. Even the women. She ran a quick brush through her hair that was in the bag and took off in search of Adam’s office.

She paused outside his office door and took a deep breath. She was as ready for this as a root canal. She knew she would have to account for her actions. She straightened her spine. Skye had believed she could do this. She would get through this. She could fake it… couldn’t she? She took another steadying breath before knocking on the office door.

Adam heard the footsteps outside, tapping on the wooden floor, sturdy as it was, it did make a noise with the door creaked a little open.

“Come in, Samantha.” He replied, the Slavic accented Pole’s voice carrying across the room as he looked over, the shaven/bald, gently bearded new team lead aware it was time, as he stood up, walking over ready to meet her.

Samantha pushed the door open gently unsure where anything was in the office since it was her first time in here. She stepped in and turned, softly closing the door behind her. She turned to face Adam, meeting his eyes. “Tahlia said you wanted to see me.”

Adam nodded to the seat, as he walked across to his side of the desk, the American operative quite the talk of the town, for someone typically not out in the field.

“I did. Grab a seat, and let’s get this addressed.” Adam replied, neither harsh nor warm, sort of an indifference that came across, as he followed to his own, pulling it in.

Samantha followed Adam towards the desk and took a seat as asked. Samantha was nervous because she did not come through a military rank. She didn’t know military protocol and was used to having leeway in the field. She had learned it to work with Raven Squad. Skye had never been a stickler for saluting or all that. She hoped that held true here. She was unsure how to address Adam. She nodded in response as he told her they needed to address what happened. She waited for him to ask his questions.

Adam pulled a glass of water close, grabbing a sip, looking across, taking her in for a moment, knowing she was anxious, her body language indicated that so obviously, he didn’t need to say much more.

“I’m still in shock over the entire situation. In the space of 48 hours, we have lost a critical outpost of Raven’s, at least a dozen men, the intelligence we gained from the Mercury satellite network operated by Vale, Spectre, whose whereabouts are now unknown, and even worse, I’ve just been told about a former colleague of mine going missing. And being cloned.” Adam started, gulping more, shaking his head. He may not have seen eye to eye with Skye, but professionally, there was a lot to take in about it all.

“You look like shit. So I will cut to the chase. You’ll tell me how what you did was right. And I would believe you. Skye, she allows a lot, the base, what happened to her, she’d want that to be on her. She’s a mother to her teams, which perhaps is her greatest strength. And yet, it’s also what makes her team weak. She gives people without reason a purpose, a direction. And once she does, she forgets that without her, they are lost too. Trusted you enough to make you a leader, too. So she has seen your change.” Adam started, shaking his head, looking to Sam, knowing she didn’t need to hear it.

“She is out wherever she is. And I need you to understand that when it comes to it, we now do not know what will happen if we come across her. That’s why Oracle is pissed, Sam. He gets it, he practically passed it onto her and now, sees it that she’s as good as dead. So do I. But here we are. We have potentially got a very serious situation with Rose, Sam, and if we don’t figure this out quickly, we are deep in shit. I’m not going to go into it, because there’s no point. What has been said is said, and you and me both fully understand. What matters is what we do next.” Adam added, curt, blunt, and with a certain Slavic tone, a fatalistic one, yet one that seemed on the face of it, somewhat balanced.

“So, take me through it. This is crucial. What were the differences between Rose, and Skye that you could tell. Anything about her, anything she did, said, had on her. Describe what you can. I’ll make some notes, and we’ll go from there.” The Pole ended it on, making no bones of his disappointment, but wanting no arguments, just to get on with this.

Samantha sat and listened to Adam begin. She tilted her head to one side assessing Adam. Her eyes narrowed as she watched him intently. She knew he was a trained operative. She used her training to spot signs that Adam was not being honest with her. She disagreed about his opinion with Skye because Samantha knew she could operate without Skye as her leader. She had operated on her own without any support prior to Skye. She still had Freya and the others not that she had proven to be all that great a leader. She had never in a million years expected to be thrust into a command situation. She was completely honest with herself. She would have expected Skye to give that leadership position to Chuck who had leadership experience or maybe Freya who had been with the team longer.

Samantha listened to Adam’s request. She watched him as she thought about what all she wanted to reveal to him. She was surprised that he had not asked about all the alterations that had been made to make the New Zealand base more secure and more effective in defending it. She distinctly remembered Oracle asking how much she had been keeping from him. She had not intentionally kept anything about the base modifications from him. Raphael and Javi had asked her opinion on what they could do to make the base more secure. She understood that they had asked her after she had shown her skills as an engineer and computer expert. She was under the impression that those changes were made with Skye’s knowledge. The only thing she had kept from everyone had been her secure cloud backup. She had only revealed that to Skye to help her in tracking Artemis. It would give her a starting place to see how Rose had comprised their base. Skye was one of the few who would be able to view archived footage and see when Rose was on base and when it wasn’t her. Should she reveal this treasure trove of information to Adam. She wasn’t sure how much to trust more people in this investigation. She had no clue who Rose and Artemis had compromised or infiltrated. She sighed because Skye had told her to cooperate with them outside of comprising Skye. She would share what she felt he needed to know.

She gave Adam an assessing look before she began to talk. Her voice is devoid of emotion. Her voice was cold and neutral. She had to lock her emotions down to get through remembering the terrible events of the past 3 days. She had to compartmentalize and push it all away. She began by sharing what happened at the observatory. “I don’t know how much time or how many reports you have had time to look over. Let me start at the beginning.” She paused for a moment as she struggled with where to start.

“Artemis was expecting Raven to hit the observatory. They had it rigged to blow. We triggered the self-destruct to buy enough time to reach the satellite core. We raced down that mountain amidst explosions and being targeted by autoguns and people from the base at the foot of the mountain. The explosion triggered a massive avalanche. We barely made it down the mountain and survived the avalanche. We went to retrieve the information core and that is when Rose appeared. Skye and Rose were locked into a fierce battle. Freya and I were stuck on the other side of the ravine. We were hauling ass to get there in time to help her. I have never seen anyone equal to Skye in battle. Rose was her equal and in a better suit. Skye was in trouble. Rose had her down and cornered. Freya joined the battle, hurt as she was and managed to kill Rose. They truly look identical and she had practiced mimicking Skye’s voice. If we had not known what Skye had been wearing and what damage she had taken in the fight, we would not have figured out who was who.” She paused and let him ruminate over their first encounter with Rose.

Adam nodded, looking through the report, nodding.

“It tallies up. It’s every shot we have of her that matches the same. Every piece that Oracle sent through to me. Her body, by the way, is also gone. The team that was taking her apart in Santiago are all dead. We have limited details, but what we do have, we need to confirm.” The Pole replied, sighing, a feeling of deep just general shittiness about all of this, even in an operator that was a team lead and usually, above and beyond on the work that was like this. A clone of Skye Lyons, fucking hell, they had serious, serious problems.
“So, you were the first to respond in New Zealand too. Take me through that. We know it’s the right Skye Lyons you saved, because she probably taught you what to say, there and then. The rest seems to check out. Probably told you I was….difficult, no?” Adam cracked a rare smirk, knowing it was likely giving away something Sam might have known, and it might have forced an opening.

Samantha wasn’t surprised to hear that Rose’s body was gone. She had relayed over comms to Raven about the nanite trackers in Rose’s blood after they had discovered it. Oracle should have had this information already and was working on countermeasures. Now they were getting to the details that were not shared over open communication networks. There were some things that needed to be said in person. The details of what they learned about Rose was one of those things that Samantha had not yet shared with anyone. She signed and gave him a rueful smile as she used her eidetic memory to tell him what she really said. Samantha tries to mimic Skye’s Scottish accent, “Actually Skye said…. "Nor the new commander, if I think who it is…..he’s a disciplinarian and someone who will not mess around. And he will be annoyed enough that you let what happens next, happen.” For the first time in their conversation some of Samantha's normal emotion and personality peeks through.

Her face hardens and falls back into neutral lines as she continues. “Skye, Freya, and I had just gotten back from the observatory operation. Chuck, Tahlia, and Tiny Nord had just gotten back from Columbia. Matteo had left on that operation but was making his way back to base on his own due to issues that came up when they tried to pull out. Both of those operations were compromised because Artemis had expected us to try for them. We managed to complete the missions but they had resources waiting for us to step into these traps.” She paused thinking about Columbia and wondered if Spectre had been impregnated with tracking nanites as well. Hindsight was probable. She shook the thought away and continued. “Skye let the team rest and called an emergency meeting the next morning. The team was waiting for decisions from Oracle about Skye’s status as team lead. The entire team had been put on lockdown and administrative leave status while Rose’s body was investigated.” She paused once more as she tried to condense the action of the team into easier to digest pieces. “Skye let the team know what had happened and our current status. She then left to go to her office. I knew Skye was struggling to understand what had happened. She had seen a person who looked just like killed in an operation. This person had tried to kill Skye. Skye was reeling trying to find answers. Rose had known things about Skye that she struggled to understand how she could know it. She was stuck wondering if she had a long lost sister out there that was now dead.”

She paused again and moved forward. “I gave Skye a minute or two before following her up to her office. Skye is a good friend and I thought she needed someone to talk to. When I got there Skye was on the floor leaning against the concrete wall. She looked horrible and weak and had a dead man switch taped to her hand. Rose was standing over her. I made Rose give up her gun. I moved her away from Skye. They both tried to convince me that they were Skye.I was very confused since we had killed Rose the day before. I had no idea what to think. I decided the best way to figure out which was the real Skye was to ask her something only she would know. I asked her a question about a personal conversation we had after the Singapore Operation. Skye gave me the right answer. Rose gave me a vague answer. So I killed her. Then Skye told me what Rose had revealed. I understood the implications right away. There was also a bomb to look for. Skye had been injected with a neurotoxin. I gambled that Rose had the antidote and gave it to Skye. I hit the intercom and told Chuck to look for the bomb. He is the explosives expert. I then hit the base alert and triggered the faraday cage I had built into Skye’s office to support operational security.” She paused and waited for Adam’s questions at this point.

Adam listened intently, the blanks being quickly filled by Sam’s words, and it was beginning to make a lot more sense. There was a complexity to all of it, a difficulty too, but she was doing as best as she could. There was a lot of stuff Sam had clearly engineered without Raven’s knowledge, more than he liked the idea of, but then again, it had probably saved Skye’s life.
“It must be difficult for her. Dealing with that. Feeling unstoppable, and running into yourself.” Adam replied sincerely, as he finished his glass of water, offering another cup to Sam, with a larger 2L bottle on the table next to him, before continuing.

“So, the fact she opened up to you is the reason she is alive. Impressive. You gambled, but Sophie managed to do a check of her and she was right, there was nothing in that serum. Whatever it was, Rose gambled on Skye too, it sounds like. Which is important.” Adam nodded, as he reached across the desk, pulling out a couple of folders, looking through the notes on the New Zealand attack, the maps, damage, everything brought together by Raven’s internal SIGINT teams.

“Then she passed it over to you. That’s where the line continues. Skye must trust you a lot, almost completely. It is no mean feat to have her do that. So, I have given you, how shall we say, benefit of doubt. I may not have seen eye to eye with her, but I understand her. And in time, you will what I mean.” Adam replied, the Pole’s accent holding, as he sighed, knowing that it was laced, albeit difficult.

“But there are going to be a lot of questions from others. I don’t want any trouble. I need no trouble right now, because we have a job to do. I will trust you Sam, but in return, you need to be as transparent with me as you can be. What you say is important, because it’s the other half of what we now have with Rose. And any detail like that, is critical at this point.” Adam added, pulling out one of the folders, a highly redacted, highly classified piece, unclipping it and pulling it loose, revealing the pictures of her.

Samantha sighed and assessed Adam. He was not Skye but if she was going to stay with Raven Squad she would have to learn to work with him and that meant trusting him. She took a leap of faith that Skye would not trust him if he was untrustworthy. Samantha nodded her head as she made her decision. “I am going to trust you because Skye trusted you. I never expected to be put in a leadership position with Raven. I joined as support personnel and found myself in the field. All the changes made to the New Zealand base were done because I was asked if there was anything we could do to beef up security. I have a background in engineering and computer science not to mention espionage. Those changes were made with Skye Lyons approval. I did the work and design which is why it is not in any official records. Skye brought in the material I needed. As we learned more about Artemis operations we continued to make changes to base security protocols to counter Artemis.” She paused knowing that was a big part of what was bothering him.

She returned to answering his question about Rose. “Rose is a bioengineered cloning system that jumps from body to body using a data link over the internet, satellite, or cellular. All she needs is a signal and bandwidth. We have no idea how many bodies she has. One thing we now know is that she wants Skye’s body but it is the only one that is not tied into the system that controls Rose. She wants freedom from her masters at Artemis. The other thing I know is that Skye left to take the fight back to Artemis. She knew she would be locked out of operations. With her in the field, Artemis will have to question and look at Rose’s actions more closely. They will now be faced with the same security nightmare that Raven is experiencing. Skye plans to infiltrate Artemis as Rose.”

She looks him in the eye. “Skye needed to do this. She is more useful in the field than locked down on a base. That is why I let her go. With the way she left, the world thinks she is a rogue agent without resources. Artemis and Rose will be looking for her. They will not suspect that she is on her way to infiltrate them and disrupt their plans posing as Rose. The more chaos I could create the more folks thinking I made an emotional choice, the better. The truth is we have no idea who or how deeply Raven has been comprised by Rose and Artemis. If the whole base thinks I am an immature looney bin, and that Skye is out there as a free rogue agent with the world hunting her, I am okay with that. Because the fewer people that know her plans and the truth, the safer Skye will be. If I had brought her back and she magically escaped later, Artemis and Rose would suspect something. By doing it this way, they are blind to her true intentions. If the base of operations is compromised in any way, she is safer this way. She is also my friend and deserved better for her efforts than distrust and being locked out of an operation that is deeply personal to her.” She leaned back in the chair and watched for Adam’s response.

Adam nodded, shrugging, knowing it was likely that Skye was right on this, but still, it left Adam uncertain. He was used to more oversight, not freeform.

“And it paid off. And I will give her that. I’d ask more questions, personally. And I’m not even a hacker.” Adam replied, to the point, as he listened to what she had to say, shaking his head, knowing the problem it caused. It half confirmed his theory, and was in no place to talk about it.

“It puts her in risk though, Sam. She probably told you that. Just remember. You’re here in Raven not for family, or friends. Oracle, or Imran may not look much but him, and the team that came before stopped everyone you know from being killed in nuclear fucking hailfire. That’s what is at stake.” Adam added, knowing it was hard to balance, but it had to be told, plain and simple, and whilst that in itself was confidential, he hoped that would set the stakes.

He looked down at the files, and well, Rose, in the flesh, on security cameras, seemingly impossible considering the timezones she was in, at the times of recording. It was clear what she was. And it was clear now she was in the open.

“She is trying to throw us. As of last night, Purna recovered some critical intel back from Artemis. Limited our exposure, limited what she could have done, whilst also, recovering detail on Artemis’s capabilities.” Adam started, shaking his head.

“It confirms what we thought. Rose isn’t being held by Artemis, however. I think there’s something worse. It seems to me like she set them up. Spectre went missing, but only because she has reason for him. If she hated Artemis so much, she’d slit the poor man’s throat. So….that is what I don’t get.” Adam continued, looking to Sam, before revealing another document.

Samantha nodded agreeing with Adam’s assessment of Rose to a point. “That makes sense in a way. Whoever her master truly is though, her goal is the same, freedom. For her that means stealing Skye’s body. Skye made her decisions. I just supported her decision. She knew she would be hunted from all sides. She also felt like she was in a unique position to take the fight to Artemis and get inside information.”

She resented that he felt she was treating her position in Artemis like a teenager. Her face hardened as she met his eyes again with a hard look. “I joined Raven because as I worked on investigating what happened to my father, I uncovered signs of Artemis. I didn’t know who they were at the time. I was tired of working for an organization that was covering up the truth and protecting terrorists for their own reasons. I wanted to help make the world a better place. I thought I was doing that in the CIA. I learned differently. I joined Raven to make a difference and fight the injustice I was seeing at the highest levels of government and militaries around the world. I am very very good at what I do Adam. Finding information and getting into systems is one of my specialities. Which has been benefiting Raven. I didn’t realize I was supposed to shut down and not be human. Most people make friends at work. I am no different.”

Samantha sighed feeling ridiculous that she needed to defend herself for liking the people on her team. She wondered if they expected good little robots that never questioned an order. That would never be her again. Her decision to let Skye go was an emotional one for her but the logic of the good she could do in the field outweighed following an order that had not been well thought out. Besides, Artemis would have questioned if she escaped later. They would be expecting her and looking for her. She knew she had made the right decision.

Adam nodded in reply to her, unfazed by her, knowing there was much to probably unfurl, and bit by bit, it was starting to make more, and more sense.

“I felt the same. Yet Skye doesn’t really keep everything permanent. She is a lone wolf, an operative that keeps many, many plates spinning. A mothering character, but one that always finds home in nowhere. If she did not do this, she wouldn’t be who she is. I imagine she looked after you….but in this game, nobody lasts forever. Perhaps she thinks the same now. And perhaps she will. I just hope you are right, but we have no way to know.” Adam replied, knowing it was a harsh, horrid truth, but the matter was coming around back to what Sam had begun with.

He looked down at the files, feeling it was probably time. He hadn’t revealed any of this to Chuck, or to Freya, Athena even, or Ebrima. But Sam was in the middle of the firestorm, seeing it first hand. He didn’t like the fact that she knew, but well, it had to tie this up last.

“Oracle informed me more about the details of the programme. Of what the intent was. As far as I can tell, Rose follows what you just said. A biologically identical clone, with a neural link. Of course, nobody can explain, let alone even try and figure any of this out. What I have been informed about is more interestingly, about the drug your team recovered. And what she was injected with. Because it’s just as important as what she is. And your story, it ties up what we have.” Adam added, pulling the page aside, looking over.

“It’s a compound that was identified initially as a sarin-like equivalent, a neurotoxin of typical kind. Memory loss, that sort of thing. But what surprised me was when taken apart, what it really does. It’s the way that Rose was able to jump, from point to point. A long-form suicide pill with a pathway to allow her out, and it’s baked into her very blood, and likely, how she wanted Skye to follow her….the only part required of course, being that device in her spine. It would have stabilized anyone like her, perhaps Rose intended to use that cradle like her other forms. In one format, that is what it does. Yet, slightly change it, refine it up a little…and it becomes an incredibly potent, easily spreadable neurotoxin that can be used to kill indiscriminately. It kills everything it touches, near instantly. Even in tiny traces, it is far, far worse than some biochemical weapons any known actors have. Any amount of this in a subway network could kill tens, if not hundreds of thousands, over the course of hours.” Adam said, pulling another page.

“It is this which is key to making Rose what she is. It flattens the differences in what her head does, and what her memory is. It is far too complicated to understand fully, but the point is, Rose is reliant on that.”

Samantha decided to give him a crucial piece of evidence that Raven Squad could use to identify the difference between Skye and Rose. They should already know from Rose’s autopsy but she would confirm it for him. “Rose had what she called a neural node along the spinal column. Rose had tracking nanites in her bloodstream. Artemis is able to track even a single drop of her blood to see where she is. That node you are talking about is how you tell Skye from Rose. Skye doesn’t have one. It is why I triggered the faraday cage. Any signals transmitted would be blocked. That iteration of Rose was unable to upload. It also blocked the tracking nanites in her blood. The base had already been compromised by that point though.”

Adam nodded, interested as he pulled the next page.

“Which makes sense. Sophie provided her medical records, as unethical as that is, and it seems to match. Rose is sitting on a biochemical weapon of mass destruction. So, the next problem. Problem we have is, those pictures prove she is alive. Whatever version of her was there, was instantaneously copied before she entered the faraday deadzone. It won’t remember of course, what was said to Skye and you in that moment. She is simply going from her last saved point.” Adam added, pointing to the various timestamps. Some were older, but one was from six hours ago, in Doha International Airport, no less.

“What was being worked on by Artemis was a sequencing of that drug. Messy, but they would get there in time, to try and turn it into its full potential. The intel we have suggests that Rose vanished from SIS’s systems the moment they wanted her dead. So to turn on Artemis like this, or at least, bare them open is to send a message. Using her very own genetic copy to do so, then cleaning up afterwards. Only she underestimated you.” Adam continued, Sam having something to add on those pictures.

Samantha nodded and was honest with him about what she recommended they do next. “If what you are telling me is true then Rose is not one consciousness like we though. There are more than one version of her running around. That makes sense with the chaotic personality she had and the way she spoke. It seems like they share a core of basic memories but then their experiences vary based on that iteration’s experiences.” She paused thinking. “Does that mean that Raven believes there is a terrorist attack imminent at Doha International Airport?” Samantha knew that they were not the only team that Raven could deploy to prevent such as incident.

“Our team was prevented from examining any of the information or material that was extracted in those last two operations. I would have a geneticist look at the information retrieved from Rose’s autopsy. If you have a blood sample, I hope it is in a faraday cage to block any tracking.” She tilted her head to the side. “I looked at the chemical formula that was recovered on the drug. I don’t have an expertise in chemicals or pharmacology. I can tell you it was part engineering and part mother nature’s laboratory. It sounds like you know more about the drug than I have had any time to look into it.”

She listened as he continued sharing information. She was trying to follow where Adam was leading. Was he trying to say that Rose was not stopped and still working for Artemis? Was he trying to say that Skye was involved with Rose? Now he was talking about the past?

In response, Adam pulled one last picture out, one last shot, nodding.
“We have some idea, but yes, perhaps it varies on iteration. The same Rose is still there, though. Seems to be she just gets used to death and cares so little. But it’s messy with the blood, considering the circumstances that just happened in Santiago, we got caught short. What we knew was lost. But, there is something to salvage.” Adam wasn’t sugar coating it, things were bad, and well, there was some reply in turn, as he pulled that picture out.

“This is a picture from an archive that was thought to be burnt, but is the last remaining piece of information we have on anything to do with the project Skye was involved in. Have a look.” Adam slid it across the table, and placed it in front of Sam.

