---

She managed to keep her composure initially, but boarding the hovercraft was the straw that broke the hacker’s back. Her breathing grew rapid and strained. Her stomach was desperately crying to get rid of the army eggs and bacon she ate last, but her brain overrode it as her throat didn’t have the bandwidth for that and the amount of air she needed just to stay conscious. The suggestion - Or was it an order? She couldn’t tell. - barely registered before her brain threw it in the bin. ”I can’t. Someone else take it.” She whispered barely loud enough to be heard over the engine’s roar.

She instead reached for the magic laptop. She thought she’d call it ‘Rosetta Stone’ because it allowed her to talk to pretty much any device in range. Connecting it to the hovercraft’s transmitter, which in turn connected to the datalink between the fighters, helicopters and even the supporting ships they launched from, giving her a big brother-esque view of the battlefield. Just like the high rise raid, except with better information. Oh, and the world at stake. Enri took a few seconds to get situated on the map while also taking quick mental notes on how the ships’ and fighters’ systems worked. Because one never knows when that might be useful in the future.

Linking with one of the Lightning IIs equipped with an EW pod - an attachment in the centermount granting the already formidable plane limited offensive EW capability, nicknamed ‘Growler Can’ by pilots and ground crews alike and going for 750 000 USD on the black market - she promptly ignored the fact the pilot was likely swearing up a storm that someone was touching his plane and sunk into the stream of radio communications it was detecting. Sending a request through the datalink to leave several marked AA emplacements alone for a few minutes and setting three separate AIs loose on it, within 30 seconds Enri had the communication protocols figured out and asked the pilot to heat up the jammers.

Within ten seconds, six autonomous AA guns had a small heart attack from the sheer amount of gibberish they began receiving, assumed something had gone wrong with their control center and automatically reset. Because ‘Turn it off and back on again’ worked, even for cutting-edge military gear. And it would’ve worked this time too, had Enri not been ready to send false data with the fighter’s EW pod electronically masquerading as the guns’ control center. As soon as they rebooted, they loaded the altered targeting parameters and all six guns turned around and opened up on any and all units tagged with an Artemis IFF. The men in the control truck likely would’ve easily fixed that issue had they not been one of the first things shredded to ribbons by one of the rogue guns

”Won’t last forever, but the South side has a hole in the defenses.” She noted to Javier, ”Giving it five minutes before they figure out how to shut them down and switch to manual. I’ll see if I can do something sneaky to their comms without physical access.” And with that she zoned out again as she and and her three noncorporeal helpers set their sights on figuring out a way to listen in on Artemis comms. Maybe sneak in some conflicting orders if they could get away with it, depending on where lady luck would be standing.

---

He was still reading the SDV manual when Vincent called out to him. ”I prefer Europe over Africa. Must be the running water and indoor flushing toilets.” He grinned back at the madman at the stick, poking a bit of fun yet at the same time being completely serious. He understood patriotism, but Africa has been nothing but trouble for his family and could therefore go fuck itself and the horse, donkey or whatever other animal it rode in on as far as he was concerned. Just not in this way.

Whoever does this for a hobby must be fucking mad. That was the thought on Ebrima’s mind as he plunged into the water, cold and dark in the early morning hours. He tried to turn face down and spread his arms and legs as if skydiving to slow his descent, but the personal flotation device stubbornly insisted on keeping him in the upright position, making him sink like a brick. Whoever thought to put handholds on the outside of the SDV was a fucking legend. ”I think the cooler’s leaking, boss, there’s water everywhere.” Ebrima replied to Adam’s ‘VolksWagen Polo’ comment as he worked his way into the driver’s… captain’s seat? Pilot’s seat? What the fuck was he even?

At least being underwater meant the waves weren’t an issue. Two dozen meters below sea level, the water was calm, though the headlights were more wishful thinking than an actual asset. The SDV lurched back and forward for a few seconds - almost like an actual car if someone had trouble launching and kept stalling it - while Ebrima figured out the controls, the submersible struggling with the depth changes a little. ”Someone packed too much luggage. Alright, I think I’ve got it. Everyone holding on?” He waited for everyone to sound off before easing the throttle forward, making an abrupt stop after a minute to figure out the braking distance. Not impressive. Awful, actually, like stepping on a baking sheet. Unaware of the platform’s defenses and sensors, he left the sonar off and drove- sailed- piloted, whatever, by the lights and inertial navigation system.

Pretty much just the INS until one of the platform’s legs appeared out of the inky blackness in the floodlights’ cone some 20 meters ahead. ”We’re coming up on the platform, North-East leg I think.” He said as he stopped the SDV after around fifteen minutes of monotony, the stationary submersible sinking a few meters until it reached equilibrium. ”Dismount here?”

