---

Samantha felt better after apologizing to Athena and Jamie. The tension amongst the team and Blue Sword personnel seemed to decrease which was good. She looked over her notes of what absolutely needed to be repaired and what she needed to make those repairs. She gathered what she needed and had Tahlia help her find or resource what she needed to do it. She got to work after sending Oliver and Ebrima messages asking them if they needed help with repairs on their armor or kit while she was in the armory working on the team’s suits.

Samantha’s suit had just needed charging, cleaned, and reloaded. She had been in a vehicle for most of the battle. Chuck’s armor needed the most work. He had minor dents, dings, and scrapes everywhere on his. There were some larger areas where he had been hit with heavier ordnance and grenades that needed some repair. Samantha started by cleaning it really well. Chuck had been in his armor for a long time, it was ripe. She sprayed the inside with an odor neutralizer and set the internal fans on to air it out. She then got to work on repairing the rest. She stepped back after an hour and looked at her handiwork. It would do for now. She was planning to upgrade him the next time she had a bit of free time. She had some ideas to make him a better mobile destruction platform. She had gotten some ideas from Chuck’s armor to upgrade Freya’s with. If she had anything to say about it, Freya would never again suffer this kind of injury. She would share the details with her giant friend later.

Samantha was looking around the armory and sighed as she realized that she didn’t need to worry about Freya or Skye’s armor. Tahlia, while she had been in the field as a sniper, was not really on the team. Samantha felt very alone. She didn’t really know Oliver, Chuck, or Ebrima. They were Raven and Skye had brought them on. She would get to know them in time the same way she had Freya and Skye.

She felt the tension from being bent over the computer and now the workbench in the armory. She let her head fall to her chest as she stretched out the tight muscles in her neck and back. She looked up at the clock and began to look over Duke’s armor. She frowned as she noted she wore spots on the armor. She made temporary repairs to the frayed webbing and added some flexible reinforcement over those areas for now. That should help prevent the extra stress the webbing was experiencing in those areas to prevent it from failing.

---

Samantha looked up from her bowl of curry and rice as Ebrima approached and suggested that they sneak some curry to Freya in the infirmary. She gave him a warm smile “I would love to help with that. I wanted to check on her anyway. Please have a seat and join me.” She indicated the empty chair across the table from her. “I am grateful for the company. How are you settling in? Sorry you had to join us in the middle of a turbulent time. I appreciate you sticking with us.” She was feeling better about everything now that her mind was working on other problems.

Samantha looked around to see where everyone was. Chuck was sitting on the couch eating with Duke laying at his feet. They both looked relaxed. She saw Tahlia was eating with Purna after helping serve dinner. Freya’s siblings were hard to miss as they seemed to be roving around and speaking with everyone. She inclined her head in greeting to Purna and Adam as she met their eyes. She turned to Ebrima. “What is your specialty?” She had no clue what was on his dossier. She could probably find it but she didn’t want to rock the boat anymore than she already had.



Samantha grabbed a tray and set a big bowl of curry on it along with some reindeer ribs. She nodded to Ebrima. “Let’s go find our missing giant!” She took off for the exit as fast she could without spilling anything. She turned to Ebrima “This is heavier than it looks. Would you mind getting the door?” She waited for him before walking through and entering the hallway that would take them to the infirmary. Samantha just kept walking. She was not challenged by any of the guards or nurses. She found Freya easily enough. The infirmary was small but well outfitted.

Samantha gave Freya a brave warm smile as she approached the bed where she was laying. She set the heavily laden tray down on the table that was on coasters and would swing over the bed so Freya could sit up and eat in bed. She gave Freya an overly bright smile. “Hi Freya! Ebrima suggested that we should sneak you some of the good stuff.” She winked at Freya. Her smile wavered a bit as she finally met Freya’s eyes. “How are you feeling?” She felt compelled to rush out. “I am sorry I yelled at your sister! I apologized.” She bit her bottom lip and looked away nervously.

---

Chuck had spent most of the afternoon outside in the cold brisk air. He felt more relaxed and at ease after all the physical work and action. Duke was looking more relaxed too. He had lost that tension across his shoulders that was a tell tale sign of stress. He looked like any other dog in a room filled with laughter, conversation, and eating utensils hitting plates. His head would tilt from side to side as he listened in a curious manner. Duke’s eyes followed Tahlia as she moved around until she finally took a seat to eat. Chuck laughed knowing that Duke liked Tahlia.

Chuck took another bite of curry and watched the others. He could appreciate how preparing a meal and working together to set things right on the base had started bringing these different groups together. It was even more challenging when people came from different backgrounds and places. Chuck had an American Military background. Many of those around him came from mercenary backgrounds from all around the world. A few others came from different militaries. No matter the background, they all were seasoned warriors and understood the need for team efforts. He was glad the tension that had been present when they had landed had changed from that brooding aura of imminent violence to one anxious waiting. He was familiar with that tension of hurry and wait for orders to move out. They all knew it was coming soon but not exactly when.

Chuck gave Samantha a nod and an encouraging smile. He didn’t know her well but he knew she had been through a lot since he had joined the team. He didn’t know the details but he had read the after action report on the observatory op. That operation read like a bad action movie plot and it had really happened! He had heard through the grapevine that she had apologized for her behavior. He was glad to hear it. Chuck had been embarrassed a little by her unprofessional reaction to being questioned but at the same time he had given her mad props for it. How many times had he held his tongue over bad orders in the marines just to lose good men to stupid orders? He knew there was a time and a place for that kind of thing and that had not been the time. It was good to see her chatting with Ebrima.

Chuck finished his plate and rose to his feet. He scraped his plate and put it in the wash stack. He then began to walk around and introduce himself to those he had not met. He made his way over to Jamie. “Hello, I am Chuck. You must be Jamie, Freya’s brother.” He stroked down the fur on Duke’s back. “And this Duke.” He stretched out a hand offering to shake Jamie’s hand. Chuck's deep baritone voice is silky smooth with his Southern accent. The tone is warm and friendly.

---

Samantha took her seat in the briefing room as she paid close attention to the briefing. They had a lead and they needed to pursue it. She knew Skye was doing her part. She needed to do hers and pursue any leads Raven found. Samantha had worked on a program to find the lead but then she had left it up and running with Raphael to babysit it. She had needed to work on gear and armor for their next op. So was unsure of exactly what lead had been found. She was finding out at the same time the others were.

Samantha gave Adam her full attention as he began the heart of the briefing.

"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.

Samantha winced as she was familiar with that area. It was a crazy hive of modern technology and goods crossed with ancient traditions and culture. The black market was hidden in plain sight in a bazaar that felt never ending with twists and turns and dead ends. It could be a tourist's delight or trap. People went missing there and some never were heard from again. If you want a place where anything can happen, this was truly the place. She turned her attention back to Adam.

"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."

Samantha studied the map that he was showing. She paid close attention to the pictures. She was grateful for eidetic memory that would allow her to recall this information easily. She paid close attention to the images they did have of the marketplace. There were no government or police cameras in this part of the city. If her memory served her right, different local families and criminal overlords had carved out pieces of territory within this maze. They policed their own turf. When they went loud, they might have to fight more than Artemis. It is possible that Artemis had approached many of these groups to gain access and security for their purposes. This was one part of Morocco that the government had trouble regulating and policing. This was one of those places where the government turned a blind eye because it was easier and cheaper to let the locals sort things out for themselves. They didn’t interfere unless there was a severe threat to the public.

She could see why Artemis would have chosen this spot. It is close to the heart of the maze surrounded by the security provided by these other groups. It is also the source of water which is very valuable in the dry arid country. Control of water sources was power in this region, one simply had to look at their Bedouin past to see that. They chose a strategic position well.

She listened to Adam’s plan and couldn’t really think of anything to add.

---

Samantha was grateful that the container that had made it to the base from New Zealand had some of the gear she had developed for the Singapore operation. She had a tactical backpack that she was utilizing for now to store her gear. Surprisingly the base did have some of the local currency on hand. She shoved the hard cash and some American money in the outer pocket of the pack. She put explosives, detonator caps, and extra ammo in the bag. She shoved a large first aid kit in the pack. She also added some of the bottles of the knockout gas. She loaded the special ammo she had developed into the bag. She had two magazines of the knockout darts and two magazines of the taser darts for her pistol. She loaded in a magazine of high penetrating rounds and regular rounds. She added two stainless steel bottles of water and some protein bars to the pack. She wouldn’t be able to carry much more and move easily.

She had showered and put on clean girl boxer briefs and a sports bra before pulling on her armor. She had retrieved her laptop from the intel den and made sure it was charged before plugging it into its protected spot in her armor. She pulled the gloves over her belt and let them dangle held in place by the tension on the belt. She decided to leave her long guns here. She wouldn’t need them on this op. This operation was up close and personal. Her goal was to blend in and then move fast. She strapped her knives around her abdomen and clipped the sheath bandolier into her armor where they attached. She then strapped her equipment belt around her waist and threaded her pistol onto it. She filled the pouches with tools she might need: lockpicks, small one-use buttons that shorted out electronic devices by sending an electrical surge through them, she put about 25 disposable button cams in one, a screwdriver set, and a put a few spare magazines in the clips for them. Once she was satisfied that everything was in place and easy to get too, she began working on her disguise.

Tahlia had managed to source some Bedouin made female clothing from that region. She was grateful since the more genuine the longer she would blend in without being spotted by locals. She pulled the woven colorful robe over her armor. She wound the geometric mosaic patterned turban in blues and purples around her head hiding her short hair. She then left a section to hang that would eventually be pulled across her lower face. She picked up the Henna and applied some regional markings to look like tattoos to her face. She referenced some pictures she had taken when she had been on assignment last in Marrakech with the CIA. Once she was satisfied she cleaned the excess henna away leaving what looked like blue tribal tattoos. She then used Kohl to create an exotic look around her eyes, changing the shape subtly with the dark black eyeliner. She finished her look by adding in the necklace that hid the drone that she had made for the Singapore operation. She added some bangle bracelets and henna tattoos to her hands to sell the look. She had a long colorful turquoise scarf wrapped around her waist in the tribal fashion which acted as a belt. The bulky fabric hid her slender profile armor. She made sure she could reach through a carefully hidden slit in the robe that was hidden by a fold of fabric to reach her knives and gun.

She then clipped her helmet to the outside of the pack on a strap designed for stuff like that. She made sure her helmet was strapped down tight. She then zipped up the pack and began to disguise it as a pack carried by a local lady. She made it look like a folded and tied piece of cloth around her body. The bulk of the pack fabric helped hide the bulk of her shoulder armor. She did a little test jump. She made sure everything would not jostle or make much noise. She began patting everything going over a mental inventory. She looked around trying to think if she had missed anything. She didn’t think so.

She turned as Purna came in and gave him a mischievous grin. She spoke to him in flawless Arabic with only a slight hint of an accent. “Do I pass inspection Uncle?” She turned around and looked every inch like an exotic Bedouin native woman who was buying things at the market for her family.

---

Chuck was not surprised by how fast they had made it to the briefing room. Raven had been working on finding leads since they got word the base was under attack. Not to mention they still had all the data and leads gained from the observatory mission before the base was attacked as well. They also had whatever they learned from Rose’s autopsy and gear. Chuck knew things like this were dynamic and when big stuff was happening missions came hard and fast. He took a seat next to Samantha which happened to look a little taller and reinforced for people of his size. He could get used to this base. It was nice not being the only giant around. Duke settled between his and Samantha’s chair. He laid down and put his head on his paws. Chuck stroked his back to reassure him it was okay to relax. He gave Duke one of the ribs that Tahlia had cooked without seasoning for him to keep him busy. Duke immediately began to gnaw on it enthusiastically, stripping it of meat. His furry buddy would be going into battle with him soon enough.

Chuck paid attention to the briefing. This was going to be a tough mission to pull off without collateral damage. He frowned, not liking that part at all. He was fine with shooting people who were trying to shoot him. What he didn’t want to see was some innocent merchant or worse a child or woman hit in the crossfire or by unfriendly fire. The images of this place showed it packed to the gills with people. Then he remembered those new rounds that Samantha had developed and shared with him. He waited until Adam asked if anyone had any questions.

Chuck’s deep voice was rich with smooth warm tones from his southern drawl. “How do we reduce collateral damage from bystanders? I understand that not everyone there will be friendly, however that bazaar is packed with people. Not all of them will be an enemy.” He turned and looked at Samantha "Did any of that new ammo make it to the base? Would it work in the other’s gear?” He turned back to Adam and nodded his respectfully to Samantha. “Sam developed some new rounds for my carbine and sniper rifle. A taser round that shoots out a bolt of electricity and a knock out gas. She made grenades like that too.” He shrugged and looked Adam dead in the eye. “I have been on missions in the Middle East before. I don’t mind taking out those who mean us harm, but I don’t want to see innocents in danger from us either.” Chuck was a man of honor and conviction. He would get the job done but he wouldn’t take shortcuts to do it.

---

Chuck showered and dried off pulling on clean underwear before climbing into his heavy armor. He could see the repairs Samantha had made and was appreciative. He pulled on the stretchy gel-lined undersuit that worked like a neoprene diving suit.He paused to get Duke in his armor and gear before putting on the heavy outer layer. Chuck noted the reinforcement on the areas that had worried him and smiled. He appreciated that Samantha took care of his and Duke’s armor without asking him. He loaded extra magazines of Samantha’s new ammo into Duke’s saddle bags. He also added in some extra knock out gas grenades. He had enjoyed using them all in Columbia. He put in some explosives and detonation caps in case those skills were needed on this op along with some detonation cord. He made sure they were stored in separate compartments so there would be no mishaps with the explosives. He then gave Duke another rib to chew on while he finished gearing up.

Chuck pulled the heavy outer layer to his armor. He stepped into the heavy shell sliding his feet into the armored boots. He tightened the straps around his legs that would work with the undersuit to help provide the hydraulic assists and the synthetic tendons that gave him additional strength and speed. Chuck didn’t understand how it all worked. He had asked Sam and got lost in the explanation after about 30 seconds. He didn’t need to know as long as he knew it did. He slid his arms into the sleeves and the torso section which opened like a sideways clamshell shut as he triggered a button that closed up the suit. There was a whir of noise as straps tightened and the armor sealed itself onto Chuck.

He began to load up the pouches in his armor with spare magazines and grenades. He planned to take just his carbine since he was not needed for overwatch. He didn’t need his sniper rifle. He made sure his tactical sling was working properly and attached his custom carbine to it configured with an underslung grenade launcher. He preloaded it with knockout grenades. If they needed crowd control it was the safest option. Samantha had altered his suit to include a new holster for Lucille that had it on a slant across his back. It kept the handle easy to reach near his right hip. The new holster kept Lucille from swinging into anything and damaging the missile system or the jump jets. He checked and Samantha had already reloaded his missile system. He then grabbed his helmet and tucked it under his arm. He looked down at Duke and gave him a hand command. Chuck took the bone away from him and threw it away. He had stripped all the meat off it already. He would be sure to get him something similar when they got back. He grinned at Duke whose tongue was hanging out of his mouth with a little drool. "I take it you like reindeer? We will have to go hunting again when we get back." Duke gave a chuff and wagged his tail.

He then looked around to see who else was ready. He had not paid any attention to anyone else while he was gearing up in the heavy armory.

---

You could hardly think of a worse place to fight than one such as they were about to go to. Hardly any cover, obstructed lines of sight and swarms of civilians. He was very happy with the rooftop approach, staying out of that soup. At least Rose wouldn’t be an issue, killing Skye by mistake wouldn’t have been great.

”Where I grew up, people learned to duck and crawl.” He replied to Chuck’s concern. He was no war criminal, apart from being an illegal combatant his entire life by virtue of being a mercenary, so of course he’d check his targets, but in the end people were responsible for their own safety. And if Raven failed, a lot more people than one could ever cram onto a Moroccan market would die. If a 100 innocents died and a 101 were saved by their actions, then it was worth it. It was the Gendarmes that worried him, those would go in seeking out the shooters instead of clearing out, unaware of who Raven were and would have to be dealt with, preferably without killing cops actually trying to do their job in earnest.

”I doubt we’ll avoid spotters. All it takes is an Artemis operative with a drone. If that was my compound, I’d have at least two out at all times. No one looks twice at a hobby or professional photography drone and most people can’t tell a tank from an MRAP, much less the differences between a civilian and disguised military drone 50 meters in the air.” He offered.

---

---

Ebrima had no idea how the Blue Sword tech wizards managed to get the reliably unreliable shotgun drums to behave, but 20 instead of ten shots per magazine was well worth whatever dark voodoo they had to perform, carrying four and four of slugs and old reliable flechettes, joined by two drums of beanbags to deal with johnny law. The armorer swore up and down they cycled without changing the gas settings, and the drums have bought them enough goodwill to take their word for it. Another upgrade that would come in handy were the less-than-lethal grenades, Ebrima packing two magazines of the stunners on top of his usual loadout, preloading the stunners. Rounding out the goods were three magazines of 5,56x45 blacktips for the MDR plus one of subsonics to deal with any spotters, two for the USP and the Kukri. Finishing the prepwork was a kevlar helmet and a level IV plate carrier strapped to the outside of his pack. The situation might require them to put a bullet into Simmonds themselves if it all goes wrong, but losing him to a stray round was not on the agenda.

He would’ve loved the upgrades, better jump pack control and exoskeleton mobility being something that would’ve come in handy running across rooftops, but alas, no dice. At least the techs would have more time to make sure there were no nasty surprises in it. Tracking nanites in blood, who knew what could be in the suit and its software. Ebrima was still surprised it didn’t detonate on Rose’s death. Everything ready, he began exercising the exoskeleton to make sure everything sat right and didn’t snag, paying special attention to the drum pouches on his abdomen, Powerwolf’s ‘Glaubenskraft’ in his helmet to set the mood.

Freya lay on the oversized medical bed. Drowsing, as the drip of painkillers on the metal stand beside her bed slowly adminstered the stuff to keep her shoulder from hurting too much. Her family had headed off for the evening and promised to return before they left the next day.

So as the large woman lay, she's alone when a voice wakes her from her stupor. She blinks away the touch of Morpheous, then looks about. And then a huge smile, "Sam!" she calls, and waves with her good arm, "Hey there girlfriend!" She says with a drowsy giggle. Then gently reaches out and hugs Sam carefully, "I'm...not great. I was stupid sweetie. I hurt myself bad. I'll be out of action for abit. But I have something to work towards. So I can get back on my feet and get back to making sure you and the others are safe behind my bodacious butt." She smiles again and rests back abit letting Sam go.

After abit she nods, "My lil' sis is made of stern stuff. I heard about you giving her a talking too. It's alright. She's used to it. She and I and JamJam often get into shouting matches. Over all kinds of things. Just...try and work with her please? She means well." Freya looks over at the food then erps as he stomach growls, "Thank you Sam, thank you really. I'll try and get back into fit as quick as I can. I swear." She reached for the food and started eatting one handed, "So where you going next?" She asked as she ate.




Jamie strode into the arming room, after the briefing. The worst part of it all? The truck. For someone who spent so much time in a incasing set of armor, he really didn't like those smaller enclosed spaces. He sighed and made for the table he had claimed for his own. His weapons laid across it. And his armor hanging from above. A sniff and a huff he peers around as the others gear up.

And that's when it happens.

He realizes why it feels so odd for the giant.

He's not his Sister.

Freya is the one that belongs here. Jamie and Athena, they're filling the wrong shoes.

And Jamie realizes it's not his place to do so either. He stops packing the hoppers for his HMGs into place. Taking a long slow breath. Then looks around, and nods slowly, "She'll be back you know." He says outloud. To no one in particular, but he feels he needs to say it, "She'll be back, and I have no intention of taking her place from her." He laughs then, "But while I'm here I'll happily help out in my own way."

And then the big man restarts getting his arms and armor in order.

He walks over and hits the crane, lowering his armor down, the open rear hatches waiting. Once the giant feet of the armor hits the floor, Jamie climbs in. The massive red, blue and black armor, closing up around the body of the young man. Hisses and clicks, seals hissing closed. Locking mechanisms clicking into place. With a hum the power plant slides into place. And the exterior ocular port glows a dull grey. "Performing locomotion test." The PA system says. The armor performing a series of motions. Then ends with the arms circling before smashing closed fists together with a boom, "Scion and Son of Brutal online."

All that's left is for Scion to gather up his weapons. The twin-linked HMGs lifted up, and hooked high up on his left arm, special magnetic hooks allowing it to rest there to be drawn down when needed. The hoopers for it's ammo set across his hips. The shot gun resting on his right thigh. The Rocket pod resting just behind his head. And finally the Throngler sliding into place at the small of his back. The twin axe heads gleaming dully in the light of the armory. He looks around the room, meeting the eyes of the other operatives, "Ready." The PA booms.

Adam looked around the room, with the range of questions coming in. Chuck and Ebrima had valid points, and he could address them in turn. Ebrima answering one point first, which he agreed with.

"Chuck, Ebrima makes that point. They'll hide, do what they have to, but same time, we need to be careful. Current rule of engagement is that anyone armed is a target, unless they're surrendering Gendarmes or Army. Before we go hot with the heavies, we'll issue a warning to the local Gendarmes, via Interpol, and Oracle the same to the Moroccan Armed Forces, by which point we'll be engaging inside the garden and on the exit, they'll be aware of our presence. Blue Sword similarly will manage the local interactions. They won't be happy, but then again, Raven can pull strings where we need it. With the situation as it is, we can't afford any risk. I do not like it any more than you do, so be careful and let's just keep fire as much as we can to the gardens, rather than beyond. Any overspill and well, then they will know." Adam replied, with Ebrima's further comment being one to also move onto.

"Good point, Ebrima. That's why we have Sam. She's an electronic warfare specialist, and with Purna, she'll deal with the drone presence. I imagine they'll have a couple of UAVs on overwatch, but considering the density of the market, our presence should be fairly limited, as it's only us that need covering. By the time we're attacking, I want them to know where they're coming from. So if Sam can keep the feeds away from our direction, or at least, interfere, we'll be set. We'll need to jam them on exfil, and make sure they don't follow us to the airport." Adam added, filling in the detail, hoping the two were happy with the answers.