It was a shot of what appeared to be three researchers, one that was a taller man of the three, and one that was bald, in lab coats with what appeared to be a fully formed six-year old redhead girl, a shot that seemed to be worn out on the paper. A cross existed through one of the men in the picture, revealing no features or anything at all.

“I’m not sure if it’s Rose, or Skye. It’s the only remaining picture we have. Oracle worked in SIS at one point, and couldn’t even find who it was that looked after Rose, trained her, interrogated her, perhaps hell, Imran may have been on both and would have never known. The well seems to keep going, but everything behind this is covered up. Someone knows they fucked up. Badly. And somebody knows that if anyone were to get a hold of this information, they’d be doing it too.” Adam commented, looking at it, moving his finger across.

“We got a hold of this a few hours ago. Oracle filled me in on the detail, because after he called it in, he was given a single picture, and a single lead. And he was told to contain this, immediately. By any means necessary. He was told it was thought Rose was gone….and yet that proof of her alive has got more people shitting themselves than anyone wants to admit.” Adam gulped, even his stoic demeanor giving into this.

“The taller man, that is Skye’s….well, I suppose father. Doctor Richard Peters, but in this picture, named Ian Lyons, who Skye would have never known properly, in how many double lives it looks like he lived. Went to the University of Edinburgh as a researcher, and then seemingly, disappeared about eight years prior to this picture from the face of the earth, car crash….apparently. But here he is. And he lived on, as you now see, with a quiet life under a new identity. Then died again, seemingly at sea.” Adam started checking his notes, very much a burn after reading type.

“And next to him, his research assistant. Professor Henry Simmonds. He was actively in academia, until about ten years ago, but since then, he has retired and gone completely cold. The third we’re not sure of. Someone that it seems, might already be dead. The girl, she’s likely Skye. But there’s no way to tell.” Adam commented, using the annotation he’d made personally, the detail of which was at the highest level of secrecy. What was being shown was exceptionally dangerous- this was very much the inside look at something that even black-ops, of any country, would never have been able to get a hold of. It was worse than just a security risk, it was guaranteed death. The programme Skye had described, and Adam now knew about, was clearly one that had been repeatedly tried by other countries, albeit with multiple failure. It was the holy grail after all, virtually being immortal and well, creating an operative that could just go again and again, time and time until anything was their oyster.

“Rose likely is trying to make her move, using all of those things she has recovered. With access to that satellite network, refinements to the drug, parts of Raven’s data, and all that the team did to unravel Artemis, she’s got an opportunity if she is genocidal….but in what way, I don’t understand. But this Henry must be somehow linked. He’s the only piece of the puzzle we have left. If there was any way to stop this, he may know. He’s virtually a surrogate father to them both. And we may need him to stop this. A killswitch, shit, at least some idea of how fucked we are.” Adam replied, knowing it was tricky to explain, but had to be shown.
“Artemis are anarchists, but they don’t want an apocalypse, just control. Rose wants the end, it seems. We need to stop her, because she’ll use anything she gets her hands on to get what she wants. And you saw it yourself. She’s not going to stop coming.” Adam added, knowing Sam would be spinning after this, and it was not an easy conversation to have. Anything Sam had here, would help.

Samantha sat forward and frowned as she struggled to put all this into context. She searched her memory of what Rose did reveal in conversation around her. “She was using a voice modulator to impersonate Skye’s voice. She has a different accent. Skye said Rose had a whole stable of clones to jump to. Rose shares Skye’s biosecurity and has used it to compromise all of Raven’s data. The only reason we prevailed at the base during the attack were the upgrades were not in any official files. Skye told me that Rose said she was defective and that it had to do with her genetics.”

Her eyes flared wide as she looked at Adam in horror as she repeated what Skye said verbatim thanks to her memory.

Skye said: “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!”

She paused and looked at Adam “So Rose was using Artemis to get her hands on what she needed to take control. She used her ability to steal data from Raven by impersonating Skye and using her security credentials to do it. So double check anything that Skye had access to. That might tell you where she will show up next or what her next target is.”

Samantha’s poor traumatized brain was kicking into high gear. “Whatever she is doing with this drug, she hopes to weaponize it. Were there any other uses for the drug? It was initially developed by a drug cartel who supplies things like cocaine and methamphetamine to illicit drug markets. They were hoping to develop a new street drug from it. Something caught the eye of Artemis. It had to have a unique quality that Artemis thought would help them with their endgame strategy. What piece are we missing?”

Samantha was thinking out loud as she struggled to make connections from learning about Skye’s past to Rose and her objectives. “What did Spectre want with that drug? What was so special about it that they sent him in to vet the source?” Samantha lapsed into silence as her brow furrowed in thought. “Control…” she thought about what Adam had said about Artemis. “Artemis was hoping to use the drug to control people. Which people? How many people? Why would that interest Rose? Maybe it would help her reach her goal.” She looked up at Adam for his thoughts.

Adam’s eyebrows raised, as she went into details, thinking it over and suggesting those comments. From Skye, that Sam repeated like a macaw, and other parts he was familiar with.

“Less mind control, yet more for her own bodies to stay capable. The adaptation, it’s the only reason at all she probably can even parse it. Perhaps Spectre wanted an idea of what they meant when they said that. And that led us down the rabbit hole….and why we got Spectre before he could find out any more. It’s why Rose managed to somehow get Raven to kill two birds with one stone for her there and then. The threat to her internally, and the capability Artemis had, into her hands. And knew Skye would take the bait. And all of our intel teams too.” Adam replied, shaking his head, it starting to suddenly come into place.

“Shit. Sam, this isn’t good.”

Samantha turned a horrified face to Adam as another thought crossed her mind. “What if the drug kills the personality center of the brain leaving a healthy but mindless body behind. If the technology had been advanced so that those nanites could then transfer ANY consciousness into ANY body that had been prepared with the nanites and had no controlling personality. The downloaded consciousness could take over that body. This would be a way for virtually immortality and to have the body of your choice as long as it had been properly prepared. It is the next logical step in this technology that created Rose and Skye.” She raised an eyebrow at Adam to see what he thought about this possibility.

Adam shrugged, looking down at the picture, and the drug compound, putting both hands to chin, leaning in, looking at it.
“She said something about it. That an AI was helping her parse across. That she was in control of it, that’s what we got back in the report from Skye. Of course, Rose and Skye only work because they’re the same. They can’t work any other way, so…..perhaps it’s what she was looking for in the drug. Maybe the reason doesn’t make sense, but Rose wanted whatever that was for her own gain, to perhaps continue it on easier. And now she has it….shit. She’s gonna fucking kill billions. She just needs the right deployment for that drug, and spread in population centers, it’ll basically leave corpses and the rest of the infrastructure intact, and what doesn’t need to stay, she can use the satellite network to disrupt. She’d leave bodies with genetic material she can repurpose for her own self, not even the bones but just the carbon alone. A fucking hivemind, picking and choosing who she wants continuing in her utopia. Playing at God.” Adam looked dead into the eyes of Sam, knowing this was a heavy conversation to have with someone who had literally only just now, expected a serious debriefing.

“Kurwa. This is good. I think we have to get some leads next. I’ll make some calls. If Skye is out there, she’s in the way right now, but we need to do what’s needed to stop that.”

Samantha slumped into her chair looking dejected. “I do agree with you that it doesn’t really matter why Rose wanted it. It is bad news either way.” She wanted to be out there working to counter Rose. She had no idea where to start next. She normally would be with the teams sifting through the data from the last operation. But that operation had been the evacuation of their base. They lost all the data. She was not ready to reveal her archives. She could offer what was captured during the operation. “I do have information on my laptop hard drive that might not have been compromised from the base attack. I can turn it over to your analysts since you don’t seem to trust me at this moment.” She looked at Adam for his response.

Adam shrugged, nodding in response.
“It’s not about trust, Sam, it’s about doing what’s needed. Whatever you had with Skye, you’ll need to build with me again, because I can’t tell what else you are doing. But I work simply. Do what’s needed, and we’ll get on.” He replied with a simple turn, to the point and effective.

“None of what you just said leaves the room. I can’t begin to explain how fucking risky what this is, and irrespective of what looks like. Wherever this came from, whatever good, or bad this came from, needs to die. Or else we will not have families to go back to.” Adam reiterated, knowing full well the circumstances now.

Samantha gave him a rueful look. “You are going to need to be more specific Adam. Skye allowed me to help in any areas that I could be of use. I don’t mean to sound…. Boastful or arrogant but I am exceptional in many areas. I helped with hacking and data analysis. I also helped with engineering and building new gear and upgrades. I have a background in engineering and computer science. I know you have a dossier on me. Skye plugged me in a lot of areas. I am not used to how you work. Just tell me what you need me to do.” She looked at him with a raised eyebrow. She didn’t know how to be any more blunt. She had known what Skye wanted from her. She had no clue how Adam operated or what he wanted her to do.

Adam pulled the folders in, putting them back into place as he listened, nodding.
“Work with Raph, and the Signals team for the rest of the morning and afternoon. I’ll put together a plan of action with Oracle. We may need to remedy this situation sooner than I would like. Time will be running out, and we need to find this Henry Simmonds, and more importantly, wherever the hell Rose’s banks are.”

Samantha rose to her feet with a nod. “I am happy to help with the data. Where do I find them?”

Adam stood up, looking outside of the window at the log cabins by the lake.
“You nerds have an upgrade. Down there.” Adam wryly chuckled, pointing across to it, and with it, taking his water bottle to hand.

“Dismissed, Chaos. We have lots of work to do.” Adam replied, looking across to Sam, with an expectant look. This would be different, yes, but no doubt Adam recognised her ability. Just a little more turns of the screw would keep his sanity in check.

Samantha nodded, turned and left. She went in search of her fellow nerds. She went to find the way to their operations center so she could lend Raphael a hand.

Chuck had felt better after his run. Running allowed him to be in the moment and helped reduce his stress. He felt like himself again. Duke was settling well after the run. He no longer was showing signs of stress or heightened awareness. His body language was relaxed. When he had gotten back from his run, he had spotted his favorite Kiwi helping unload supplies by a warehouse. He shrugged figuring that was probably where he would find the quartermaster for the group.

He approached Tahlia with a grin. “Morning Tahlia, how are you doing?”

Tahlia had a serious expression on her face and looked worried. He had never seen his serious teammate quite like this. He sighed knowing that the events of the last three days were most likely the reason for her unusual expression and demeanor.

Tahlia was having a hard time settling in. She was support personnel so no one was keeping her informed of what was going on with the team. Skye had shared those details with her support personnel so that they could source the things the team needed. It had been her job in New Zealand. Here she was being treated like just another set of hands to unload and move supplies. Her skin itched as if the role didn’t fit her anymore after Columbia. She was a warrior not a supply clerk. Being forced back into this role didn’t sit well with her. She was directing some others as to where to put the supplies they were unloaded when a shadow fell over her blocking the sunlight. Then she heard a familiar voice calling her name. She looked up to find Chuck towering over her. She saw Duke give a soft happy chuff of greeting as he sat tail wagging at Chuck’s side.

She smiled and reached down to rub Duke behind his ears. “Such a handsome guy. Did you enjoy your run?” She kept petting Duke even as her face turned up to look at Chuck expectantly.

Chuck smiled and nodded as he plucked at the sweatshirt he was wearing. “Do I have you to thank for the clothes? I was pleasantly surprised to find them.”

Tahlia nodded and stood back up straight. “Yes I knew you were going to need them. Besides this base has several male giants to provide for. They were easy to find and acquire. While you are here, let's get you some more gear.” She pointed at Duke. “What do you need for Duke? I am not sure if they have any canines on base but we can order what he needs. I just need a list. Oh and get your armor over to the armory so that it can be looked at, repaired, and charged.”

Chuck nodded feeling relieved. Chuck’s deep voice carried and revealed his Southern American roots with his slow honeyed drawl. “Thanks Tahlia. I appreciate your help. I don’t speak Polish or Finnish. I had a little food for Duke with me. He has almost gone through it. I will get you a list of what I need for him. I have the basics for now other than his food.”

Chuck looked around appraisingly. He saw that there were men eyeing him and Duke warily. Some of the men showed an obvious interest in their conversation. He was pretty sure the base was humming with gossip about his team and their exploits. Soldiers and mercenaries were as bad about gossip as nosy neighbors. He raised an eyebrow at Tahlia and lowered his voice. He knew how much Tahlia struggled with losing her legs and what a blow it had been to her pride and independence. He knew she wouldn’t want the others around them to hear her reply.

Chuck asked her softly. “How are you settling in?”

Tahlia looked up at him sharply with a growl and frustration printed all over her face. “I am getting along fine.”

He could hear the stress and anger in her words. He tilted his head to one side as he gave her an appraising look. She was so prickly but he understood where her frustration came from. He had seen it with a lot of veterans that suffered life altering injuries. He put a hand on her shoulder and gave it a soft reassuring squeeze.

“I am around if you ever need to talk. I know this place is different but the work is the same. Are they giving you a hard time?” He nodded his head towards the men who were trying to listen in on their conversation.

Tahlia looked down and away with a shrug. They were not treating her overtly hostile or anything. She was irritated because she kept catching them staring at her legs. She caught them whispering and just knew that they were talking about her and the team. She knew the drill and she expected it to some degree after everything that happened. It triggered her own insecurities and issues with her disability. She had proven herself at the New Zealand base and was a well respected member of the team. Skye had never treated support personnel like they were superfluous and could be replaced easily. Here she felt like an anonymous face in the crowd and that everyone was trying to be polite and tip toe around her without telling her they didn't really need her.

She looked up and met Chuck’s eyes and shook her head. “No, not really. It is just very different. I will adjust. It is just going to take time.”

Chuck nodded and gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze once more.

“I will always have your back Taniwha.”

He gave her a meaningful look and was gratified to see her spine stiffen as he reminded her that he respected her as a warrior. He looked around at the men working nearby and watched as they hurried on their way as if they hadn’t been eavesdropping. He saw a few fearful looks come his way. Chuck just raised an eyebrow in amusement. He dropped his hand and motioned towards the inner workings of the warehouse.

“After you Taniwha. What have you got for me?”

He followed Taniwha deeper into the warehouse as she grabbed a duffle bag and asked him to hold it as she began to pull things from shelves and stuff them into the duffle. He was very amused that Taniwha had an easier time helping fulfill his needs than Samantha’s. Chuck had gotten used to having to have clothing custom made for him. He had also gotten used to making sure he had extra clothing with him. Sadly there had not been time when they had jumped right into defending the base. He had to leave everything behind. It amused him that the petite Samantha who could probably buy clothes at any mall or department store in the world was proving the difficult one to procure stuff for.

When he left Tahlia was in a better mood and more herself, and he had a duffle bag with necessities. He had enough clothing for now. He had come away with two pairs of standard BDU pants in his size, a white and black long sleeve henley t-shirt, wool socks, a warm winter coat, and a pair of black water resistant combat boots.

---

Tahlia had given Chuck a map of the base and pointed out all the necessary areas for him. He was grateful. He had gone back to his room and showered and dressed in a clean pair of pants, the new cargo boots, and the white henley t-shirt. He then went in search of breakfast. He was grateful to see that the cooks were used to feeding Giants. He made a plate for his canine partner from the stuff on offer. He was out of food till Tahlia could fly some in. He was used to making do in the field. Duke loved the change in diet. He put some boiled eggs and cold cuts on the plate for his dog. He then piled his plate high with the Polish version of breakfast sandwiches and a few pastries. He and Duke then ate breakfast. Chuck was aware of the looks and murmurs being cast his way. No one joined him though.

After breakfast, he went back to his room and began the laborious task of getting his armor to the heavy armory. He followed the map Tahlia had given him. Duke was an ever comforting presence at his side. He found the armory and began cleaning his armor. He plugged into charge. He then began to clean and look over Duke’s armor. There were a few frayed pieces on the harness. He frowned and wondered if Samantha would have time to look at it before the next op. He didn’t want the armor to fail his buddy at a critical moment. He would make a note to ask her if he saw her today. He looked around wondering if they had a locker to store Duke’s armor in. He began to look around for someone to ask. He was curious about who else might use the armory. He had not met or worked with many giants before. He grinned as he remembered making a date with Freya on the plane. He wondered if he would get a chance to see her before their next op.

Freya made her way out of the A400 holding her blanket bra on. The big woman wincing as she goes, giving Sam a pat on the shoulder as she passed. The Wounded Goddess was just going to go into the base, fuck all the mouthing off that she knew was going to start. And it did, even before she had gotten to far. She sat down on a bench and just watched and listened.

Gods it's going to be bad.

Heated words. Against Skye. For Skye. About Raven. Against Raven. For Raven.

Freya sighed, and groaned, gritting her teeth in pain.

She shook her head as words are traded and concepts and contrasts brought up and around and through like rapiers made of letters.

Then she caught her sisters eyes. And couldn't help but smile.

For a wounded warrior, she's on her feet in an instant. The truck that had rolled up, she'd somehow missed it. And the gasp of pain she lets out as Sophie and the other doctor come to her side says loads. She is panting as the two medics move her into the bed of the truck. And she looks up as Athena comes running over. "Hey sis." She smiles and rolls to the side to get off her bad arm, "I'm fine I'm fine." And reaches over to shush Sophie who was about to go off on Freya. No she's not fine. She could do something that would cost her the use of her arm. But Freya stops her and gives Sophie a look that says "Please...not to my little sister." Even if Athena could likely tell that Freya is not well. The Siblings Kanatariio don't wound easily. So to be without the use of her arm means alot. She grunts as the truck comes to a stop at the base.

And Freya ruins any clout she has when she lets out a cry of pain as she stands back up, "Okay fine...I'm not okay...just...bear with me...oh hey..."



Yes that...that is a Lockheed C-5 Galaxy.

Emblazoned on it's side, the BlueSword emblem. The giant plane roaring in, above, coming around to make a run on the landing strip.

Aboard...

"We've got Hannula below. Looks like Raven and the rest all arrived already."

"Get us down there! Captain, Majors, Lt. Colonel! Get the people ready! Operative you suited!?"

Various shouts of "Yes ma'am!" flare from the cargo area.

A growly, "You bet colonel!"

"You're first off! Command, get our people out and set up as soon as the Operative is off first! You know what to do."

Natalie Denisova-Kanatariio grumbles, "I want to see my daughters, in particular I want to see my daughter who got hurt. Get us on the ground!" The pilot nods, finishing the turn and bringing the Galaxy down onto the ground.

The giant plane descended. Slowed. Rolled to a stop.

And as the ramp at the rear heaved open.

Yet another Giant stomped down. Red, Black and Blue armor, smooth and sleek, unlike the angular armor of a certain Battle Goddess, steps clear, the ramp shifting as the weight of the man and armor leaves it. Twin Linked HMGs scan the tarmac before the exterior comms system calls, "Clear!"

Voices from within. A tall man, wearing Lt. Colonel insignia, steps down, "Majors, Captain, lets get things settled. Blue Sword Task Force Perkele off that plan. Captain get them moving." Ross Henderson, Lt. Colonel Ross in fact, third in command behind Victor and Natalie. Calling out to the rest of the command of Blue Sword. Andrew, Nolan and Carl stepping down. Captain Carl Cardinal stepping out and shouting into the plane, "Perkele! Get off your asses." He turns and points at the tarmac, "OP down there! Rotating Squad!" He turns again pointing to the far end of the tarmac, "OP there, same deal!" He turns and points towards the main base, "Another OP near the Camp Base. Andrew, Nolan, you know your marksmen and snipers best. You're ball game."

Nolan nudges Andrew as the pair sweep the land around them. Then nod. Nolan turning to the sniper team, "Be in the trees. Roaming and unseen. Regular reports. Git." The Snipers nod, beeps on their comms, the only acknowledgement. Andrew rumbling, "Marksmen, roaming the perimeter, 360, no one sees you, no one knows you're here. Go." The marksman team vanishing shortly after.

And only then do Victor and Natalie step clear of the plane. Victor scaning about, "So this is Raven...or was Raven...what can still be Raven." Natalie grumping, "We have supplies. If you like you can offload them when you're ready." Cutting right through the bullshit it seems. Victor looks around, spotting the team all starting to filter away, "They are going to need time. I want to see my daughter."

The command structure of Blue Sword heading for the infirmary for now.

Jamie smiled, and stomped off. Time to see what's up.



It looks like a robot...with a human head. Sitting on one the floor. One huge mitt holding a juice box...one of those tiny little ones meant for a school kids lunch box. The other, holding a apple-strawberry puree mix packet, alternating sipping the juice and sucking at the packet. Quite all comfy it seems, making himself at home.

Jamie all happily still armored up but enjoying some quiet time as his parents and uncles all had swarmed his sisters.

He'll take some quiet time thank you, and wait until he's told where he can take off his armor. NEver mind the mutha-fricken twin linked HMG death machine leaning on the wall behind him.

With the briefing done, Adam was back in office. Thoughts ran through his head. A lot of messy ones. What the fuck was going on with Rose? Or Skye? Or in fact, what was the target? This man, even if they found him, how would he help? He didn't really get all of it. But answers would come soon enough. He finished on that note, and went out to grab breakfast. Due to being a bigger base, there was a main barrack a short walk away that served food, and with Blue Sword here, and he headed off. Purna had joined him, but Ebrima wasn't anywhere to be seen.
Probably being careful.

There was a lot of weight on his mind, but it was what he had trained for. Back into the feel of it, and the weight of Sam's and his conversation bore heavy. There were serious questions, and Oracle was finding out more. No doubt he would call through when more intel followed.

---

The whole family had descended upon Freya. But, in time, Athena and Natalie were alone by her side, after Victor had reared his head.

Freya, in her navy and yellow full body thermal tights, a cut down her neck and her arms bare was contrasted by Natalie Denisova Kaantario, a woman of about 7"2, and in spite of being mother and daughter, were not much separated when you squinted. There isn't much to say that Athena doesn't take after her mother closely. Even though Natalie was clearly not the same woman she'd been in youth, there was this....right, how do you say, Pixar mom levels of appearance. In tights and a red wool fleece of her own, and a distinctly Russian feel to her, blonde hair, and two of her three children here, Natalie felt like she was somewhat trusting, yet now, had less kind things to say. The cold barely fazed her, she was one hard mother, who certainly had taught her offspring the way to succeed in keeping the family business going.