Chuck hated leaving Duke behind but this was one mission that he was not suited for. In a way it was a relief knowing that Duke was far away from today's mission. He wouldn’t want Duke to accidentally run into any of this damn toxin. It felt weird to be on a mission without his dog. He needed to get his head in the game. He listened to the conversations going on around him as he pondered what this mission meant to the world.

He thought about the weight of this mission and what they were trying to stop. He thought about his family back in the states who were clueless about the danger they were in just like most of the people in the world. Most people in the world had no idea about how often the world around them was put in danger and mortal peril for that danger to be stopped by cops, soldiers, mercenaries, first responders, and others who fought to protect those around them. Chuck was a fairly simple man. His father and grandfather had both served their country in the military. He had grown up with duty and protection as his creed and way of life. He did what he did so that the innocents in his life would never know the evils in the world that he fought to stop. He fought so that his nieces and nephews would have a better future. Chuck felt his resolve hardening. He would accomplish this mission. Raven Squad had no choice or the world was going to end taking everyone he cared about with it.

Chuck felt the VTOL slowing and descending. He glanced across the aircraft at his teammates. Chuck’s eyes landed on Freya. The Battle Goddess was smiling and in her element. Chuck had never seen a more beautiful woman. There was a possibility that one or both of them might not come back from this mission. That was true of any mission they were on but this was more important and more dangerous than most. That thought saddened Chuck because he still wanted that date.

His blue eyes lit with mischief as he stood and grabbed a hand strap as the VTOL began its descent. His helmet was under his arm as his eyes met Freya’s.

“Can this soldier get a kiss for luck from the Battle Goddess? I think it might help my chances to have the blessing of a goddess.” Chuck’s eyes danced with amusement and desire as he leaned towards Freya. Yeah he had it bad. But if this was his last chance to get that kiss, he was going to at least try. He paused there to see what her reaction was. He wouldn’t dare steal the kiss outright. He knew Freya could go toe to toe with him. He didn’t want her mad at him.

---

Just a few minutes later, Adam was giving the orders to begin the mission.
"Alright, rebreathers on everyone. The SDV sinks, we sink faster. Get after it, hold on, and then we power on to the platform."

Evidently Ebrima had been tapped to play driver for their SDV. Chuck put his helmet on and locked it into place. He hooked up the oxygen tanks as his HUD powered up. He had the onboard AI check the suits seals. Satisfied when he saw green lights across the board that his armor was ready and sealed for the underwater environment. Chuck’s last underwater insertion mission had been done in a wetsuit with a dive tank and fins. His team had jumped out of a helicopter and swam to shore. This will be different. He was bringing heavier firepower with him.

Chuck joined Freya as they pushed the SDV out of the aircraft’s ramp as it splashed into the turbulent cold dark waters of the ocean. The craft floated rocking as it hit the surface of the ocean. Chuck’s armor had a ring of flotation devices around the perimeter of the suit to help with buoyancy and weight dispersion so that it would be easier for the SDV to drag all his weight along. Chuck, his suit, and all his gear probably easily weighed at least 1,000 pounds. That was a lot of weight to ask a SDV to tug along and he was not the only heavy on this mission. Chuck jumped off the ramp and triggered the button that would inflate all the small inflation ballast bags on his suit. They puffed up in a few seconds. He reached out and grabbed the handles on the SDV.

“Boomer is onboard and ready to ride.”

Chuck laughed as Adam teased Ebrima that it worked just like a Volkswagen and to follow the user manual. Ebrima had settled into the cockpit of the SDV and it dove as he activated the craft's motors to help pull them below the waves and away from the turbulence at the sea’s surface. The world below the waves was calm and very dark. Chuck hesitated to turn the light on his helmet on but then Ebrima had turned on the headlights of the SDV to steer so he went ahead and turned on the small high powered lights on the ear sections of his helmet. The murky underwater world lit up for a short space around them revealing fish and the silt and other debris churned up by their passing.

Chuck held his position as the craft came to a stop. He waited for Adam’s orders to disembark and surface.

Freya bounced abit, too bad jiggle physics don't work through armor. She then perked up and her helmet folded open. She grinned brightly, "Well I do declare." She said with a faux southern belle accent. She swayed and sashayed towards Chuck. That big grin on her face, then leans forward until their faces are just inches apart, "What makes you think you've earned one?" She smiles, "Oh who am I kidding?" She chuckles then grabs Chuck by the collar, and despite being two inches shorter then him, she lifts him nearly half a foot off the ground, that grin going almost predatory, "Com'ere you!" Then, smack.

Their lips meet.

And for a moment or two it's sublime. Just two people, a man and a woman.

And then she's pulling back and away and hey is that a little blush on her cheeks, she coughs, "We don't tell my brother...or my sister. My sister will get in on me over it..." She shivers, "Jamie will try and kill you." She blushes even brighter. And quickly her visor and helmet snap shut to hide her face as she gets even more red.