"Good. We're gearing up in four hours. Sort out any remaining bits you have to do, and be ready for deployment. This is a sensitive one. But if overspill happens, we're going to need to adapt. So be ready for a fight."

---

The team continued to gear up, and there was no shortage of hype, feeling and ready here. The stakes were high, and they all knew they had their specialised jobs to do. But in the end, all things could go wrong. It could be their last. It could be the end of Artemis, or them. It didn't matter. Job was going to be done, and Adam checked on each, from Athena, Jamie and Oliver, to Purna and Sam, to finally, Ebrima.

He saw Ebrima in the zone, finishing up with his MDR, and the drum mags for his shotgun.
"Good to go?" Adam asked, moving across, looking to Purna, Athena, and Jamie in the far corner.
"Been a while since I've been in Africa. So don't be offended if I ask for help in French, heh?" Adam chuckled, knowing Ebrima was more the local, even if Cameroon may as well have been as far from Morocco as it was to South Africa, it was still, a Francophone city with heavy Arabic and Berber influence.

Across the room, Athena noted Jamie gearing up, chatting to himself, but then, calibrating his suit, gearing up his tools and bringing them into the fold. He seemed assured, everything set right, and well, imposing. There's a certain mechanical feel to his armour, more industrial, punk. He lives for that shit. Athena likes it plenty, even if it's not her taste, considering hers seems a little more refined.
"Not bad, JamJam." Athena said, chuckling as she smirked, putting her armoured paw on his shoulder. Athena's armour felt like a leveller, and well, she had missed it. Her face poking out of it may have seemed odd to her social followers, but then again, a body like this didn't go to waste.
"She'd be proud. Me and you fucking up things together. Just like old times." She giggled, smirking as she checked the pad on her arm, a secondary unit to her HUD arranged setup, the suit flexing and the coil gently whining, like a muted pitch ready to blast, even the jumpjets having this gentle hiss that was unlike Freya's. While her suit could go invisible, even silent with the right adaptations, Athena made no such effort, and neither did Jamie.

Across the room from there, Purna looked to Sam, chuckling as he replied in his own Arabic, rusty but coming back quickly to fruition.
"Simply a vision, darling niece." He smiled, a rare crack in his turn, but well, the Nepali was certainly happy he wasn't alone. Getting a leather pack, he filled the rest of his equipment load into that, and with it, got ready to go. The grappling hook latched into his left forearm, the pad on his right, he felt prepared, readied, feeling it. Even the dust and dirt felt worn into the robes and wrap, and it felt like he was readied for it. Like a Ghillie suit, almost as if this was blending into a landscape, this was to actually blend into the medina.

---

Part Five: Rock the Kasbah

---

Sipping down the tea from the glass, Purna looked over to Sam, his covering down from over his face. Moroccan freshmint tea hit different, Purna not having been in the Arab or Northern African world for a while, but well, it was good to be back. For that tea, especially. It's a brilliant thing, sugary, cooly-flavoured tea that was very hot, yet with the mint, joyous. Even in the searing 30C heat, which felt like it infected any piece out of the shade. It's a manic place. Continuous non-white noise, the sound of horns, drums, talking, shouting, mopeds, yet in the cafe, it almost feels like a setback form all of it, looking on at the madness whilst in a cosy, gentle little environment in an alcove. They had to stop somewhere, and it made sense to stop in a place that locals would go to hide from the mid-day beating sun, the clay and tiled walls and the gentle smell of lamb, humus and mint filling the place.

"This is incredible. Very refreshing. So much sugar, though." Purna smiled to her and spoke in a soft Arabic, already feeling like she got this whole line of work- it was good to be with a professional, even if he was a sole operative, she was not a bad partner to pick from already. Sam was a natural- in her henna and Kuhl, with her wrapping, she fit perfectly, mysterious yet beautiful beneath it, like an allure of someone that knew how to fit in, but still hid it away in spite. Women in this part of the world weren't respected perhaps like a typical Western country, and whilst in the street plenty could be seen without headdresses and tourists modestly dressed also, this was far more conservative, controlled a society that Purna full well understood had not changed for centuries. Nepal the same, but he'd seen enough. She fit the part, and therefore, no eyes would be cast on them both. The robe wearing Nepali drank down a bit more tea, the hot, very sugary, very smooth beverage clearing his throat and a perfect stop as he checked his watch one more time, and then looked back across to her.

"I think it is time we move. I'll keep you close. Let's play the part." Purna smiled, and with it, adjusted his headrobe's covering, using it to at least mask his neck keeping his lighly-clay like complexion visible, as he stood, moving back across to where his pack was, a traditional cloth sack containing of all things, bundled C4, climbing kit, knockout canisters and a couple of gas rebreathers. For target interdiction, it always helped- he knew Sam had much the same tricks. And here they were, leaving the cafe and going back out into the chaos that Chaos would either adore, or hate. Adjusting his throat comms, and the headset in his cowl covered fully by the headrobe, he could talk to Sam without it being too obvious.

"Tourists must come here thinking this is another world. This reminds me of home. Markets, people trying to make a living, kind yet having not much." Purna commented, the Nepali worldly, as they trickled through, most tourists getting stopped, military stopping even a few given the security measures in place, but leaving Purna and Sam completely, utterly alone. They were carrying packs, full of what looked like goods, and appeared to be headed to their own stall. On that thought, Purna went through their segment of the plan.

"We know what to do. I'll go and find and confirm the location of Henry, and sneak in. On your hand, you have drones to sort, and their server network to unravel. Between you and me....our boss, he overprescribes. You know what to do. And you'll find your own way. We are hunter-killers. So you hunt them...I kill." He added, going over the rough plan, the sound of hundreds of people drowning out anything if anyone were to even try eavesdropping in this place.

The two moved through the Souk, and not an eye even batted them. Purna held onto her her hand, looking back and knowing it fit the optics. Vendors did not try and sell them anything, as Purna kept a move on. Armed men were scattered throughout the souk, a mix of local Gendarmes, or military police, actual Moroccan Army soldiers, the grey-robe and headdress wearing Nepali looking so Berber he may as well have gone the extra stint and started to sell leather bags here. His companion too, and well, it was like an art that almost felt easy to keep up with. In the crowds looking for special forces teams, they simply seemed to dissolve.

With it, they made their way through the maze of structures, the dusty, choked souk where you could buy anything from beautiful pottery, leather, carpets, fake Rolexes and Argan Oils giving way to the hidden garden, La Jardin Villeneuve. Such a generic name, for such a beautiful place, but it was barriered off, Moroccan Army posted outside in number, keeping a presence, likely corrupt soldiers on Artemis's bought payroll, if not just using it as a disguise. The garden was sealed, with tall walls, but well, like that would stop the two. The roof above the souk here was tin-lined yet the garden was open to air, and Purna looked on, then back to Sam.
"This is us. Okay, my camera is active, plus I should be networked to your software." Purna added, moving with the crowd as he pulled Sam in close, hugging her, looking direct into her eyes. He may not have been the tech whizz that she was, but, there was no doubting his infiltration talent. The guy was a ghost, and even in plain sight, he made it seem so easy and casual how he interacted with her.
"All yours. As soon as I find a computer network, I'll get you in on that and you can start to disrupt them, and their drones. I'll install explosive charges on any security measures inside, and kill anyone behind that door that could be an issue. On my signal, those guards outside will turn when the door opens, and you have an opportunity....or, you find a way in yourself into the garden. We then need to move, fast, and get ready for Boaro and Wilk to free the target." Purna let go of the hug, and with it, nodded, a smile on his face as he turned, and left Sam behind.

With it, cutting through the shop to their side, Purna left Sam there in the alley, and cut in, moving at a quick walk, the shop owner confused as Purna hustled through and headed through the back door, running up a set of stairs, into an apartment complex. Ditching the robe and the headdress, he revealed his Mk14 and MP5, the pack on his back getting thrown onto a stairset as he yanked the tactical pack out of that, in turn leaving it in the corner of the room inside a clay pot and hustling the stairs. The shop owner was long behind, as he broke into a run, pacing up the stairs, and up to the top.

Coming out on the roof, Purna saw the garden proper, and took a breather. It was only a small segment, but an oasis of green and colour, filled with automated turrets, containers, tents, barracks and most importantly, somewhere in the house proper at the end, the person they were here to recover. And a large white tent, a geodesic dome in fact, right in the centre- a larger structure that stuck out like a brick on the moon. Rather than dwell, Purna's bottom half suddenly disappeared, the Nepali drawing his MP5 into hand as that disappeared too, then his chest, arms, and finally, his head and NVG covered eyes, set to an augmented visible spectrum while he was completely off it. With it, he broke into a run and as a thin blur, darted across the last few rooftops, before using his grapple to lynch straight onto a palm tree inside the garden, and with a swan dive, blur his way straight in, the active camo breaking but re-rendering at halt when he flung himself into the tree, using the line to anchor himself in. There's almost a gymnastic pride to his movement, if the mediums are fast with their exos, then Purna is straight up not even there at all, looking inside and taking a look.
"Inside, Chaos. We have a lot of hostiles here. Be careful."

---

Adam readied up at the door and looked back to Ebrima. The man might be a warrior in guerrilla warfare, and without an exo in the market a hell of an asset. But up here, he would be invaluable- and far more lethal than down in the streets. With the cut and thrust of close quarters work coming up soon when they headed into the garden, dropping in and unravelling hell from the two would be important- the usual mix of a mediums' speed and aggression. It would be just two of them going in and recovering Henry after all, whilst the Heavies soaked up the actual security at front of house, and the lights covered the door into the Souk, where no doubt there were plenty of guards, sentries and other defences. He felt confident, but of course, there was always an air of change in the air, as Adam peeked.

Pushing forwards, the rooftops were bare considering the insanely baking heat that seemed to burn hard in the light. Different levels, clay, rock, sand, all of it mixing to make the tapestry of Marrakesh's wider Medina, above the chaotic Souk down below.

"Let's get a move on. Chaos and Viper have our target confirmed, charges in place, drone isn't looking at us for a little while. We just need to get there and recover Henry." Adam called to Ebrima, moving up to the next, the noise of the souk loud even from above, drowning in noise and nobody of any sane disposition up here. Guards, and then a few others.

And with it, they got a move on. Breaking into a run, Adam used the exo to fling across from one roof to the next, over the tin and cloth below in the alley to the next, skidding in and down to a stop behind a clay wall when he spotted another group of contacts watching over in the distance. Bringing the MSBS to shoulder, he sent a ping over to Ebrima, highlighting the hostiles.
"Contacts, eleven o'clock. Man on the right is mine. All yours for the left. On your mark..." The Pole called out, seeing the man in the ramshackle cover about 100m away, up ahead. On Ebrima's mark, Adam followed.

With a plink, the rifle clipped the man's neck and spat out the other side, even his tactical getup doing nothing against 7.62mm armour-piercing rounds. Adam looked to Ebrima, nodding, and with it, looking across. Ebrima was the merc with specialism in these environments, far more so than Adam's experience of the Middle East.
"On your lead, Boaro. Post's that way, and we have rooftops to cover. Let's get to an overwatch of the garden, then run me through how many of them you want to fuck up. I always wanted to see what a real Guérillero comes up with." Adam let his usual planning, calculated side down, knowing that in this very specific instance, he'd let Ebrima do what he did.

The rooftops were layered, bits lower, bits higher, bits missing cover entirely but roughly two to three storeys above the market itself, structures interwoven, tiny alleys ranging between half a meter gap to four meters of gap, sometimes with tin, sometimes with textile and carpet, sometimes with nothing. There's this real air that with just more neon and rain, it's like Cyberpunk. But it isn't, it's ridiculously hot, and there was a job to be done, as Adam kept his exo on, ready to follow Ebrima over the gaps, even with the added weight of the force generator carried on the suit's pack.

It was an environment that did not suit fighting in the souk proper, especially with the sheer volume of civilians, but once the attack started, they'd be raising hell and there would be a lot of runners, but the garden would be where it would be concentrated into. Any drones in the sky weren't going to look at Ebrima and Adam's way in thanks to the lights efforts, and more so, the mediums would be in luck, able to take advantage of the chaos, get in close and recover Henry, any intel and anything else on site.

---

Inside the truck, the driver looked into the back, the titans idle but ready to now go. The radio call had come through from Adam's encrypted link, and he held it in lieu of the fact that the Heavies would likely have wanted it for themselves. Still, a local fixer like him, a Blue Sword driver working with Athena, made it easy to blend in while on his rounds. The truck itself was parked across the street, the street right on the fringe of the deep, mean Souk, and was barely wide enough to fit two vehicles through. Whilst not as packed as the souk proper with tin roofing and sheeting, it was still claustrophobic, and busy enough to feel like you couldn't breathe easy, well, aside from the grounds of the garden giving reprieve.

"Okay, go time. Front door is yours, boss man says raise hell." The driver said, the sound of explosions audible within the garden. The party had started. The mediums were in. The lights had long been setting off stuff. Now, just the cork in the bottle. Jamie, Chuck and Oliver had the job of charging through the front door, past the corrupt Moroccan Army presence with what looked like four MRAP vehicles with remote turrets, at least two dozen soldiers blended with Artemis operatives, and through a small annex of the house itself into the Garden. A heavy was near the front, at least six and a half foot in height, and armed with a minigun and Trophy of his own, would be a formidable threat.

---

On the other side of the souk in Jema El-Fnaa, Athena was of a similar mindset in her own armoured truck, the shell-like interior of the MRAP with a singular bench for her a place to get ready, alone. Her blonde hair in a bun, she took the helm and put it firm over head, locking it into the membrane within, clicking her neck and her armoured fingers, feeling like she practically occupied every square inch in here already. She's got this aura to her, like Freya, but well, in the business. Looking at the wall, she couldn't see anything but someone in replacement of her sister. And well, someone to end this. Athena had that feeling of duty all of a sudden, instead of running things in the background, to actually get it done. She had heard what Oracle had to say. This had to end, and her team would see to it. No fuck ups, not anymore.

With herself bent in two to crouch down, she put hand forward and pushed on the door, leaping out of the pack with head tall and spine straight, where a couple more Blue Sword soldiers had already embarked, dressed in light desert fatigues, plate carriers, helmets and armed up with SIG MCX rifles, a choice mirrored by the prior Skye Lyons. Athena towered over them, all seven and a half foot of her, coil in one hand, expression inside firm, ventilation at max, because she was sweating like a motherfucker in that truck.

"All Blue Sword security teams, tighten the noose. Any armed personnel aren't to leave. Brief just got sent to local police, so anyone that raises a gun at you, take them out. Anyone that isn't armed, tell them to run. We're on the look out for HVTs, and suspect Artemis operatives, so keep your eyes peeled. Let's get it done." Athena boomed into the comms, her confident extraversion now like lightening. With it, the coils on her pack whined, this deep, yet pitched whine that left nothing to any onlookers. Civilians were on the move, running away from the explosions, locals, and well, between them and the rest were Gendarmes. The large square was packed full of stalls, vendors and Royal Moroccan Army, and well, it would be a chaotic crossfire here. But it was what Artemis wanted. Sow so much chaos that no easy way out could be found. Adam, and Athena disagreed. This was about creating fewer options for runners, and with the main team inside, all Athena's crews and her had to do was hold the line and their way out. There was nowhere for Artemis to run out of the lion's den. Athena stood tall and above the civilians, and made it very, very clear, that you ran, or you got in her way.

"At least there is no water this time... Let me be a good samaritan, and give them the good old quackbang microphone treatmen." he grumbled, staring at a watch that was gracefully duct-taped to the backside of his shield. He saw it was a time about thirty seconds ago, but all of these locals, well it was not going to be pretty regardless, it is time to make use of his special equipment.

Outstood a massive shield that was firmly planted into the ground in front of him, on the side was another gracefully ducttapped object, a megaphone. He tapped upon the backside of it a few times, making sure it was working with a few loud pops to get people's attention. For extra reinforcement, he fired his gun a few times in the air.

"For those who wish to leave, you have five seconds to do so, if you don't feel free to shoot at me and see how well it goes!"

Within a moment of the word 'goes' the microphone was taken off in a hail of bullets, why did he figure anything else would happen, he just bought that thing, it was like thirty bucks. But he had done his good deed for the day, and now it seemed like the heavies were up for a bit of fun.

He placed his rifle on it's slot, and raised his shield up, he stared at the door that people didn't want to see anymore.

"Alright... I think they are focused on me, hopefully they will just run for the most part... I don't know, but anything past the door dies. My vision isn't the greatest behind this shield and I don't like taking chances."

He rolled his shoulder a bit as he pulled it up to his chest, and he listened to the gears in his suit grind and ache as he started to run, he hated how heavy this thing was when he did this, but it looked like there was some form of incline and he didn't want to get stuck on stairs.

He saw the other heavy finally, it was clear in front of him, and he smiled as he got in the path of his charge, well this is going to be fun isn't it? He felt a bullet on his back as his shield became a hail of sparks from the minigun, well, at least he was taking it's fire. But for now, he thinks that the fun thing will be the one in front of him.

He knew he should have brought his heavy gun, he figured it would be closer quarters though and didn't bring it, so he figured the old way would be the way. The minigun wouldn't do much against him; he didn't know about the others, but this guy. Well, he would be fun, and when it came to it, he pulled off the two-handed axe from his shield and he let it drive forward into the other heavy before he went in for melee, first an underhand swing to try and disable mobility, it hit his side, but it didn't work well in it's goal. The two became a brawl of twisting metal and poly-carbonates. Bullets, pinging off both of them as it looked like a street brawl between two drunken idiots because of the almost dilated movements of their armor. While it seemed slow, each hit between the armored hulks send shockwaves through the others.

He left the axe in it's side, and just went for a brunt way, the axe was a good choice for doors, or lighter targets, but like armor of the old days, when steel and iron covered men, the mace was the weapon to use. His fist was that mace. They battered each other; a few tried to get in the way to disable or hurt Oliver, but the fury of them both kept many away, and he was too close for heavy weapons to be used by those who wanted to try. It was a grueling task, a medieval one as they raged on.

He hoped the others were doing work; he was tunnel-visioned into this fight and hoped they were doing well with his initial moments of distraction.

Samantha had been nervous facing Freya. She was used to operating alone and not having friends. Having friends and people who depended on her was something she was still getting used to as she got used to Raven. It was probably a big part of why she was so protective of Skye and Freya and so defensive about her decisions. Samantha had not exactly been avoiding Freya but she had been nervous about how she would feel about what had happened when they landed. She knew that Freya understood that Skye had made her decision and why Samantha had supported that decision. They had talked on the plane. Sam was grateful that Ebrima had suggested that they bring her some food. A bribe wouldn’t hurt, right?

For a giant, Freya looked wan and pale. There was almost a fragility to her along with a sense of enduring strength. She knew her giant friend had been going through a lot of pain. They were keeping her on a drip to accommodate her physiology and metabolism. She looked to be resting when they came in. Sam was almost sorry they woke her up. Relief floods through her as Freya greets her warmly with a smile. Samantha relaxed as she felt Freya arms fold around her in a hug. Samantha squeezes her gently in return.

She gives Freya a stern look as she begins taking the blame for her injuries. “Hey no one gets to talk about my friend that way. Not even you! I agree that you have a bodacious butt though.” She smiles playfully at Freya for a minute before allowing her face to fall into more neutral lines. “Seriously, you did it to save us all. I have some ideas on ways I can improve your armor so you can’t injure yourself like this again. We will talk when I get back from this next op.” She gave her hand a light squeeze so she could pull her table and the food closer so she could eat.

Samantha bit her lip and looked down as Freya addressed her yelling at her sister. She looked up to meet Freya’s eyes with a sheepish look on her face. “I already apologized to her and she didn’t flatten me into bug paste. I appear to have been forgiven. We will make it work. You just focus on healing. You take your time and do it right yeah?” She gave Freya a stern look. “I have your siblings for back up. Honestly I feel like the midget in the giant brigade at the moment.” She gave Freya a rueful smile. She chuckled as Freya thanked her for the food. “I can’t take all the credit. It was Ebrima’s idea to bring you the food.” She chuckled a little as Freya’s stomach growled. “Rest, good food, and listen to the doctors. They will get you back on your feet before you know it.”

She tilted her head to one side and tried to decide how to answer Freya’s question of where they were going next. Samantha had seen the intel. She had a good idea where the team was going next but it hadn’t been announced yet. “Adam has not given any official orders. Based on the intel I have been looking at, my guess is somewhere in the Middle East.” She looked at her friend and gave her a warm smile. “Enjoy your dinner. We have a briefing to get too. I will visit again as soon as I can, okay? You rest and get well. I will cover the team’s back on this one. It is my turn.” She gives Freya what she hopes is a confident smile. She then makes her way to the briefing room.

---

Samantha sat with Purna in the little tea shop. They were drinking mint tea and seeking a respite from the sun and never ending heat. The streets that made up the maze like bazaar seemed to hold onto the heat like an oven. The warm breeze was almost non existent blocked by the buildings that lined the ancient marketplace. Samantha’s gray eyes picked up the color of the turquoise scarf and made her look even more exotic. Her face covering pulled down below her chin so that she could sip her tea. The little shop felt like an oasis of calm in the busy noisy marketplace. Sam’s eyes had taken in the interior with ease in a single glance when they entered. She had only spotted locals inside. None of the patrons had the bearing of a skilled soldier or cop. Samantha had been taught how to look for body language and posture that could give away a skilled operative or a person who had combat training. The patrons seemed to be shopkeepers and locals at the market for their own purposes.