"So you swing a hammer, physics happen. I thought you had a PhD? You are a clever girl, no?" Natalie said, looking at the arm, sighing, joking and smiling, knowing they'd spent enough time to know each other. Mother and daughters, what a combo that was. Even if Freya was more her father's side, well, Natalie was a mum to both.
"It will heal, my sweet. I remember having a gigantic piece of metal sticking out of me. And your husband bawling while they transfused blood into me, and how I cried out while they did. We are hard to kill, Freya. You will be in good care, darling. And fighting again soon." Natalie added, smiling, sitting by her daughter's side, Athena quiet for a moment, as Natalie looked over to her walking daughter, the blonde rather than the crimson red, serious and dead strong in her look at her daughter.

"Athena, my child you know, it is not an easy thing what me and your father did. Or Freya does. Fighting this evil, and it seems to never die....and it sounds like the threat Oracle has briefed on is worse. But you need to be responsible, more than ever." Natalie said, a firm arm on her daughter's shoulder, Athena nodding, with a cold sigh.

Natalia's Russian accent was still ever present, a husky, underlain tone that perfectly complemented her rotund feature now, her hairs blonde with strands of grey and her body fighting wrinkles yet still, respectable. Muscle had turned to fat, but well, Natalie could probably still throw someone like a lawndart, she was just turning more into a Babushka, on the nearer side of fifty. Children early on had been a boon, somewhat. Aging like a fine wine, even, for a woman of her size and stature. To have children at all was told to be impossible to her, but she made it happen. Like everything else her and her husband did.

"I am being responsible. Got the team here. Did what I do. Contacted the other branches. I'm doing my job, Mama." Athena replied, as Natalie shook her head, leading away from Freya, heading down the hallway, the two on level towering above others.

"Athie-anna, listen. The world is counting on us. On you. Go. I'll look after Freya. She'll be okay in a week or so, with a lot of painkillers. You need to do your job. Don't let her change your feelings. I know how it is, but even you will lose your strength over it someday. You need to focus. Do what is needed to save the world. Use your friends, the force we have here and do what needs to be achieved. But do not lose sight of your own self. Yes?" Natalie said with a reassuring tone, Athena nodding.

"I will, Mama. I never let you down." Natalie smiled in response to Athena, hugging her in the hallway, reaching up to her own daughter.

"I did not raise my children to ever quit. You go. Make us proud." Natalie replied in her usual Russian, a smile on her face forming, as Athena looked back.
"I will. Promise." A genuine piece of affection came back from Athena, ever the Momma's Girl, and well, she had her bit to play in this. A reminder perhaps, from old to new.

---

After spending time with Freya, Athena knew it was back to the regime. Back to the team. She tried not to take in the look of Chuck, running as magnificent as he was on the fenceline of the base. Athena could see through that body. There was a chiseled, manly marine beneath that. She almost got a little tense at the sight of him, but on the run, very much resisting all of it. How had she never really seen him as the cutie he was? He was older, but....with a rack of ribs like that, she would grill on that any day of the week. It had been far too long before Athena had gotten some real fun, she thought again to herself. There was work to do. Hotties could wait. World to save, physique to mould, weights to lift, Tesla coils to fry motherfuckers with, spreadsheets to confirm. All in the day of the life.

She went past the armoury, where his armour had been now delivered, as well as hers, sitting in the rack clean as ever. All geared, readied, and prepped. None of Jamie's though yet, which was weird. Not sure where he was.

Heading to the gym, the heavies gym in Hannula was as well equipped as the one back at home. Full with strongman type weights, the kind of gym that didn't just have barbells and cycle machines, but gigantic bags of bricks, concrete, it felt like a building site with big heavy things designed to push even the biggest of muscles to ripple. Stripping her thermals, beneath Athena just had a slick grey and yellow bra, and the tights stayed where they were, revealing her bronzed, toned skin. And it was on for one nice session of doing what any self respecting heavy did best. Lifting heavy shit.

Athena is a party girl. Always likes to be in the scene of things, her socials every day automatically posting another raunchy picture, a military picture, a boss girl picture, or another one of her doing something else ridiculous, automatic of course right now given the base was a phone and social media deadzone because....well, nobody needed to explain that. But well, work happened intensely that she ran through meetings with logistics teams and various contractors, yet keeping her body from collapsing in on itself like a black hole was another. Muscle straight up stopped gigantism from swallowing her whole, and her heart needed to hit a minimum threshold to keep at a nice rhythm. For someone self-absorbed like she was, she was no less disciplined, no less fearsome, no. Hand on heart, she felt her other side of her chest gently thrump as she warmed up, stretching. Music on, and well, she was in her moment. For such a rich white blonde girl, she liked her grime and drum and bass something chronic, but in some ways, that just fit the picture of the internationally raised girl with time in London, Paris and beyond. And fuck, it got her going, as she clicked her hands, at full stretch, occupying plenty of space. It's straight up blasting, and not some cinematic tone, or something else. It's just fucking dirty, flowing riddim.

P Money x Whiney- Sorry Not Sorry

There's a certain finesse to it as she's pumping iron. She's hurling weights up onto shoulder and pumping, the size of it something that looked like it weighed about. Moving from that fast, a concrete ball, a deadlift carry, and then a full on pump onto her shoulder, following that and a lob into a net, then a bag of concrete, helped up onto her rather bold chest, and then, squats and pushing a large metal weight over a resistance, yelping as she did, screaming even but pushing what should have been to most mortal beings, an object a forklift might not like. There's a lot of it, her arms gently getting into rhythm, before then heading back over to a resistance band, stretching, pushing and straining. But it keeps going, and going. Today was power day, not cardio. And that meant doing more weights, from dumbbells to a bench, where she seemed to be lifting what would be easily be considered to most people an irresponsible amount of it. As her heart pumped, she went harder, and harder. Out of breath, and with the feeling rushing through her body, she felt like she always did with this. Like she wanted to just tear shit up, but only when she could feel the lactic acid burn fade out of her muscles first, sweat gushing every part of her. So before she stank out the place, she got moving quickly, and headed for a shower. Following that, her lipstick back on and her hair pulled back neat again, Athena was back out of the gym and back to business, dressed in a different full body tights set. Coloured in a dark gray and with a yellow highlight, comprised of a vest that left her arms bare but her core covered, it was equal parts boss-girl, equal parts fashion considering the desginer vibe. Practically, she should have worn a two piece, but well, this was far more her vibe, an 80s look for the very cutting edge, off it sometimes. And just as toasty, but her warm wet skin was cooking it off faster than most through a metabolism that was making her so bouncy and vivid it felt all fuzzy and and lovely. The feeling that came from that endorphin rush was like being on steroids, but having a 100%, Fairtrade, all natural, all wired up pump that just felt goooooood.

Via the armoury, quickly.....wait, where Chuck now was. Oh, he looked dashing. It would be rude not to introduce, she thought to herself. Even in the delirium she was in.

"Hey there....so, what piece of marble did they cut you out of? You're Chuck, Chuck Simmons, right? Boomer by name, Boomer by nature." Athena enquired, walking across, smiling a white-pearl grin offering a handshake.

"Athena Kaantario, Valkyrie. Freya's sis. She's probably told you all about me. All sorts of shit, I bet....trust me, it's all true. #AthenaAwesome and everything, at your service." Athena added, grinning and very excited, laughing heartily as she walked across to his armour, and saw Duke ponder across the room, Athena stunned and frozen. If there was ever a moment where the extravert could squeal, it was now.

"Heyyyy! Oh, and who are you!" She yelped, seeing him woof, a little hesitant. He really didn't read well in natural body language, not that he didn't like her, but well, she was someone just as huge as his owner. Athena called it early and bent over as low as she could go, Duke still a little unsettled as she put out her hand, and rustled back his ears, Duke still a little uneasy. Athena naturally exerted a nervous energy of her own, the kind that looked like she wanted to just go relish in that feeling.

"It's okay, baby. Aww, you're so, so cute. And handsome, yes, you are!" She melted instantly, looking up at Chuck too, as she sighed, rolling her eyes in delight.

"You two. Jesus, my hearts are melting. You gotta stop this, 'cos you are doing something to me. Somethin....gooooood!" Athena stood back up again with a giggling grin, barely containing it, looking over Chuck's armour, racked up right next to hers, looking it over, as she would originally. Her accent was just polarising, that mix of French, English, American, Australian and even a tinge of Russian. It made no sense, but pulled together all over the place and husked plenty.

"So. We should totally work out together. I went in the gym for us, and it is stacked. Weights, everything, I know, we stocked it but it turned out better than I thought. And out there....oh we'd tear so much shit up. I suppose you'll work with my brother. But he is no fun. Seriously. But....Adam says what he prefers me to do, so here we are." Athena sighed, feeling the plate, before moving onto her own, checking a few points of adjustment, though her gaze was locked onto him like a hawk tracking prey, albeit now just savouring. But, she let him in a little.

"Sorry for being mad earlier. Just....my sis means a lot. I know it wasn't you. Just doing your job, I know, but it's difficult to see her. And I kinda you know, did my thing. I guess." Athena added, walking around it, checking her own suit over still, but distracted still. Shit, he was a vision to her, but probably a fellow heavy to go blow shit up with, and well, that was all the fun.

"So, my sister's into her energy weapons. I'm more electricity, you know? Tesla coils. Fries anything it hits, like that static smell, it's got this cool char to it. If you fancy some upgrades, I know there's stuff inbound we can fit. Soup your kit up. If you're feeling the need for some heat?" Athena chuckled, giggling at her own silliness, which was now, just bounding like a trampoline.

Athena was a little teasing, maybe holding back a little bit of fluttering at what she could obviously see through his t-shirt. Post workout lunacy was hitting like the seratonin pumping through her, and making her even more talkative and....well, her, than usual. The other side effect of having another heart was having an adrenaline gland that basically just kept the taps open meant she was basically riding a high that put her in a really clear, vivid frame of mind. Awesome for work, dealing with shit on the battlefield, or anything else, but here....awkward?

---

Antti, on the other hand was carrying a Sako-TRG sniper rifle, flanked by a Kiwi with her titanium-clacked legs in the wooden hut, the two keeping busy at work.

"Okay. So you want something else." Antti turned to her, the look of Tahlia a little frustrated, wanting a bit more connection. She may have been a bit direct, but fuck, Antti was something else. A real quiet bastard, and hard to get anything out of at all.

"Come on, Antti. I know I've been here only a couple of hours, but don't just have me sitting about and occasionally driving stuff about. Let me help you out with something at least. Christ, I need my head off this mess the team are in." Tahlia replied, Antti nodding, calm and unassuming as ever, as inspiration struck the grey-haired Finn.

"You are a farmer? A gamekeeper, I was told?" Antti replied, stoic as ever, Tahlia looking at him. She didn't like being underestimated, the adjustment, the fact they were looking at her, and wasn't able to do as much, it felt a bit shitty. But Antti, well, much as he was cold like the ice, was at least decent.

"Yeah, South Island, New Zealand. Killed my fair share of deer." Tahlia replied, Antti looking at her, then outside, then back, a straight look between the two. StoicFest was in full swing here, but even Tahlia couldn't hold it up to the Finnish winner for probably the last 48 years.

"Ok. Then you have a job. Feeding five giants, and the Raven team tonight. Something other than rations. That means seven reindeer, which you cut from here.....to here. You have five hours before the light dies, and six before dinnertime." Antti replied, pointing to the rifle and the section in the air between the bottom of the head to the hind legs, and nothing else, then back at Tahlia again.

"Well, have you at least got a Quad I can borrow?"

"You are capable of running a base, no? Figure that out. Then, we shall talk, first, do. I have Blue Sword to look after. You have your team. Let us see." Antti was cryptic as ever, but then again, perfectly understandable.

Antti left the rifle and ten rounds in magazine on the table. A little test, see if she really was all that. Tahlia wasn't cocky, but well, doing this alone might not be such a great move, she thought to herself. Picking her phone, she keyed it in, bringing up Chuck's personal line. There would be couple of quad bikes, there would likely be someplace to go into the forest to find reindeer, and more likely, there would be an opportunity to get to work. She couldn't sit here any longer. After all the shit that went down, keeping occupied felt better than sitting and wallowing in thought. Antti shared the same sentiment, as he headed out, whistling a folk tune, onto his next job.

"Hey, Chuck. You alright lugging some fat reindeer and fighting bears, just in case? Thought you may want a workout that might keep you off Athena for a bit. Wait. Don't reply if she's there, she just went in. I think." Tahlia commented, a sly chuckle, knowing him...well, actually, Tahlia had no idea where she was. So....

Probably yes?

The moment however, was interrupted as another fellow replaced Antti in the room when she put the phone down.
"Wait....what?" She said, looking in dead-set disbelief, then connecting the dots. Oh yeah, of course, Blue Sword were here. And he'd visited. Especially now. The hurt that filled went out quickly, because dad was here.

"You really forgot this face?" Andrew called, Tahlia smiling and with it, ran over and lept into her father's arms, hugging the older man, grinning. It was good to see him again, the figure one she'd spent time with on the farm, but well, outside of his occasional consultancy work in Blue Sword, not spent as much time with these days.

"Dad! You came out all the way here? You seriously didn't have to." Tahlia replied, Andrew chuckling.

"Well, you have reindeer to hunt. Antti's a good shot. But he's set you a task alright. Now, whoever Chuck is, you need to introduce me to him."

"Dad, he's not..."

"He's a seven and a half foot giant who'll protect you. I get it. You think he's cute."

"Dad...."

"Alright, alright, I'm kidding. Now come on. Grab that rifle, I'll drive the quad, you shoot, and he'll haul. Like old times." Andrew said, Tahlia shrugging her shoulders, nodding with gleeful excitement.

"Aww, thanks heaps." And with it, she jogged across and took the rifle, checked the magazine and the hunting rounds, and bounded outside.

---

"So, are you okay there?" Adam looked across to Jamie, waving his hand in front of his face, sitting in the room, armoured yet sipping on juice. The pine floor was hurting under the weight of his armour. The sight quite something, because Jamie's armour is basically occupying a lot of the centre of the room between couches and carpet, titanic in its size, black and akin to Freya's, if not a little more angled and brutal. Raven's Rock, as the main common room and quarters for Raven Squad came to be termed by a few of the Blue Sword team on site stuck, given the grey and brown wooden structure they seemed to hide under.

With it, Purna sighed, looking across the room at Jamie, then Adam, who had just come back into the room.
"He's been here for about ten minutes. He is being mindful. It's a common exercise to find peace, spirituality....inner calm. In his religion or mine." Purna replied with his own thoughts from his poorly practiced Hinduism, in reflection of Jamie's own that were known to few, but known to Purna in regards to his father's Mohican heritage. The insightful Nepali as ever, was contrasted by Adam. Purna leaned on optimism, Adam on fatalism.

"Well, my chakra will be broken when he's going to fall through the floor. Come on, Jamie. Go get that hung up, and the fifties, and grab yourself some coffee." Adam added, before he could respond, Athena following, the creaking footsteps and the blonde ducking under the even relatively tall doorframe, coming in, hands on hips, sighing at the sight of it. She walked over and kept talking, offering Jamie a hand.

"He does do this a lot. JamJam. I know there's lots of people and right now you'd rather be out there. But you're like a bear in a bookstore here." Athena called to him, looking across, the rest of team also there as she walked on in, Ebrima and Sam namely appearing. Athena looked across to Adam, and Purna, the two a contrast as far as they could be, the blonde warmer perhaps, given she'd at least benched most of what she needed to out of her system. And the adrenaline had faded, as she was now just spread across a sofa, occupying all of it, looking at the snowy trees outside before looking back at the team, specifically, Adam. Her flowy blonde hair touched the floor, as she leaned back, still a little oversized even for their own base.

"So. Blue Sword are here. Mom and Pops are going to look around, fix their bits. And Oracle has calmed down. While you have your answers. Right, Adam?" Athena asked, as he shrugged, nodding as he looked around the room.

"I suppose so, Ath. But we're still in the shit. We have no data, we're relying on historic records, and well, waiting. The team in signals is working on leads. Tricky when starting from scratch." Adam sighed, Athena putting hands on face, leaning in to cut the height disadvantage.

"So whilst we sit here, Rose is out there. My men are itching to see what we can do." Athena retorted, Adam nodding in turn, shrugging.

"We are. But that is fine. We will get to work soon enough. You and your teams need to send me your equipment load. My group, same as well. There are upgrades incoming. I suggest you consider what your loadouts are, equip the upgrades from the Blue Sword warehouse down there, and equip for an interdiction. We may have a target coming up, and we need to secure them, before Artemis can get their hands on them. Details are scarce, but I'd say be ready for a fight against a variety of threats." Adam commented, Purna nodding, Athena too before realising there were a couple of missing people.

"Where's Chuck?" Athena asked, as Adam shrugged.

"That is a very good question."

---

Across the room, Purna took a seat next to Ebrima, looking over at him, and knowing the unnerving nature that Ebrima had still looked a little more on edge despite it. Purna seemed to almost look timid and being so short compartively, until you noticed the sharpness in his eyes. It was unassuming, but it was a false sense of security. He could read Boaro well, it was his job after all, mercenaries worked the same. They would have killed each other in the field. But here they were.
"So. That story of how you got it? No need." Purna said, looking him over, and leaning into him, whispered in his ear.

"Here's how it'll go. When we are done after Rose is dead, you are going to return that Kukuri to me, and you will find another trophy. Maybe Skye's ear, or something. I saw that blade. That's Sergeant Anish Rai's, engraving gives it away. He was a good man. You must have fought him very hard to get it. We are all part of Raven, and the past is past, me and you both. But I now know the circumstances Raphael knew your old boss. And when blood spilt, you picked the wrong man. So use it honourably, and if you lose it, you'll lose something else." Purna started, knowing he was out of earshot, and well, a ghost. He could talk quiet, and his tone was exceptionally soft, no harshness to it at all, but an underlying threat.

"So, we've had that talk. We have had ours. Understood?" Purna whispered, patting him on the shoulder with a velvet touch, looking across as he reached under the table, and dragged his bag out, pulling out a couple of boxes of what appeared to be red boxes.

"Oh, nearly forgot. I got us some chocolate. I got this in Switzerland on our layover. I'm not a fan, but I thought you might appreciate something given how far out we are." Purna asked, opening up the first, offering it to the team, and Ebrima too.

There's almost this incredible moment where Purna just went from making the coldest threat he could ever make to someone, a deep, dark place of honour and trust in his brothers in arms, to like that, flicking the light out and reminding himself irrespective of whatever it was, Raven was a team- he may have been a loner but he never forgot his family in the team. Yet it was a message. Purna would work with Boaro, he would more than do his duty, he could follow orders and follow that. But if it was not said now, it would be said in the heat of the moment, and he would not be so sure he would have the same level of restraint. He had put it clear. He would let Boaro dictate his path.

For now, chocolate.

"Purna, before lunch? Really?" Adam asked, as before he could reply, Athena barrelled past.

"Ohhhh, chocolate! Yes Purna, you legend! Fucking love you!" Athena yelled back, and well, ran straight into Purna. The look of "I fucking know what you did", dissiminated with Athena practically barrelling the man off the sofa and straight into her chest.

Raven was properly weird. But there was doubt even amongst the fractured team, they could at least enjoy the moment they had in the calm after, and before the storms.

---

Chuck had finished cleaning his armor and had it on the rack charging. It would need some maintenance. He wasn’t sure if techs from Blue Sword would work on it or Samantha. But it was ready and where he was told to put it. It had taken a while to get it all moved over. The inner suit lining he had cleaned as best he could in the shower in his room. He had hung it to dry from the rack suspended from the ceiling for that purpose next to the hard outer shell that went over it. He was inspecting Duke’s armor and making note of wear spots and spots that might potentially fail. He wanted to show them to Samantha. Maybe she could adapt those or modify them into something better. She had told him that this was her first set of armor for a canine. He had been impressed with it so far. Duke did not lose much agility and was better protected which made Chuck happy.

He had been so absorbed in his task, he had not noticed when the music started. It had been in the background to the sound of heavy weights being slammed around. Now that the weights had stopped he could hear the music better. He frowned and tilted his head to the side. He liked the heavy bass beat but he made a face when the guy started rapping. He couldn’t decide if he liked it or hated it. The music stopped and Chuck had returned his attention to Duke’s Armor. Chuck looked up as Athena approached. He had stepped between her and Tahlia last night when they had left the plane. Tensions and emotions had been high on both sides. His body tensed up not quite sure what to expect.

Chuck could not have been more surprised when Athena straight hit on him with a beaming smile as she walked towards him in a tight workout outfit. "Hey there....so, what piece of marble did they cut you out of? You're Chuck, Chuck Simmons, right? Boomer by name, Boomer by nature." Athena was holding her hand out to shake.

He felt like Freya had gobsmacked him with her hammer. His neutral expression turned to one of surprise. Chuck was not used to women hitting on him. Most women were intimidated by his size. Chuck couldn’t suppress his embarrassment if he tried as his face colored red. Chuck knew that Athena was Freya’s little sister, she looked very young to him. Freya was the woman he was currently interested in. He had already tried to get to her to go out with him. Not to mention that her brother Jamie was joining the team and her parents were around as well. Chuck knew that was trouble waiting to happen. It took Chuck a moment or so to get his surprise under control so he could respond. He shook her hand gently. “Yes I am Chuck, callsign Boomer. Nice to meet you Athena.”

Athena had managed to get Chuck’s attention. She had shaken his hand briefly before inspecting his armor. She continued to talk, not really letting him say much before she continued. "Athena Kaantario, Valkyrie. Freya's sis. She's probably told you all about me. All sorts of shit, I bet....trust me, it's all true. #AthenaAwesome and everything, at your service." Chuck noticed that Duke, who had been curled up peacefully, had gotten to his feet and moved to his side. Duke seemed nervous around Athena. Then Athena squealed and moved in to love on Duke who was startled and let out a nervous woof. "Heyyyy! Oh, and who are you!" Before he could intervene Athena had bent over and was getting down on Duke’s level. She had put her hand out and was rubbing his ears. Duke’s body language told Chuck that he was nervous and unsure as he stood tense and motionless waiting for a cue from Chuck.