But soon the pair are either side of the SDV, and with a nod and a count down they heave it out. She smiles and leaps out into the water, calling through the comms, "Armor sealed, rebreather activated." And then a clang clang as she magnetizes her gauntlets and seals to the outside of the hull, "I'm secure." And away they go.

Ban for his part had waited in line, and as the group files out he jumped into the water, hitting the water and swimming down and down, grabbing an outside hand hold, he'd be much better use to the team being able to egress quickly and get in and among the enemy. He was no use at range, not without a proper rifle, and though the throwing needles, and knifes he had, and the rapid fire machine pistol could do in a pinch, he's got not long range heavy hitter. But he can do alot of damage at short range. The chain spear, and the dual swords won't be stopped by any personal body armor. He'd have to get in close.

After a moment as the team boards his comms channel lights up, and in a poetic tone, "Kanpekina hana wa mezurashī monodesu. Jinsei o kakete sagashite mo, sore wa mudana jinseide wanaideshou." and after a bit he translates, "The perfect blossom is a rare thing. You could spend your life looking for one, and it would not be a wasted life." he swallows thickly over the comms, then continues, "I thought I had found a perfect blossom, by getting out of Raven, years ago. But I find myself back here, and realize, I'm more at home with the Red Spider Lillies. Thank you all for having this old Yakuza. As my Family fights a War, on the streets of Tokyo, I fight a war here with all of you, against the destruction of the Order of Life. If I die here, I'm glad it's with all of you."



Jamie braced feeling the hover craft bounce and lurch. He chuckled softly "I like this thing...wonder if BlueSword would let me buy one and take it out into the Outback." He chuckles again and places a big hand on the cieling as the thing bounces.

He looks about, and then out of one of the view ports, seeing their target fast approaching, the hefty chug of the cannon. He hums, "Okay..." then steps over to a side door, this thing would barely be big enough to let him out. He calls, "Opening a hatch!" Then with a little effort, pops the door open, reaches out and slaps a safety harness strap with attached carabiner to one of the safety rails outside. Then...

Yeah he climbs out. He cackles abit over the comms, "Relax. I'll be fine." And goes hand over hand hold. Making his way to the roof of the craft. Chuckling the whole way, "Just want to...help." The last word drawn out into a mighty war whoop.

Warrior Souls

Climbing up atop on the hover craft he clamps his safety line down, standing just off to the side of the cannon. He calls down, "Just don't hit me with the darn thing please!"

He plants himself, a wide straddle stance for stability. And raises his HMGs, no he's not going to hit anything with it out here, but he levels the twin barrels and spits a prolonged bbbbraaattttt! of .50cal rounds towards their destination. He laughs, "And they say I'm the sane one!"

He bends down, getting even more braced up. The rocket pods on his shoulders shifting, and though it's not directly into comms, the team can hear him command, "Suit, Twin Fire, Both Pods, Ranging Fire!" And both rocket pods on his shoulders spit one rocket each, the rockets lancing up into the air, turning correcting then hissing off into the distance. For a moment Jamie stands on the top of the hover craft just seeming to vibe. Then grins, "Solid strikes!" The pair of HEDP rockets exploding within the facility, "May as well make some noise!" he shifted his stance once more, and took a deep breath commanding his suit again, "Suit, Full Barrage, Fire for Effect!"

And he disappeared in a cloud of steam and smoke and fire for a moment, as the remaining twenty two rockets in the dual pods kicked into the air, and whistled off into the distance. While they are in the air, one of four reloads he has on his suit begins to cycle, reloading the rocket pods. Soon he reappears as the smoke and steam is carried away on the wind generated by their travel. He lifts a great big foot and stomps on the roof of the hover craft, and calls through their shared comms "If one of you could, please see if you can find another, say, four reload canisters for my rockets? Please? if they loaded us up there should be a few more inside."

Upon finishing saying that he braces again and commands, "Suit, retarget, short, Full Barrage, Fire for effect." And he again disappears in that cloud of smoke and fire. But soon it's pierced as he unleashes another growl from his twin HMGs, "A Kanatariio comes! My father and mother were in this land once! And another comes!" He calls, another mighty war whoop, as his rocket pods reload.

Oliver had been a bit of a back man in this, from the infiltration to getting onboard the blimp, and seeing everything in front of him. He slowly packed up behind them, and just sighed, fitting the panel back into it's spot. At this moment, he almost wished he had his heavier set of armor, it was meant to drop out of stuff and land, well, land once. It was an entirely other set to reload it to drop.

His rifle aimed high, he thought for a moment, and stared, hydrogen, weren't they filled with hydrogen, it's a blimp. He was having an archer moment then, for it was likely filled in inert helium instead. Unless if some mad man wanted to replay out the Hindenburg. Oliver shrugged to himself; after all, that was a stupid thought; hell, there was probably hot-ass computers onboard, and with electricity, and hydrogen would be some kinda fucked up, up there. He stared up and around, then down at the vent, then sighed for a moment.