Samantha smiled at Purna as he shared what would sound like a natural conversation to anyone paying attention to them. “It is lovely, Uncle. It is a bit sweet for my tastes as well.” She saluted him with her cup even as she replied in softly spoken Arabic. She kept to her role as the niece of a local shopkeeper helping her uncle with a market day. Samantha had watched careful for any signs of a tail or that they had drawn any attention at all. They had been accepted as one of the locals and blended right in. She had traded some common well wishes and greetings with other locals. The kind that they might offer a common acquaintance or someone they thought they knew. No one had batted an eye. She had trailed behind Purna at a respectful distance protruding a respectful and dutiful demeanor. Purna had played his part to perfection, acting the protective uncle to a favored niece. She nodded dutifully as he said it was time to leave. “Yes uncle.” She gave him a respectful nod as she answered in softly spoken Arabic even as her eyes twinkled mischievously. She rose to her feet and followed Purna out of the tea shop. She stayed a step behind him to his left. She didn’t want to be in the way of his weapon if he needed to draw it. She walked close enough to hear him.

Samantha listened to Purna describe his home. “I will have to visit your home at some point. It sounds like a fascinating place. I would love to see the history that I am sure is still evident in the culture there.” Samantha’s eyes followed the action as tourists were stopped by local military and police. Sam and Purna passed unmolested. She raised an eyebrow as she noted the t-intersection where so many of the tourists were being stopped. A gateway to other activities in the market perhaps? She casually stumbled and caught herself along the wall with a hand as she slapped one of her disposable cameras into place. She wanted to keep an eye on what was happening at that intersection.

Samantha paid attention as Purna went over the plan once more. Samantha was fine with this plan. Her skills were going to come in very useful for this op. She was glad to be paired with Purna for this operation. This kind of operation was more in her wheelhouse than attacking facilities. She was used to subterfuge and stealth to find the information she needed. She softly answered Purna again in Arabic in case anyone was listening. She wanted him to know she had heard him. “Understood.”

Samantha moved easily at Purna’s side as he held her hand. A way to signal to local men that she was under his protection as a family member. She understood that he was playing the part and this was expected in this part of the world. She kept a pleasant look on her face as she pretended to adjust her pack just like a native woman would if the load shifted. It added to their story. No one had tried to stop them or even sell them anything. The hawkers in the marketplace could be downright aggressive and were with tourists. Their cover as locals was holding up as they made their way through the Souk. Samantha easily picked out the armed men that were local military or police. The closer they got to the garden the more nefarious types of armed men began to show up. They appeared to be local muscle for the differing criminal elements around. She noticed the local military and police here didn’t seem to notice them at all. She did notice that tourists seemed to be stopped more frequently the closer they got to their target destination.

They approached the entrance to the La Jardin Villeneuve. What she could see of it through the opening was beautiful. There was a heavy presence of Morrocan Army soldiers at the entrance to the garden. Tall stone walls surrounded the garden. Across the streets surrounding the garden were buildings and shops in varying heights. There were tight alleyways between some of these buildings leading to inner courtyards behind shop fronts or residences for shop owners. Purna pulled her into one of these alleyways as if it was his shop. Confidence could sell that you belonged in a location. They went far enough down the alleyway to be out of sight.

Purna began to pull out his equipment. They were splitting up from here. She nodded as untied the fake cloth that covered her tactical pack. She unzipped it and began to pass him some equipment as she began to explain how to use it. “Wait, I have some gear for you. These are disposable button cameras. Just peel and stick and push once to activate.” She passed him a set of 10 cameras. “I will be able to watch their feeds and have my AI monitor them.” She passed him a small zipper pouch of buttons. “These can help disable cameras and electronic locks. Peel and stick. Press and count to five. It will deliver a small electrical charge that can short out electronics such as cameras, motion detectors, and electronic locks. They might also work on auto turrets that require motion detectors. It can prevent the lock from opening after being disabled. So use it carefully.” She dug back into her pack and pulled out one of the perfume bottles of knockout drops. “Spray in their face and it will put someone to sleep in a hurry. It's the same stuff as in the grenades but in a container for one on one use.” She gave him a grin as she watched him put it all away on his person.

Purna gave her a hug and she returned it. “Don’t worry. I will get in easily. I got your back. Be careful in there.” She released him and watched as he went forward and took off through the shop they had been next to.

Samantha put her pack back on and secured her look as a local woman once more. She walked out of the alley and passed the barrier in front of the garden. She deliberately walked past the guards and turned down the side of the garden. She grinned when she found what she was looking for. She turned down the alleyway next to a tall two story brick and clay building. The building had a flat roof with a terrace on top. The entrance to the terrace was from stairs from an interior courtyard that was hidden from the garden side of the marketplace. The shops all backed up together to create interior courtyards for the shopkeepers who lived above their shops. These interior courtyards became a communal outdoor living space for those who lived in that block of shops.

Samantha grinned as she ran and jumped up and bounced from wall to wall pushing up and over until she had landed on the rooftop terrace. She reached through the slit in her robe and began to slap button cameras along the edge of the roofline to give her a view of the street below. She then began to run and jump onto the next roof. She slapped cameras along the edge of the roof as she went. She went as far as she could before she ran out of rooftops that could take her weight. She knew if she landed on that tin roof she would fall through it. She accepted it. It was too far for her to jump across. She would have to get down and scale back up.

She climbed down and came out of the alleyway walking as if she had every right to be there. She had noticed there seemed to be fewer locals this close to the garden. She didn’t draw any undue attention. She made sure her face covering was on. All that was visible was a thin slit with her eyes showing. She walked to the far corner of the garden where the residence was. She quickly scaled the old wall. There was plenty of handholds for her. The wall was wide enough to walk on. She ran down the wall headed to the residence roof. She didn’t want to get spotted up here. She was fast. She thought for sure the guards below her would have spotted her. They had been looking the other way smoking.

She jumped over to the residence roof. She slapped a few cameras up as she climbed over the wall that separated the garden wall from the residence balcony. She ducked down below the balcony wall. She crouched low with her back to the wall. She pulled off the cloth and her tactical backpack. She pulled on her gloves and pulled off the turban. She pulled on her helmet. She rested back on her heels in a position she could move in a hurry if she needed too.

She was just getting started when she heard Purna tell her. "Inside, Chaos. We have a lot of hostiles here. Be careful."

Samantha kept her voice low so she wouldn’t reveal his position. “Chaos in position. Beginning electronic countermeasures.” She wanted him to know in case she kicked the hornet’s nest. She settled into the zone. “Bob begin scanning for accessible computer systems and signals. Deploying mini drone.” She touched her necklace and deployed the minidrone built into it. She began to scan the skies around the garden. She was surprised she had not been caught yet. She looked around and began to scan for drones. She laughed a little as she spotted them. No wonder she had not been spotted. The drones were hovering over the open main entrance that had all the soldiers and barricades. The other drone was hovering in front of the residence but had cameras that were stationary pointing down. They would have spotted her if the drone had been higher but it was just below the roofline. It was below where she had come in from. If they had another drone, she had not spotted it yet.

Bob reported back within moments. “Encrypted Wifi signal coming from the residence. Cellular wifi signals coming from multiple directions. Some are encrypted, some are not.” Samantha thought about that. It made sense a great deal of the merchants probably had cellular wifi for their businesses to take card transactions. “Disregard cellular signals and focus on the encrypted wifi signal from the residence. Show me the camera feeds.” For the first time since she slapped up some of the cameras she could see what they were capturing. The best ones were the ones she had just planted on the residence facing the main gate where all the soldiers were. “Bob monitor camera feeds and notify me of soldier movements at the main gate.”

Samantha settled into work. She activated her haptic gloves so she could interface with her laptop and went to work trying to gain access to the systems remotely. Who knew she might get lucky. She was ready to announce she was here just yet. She wanted to give Purna a chance to get in deeper before she let them know they were here. She sneered as a short time later she had managed to infiltrate the residence wifi. She had gained access to their network. Within moments she had managed to take control of the drones. She left them hovering but had lopped the camera feeds. She doubted the operators were skilled enough to pick up on that though. She began to have Bob go after the databases and download as much as he could. “Bob scan active cameras using facial recognition. Notify if any high value targets show up.” She keyed her comms and reported in. “Chaos controls the airwaves.”

Rocking the Doors Down

---

Chuck and Duke had been squeezed into the back of the box truck that was dressed up to look like a local delivery truck. The back was a tight squeeze with three giants in armor in it. The upgrades Sam had made to Chuck and Duke’s armor gave the animal some cooling along his body to help him deal with the oppressive heat. Duke was lying quietly but his ears kept twitching. He could tell that Duke was picking up on all the noise around him outside the truck. Merchants hawking their wares to tourists and locals alike. Tourists bargaining for the best deals. The sounds of that much humanity packed into such a tight space. Duke was well trained though and was alert but calm. He was not showing any signs of stress or heat exertion. Chuck always hated that period of time on a mission when you were waiting for the action to kick off. You could just stay revved up and tense while waiting, you would wear yourself out from the tension. You needed to be alert and ready to go at a moment’s notice if anything went wrong. Chuck rubbed Duke gently behind the ears to reassure him that he was there.

There was a window with a sliding wooden panel on the front wall of the back of the truck that could be opened by the driver allowing him to see into the back of the truck. The wood slid open and the man spoke to them through the window in harshly accented English. The driver said, "Okay, go time. Front door is yours, boss man says raise hell."

The sounds of explosions was in the background as they were told it was go time. Chuck had been towards the back of the truck with Duke. Oliver was closest to the door which he easily flung open. Chuck was amused as Oliver made a point to mention there was no water. Chuck grinned having been on that op with Oliver at the end. Oliver had come to help them exfil on the Columbia operation and had complained about being on the boat the whole time. He liked the man but found his distrust of boats and being on water amusing. He almost wanted to yank his chain and remind him that the garden had a fountain in it and was a natural oasis. He decided now was not the time to poke the big guy. He followed Tiny Nord out the back of the truck. Duke jumped down easily and stayed by his side. He gave Duke the hand signal for guard.

Chuck was a little puzzled when he saw Oliver looking at his shield. He raised an eyebrow with a wry smile at the megaphone duct taped to the top of his shield. He winced as the megaphone made that loud thump noise as he tapped it and then did a high pitched squeaky feedback noise. Oliver then fired a few shots in the air as he drew the attention of everyone nearby. Duke’s ears lowered as he growled softly not liking the noise. Chuck put a hand on his back to reassure Duke as Oliver began to address the crowd.

"For those who wish to leave, you have five seconds to do so, if you don't feel free to shoot at me and see how well it goes!" It was as if the announcement was open season on Tiny Nord as the megaphone was shot to tiny pieces.

Chuck could not hold back the laughter as he listened to Oliver’s announcement and watched as his megaphone met a quick death. He stepped up next to Oliver. “Thank you for trying,Tiny. It was a good idea” Chuck watched as Tiny Nord set up his shield and rifle and charged towards the heavy on the barricade side of the entrance to the garden. Chuck thought it was a great idea. Maybe they didn't understand him. Chuck asked his AI to set his suit to transmit on high volume. He then began to speak in Arabic. “If you don’t want to be involved in the coming fight, flee! Attack us and you will become a target too.” He flipped off his impromptu megaphone system and charged into the fight.

He pulled Lucille from its sheath on his back and ran off behind Oliver towards the MRAPs. Duke charged hard at his heels before slinking away into the alleyways along the sides. Chuck dodged as best as he could. He still had admirable agility and speed in his suit with the extra assists that Samantha had built into it. He was still taking fire from the auto-turrets. His armor was shrugging off the automatic fire as bullets pinged off his heavy armor. He lifted Lucille high and swung it with all his might at the auto-turret on the MRAP in front of him which was to the left of the main entrance. The heavy club crushed the barrel which caused the gun to misfire and explode. Chuck didn’t waste any time as he charged towards the next MRAP to disable the automatic gunfire the team was taking. Oliver was tanking the heavy in the middle. That left the two MRAPs on the right for Jamie. Duke had lunged out of a dark alleyway taking down a soldier who had been firing at Chuck from behind with a gun. Duke had torn the man’s throat out before moving on to look for his next target.

The fight had just began. The streets surrounding the garden became a scene of total chaos as locals who were not part of whatever was happening with the garden fled the area in terror. Those who were part of Artemis or getting paid by them came towards the team of heavies working to remove the barriers between them and the residence. Chuck noted that Ebrima was correct. The locals were getting off the streets and moving away from the fighting. That made Chuck breathe a little easier. He hated it when the bad guys used innocents as shields. Raven Squad's attack had obviously caught them by surprise. They were responding but were unable to use those kinds of dirty tactics and hostages to their advantage. Chuck decided it was the right time to show them why he was called Boomer. "Hey Tiny didn't you say you wanted some fireworks? I would tell you to hold my beer and watch this, but you seem like the type to drink it instead." He grinned as his southern drawl was playful as he joined Oliver in taking the fight to the enemy. He fired a missile at the two MRAPs now that he had disabled their automatic turrets. The MRAPs showered the soldiers around them in shrapnel as they exploded.

Its a tight fit honestly three large bodies and their kit. Scion twisted his upper busy slightly turning his head within his armor to peer at the others. Such a novel crew this time around. So many interesting souls. His first stint with Raven had been an absolute hoot. And here they are again. It's a pity about Skye, he'd kinda looked forward to working with her again. Ah well sometimes things happen that you just have to work with. Like right now for instance.

His parents had hammered in Thena, Frey and himself that you really ought to get to know your team before you work them, and despite the meals, and chats leading up to the operation, Jamie is still an Outsider. But he can work with that. He can still make himself of use.

Jamie is humming a pow wow tune, Northern Cree's Hop to the Drop. If he had room he'd even dance, his style during the circuit favors the crow hop after all. So he settles for swaying abit in place. Jamie looked towards the front then at the door as Chuck and Duke stepped out preceded by Tiny Nord. Scion followed them out. And as they all.split up to cover different approaches Scion stopped for abit facing down his given path. Canting his head within his armor "For those who wish to leave, you have five seconds to do so, if you don't feel free to shoot at me and see how well it goes!" Scionncan get behind that. And then the scattering began, as people who didn't want in on the fight ran. But there are still people in the souk, and he can see weapons coming out.

Scion sighed, reaching back and pulling the double headed axe off his back. The handle clicking into a longer form, as Scion held it like a proper great axe. "And the correct tunes..." He looked through his suits storage, really the small computer was supposed to bebused for combat purposes but the assistance routines only took up a small amount of space. It was Athena with Uncle Nolans help that helped him set up a section of the computer to carry music.

With abit of effort a high power mini speaker popped out on his left chest. And the resounding sound of First Nations drums and voice broke the air of the souk.



Scionn stepped forward and the enemy opened fire, even as thr music of his heritage thundered. The enemy fighters tried to slow his advance, and for a moment they stopped firing as Scion began to nto dance. He honest to God began to pow wow dance, a buck skin traditional step, so elegant and slow looking but he covered the ground to his first unfortunate target quickly. Bringing the axe around, and striking the fighter with the flat of it. His first strike, sends the person sprawling. And as the singing of the music begins, Scion songs along, even as he dances into the battle.

---

Ebrima did not expect a prim and proper western merc to agree with his cynical, African warlord-lite views of the world and fighting in it. He knew why he liked Adam right out of the gate. Neither Pole nor Cameroonian spoke much as they raced across the rooftops, carefully picking out each landing spot to avoid crashing through some corrugated steel sheet into the buildings below, the exo’s air conditioning struggling to keep up with the baking heat of the rooftops. It was a double-edged sword, however, keeping Artemis goons inside and on street level where the what was bearable. The first lookouts were easily dealt with, three shots of the suppressed rifle solving Boraro’s side of the equation. The two men continued bounding cover to cover along the rooftops, Boraro making a brief stop at the neutralized lookouts to dead check. Legal? Of course, he made sure to do it before he walked past them. After all, he was one of the righteous now. One more pair of lookouts had the misfortune to be in their path, suffering a similar fate with the same efficiency. The price of standing on the wrong side of lady Luck and more zeroes in the budget. The Cameroonian led them to a roof level with the target structure, overlooking the garden. The view wasn’t the best, but the roof with the best view was the one Ebrima would put a mine on top of if the roles were reversed. Good enough to reveal a quartet of exosuited spotters on the main roof rotating the directions they were looking in in regular intervals and a garden full of automated turrets, turrets that - according to the timetable - were already toothless.

”Minimal effort.” Boraro began introducing his plan. It might not have been the best way to describe it, but that was how he worked. Minimal effort for maximum gain, the less you did, the less could go wrong and the more fight you had in you for later. ”Ignore the garden for now, that’s Chaos’ field, but stay away from the garden-side windows and walls just in case they wake up. We work top to bottom, either we find our man or drive him out toward Viper. Once we have him, we don't bother with doors, go out the first suitable exit we find or make.” It would be easy for Artemis to hold them back going through the rest of the house with Simmonds in tow, but a lot harder to pin them down if they punched a hole in the wall and made a beeline for their exfil. Good thing Wilk had some charges on him, as Boraro had neglected to check before they shipped out. He would’ve wanted to time their strike along with the Heavies and disappear in the chaos, but there would’ve been too many variables in Artemis’ reaction to risk it. ”Team 1, Team 2 is moving in. Out.” He let Viper and Chaos know, loading a magazine of frags into the M 25 and switching back over to Wilk. ”After you, on my mark...” First two grenades fired, ”Go!” A third and final one, timed so that last would detonate a few seconds before Adam landed. He doubted the grenades would be enough to disable the exo operators, but their point was to stagger the farther ones to give Adam a safe landing window.

Taking a running start and with a boost from the jump pack, Boraro followed as soon as he could stow the launcher away, landing a few seconds after Adam, the shotgun at the ready. Rolling to a crouch, Boraro swept the Artemis operative’s legs from under her. She grunted a German curse as she fell on her back, more annoyed than hurt by the fall on account of her armor. Boraro’s shotgun wouldn’t let that stand, the Cameroonian driving its muzzle into the unknown German’s face and painting the inside of her helmet red with a double tap.

Whipping around, he came face to face, Muzzle to muzzle with the lookout in the far left corner, the shape of a rifle in the operative’s hands. Boraro moved fast, the jump pack propelling him into cover behind an AC unit. Disciplined semi-automatic fire whizzed past, one lucky shot striking a side plate and skipping off under such a large impact angle. Verifying it had remained intact, his HUD reporting the impact wasn’t strong enough to leave much of a bruise, let alone actual injury, he switched to the other side of the unit, peering out and firing at the spot the Artemis operative was last at. As the fire drove him behind cover, Boraro left his, trusting the other two would not bother him on account of Wilk and advancing a few bounds while firing before stopping. The Artemis operative popped back up, but Boraro wasn’t there already. The difference of a few meters was enough to let him take a shot unmolested, the Artemis operative falling backwards behind cover. When Boraro reached him, he was desperately trying to stop bleeding from his neck with one hand, a large chunk missing where the slug clipped him, the other hand reaching for the IFAK, not quite obeying its owner’s commands.

Bang!

Regrouping with Wilk, he swapped the M 25’s frags for stun grenades, making sure to remove the already chambered frag as well. ”No lethal grenades from now on.“ Wilk most definitely didn’t need to be reminded of that, but it was a good habit to have in case you found yourself working alongside an idiot. ”You have the shield, you're first through doors.” Was he gonna use Wilk to soak up bullets? Teeeechnically? But then that was exactly what breachers with handheld ballistic shields did, and his shield allowed him to return effective fire while being protected for long enough to matter. It was a shame the operation was a smash and grab and not just regular assault, otherwise doors would rarely be a factor and their entry would not be from the roof, but through the roof, but burying Simmonds under a hundred kilos of cinder blocks and concrete by accident wasn’t in the notes.

Stacking up on a skylight, Boraro prepared a flashbang, ready to follow the Pole inside. ”Flash and clear, on you.”

---

After conversing with Jamie, Athena looked across to Chuck, the other handsome heavy, well, one of three. It was odd to be outnumbered, but well, it sort of made sense. Rolling in with this much heat never made sense, literally one of them alone was enough to make a platoon’s worth of men really reconsider their life choices, but four, well, that was how severe the situation was. The dark navy clashed with the yellow outcrops and tones, a distinct look to say the least, but her own spin on the crimson of her sister. With her footsteps clattering against concrete, she looked to Chuck, looking up a little, but no less imposing. A fellow giant, and one she’d be looking forward to smashing up shit with. Oh yeah, and Duke, who was now armored up and ready to go. The pup seemed naturally tactical- like he was like his owner, made for this shit, and despite the fact that an armoured dog would look rather odd indeed, it didn't seem to impair him, if anything, it made him look even meaner.
“Not bad. Jump jets too. Taste of professionals, am I right?” Athena chuckled, the blonde haired coil carrying heavy commented, looking him up and down, giving a twirl of her own as she looked around him.
“That is a sick looking bat you have there. Impressive.” She added, the small talk continuing, even if a little awkward considering the stakes.

Chuck turned to Athena as he heard her voice and realized she was talking to him. He gave her a polite smile. “I can’t take credit for the armor. I was given a prototype to try in the field. It has since been overhauled by Raven Squad and Samantha to eliminate the glitches I was having with it.” He shrugged causing the heavy armor to go up and down. Chuck’s armor had a matte black undersuit with harder gray colored heavy armor pieces over the top. He grinned at the mention of the jump jets. “I am still getting used to the jump jets. They give me an assist with jumping to get this heavy armor off the ground.” He hadn’t tried to fly. He was more like Buzz Lightyear, he could fall with style.

Chuck stood with Duke gnawing on the reindeer rib at his feet. Duke was making slobbery noises as he gnawed on his treat. Chuck looked over as Athena continued what was a very stilted awkward conversation. He didn’t really know how to respond to her yet. He had worked with women in the field but she pushed his boundaries. Not to mention he was very attracted to her older sister. She was talking about Lucille. “Oh that is my Louisville Slugger, Lucille.” He pulled Lucille out of the sheath and spun it casually making sure to step away from Duke so he wouldn’t hit him. “It is my preferred weapon of mass destruction.” He grinned knowing it didn’t look like much but the damage it caused on the battlefield was substantial. There was nothing like a classic mass times velocity kinetic weapon to show true power.