Chuck gave Duke the hand sign for hold, friendly. He was never more grateful that he had worked to teach Duke how to hold those instincts in situations like this. Otherwise he would have probably mauled a few of Chuck’s former commanders. Chuck sighed as he realized that he would need to teach Athena that Duke was a working dog. He couldn’t help but smile at how ridiculous it was though. She was baby-talking to him in no time. "It's okay, baby. Aww, you're so, so cute. And handsome, yes, you are!" It was obvious to Chuck that Duke had won over yet another admirer. "You two. Jesus, my hearts are melting. You gotta stop this, 'cos you are doing something to me. Somethin....gooooood!"

He took a moment to intervene. He ran a calming hand down Duke’s back. “Athena, this is Duke. He is a working military dog. You need to wait and ask permission before approaching him. He could have just as easily attacked you if he had been on a guard command. Next time please ask me first. Then slowly offer your hand for him to sniff. Wait for him to sniff it and lick it or push his hand into yours before petting okay? This is for your safety and his.” Chuck tried to show her the right way to approach Duke. Chuck could tell that Duke was just picking up on Athena’s natural outgoing energy and personality. He didn’t necessarily dislike her but it could be overwhelming and he was still recovering from the base fight and two very long plane rides and adjusting to a new location. It was a lot for a dog.

Chuck shook his head laughing as he barely got a word in before she was back over inspecting his armor once more. She launched into an invitation to work out with her. He tried to follow the conversation but got lost on the way. She went from working out with her to tearing shit up, to talking about him working with her brother. His head was spinning trying to keep up with the tornado that was Athena. Chuck’s expression grew serious once more as she apologized about being angry when they landed. He couldn’t help showing some sympathy for her. His expression softened as he thought about it. If that had been one of his family members he would have been emotional too.

“Apology accepted, Athena. I meant no disrespect by my actions. There was tension on both sides when we landed. The team had been through the blender and on the go for almost 48 hours. I understand. My family is important to me too.” He paused and gave her a saucy wink and grin. “You should know that Freya is important to us too.” And in true Athena fashion the conversation passed to a new topic, armor and weapons.

Chuck tried to follow the conversation about weapons and comparisons between the sisters. He almost felt like he was talking to the guys back home about souping up American Muscle cars and what would work best. He tried to resolve that with the almost young teenage girl energy and vibe she had as she giggled. He just laughed and shook his head. “My suit just went through some upgrades. Samantha will need to take a look at it. It got damaged in that last push to get everyone off the island. Honestly she will probably be the one to decide if any weapons get added. I will be sure to let her know you offered.” He motioned to his armor to indicate exactly what he was talking about. Chuck wondered if Athena ever stopped moving and bouncing. Her energy was making him almost dizzy.

About that time Chuck got a ping on his personal cell phone. He look up at Athena with a polite smile. “I need to take this.” He answered the call “This is Chuck.” He listened as Tahlia rambled quickly into the phone.

Tahlia: “Hey, Chuck. You alright lugging some fat reindeer and fighting bears, just in case? Thought you may want a workout that might keep you off Athena for a bit. Wait. Don't reply if she's there, she just went in. I think." Tahlia commented, a sly chuckle…

Before he could say anything he heard Tahlia greeting someone else and the phone was set down. The conversation was muted somewhat. Which was probably for the best since Chuck would have found out he was meeting Tahlia’s father and that she thought he was cute. He waited a few more minutes and then the phone went silent and hung up. He looked at it like it was broken.

He sighed and texted the Kiwi. “I would love to go hunting and fight polar bears with you. Where do I meet you? Just gotta grab my jacket and hunting knife.”

He smiled in excitement. He would love to explore outside the base. It was beautiful here and Chuck’s kind of place. He looked up at Athena. “Thank you for the kind offer, Athena. I will let Sam know about the upgrades. I need to run. I have something I need to do for a team member. Pleasure meeting you.” His southern drawl was warm and sweet as honey as he said his good bye.

“Duke come.” Duke bounded after his master with a happy lope. He tipped his head like he had on hat as he left Athena in the gym.

---

Samantha had left her debrief with Adam and swung by her room. She pulled out her cell phone and texted Tahlia a list of things she wanted for herself. She needed some clothes that fit. She knew that Tahlia had done her best with what she had access to; however Samantha was only 5’4” and had a curvy figure. Most of the supplies on base were for mercenaries who were taller and bigger than she was, even the women. She sent her sizes, colors, preferred brands, and styles. She then grabbed her laptop and armor. She swung by the armory and stowed her armor where she was told too. She didn’t take the time to look around just yet. She would do that when she had more time. She would need to check over everyone’s armor and make any repairs. She then took her laptop with her and went to find her fellow nerds.

---

Samantha raised an eyebrow as she looked at what looked like a fancy log cabin home with a path through the snow. That is the location that Adam had pointed out from his office window. Samantha shivered as she quickly made her way into the building. She really needed a jacket. She bustled into the warm interior. She shut the door as fast as she could before turning around to inspect the space. She saw an open space with numerous empty desks and a rack of servers along the back wall. She smiled as she realized the servers had been set up in such a way that they help warm up the room. The backside of the servers had a vented wall that let the cool air outside help ventilate and keep the servers cool. She wondered what they did in the summer.

There were a few analysts working in the room on keyboards and laptops. Most of them had looked up at least once with looks from indifference to annoyance and some with outright hostility. She spotted Raphael and smiled as she saw him at a desk hunched over a keyboard. Her smile fell as she spotted the dark circles under his eyes and signs of tension in his face. He had not looked up yet. She sighed wondering if he was upset with her. He had been professional on the plane but had looked confused and resigned more than anything else. She approached his desk slowly unsure of her welcome. “Hi Raphael.” He had an almost empty coffee cup sitting next to him. He looked up as she spoke to him. He gave her a look that she couldn’t quite interpret. “I was sent by Adam to help with the latest data and what I managed to get out of New Zealand. I have some data from the attack on my laptop that we can analyze.” She lowered her voice some. “Are you okay?”

Raphael looked at her without saying a word as he polished off his cup of coffee. He didn’t look angry. He looked frustrated and tired. “I have been better.” He paused searching for the right words. “Samantha, this is my job and I am damn good at it. When a leader goes off script and outside protocols, their actions paint the whole team in the same light. Those protocols are there for safety. What you said and did carries consequences not just for you and Skye but the rest of the team. Yes you took ownership of your decision but all these other people working to keep the world safe look at your team and wonder if we were in on it. They wonder if we can be trusted to do the job. They wonder if we are blindly loyal like the previous team leader who was demoted.” He waved a hand to indicate that he meant her. “I am not angry with you Samantha. I am disappointed. I am frustrated that someone as intelligent as you didn’t use logic and let emotion make decisions for you. I know you did what you thought was best. But was it best for Raven? Was it best for the team? Or was it best for you?” Raphael maintained eye contact to show the depth of his seriousness. He was not afraid to tell her hard truths that he thought she needed to hear. He shook his head and got to his feet reaching for his coffee mug. He pointed to a small break room situated near the entryway to the left. “Coffee is over there if you need some. Pick any desk. If you need anything, you know where to find me.” He walked away carrying his cup.

Samantha watched him walk away feeling conflicted. She had worked with Raphael almost as much as she worked with Javi and Tahlia. She had never been at odds with him. She wanted to snarl and be angry but the truth was she just felt ashamed and sad. She felt as if the whole world was out to punch or kick her. Her face flamed as she watched him. She still felt like she made the right decision to let Skye go. She was embarrassed about how she acted once they had made it to the base. This was another example of why she had always been a lone wolf working on her own in the past. She didn’t want to be responsible for others. She had never asked for a leadership role. She had never even asked to be put in the field. She did the tests for it because she had to in order to join. Skye was the one who decided she needed to be in the field. She felt as if she had let her team down and embarrassed them. Were they all angry and upset with her? She still hadn’t seen Freya. Freya had been there though when she had yelled at her sister. She let her head fall as she studied her feet. She felt as if her heart was going to be pulled from her chest. She couldn’t deal with this right now. She didn’t have time. She would apologize to Raphael later.

She took an empty desk close to Raphael’s and plugged in her laptop. She took a deep breath and narrowed her focus to the computer. She would take solace in the task Adam had given her. She deliberately used some techniques that a former therapist had recommended to drop into a hyperfocus state. It was like the rest of the world faded away. It became about her and the computer. Her world was reduced to ones and zeros as she began to parse through coding. She sent Raphael a data dump of what diagnostics and sensor readings Bob had pulled during the base attack including any camera footage. She sent him the whole shebang. She then did a quick dive on that same data and decided while there was some stuff for leadership to look at in regards to Artemis assets and how they were being used and moved about. There was nothing there to help her find Rose.

Samantha stopped and thought about the real issue at hand. They needed to figure out what Rose’s end game was. What did she need Spectre for? What did she need that drug for? What was she planning to do with it? Where was Rose and Henry Simmonds? If she couldn’t find what she wanted with available data, then she needed more data. How was going to do that?

Samantha began madly typing as an idea came to her. She began putting together a search program based on facial recognition software. The program would not be perfect and it could be beaten. But maybe just maybe with a little luck they might get closer to the answers they needed and a direction to turn in. Samantha built a program that would take databases that Raven had access to such as airport security footage, border crossing footage, government buildings, banks. Any type of military or government database or surveillance footage that they were granted could be searched by the program to find and mark footage of a searched image. Of course the person had to be caught by the camera, at an angle good enough for the facial recognition software to work. But maybe just maybe they could trace where Rose had been and where Henry had been or was.

Samantha had been typing away at her computer for hours barely moving at all. She blinked as she noticed the time. Her stomach rumbled telling her that breakfast was a long time ago and she had missed it. She noticed most of the people in the room had left. She rose to her feet leaning on the desk as she stretched out her back. She twisted from side to side stretching to get the feeling back in her legs. She left her laptop up running the search for Rose and Henry. She had it working on cross comparison with all of Raven’s known databases. She knew the search would take time. The search was taking take up a lot of computational power and memory as it searched through literally a world's worth of imagery from assets all over the world. She left it working and went to find food.

---

Samantha ran back to the main building to get out of the cold faster. She turned into the rec room and entered, pressing her back to the wall. Her conversation with Raphael returned. Were they all upset with her? Would she even be welcome in the room? She looked around feeling very unsure. She did her best to keep a neutral expression on her face.

Samantha looked around to see who was where. She saw Purna speaking with Ebrima. She saw Adam speaking with Athena. She saw who could only be Jamie, Freya’s brother sitting in his heavy assault armor drinking a child size juice box. Was this something he did to practice control? He could probably fit the whole juice box in his mouth, chew it up and spit out. Samantha was fascinated and watched him for a minute.

Her attention was drawn to Athena as she rushed Purna for the chocolate he had offered to share. Samantha watched the shenanigans for a few minutes before she cleared her throat. “I would like to say something to you all.”

Samantha didn’t raise her voice but it carried to every corner of the room. She turned to face Purna and Adam. “I want to apologize for my behavior when I arrived. There was no excuse for some of it. I am sorry. I will work on doing better.”

She tried to meet all their eyes. “I know most of you have not worked directly with me and I certainly didn’t give the best first impression. I can’t take it back. All I can do is move forward and promise to do better.” She turned to meet Ebrima’s eyes with that comment. She literally didn’t even know he existed until the base was under attack. She certainly had not given him much reason to trust her. She realized that now.

She then turned to Jamie and Athena. She owed Athena an apology. She needed to work with Freya's siblings and she knew Freya adored her siblings. She didn't want to put her friend in an even more awkward situation with her family. “I know you are Freya’s siblings. She is a very dear friend to me but you are her family. Athena I am sorry for yelling at you.” She held a hand out towards Athena. “I hope you can forgive me and that we can work together.” That was probably the longest speech she had ever given. It certainly ranked up there with one of her more embarrassing and humble moments. She hoped it didn't make the others feel as awkward and uncomfortable as she did. Where was Glitch when you need a refrigerator randomly lobbing beers at people to divert the attention away from your personal social hell?

Collab with @BigPapaBelial @FourtyTwo











Sitting in the back of the luxury Lexus, Skye had the opportunity to reflect on the whirlwind that had just happened, the crazy, the anarchy, all of it. She’d laid low inside the place, the hyperactive neon, glowing light and feeling of rainy Tokyo one that no city on earth could come close to. She looked across to Ban, the redhead Scot weathered, and a different version of the person she’d been a few hours ago. Powerless, yet like a chameleon, changed. Still in a hoodie, still in jeans and stolen trainers, and more like a thug than a lady of the dark.

“Sorry to call on you, Ban. If it were up to me, I’d have been stubborn. But, I’ve learned better. For better and for worse. If it’s what I think it is, I think it’ll work out in the end. Fate of humanity may rest with what happens. I can’t go into detail now, but the boss, I’ll outline what I need, and what we need to do.” The Scot sighed, her signature tone holding more now, rather than dampened, sighing.

“He may not agree. That is fine, we’ll do what needs doing. But I’ll keep coming till the end. Rage against the dying of the light. Rage, rage…..and we’ll get it done.” Skye said to him, leaning across, looking out the back window, then back at the operative.
“Anyway. You feeling up to what might come next?” Skye asked an honest question, yet loaded a little knowing Ban would be very, very much aware of the Skye Lyons special that came with her line of work.

Ban sat in the backseat with Skye, while their driver, a thin, whip muscled young Yakuza with the tips of a koi fish tattoo just barely hidden by his shirt, one named Wataro apparently, a relatively new hire, and just having the starts of his tattoos. Up front is also Hataro Kingo, Ban’s father. The men folk atleast dressed up rather nicely having quickly put on some proper suits. But to say Ban dressed a little flashy is something different, his suit a blazing crimson with silver stitching through the sleeves and at the lapels.

The re-born Yakuza tapping a finger on his knee, and had looked out the front window over his father’s shoulder casually until Sky had begun to speak. And the man once known as Shimura, had turned his head and given the scotswoman his full attention.

He couldn’t help but smile, and watched as Hataro turned his head only slightly to listen to them. Ban nods, “When we made that pact Skye-chan, I said I would answer any call, any need. At any time, in anyway.” He holds up his hand. No there is no blade cut, but metaphorically there could have been one, “I swore to that.” He chuckles, then lifts his blade in his right hand, “And I offered my blade then, just as I offer it now.” He nods slowly, “And not to worry. I think the Oyabun will listen, and atleast offer sanctuary.”

The older Kingo in the front seat pipes up, “The Oyabun was moved by Ban’s stories of what happened during his exile. He shed tears you know. That one of his loyal soldiers, went through so much and still returned to try and clear his name.” Hataro grins, “I think the three duels that Ban fought were more a formality than anything else. I’m sure my old friend will hear us, and judge fairly.”

Skye smiled, hearing the impact, knowing that it likely left some mark on Ban, considering the request. It was a fair amount of bodies, in fact, an ask that Skye knew would be difficult but she cleared the air and made it clear. Like for Jaguar, in a similar way, she’d honored her promise. Let him do what was needed, and let him reclaim what was his. And he had been rewarded by it. Somehow, Skye wondered how he had not gone further, but alas, that was sometimes due to just the way the system worked. Skye would not even dare poke her head in. They were criminals, a syndicate and honorable yet violent and capable of destruction some special forces teams may not even imagine existed, but you could stand to have worse friends than the Yakuza.
“Thank you. And I hope so. It will come weirdly from a….how you say, a Gaijin like me? I expect to be looked at. But at the same time, I suppose I don’t ask for much. Much has happened since we last worked together, and as you know, I am not one to worry easy.” Skye replied, looking across to Ban, knowing they’d be arriving soon.
“I’ll need a couple of basic bits, a haircut and some bleaching, some fake ID and a few pieces in time to look at as well. I’m going to have to get rid of the Skye you’re used to. Been a while since that.” Skye shrugged, knowing that in some ways, perhaps Rose had won that at least. Diffused into someone Skye wasn’t, and a change of look at least would stop her from being tracked on cameras as obviously, even if a skilled monitor might see through it in time regarding cheekbones and other features.
“If all works well, we may even have some luck tonight. But we’ll have to see.” Skye added, sitting up a little, taking in the rain and the scene outside, before looking to Ban again.

Ban nods, “Well there have been odder requests coming from people to the Amagi. Often down from the Yamaguchi. It’s okay, we’ll find a way.” He chuckles, then looks ahead as they are just turning off the expressway. Hotaro nods, “Not long now. Wataro-kun, take the scenic route.” Their driver bowing his head, “Yes sir.”

The car weaving down, before they enter into a seemingly out of place wooded area.

They are still in the city how did they do that so quick?

And then, the trees part, and before them is a magnificent hidden Japanese style palace. Sprawling, lit by rice paper lanterns in some places, golden light shed from the pieces. In others more modern light poles shed stark white light. The road leading up to the place, sided by manicured and well tended fields of grass, and styled shrubs. Dotted with rock zen gardens, statues of deities and mythological beasts and creatures. Izanagi and Izanami statues stand prominent on one side of the road. While further down a curious pair of statues..

Ones that Ban points out as they pass, “Higan Amagi, the first Amagi.” He points to the statue that is bedecked in yoroi armor, a nodachi long sword held over one shoulder, the face mask of the armor the statue is modeled after looking fierce and filled with hidden power. Ban then gestures to the other statue that almost seems hidden by the more prominent Amagi statue, “Nobitsuda Kingo. The Amagi and the Kingo have stood beside each other for generations. Though the Amagi now hold the name of the Clan, the Kingo have always been there in their shadow. And now, the Amagi Clan thrives.” The Kingo statue is that of a smaller man, dressed in a robe, holding a feather fan, in one hand, and a small dagger in the other hidden by the fan.

Ban nods as they pull up to the house. Hotaro and Wataro getting out first. Hotaro gesturing, “Go and see to Yotsuyu-chan, and be ready with her and the car.” As he’s saying that, six men in black suits, even with the darkening sky, they all wear mirrored sunglasses. And except for two of them, everyone is clearly armed. One with a very large revolver on his hip, the others with sorts of melee weapons. Swords, sais, one holding a wicked knotted kanobo club. The leader of the small group nodding to Ban and Hataro, “Honored Guests. We come to escort you. The Oyabun has agreed to your emergency meeting. We come to watch the gaijin.”

At that Ban bristles. And his hand is on his sword, thumb primed to give that one simple push that would draw the blade. The same blade he used to cut down men in the service of Raven, the same one he’d used to cut down many at Skye’d direction.

The six men balking just abit, I mean who would want to fight the man who confessed to all the sins and the deeds he committed while away?

Only Hataro laying a hand on Ban’s arm stops him from drawing, “Think of it as a compliment son. They know your prowess, and the stories you told of Kitsune-chan, speaks of honor and bravery. But she’s still dangerous, and let’s face it, the Oyabun wants to be careful.”

Ban takes a slow breath and nods, “Fine.” And leads the way inside with his father at his left. The six falling into step beside and a round Ban, Hataro and Skye.

They weave through the house. Beautifully decorated rooms and halls, many sets of armor, and sword stands. At one point the Yakuza stop to bow before a simple grey feathered goose fan. The plaque below it’s glass case reading, “The Fan of Nobitsuda”.

Finally two doors are pulled aside, and on the far side of the room, an older gentleman, wearing a fine kimono, sipping at some tea sits upon a low dias, waiting and watching. As they cross the room Ban whispers, “Do one thing for me while we’re here Skye, don’t look the Oyabun in the eye. Until he asks you too anyway.”

And soon their escort goes to stand at the walls, and the three are kneeling in front of the old man. Hotaro speaking, “Toyomitsu Amagi-san, it has been only a short while. We beg your ear for a moment.”

Skye nodded to Ban, taking the beauty of it in. The armour, swords, the ornate pieces like a museum, but only to those who needed to know. The clan was old, it felt like older than even manor houses in the UK, like there was history in these walls, fibres that came out from that and even into now.
“On your lead.” Skye simply replied, unable to follow Japanese, but able to follow Ban at least, and somewhat understand him. A beauty of a place, and no doubt eyeing up Skye, weighing up who she was. What she was. Some maybe had seen the police reports and knew she was on the run, if the description fit. What they may not have understood however, was that behind the somewhat pale face of the redhead was someone who’d already weighed up everyone in the room. Got an idea of what she had to do. She may not have reflexes, but she had an idea of the fact that you bring a gun to a swordfight, and there were enough to help. Not that it would come to that. Ban would introduce things, and she’d speak what needed to be said. What was initially a crappy thread was now somewhat more concise a plan, a way to flip the script, fast. Time was of the essence.

The older man hums, and motions for a younger man one of the guards to come forward. The young Yakuza hurrying forwards and bows. The Oyabun whispering something, and in slightly stilted English, with a slight London accent, speaks, “Amagi-san has asked that I act as an interpreter. What I say, is his word.”

Hotaro chuckles, “Ahhh getting young Hingo to practice his English? Wise my friend. My son would ask a boon.” Ban then kind of knee walks forward, bowing low, “Grandfather.” He says respectfully, “I beg a favor. I bring a friend. A very great friend.” Speaking in English for Skye’s benefit, Ban continues, “It’s true, if you follow the news, and our friends in the Police Force, this woman sky dived.” he takes a moment to look at Skye with a small amount of amusement, “Into Shibuya Square.”

A general chuckle, of seeming appreciation goes through those gathered, and the Oyabun nods, speaking rapidly in Japanese. The young yakuza speaking moments later, “Yes we recognize her, the Tokyo Police asked us to keep an eye out. Quite a naughty young lady she is. Honestly we like her.” Ban grins, “I hope this like extends beyond then sir. Since my own return sir, I told you the stories of my deeds, and sins and trials with Raven, and with Skye-chan.” He swallows thickly and just rips the bandaid off, “We beg the Clan’s assistance Oyabun. She has been branded a traitor, and been forced to flee so she can work to further her plans. And find her innocence.”