A giggle came across Athena’s face, as she saw him swing out the slugger, the spiky baseball bat with a chain on it a creative, destructive tool and a half. The kind that used right would cause so much mayhem out there. Shit, even her swords had nothing on that, she had to admit it. She swooned by, a childish giggle on her mind.
“Typical men, swinging your huge bat around and destroying things. I love it.” Athena grinned, teasing away despite how oh so awkward this was, it was gloriously so, as she saw Duke gnaw away at the remaining bits of reindeer. She considered his advice, and made an effort, well, somewhat better than before to not approach too close this time around.

Chuck looked over Athena’s armor and weapons appraisingly. He nodded to her swords. “I appreciate the skill it takes to use swords. I have some knife fighting training but I found swords difficult. I had a hard time finding swords that could hold up to my strength. I tended to destroy the cutting edges when I hit, making the weapon useless. Lucille is based on a Japanese mace.
Blunt force damage worked better for me.” He shrugged and smiled and nodded appreciating that she had taken his lesson in how to treat Duke to heart.

“True. Nothing like smashing shit up, but….ladies do precision. Duke looks so ready to take on shit. I’ve never met an pup in armour. And not one that could gnaw on throats like reindeer bone. Aww. So cute….I swear, you two are goals.” Athena chuckled, looking past her neck brace down to him, shrugging her shoulders, the large plate following the large woman’s form. She didn't reach out to pet him, taking the lesson onboard, albeit holy shit, every part of her was forcing that aspect of her down that she wanted to pick him up and run out of the base with him. How did she never get to have a dog? Was it the moves, or was it her parents, or was it just practicality? It didn't matter. Duke was so friggin' cool.

Chuck laughed at her description of Duke. “The poor guy was hungry. I wanted to be sure he got to eat before we left. Samantha made the armor for him. I was in the marines and he had a kevlar vest but samantha felt he needed something heavier to keep up with me.” He looked down at Duke with a loving warm expression and ran a hand down his back. “I appreciate her efforts to keep him safe. He can be a great asset in the field. He can help locate explosive material and hidden enemies. He guards my back as well. He is a great partner to have.” He looked back over to Athena.

“Enjoy working with Jamie, by the way. He’s got a good hustle, good flow. He can go wild too, so you know. He might be quiet now, but he’ll fuck up a lot of shit. He’s similar to you, I think. Should be a good partnership.” Athena added off-hand, clicking her neck and taking a deep sigh, looking direct at Jamie before then back at Chuck, the blonde, golden girl having that glimmer in her eyes, that sort of….well, excitement that was nervous yet wild. Like not the discipline and order of a Marine, but that of a joyrider, someone very aware they had what they had to offer. Athena may have taken lives, but there's no doubt she is a little removed from it all, perhaps from doing it in armour a lot, rather than through what some of the other heavies would have had in doing it with nothing but violence and spite on their mind.
“Get a hunting trip between the two of you, even.” She giggled, sighing in tone as she adjusted her armoured coil pack with her paw-like hands, checking the charge, the gentle whine pitching up before it came back down.

He laughed at her description of her brother. “I guess we will get to compare styles later. I think we will be okay. Are you going to be okay by yourself?” He was surprised that they didn’t split the giants into two teams. Although he guessed it made sense to have a large team to man the distraction at the main gate. “We helped Tahlia with hunting the reindeer. We both enjoyed being outside. I like hunting.” He shrugged and smiled as he heard her giggle and saw the nervous energy of a soldier knowing that they were headed into battle. He had seen that look before and knew it well. He realized that maybe he had not understood what she meant. He tilted his head to the side as he asked her. “Oh did you mean I should turn the battle into a contest with Jamie?”
”I’m a big girl Chuck, I can handle myself. Just have to see if Marrakesh can handle me.” Athena winked and let go a giggle, listening to him chat, talking it over, the idea of hunting and spending more time with Jamie.

He laughed as she said she could handle herself. “I don’t doubt it. Marrakesh will never be the same!” He winked at her playfully.

“Well. JamJam would probably enjoy spending time with you is all I’m saying. I don’t know why. I just get this feeling, you know? Doing manly stuff like….I dunno, woodwork. And all that. Not for me. Ew.” Athena added, giggling, just you know, teasing away a little. She seemed playful for someone who, in a few hours, might be turning people into ash whilst Chuck was bashing people in, the other titaness in her heavy armor still keeping her levity while they still had it.

Chuck looked confused and tilted his head to the side. He began reviewing what precious little he knew about Jamie. Was Athena trying to subtly set him up with her brother. Was Jamie Gay? Maybe he was trying to read too much into this. Athena had been all over him earlier. He thought he would have to beat her off with a stick. Now she was trying to push her brother on him? “Well we are all still getting to know one another. Who knows what’s in our future.” He let the conversation drop gratefully and kept those thoughts to himself.

---

@LadyAmber





Samantha had settled into her perch on the roof as she monitored Purna’s progress and did her best to aid him. She was working on infiltrating their network even as she kept the drones steady and the alerts off. She had already looped the drone feed so that if anyone was watching it, they would not see any of Raven Squad’s movements.

With Sam getting to work in the background, Purna had his work to do. And there’s something about it with him invisible. Sam may have seen bits of Jaguar in the past doing work cloaked up, but never this close perhaps to someone like Viper, as he slid down the tree and dropped onto the floor with a roll, USP and Kukuri in a tactical position, moving through the tiled floor of the garden, exo-wearing guards on sweep, the mood from loud noise and chaos to clean, beautiful greenery from just being inside. He looked around, and with it, spotted the automated turrets, the first order of business. Finding the VIP was critical, but none of it would matter if he didn’t sabotage that first. Making a hustle, the invisible man kept an ear out for Sam.

“Eyes on automated turrets. Three fifty cals, and a grenade launcher. They are seriously geared. Those are under heavy encryption….and I don’t like the idea of leaving them online. I’ll just set charges and it should give Wilk and Boaro a distraction. Give me a second.” Purna called back, knowing Sam might not agree- hacking them may seem better, but it seemed like before she could reply, he was already on it. There were risks after all following the drone hack that seemed to suggest that with weapons systems, perhaps there was something to pick up. Remotely and from afar, perhaps, but in such a hot civilian area, accidentally spitting lead in any direction that wasn’t the inside of the garden could be chaotic beyond belief. Of course, maybe not something she would agree with, but the infiltrator that turned to a mirage in the courtyard, seemed to just be getting on with regardless.

Samantha acknowledged Purna’s actions. “Acknowledged Viper. I agree.” Samantha understood it was better to disable them so that they couldn’t be taken back over and used against them later. She knew better than anyone that hacking could only get you so far. She also knew that there was always a chance she would brush up against someone just as good if not better than her. Samantha noted that Viper was almost invisible on the camera. She wondered if the drones had infrared and if his suit would show up on that. Something to find out from him for future missions.

Getting on was what he did. Avoiding a couple of patrols, he stuck charges beneath the ammunition of the sentry posts that their optical detection couldn’t see, moving from point to point, between the large white geodesic tent that had been erected in the garden. This wasn’t good. What the fuck were they cooking here, meth? He didn’t want to think of it, but nothing suggested a biohazard, or a chemical hazard, just like it was some temporary covering of some kind for weaponry and other kit, not yet, at least. After moving from the next beam and being careful to not show his figure to the light too much lest it disrupt his cloak, he could see the sight of the building proper where Sam had clambered into a corner, with a number of soldiers coming through. He was in the open, and so with it, darted out after leaving the charge in place, sliding out and under cover.

“A few more my way. We have a bunch of them coming over. I’ll leave them be.” Purna replied, pistol readied as well as the knife, knowing he could just kill all of them…..but, it was probably going to be wasteful. And if the bodies were found, problem. As they passed on by, Purna thought about it. People to get out of the way later, but they would be still a factor. As close as he was, they were likely getting cleaned up when the rest of the team swept through here, and then, no clean up was required. The job was the priority, and he had his part to play, the Gurkha ghosting in the compound as barely a shimmer.

“How’s your hacking going? Need anything from me, want anything else from the bazaar?” Purna gave a light chuckle, knowing Sam was already in the network for drones, but well, now anything else would be handy. He had the VIP to find, likely inside the house proper, and more sabotage to undertake.

Samantha was gleeful as she took control of the internal camera feeds. “Viper be advised internal cameras are showing large numbers of guards sweeping the outer perimeter inside the residence. Working on locating our VIP.” Samantha began to scan internal cameras looking for anyone of interest. There was a man drinking something from a decanter and smoking a cigar in an office. He was wearing the uniform of the local military and appeared to be an officer or general. He had a gold star on his shoulder. ”Potential HVT in an office on the first floor. If I read this correctly, it is the local man in charge.” She giggled a little at such a mundane description for someone who probably acted like an evil dictator and pushed his weight around in this area with the locals. Samantha spotted what she thought they were looking for. “Viper potential location found on the second floor. Guarded room in the back east corner. Two guards outside the door. One guard at each intersection on the second floor.”

Purna nodded, moving around from cover and using the foliage lined alleyway by a pond to make his move, pistol raised, sweeping for soldiers, or anyone on patrol. The intel was useful, a local officer, and someone to have a talk to. Well, that would be just perfect. He moved up a little further and found a shipping container, with a large oil tank next to it. Oh, these fuckers had zero consideration for security. And there’s the thing. Purna doesn’t really need much to think about, as he looks around, watching a couple of guards go out of sight, and him to do his thing. Clip. The tank has a teeny rupture, and spills out black goopy kerosene out onto the floor, the marble slowly getting coated, as he slaps a small charge around the back of the tank, hidden out of sight, on another clacker. He’s not an explosives expert, but it’s a daisy chain. One, to the next, to the next. And the oil is gently pouring out, seeping across and into a nearby fountain, mostly dried but mixing in with the water in the sealed basin that had been left neglected. Little things like that would buy the team time, and before anyone had even come back to investigate the tank area again, Purna had vanished, moving back on towards the building.

Samantha realized she might be closer to the target from her position on the top floor terrace. She needed to support Viper though not run off on tangents or change the mission. The potential target was a floor beneath her. Samantha took a moment to check the camera feeds on the drones. Everything appeared normal. She checked the cameras she had set up and noticed some movement at one of the critical junctures nearby. “Suspicious movement on the south side of the complex. Men dressed as locals but carry themselves as fighters moving in a fast but casual stride coming towards the garden and Valkyrie’s location. Looks like a criminal organization’s hired muscle to me.”

Letting another patrol by, Purna clambered onto the side of the Maison Villeneuve’s aperture, using the first window frame and the grapple to pull him upward, up onto the second floor. He peeked inside, and with it, no VIP. No Henry. Fuck. He had to be downstairs, but well, there he was. The officer like man that Sam described, through the window. Two guards, exactly as described, they looked like Moroccan Army. He threw a couple of cameras down, giving Sam exterior shots of the house and good views in of the garden, back towards the souk-side gate.

“Dry country. They don’t drink here. They aren’t local.” Purna wisely noted, holding onto the window frame and bolting inside, decloaking as he flanked between the two in the corridor, and well, even their exo-clad frames and armour did nothing.

The kukri got buried in the throat of man one as Purna turned the other way and clattered three rounds direct to the face of the other man, dragging the body of the one he had stabbed messily into the storeroom he’d entered, dumping him into the corner, before moving back around, the HVT standing up, moving outside, rifle raised from off his desk. Purna was faster. Purna basically went for the balls from his invisible position, and the weapon suddenly got yanked out of his hand, as he uncloaked. The man tried to yell but Purna was faster. He made it seem easy, hand to throat and pushing, pushing hard as he turned and almost with a ballet dancer’s finesse, yanked him to the floor and used the fat man's weight against him. Bloodied kukri to throat, he eyed him up, gloved hand on mouth, the weight of Purna fully on top of his arm and ribs, and a knife so tight against his throat that any slight movement would ripple blood.

“Yell, and I’ll give you a fate worse than your friends. Understood? Grunt if if you do.” Viper stared dead into his eyes in his clean Arabic, the General nodding carefully, as brave as he may have been, respected, anything he had, it was wiped clean here. This structure, site was secure, plastered in cameras and turrets and guards and well, he had been exposed, all alone. Purna did not have time, he needed answers.

“Where is Henry Simmonds? Talk.” Purna let go of his mouth, but not the knife poised to throat.
“Shit, shit, shit…..no, you don’t understand. I can’t, they’ll kill us all, you…”

“I will make it slow if you don't. Then I start with your friends, and their widows will have no answer because they will never see it coming. So, please answer me.” Purna was courteous, he could say that much, as the General had no choice.

“Downstairs, he’s in a makeshift cell, lots of guards around him but he is co-operating with us. Please, I was just told to capture him and hold him safe until they took him away….listen, the men Artemis paid have families, you can’t let them die!” The General tried to call out, as Purna shrugged, muffling his voice.

“The people you didn’t pay have them as well.” Purna coldly slit his throat on that, and there’s this unknowing sort of cosmic terror that comes from that. He may not have been pleasant, or nice, but holy shit, there’s this feeling of it being good Purna isn’t on someone else’s side. He stood and dragged the body under the desk, badly hidden but at least, out of view for now, as he pulled up the General’s laptop, checking the cabling over, and the dying man. Pulling his arm, he used his finger to open it up with a bloody palm, before sliding a USB inside. He threw a camera down, looking over at the dataset, as the hacking tool did its thing.

“Okay. Chaos. You have access inside to his network. Download what you can, and let’s find out what is going on. I’ll ID the target and figure out what next. Good you’re above me. You hustle well….not bad.” He added, reloading the USP, hearing a few more men heading upstairs, the sound of a radio inside quietly pumping out Bedouin tunes, with Purna reactivating his cloak and going quiet again. No time for IDing. Just action.

Samantha had been following Purna’s progress. She had already taken a good picture of the nonnative general to review and investigate for later. She trusted Bob to keep monitoring cameras for activity. She focused on her hacking and was surprised when Purna advised her he had gotten her access to the network. She did love working with true professionals. “Thanks Uncle.” She grinned, unable to resist teasing the man as she began to connect to the laptop via the program in the modded USB drive. She set the program running to download all the data and mirror the drive. She began using her analyst skills to quickly see if they had anything of value.

Bob’s robotic voice startled her as he reported suspicious activity. She could feel that things were going to kick off soon. There was that sense of impending action in the air. She could see forces shifting nervously and some headed towards the garden. She was not sure how anyone knew they were there but she could see a variety of forces starting to move covertly towards their location. She agreed with Bob’s assessment. She was pretty sure they had been tagged by a local scumbug for hire. The shitstorm they were anticipating was headed their way. “We have forces moving towards the garden. Mostly appears to be local hired muscle. Local army forces seem to already be in the garden. Shit is going to hit the fan soon.”

Samantha went back to the laptop and began to search faster. She began to put puzzle pieces together and swore out loud. She thought back to what Purna had encountered in the courtyard. Fuck. “Be advised, location identified as drug manufacturing and weaponization center. There is a tank of that neurotoxin in the tent. It is ready to be loaded into canisters for shipment. That is now a priority target. It needs to be destroyed before we leave. Intense heat should do the trick. We don’t want to blow it up. That might disperse it. We also want to prevent it from getting into the water supply. Sustained high heat is our best option.” Samantha knew they could blow it up but that might disperse it. It needed to be completely destroyed. She began to search harder for their target. “Viper target confirmed on basement level. Basement entrance guarded by auto turrets and a squad of guards.” Samantha felt her heart begin to race as adrenaline slid into her bloodstream. Things had gotten complicated and dangerous fast.

Purna heard the comms call, seeing the soldiers coming through, reinforcements. Fuck. Not good timing, and they’d pierced inside, joining the existing Artemis contingent. More men meant a problem. They were running on very limited time, and so far, Purna had no chance of doing anything more than fixing the threat.

“Fuck, understood. We have an issue then.” Purna knew things were getting bad. So, a makeshift cell to hold Henry, and his knowledge had been co-opted. Why? Was he somehow able to unlock something out of the makeshift process that had been employed in Colombia? The drug made of proteins and amino acids bonded in Rose’s blood turned into a chemical weapon, now that was a serious threat- so far it was low-level, but activated with the right method, perhaps what the drug lab had discovered to unlock the potential of it could become a terrifying chemical weapon with barely any concentration required to kill thousands. Purna knew that timed wrong, this could all go so much worse- there was nothing he carried that could get rid of that amount, and the base wouldn’t have anything either to do so that burnt hot enough- perhaps only the kerosene from earlier, but that was rigged up in the daisy chain and already spent. Chuck, Jamie or Oliver had a tool for that, most likely- some thermite or something to sort it out. He looked out the window again, seeing more men gather, and in particular, footsteps on the stairwell. Fuck. No easy way out. He couldn’t leap outside, even his optical cloaking wouldn’t hide his profile on the bare wall. The men downstairs needed dealing with. He thought, and thought, and thought. Gears turning. His mind racing. His resolve though, came to something.

“Hold on. I might need to attend to something.” Purna replied, as the men came up, obviously to see the General and inform him of reinforcements. As they rounded the door, Purna kicked one, knife into throat as he swung on him, the other man yelling out as Purna used man one as a guard, firing pistol rounds into his skull, before he could even get a round off. But he’d yelled. Fuck. Brilliant. If Chaos was watching through his visual, then there’s this sort of hard to explain lethality that Purna had in what he did, but now he was going loud.

Suspicions would be up, as Purna bolted from the room and checked the corner, cloaking active once more, thinking, thinking, thinking….and something came to mind.
“Wilk, you read?”

“Affirm, just caught your talk. We are two minutes out, hold tight. How many hostiles are in the house? Can you secure the house, and then go for the neurotoxin?” Adam’s voice came back across comms, as Purna heard more footsteps on the stairs, sighing.

“Fifteen to twenty or so from Chaos’s footage. I’ll warm them up for you. And sure, I suppose I could. Why not add more workload to my jobs. But hey, it’s what we do.” Purna replied, as he put the USP away, and instead, pulled the MP5 into hand.

“Okay, Chaos. I am afraid we just got more work. Mind disabling the automated turret for a moment? I’ll kick it out of shape and confirm our man is there. Keep monitoring the outside, ping any traces to me. Time we secure the target for our friends.” Purna pulled the stock back, and with it, peeked the corner. He then went to draw his gas grenade, and shifting his balaclava, deactivated his cloak, and pulled a respirator mask over his face. With a subtle clink, he lobbed it down the stairwell, and, with two more following, the gas spluttered, the Nepali running downstairs, throwing more bugeye cameras of Sam's type. With the intel Sam was feeding him, Purna wasn’t guessing. He knew where they were. It was like having a third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh eye, and well, when information was king for an infiltrator, he was going to show why he did what he did.

Samantha had swung into high gear as things began to escalate quickly on this mission. Her focus narrowed. She set as much as she could into automation and handed it over to Bob. She began putting away her gear. She pulled out her two pistols. She loaded one with knockout darts and the other had taser darts. She stood and made sure everything was put away. She donned the tactical backpack. She began to move towards Purna, down into the building. “Turret disabled.” She set up an auto feed on the cameras to Purna so that he could see where the targets where.

She moved fast and began to take out guards on the way by. She didn’t go for stealth but speed. The faster she joined her partner the better in this situation. There were not that many left upstairs. She ran down the stairs. She halted at the base of the stairs before stepping out into the main hallway on the first floor. She lobbed knockout grenades one in each direction and waited about a minute as the fast acting gas did its work. She ran down the corridor towards the main entrance. She heard a footstep behind her and whirled, launching one of her throwing knives in reflex at the target. She watched as the guard hit the floor gurgling on blood. ”I am moving towards the entrance now.” She retrieved her dagger and wiped it on the man’s leg before resheathing it.

She slid along the wall at the main entrance with her back to the outer wall. She checked the camera feeds before quickly darting out the entrance and ducked behind a flowy gauze curtain.

Purna moved down the stairs as men choked out, moving through the extravagant hallway of the old art gallery, a group of guards yelling as they swept out, Purna no longer cloaked due to his gas mask, well, at least it would be practically useless considering his head would be visible. But he didn’t really need to be. He just used the smoke to advantage and anyone that came close received a bullet between the eyes, two Artemis operators getting that fate as he moved swiftly through that hadn’t been knocked out in the room over. The VIP’s cell could be seen as Purna lobbed another gas grenade down into the basement and the makeshift site, shrouding the place deep in a haze as he ran through and with it, passed by all the sleepy guards. There was no time to snap necks. The cell mattered, and well, there was Henry…..passed out, inside. Purna kicked over the LMG turret, making sure it was pointing towards a wall at least, and no longer able to function.

“Well, at least he isn’t fucking dead. Or at work.” Purna wryly called to Sam over the comms, as he left that behind, and heading out of one of the doors, made an effort to go not direct into any guards. From the cold concrete inside with thick walls and white paint to sandy effects, he made his way outside. He had a ping on Sam, making her way across to him. Pulling the gas mask off, he pulled his ballie down and gave his cloaking system a minute to reinitialise, making fucking sure to stay out of the way. There’s one thing about an infiltrator that is critical- direct combat was basically a death sentence without finding an edge. Sam could take a few rounds, Purna had virtually no armour and even with speed, would get torn to bits by any machine gun or rifle fire in this configuration. He had to stay out of the way, and well, make his way through the courtyard.

“Wilk, Chaos, VIP is in cell, location pinged. The art gallery basement and ground floor has been gassed, gas should be clear in a minute, and the smoke will last about three minutes to get here and remove the VIP. We are going to secure the toxin now.” Purna called to the two, the device on his wrist buzzing as he punched it and then once again, went blank again, letting the guard patrol past him go by before he rolled out and picked his marks.

"Affirmative, we copy. We're moving close." The reply from the Pole came, and Purna only kept it as background noise for now. The guards were in position, sweeping.

Barely flinching, he put a series of rounds into the Moroccan troops, significantly less well equipped compared to the Artemis guards, and a few shots to the head and thoraxes picked them out, as he knew he had moves to make. He made a move, a few more yelling, moving around, but Purna had to relocate or he was toast. They saw the shots, even from a silenced SMG, they could pick that out.

“Chaos, we may want to make a run on that central tent, quickly, but I have eyes on a few hostiles. Just mark them, and I’ll eliminate them, we’re baiting a few of them out now. Come meet me by the front, watch for hostiles.” Purna added, reloading the MP5 with a beautiful HK slap, hugging the shrubbery in the garden. As a squad ran through, Purna picked off a couple headed towards the entry, one turning but receiving another round as he held in position, clearing Sam’s route down off the residence. With a turn, he pulled the Mk14 off his side and put the MP5 back, stock opened up and two more men running around the side getting shots, the 7.62mm needed for the heavier Artemis troops, who were now responding to the clusterfuck inside the house, using it to cover Sam's movement. The gas was putting them off, considering at best it was like a tear gas, and worst, a knockout the deeper they would get in. It was a little cheap, but well, the best tactics were. Sam would see his silhouette in her visor's HUD, as being invisible of course, he was holding for a moment- the cloaking system good for another few minutes of charge and able to at least hide his signature aside from the rifle rounds he spat out at them.

Samantha spoke quietly into her coms. “Acknowledged Viper. Chaos is moving towards you. There is another squad coming up on your six.” She moved quickly and quietly along the edge of the fancy pavilion hiding in the long curtains. She checked the drone camera feeds. She then grinned and had Bob retask their drones to intercept their men. She smiled as she saw the drones turn their own troops into red outlined targets. The autoguns on the heavier Artemis drones began to fire down at the men. That should ease up some of the pressure off Purna. She hid in the shadows till a four man squad passed her. She stepped out and quickly fired a taser round into each of them.

Purna peeked, watching the guards come along from his quadrant, much more armoured, much more protected, much more set up. Letting the rifle loose back into the position on his side, he drew the knife once again, the sharpened Gurkha Kukuri tight in hand as he cloaked and letting them run close, USP drawn as he put his leg out, tripping one over. He put a round into the other runner as he leaned forward and sliced the man on the floor over, the two others only stopping when they realized what had happened as they charged towards Sam's hacked drones. But it was too late. Purna was already there, Mk14 drawn and with it, clacked both in the head, completing the set. He had to be careful, and moving fast and firing with the cloaking system was a risk, but one lightly armed man against three was going to win. Sam had another squad headed her way, and Purna couldn't get a shot. But he knew they were headed towards him now, after his attention- and she just had to ambush them now.
“All yours.”

She began to work her way towards Purna taking out another 4 man squad. She fired taser shots into two and used a roundhouse kick to take one down as she let fly with a throwing dagger at the last guy. She quickly shot the one she had kicked to keep him down. She was moving fast and with purpose the four men barely slowed her down. She took a quick moment to reload. She saw Purna decloak and began to head towards him. Samantha’s helmet completely hid her face. Currently the visor was down and opaque hiding her features. It was sealed to prevent the knock out gas from affecting her.

Purna saw Sam coming, as he decloaked, reloading his various weapons, the blood barely fazing him. There’s no expression, the balaclava and night vision goggles covering any look of humanity, just some shadow that looks like it only chose to show itself. There was nothing but efficiency, an operator that wanted this done. Skye was cold, but Purna in work here, whilst warm outside seemed almost like he didn’t even cross his mind about what he had done.
“Tent’s that way, stick close on me, Chaos. Wilk, Boaro, are you still en route?” Purna asked, looking to Sam, knowing that there was plenty going on.
“Affirmative....hit charges when ready. We’ll avoid fire on the tent, we have thermal compounds back in the heavies' truck to work on any neurotoxins and let's just hope that it does the job. Secure anything inside before they have the chance to remove it, and we’ll see you later. Out.” Adam’s response was clinical, but not as firm as Purna’s, mostly back to Sam.

“Nice work. That got a lot bloodier than expected.” Purna was understating, holy shit, he was understating that like hell. But it was true- Sam had enabled Purna to basically go absolutely wire there, when needed, and the lethality between the two showed- Purna knowing where men were coming from and how. The plan to gas the room was a little more on the cuff, but it had done the job. The VIP was going nowhere, Adam and Ebrima would turn up and the base had no defences, and well, the troops at the front were probably shitting themselves about where the fire was coming from. Whiiiiich…..was going to be broken by the heavies.

The rest of the orchestra was about to start. Purna vaulted a wall and hoped Sam was behind, making his way across the pavilion and towards the entry of the tent. It was sealed with a large plastic door, and whilst it was clear there was nothing toxic in the fumes inside from what Purna had seen, they had to be extremely careful here.
“Okay. This one is us. Fuck knows what we do. But nobody leaves. Let’s just secure this before anyone has any ideas.” Purna replied, looking across to Sam, getting ready, his MP5 back in hand now, something sub-automatic ready. He slid out his USP.45 spare that he had, and offered it out to her, knowing the situation with her non-lethal rounds.
“Something more lethal.”

She followed Viper into the pavilion and towards the tent. Samantha chuckled softly “Gee thanks Uncle.” She checked that it was loaded and that everything was sliding and working correctly. She handed it back to him. She quickly reloaded her pistols with regular rounds. “I had lethal rounds too. I just didn’t want them to be used in the bazaar before we got here.” She had a pistol in each hand and grinned at him. “Ready?” She didn’t really want bullets to carry inside the tent. They didn’t want to accidentally hit that damn tank of toxic goo.

Purna had no expression to show, but shrugged taking it back, not offended. There was a calm to his tone, not an angry one, not even aggressive, just somehow, settled.
“Fair enough. Hold a second, let me go first, then push. Ready.”
He slid it back into place, and with it, nodded. He pulled the zip open to the door and with it, pushed on through While the enemies were anticipating, Purna cloaked up as he entered, peeling left and going ahead of Sam, giving a little interval. They saw the rustle but didn't fire, as if not sure who was there. As the men focussed on the opened door, Purna appeared as if by magic behind a couple of them in a method Sam wasn’t likely to be able to understand, putting rounds into the two Artemis operators in here with his USPs akimbo, clapping them down with precise and accurate fire, making them turn….and well, opening the door to his operator partner.

Samantha watched as Purna rolled into action. She slid in behind him after a short pause and proved what a good shot she was. She stepped in and fired bullets into the guards that Purna had distracted. She followed his lead, moving with him. Her guns were up as she scanned for more targets. There had been four guards inside the entrance to the tent. Strangely there were no cameras in the tent. The drones were probably meant to be their eyes in this area. Samantha began to go down the opposite side of the tent. She went around the perimeter of the tent and met Purna back at the opening to the tent. “Clear.” She jumped up and placed a camera inside the top of the tent to look out over the tank in the centre. She then did the same outside so they would see if anyone approached. “We just need to hold it now.” She nodded respectfully at Viper as she checked in on how the others were doing.

Purna checked, decloaking, reloading his MP5 as he switched to that instead, dwindling on mags but enough to have done the job. They had done a hell of a mess for light operatives, as Sam swept out the area, Purna mostly focussed on the machinery in the middle.
“Agreed. But I think our friends are about to make that very easy. Wilk, detonator’s been sent to you. On your call, hit it and you have your entry. Base has been rattled, they don’t know where we are, and we’ve dropped about two dozen.” Purna added, pulling his NVGs up to blink, a rare bit of humanity as he looked over to Sam, then back across at the machinery inside, the various tanks, cells and setups in this laboratory-like arrangement.
“Shit. None of this is good. We’ll figure out what it is when the op is done. Or whatever Henry decides to tell us.” Purna added, walking over to it, the tank about the size of two medium-sized propane bottles, the tent area clean as a whistle. Purna knew nothing about bioengineering, but the device off the centre of the room next to the tank was identifiable from the stickers on it, and the other tanks containing chemicals after it.
"Fuck. That's a bioreactor. It's like they're using her blood to take their supply of drugs, and turn it into what they wanted. Shit. They engineered this fast, they knew the potential....." Purna added, looking at the biochemical equipment, looking it over, then back at Sam. This wasn't a proper scale, this, this was a test.
"This isn't at scale."

---

@Starlance




The explosions rippled through the garden, a huge rush of boom detonating the turrets, the kerosene tank's flaming embrace cutting it in two. There's an artistry to it- the garden was on fire, and the fountain in the middle was burning bright too, cutting one half of the garden from another bar a gap in the far side of the garden from where they were watching it. Adam had to admit, Purna and Sam were good what they had did. The speed, aggression, it left few men bar those up top, the elite Artemis troops in place, and Boaro and Adam made quick work of them. Boaro aggressively came in on that, and Adam clipped two more across the terrace, taking them out with precision and ease. They wouldn't have known Sam was up here mere minutes ago, the guards that had come up missing her by seconds as her and Purna were in the yard. There was an impressive body count for the lights today.

But he had nothing to add. He had work to do, and on Boaro's call, Wilk prepared, the flashbang prepped and then thrown down the skylight of the terrace, creating an implant into the house. He charged first, and with it, leapt in, leading the way. Shields up, he pressed forward, Boaro getting the two behind him, as Adam fragged one man in the room, the knockout gas effects now no longer affecting anyone new entering the zone, but keeping sleepy bye times on for anyone unlucky enough to be stuck in it. He had no stopping, and the exo was whining, as he heard one more come around, Adam watching him try and respond as Adam pulled him and hurled him into the wall, blasting a round into his face, in a bloody pulp.

The shield up, Adam pulled the USAS tight and pivoted around, the slug rounds now on considering the more armoured, gas mask wearing Artemis troops were on duty to secure the VIP and well, Adam was taking none of it. As they fired rounds, even Adam twitched a little as they went straight at him, Adam firing back and clattering one bloodily with a slug, picking another with the automatic shotgun, moving down to where the gallery room was, and below that, the basement. Switching to the MSBS, Adam checked quarters, seeing men run from out front, where the Heavies, or Team 3 were assaulting. As the Artemis men ran inside, Adam picked up fire, one exo man jumping but being cut down in flight, his exo's path clattering into floor next to him and his friend following, Adam not in many words as Boaro would follow.

Moving down into the basement, Adam saw Henry there, still out cold, and made his move, shields backed down, running across and kicking the door of the cell in.
"VIP identified. We have him." He called, Henry being out cold a rather handy thing. They always recovered people out. It made it easier at least for resistance's sake, as Adam cranked up the exo to lift, and swinging the MSBS into one hand, fireman carried Henry in left.
"Okay. I'll keep this bastard close, the street is going to flood with troops so the only way out is towards that gap in the fire, and the exit to the Souk. Keep me covered, and pick off anyone else brave enough to get into the garden." Adam called to Ebrima, aware that with the shielding, it probably made sense- he could manage the squad. He wasn't like Skye in that regard- able to get hands on and as close in, he was leading this team, and that meant directing others rather than himself. A better delegator perhaps, but he did want it done his way.

"All stations, this is Wilk, VIP secure. Team, we need to leave. Nord, Boomer, Scion, you need to push on, get through the house and head through the garden. I need EOD on on Viper and Chaos's position in the garden, ASAP. We need thermal charges to deal with the chemical tanks they've found." Adam added, Henry groaning a little on his shoulder, as Adam looked across.
"I have no idea if we're saving you or snatching you. Stay still and you'll get to live at least." Adam added, with it, moving out, shields down for a moment but ready to at a moment's notice, following on Boaro's lead out into the garden, knowing the heavies just about had the front sown up now from their breach and from their initial antics. So far, this was going well- but the tide could shift, and Adam knew they had to get to Athena's extract point, soon as possible.

---

@BigPapaBelial@LadyAmber@Jamesyco



The heavy brawled with Oliver, the mechanised armour straining as he swung his minigun like a club, blocking hits, trying to pick holes in his defence. He would have his way, but he was occupying Oliver- so either he had to end it, or someone else did, the other titan of the bunch making a difficulty here.
"Get off me, you big bastard!" The other heavy yelled, a distinctly Irish accent, funnily enough.

As they headed in, more troops met the Heavies than met the internal team- they were making such a racket after all, and they were assaulting the heaviest guarded piece of the Maison Villeneuve. Chuck, Oliver and Jamie, once they had finished the front would have a portal through the lobby proper and into the garden, the direction of travel for the fight and where Adam and Ebrima were. For Chuck, likely it meant a trip through the lobby past the two and to the tent- and the team would start to move in the direction of the souk, towards the fire-break and from there, out through the souk streets to their RV. If all went well, they didn't have far to go. One thing was clear- everyone was now back on the same wavelength, and the co-ordinated chaos meant they had Henry, the intel, a lot of dead bodies and now, a fight to finish.

---

The situation in the square wasn't getting any better, with people screaming, people dispersing, and only now, the Moroccan Army troops being told very firm and clear- stay the fuck away from Blue Sword, friendly or foe. Not a nice situation, but one none the less. That was, lest one armoured MRAP charged through, heading straight for the souk it would never fit into.

"Shit." Athena replied, seeing a truck hurtle towards the start of the Souk, Blue Sword troops firing on it as it fired back. Athena growled, pulling the coil tight and with it, pulling up the setting. The truck wasn't stopping from fire, as her guys dived out of the way, from gunfire and getting runover. Athena's coil did not take as long as some would think, and as she hit the clacker, the bolt flew and with it, didn't so much as detonate the engine block as dismantle it. The truck skidded to a halt as Blue Sword teams recovered, swarming the truck and eliminating the hostiles, Athena not so happy about the situation. More of them were coming in, they were fucking swarming out of the rafters.
"You've stired the nest, Wilk, get the fuck out and to my position, it's the path of least resistance, we are holding tight!" Athena called back, other Blue Sword soldiers moving from cover to cover, letting civilians run through, but keeping a swivel. The large heavy's footsteps clattered on tile, the smell of cold static latent in the air as she kept an eye out.

Staring at the mask of the other man, who he was a bit confused about the Irish. "Catholic or Protestant?"

"Catholic." the heavy replied in almost a moment of confusion between the two.

"Ah, that's good, I hate fighting unionists, I swear to the lord they are some of the most pretentious people, it's like dealing with lion that thinks it's a house cat."

"Aye." the man said as the minigun landed on Tiny's shoulder. "But ya gotta do it, else we all know what happens."

"True, but... I see you're working with the black and tans then." Oliver replied as he nodded a bit, "If it makes the insult better, I did almost go to Notre Dame."

With that the opposing heavy did once again try to bash Tiny's head, again landing on the shoulder, and with that the conversation seemed to be a flair of insults going both ways, every once in a while there was a moment of clarity within the words being cast back and forth. Most of the slurs and curses, but it seemed as if the two were having 'fun.' By fun, it was an absolute brawl which again went to mechanical fists hammering away at each other. The Minigun was damaged, the axe was stuck, and fists seemed to be the focus.

A swing from below landing in Tiny's stomach plate, replied with the double hands of tiny hitting back of the Irish Heavies head. It was entirely a back and forth, plating being smashed as small arms picked up upon the two once again making plinking noises as they brawled.

Another lull in the fight came when Tiny's shoulder plate had the other heavy hand shoved between two of the plates, "If ya make it out of this, I swear to god I'll carry around a pint of Guinness case I have to deal with you again." Tiny said before pulling his arm shattering some of the protection on the Irishmans gauntlets, but more importantly, locking him into place.

Tiny turned and pushed his back against the Irishman's armor, his other hand moving to keep the other arm from moving too much. With that, he pulled the armor up, the gears and motors in his legs strained for several second before the Irishman went forward, both arms turning in ways they likely shouldn't have turned as the man landed on his front. Tiny forced down a bit to confirm that the arms were likely broken, before he slowly stood, feeling plinks as his armor loosened some as his shoulders rolled, letting go of the other man.

"Can two people fighting not have more than... however long it was to fight without any distractions?" he asked slowly picking up his shield as if his armor was trying to reset with him in it, and also if the man was sore from literally brawling with another tank of a man. "If... Oh yea, Muslim majority country, not a lot of bars around here..."

The man was mostly speaking to himself, but also kinda to the spot on his shield where ducktape remained from the failed experiment with the microphone. With that, the axe was hastily retrieved from wiring and armor, pried out, and the man relaxed as best as he could by pinging underneath the shield and against the compound wall. It was almost a breather if he wasn't getting shot at by likely increasingly large amounts of bullets. It was also a moment to do damage control, figuring out what the brawl had broken.

Not much was too damaged, mostly dents, if anything. The only thing that was a problem was something in his right leg. It always had to be the right leg; he felt as if its mechanics weren't holding up again and that, for the most part, the gear was stuck again. He shifted his leg around and placed the shield on that side of his body.

He pulled his rifle up in his left hand and approached the gate, "I am at half-ish speed until I can fight the right knee again. Enemy heavy is down."

Tiny pulled again at his leg until it and the shield were facing out into the city, and his backside was to the compound; he just listened to gunfire and the pinging; the radio came over his right ear going through the garden, wasn't that the first idea. Well, it was until the resident heavy got in his way. He began to fire sporadically at anything getting close. Surprised still that he was already out of breath, maybe he has been out of the game too long. Naaaaaaa, just the Irish dude, totally just the Irish dude, and also carrying weight with the right leg slightly out.

Punching a hole

---

The Souk had dissolved into chaos once the fighting started. The innocent people around them were fleeing and had already moved away from the garden. The chaos rolled out away from the garden as an undulating mass of people swept those before them as they tried to move away from the fighting. It was like watching a tide of people sweep everything in the path before them. Artemis’ assets that were located outside the garden were struggling to make it any closer, fighting to get through the panicked crowd of people fleeing in the opposite direction. Chuck relaxed as the chance for collateral damage fell. He would have to remember to buy Nord a beer later as a thank you. His plan had worked to flush the innocent people away from the garden and had caused an impediment to Artemis’ forces trying to converge on the garden.

Chuck was smiling and having a great time by the time the two MRAP’s had exploded. He was just getting warmed up. He began to laugh as he holstered Lucille. He grabbed a solider in an exo ripping his gun out of his hands even as he fired it point blank into Chuck’s chest armor. He grinned as he yanked on the guy's ankles and began to swing him in a large circle knocking down the guards running to engage him. He built up a good momentum and then let the guy fly towards another group that was heading towards him. Chuck laughed as the man in the exo landed sideways knocking the whole group over like bowling pins. “Bowling for Bozos! Strike! I win!”

The heavies had become the center of attention for guards on the ground inside the garden. There were guards converging on the trio from almost every direction. Chuck spotted what looked like an officer in an exo directing a larger contingent of soldiers from deeper inside the garden. The trio had punched through the barricade at the gate and had managed to move deeper into the garden about 50 feet. Chuck grinned and began to charge towards the exo clad officer. Duke stretched out into a run next to him.

Chuck took off running like a linebacker to intercept a quarterback down field. Chuck zigged and zagged to make hitting him more difficult as he closed the distance between them. Chuck could hear the hail of bullets pinging off his armor. He felt the wash of debris wash over his left side as a grenade went off a few yards to his left. Chuck’s eyes narrowed as he refocused on his target and picked up speed. This shit was personal now. That grenade might have hit his dog. The man in the exo had managed to get his squad all turned to face Chuck and they were bravely firing at him standing their ground. Chuck had to look like a locomotive of mass destruction heading towards the man and his squad. The man in the exo was the one who had launched a grenade at him.

As Chuck showed no signs of stopping or even slowing down, the men in his squad began to run away as he got within a few yards. Chuck hit the man in the Exo head on as he ducked a shoulder to launch the man high into the air using his momentum and strength to flip the man. The two came together with a loud crunch of explosive sound as the man in the exo caught some serious air and flipped three times before landing with a loud crunch. Chuck felt satisfaction flicker through him at the sound. The man didn’t move again. He pulled out his carbine and swapped to lethal rounds now that he was no longer worried about hitting innocent people. He slapped it home and began to fire at the fleeing squad of soldiers that had just been targeting him. “How do you like it?” He growled a little as he quickly eliminated them.

Chuck had gotten a little sidetracked and took a moment to reassess what was happening on the field of battle. The heavies were well inside the perimeter now. They had pushed in at the entrance and had spread out in an arc around the entrance on the inside of the wall. There were still guards moving towards them from the residence side of the compound. Chuck had eliminated the guards near him along the left side of the entrance inside the wall.

Chuck listened as Adam came over the comms with an update and orders. "All stations, this is Wilk, VIP secure. Team, we need to leave. Nord, Boomer, Scion, you need to push on, get through the house and head through the garden. I need EOD on on Viper and Chaos's position in the garden, ASAP. We need thermal charges to deal with the chemical tanks they've found."

Chuck blinked as he thought about what that meant. He needed to get to that tent and check out what he needed. If they found chemicals it meant some kind of bio weapon or chemical weapon. After recent events, Chuck just knew it had something to do with the situation they had faced with Skye. He whistled for Duke who returned to his side. He looked at the opposition between him and where he needed to go. All the troops moving towards the heavies were between him and where he needed to be. He cursed to himself “Well shit, this mission just gets better. No plan survives contact with the enemy. Time to improvise.” He keyed his comms before replying “Boomer acknowledges moving towards target.”

Chuck began to charge, planning to punch through the guard line moving towards him. He began to move deeper into the compound. He had his carbine on semiautomatic and was carefully picking targets. He went for efficiency and precision over spraying bullets. He began to target heads and moved from one target to another as he walked in a bent knee smooth gait for shooting as he moved. His training and experience on full display even as he made it look graceful in heavy armor. The soldiers he hit didn’t get back up again. They were dropping and tripping the soldiers behind them. He just kept walking his gun down the line. He paused and reloaded in a flash as he continued to push towards the heavy line confronting him.

Stepping up the chaos

---

Samantha had cleared the tent. She and Purna were the only two inside. She had slapped up cameras to get her eyes on what was happening so she could monitor the situation outside. Purna had taken the job of reporting into Wilk. Samantha took a moment to check in with Bob and the cameras. “The heavies had kicked in the front door at the gate. The natives are in full route. There are still operatives trying to reach us but the mass exodus of innocents is slowing them down. They are still trying to hide their activities from the locals.” Samantha found that tidbit interesting. There were definitely groups that Artemis had bought off. She had identified some known local criminal syndicates in the area. She had the intel from when she worked in the region. They didn’t seem to want the locals to know they had been bought. She would analyze what that meant later.