The old man’s eyes narrow then and he speaks again swiftly, “This, is the Skye Rosalind you spoke of?” The young man pauses and looks at the old man, the Oyabun smiling. The interpreter sighs, “We thought she’d be taller.” Then he sighs, “Skye-chan, look at us.”

Skye followed instruction, aware that honor, discipline, and trust was a big, big part of the culture here. There’s no easy way to put it but if merely being in Japan is like being a fish out of water, doing it in a criminal underworld is like diving headfirst into treacle. A sticky situation. She’d smiled when Ban mentioned the occasion, and well, what she’d been up to.

She looked at the old man, the look of Skye one that showed wear, but beyond the messy red hair and pale, cut cheeks and lips, the eyes of someone that burned bright. Blue eyes and red hair are an incredibly rare combo in genetics, almost to a point that it’s about 1% of redheads that would ever have it- the recessive trait of red hair meaning it’s usually wiped out from a Scandinavian-styled blonde-haired, blue eyed bloodline. Another part Skye wondered about internally, wondering.

“I am very grateful to be here. And I understand I am a risk to you. But I am here to ask for a little help. In exchange, to prevent a catastrophe that could kill billions, indiscriminately. It is less about innocence, more about prevention.” Skye replied, the redhead making the stakes clear, knowing that eyebrows would immediately be raised. The Scot’s accent may have been harder for the London-accented interpreter to switch to, given that it was a style of English that was harsher and abrasive, like the mountains of home, but it held.

The interpreter worked his jaw abit and sighed, before speaking stiltedly in Japanese to the Oyabun. The old man grinning brightly the whole time. Almost as if the young man’s suffering is just a little amusing. Soon though he nods. Ban waiting a moment before continuing, “We as the Clan’s assistance Oyabun, with the backing and the resources of the clan, we could be able to make inroads on stopping this apocalypse.”

The old man nodding slowly, then in clear as day English, with just a hint of a Irish accent, speaks, “Rosalind-san, tell us true. This catastrophe, how truly bad would it be? What would be its vector? Would there be a way to contain it?” He looks at the red haired young woman clearly, wise, clear eyes almost looking into Skye’s soul, “Would Japan, would the Amagi, survive unscathed?”

The Scot turned a little more red at the sound of the old man’s tone, breaking apart from the interpreter, who no doubt was a little confused. And she looked back.
“You speak good English, Amagi-san.. It is very complicated, but part of the vector is me. The other part is a clone. However, this is a good thing. It means we can stop it before it starts.”
Skye replied, as she circled back to that last question.

“Nobody will be safe. It is indiscriminate, race, creed, belief, culture. Only survival is what she wants, and that means a wiping of the slate. This threat….she wants to ruin the world with it. A hybridized chemical weapon, like the one used in the Tokyo subway decades ago, but on a country scale. Combined with an infrastructure destroying weapon, once repaired. The knife only then needs to push a little deeper before we are all fucked.” Skye said to what may be the shock of a few, but she did not mince her words. She leaned in, looking to Ban, then back across to the Oyabun.

“There is a facility operated by a firm called Vale Technical Services, in Nagoya. A facility that from the last piece of intel I had, indicated it was run by a secret organization named Artemis. It contains a vault, of which if it is the same as the threat I describe, means I am biometrically identical to and can access. And inside of that, is what I believe to be a full picture of Artemis’s remaining assets, and potentially even a neutralizing agent for the chemical. I am not sure how, but it is a starting point. I do not understand it fully. But there is no way anyone else can do it, unless I go and access it, and I pose as the very vector herself, a clone of me. That is where I ask for help. I just need a few things. Some items of clothing, a silenced rifle, some tactical equipment, transport, and Ban to follow me. I will go in through the front door, but I will likely need support once I have it. If not….then there is a serious problem.“ Skye replied, knowing this was the bit that was asking a lot, but it was a start, at least.

The gathered Yakuza all looked at each other, silent words passing between them all. The admission of Skye being part of the Vector, the sheer amount of damage that is being said could happen. One of them breaking the sudden silence after all that was asked and roaring something in Japanese. The Oyabun looking at the man and growling something back. The nameless Yakuza pointed at Skye with on hand and drew a wakizashi with the other. Hotaro leaning back and whispering to Skye in English, “He is asking permission to kill you, as he feels your presence here is a mistake.” The oyabun is just opening his mouth to respond, when the man with the wakizashi growls this time in broken English, “No, forgive me Oyabun, but the Gaijin cannot be allowed to live!”

It’s swift. Three moves, a single step from the man on the edge of the room, Ban turning and drawing in a single quick movement, and the nameless Yakuza stepping back as the small sword drops to the ground, the clean cut having severed his thumb at the base of the joint.

The Oyabun sighing and to Skye, “I apologize Skye-san, sometimes my men are overzealous. I see though that Ban has your safety and honor in hand.” He looks to the yakuza man who stands there holding his hand, “Someone see to his medical needs.” Then back to Skye, “The Amagi will help where we can. And in the meantime, the Kingo Family will see to your needs, with the Clan’s backing. You have our Word.”

Those last words are said to the sound of the Kingo Katana sliding slowly back into the sheath at Ban’s hip, a final, click signalling the end of that swift altercation.

The scene had unfolded fast, faster than Skye would have liked to have imagined how she’d react. But then again, Ban had responded quick. The man yelping as his thumb got sliced like a piece of sausage through the blade was pretty visceral, and sent a message when nobody else responded. Like it was disciplined, rehearsed, almost like that wire had been touched.

Skye had to appreciate not getting stabbed there, and looked to the Oyabun once again.
“Thank you. I am very grateful for your help, and will return this assistance. I may not be of this land, but back home, we have Clans too. Families, bound by, and also unrelated in blood. A tradition long left behind, but one we still respect. I honor my obligations to you much the same like the men and women did to their clans. And to Ban, too.” Skye added, smiling to Ban, appreciative of what he’d done, the thumb quickly picked up and the man yelling promptly removed.

“There is more than I could possibly explain. And less I fully understand. But I’ll try and explain what I can, and do know along the way. If this works out, we’ll be able to stop this. At least, stop the start of it before anything happens.” Skye replied, knowing there was no doubt a lot of risk on everyone’s end, but they trusted her. The authority she seemed to have, even as a fish out of water held on, and she knew she’d have a debt to pay. One she could live with, considering the stakes were so much higher. And if it worked out well, she’d be able to walk right through the front door, all setup.

Ban bows again to the oyabun, “I apologize for acting so swiftly Grandfather. But Kitsune-chan is under my protection. I shall let no one question her honor.” he coughs, trying to hide a smile. The Oyabun waves it aside, and back to Japanese he goes. The interpreter finishing, “It is fine Ban-kun. We understand. The Amagi will stand. And with some favors called in Kitsune-chan.” Yes the old man switches to the code name, “We shall help to stop the end of the world. Like we did when Tojo stained this lands honor. We will help to stop the stain that may come.”

A motion of a hand and the Kingos and Skye are dismissed, but this time as they rise the escort doesn’t move, outside of giving a low respectful bow to Skye as they get up to leave.

Ban letting out a breath as they start to head back outside, “Well, now we can start to plan, and make ready to make a run on the people who would destroy the world.” Hataro coughs, “And you did this regularly in Raven my son?”

Ban looking to Skye with a smile, “Pretty regularly yes Father.”

Skye chuckled, nodding.

“Yeah, it’s sort of the given thing. And well, they made it personal.” Skye replied, looking across to Ban, knowing all of this must have seemed like straight up, a crystal crazy fever dream.

Hataro hums, “Your life in exile was truly something for the Legends. Let us return to the Amagi District. Find Kitsune-chan a place to rest up. For I foresee a time of great unrest and action.”

And the car awaits them outside. Soon the doors clunk shut, and they are soon rolling through the streets once more.

---

He greeted the assembly politely before taking a seat, a familiar face joining him almost instantly. Ebrima agreed it made sense to get the knife in the room out of the way quickly, scoffing at the mention of ‘a trophy’. Perhaps that perception was part of the issue, on top of the near-religious significance the kukri held to the Ghurkas of course. To Ebrima, it wasn’t a trophy, it was a tool first and foremost. A trophy was something that hung on a wall, not combat armor’s utility belt. Not that he planned on returning it either way, not before he died or retired, whichever came first. But at least he got a name out of the exchange, somewhere to have it delivered when that day came, assuming Purna wouldn’t simply walk into the armory and take it from his weapons locker without anyone being wiser to it. It was nearly impossible to keep something safe from infiltrators. Infiltrators and taxmen. He drew the line at the condescending shoulder pat, intercepting it with his hand. The pocket psycho would need a bit of a cold shower. Ebrima knew it was unwise to provoke a snake with your bare foot, but the two giants in the room were a reassuring presence. Even though their allegiance to Raven was still somewhat questionable, and he was still an outsider even to that, he couldn’t see a mentally level person standing by if someone else got attacked over the possession of an item. That being said, there was one giant in the room he couldn’t see stand by if someone got attacked over the possession of an item.

He was about to respond when the other giant seemingly forgot she was a giant. Ebrima waited for Purna to resituate himself and pick up his dignity before speaking. ”The story. It should be said.” He spoke in a serious voice bereft of the usual mirthful subtone as he accepted the chocolate with a nod of appreciation, but did not whisper as Purna had. Like when negotiating a contract, he aimed for transparency. ”Sometimes when you put things off for later, you don’t get a chance to do them at all. So, the full story:” He said with the air of bitter experience with unfinished business, turning to look Purna directly in the eyes with a switch back to his earlier deadpan delivery. ”I lived, he died. And if he didn’t want his equipment salvaged, he should’ve left it at home. Such is life.” Ebrima let Purna believe his friend fought valiantly, no doubt in his mind he would have if given the chance, which is why he didn’t offer that courtesy. Half a squad of Burmese rebels for bait, several 5,45x39-sized ventilation ports in Sergeant Rai’s back and that was all she wrote. Ebrima was on thin enough ice already, no point taking a sledgehammer to it by provoking Purna even more than he was as is by simply existing.

He listened to Sam speak her piece, offering an appreciative nod and a smile. Self-reflection was something he’d had to figuratively - once or twice literally - beat into a younger merc on a semi-regular basis, and it bode well for the future that it wouldn’t be the case here. Perhaps it was as simple as being placed in a position one was not suited for, or being rushed into it too early. Good as she was, even Skye wasn’t infallible. ”Any good news from the intelligence shack?”

Freya lay int he infirmary, good arm laying over her eyes, listening to her mother and father, and uncles fuss. She could hear Carl and Nolan talking with Sophie and the other doctor about what would need to be done to make sure this doesn't happen again. This brought a smile to her face. That family was near. She knew her little sister Athena had already left to go make sure things are okay. She felt a poke, and turned her head to look at her Uncle Andrew sitting there beside her, prodding at her ribs with a stylus, "You okay little Valkyrie?" She let out a little pained giggle, "Since when do you call me by Papa's pet names?" Andrew chuckled, "Since it caught on after you left." Freya smiled and made a small noise of amusement, then sighed and turned her head to face the cieling, "I think I'll live Uncle...I think I'll live. It will take abit, but the doctors know what they are doing." She let out a sigh as the IV set up gave her another very small dose of pain killers and medicines.

She felt another presense and opened her eyes to look up at her other Uncle Ross standing over her head, looming over her, "You hurt yourself again, and when you get back I'm having you run Hell Mile on base, full ruck at noon." Freya couldn't help but eep at that promise. No it's not a threat, none of the people who became her surrogate uncles and aunties in Blue Sword make simple threats. They all make promises. She shook her head and gasped in pain as the movement pulled at her bad shoulder, "Ah...I'll be careful Uncle Ross I swear. Just please..." Then the hand of her mother taking her good hand lowering it to her side and rubbing the palm and then she felt the massive paw of her father, gently settle in her hair. It's the deep growly voice of her father though, "Relax My Thrud. Just rest and recover. Heal, we'll talk about things like that later. Carl and Nolan came over to join the family. Carl smiling and giving her a careful hug. Nolan just nodding to her, then tickling her foot lightly.

Freya sniffed and tried to hide the tears of happiness, just having her family there helped alot.




Jamie sucked at the last of the juice out of his juice box. He smiled as people came up to waves at him and listened to comments. He also witnessed to the drama and the words of pain, loss and words of hope and could feel as the team tried to get back on it's feet.

It might not help with so many new faces.

As his sister came in he looked at her, straight in the eyes. His own narrowing, and that silent language that all close siblings have pass between them. He gives a nod, and looks briefly to have wanted to say something. but he caught the look of Samantha, and he quirked an eyebrow. And people began to leave the building. He smiled, everyone has their ways of coping. He never got a chance to try and befriend the dog though, pity that.

But soon, someone spoke, ah it's Samantha.

Ah yes, the elephants in the room. Plural. So much had happened and he heard in passing from one of the surviving guardsman from the Island about the fight that nearly broke out when Athena and Sam had it at each other. Ahhh there it is the apology.

And then after the awkward silence is broken. By the sound of moving servos, and grinding gears. As Jamie stands up in his armor. Smoother lines then the armor that Freya would wear. Looking almost ichthyic in fashion, sleek and looking a fair bit denser. He looks around the room, "You're all hurting, or just getting in and feeling the pain of a loss." His gaze went over everyone in the room, "I understand that. But don't let a loss drag you down." He nodded, "I am Jamie Cole Kanatariio, and I've always been taught to formally introduce oneself to new acquaintances. I worked with Raven once before, some years back. I should have been on my break from the Unit, but then here I am. And I look forward to working with you all for as long as we're here." He nods, then raises his large armored paw, offering it to Sam, "To a good partnership yes? Any friend of my older sister, is a friend of mine. No matter what has happened." After shaking Sam's hand he goes around the room similar words, and a firm friendly handshake offered.

"Surprisingly enough, this is only my second time in a Scandinavian country," Tiny said as he entered the room not wearing his exosuit, it stood sentinel over in a corner of the room, as there was a wire to the wall plug connected to it. For the most part, it looked as if it was shot to shit, but the armor did it job. But moving without battery was almost impossible, but doing anything else with it was.

Tiny looked around, and shrugged as he started to find a place, pulling food from the little bag around his waist and shoulder. Beginning to munch on pretzels, "So anyone know what's for lunch or am I cooking again?" he asked looking around with a smile, seeing that he possibly entered an awkward situation by the look on Sam's face. Instead he went back to eating pretzils, and sitting there on what could be considered a comfy spot.

It was comfy for the most part, not too warm, probably too cold, but it was similar to home, at least it was similar to home, he thought. Not as much insulation compared to home, but they knew what they were doing here in the white north of Finland. He also wondered, why Finland. Well it was a small population, in the middle of nowhere, cold enough for no one to want to go to, and yea Finland was a nice place. It's like North Dakota, no body ever goes there unlike South Dakota which has Mount Rushmore.

Meanwhile, outside the man's head, he looked like he was in deep thought, or constipated; the two looks go hand in hand usually. Staring off in the distance like a Saint Bernard, no, not a Saint Bernard, those are useful. A pug, he was staring straight at Samantha, yet he did not know it at that moment. She was one of the last things he was staring at, and the dumbfounded look upon his face could be taken in many ways.

Back inside his head, he was thinking now about Canada and how cold it is, but lunch. Poutine, he hadn't had that in a long time, but where could he get maple syrup out here or french fries? Or hot chicken or good gooey cheese. His mind was wandering from the place they were located to the food that was not there, unless it was there.

"Who said poutine?" he asked, looking around those in the room, not really sure of what was happening at that moment. His stomach growled, and his snack pack seemed to be drained once again, and he remembered why he entered this room. Food, and also company, but food.

Seeing Oliver, Tiny Nord back in had been pleasant to say the least- Adam hadn't really needed to talk as after New Zealand, he'd been quiet about the whole ordeal, doing his job and keeping on it. But it fit the file. Then there was Sam, who'd apologised here. It was sincere, and he nodded to it, as did Athena and Purna. Apology accepted, she had lashed out and whilst Adam appreciated it from a professional standpoint, Athena had to give her credit, she had ovaries of titanium to pick a fight with her. Shit, if Athena was pumped like earlier, she would have taken it out on her. But alas, things calmed. Purna, well, he sort of knew the circumstances anyway and expected it was fine. It was just how it went, he went with the flow and was stoic enough to know it was just the crest of the wave coming back.
"Understandable. I guess I owe you one too, sorry if I threatened to flatten you. Just stakes are high, you know." Athena replied to Sam, knowing Jamie would likely roll his eyes, as she leaned over, looking across to her, her large size making it rather easier to crane in, over the embarrassment from earlier with Purna.
"I heard you like to jump off shit. Singapore, right? Not bad. Crazy girl you are, Sam. More so for being you know, not all souped up." Athena spoke to her, before hearing Oliver chirp up. She had to reply, instant on that.

"Poutine would fill a void right now! All yours, Tiny Nord." Athena called out, smirking to him, walking over, standing up from the couch, leaving almost a mark from where she'd leaned into it, rather comically.
"Need a hand?" She asked, genuinely warm in her approach. Chuck was a hottie, but so was he. And well, she was rather gifted right now by the amount of giants around. Another one to add to the list for hires. He was clearly wolfing as badly as she was, and lunch was very much needed.

Jamie being here was nice too. Athena was glad to seem him in one bit, and glad he was making friends. He seemed to have a lot of sympathy for Samantha, perhaps a more deeply rooted empathy for her. It made sense, Adam reasoned that as much as well, and it was pleasant to have that on hand. Athena loved her big brother a lot, even if he was a little strange, he was a good boy. She was just a little more cheeky than him.

Meanwhile, Purna heard out Ebrima's side of the story, and paid little too much mind. After clambering up after Athena had clattered into him, chest first. Awkward? But he recovered as much as he could, knowing Ebrima was trying to hold on. Get the last word in. Purna wouldn't really let it, but well, left one last anecdote. He knew Ebrima wasn't telling everything, but no need to dig. No need to keep going. In time, he'd rethink this one over. See if he deserved it, rather than the instant opinion. Purna would do the same, but well, there was a certainty behind things like that to just ponder.
"Well, life is very strange, Ebrima. Puts you in a place like this. Then I know revenge is a rather odd thing. You would know the feeling." Purna replied, and with that, left Ebrima to it, heading over to help with lunch.

And that they had. Poutine it was, and quite a serving. No leftovers, of course, why, when you've got three giants, any hope of that?

---

The reindeer herd parted as the crack whistled, the sound of a groaning, moaning beast flopping onto the floor, as Andrew revved up the quad and with it, carried her and Tahlia, the trailer in tow in the back carrying Chuck across the tundra-like snow, thinning and mostly like slush, making it not so good for a snowmobile, given there were patches of green already forming in the open plain. Pulling in, Tahlia hucked herself off, looking to Chuck, the dead reindeer not going at all to waste as he took out his trusty knife and begun getting to work. Two out of five, quartering the reindeer. The animal had died instantly, and as brutal as it was, this was the life of Sami hunters up here. Getting what they needed to live, to eat, and more importantly, leaving nothing to waste. Andrew and Tahlia fully understood that, and no doubt it would anger Antti even more if they had wasted any part of the animal. It was almost a spiritual level of respect to nature, if you were allowed to do this, you had to return it. Or else, somehow it'd fuck you over too. Take what you need, not what you like. The process however, is not one to nicely describe.

"Here we go. Easy does it." Tahlia said as she started to work, and looking up to Chuck, seeing his large frame wonder over.
"There." Tahlia added, dragging the reindeer with a struggle over and out of the spot.
"All yours! Aww yeah, I need a han....yeah this is a Monday for you, isn't it?" Tahlia asked in her Kiwi chirp, chuckling, knowing the big man would lug the reindeer like it was a chair over his shoulder, even though the reindeer that went down was a very big boy indeed.
"I'd say we're on track. Three more to go, right?" Andrew asked, checking his binoculars, tracking the herd that had run, bolting across the snowline.
"Yeah, three more to go. Let's get after them. How are you doing, Chuck?" Tahlia asked, checking the rifle over, breathing hard as she zipped up her puffy jacket once again and tighened the wooly hat over her blonde hair, the other blonde now a little intimidated by the other larger one on base. Shit, Chuck seemed to be having fun, rather than being around her. Girl drama, or just the fact she felt a little threatened? Tahlia didn't know. She was just happy to be of use and at work again.

---

The evening sky had come in fast, and a first full day at Hannula had passed, just like that. The team had done their various bits, throughout the day. Specifically, Sam and Ebrima had the chance to look at upgrades- Sam's including the suite from Rose's exo, with a lot more exotic tech, whilst Ebrima had similar bits to pluck for movement and software, even though his own exo was cutting edge and if anything, probably the most advanced he could have his hands on. Adam had already gotten his- the force generator tech from her exo was now on his, weighing it down and limiting movement but allowing him to protect members of the team with a short-lived forcefield-like bubble, like a more complicated Trophy System via a charged hydrogen-ion cell.

More admin had followed. Adam had worked with Raph on the details of Sam's programme, tracking anyone that looked like Skye/Rose, or Henry Simmonds (yes, confusingly a very similar surname to Chuck Simmons), and it was coming in close. He may have been a sucker for detail, but it was important- he wanted oversight, less delegation and more personally seeing to things. It was a little annoying, but it was a level of respect, honour and willingness to just ask questions, rather than leave people to it. More hands on, but in a situation like this, probably not a bad thing.

And so, the team had gotten their chances as the rest of the supplies rolled in. The chance to outfit their rooms as the last of the supplies that never made it to Kaitiaki rolled in, and fitted up. It was feeling a lot more like a base, and whilst they were wasting time, there was nothing they could do until they had a target.