She turned her attention to the data that Bob was sending through her encrypted uplink to the dead drop server. She had set it up very carefully with Rose’s situation in mind. That dead drop server had a satellite uplink but was also in a faraday cage with a kill switch that would sever all lines of communication and power out physically. Samantha was taking no chances downloading a virus or worse yet... Rose’s personality laying in a buffer or server just waiting for an opportunity. She began to search for what they were doing in the tent. She couldn’t find any data on it. When she heard Viper talking about a bioreactor and scale she began to look more closely at the equipment in the lab. She looked at the two small tanks. She would have thought they had a much larger tank of the neurotoxin by now. The equipment was the kind used by scientists for DNA research and gene splicing. There were stainless steel lab tables with microscopes, centrifuges, a dialysis machine, and some other electronic lab equipment.

Samantha began to think out loud. “There are only two small tanks because they are extrapolating this from her blood. She can only donate so much blood at a time without dying. Unless she sacrificed one of her clones to harvest its blood. Even then though, the human body only carries approximately 2 gallons of blood. Once extrapolated, there wouldn’t be much. That might not matter if it is potent enough.” She took a moment to check the cameras and caught Chuck’s charge into the exo officer and winced as the man went flying. She noted that Nord was moving slower and something seemed wrong with one of the legs on his suit. It didn’t look like it was bending properly. Jamie looked like a metallic native warrior god dancing among peons. She would have to tell him later he deserved extra points for style.

Collab with @BigPapaBelial and @Starlance










The two seemed almost a dynamic duo, a pairing that certainly the Scot wasn’t expecting to be back into. But it was what it was. And this was the riskiest thing she’d ever imagined they would do. The skyscraper opposite the park was a quick drop off after the car had dumped them around the corner, and Skye had stashed her gear on a rucksack, carrying it over her leather jacketed shoulder, concealing a kevlar vest and tactical equipment. The sort that would be anticipated from someone on the hunt. Skye had understood Rose had the same training- so therefore, they didn’t just have the same blood and genetics, they very much acted similarly.
“Follow my lead, Ban. Act like we belong here, and let’s stay undercover as long as possible.” Skye said, the shaven-head Scot resolute, the adrenaline pumping through her knowing they were going straight into a den full of tigers.

Armed with a G36 instead of her MCX that she pulled out of the bag before heading for the entry, the slightly more archaic weapon was a stalwart of the SAS, and a few other organizations in Britain back in the day, and perhaps was why Rose loved it so much. An iconic tool, and Skye no less had to look the part. It fit among, and Ban was in front, almost like a hostage.

With a walk inside of the building’s reception room, eyes turned, a few guards immediately coming out, guns raised upon seeing Skye, no, Rose, and Ban armed and tooled.
“Hands up!” One yelled, rifle raised, the unsuspecting Ban in front of her likely wanting to pull his rifle up and deck the two. Skye put a hand on the back of his shoulder, pulling front.

“Don’t you recognise your boss! Rifles down, lads. Get the verification.” She spoke with a convincing English accent, and toned back her mannerisms, pushing it all down. The Scot felt a little unsure, but fuck, this was something to do. Not so much impersonating someone else as the other half of her. The guards were still querying, as Skye, as Rose, sighed, walking in front, rifle lowered.
“This is Ban Kingo. He’s ex-Raven, and was harboring Skye Rosalind Lyons, but saw sense to join us instead. He is the one you fuckers couldn’t catch. Neither was she, despite my instructions! So I did some work of my own and and she’s now swimming pretty lifelessly in the Tokyo sewers. He’ll verify. While you bastards sat here, I had to get my hands dirty. Again.” Skye said, as one of them looked confused, but instead, came out with a device.

“I need a voice print and a code. I apologize….they are the security measures, Rose, as requested.” Skye shrugged in response to the guard, as she looked to Ban, reassured, the patch on her neck holding for now as she saw him pull the phone, holding it in front of Skye.

The voiceprint was easy, as she called out her name, Rosalind Lyons, easy enough. The code though, that was harder. She had to think. Actually, fuck. This was a problem. She kept thinking, thinking…..what was that date that they went to Porton Down? What was it? Rose was stuck on history. Skye wasn’t…..and she got it. Bam. And put that in. And to almost her entire relief, and shock, the six digit code worked, a bright green tick following. That shouldn’t have been so easy, but then again, maybe remembering a past was a good thing- something Rose didn’t gamble Skye would do so easily considering how far she’d run away, but since what had happened, Skye had made a mental note to remember it. Shit, this was the most awful cybersecurity she’d seen and no doubt Enri would find this the best joke of the year, but then again, Rose never looked over her shoulder. Never since now, at least. The guard nodded, and looked up.

“I apologize gravely, Miss Lyons. Welcome. Andros-san is not around, but you have full access. We have rooms upstairs for debriefing him.” His response was a Japanese level of affectionate apology, as Skye shrugged, looking to Ban, then back, the look of disappointment on her mug, almost you could call it a resting bitch face.

It was such a close thing, almost looked like they could get into the building just fine and through into other areas too. But of course no plan survives contact with the enemy. The guards approaching slows things. Ban hand slips under his long coat, hidden within his light short rifle, a HK derivative that had been shaved down to almost bare bones, barely 20 inches long all told, but could still hit like a brick shit house. But also in there, nestled just down the inside, his katana. The guards are so close, the rifle would be easy to make three pops each, the integrated suppressor would be helpful, but no his hand was just an inch away from the handle of his blade. Yes it was a close thing, and just as he felt the shark skin leather wrap…

Such a close thing.

Skye’s hand on his shoulder stops him.

Discipline, loyalty and Yakuza pride is the only thing that stays his hand and relaxes his body. Not yet.

He held still, trying to play the newly turned operative? That Rose/Skye had found him and come to fill him in? He huffed. He could work with that.

With a slow swallow he listened carefully. And that casual Japanese style familiarity, how often had Rose been here?

Ban quirked an eyebrow at Skye then made a little motion with his chin towards one of the lifts, and then a nearly imperceptible nod. It’s the best thing they could roll with right?

Skye nodded back to the guard, and stays assertive, like she owns the place, and leaves him behind, looking over her shoulder to break the silence.
“You did your job. And I did yours too, who knew. I suppose if I was Skye, she’d have had you killed a lot faster. I want more guards down here, tell Andros he’s going to get another visit from me if he doesn’t. Because I seem to be the only one hurting Raven and I am sick you don’t take it so seriously.” Skye ruthlessly responded, sighing as the guards barely replied, as Ban headed towards the elevator, Skye following towards, before they stepped in. Hitting the button, the doors shut, and the Scot looked over.

“Holy fuck. That actually worked. Shit, I was about a few seconds from giving you the double shoulder tap and we would have to ice everyone there.” Skye looked exasperated, yet giggling now, knowing Ban was no doubt freaked out by this version of Rose.
“So, let’s try and keep going. They think I’m here to debrief you. We need to keep playing this. We need to find a computer, get our friend on the network, then find the vault. And whatever is inside. Then, we really need to get out, fast.” Skye replied, the lift accelerating fast up as it went, Skye leaving the rifle slung on its strap, the alter ego she played holding true.

Ban walked to the lift and held the door as Skye finished her little tirade. He had to keep his face straight as best he could the whole time. Once the door closes he looks to make sure there are no cameras, finding none he lets out an explosive breath and sags against the lift wall, “Izanagi’s balls…how the hell did that work!” He caught his breathe carefully, “You are a born actor Kitsune-chan. I don’t think I could have pulled that off nearly as well as you did.”

He pulls out his phone on which the plans still rested, “Okay…uh fourteenth floor.” He looked over and pressed the button to set the lift going, “The network room should be up there. My mole here says that level is high enough there are fewer guards on a wider patrol. But they will all likely think you’re Rose, and we should have free reign.” He gives Skye a look, “This Rose…she seems like a iron-cold bitch. I have trouble see how you Kitsune-chan could even be remotely like her.” He gives her a good look over, “If I ever meet her i’m going to try and take her hands, Skye-chan does not deserve someone like that darkening your name.”

Skye chuckled, shaking her head, knowing this was addictive as all fuck. Holy shit, this was like Raven but way, way more toxic and worse in every single way.
“Hah, not before I get to her first, Ban. Enri’ll have a tracker on us. She’ll patch in when she needs to tell us anything, we’ll be on our own. Network room is first, then the vault after. Biometrics should get us in, which in this case, are easy. Hopefully.” The Scot replied, chuckling knowing full well Ban was probably enjoying this side, the more casual looking Skye knowing full well this operation hinged on selling that cover. Until it wouldn’t matter, they had to keep rolling that punch.

“Here we go. Good spot on the plans. Follow my lead..” Skye replied, as the doors opened, the office empty considering the evening hour, but a few guards waving to Skye, not even imagining she was the Scot but rather the elusive, secretive operative that had turned Artemis’s fortunes around. Rose was someone who didn’t want to be seen unless she had to be, and well, to be in person with an ex-Raven operative, who she seemed to be escorting, but well, rather than go direct for the rooms, they had half a detour to make. And they carried on, avoiding suspicion, and moving with an intent. A couple network engineers were in on the late shift, as Rose nodded to them, convincingly taking out a USB, as they looked on at her.
“I’ve got some intel off Raven. More for our supply. Have a peek. Courtesy of Ban Kingo. See, he likes our ideas. And this should be the final piece. I want to have him personally see what that means.” Skye said, the engineers standing at the sight, in disbelief that Rose would visit, the voice immediately identifiable from her various previous calls, slapping it onto the desk proudly. Skye knew this wasn’t going to be a simple one. They weren’t morons. They would check the USB first, and find it full of contents. But rather than hacking a laptop here, a CCTV system there, this was basically the central node. And it would be a couple more that would grant them access to a few specific controls, and they would be game, set and match.
“Oh, hello….Miss Lyons, we were not expecting you? And this is a great pleasure. Let us check.” One engineer took it off the desk that Skye placed it down on, returning to his computer, as she replied.

“Yes, well, when you have my capabilities I don’t want to be known, do I?” Skye replied, fully, totally leaning into Rose now, yet almost, to you dear reader, making it almost clear she was indulgent in the sarcasm now. There was reason for that. Walking across the room, she nodded to Ban, the other engineer peering away as she gave a pull on her throat, as incognito as she could.

And behind that other chair, she gave it a second, just a moment, before…..oh, well, his check wasn’t going to be a long one.

A hard kick to the back of the chair sent him squishing against the table as she reached forwards, pulling him down and onto the floor, pivoting him around and pulling, holding, holding, and holding, feeling the guy start to go limp as he kicked out, her stranglehold choking him out as she felt him try to kick and grab her, yet to no avail. Skye had done this a lot. Rose probably, too. And bit by bit, she felt him calm, and eventually, drop out.

“Fucking hell. Okay. Are you good?” Skye asked, looking over from her limp guard, towards Ban, who would have his person to deal with.

Ban looked at Skye and edged to the side, coming up behind the other man carefully, slowly. The pair of engineers bent over the console. He waited, watching Skye out of the corner of his eyes. And moved in near perfect sync.

The pair of engineers were looking at the contents of the USB. One of them let out a soft urp as Skye took him back and down. The second man was just beginning to turn, when the Kingo Family sword slithered up out of the coat, the scabbard still over the blade. And Ban locked the hard wood and leather scabbard over the front of the second man’s throat, and he pulled up and away, walking back slowly backwards. The engineer reaching up and trying to scratch at the scabbard then back at Ban. The former Raven soldier, renewed Yakuza using a very gangster style take down.

Ban stepped back and back and back until the engineer’s movements slowly came to a stop, his face purple from lack of air and maybe blood flow. Ban eased off and then gently laid the man on the floor, reaching down to check his pulse, “He’ll live, but will feel this pain for awhile.” He nods, “Good.” He looks around to make sure no one saw that take down, “We best hurry, I can’t imagine that this room isn’t on a pass by patrol or a physical patrol check.”

Skye nodded, in response dragging the body out, sliding him under the desk, and propping him up against the wall, having a moment’s realization. She ran quickly to the other side, finding what was one of the tech’s hoodies, and slid it under, before putting the chair underneath.
“There. Well. Sort of. Yeah, let’s make a move. First though.” Skye shrugged, knowing Enri would appreciate this. Going to the tech’s work station, she slid the USB in and saw it override all the security measures, automatically tapping past the internal security like a breeze.

“Outflaw, keys are yours, start the download if you can and tap into their network. We’re going to continue.” Skye replied, and with it, leading on Ban, knowing this would be a tense one, but still all on plan. They had a timeframe now, and that focussed things a bit better.

In a hotel on the other side of the city, a ping interrupted the bored hacker. About time, she was shit at Minesweeper anyway. Cracking her knuckles, Enri opened several windows across the three screens she had brought in, the young Yakuza buck tasked to do it occupied with a laptop near the suites door in case security was needed. Not likely. Not only did Enri set up a VPN beforehand - and as YouTube ads would tell the laymen those were bulletproof, she thought with a snicker - the entry team had taken her words about choosing targets well to heart. Almost before she had time to connect the programs she was going to need, her creation was already reporting near-total control of the target site’s communications.

“You made good time.” She quipped to announce her presence on comms, “They’ll need a crystal ball to find our transmissions, we can talk freely. I’m setting up the data mine now, give me two minutes for cameras.” if they had them. If you were doing shady stuff, you wouldn’t want records of it, she thought as she set the wheels in motion, feeding security data back to her main servers where an AI would determine areas and events of note and bring them up to a human operator to sort out. She quickly opened a communications window, a disheveled man in pajamas on the other side. “FastByte, we’re beginning.” He did not waste time answering, the man and his two brothers regular contractors Enri had met in university. In the meantime, another AI was already sniffing out every last byte of what Kitsune might be interested in. One jack-of-all-trades would’ve worked, but smaller, specialized programs were her whole schtick. It sold better and usually worked faster, too.

The guards from earlier were gone, as they got back to the lift, and tapping the button, the lift came up, the doors opening again and the two back inside. Skye knew
“Floor 24. This one might be a bit more tense. But let’s find out what the hell is going on.” Skye commented to Ban, turning to face him, knowing she had some explaining.
“I don’t know what we’re going to run into. But apparently, whatever the cure to this neurotoxin is, it’s here. I imagine you could burn it off just as easy. But, there may be some reason she’s kept it in her locker. And I don’t think we’ll understand it fully until we do. There are going to be a lot more questions than answers, Ban. You really don’t want to know what Rose is like. But you wouldn’t have signed up for what we did if you didn’t believe that. Trust me. I appreciate this more than my life is worth right now..” Skye said, knowing Ban was fully in on this ride or die shit right now, but that was the way the game would go. Checking herself over, she coughed a little, brushing off the fact she’d just choked someone out barely minutes ago, and readied up, another floor, another job.

Ban checked around the room once more, then hid his katana again in his coat. He picked his way out moving along in sync once more with Skye. Moving back to the Lift. He nodded again and hit the button for floor twenty four. The lift began again. Ban leaning on the wall lightly, he turned and smiled as the woman began to speak, “I watch and listen and see this as yet another dark thing we have to excise from the soul of this world.” He smiled brightly, “I still don’t fully understand what is happening, but I would not have joined you in this if I didn’t believe in you.” He nods, “Rose sounds like a true bitch, and if we can get something up on her without her truly knowing, then I believe in we will know eventually. And hopefully we can get you back to your family exonerated.” He looked up as the lift reached floor nineteen, “You have a life rich of experiences, and it is worth more then royal gold.” He faces her again, “And I’ll lay down my life if I have too to make sure you get it all back.” He gave her a bow, then straightened as the lift neared their next destination.

Skye nodded, hopeful, glad at least someone was on side. Oracle certainly wasn’t- whilst there was no doubt it would be painful to do something to her, precautions would need to be taken. She hoped the team was okay, at least, somewhat holding up. They would be. She wouldn’t have recruited them if she hadn’t, for now, the only thing that mattered was this. Whatever the fuck the cure was, whatever the hell they were looking at after, and what it meant. It would be an olive branch, a way back in and at least, it would put a dent in her plans. Creating dilemmas rather than nice choices, Skye perceived it as. Rose would do the same. Exactly that, like in New Zealand- perhaps forcing a choice of staying and fighting, or retreating and losing. And now they had to make this pay. Make this work.

“Glad you trust me. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, I would say the same, but, I’ve killed the hag twice and she’s kept fucking coming back. Not going to lie, it doesn’t make it any easier to kill the person who has your face.” Skye quipped back, the lift slowing, as they came to it. This was it. This was the floor that scared Skye, somewhat, but she had to push through that fear. The doors opened, and with it, the two emerged, a much higher density of guards here now. They all recognised Rose, the security check at entry passed as they knew what she was here for.
“Miss Lyons, you are a surprise to see here. You move in shadows, but it is a pleasure. I know you like to check on things, but I wasn’t expecting something so soon.” One asked, the German woman standing from her desk, not following the others in bowing, aware of Rose’s presence here, her mannerisms, her way here.
“That I do. I need to show this man something. Something rather important to our cause…and to me. Can you open the vault for me, please?” Skye asked, the girl looking up and down Ban, moving aside from the desk.

“This is Ban Kingo? We checked on him. Amagi Clan, pachinko parlor operator in Kiyose City. Rose….what does he serve us, if you don’t mind me asking? Not my place, but I am curious where he fits. You know me, I’m just curious about too much.” Skye sighed, knowing the question was an honest one, but chances were, Rose had built up a relationship with this person. It’s odd, because Skye is playing her out to that end.

“He knows how they work. And once I worked my magic on him, he gets it. He’s clever enough to figure out why Skye lied to him, lied to all of them. And I’ll say it in front of him….I think he was disillusioned with it all. Probably why he ended up out. How he didn’t get his head washed up, I don’t know. Whatever that shit they get up to get people out…..means he’s useful. Just needs a little proof though. And he’ll be hunting the rest of Raven by tomorrow morning.” Skye said, chuckling, a wry smile on her face, not unlike her usual own, but very much leaning into Rose’s.
“Well, fine. We’ll open it up. All yours, Rose.” The guard replied, and with it, instructed a group of her team to make way, headed to a panel. Mental note, that needed hacking too, but for now, Skye played her part, guiding Ban.
“Well, let’s go see what we have. Ban, you may be wondering if anything I said was true. Let me show it to you personally.” Skye felt odd to lead him, considering she was leading him to something of proof, but instead, they were going in to steal, or at the least, work out what the hell was on the other side. The metal door on the outside of the lab opened, and beyond that, an even larger door hissed open.

Ban smiled and winked at Skye then fell into place as they exited the lift. He paced just a step or two behind Skye and to her left. He slowed and stayed in the rear, crossing one arm across his chest, trying to appear casual even with the number of people around now. He was starting to get a little antsy now. Old instinct perhaps.

He turned and looked at the German woman, his eyes narrowing then doing his best not to growl. She knew quite a bit about him it seems. His Clan, his family, where he worked and the location of it no less. Everything in him screamed at him to shut her up somehow and make sure that information never got out. His hand briefly twitched and went for the katana in his jacket, it’d be so easy to, a swift cut, and she’d be silenced. But discipline again stopped him. He took a deep breath and bowed, “Many things have been revealed to. The perfidy of the woman who I thought my friend and mentor has been revealed.” One of the other people in the room saying something about it was bound to happen, even to the best.

And to anyone really familiar with Ban, Skye at the very least in the room, it’s clear the Yakuza is planning just how he could kill everyone in the room except for Skye as quickly and cleanly as he could. But before he could finish the doors open and beyond the vault doors hiss apart.

Ban takes a deep breath forcing his want for violence down, and follows in Skye’s wake.

And with it, Skye walked through, the vault doors opening up and revealing inside at first, a blinding white light, with sample after sample along the walls, various chemicals, a but all vialled, all contained. This seemed strange. Like a bloodbank, but something else altogether stranger, that nobody here was quite qualified to understand, well, aside from the techs, scientists, and maybe Rose herself. For such a secure whiteroom, the containment was clearly clear, and well, Rose had been here before. Skye couldn’t exactly say why, but it felt almost like her marks, her trace were over this. The Scot looked over the vials, looking back to Ban, curious. They were alone, the techs left at the start, and leaving them behind as the room illuminated in purple and blue light, revealing a lab, vaults of samples and what you would typically be expecting to see in a biochemistry set.
“These look similar. Odd. They’re somewhat a green compound, then the burgundy ones over there.” Skye commented, tsking, walking up to one of those claret ones in particular.
“So, she carried this with her in Patagonia, wanting to stab me with it in a syringe. Then she did. Clearly some sort of sorted neurotoxin….called “Hestia”. That’s the same thing Pavel said. That is weird.” Skye wouldn’t have known the details that Raven knew now on top of her own historic knowledge, but the other side, the green ones, that she recognised more as she walked over.
“Okay. So, that’s the opposite. Sol. That’s the sun.. I don’t get it. So if that thing there should kill instantly, why make this as a sample? Strange…and why is Pavel saying both when he’s drunk out of his ass?” Skye said almost the more obvious thoughts in her mind out loud, looking to Ban, then looking across the far end. She took one of the vials out, the reinforced polymer in hand as she carried it, then peering across to Ban, who probably looked very, very confused.
“Oh, right. Long story. There’s something to tell you at the end. Shall we have a look? Outflaw, we are pushing further into the vault. I’ll see if there’s anything we can can get you into.” Skye asked, almost a telling voice, her curiosity piquing. The temperature in the vault was cold, making her shiver, the translucent plastic blinds hiding something.

The yakuza stepped into the vault and looked around. Then had to lower his head and rub his eyes, “Ahhh so bright…” He looks up again to make sure there are not cameras, well none that Enri hasn’t already taken. He nods at the pair in the room, “Can you see this Enri-chan? This place is…I don’t know…both disgusting and far too clean to be real. I feel like this is another world entirely.” Ban paced to one of the walls and made his way slowly down, looking at the vials, and the beakers and all the glass containers, “These names mean almost nothing, but each one, feels like a disaster waiting to happen.” He reaches up almost touching a vial with some stange blue powder within. But stops himself before his fingers rest on it, “Rose, have probably used each of these, or tried too. But schemes could someone have for these powders and liquids.”

Turning he nodded and caught up with Skye, “Yes, we should, maybe we can find the thing that is likely to cause the most problems.” He edged over towards the other end of the room carefully, looking back at the vault door they came in through then back towards Skye, catching up with her finally, “Let’s hope.”

"No eyes on the inside. Let me see…" She fired up a search engine on a different screen, “Hestia, Greek goddess of hearth and home. And sacrificial fire, that's ominous. Sol was... the Roman god of sunlight. Hm, probably unrelated then?” She’d hoped whoever this ‘Rose’ person was she’d be stupid enough to assign meaningful codenames. And while the initial security would’ve been laughable were it not sad, no such luck here, or at least she couldn’t see the connection if there was one.

Skye replied to both, knowing Ban was no doubt confused by it, and so too would be Enri. It made sense, well, the fact none of it really did. But beyond the plastic? There was an allure. A pulling of the feeling, the sense as she knew that Enri would have unlikely seen beyond, and Ban neither.
“Copy. Yeah, this is weird. Maybe this connects to something.” With both their thoughts in mind, Skye peeled back the plastic, and stepped on through.

There’s a deep, horrid sinking feeling that hits her, as she saw the room, as long as the skyscraper must have been wide, and nothing really could have even given her any preparation for it all. There’s nothing she can say, as the lights flicker about, Skye walking past one, after another, after another. The horror persists on her face, as she looks back at Ban, the one moment likely he’s just seen the color drain out of her. She knew this had to exist….but seeing it was like a fucking nightmare come to life.

Calling it a gigantic plastic bag would be an understatement, but inside of it lay what looked to be the identical copies of Skye herself, one, after another, after another, mounted in what looked like hardpoints on the low ceiling and their own little bubbles, above a padded and reinforced panel below that upon activation, would rupture and dump into, also explaining the grate and the fluid that possessed the insides of the bags, making them turgid to the touch.

No umbilical cord, just a pipe in each of their throats, and probably what kept their lungs and internals sealed, with a wire protruding from the top of the sack into the neck of each body, the translucent material revealing a fully grown human being, not some child, not some toddler, but right now, age for age, like for like, Skye fucking Rosalind Lyons times about thirty, aged thirty-one, red hair, everything else. There’s this incredible feeling of every piece of Skye’s own humanity feeling like it sank, bit by bit, piece by piece, as she walked up, looking into the closed eyes of her own self. Rose was strange, this was straight up hurting her own sense of self, because every single one of them could be her. Someone with feelings, emotions....it wasn't like looking in a mirror, it was like looking in a mirror and being able to physically touch her own, plastic lined body.

“This is fucked…….I knew we’d have to see it sometime. Doesn’t make it any easier. Jesus…..it’s like a fucking doll in a supermarket. Ban, this is me. Or Rose. And it’s how she comes back from the dead. Holy shit. This is……this is insane..” Skye said, her Scottishisms coming through now, despite her vocal patch, a deep, husky sigh coming out of her, as she took air back in.

“Outflaw, standby. This is uhhh……fuck, quite a hard one to explain.” She said, cutting herself off, the usual confidence that had emerged a few minutes ago now sapping, but still, she pushed on.
“Console at the end. This could be it, Ban. Maybe it’s all of them. Or just a sample. Let’s go find out. Though fuck me, I don’t know if I want to. Oh well. Not like we have a choice.” Skye retorted, walking slowly on the metal grate, no obvious computational power here but instead, an array of networks, all pointing to one singular node.
“Outflaw, we’ve found an extension to the facility. Likely no way in for you on the plans, but there’s a terminal. We’re going to see what it comes up with.” Skye walked slow, taking deep huffs, trying to contain herself. Holy shit. Maybe this was it. Rose’s bodies were just all here, they just needed to pull the plug, and done. It may not have been, but what was here, that would be crucial.

Ban stepped forward but choked as he saw what lay there, some kind of plastic container? Bags? No, this is something else entirely. He gets closer. Then without really thinking draws his sword from within his coat. Staring at them laying there. He looked between the bodies and then at Skye, “They look like you Kitsune-chan. Nandayo…Fauru.” He holds his sword one handed, and waves his other hand in front of his face as if to clear a foul smell, or clear his senses of something he never wanted to see.

After a bit the yakuza soldier shakes his head, “This is foul, to play with the human body, and keep this in storage. An affront to everything sacred and fair.” He slowly slides his sword away, “Everything in me says to end these things here, deprive Rose of what they can be used for. But even I am not dark hearted enough to just kill something that could become someone. Even if it is your bitch of a noppera-bo. What do we do with them then?”

Skye shook her head, knowing this was beyond bonkers. Even his question felt difficult for Skye to swallow, considering the context of what this was. They weren’t alive, but shit, they were her, many, many versions. None of this idea of was she even real, no, that felt a little bit stagnant, it just felt like were any versions here? Just shells, chassis, carcasses that just had a potential to be inhabited, yet had no soul, purpose, direction? They weren’t even drones, something you could fill, the only thing that could do it was one person and that person was a split of the person that could do such a thing. It hurt her head, with Skye staying quiet, silent even, as she walked to the end terminal. Before she mustered up the words to reply, finding it harder, but....rationalising. Trying.

“The only thing they can become is Rose. The only thing they are is her. There’s nothing in there. No soul, no person, no consciousness. Nobody’s waking up if you rip that bag open. Nobody’s in there……though fuck, it feels wrong. On a level I can’t even really understand. We need to stop all of this. But we need to know how this works.” Skye added in reply, bringing up the terminal, and tapping in. A password, but again, through Skye’s biometrics, it sort of passed by easily enough. And then it was in. This wasn’t a system connected to anything in the building, or the servers, anything at all. It seemed to be connected to some sort of cloud network, out of building of course, but this was just a host point. Skye looked over at the data, pulling up a few bits she could do from here, knowing Outflaw must have been screaming to get in. For a relatie few seconds, Skye had to know herself. Had to see this.

“Oh, shit. That makes sense. Those hoses. They’re not just cutoffs. They’re sucking blood out of her and pumping nutrition in. Fuck me. Why are they doing that?” Skye said out loud, looking to Ban, realizing…..ahhh, shit. That was why. The neurotoxin. The work Spectre was doing. Shit, this was a factory. They were harvesting her.

Her blood was the last piece for the drug’s activation, an amino acid and protein compound that enabled the last building block of a complex biochemical weapon that turned it from a tame sarin-like substance into a complicated, human-focussed poison. That became clear because every interface was suggesting it now, and it all aligned in her head. The toxin targeted strands of specifically human nodes, given Rose’s blood linking it in. Hestia. The hearth, the fire. And that meant….Sol was a pacifier. The sun, the light. A way to keep Rose’s bodies in check, and what stopped the neurotoxin from just killing her straight away like Skye's experience had given, and likely, a byproduct of separation kept aside. That bit that Sophie mentioned…..Rose’s DNA was deteriorating with every copy and so left the bodies alive with maybe a decade to live at most, so now that made sense. But this was all a fever dream. And her head was spinning, even Skye’s intelligence hurt and she could barely make sense of the ringing in her ears, the fuzzy feeling of every footstep, her own heart thumping and clattering.

She could barely even explain this to Ban, or Enri, but it would in the data coming out of this later. If Raven had the tails of how the biochemical weapon worked, then right now, Skye, Ban and Enri were now seeing how the nuts and bolts worked. She had everything ready bar the deployment mechanism. And that would kill millions, if not more done right.

With a turn of the AR-enabled console, Skye plugged in one of her last remaining USBs, bringing it into focus for Outflaw.
“All yours.” She uttered, still bewildered, in shock and trying to get her head around it all. There was no way Outflaw was going to be able to hack everything here, and well, it was an encrypted network she’d likely not be able to understand, and nodes poked it off, given this wasn’t the server, but one of the offshoots. It was the peering eye inside of the mechanism that did this all, from the simple system to the one that basically turned Rose into someone who could respawn. And there it was again. Hestia Sol. Both together now. That was it. The AI, the bit that parsed the memory, the cutoff that Rose had mentioned. She mentioned it all as if Skye would follow. Why? And fuck, how long did they have now? There was insight to see perhaps where the node went, but it would be complex, and likely, not yield much in the way. It was blocked off enough as a pathway that it’d only give an indication of the central server, where Rose’s mere fucking existence would come from and into here. So maybe it was the only one, or maybe there were more. No answers there, but well, perhaps this wasn’t it. But it was useful enough. Cutting that off would sever this whole place, but likely, there would also be a killswitch here too for the bodies, and Skye looked for it as Enri did and Ban would have the chance to take it all in.

With the entry team moving deeper into the vault, Enri busied herself with the data mine and understanding the security features of the building in case things went sour until she got pinged by FastByte, a location and two associated cameras. A pair of guards approaching the desk where Skye and ban took out the two engineers. “Fishsticks…” The hacker muttered, sifting through the security system. Security lockdown, no. PA, no. Fire alarm. Picking out an office, far enough away to distract them but close enough to make sure those two would respond, she triggered the annoying buzzer, the two turning on their heels and making for the disturbance. Whew, crisis averted, or at least delayed.

Right on time, as Skye had just plugged in the second infected drive. “I see it.” Enri confirmed, skimming what she had access to now. Not even intending to pretend she understood any of it, she just bumped it up the data mine queue, figuring they could sift through it later at their own pace. “It will take some time, but on the plus side I can pretty much make the building dance a tango if we feel like it, so there’s that.”

Skye heard the reply, the muttering of Enri back, knowing she was puzzled, but, creative as ever.
“That is good. We may need that. Though….Outflaw, get a look at this. It’s a killswitch. Drowns them basically. And….I’m not pressing that. It’s alarmed, has to be.” Skye muttered, noting the reality of this. She hurt a little, because well, this is possibly the most fucked up thing to do. Killing one person in hot blood, then in cold, now, thirty? Fuck that. This was beyond wild.
“Wait. Rose’s old body got snatched, because of the tracker. And those bags are likely alarmed too….and her bodies may be tracked. So….that means….okay. This might be insane.” Skye said, looking to Ban, with a glint in her eye.
“I may have an idea. But we’ll need to be quick. Outflaw, I got one more for you. We may have a way to kill something else in the system while we’re at it. Make this one your priority. Can you sever the tracking link to the…..uhhh, body in Bay 15? Let me know when ready.” Skye added, knowing Enri was likely one hell of a busy girl, the guards distracted below, and all of this. And she sent across the routine, that linked to something else in particular. The very blood being sucked, and recirculated out of the bodies. The tracking nanites were at availability here, and well, any tampering was going to be hard-wired to set the alarms. Skye had something up her sleeve. They needed to die, the bodies needed to, and they were taking Rose with them. One Rose.

The yakuza curled an eyebrow, looking at Skye curiously, then back at the bodies, “So your yokai bitch of a copies body was taken. And here we sit and wonder.” He hums softly, “A puzzle then. How do we fuck with her and her ponzi’s?” He looked about then back at Skye, “An idea? Well apart from that time in Hong Kong where you let me fall into a pit, your ideas haven’t led us astray yet.” He cocked his head over and turned to the vault down, narrowing his eyes, “I feel like we may be running out of time though. We may wish to begin to hurry.”

Skye nodded, knowing that no doubt, Ban would need to trust her. Even if what she was proposing was about to be wild.

“It’s really stupid. But, so far we’ve been pretty good so far. Make your way over there, Ban, and cut it open. When you do, I’ll hit the killswitch. Grab the body, and we are going to run like fuck out of here. I’ll shoot, you keep a hold. I think you could probably use her a shield, but….try not to get her TOO riddled with bullets. We have our way back in.” Skye smiled, knowing fuck it, if she’s gonna die, well, may as well be this way.

“Let’s see, bay 15… 15…” Enri muttered absent-mindedly. She took maybe twenty seconds to understand how it worked. It was stupidly simple actually, military software at its finest. However advanced, it still has to be simple, rugged and understandable by a conscript. With near total control of the communication systems and the laboratory computers, making one of the other bodies send two sets of packets, one of its own and another masquerading as body 15 and silencing the true 15, wasn’t hard. “15’s a ghost, what now?”

Skye nodded to the invisible Enri on the comms, picking up the call.
“Okay, perfect. No more tracking for her there via that bloodstream. Okay, Outflaw, check the vault door and keep it open for us as long as you can. We may need some distractions in the building, we need as much as possible on the ground floor, ideally sprinklers or something else to set it off….or something else creative. Ban, you ready to cut Rose down from her bag? Moment you do, I hit the switch, this place severs all the bodies, alarm goes off, and we steal one of me. I’ll shoot, you hold and run.” Skye chirped, taking a deep breath. Fucking hell, she thought. This isn’t an average day out, as she brought up the killswitch routine, and with it ready to go, knew the alarms would be set off the moment this triggered. There was even a risk that the vault would shut, and she half hoped that this would work.

Sprinklers… thermally triggered, builders were smart. But the high sensitivity areas ran on a halon system to avoid water damage. Team didn’t have SCBA gear, but that just meant she had to plan carefully where she’d trigger them. Figuratively paving a path for the two to take. Next, for proper confusion, lights. Once again, the team didn’t have NODs. Once again, she took a bit of time to exclude lights in the sections along the way from her scheming. Fire and security bulkheads, those would serve nicely to trap any responders in conjunction with having subjected the cameras. Vault door, failsafe of course, built to close if things went wrong. No manual release on the inside as far as she could find, but here the location worked in their favor, the heavy door needing to close slowly to avoid stressing the building. “You’ll have thirty seconds to get out of the vault, after that it should be smooth sailing.” ENri hesitated a bit before asking the next question. “What I’m about to do on your mark could kill a lot of people in here. Do we? If not, I’ll need a minute or so.”

“Do it.” Skye replied, cold in her turn, and looking with eyes over at Ban, ready and in position, and well, moving to position. Enri had their path set. They had to run. Elevator, drop down, and then, through the lobby, and back out. Fuck me, she thought. This was going to be interesting without the exo. But that meant she just had other tricks up her sleeve, and Enri right now was playing a blinder, as was Ban with his carbine weapons and a human shield MADE of Skye. She ripped her patch off her neck, the device coming close to the end of its battery, and now switched to her normal, Scots tone of an accent. No need to impersonate, a spare would be available if she really needed, but they were going to be blown.

Ban paced over to bay 15, looked inside then drew his sword once more, “Alright, so the alarms should be off yes? Then…” He stepped forward, and slide the tip of his sword into the side of the bag whispering, “Kurinkatto…” As he slides the blade carefully up from the bottom of the bag towards the head. Tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth as he made the cut carefully. And when he is done and no alarms go off he gives the blade a flick, habit to clean the blade before sliding it back into the scabbard, “Alright, hello there bakemono…” He says again as he slides his arms into the bag and pulls the look-alike body out of the bag, “Hah O kinodoku ni, a pity that a silent form like this would be used by such a monster.” He heaves the body up over one shoulder, taking his sword ing the other hand, “Alright, now what?”

“Yours to carry!” With that, Skye clapped the switch and suddenly, all hell broke fucking loose. Skye watched as with a simultaneous trigger, every body of Rose’s left just dropped limp, the hose released, a few bodies breaking their sacks and splashing into the floor and grate with what was like a weird amniotic fluid everywhere, and well, Skye took the chance to run past those. Ban was in position doing what he did, and Skye ran in front, G36 now brought back into hands, the alarm suddenly blaring off, the pace of Skye bolting through like every dump of adrenaline had recharged again, running towards the lab sector at the front, rifle raised as a few men ran inside, Skye sliding behind one of the lab bulkheads. With a turn, she clattered one in the head, and slid across the desk with a leap above her whilst holding the G36 tight, even in spite of the length of the rifle clattering one more, breaking into a pace and clapping one more running in, the vault slowly closing. They had neurotoxin in here, but were paying no mind. They knew the threat. Fuck, their lives were irrelevant if what had happened just happened. Not that Skye cared too much, right now bigger priorities were at stake here.

“Shit, run!” Skye yelled to Ban, covering outside, the German guard nowhere to be seen as she flicked a new mag in as the vault began to start swinging shut, moving to a corner as she heard more come. With a look, Skye let the men run from out of the dark into the bright light of the lobby, and using it, ambushed them, pushing one rifle aside and letting his weight charge into her, using his rifle to clatter one man, before rolling across and using his knife to shank him, knowing even if physically she wasn’t on him, she was still here, still fighting. Standing up, she looked to Ban and well, Rose being carried? They needed to get down to ground level and out of here, and with that, Skye hailed the elevator up, knowing they needed to leave, now.
“Lift’s coming.”

To Skye and ban, not much will have changed. Everywhere else in the building, security doors slammed shut, lights switched off and the fire alarm started blaring. On the topmost floors, the pandemonium was made complete by the halon gas extinguishers. Enri tried not to think about the people trapped in a dark place quickly running out of oxygen, though in a past life she used to know at least one person who would’ve approved of an efficient use of time.

Quickly Ban hiked the body up once more then braced, before making a swift run out of the vault. Keeping in Skye’s shadow, as the Scotswoman started to fire, cutting guards down. The yakuza was not idle though. As some guards managed to flank the strange trio. Ban seeing them as they flicked out riot batons. But even one handed the Kingo family sword is very sharp indeed. The first baton to try and strike him is caught on the flat of the sword, then with a skilled turn the baton goes flying, and a short flick the guard drops back holding his hand where the mono-edge blade had just opened his forearm almost to the bone. Another guard trying to capitalize gets kicked in the chest, sent reeling and over the security desk, and landing with a crash behind it. A third and a fourth slowing. Even an encumbered Ban is dangerous. He grins, “Hey…catch!” And throws the body at the other two who scramble to catch it.

Ban grins taking two quick hopping steps, jumping and spinning, his right leg coming up and smashing both guards across the faces. Landing just in time to take the body back from their crumpling forms.

And off he goes again running for the lift, “I am surprised this has worked this well so far!” He shouts as he comes sliding into the lift.

“Good timing.” Skye replied, as the door dinged open, and with it, Skye kept to a side. Two men charged out, more guards. Shit, they were intercepted. But, not exactly hard as they saw Ban first, with Rose in hand, and that meant Skye at the side just pointed the barrel at one man’s head with a grizzly pop, before the other managed to turn, Skye had already dived onto his leg and with a gentle turn, pulled her legs into him and stabbed. It must have been something for Ban to see, Skye Lyons hadn’t really lost her edge at all. If Adam was good as an operative with a team, the Scot just didn’t really relent here at all, even without her exo, it felt more like she had to use ambush tactics rather than pure force and clearly struggled more, but the guards were rushing and Skye was ready. Standing to that, she got inside, sighing, hitting for Ground Floor, and looking over to Ban.
“Well. We’re not out yet.” Skye huffed, exhaling hard, yanking the mag out of the G36 and loading a new one in, shaking her head as she cocked the rifle.

“I’m gonna have fucking nightmares now. Fuck. How do you unsee that?” Skye rhetorically asked, looking down at Rose, with a couple of rounds.

“Oof. Okay. This bit is risky. Outflaw, we’re nearly at ground. When we hit, trigger whatever last tricks you have. We’re going to make a pace for the nearby parking garage, and get out of here.” The Scot commented, looking then to Ban, holding the very naked, very slippery, bullet round having copy of her own fucking self.

“As human shields go, you could have picked one with bigger tits, Ban. But we can’t be picky.” Skye chirped, the dark, black humour a fucked way of coping from the Scots lass, but well, what didn’t kill you, actually…..well, best not to think on that analogy. She was as crude as ever, perhaps probably the only way to keep her spirits up considering what she saw would turn most people inside out.

“Lobby’s a no-go, everyone I couldn’t contain is flooding out that way. Go right from the elevator and then take the second right, stairwell down, looks like an exit through a maintenance room.” Enri offered, finally making sense of the situation and being able to focus on the cameras. “Do I leave the trojans active or do I kill their whole local network?”

“Kill the link, we have what we need. You have what you need, if the flow is in order for the rest of the data you’ve taken already. That’s what’ll help us put two and two together. Also, this….thing, person? I’m not sure. There’s something in there too. Cheers for the advice. We’ll go on your move.” Skye commented back to Enri, readying up, sighing deep.

Ban cackled, and reached up, “Breasts are all well and good.” Then palms the bodies ass, “But I like them round down here then up there.” He cackles and gives Skye a wiggly eyebrow moment, yes he’s being playful and maybe a little lewd as he spanks the body’s rear, “Ah if I were younger and less repressed.” She shrugged, “Now is not the time.” He lowered his hand off the bare posterior. Pressing his back to the lift wall, to be out of the way immediately. By now any guards on lower floors would likely know that who they thought was Rose is now the Real Skye deal, and he’s not here to join them. If they don’t try and get them to surrender they are just going to try and riddle the inside of the lift with whatever they had.

“Dirty bastard. I mean, she’s not exactly Barbie. I’m so fucking glad my father didn’t think so. Not unlike some people we worked with.” Skye retorted, referring to herself, or Rose somewhat for the former, and well, the others could be imagined from the diverse team of Raven in the latter.

Enri set up the commands to execute, setting the window aside. “It’s dead the moment you’re outside. Two guards twenty meters ahead, three seconds to a corner.” She guesstimated.

The doors opened, and the guards readied to fire, unsure however, but Skye had the rifle pointed direct forwards, and shot first through the crack as it opened and blindly fired, picking one, then two, bolting out and covering Ban, at a direct pace. They moved direct to the corner, immediately out as other guards started to flood out from the side of the lobby, Skye covering his six as she shot rounds back, using cover and keeping her head down as rounds flew. Moving from pace to pace, she ran down the stairwell, covering a man flanking Ban with a tap to the head, reloading with a frantic energy, charging down the stairwell. They could run through the maintenance room and out to the street, then out of there.