The fire kept the room lit up, as Antti had joined the main team, the crew going from quite broken to a bit more familial. The Finn looked in from afar, as Tahlia tapped him on the shoulder, grinning with glee.
"It's done. Five reindeer, quartered, and now grilled. That good enough?" Tahlia asked, as Antti nodded, for the first time, cracking his own smile.
"Satana.....you are good. Ok. I ask little, yet have gained much in your trust. There will be jobs tomorrow. And I shall let you make arrangements, here. For now." Antti replied, Tahlia shrugging her shoulders and looking across at Chuck inside the room, and would like to have to Andrew, her father, who she'd tearfully said goodbye to as he went to join the rest of the Blue Sword team. For now, she had her own bits. The reindeer had been set up and was now getting cooked in the canteen-like oven of the base. It was a glorious, smoked smell of gamey meat, and it permeated, alongside the crackling fire in the background.

Even Purna was in on the action- and he'd cooked up a Gurkha curry sauce to blend in with the reindeer, a brew that contrasted the gamey smell with this incredibly flavoured, vibrant smell of the subcontinent throughout the cabin, in the weirdest crossover episode of Gordon's Kitchen Nightmares you've imagined. It was quite something, and needed cooking in industrial quantities, but that didn't let the flavour down. Purna may have been quiet, but like killing people and responding to direct questions, he had a good heart when not being squished by Athena to just know how hospitality worked. When you were at altitude, help and little things mattered much. And so did it here, and whilst odd, Purna reasoned it couldn't be much different to goat, or lamb.

The evening would be quite something. Making food was a task Adam had carried over from Skye- an important one. No booze, but it got the team together and working on bits and pieces. Everyone had a job, and it was fluid- who took what job would be clear, and Adam, even as a taskmaster, was involved. There's a certain camaraderie to it. Nobody is left out, nobody is away from it, but today, whilst it may have started badly, is not being allowed to end poorly. Athena even had to take part- Adam had insisted, and well, she wasn't backing down. She could devour an entire reindeer to herself. A metabolism like hers did not stop for anyone. Apart from Chuck, now back in the room, all looking as good as he was.

Adam prepared plates, and as the reindeer cooked, started setting them up, handing them out to the team, alongside Purna, who had joined him, doling out meat and the rich sauce all over it.
"So, we have a plan, Chief?" He asked, Adam shrugging as he set up another plate, the Gurkha sad not to have cooked something more proper of home tonight, but he knew he'd win the team over with this.

"We look like we might. We've picked up some hits on the software Sam has worked on already, now we just need to triangulate the location, and we may have work to do." Adam replied, straight to the point as ever, and like the way Purna appreciated it.

"Good stuff. I am eager to get out there." Purna added to him, heaping in more curry onto another plate, then grabbing straight up what was basically three more for Jamie.

"We all are. Can't sit here eating food and getting fat all day. Otherwise, we're back to the firing range and drills. Whilst that is important, I think work when the stakes are this high comes first." Adam replied, Purna agreeing with a nod, as Tahlia and Athena stayed about, Antti gone again and back to his own business.

The team's got one last chance to share, and wolf down food, before they would be likely set for what came next. Back to work, back to finding out what the hell was going on, and once the info had permeated properly, on the case.

Jamie, Chuck, Oliver, Athena, Sam, Ebrima, Adam, Purna, Tahlia were all here so it was quite the arrangement, and one hell of a busy dinner table. Lots to chat, discuss, and get to know. They'd do so, and while there may have been less alcohol than Skye ever allowed, the mood was a little more buoyant.

---

Collab with @Starlance








Skye awoke, the look of her rather different now. Instead of her long hair, she had completely shaven it short, almost pixie-like in how short and gone it was. A few cuts and bruises could be seen, the darkened crimson red rather than the fox-like orange glow of her red hair visible in the roots and texture of her hairline, illuminated by the dulled glow of a bedside lamp in the motel room.

Yawning, Skye got some trousers and a black t-shirt on, the Scot covering up her top half's bruise and cut covered body with some modesty at least, and checked over her new burner phone. Of course, no calls, given she knew how ECHELON, the NSA’s tracking system worked- even her voice could give her away, so texts were limited and more kept to only contacts through an encrypted service. With her white and red fox-adorned socks on and a black leather jacket, the Kitsune seemed a different operator to the one she’d been 48 hours ago. An alien, yet somewhat holding onto the core of what she was prior, considering she’d need to become someone else.

Skye had someone to meet today, for the plan that was suggested to work ahead. Becoming Rose for a few minutes meant she needed to sound alike, and Skye wasn’t technical enough to figure out how to work out how to create a voice modulator with a more generic English sampling of her voice. The heavy Scots would likely be carrying, and no matter how much she tried to shrug it off, even in impersonation, it would never be perfect. So instead of trying to pretend another identity, she had to copy her very own, with the same method Rose had just used. Not a hard piece of work to do, but it needed an in person visit.

Ban had done well to set her up in the motel, as Skye knew the brief meeting would be coming up soon. She kept herself in shape, a few press ups and exercises keeping her boundless body in check, and got some overnight oats in, the cramped space not ideal for you know, actual habitation in the long run but enough for laying low and keeping her head out of sight.

Soon enough, Ban’s contact would know the way up inside the small motel, the room passed on and details of where Skye was. Enri Uemura, the name Boaro thought was dead was very much alive, albeit Skye only knew her through an alias on her phone. Ban’s organisation had pulled strings, and this was one of the parts of the plan Skye needed to get it done.

The contact was soon heard than seen, the screech of J-pop - some generic synthesised noise with a singer that most voice recognition AIs may or may not have classified as a man and lyrics about abandonment and being overlooked by an uncaring world edgy enough to cut headphone cables - heralding Enri’s arrival most places she went. She had at least muted it to speak to the motel clerk, more to hear the elderly woman speak than for any kind of manners. Utterly unconcerned with the woman’s scornful look, she took the directions to the appropriate room with a curt thank you, half drowned out by the sound of chewing gum and stomped up the stairs. The knocking would likely not have been necessary, but when someone was paying this much, it was best to cover all bases.

Skye headed to the door finishing a press up, opening the thing up barely half a metre from the only usable space within this absolute box of a room. Man, it was dingy, but hell, she wanted less attention and insisted upon it, rather than bringing any heat inside or to the clan. Besides, she’d talk later with Ban, and for the contact, this was the safest spot.

Skye saw the look of Enri, the taller, almost androgynous looking Scot facing the shorter Japanese hacker, chewing bubblegum, and very much, the look of a hacker.
“Morning. Here for Kitsune?” Skye asked, her Scots accent wide, as she widened the door, knowing well, this could be the Police, it could be even Artemis, but more likely than not, at the agreed time and place, could only be the contact.

Skye was met with the sight of a mess of garish colors and black leather, a twig of a woman barely 5’2” ordinarily, and though platform boots added a few inches, Enri still had to tilt her head back to look the Scot in the eye, staring at her through yellow-framed cat eye glasses. A nod at the question, white and hot pink hair combed over to the left side bobbing to the rhythm as she answered a question with a question. “Looking for Outflaw?” She asked as she pulled the headphones down and finally killed the noise for the time being.

Skye nodded, opening the door fully, the Japanese girl about a foot shorter and yet no less badass in imposition, Outlaw by name, and by nature.
“Yeah. Come in.”
With the door open, Skye headed across to the bed, the light on in the windowless room as she sat down on it, trying to get the measure of her. She was a hacker alright, in every frame of it, though Skye could notice the remains of a head injury, a very faint scar at least, that definitely indicated something else. Stil, she didn’t think too much about it, as she sat down, a little more on level.
“I heard you might be able to help with something. A voice modulator, with a little piece on my vocal chord. Would you be able to help?” Skye asked, knowing some of the brief had been passed along, and it would work. Skye would be able to help tune the voice in, given it was basically her own, but in a slightly different accent.

Enri entered when invited, taking stock of the room. In full light and with a turn of the head that moved the hair a bit aside, the remnants of a scar down the left cheek and past the ear could be seen, not quite covered by surgery and makeup. “Wow, you must’ve made a mess of things if you’re living like this at your age.” Having grown up in a similar apartment, Skye could’ve sworn that was sympathy in her voice, “Ya, that sounds like a fun afternoon.” She invited herself onto the only chair, trying to stretch her legs by habit and kicking the opposite wall by accident, “Not what I usually do, but good a time as any to branch out. Someone else is taking care of the money, so we can really fish with hand grenades. Start with the modulator, how much difference do you need? Accent? Cross-dressing?” There was no small amount of excitement in the IT nerd’s voice, almost the same kind of energy a kid showing off to their elder siblings or parents.

Skye chuckled, the hacker’s voice bubbly, knowing this was something obviously that had paid well for the hacker’s time. Skye had a good idea, a pretty decent one in fact.
“Slightly down in pitch. English accent, over Scots. And similar to mine, but with enough profile. Think you can tweak it on the fly?” Skye asked, wondering what Enri could do, knowing it would be a little bit of a prototyping to get this right.
“And yes, I suppose I did make a mess of things. 31 is not treating me well so far. But you make the decisions you make.” Skye alluded, knowing half well Enri might have an idea of what happened, but more likely than not, would play along.

Enri’s face wrinkled slightly, as if in offense. “Please, who am I, Apple? Of course I make my soft tweakable. Phone app works for you?” The indignation fading away back to the friendly , almost overly so, neighborhood malware developer. “If we’re only making small changes, even better. The AI is gonna have an easier time. Cuts down training time. Just speech, or some more features? Integrate with a phone or radio, subvocalization…?”

Skye nodded, knowing that well, it was a fairly easy job. But then again, this wasn’t any usual piece of wearable tech- it was a little bit more than that to make her fit the other doppelganger of her.
”Yeah, app works for me. Live speech, no subvocalization. Don’t need to think in her voice now, Jesus…..” Skye added, knowing there was training data needed in this part, and well, like the sticky bit that Rose had applied, of course, once it was readied.

Enri had been dutifully jotting down notes the entire time, nothing but a plain paper notebook. Unhackable, except with an axe. “Wireless PAN, direct out… Now for the hardware part. Concealability, durability, service life?”

“Skin tone, for about a couple of hours. Needs to not be noticeable.” Skye replied, professional, noting Enri putting words to paper.

“Disposable. Makes power supply easier.” She got up, pacing around the room as she thought. By room, one might say closet, and by pacing one would say ‘two steps there, two steps back’ At least she didn't have to duck under any open cupboards, she had that going for her. “Just a pickup and output, rest handled with the phone. Minimize parts, minimize profile. Will need a skin tone sample to work with. Best make two to have a spare on hand though, just in case. Measure twice. Trust common parts, or do you want clean chips?” Would take a day or so to ship from Taiwan, plus the fees for her contact in the factories.

”Common works. Just needs to pass me off and traceability isn’t a worry. It’s a….unique situation. Skye spoke, with a continued pickup of her voice, placing her arm out in front of Enri, letting her get a sample of her skin with her phone.
“There may be more work. Potentially. But, I guess Ban will ask you for help in time. With this pace, I think so.” Skye chuckled wryly, still sitting there and letting Enri think it over, playing it through in her mannerism.

Ten photos and some final notes later, Enri stopped pacing. “Think I’ve got enough. In how much of a hurry are you?” She asked to get an idea of how many to task with support work.

“And I know it’s not my business, but…” A wry smile grew on the hacker’s face, “If you need to hide your identity, other devices might give you away. I cooould have a look at them to make sure they’re clear. For a small charge.” One did not work for Avital Shalev for half a decade without picking some things up.

“Fairly. I need a quick turnaround, by the end of today, even.” Skye replied, seeing the smile form, and Enri’s other query come up.
“Hah, seems like my initial bit of my plan worked. Alright then. I might need a few bits cleared. And potentially, anything to help keep me under wraps. I know how to keep off grid, but any other suggestions are welcome. The cash can be covered.” She added, knowing there was little in the way that she had left on her now, but Enri could get to work on that. It may have been another few thousand pounds, maybe tens added to the bill but hey, when the stakes were as high as what Skye was proposing, it would pay off. Bargain of the century, really.

Enri held out her bag for Skye to deposit anything that she wanted checked. "Busy bee, aren't we? Best get to it then. Kingo-sama pays, and so it will be." She shoved her phone and notebook in the laptop bag and turned to leave, spinning around in the door to face Skye. "Customer satisfaction guaranteed, but all sales are final!" She gave Skye finger guns and a wink as she slunk behind the door frame, seemingly dialling someone on her phone. And then the noise started again.

Skye dropped the burner phone inside, even the FNX too, considering it was the only piece she’d brought with her since the fight in New Zealand.
“Pleasure doing business. See you later.” Skye’s response was dry, but her usual, a more casual tone than commanding a team of special forces and espionage-originating talents about the place, and perhaps a weight off her shoulder.

She wasn’t giving up her pistol that easy, and Enri would realise that Skye wasn’t fucking around at that point. Skye smiled, nodding back as Enri headed out and shut the door, and with it, disappeared. Sighing, she clicked her hands and stood up, staring into the mirror, at the new version of her that seemed to be there. In time, she’d be another version soon enough. Bittersweet Symphony? Nah, more like staring into the mirror too long and getting drowned in that. Nothing to do for once, apart from sit, wait, and then, when the time came, meet with Ban again and head for Nagoya, to get the job done.

She already had her shopping list. G36 Rifle, dragonskin vest, an earpiece, and aviators. She wouldn't even have to change clothes. The genius of it of course, was whilst no doubt Rose was trying to lock everything down, the real Skye Lyons was going to pretend to be her. Walk straight in. Get what she needed. And only if things went to shit, shoot her way out. If it worked, Rose was going to be backed into a corner and forced to make decisions, not work openly.

If Rose had something bad planned, her plans would have to adapt to cover more bases. Skye was a good strategist- and whilst such a situation was unprecedented, what Ebrima had said, as had Sam, Freya too had come to mind. She had to find her way to fix this and adapt to the situation, as unwieldy as it was- and she already had enough intel from Rose, who as psychotic as she was, had made the mistake every villain makes. Tells the protagonist the plan hoping they'll die before they react, or as Rose would have imagined, turned Skye into a slave more willfully. It wouldn't be perfect, but it would be good enough to throw a giant socket wrench at the turning gears of Artemis, before there was no stopping it.

---

Chuck had asked Tahlia how far they were going. He decided to take Duke with him. He didn’t feel comfortable leaving him behind on base. No one had really asked him or told him about any policies they had for canines. Until he was told otherwise, he would continue to keep Duke with him when possible. He put Duke’s harness on him before he grabbed the winter jacket that had been given to him.

He loved being out in nature. There was something about being outside and enjoying god’s handiwork that helped him feel normal. He didn’t remember his size or strength when he was climbing a mountain or tracking prey through a forest where trees were ancient and taller than him. There was something magical about those moments. It made him feel human and small. He was in awe of what nature looked like and could provide. Chuck even appreciated the heat and desert terrain of his last posting in the Middle East. The sunsets there were some of the most beautiful he had ever seen.

Tahlia couldn’t have asked him to help with a better assignment. He tried to remember the last time he had gone hunting. He had gone wild boar hunting with his father when he had been home on leave almost 2 years ago. He had managed to squeeze in some fishing with his dad but it was a different type of outdoor focus and contentment. Hunting took more skill and there was the thrill of pitting your cunning and strength against other animals. He was looking forward to seeing what this part of the world was like. He wondered if it would be reminiscent of his time in Alaska.

Chuck had threaded his hunting knife sheath onto his belt and situated it comfortable on his side. He had grabbed his sniper rifle from the armory and a pouch of bullets. He slung the rifle over his shoulder situating it for easy movement. He made sure it was snug and would stay put and not catch on stuff or rattle and make noise. The cold bit into Chuck’s face and skin as he stepped outside. He was used to warmer temperatures. It would take him some time to acclimate. He was excited to be doing something outside though.He bounced on his toes and breathed into his hands to warm them up. He nodded, satisfied he was ready and had what he needed. He smiled as he found some gloves and a black beanie tucked into the pocket of the jacket when he went to put his hands in to keep them warm. He pulled on the gloves and tugged the hat down over his ears and dark blonde hair. He felt better already.

He looked down at Duke whose tongue was lolling out of his mouth. “Are you ready to go for another run?” Duke bounced on his feet, his body full of excited energy. His tail wagged his whole body as he circled and barked once in reply. Chuck laughed and gave him a quick rub behind the ears. “Well come on then. We need to go meet up with Tahlia. She said to meet her by the garage which was supposed to be over by the warehouse where we saw her earlier.” Chuck acknowledged that it might be weird that he talked to his canine partner like he was a human. He swore the Malinois understood him half the time. Duke followed along at his side keeping up with him easily.

Chuck walked in the general direction that he needed to go. There was still a lot of activity and people around the warehouse. Chuck was grateful he was much taller than almost everyone on the base. He could easily see over the heads of most of the people on base. Duke stepped in front of Chuck and led the way. He didn’t question his companion. He knew Duke’s nose was probably better than a GPS map. He followed the dog past the work crews and around the building. He smiled as he spotted Tahlia arguing with someone about using a quad bike. Chuck just approached and waited while she finished. He stood behind her a little ways with crossed arms and an amused expression.

Tahlia seemed to win the argument as she turned towards him she had a satisfied expression on her face. She blinked as if surprised to see him so close. He chuckled as she startled. “Sorry Tahlia I didn’t mean to startle you. Duke and I are reporting for hunting duty.” He grinned at her as Duke sat at his side, his eyes following Tahlia’s movements.

Tahlia gave him an annoyed look before smiling. “You and Duke get to ride in the sled. We need to bag some reindeer to supplement the food supply here at the base.”

Chuck just nodded as a smile lit up his face. “I am looking forward to it. It will be nice to see more than just the base.” Chuck noticed another man coming towards him. He kept a neutral expression as the man approached. He looked to be joining their hunting party considering the gear he was carrying. Chuck waited for the man to approach and Tahlia turned noticing his attention was on something else.

Tahlia turned and swallowed nervously. “Chuck, this is Andrew. He will be joining us to give us a hand.” Tahlia couldn’t help but remember the embarrassing conversation with her father earlier. She hoped he would not embarrass her. She was very excited to spend time with him and get to go hunting with him.

Tahlia looked nervous for some reason and Chuck raised an eyebrow as he looked at her for a clue.

She fidgeted nervously with the strap of her rifle that was hanging across her chest. She looked down and swallowed before looking back up at him. Tahlia replied in a squeaky voice. “Andrew is my father. He taught me to hunt and shoot.”

Chuck smiled warmly at Andrew and bent to shake the other man’s hand. “It is a pleasure to meet you sir. Taniwah is an excellent shot and warrior. I am sure you had a hand in making that so.” Chuck wanted to be sure the man knew he appreciated the skills and aptitude his daughter had shown. “We have only worked together for a short time but she is exceptional.” He gave Tahlia a warm smile. Chuck knew Tahlia was still struggling to regain confidence and feel more like the person she was before her injuries. He hoped her father saw that she was still just as capable as she always was. Chuck’s American accent was prevalent as his Southern drawl was slow and deep as he spoke.

The older Kiwi sniper chuckled, the dark-haired special forces sniper turned simple farmer and part time consultant a little bemused by the snow, but no less, happy to help.

“I bloody hope so. Taught her everything I know!” He replied, a wry Kiwi accented chuckle as he looked up to the giant, a towering figure, at least as tall as Victor was. God, that was a hell of a fucking time ago, now in his late fifties, this was one long-arse way to go about things. The world’s ending again and here they were, hunting reindeer. Chuck however, was a nice guy. A lovely bloke, and while he expected nothing between them, at least, intentions never felt that way and Tahlia was more embarrassed than anything, well, he seemed okay to have around his daughter. She could hold her own, even against a giant like him.

“But, now she’s seen you, she’s a bit cocky, eh? You certainly brought out something in her. It’s alright. I know how it is. I covered Natalie Kanatario’s arse back in the day, picking off things that might hurt her and her lover. Now look at the two of you. And here we are again, doing the same. Cycle of life.” Andrew spoke with a certain Southlander charm, chuckling as he knew he could be so much worse, but hey, here it was.

Tahlia couldn’t stop the blush that flamed across her cheeks as unbidden was her earlier conversation with her father. She was grateful that he didn’t mention it in front of Chuck. She relaxed a little. Even as Chuck’s words of praise made her smile and gave her hope. Tahlia just hoped her father continued to be nice.

Chuck smiled warmly Tahlia’s father and laughed at his response. “Well shall we go?” He looked over at Tahlia as he sat down cross legged on the back of the sled and grabbed one of the handholds on the edge. He called Duke to him and had him lay next to him. He clipped a tie from the sled to the back of Duke’s harness. That should prevent him from being thrown off the sled should it become necessary.

Andrew clambered onto the back of the quad, leaning his feet on the back of it, readied up and good to go.
“Hit it, Taly.”

Chuck tightened his grip on the leather strap that was his handle on the sled as the sled jerked as the quad took off at speed. The quad handling the extra weight just fine. Chuck wrapped an arm around Duke as the wind whistled around them and the scenery flew by as they left camp.

---

Chuck had jumped off the sled when it stopped. He unsnapped Duke’s harness so he could move around. He followed towards where he had seen the reindeer go down. He didn’t waste any time field dressing the reindeer so that they could haul it back to camp. He left all the entrails and organs for the scavengers in the area. He wrapped the carcass in one of the tarps that had been brought for this purpose. Chuck easily managed to lift and wrangle the large game carcasses without any help. The activity warming him up from the cold. He used the tie downs and rope to secure the two carcasses to the back of the sled leaving room for him and Duke. He patted the back of the sled to let them know they were secure and ready to take off again. They went in search of the next herd.

---

Chuck had helped Tahlia unload all the reindeer carcasses and helped to clean them up in the industrial kitchen area. He helped break the animals down into smaller and more manageable pieces after helping skin them. He had cut off the heads for anyone who wanted them for trophies. He had done all the heavy lifting as the animals were broken down from a whole animal into halves and then quarters and finally smaller cuts of meat like ribs, steaks, and roasts. He made sure those preparing dinner didn’t need any more help before heading back to his room for a shower. He couldn’t help but feel a little nostalgia. His father would have loved hunting reindeer and relished the challenge as much as he had. Maybe he would see if his father would want to go hunting in another country in the future.