Carrying a naked woman and her exact twin would be the most surreal thing Nagoya was seeing tonight once they may be out, yet somehow Skye was not entirely ensure it was the weirdest thing she’d ever seen even in the last two minutes.
“Keep fucking running!”

Ban waited for the first two guards to be hit, then he blazes out of the lift, and into the corner for cover, peeking around to see how far to the stair well, “Yosh, right…” And takes off again, thighs bulging within his pants as the augments within them push him forward at high speeds. He leaps a desk, weaves around a table, and hits the stairwell slamming his shoulder into the door to it, slamming it open. He’s about to take the stairs down, when he spots something up a level, “They’re in the stairs!” He shouts back, his voice loud over the comms link, “Ahhh it’s alright.” His sword flashed, and he caught the ankle of one of the guards on the flight leading up. Then he’s down, taking the stairs two at a time. Crying out as he slides down the last few steps and comes to a stop on the wall, beside one of the doors, “Kitsune-chan?” He shoulders open the door beside him and steps out into the next area.

“Well so much for locking it behind you.” Enri let slip a rare annoyed groan in the presence of a member of the Family, “One way for you to go, two doors and a tunnel and you’re out.”

Skye followed on that, no reply coming back considering how manic it is, running as she clapped the guard on the flight coming up, as he struggled for his weapon, running over him and back down, running through the cabinet-filled maintenance store and towards where he shouldered the door, nodding back to Ban.
“Yep, all here!” Skye didn’t really stop, charging past him, a bit rude, but checking the last room, and then letting Ban in, before moving across and dragging a pallet up to the door heaping it onto the door mechanism, pulling it so that it would be a bastard to open. It wasn’t great, but 20 seconds of bullshit was enough.
“Copy that, we’ll be going.” Skye added, and with it, moved to the next. Sweep, check, and nobody there either. Shit, this may be it. Had to be.

One last door now. With a pull, Skye couldn’t hear anything, and moved through, the service tunnel heading out into the street, and well, with it, their way through, the cold concrete contrasting the warm fire inside of Skye’s head.
“Okay. This is us. We’re moving through the tunnel now, headed to the way out. Great work, Outflaw. Saved our skins there more times than I thought. And if you have questions, believe me, this one is going to hurt your brain. We’ll move to find a vehicle and get out of dodge.” She called back, looking back to Ban, still shouldering the body, looking to him.
“Holding up okay?” She asked, checking her vest and her general arms and legs over as she moved, no rounds taken yet aware that hadn’t it have been for their work, she’d have been a goner. Rose had a bullet hole in her ribs, but it didn’t seem to be pissing out anything bar remains of blue fluid, mixed in with blood.

Ban pushed up behind Skye smiling a bit, “I feel almost young again. Like old times with Raven.” He taps the comms ear piece, “Well done Enri-chan. I’ll be sure to let the Oyabun know just how much help you were. This was not an easy task.” He looked up at the hole in Rose’s ribs, “Well, I’m surprised it’s only that.” And as things slow he coughs and pulls his coat aside, staring down at a hole just under the vest he is wearing under it, having just missed the plate down there, “So that’s what’s pulling.” He moves his arm, “Ah it’s fine. I can feel it moving in muscle not bowel.” He grits his teeth, “Let’s get out of here. I think we’ve had enough for one night. There should be an Amagi car waiting to take us to a safe house, then we can head back up to Kiyose once things have calmed down, I can’t imagine that this situation hasn’t reached the local police by now.” He picked up the pace heading for the far end of the tunnel and their way out.

“And that’s the building down.” Enri reported, the building behind them going completely dark as the trojans deleted everything and then themselves, the only trace left being two blank flash drives available at any electronics store. “Arigato, Kingo-sama. I’m packing up to go.” With the team out of immediate danger, the usual chipperness was coming back to Enri’s voice full force, “I’d never done this live support, just been in the room with the guys who did, this was fun! Don’t be a stranger, Kitsune-sama, we love repeat customers.” the hacker almost beamed.

Skye nodded to Ban, knowing it really did feel like old times. A strange return to form, but well, they had a way to go. Needing to get back home would be tricky, and well, it may be that
“The fact they pulled you up is of concern though. Let’s see how it plays. Keep the smoke long enough, they’ll lose direction. And they have bigger fish to fry now they have some attention deficit here.” Skye commented, as they kept on, and would soon be hitting light.

Enri’s comments felt similar, leaving the dead network behind, taking the data they needed and covering their tracks. It may have been good to grab more data, but they had what they needed, no point getting greedy. With any luck, the encrypted, scary-looking network that connected the bodies of Rose to the central node would be viable, as would

“Arigato to you, Outflaw. I am sure we’ll be working together again soon.” Skye replied, a smile on her own face, glad that a complete stranger merely hours ago had been the reason they’d made it out. She wondered if it was going to be worth ever properly explaining. Maybe it would be already. But if it wasn’t for her, this snatch wouldn’t be possible. The twin samples, a body, and the data they had. If there was ever a way to respond, Outflaw had without knowing, turned the fortunes of a team that was chasing into one that was now back in control.

---

Boraro felt a bit like moving through a town behind an APC, Wilk in front of him practically an impenetrable wall while he busied himself with making sure no one got the jump on them from behind. It looked like something out of a horror movie: Armored man breaches a room, gunshots are heard, maybe some commotion or cries of pain, and then he comes back out like nothing had happened and moves onto the next one. It was a prime opportunity for the Kukri, but with their pace Boraro didn't have a lot of time to spare to draw it, instead resorting to throwing the weight of his armor around where needed. With the exosuit’s strength, a punch or an elbow could reliably disable. Aided by the jump pack, a front kick hit like a small car. Close quarters fighting on its own was a messy affair by its nature, but the exos added a coefficient to it that was greater than one. Maybe it was an exponent, not a multiplier Ebrima thought as he scraped some red goo off his boot, having crushed a man's head between it and a wall.

Clearing the mostly knocked out ground floor and basement quickly, Boraro knelt down beside the VIP, quickly checking for pulse and breath before unclipping the helmet and vest he carried on his bag and getting Simmonds dressed. Adam had been on the same wavelength, grabbing a hold of Simmonds himself to give him more protection with his shield. ”Let the heavies punch a path through the garden first. You'll be slower now unless we want to break his neck by accident.” He gestured to the VIP. They should've brought a neck brace. ”I’ll catch up before you head out of the garden.” And with that, Ebrima took off, taking the stairs by four with the jump pack and hauling ass back up onto the roof. Kicking open the access door he and Wilk ignored before - it opened inward, not like the exosuit cared for small details like that - he went back to the marksman he killed earlier, grabbing his SCAR-H and two magazines and posting up by the roof’s edge. Not his preferred range, but the heavies could do the close-range fighting better than he could. ”Set, go when ready.”

He watched the heavies’ rampage through the scope, picking off any hostiles that were smart enough to keep their distance from the heavies and putting safety rounds into any fallen body Adam would be running past. With Wilk almost at the exit, Boraro threw the rifle away and took a running start to clear the gap between the roof and the buildings they initially attacked from, using the roofs to catch up to Wilk and descending down to street level with the help of the jump pack and some bits of the building sticking out for handholds. ”How’s our passenger?” He asked while setting up waypoints and quickly checking the map loaded into his PDA. Checking that Simmonds was okay and Adam ready to move, he set out toward where extraction was waiting, hopefully without any more human garbage along the way, putting his native French to use yelling at any civilian stragglers to stay inside and out of the way.

The drum is the heart of the native people, or so an Elder said long ago.

But sometimes you need another beat.

So somewhere between one beat and the next. A near iconic sound changed coming out of the speaker on Jamie's armor. He slowed his dancing and took a few steps back, stepping over the prone form of a fighter who had tried to.jump him a few moments earlier.

A few enemy looked out as the sound of the drums began and the sound a historic guitar solo began.

And much to their horror as the guitar took front stage and as the drums.kickrd back in Scion had unshipped the devil contraption of his linked dual HMGs. A pull on the linked loading handle and by the time the lyrics began a steady roar from the paired barrels began to growl.

As the likes of Knopfler and Sting began to belt out the sound of Money for Nothing began. Jir strode forward. Keeping to his lane. Lead flying from his guns. The big man could only Bob his head in time to the music. As much psychological warfare as it set a nice tone to what's happening.

As he walked he reached the other end of the souk. Taking a moment to look over the situation. And as he strode on he came around a corner far too late to help take out the heavy. He gave a pout. But soon the call that things are moving ahead urges him on. Hitting his comms paddle with his chin, Jamie responds, "Scion copies. Proceeding."

He walked along falling into the rear position for the heavies, calling to Nord and Boomer, "Take the spear point. I'll cover the rear." He put his back to Nord and Boomer and walked backwards steadily ripping rounds at the fighters still remaining behind the in the ravaged souk. Clearly it still held some significance as fighters still fired from within it, ducking when the raking fire from Scions guns neared them.

He stepped into the compound proper, planted his feet and for a moment looked like some pillar of a bastion against a hail of fire against his smooth almost icthythian armor in that moment. Channeling his father maybe he roared and randomly targeted into the area behind them, the rocket pod onnhis shoulder opening and two whole rows of the small high yield rockets hissed off. Plumes of dye, fabric and other goods blossoming up into the air moments later as the rockets hit out among the souk exterior.

And only then did he start walking back to follow the other heavies into the building and beyond.

Decimating the field

---

Chuck had just finished reloading. He had taken down about 6 of their soldiers in a row but he was going to need to help to get through. He needed to clear a space for extraction and go take care of whatever it was that Samantha had found. He clicked on his comms and spoke into them as he continued to walk his gun back down the enemy line.

“Scion, I need some help. We need to clear a path for extraction. I also need to get over to where Chaos has something to destroy.” Chuck grinned as his competitive side kicked in. He was having a blast. He loved being off leash without all the restrictions he used to be held to. He liked his new job with Raven Squad. “Let’s have some fun with this. Who do you think can disable more of the enemy? Me or you? Winner gets a beer? Night out on the other guy? Name your stakes!” He continued to move his gun back down the line taking careful headshots. The enemy soldiers must really fear their commander. They were still running towards the heavies of Raven Squad.

The big smooth lines of Scion’s armor could contrast heavily with most types of armor his size maybe. As he hosed the approach up behind them. The occasional war whoop piercing the air during it. And the twinned Heavy Machine Guns just didn’t seem to slow down. The roar steadily.

But soon they do slow as he turns to Boomer, “Eh?” Then the grin in his voice is clear, “Oh a contest then? Alright.” He stepped up beside Boomer, “Night out? Or a Beer? I like the idea of my scotch being woody tasted. While pumping 400 pounds of iron. Alright. You’re on.” With that the other big man turned towards where Boomer is targeting. Calling into a two way comms channel, “Armor, activate kill counter. New count.”

Then hell came to this section of the souk, “Begin!”

Scion roared as he once again depressed the firing stud of his main twinned guns.

Chuck grinned as Scion stepped up next to him with a matching grin. Yes he could see he was really going to enjoy this. Chuck didn’t have a brother but he imagined there would be scenes like this in his life if he did. The closest he had to them had been in the Marines. But then his team had been killed in battle to line someone’s pockets. He still wanted to nail whoever that was to a fucking wall.

He had never had anyone in his life his size with similar abilities. This would prove interesting as Jamie could certainly keep up with him. He laughed as he heard Jamie tell his suit to keep track of his kill count. Chuck spoke to his AI. He would have to name this damn thing soon. “Computer, keep track of my kill count starting now.” He laughed hysterically as Jamie’s twin guns fired up to full speed and he began to decimate his side of the wall of bodies in front of them.

Chuck began to pick up speed firing as he went. He was going to run out of ammo at this rate. He grinned as he dropped his rifle as they began to close the distance to the enemy. He pulled Lucille free from the sheath on his back. Time to create some old school destruction. He let the heavy weapon dangle from the titanium chain as he began to spin it out in a widening arc as he approached the front line. Chuck called out to Jamie “Do I get extra points for style?”

Jamie cackled and swept his weapon in a short arc. Any man who crossed that path riddled with the cocktail of rounds in his weapons. AP, FMJ, Frangibles, Raufoss and a few others besides. A rich and deadly amount of lead. He watched his kill counter go up steadily too. Calling into the comms channel, “What sort of pull does their leader have on them that they come running? Like a tide on the St. Lawrence.” He staggered abit as an RPG round hissed by his shoulder. Turning and absolutely annihilating where the rocket had come from, the points are welcome, but he also wants this little moment to last. So stopping that will prolong it.

Turning back to the main fight he grins brightly, “Oh look at that a man after my own heart.” Followed by a growl when the first hopper of ammo ran dry finally, “Well, if you get style points. Then so do I. Say two times per melee kill?” At saying that, Scion swung his twin guns onto his back and from the small of his back drew The Throngler, “Agreed?”

And he too charged into the thickest number of enemies he could. A few of them pulling bats, or grabbing pieces of metal from the ground, worried about hitting each other with their guns as the pair of heavies waded into them like yapping dogs.

Chuck saw an older pickup truck with men in the back manning a large caliber machine gun. Several of the men had rocket propelled grenade launchers. Chuck kept up his conversation with Jamie over comms. “Typically I would only see this kind of dedication among religious fanatics. It does make you wonder what’s in the water over here.” Chuck targeted the fast approaching vehicle with one of his remaining missiles. “That sounds fair to me.”

As Jamie and Chuck added style points to their agreement. About that time, the missile hit the pickup truck which produced a louder explosion as the grenades on the vehicle went up with the missile in secondary explosions. The vehicle launched upwards from the force of the explosion and flipped landing upside down on fire. The men who had been in the back had been shredded by the explosion. With that greater threat eliminated, Chuck turned his attention back to the group of men he was fighting. His first swing had crushed one man and knocked him into 3 others, knocking them all off their feet. He pulled Lucille back to him with the chain.He held it by the handle with both hands as he began to lash out left and right as he waded deeper into the throng of enemy men.

The interesting things about melee weapons is that their naming scheme tells you alot. Take for instance, Dark King Fruntmore’s Edge of Dark Bloodletting. This naming scheme gives you the idea that there is more then one Edge of Dark Bloodletting, and that Fruntmore may not even be the first one to wield that particular blade. But Jamie lives on one fact, there is only one Throngler and that’s the only way you can get Throngled.

The double bladed axe cleaved through the air. And took one, two, three even four people at a time in one case. It’s not so much the killing edge but the sheer weight behind it, carrying one man along with it then into the next and the next. With a mighty cackling roar Scion finishes a strike and looks around. And this time just barely gets out of the way of the next rocket to come screaming out of a window. Just getting his hand up to push the rocket to the side and even then he gets dinged off the shoulder and pushed into a stack of pottery, that sends a cloud of red, blue, yellow and brown spices sailing up into the air.

A round of cheering going up, the fighters in that building thinking they scored a kill themselves.

But the cloud of joy and spices is quickly dispersed as eight hisses one after the other pierce the air. The spices clearing, Jamie holding his axe to his side as he empties the remaining rockets in his launcher on his shoulder into the air, which then rain down on the building. Bringing it down on those people still inside. He’ll write up a report later if that leads to civilian casualties but he was getting annoyed at that point.

With a grin he looks over at Boomer, “Do I count that as only one? Or can I say that’s ten as a good compromise?”

Chuck began to bat the smaller men aside easily with each swing taking someone out of the fight or outright killing them. The weight behind the weapon coupled with his strength and the speed at which he could use it crushed almost everything in his path. Ribs crushed and caved in, heads popped like overripe melons, and the bones in limbs were shattered and fell limp at odd angles. Screams of pain and fear rose from the front lines.

Chuck threw his head back and laughed as he heard Jamie as they waded into heavy fighting. “Well I would say just let your suit decide. The computer is impartial. I think I have to give you ten otherwise I can’t take credit for the 7 ment that were in that pickup truck. There had been two in the cab and five in the back.”

Chuck spun putting all his weight behind the kick he used to launch an enemy back into the ranks of her fellows. The man’s chest was crushed as he flew backwards; his momentum taking two more men with him before he fell to the ground. Chuck spun Lucille and used both hands as he swung in an arc taking 4 men down from the blow. He looked around to see where they were. “Chaos, Scion and I are moving towards your location. Please confirm where in the compound you are? We are currently wading through lines of our host to join you. We would hate to be late to the party.”

Chuck began to swing the weapon in a pattern designed to disable and knock the enemy to the side as he continued to move forward. It put all those lovely physics laws to work with him. It had a pattern and rhythm to it that Chuck found soothing and easy to sustain. As he began to make headway as the men around him began to thin out.

Scion fell into place to Chuck’s rear. Any that weren’t downed permanently by Boomer, Jamie finished off. His axe whistling through the air. Turning and catching, pulling and hacking dangerously. Leaving more then a few fighters behind them properly Throngled. Amidst a few missing limbs and rent open chests or backs. He turned to make sure their rear is clear, and lets out a grunt. Having turned in time to take an ancient looking billhook weapon to the chest rather then in his more vulnerable power pack. “Ah…well that could have been worse.” The fighter standing their transfixed that he actually hit. And Jamie feeling the edge of the hook stuck in the gap between chest plates.

The pair, fighter and giant stood for abit before Jamie let the Throngler fall and grabbed the billhook and tore it from the fighters hands, “Oh you are so dead!” He roared through the PA speaker on his armor. Before quickly redirecting power to his arms and turning up the power of the punch he unleashes to ludicrous amounts. If this were an anime the man surely would have folded over Jamie’s fist for a brief moment before the force of it sent him flying across the souk and into a pile of crates. Where he slumps to the ground, broken and probably dead. If not, then he won’t be functioning as a proper person for some time, “Ahhh that kinda hurt.” He growled to Boomer, as he picked his axe up again and turned to catch up with his teammate.

Chuck and Jamie had fallen into am easy battle rhythm together while they pressed the front line of soldiers. Chuck parted the front line like he was parting the Red Sea and Jamie was taking out the stragglers to the side as the pair decimated the front lines. Still the soldiers in the back pressed forward. Soon there was more room around them as the men began to thin out once more. Chuck had paused to get his bearings. He had fallen into a zone as they fought their way through. He needed to regroup and get his bearings on the field and where they were.

Samantha’s voice came over the comms. “Roger Boomer. Head for the large white tent just outside the residence in the back of the compound. You will find me there.”

Chuck replied with “Roger that.” He looked around and noticed they had been dragged slightly away from that side of the compound. He began to angle towards the tent. The men around them were finally breaking ranks. There was a path of broken and bloodied bodies behind them. He looked over Jamie as he heard him. “Are you okay Scion?” He noticed that he seemed to be moving okay. He chuckled a little as he offered “Need me to come help you kick his ass?” He knew he had already dealt with it but couldn’t help teasing the other man. “After this is over, I want to hear why you named your axe Throngler over a beer. I am happy to buy it. That story has to be worth a beer.”

Jamie grinned, “Oh Chuck you are so kind. A true knight in armor.” The grin turned into a cackle “I think he’s covered.” He nodded as he too got the information on the meeting place, “Let’s keep moving. But first.” He quickly changed out the ammo hopper for his rocket launcher. Shrugging abit and pressing a hand to Boomer’s armored back, “Let me just…speed this up.” Bracing he spoke out loud so Chuck can hear, “Armor, full dispersion, full roll, fire!” And all sixteen rockets flare out at once, the 30 feet or so in front of them immediately blooming with explosions. Throwing the fighters in that area around like pieces of trash. At least one of them disappearing in a cloud of red mist.

Scion nods, “I don’t get to do that near as often as I would like too. Come on we should get to the rendezvous.”

Chuck was surprised when Jamie grabbed onto his back. He had automatically come to a stop. He looked over his shoulder to find Jamie grinning like a loon. He was grateful for his visor as the missile all fired off so close to him. His AI darkened the visor to save his eyesight. He blinked still surprised. “Sheesh warn a guy would ya! Well you won this round fair and square. Let’s go find out more about what is happening to put a bee in Chaos’ bonnet.” His southern accent sounding strange and out of place with such a southern colloquialism here in the Souk. Chuck began to lead the way towards the tent. He looked back to check on Tiny. Jamie and Chuck had pulled most of the enemy to them. Tiny had enough to keep him busy but not overwhelm him. He should have thought to include Tiny in their contest. Next time.

He increased his speed as they approached the tent. The enemy was dead or fleeing. No one tried to follow Chuck and Jamie. He approached cautiously. He didn’t want to startle his teammate and end up a victim of their guns and skills. “Chaos, Puma, it is Boomer and Scion coming in.” He looked over his shoulder to check on Jamie. He slid Lucille back into its sheath.

Jamie followed along, sliding his axe back into it’s scabbard on his back. And briefly drew the Vepyr off his back and sent a few buckshot rounds after some of the fighters still in sight, giving them all the more reason to keep running. “That’s right you bunch of pricks! Run! Run! Tell them death came! Tell them we came! And brought hell with us!”

He would never know if they did tell the others obviously. He came up beside Boomer, “Sorry about the rocket barrage there Chuck, I just felt we really ought to speed up abit. That cleared the way didn’t it?” He chuckled, “We’ll talk about that bottle of scotch later.” He waved ahead, “Chaos! Purna! Hey! You called?”

Chuck couldn’t help the laughter as he heard Jamie calling out to fleeing soldiers. “That’s right you faced hell at the hands of Boomer and Scion and death by Lucille and the THRONGLER!” Chuck couldn't resist shouting and adding to the impact while subtly teasing his raid partner. Chuck grinned at Jamie. “Forgiven because it worked. Yes we will talk about Scotch and stories later. Now we have work to do.” He was still laughing and smiling as he pulled aside the tent flap and stepped inside as he ducked his head. His head sweeps to find Chaos and Puma.

Scion stepped up and slipped under the flap before it could fall all the way, “Yes, the operation isn’t done until we all get out alive.” He looked about and peered out the flap one last time before it fell, “There yes. What’s the plan?”