Once he got to his room he looked over at Duke and sighed. He needed a bath. He looked into the shower and sighed. Thank goodness it had a wand attachment or this would be awkward. He managed to get Duke clean after some contorting to fit them both into the small space. He rubbed Duke down with towels and got him as dry as he could. There was one of those hotel style hairdryers in the bathroom. He unplugged it and used it in the bedroom to get Duke dry. Duke laid his ears back, not happy with the noise it made. He sat still while Chuck got him dry but it took him almost an hour to bathe the dog. He sighed and washed his hands and put clean clothes on before leaving to find dinner. He had missed lunch and was hungry.

Chuck had been told dinner would be served in the Rec Room by Tahlia. He stepped outside and looked up at the sky. Even with light pollution from the base there was an impressive array of stars visible. He stood there quietly for a moment just drinking in the night sky. He absently stroked Duke’s head which was pressed into his leg. His stomach growled and he remembered where he was going.

Chuck stepped into the Rec Room which had been turned into a dining hall. The fireplace was lit and a long banquet table was filled with food. Reindeer meat was the star of the menu as curry was plated up and handed out. Chuck would feed Duke after they got back to the room. He had asked Tahlia to have a few reindeer ribs roasted for him without all the seasoning. That should keep his partner happy for the evening and be a good change in diet for him. Chuck made his way to a seat on the couch. He began to eat like the starved man he was. He got up and fetched a second plate before the hole in his stomach felt like it was beginning to fill. He would have fed a few tidbits to Duke but wasn’t sure what spices were in it. Some spices were dangerous for dogs. Duke sat relaxed next to Duke’s feet, his furry head moving around the room watching everyone. Chuck looked around and noticed that most of the team was here. He began to look around curiously. He had not really had a chance to meet many of them yet outside of run and gun situations. Duke looked relaxed and approachable.

---

Chaos had slipped in the door almost unnoticed at first. The team was mixing with the Blue Sword members and trying to get to know one another. She was hit with a wave of nostalgia as the scene while different resembled how they would gather at the New Zealand base for meals. She felt sucker punched as realized that Skye and Freya were not among the faces in the room. She would have to find out where the infirmary was and go visit her. She pushed the pain of that reality away. Freya was here just being cared for. Who knew if she would ever even see Skye again? She tried to turn her thoughts from their negative downward trajectory to something more positive.

She pulled up her big girl panties and apologized to everyone. She couldn’t take back what she had said. She could only move forward. That was a truth and one she tried to work from. She had wanted to blend back into the wallpaper but social cues meant she needed to respond to people. At least the nerves in her stomach had calmed down. She no longer felt like her stomach was trying to eat itself. Samantha nodded and returned Ebrima’s smile. She felt her shoulders finally coming down from up around her ears as her own tension lowered.

Samantha gave Jamie a tight smile at his very gracious and forgiving words. Jamie had offered to shake her hand. She looked like a toddler trying to shake the hand of a professional wrestler. Her hand was a third the size of his. She did her best to give him a firm businesslike shake. “Thank you for the kind words Jamie. I hope we will work well together.” She tilted her head back to look up at him. The two of them next to each other was a comical sight. Jamie was almost 3 feet taller than Samantha. Athena came to join them and it was even more comical since Athena was over 2 feet taller than Samantha. She looked like a munchkin visiting from Oz. She looked up at Athena as Athena was bent over to look her in the face. She was surprised by the questions about Singapore. She hadn’t know the details of that operation had been shared with other teams. Maybe Freya had shared the story with her sister? Samantha nodded graciously at Athena. “I get your ads on Social Media. I like to climb, sky dive, base jump, fly, and drive fast. You promote some of the brands I like to buy gear from.” She shrugged since all women who were into rock climbing, skydiving, or extreme sports of any kind knew who Athena was. It was simply the nature of the beast. The best gear for women who liked those extreme sports was often modeled by Athena. She sighed as she was hit with the realization that she would probably have to replace some of her more custom gear. Even for a woman, Samantha was short and petite.

Samantha was amused as Tiny Nord almost randomly asked if the group was having Poutine for lunch. It sounded like they had decided to make Poutine now. She gave a wry smile as she found herself smiling and it felt good. She nodded to Tiny Nord. “Poutine does sound good. I have always wanted to try it. I have heard about it. Never tried it.” Samantha just realized that Tahlia and Chuck were missing. “Where’s Chuck?” How did one misplace a 7’8” giant with a 4 foot fluffy canine with monster teeth that are always at his side?

---

After lunch, Samantha went to the armory where she pulled her armor apart and cleaned it. She decided to add the anti-radar coating she had developed for the Observatory operation to her armor. It didn’t make sense to put a jumpsuit over the top if she can build that layer in. She worked on updating the optics in her HUD. It had been a little glitchy at times in the last operation.

She then took a close look at what was available for upgrades. She took a careful look at the shielding on Rose's suit. She would like to duplicate that shield for Duke. She would have to work on it. It seemed to be a huge power suck. If she could figure out ways to decrease the power draw and reduce the needed battery pack it might be feasible for Duke. She was reluctant to add too much to his armor. Duke’s partner was a heavy operator though. She felt his armor should be closer to Chuck’s while they were paired in the field. She worked on understanding the technology to see if she could reverse engineer it so she could improve it and duplicate it for those who wanted to add that feature to their armor.

She then spent some time pulling apart Chuck’s armor. She was not really happy with his armor and felt it could be better. She sighed since they didn’t have time for her to build anything from scratch right now. She noted the obvious repairs that would need to be made and what she would need to do. She kept a list of needed materials and supplies going using Bob’s verbal interface. She found that feature so helpful when she needed both hands.

She saw Tiny Nord’s and Ebrima’s armor was there as well. She felt she should ask them if they wanted her to look at it. She didn’t know if they would want her to or not. Some operators liked to maintain their own equipment.

She pulled out Freya’s battered armor and broke down in tears. Her friend’s armor needed only minor repairs yet she had taken some serious damage. The armor had done its job to protect her but she had still managed to tear up muscles, tendons, and ligaments. She did a lot of soft tissue damage which hurt more and took longer to heal. She wiped away the tears and checked the time. She would go see Freya after dinner. Time had gotten away from her while she focused on what equipment needed repairs or overhauls before their next operation. She washed up in the shop sink before heading back to the Rookery.

---

Samantha entered the rec room which had been turned into a dining hall. She smiled and nodded, accepting a plate of food from Purna and Adam. “Thank you. It smells good.” She took her plate to find an empty place at the table to eat. She dug into her food with gusto. Her appetite had finally returned and she was starving.

---

There were enough people preparing breakfast already so he simply stayed out of the way and watched, taking mental notes. He took point on the dishes, no one’s favorite aspect of food, but a necessary evil. Breakfast eaten and kitchen clean, now was time for work. Some of the tech staff mentioned something about upgrades to the suit, and as soon as he heard the words “increased mobility without sacrificing protection” he was hooked.

Well, it was a nice thought. As soon as the new software was loaded, he got no less than five errors. Being told that “That’s normal.” by the technician, he paid it no mind until they made it to the test track. As soon as he tried to activate his jump pack, the suit went into limp mode, started playing his music library through the helmet’s headset on shuffle and jacked the environment controls to the highest it would allow, the setting meant for rapid reheating after falling into cold water, and the mosaic of error windows on the wrist computer and even his HUD indicating some real bad ones handily put the launch of the Generation IV Octavia to shame as far as software fuckups were concerned.

“The suit’s a pre-production prototype.” He was told when he got out of the human-shaped, metal-blasting, barely-mobile oven. Unfortunately, the man responsible for his suit’s software had not made it out of Kaitaki, leaving it to the two techs that accompanied him on the shakedown run the night of the attack and some Blue Sword guy from the base’s IT department to perform electronic exorcism as they pored over millions of lines of someone else’s code, figuring out what it did and why it wasn’t working, restoring his suit to its previous functionality from a backup for now. One thing was clear immediately: Upgrades would have to wait.

Life was weird, somehow giving him a free afternoon and making him absolutely hate it.

---

---

It was clear to anyone who cooked for a lot of people regularly that a big cookout was in the works, the arrangements hard to miss when one knew where to look. He made some preparations of his own, managing to get his hands on some readily available supplies and some yeast, misjudging the time by around 30 minutes. No matter, at least the dough would rise more. Given that Tahlia and Chuck had hauled in several reindeer, more pastry would not hurt and what he had planned could be frozen in case there were leftovers. Although with this many giants on hand, plus Freya in the infirmary, he doubted that. As the venison was cooked, he joined the organized chaos with the sounds of sizzling oil and before long, the first batches of Gateau started rolling out onto the tables. It wasn’t bread, but he didn’t have enough time to make that properly and delicious balls of deep fried dough - half plain, half with herbs and garlic - would do just as well.

With just a few bites, Ebrima resolved to get that curry recipe from Purna. His recipe list was extensive, but fairly poor on the curry side despite a few months’ stay in Thailand and this one definitely earned its place. Not now though, some better time would present itself eventually. Right now, there was teambuilding to be done. Having finished his portion, he took stock of the party. He’d spoken with Chuck and Tahlia on the plane a bit, but little more than a general greeting to Oliver. Then he recalled the missing giant, a ‘two-in-one’ opportunity presenting itself and thus he set out for Samantha, approaching with a broad, friendly smile. ”Nothing like a shared meal to bring people together, no? But we are a giant short. And if I know one thing about medical facilities, they tend to be dreary and make you eat healthy, not good. Are we feeling up to a bit of smuggling, doing a bit of bad for a lot of good? A rack of ribs, half a leg, pastry and some sauce may not heal a shoulder, but will definitely heal the spirit.”

Jamie had sat and waited and watched then and smiled, watching as dinner was cooked, and when offered he'd reached in grabbed a plate and placed a heaping helping of vegetables and starches, and claimed half a haunch of meat. Gotta feed a growing boy after all. Growing larger around the waist maybe, but if the man gets any taller he's going to become a true giant.

He'd waved when his parents and uncles had come in checking to see that everything is okay. And gone to Sam, to alert her that the main Blue Sword Task force would stay on site until the Raven team left on their mission, then they would finish offloading the supplies they have for the team and head back to Perth until their own people needed pick up later. They'd keep communications lines open and be able to send material help if need be. Blue Sword would stand with Raven no matter what, but they can't be there 24/7 as the company had things they needed to do as well.

Jamie had gave his mother and father brief words about being okay, and he'd help as best he can. He cast his eyes about again, whispering to his mother, "The team needs some time. But they'll walk tall again. I'll be here to help hold them up until they don't need me again." The Blue Sword unit had then headed outside to make themselves some dinner as well.

Yes the dinner was packed, and the chatter of teammates getting to know new members was a buzz and clamour. But this is the way warriors recover.

Collab with @BigPapaBelial @FourtyTwo







With Adam’s request for the team to check kit and ensure they were in a good patch, Athena had wolfed down lunch and headed back to the heavy armory, a bare concrete-reinforced floor contrasting the usual clean aesthetic of the heavies armory back in New Zealand of the coloured concrete and charming surrounds. It was quite a setting, and Chuck and Oliver had been earlier to set their kit, so now, it was the time of Athena. She had a few checks to perform on her own Warhawk, outside of it still in her jumpsuit like getup without the sleeved arms. A bluetooth headset was in her ear, as she did her usual pre-deployment ritual, going through the motors, the actuators and the plating piece by piece, Mama having taught her that.
“Yeah, well, I don’t work on maybes.” Athena sighed as she bucked her hair, currently tied into a ponytail and on one sided, pulled taught into an undercut.
“Good. Get that kit shipped out to Hannula. We’ve had enough traffic here for a fucking international airport. But she’ll appreciate it. Also, tell Sarah to get the billing sorted. I know, it’s been a mental month, but we need those numbers ASAP. This isn’t pocket change with these contracts we now have.” Athena continued, sighing, the voice responding on the other end, that of her Ops Manager back home in Perth. It was regarding Freya’s experiments. As she talked, Athena went up the suit more and more, from the navy to dark coloured armoured thunder thighs of hers, the torso, arms, gauntlets and armoured gloves, to the shoulders, neckbrace, and finally, the helmet, a navy blue with a golden yellow visor. And well, at the hip, the two swords. Short for her size, but well, they were basically zweihanders to most people.
“Good. Appreciate it, Rob. I have some business to get to here. Speak soon. Bye.” Athena hit the disconnect on her ear, as she fiddled with the coils now, the suit a ribbon of them, but primarily concentrated in a rucksack-styled carbon-composite pack on the rear that held something like the Sun’s Core, but more violently chaotic. Plugged in with lots of high voltage lines, Athena knew better than to accidentally turn herself into ash, but safely manage it through the standoffs, disconnecting, cleaning and spraying them, before moving to the next. She stood tall by her suit now,

A steady crunch, each a step, and fresh from dinner, stepped in another walking tank. The Kanatarrio son had only taken off his guantlets during dinner, as well he had to follow after the others to the armory to even figure out where it was! So now he strides in, still lugging his kit crates and bags with him. As he enters the room, having to duck to get in through the door, he looks about and grins, “So this is where the action starts.” he rumbles.

Eyes casting about then finds himself an empty kit table. Heaving his bags and crates up onto it, landing with crunches and causing the table to sag just a little. He looked over and nodded to the rest of the team, before his eyes landed on his sister. And he couldn’t help but grin. Not always a good sign. As his practiced motions start he pulls open his weapons crate, revealing the rocket pod for his shoulder, and the dark metal glint of a truly massive pair of blades, “So tell me sister, how do it feel being back in the thick of it so soon?” Oh yes that’s the classic Kanatarrio shit eatting tone.

Jamie pulled the rocket pod out, along with it’s reload hoppers, “You rushed off to which location again? Which nation did you go and defile with your dumptruck this time?” He says the last part with the largest cheshire grin mortally possible.

Athena chuckled, eying up the large armored brother of hers, chuckling as he’d only come in.
“Mon cherie, France! They have SUCH good wine there. Not that it does anything. And, big mountains. Nothing like it. It’s rare to be off work for a long weekend, but…..I have fans I can’t disappoint. You know, I just give the people what they want. And have we had problems hiring lately? We’d get more girls if you took off your shirt every chance in a while. Like at WSM. Remember the fangirls?” She giggled like a schoolgirl, red from Jamie saying it but still, adept at what he had to say.
“Haven’t blown anyone up in a while. I sorta miss field work a little, you know? Like, nobody says you CAN’T sit on people, or just run through walls. Nobody says you turn up the coil to eleven and cauterise ten people…..with this big BOOOSH. I wish I could do that to some people in Blue Sword. But apparently….we have a workplace policy.” Athena sighed, tall enough to contend with Jamie, the two titans sized such that it made them seem regular sized to each other.

She turns and looks at the other suits, quite frankly, this being the best deployment of heavies in a long, long time.
“So how about you? I feel like we haven’t been together in forever. Worked together either on anything. Too busy with our own lives.” She added, sighing as she let him get on with his work, the youngest sibling looking intently with her extraversion back at him.

Jamie gave abit of a snort, “Well you know me. The Company and Family.” He levered the rocket pod up onto the shoulder of of his armor, sliding it about until the click of it connecting and the power cable clicked into place as well. With a chin to the control inside the head portion of his armor the pod slide back and over his shoulder into the safety position. Jamie hummed, “I went to the South American Strongman Competition while you were away.” He said almost casually, though those competitions tend to be one of his biggest things.

He reached into the crate again, humming gently, “I was seven pounds, off breaking Fathers record. They even had a special counter set up. Dad still holds that record even after almost a decade. So close sis, so close.” Jamie grumbles softly, “Dad sets the damn deadlift at six hundred and ten kilograms and I missed it at six hundred and three.” He sounds down trodden but this is just how the giants of the Kanatarrio are, ever seeming to be in a friendly competition somehow. Even with their elders.

Athena whistled, giving him credit where due.
“He must have been a fucking titan back in his day. But you’ll get there. Good things come to those who wait. I was going to go to do the Women’s edition, but you know how it is, you want to bench and think you won’t bother. Someone says that an energy drink company want you up a mountain, and I just thought….you know, it’s funny, I could just do that instead and lift weights on my socials instead?” Athena said, giggling, avoiding his comparison, but still, enjoying the friendly banter, knowing she’d throw back later.
“So yeah, you’ll get it. But remember, fighting me got you there. Me and my second heart give you a run.” Athena winked, placing hand to right of her chest, watching him keep on with his gear.

A full set of ammo boxes came out of the large crate along with the VEPR automatic shotgun. Placing it in the holster at his hips, opposite of where the twin linked GMGs would be. Ammo being placed in their holders and hoppers, “Fighting you and Freya.” His voice hitched a second there.

The Siblings are often sometimes at odds, but that’s only because they had always had a sibling rivalry going on. They cared a great deal for each other. Freya and Athena were closer then Jamie is with either of them, but he’s still the incredibly protective brother who will gladly choke slam someone who tries to cop a feel when they’re all together. The many drunken idiots who tried to grab Athena or Freya’s asses in public, and who he’d then grabbed and tossed into a dumpster is uncountable at this point.

The big man placed his palms on the table and looked at Athena, “I’m worried about Frey, Thena. We’ve all been hurt. But I’m looking at her now, and she looks more hurt right now then she’s ever looked. Even after your surgery.” He points at where her hand rests on her chest, “You bounced back from that in a few days. This though, Frey looks like she’s questioning things, and I’m hoping she’ll bounce back as easily as before.” he takes a long breath then straightens back up, and brings out the dozen or so crates of .50BMG rounds. Frangible, Armor Piercing, Incendiary, Explosive, Tracer Rounds, Raufoss, FMG. Just to name a few. It’s like Jamie fully intends to create a motley of ammo chains that are there for any type of situation.

“She will. I spoke to her earlier. She’s gotten into a lot. And she’ll recover. I was pissed at first but…..she had a point about Skye. Guess it’s an occupational hazard.” Athena nodding, the usually cocky, confident and extraverted youngest sister that was a wildfire on feed acknowledging the situation.
“When her stuff arrives, she is gonna want to get back to work. She’ll have a target for recovery. And when she’s fit, only when she is, she’s gonna get to work. In the meantime, we do our stuff. I’m not a doctor, and neither are you. Mama was right on that, we do have work to do….but yeah, I get you.” She replied, putting her own hand against him, watching as he threaded rounds.
“Mixed rounds. Not a bad set. And you still have the drivers too.” Athena chuckled ,looking up the suit, then back to him, a solemn look in her eyes.
“Just don’t go dying on me either. The internet may think I’m a pretty big deal, but you are to me too, JamJam. This whole Raven business, I wasn’t sure if we even should bother. Spooks are difficult, they use, use, use. But we’re better than that. Got our own thing, and our own choices.” Athena replied, shrugging as she headed back to her own suit, checking over the hip, leg and shoulder mounted thruster points, for the jump jet, before looking over Warhawk’s shoulder.
“But, saving the world. It’s kinda what we do.” She giggled, knowing the very veiled story her parents had told, grinning.

Jamie heaved himself up and stretched, taking a moment away from threading rounds, “She damn well better. Mom and Dad were with her, and they are going to leave when we head out for the operation.” With a heave he gets back to threading rounds carefully, switching the different types in a random. Chain after chain.

It takes him a bit before he talks again, “Raven…I’ve worked with Raven. And with Skye before. Raven is a strange thing. Blue Sword, Valiant Operations, Pegasus Forces, and I still don’t know how WAGNER still operates after everything, but they have their corridor of uses. But Raven has it’s uses as well. Do we need to be here? No, I’m sure their current cadre of Heavies could cover it.” He gestures around the room with a round of Raufoss ammo, “I mean look at this, since when has there been this many Heavy operatives on hand? Since Dad and Mom and Uncles Carl and Ross were active I think right? I mean what was their nickname way back when? When they all worked together? The Devils Own Four? I think that was it. I don’t remember clearly enough.” He sighs and slides that round into the belt, “But I want to make sure Freya’s friends are still around for when she comes back, so she can take up her position again and not have to worry that cute little tactical chick is okay, or that Tahlia is fine too. I mean. Big sis needs some love too.” He gives a chuckle.

”They have much to live up to. Me and you kicking ass? Shit, they know what’s cooking.” Athena giggled, chuckling as she stood aside from her suit, watching Jamie finish up.
“Tahlia? You like her.” Athena giggled, smirking.
“I saw you look at her. Have sympathy for the girl?” Athena said, walking about her armour, leaning against it.
“Okay, fine. I get it. I was a little too scared. But that’s kinda our thing. Fine.” She replied, pulling it open, checking through the interior paneling and the network of coils, and in particular, detaching the helmet, pulling it out and inspecting the integrity over, before walking across to Jamie,
“She’ll be back at it. I know how she is. Me just being here is motivation enough. I’ll cover the team’s back. You better shield it, JamJam. With your big muscly arms.” She titered, nudging his big shoulder with her own, grinning with a wild cackle.

Jamie blinks then flushed, deeply, and looked around to make sure Tahlia isn’t around, then reached over and shoved Athena off him, “Stop it damn it! You’re the social butterfly around here! Big guys like me, people dream and think, “Hot!” But when it comes to it Dad was lucky Mom was around and could handle him. I’m likely to tear apart a partner like cord wood!?” The giant man grumbles, “When Freya feels better she’s gonna do the exact same thing you’re doing! I can’t escape it can I? And your my younger sister, aren’t I supposed to be trying to urge you into finding a good guy? Not you doing that to me!?”

He’s quiet for a moment looking put on, then he bursts out laughing, “Guy can dream is all. Guy can dream, come on Diva, let’s finish getting set up.”

“And you wouldn’t want it any other way.” Athena chuckled, with it getting back to it herself. The Corporate Duchess may have been a pretty face, but the suit told the story of someone willing to put titanium and armor in harm’s way, and shock everyone. Literally.

With the majority dished out, Tahlia and Purna finished up their batch, making sure there was something leftover for Duke, whilst also grabbing their own bits.
"Antti getting used to you, then?" Purna asked, the infiltrator quiet yet breaking the ice, looking to Tahlia, the Kiwi nodding with response to the Gurkha, who was happy to get down to the gritty part of this work.
"Yeah, you could say something like that. No idea what I'm in for." Tahlia replied, Purna shrugging, much the same, wiping the table down.
"Yes, he seems difficult. Still. Most Finnish man I have met. Not sure he can compute feelings yet. But we need that. More than Adam mentions, keeps us going. Good Chuck helped you out too." Purna replied, Tahlia giving a chuckle as she finished on her bit, taking a plate, and back to table.
"Yeah. I guess he wanted to do something too. Can't blame him. It's been a lot." She replied, as he came in closer, then looking to the giants on one end, then back to Tahlia.
"How is it two giants are into you then?" Purna was observing, he could say that. He wouldn't normally break the ice, but he'd gotten to know the team, and well, noted their feelings. An important thing to do in the detail of information, perhaps.
"I have no idea. But maybe they see a tattooed girl with a lot of upper body strength and no legs and think that's charming." Tahlia chuckled, as Purna nodded in similar confusion, taking his plate and leaving her to grab hers.

Heading to the table, and it was quite something. A bona-fide arrangement, and well, lots of chats and conversations.
"Agreed, Ebrima. We'll sneak her something out." Athena smiled, looking to the white-skinned Cameroonian, before starting to devour what looked like an entire quarter of reindeer. She did not need curry. She needed food. Her heart would jump out of her otherwise, as Adam and Purna ate a little more slowly, Tahlia and likely anyone that wasn't over seven foot and jacked like Schwarzenegger. A variety of types, and team members.

And right as the team melded, Adam's phone rang.
"Hello?" He said, taking a moment away. Somethings never changed, as he stood up, walking away. The news was as expected. But, on tone.
"Ah, fuck." Adam responded, looking to the team. So much for team building.

---

The briefing room was not a place even Adam was sure they would end up in so fast. But this late at night, well, work went on. It never stopped, and there was sleeping to be done on the plane. Tahlia wasn't on this mission- given she had things to attend to on base, and the fact it didn't require a sniper meant she was holding back. Sensical, in a way, but still, she knew there was a method to the madness in this sort of situation.

Adam in the meantime, made sure that method was clear, standing at the AR-enabled whiteboard, the briefing room filled with a variety of characters.

"So, we have our update. Turns out, Henry Simmonds is in the hands of Artemis already. And we have a solid confirm on his location. Thanks to our intel team, primarily the efforts of Sam and Raphael, we have a fix. Marrakesh." Adam said, bringing up the map, and with it, focussing in on Marrakesh, Morocco. Africa.

It was a chaotic part of the world as it was, but well, it was also a place that in recent times, had been a bit more stable. No doubt the market had modernised in places, but come on, this is the Medina of Marrakesh. The things sold may change, earthquakes may hit, but for a 1000 years before, and a 1000 years more, it would remain the bazaar of bazaars. The place you could get lost in and buy anything, everything, and indulge. It's a place of true Indiana Jones level anarchy, but somehow, ordered commerce.

"We believe him to be in the heart of the Souk Semmarine, a hive of markets, stalls, courtyards and alleyways. What we do know is that whilst Artemis's on the ground presence is low from most perception, we think they have something in reserve. Bribed guards, military, and worse, a significant security presence rolled deep into there. The souk is a maze. It's nearly impossible to look inside of, and worse still, incredibly easy to hide in so it is easy for them to entrench and hide further assets. But we've found him. No Rose, but he's there." Adam pulled in the Augmented Reality-enabled map on the table, projecting it out, visible to the team.

"That is La Jardin Villeneuve. A little slice of greenery in the arid souk, connected to Maison Villeneuve, an abandoned art gallery. Inside of there, small signs can be seen of an Artemis outpost, and preparing what, we do not know. But this all appeared four hours ago. Intel points to the fact they kidnapped him whilst he was on holiday, and they wanted security in case the Gendarmerie came knocking. The one that isn't on the pay. The other part of his kidnapping may be they are looking to do something with his expertise, in plain sight. Somewhere nobody could think to look. This is obviously a problem, requiring an immediate fix. We lose Henry from here, we have problem." Adam added, flicking to the next, the Pole's accent sticking at times.

"The task is simple. We need to recover Henry, extract him, and figure out what Artemis want to do with him. Local SF won't do the job- if Artemis want him badly, they will have sent elite mercenaries and operatives, and likely, they will fight hard to get him back. What we don't know scares me, and there is even a chance that in that Souk, they could be hiding far more. Threat level is high enough that if you see anyone armed, shoot on sight. Our attack's a complex one. We need to keep a low profile, but once we go loud, we're not going to able to put the cork in the bottle again, as the British would say, yes?

Purna, Sam you're going in ahead. Get some local clothes over your infiltration kit, blend in and get to the gate. Plant charges, cloak up, and head inside and give us an idea of what we're going into. Purna sneaks, Sam works on the electronic warfare side of things.

Ebrima, you're with me. We'll use the rooftops of the Souk to get close, and whilst it means we'll run more risk, given how the souk is laid out, we can likely avoid any Artemis spotting teams. If we see them, it's so noisy that we'll likely be able to pick off any early warning observers, early. We'll push on over top of the souk, and go direct, and drop straight into the garden.

Chuck, Jamie and Oliver, you three are going to hide in a truck we'll park close to the front of Maison Villeneuve on the road and when we need you, we'll call on you to charge in and clean everything up. Which, done right, shouldn't be long, we'll pincer on the garden and house and then find our target. We can get you in close ahead of time and hide you, but expect to get moving quickly. Expect heavy resistance. No mechs in sight, but they are likely to have heavies of their own, multiple exoskeleton armed operatives, entrenched weaponry, and are ready for a fight. What they lack in number, they have in lethality.

Athena, and her support teams are on security. They'll flank the other side of the Souk and ensure nobody gets in, and out once we know what's going on. Watch for civilians, and as you go along, the Gendarmes that haven't been bribed will try and secure the area. I expect throughout the Souk Artemis will try and turn the place into a warzone. All lethals if they're carrying weapons and don't look friendly. APCs won't fit inside the alleys so the largest natural predator is Athena, but they will on the streets around, and it doesn't mean they won't have their own protection. This man we are looking for is critical to them, clearly. We need to stop the rot and end this before escalation." Adam looked around the room, knowing there was much to come.

"If all goes well, we clean out the Artemis compound, and before any local reinforcements react from across the city or souk, we get to a truck in Jemaa-el-Fnaa, back to the airport, and figure out what next. Overheads are low, everyone, we do not know where local forces stand. This relies upon us getting what we need, and getting out. If we do not know who to trust, and think we may be up against it, we do this our way." He flicked to the last page, and with it, the updates on screen of the team composition, arrangement, placement and setup.

"Any questions?"

---

Equipping up with exos, armour, infiltrator kit, the armoury was a hive. There's a lot going on. From Adam's exoskeleton, a matt black with a visor system flipping down, to Purna, who eschewed all of the older mountaineering kit in favour of a skintight, hexagonal-patterned drysuit-like infiltration kit, to Athena, who had gone to the privacy of the heavies armoury and basically, in front of everyone just stripped to her undergarments there and chained up and closed up Warhawk, it was something and a half- the helm's multi camera feed on Warhawk something like the Enclave Power Armour from Fallout, if ever there was a way to properly describe it, mounted off to the side of her head. The team had an opportunity to get equipped, and the thumping feet of Athena coming in, helmet off, looked like a different beast to the one she was. Fun, bubbly and playful turned to scary, checking and playful.

The gigantic tesla coil, probably the entire size of Purna in one hand, twin Ingram MAC-10s attached to her sides with customised triggering and extended mags, and two fucking swords at her hip made up a primary weapons of choice, as did the Trophy System and mini missile system geared for High Explosives, rather than armour today- elimination on the cards rather than area denial. Warhawk's presence was one that screamed "look at me", it would if it was painted pink but alas, that was off-brand for her. She wasn't that basic, after all. Yet.

"Haha.....now, I missed this." Athena simply announced, Adam sighing, annoyed, yet tooling himself up.

The OsirisM2 "Sokol" unit he used was a variant of Skye's own, designed to be less of the hyperactive firing platform and provide a little more protection and power, over the sheer power of the jump jet and agility. Equipping the FR MSBS Grot, he loaded the mag and checked the tool over, shouldering the weapon and checking the holographic and magnifier combo, before unloading the weapon and equipping a USAS-12 with a range of stick magazines, including the Fire Stick, the Boom Stick, and more importantly for enemy exos and more armoured targets, the Slug Stick. The one that was like flinging a fuck you, in full auto, at someone that didn't want to die. A compliment to Ebrima's exo but with the attached generator, could create a forcefield. Still prototype of course, and particularly heavy limiting movement but well, it was a tool for use. Of course, charging enemies and smarter ones might figure out it was limited and could still be run through, but there was advantages in that. A FN FiveSeven, and a series of tactical kit finished up the combination.

"Miss being shot at? Jesus." Adam chuckled, as Purna came in, the Bedouin cloak over his drysuit-like Gryphon infiltrator kit, the grey headwrap tight against his forehead, wrapped up nice and neat in no clash with the robe's predominantly gray and light blue colour. He checked the Mk14 and hid it beneath the cloak, as did the MP5SD, stock folded in and the twin USPs hidden at his belt. The suit he wore was more than just a tight infiltrator's suit- it had optical cloaking, and whilst the robe over it covered that, it was a different kind of camo he needed in the market. He would blend in seamlessly. Even a little Arabic he knew would carry him to where he needed, and he wouldn't even be noticed.
"Yeah, I don't do that thing." Purna replied, quickdrawing his USP on his right, checking it was still accessible, even in the cover of the cloak.

With it, the three seemed prepared. They had pairs to work with, well, all bar Athena, and a mission to complete. From dawn cold of northern Finland to burning sun of the African sun, they were headed back into the fire.

---

The Chuo-Shinkansen is a revelation of a train. A cutting edge, maglev-driven marvel of technology, it had been almost decades in the making, and faster than any car, flight, anything at all over this distance to Nagoya hurtling non-stop at almost 300mph. It’s a kind of speed that turns the outside to blur, and because of the magnetic levitation technology of the train floated like it was flying through butter, hurtling in the afternoon sun of central Honshu. Korea now had a similar system, so too did China and even by some miracle, France was thinking of its own system. France. Let that sink in.

Blasting through tunnel after tunnel, the leather jacketed pixie, wearing her aviators, and looking across at the large suitcase that was hauled up in the rack to her side, looked back at Ban, and adjacent to that, Enri. Her look was screaming Gaijin, but less superspy, considering she looked like she was here for a metal tour, not her usual indie or rock bands she listened to. Time had passed on by, and well, instead of dragging any more viewings at Kiyose City, Skye checked if they could get a move on now. It would make sense to hit Artemis whilst they were still a little confused themselves as to what the fuck was going on- and Skye liked Enri. So much so, that after the hack, she had asked the question. An evening of her time, at a higher rate. She just needed to cover some tracks, including the one they were on now. Avoid leaving any cloud uploaded trace, at least, holding them out of line. And perhaps, maybe some light hacking work on a subsystem that would be somewhere in the distance. Not so much in the line of fire, fuck that, but a desk operator job. Skye just needed a voice in her ear opening the big doors, but she could open the rest herself with Ban.

“So, I think we have what we need. Enri, I guess the toy’s ready for me?” Skye asked, her candid Scots accent still in display, hideable soon by the thing she’d spent the morning with Enri getting to know. She felt a little more comfortable, even somewhat trusting of the hacker. It was like a cat they’d had in the family once. Sparky, his name was. This Scottish Fold that just did not care, well, cared enough but enjoyed their own peace and quiet. And was never about. And just generally, got up to shenanigans. A fun creature indeed. Then Ban. Who was the serious, hardened Yakuza that now, was back into her world. Strange, but then again, part of the deal. Goons would likely be able to help out at the site itself, but considering the setup, it was fewer the better. Skye and Ban needed an in, Enri would open the door, and the Amagi footsoldiers were there as the cork for a bottle. Shit always went wrong, so Skye reasoned, some backup was better than none.

Enri had been considerably more, well, normal in Ban’s presence, actually greeting him politely, with a proper bow and no chewing gum. When the conversation turned to the goods, she nodded enthusiastically and placed two black plastic cases on the table. “Impact resistant, should hold a seal up to five meters deep. Two as promised” She popped one open, revealing the skin-colored patch about the size of two post stamps inside, “I didn’t have time to test it completely, but based on the power draw I got out of it when making sure it worked, I expect you’ll get three hours of continuous use out of each. Four if you don’t talk much.”

Reaching into the bag again, she produced Skye’s burner. “No red flags here. Got the app installed, plus a PDF manual. Fully charged too. I can run you through how it works and we can do some fine tuning of the AI, but I had a guy handle the audio end of things, you’ll need the manual for that.” Enri was good - fuck that, she was amazing if you asked her - on the software and hardware side, but knew next to nothing about audio engineering, hence the need to delegate.

Skye nodded, chuckling. Busy bee she was, given what she’d been able to do. She may not be an audio engineer either, but Skye is…..well, creative. You didn’t become a ghost without learning things, and Skye’s ability to pick up, play and do was what made her what she was.
“Good stuff. Perfect. Lemme play with this.” Skye understated, as she picked it up and immediately slapped it onto her throat, taking the phone that Enri produced, and drawing the app open, giving a long “aaaa” like she was at the dentist, for maybe a little bit too long. But suddenly, it went strange. Skye picked it up without much ask on the app, and her pitch dropped, before she tailored in on it, finding that certain frequency. That certain bit. She then carried on playing, realising this wasn’t gonna work. She stopped, and quietly, went through the PDF. She had a few things to play with to get it exactly right.
“Okay, you’re right. Turns out an English accent is a wee bit harder!” Skye chuckled, in the deepened tone, Skye realising oh yeah- it wouldn’t mask Scottishisms. So, she changed that up a little, clearing her throat.
“How are we looking, Ban? What’s the sitrep with the facility?” Skye enquired, still playing with the tool.
Ban had greeted Enri with a smirk and a bow of his head in greeting. It’d been good to see the man again. But soon their train had arrived and he’d entered, following in the rear of the group of three, silently taking up the position of rear guard. Better that way in the end.

Sitting down and belting in he’d tapped his finger on the arm rest softly, listening to the pair, “On my end, the Oyabun managed to get us an in at the facility. An unmarked member of the family is working as a custodian, and has access to most of the building, he’s been checking things over and sending reports on security locations and facility interiors. It’s spotty as there are alot of black areas. Public hallways and locations will be easy enough, but there are sections of floors where we’ll have no view until we get there ourselves.”

Enri got a smug smirk on her face. “Oh, I knew something like this would come up.” She reached into her bag of tricks and produced two flash drives, placing them on the table between Skye and Ban. “Infected flash drives. Plug them into any computer on a network you want access to, and the worm inside will infect every other computer on that network. Might take five minutes, might take 30, depends on a lot of factors. Available bandwidth, network size, how many are running. Internal security tends to be a lot more lax. The payload is a rootkit that’s gonna settle in the OS kernel and give me admin access to every infected computer. Some companies, especially tech and defense, also tend to have multiple networks. One for R&D, one for HR, so on, hence two drives. But you need to get in first.” She explained. Why bother looking for a loophole in the Firewall to abuse when one could bypass it entirely. “And because of where it sits, it actively masks itself. Only way to detect its presence is by a human, or booting from a safe drive. But if you just need in or out, it should work like a charm.”

“Perfect. I like the sound of that too. Just means finding some points. Enri, once in, we may have some interesting files to play with. The main bit will be their servers. If I find hardware, I’ll rip it out, software, it might include networks of an organisation named Artemis. Or at least, power brokers of said organisation.” Skye replied to Enri, nodding to Ban also.
“Sounds like a play, Ban. We can work with that. Just means high speed, low drag, drop anyone we see and get what we need. They’ll be ready for a fight, but, we’re good ourselves.” Skye replied, knowing Enri would be strongly getting the hint that this wasn’t exactly a business trip with suits and ties and a hostile takeover. More like one with guns and getting to the core of a network. The Scot carried on tweaking, as suddenly, she found it. The tones shifted a lot, bouncing through weird inflections, and then, there.
“Hello…..hello…….Hello? Ah, perfect.” Her voice shifted, as she looked across to them.
“Queen’s English. Peter Peckled Pickl….fuck. Okay, I still think in Scots, but that’ll do nicely. It’s about right.” Her voice held, and magnificently, became Rose’s. Not inch perfect, but like an AI would modulate and Skye could hear out, it would work. Ban and Enri no doubt had no idea why Skye was doing this, especially not Enri, but need to know and all that. It was RP styled English, like Rose had, clear and concise, very much southern and very much altered.
Ban reached down and palmed one of the flashdrive, “Just plug and play you say? I’m not too big on computers these days. I swear the things you tech savvy sort can do.” He sniffed, “Should be simple enough though.” He looked at his phone as it beeped, “Ah, good.” He set it down on his knee so everyone could see, “Here. The place we’re going. Nagoya Energy Works, Building 90S, about 200 yards off Hisaya Odori Park. You can see it from the observation deck of the Chubu Electric MIRAI Tower. Yes the same tower Gojira keeps breaking in the movies. Nevermind that for now.” He enlarged the picture, “87 stories, our custodian has mapped 67 of them, he’s blocked from the rest. He’s leaving a map nearby for us to pick up when we go in.”

He looked between the two, “And all our gear should be ready in a drop nearby. Weapons, gear and a few interesting odd things should things need to go loud. Which I hope it will not.” He looked at Enri, “As long as your tech works Enri-san.” Then back at Skye, “And you and I can contain our blood thirsty urges when we’re in there.” He can’t help but grin just a bit at that.
"Plug and play." She confirmed with a nod, "They're single-use though, so pick carefully. Yes, theoretically the receptionist's computer could be enough, or it could just get you to HR files. Like I said, there could be separate internal networks." The flash drives were one of her 'commercial' products, and this way she was getting paid per use, not per customer. Maybe she should've made some reusable ones for in-house work, it would've been a matter of deleting six lines of code, which she couldn't do here. You live and learn.

"Well, if being detected isn't a concern, if you can get one of these into a computer that you know deals with security," She said, pointing to the flash drives, "I could turn whatever security features they have against them and get a few of my guys to manage it in real time. Safety doors to slow down or corral them, keep you a clear path, lights, internal communication, whatever they have and we get access to." It would be clear to Skye that Enri knew what was going on and cared little for the illegalities of the matter. She was getting paid to do a job, and that was what she was going to do, "And if you could get one onto a computer you know for sure has access to their data..." A grin one could describe as 'evil' grew on the small woman's face, one that wouldn't feel out of place on a menpō, "I could do some damage. I mean, they're gonna have backups, nothing we can do about those, and if their cyber security department is at least decent, they'll be backing up frequently. But losing even 12 hours worth of data sounds like a bad day."
And Skye loved it. She grinned, only so happy with the damage that could be done with the flash drives.
“Perfect. That’s exactly what we need. Site looks interesting too. This isn't like the Singapore office, this is a full on research site.” She said to them both, happy with the fact that well, damage could be done, and well, more than that, they had an idea of where to go. Her expression remained cool, as she took her aviators off, the afternoon sun back out again as the train was barely 10 minutes to Nagoya. They’d been on this train for barely half an hour, and it had done a distance even the lightning-fast Shinkansen it replaced would do in two hours.
“Well, the plan will be simple then. I go in through the front, with Ban, and weapons get brought with us. Pose as someone else. If we get to the right place, we can deploy the USBs, and the hacks slow down any trace to us, then find any physical, or digital pieces we need. And importantly…a biochemical lab’s vault. And if we get rumbled…..we just take the red route.” Skye added, knowing they were nearly done soon. She had a good feeling about this. It was time for some revenge.
“Ah yeah, I should probably turn this off.” Skye realised, all of the bit before in her new English accent, rather than her classical Scots.
“Word to the wise, both of you. This character, Rose, she’s quite psychotic from what I can tell. So, if I slip into her a little, don’t be alarmed if I’m a little quiet, then loud. Needs must and all. As she shares the same features as me, going in armed, and with a vest likely isn’t an issue. Ban here is joining Artemis, after all. It means chances are, any biometrics are basically a fly-through. The bit we need to watch for are those that aren’t. Or, if they figure it out.” She added, Enri likely confused.

“Oh, yeah. Well, how do I put this…..it’s really, really complicated, basically, biological copy of me is roaming about and I’m committing reverse identity theft to deal with a secret society and her crazy arse wanting to do lots of genocide. Believe me, details will come later.” Skye added, knowing that while it was open, they had an opportunity to at least cover their tracks, and she’d already checked the perimeter for anyone that could be eavesdropping.
Ban nods, “Best play is to take it as it comes then.” He snorted, “I thought I got out of this line of work. How easy it is to fall into old habits.” He looked out the window as the train leaned into a corner, the city scape coming closer and closer by the moment, “We’re nearly there. There’s an Amagi car waiting for us in the parking lot at the station, but we’re in Obu Family territory now, we’ll only be able to rely on a little bit of Amagi support, we don’t want to step on toes too much out here. Last thing we want is for the Obu to contact the Yamaguchi and file a complaint for a family out of line.” He rubbed his nose and his hand clenched at his side as if seeking the katana he usually carries but was sent ahead, so it wouldn’t be questioned why he has a weapon on the train.

“It’s a give and take, and right now, we have taken a lot and need to be prepared for what we’re going to be given.” The old yakuza sniffed again, “Just another normal day.”
Skye’s explanation of the situation was the first time she would see her genuinely stunned. Even Ban, whose family she’d been working for for two months. She wasn’t entirely sure why she was being told, the less she knew that she didn’t directly need to know, the better, but the woman she only knew as ‘Kitsune’ didn’t seem like the type to do something without having a good reason to. Like parachuting into the middle of a city. “I’ll need about ten minutes to get set up when we arrive.” Having been billed for an evening’s work and asked some surface questions, she had arranged a hotel room with good enough internet connection and had some equipment delivered there in advance. “And then it’s off to the races.”

“Aye, and I’m no betting girl, but I’d say we have some return on investment to look at here.” Skye smiled to them both, aware Enri had her task to do, Outflaw having her job, whilst Ban would be by her side. It was not a conventional plan. But then again, it was time to go into the spine of the beast. And come out swinging.

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