"So question, this pressurized environment, do we know what kind of mixture it has, and do different compartments have different mixtures, specially those around the servers and special storage units?" he said in a low whisper, "also, what are we doing about those in front of us?"

Outside of his set of armor, Oliver didn't think like a tank; he thought like a person with some pretty heavy personal armor on, and a bunch of extra equipment that he felt extremely unneeded at that moment, he just trained his sights down towards where voices could be heard, placing the green triangle about a half inch from the break in his vision from where the voices were heard, then slowly pushed his torso and rifle flush with what he was behind to possibly get eyesight without exposing too much of his own torso.

With the party in full spectrum, Enri was hacking, Javi was driving, and now, Tahlia had control of the 20mm cannon. Blasting away at a distant set of machine gun posts and a hut at the shore, it dissolved, as did a series of enemies next to it, the blasting of CIWM from the AA guns that Enri had hacked, as well as Jamie literally on the roof sending more fire towards the shoreline, blasting apart defences, fortifications and positions that the various Marines were trying to take. The power of about two of them alone was ripping the enemy a new one, let alone the 20mm that felt like it could barely keep up. A stomp indicated Jamie needed more boom.

"Jesus...." Tahlia called, sighing as she leaned back, off the tablet, and reached over. The enormous pods were basically the size of her top half, and weighed about more than that too. She hoisted herself to the door, yelling upwards at the giant on the roof.

"HERE! Fuck me, send for effect you big bastard!" Tahlia yelled, the enormous pods like picking up a ridiculously heavy cinderblock, barely hoisting it up and passing it into hand, with two up. The howling wind and speed cut to silence when the door shut again.

Back to the tablet, Tahlia refocussed the targets and clapped a couple more UTVs on the shore, seeing them pull around onto the south, up near a headland, and into position for a flank. Javi pulled the hovercraft around onto the far shore, picked a slot to slow down for a moment..
"Point Alpha, Tahlia. Your stop!" The Mexican called, as the Kiwi nodded, looking at the door and with it, knowing Javi wouldn't stop, clumsily pulled the door open again and bailed out.

With a slick roll, the ghillie-suited Kiwi burst into run, the first she'd done in years, her anatomical self back to some sort of normality as the hovercraft blasted through the sandy dunes and directly towards the southern flank of the base, as Javi hit the speed.

The hovercraft was accelerating fast over ground, leaping over a couple of rough sections of dune, dodging a couple of RPGs, as Javi let the turret go into automatic, a risky move considering the hacking that Enri was up to, but well, it made sense enough here that their own gun was probably protected by a manual override at least, right? The cannon did its part, picking up enemies and making light work of the smaller checkpoints, the cavernous strip mine visible to their north, but the mine itself being avoided on their route in.

Tahlia had the chance to move through brambly thicket, finding a spot among a particularly dense sector of it on the headland, with enough of an escape route if shit really hit the fan. Laying herself in, she caught her breath and pushed her rifle into position, bipod set, optic covers removed, and magazine, click, loaded.

"In position. Huscarl Actual, what's the status?" Tahlia asked, Huscarl being the comms callsign for the commander of the combined Marine force, a nice direct line indeed to be holding considering the all-out warfare going on further along the coast.

"This is Huscarl, we're advancing but taking heavy resistance. You better get whatever you spooks are looking for!" The response was succinct, Tahlia chuckling.

"Taniwha copies. We're hunting good." With it, she flicked the bolt back, watching the joyous three accelerate towards the comms tower, on an outcrop to the south of the base, near a small command centre and grouping of cabins. A bit of snow was left, but it was fairly industrial looking, bar the command post itself as a highly modernised set of stacked shipping containers, and the large antenna next to it, an amped up looking cellphone-styled transmitter with a serious array of components on it.

"Eyes on you. Javi, pull yourself back once you drop off Scion. Outflaw, go cover to cover and keep yourself scarce, I'll cover your six, Scion clears anything to your front. He's got a whole lot of ass to kick." Tahlia knew Enri would be uncomfortable with the idea, but then again, this tower wasn't something to hack from afar. It needed direct access, and turning the repeater into a jammer would take some technical knowledge.

"Copy, Taniwha. In position at Waymarker Bravo now."

Which kept things spicy as Javi pulled away with the hovercraft after dropping the two off, as a cluster of enemies moved out from the command centre. All well armoured, well armed, and a couple of exos there too. The 20mm cannon could take on the adjacent couple of VABs and pepper them with fire, but the soft targets, well, that was Jamie's domain.

"Well, fuck. Scion, I'll swat the fast movers, rest are yours, Outflaw, you may want to bring some heat too!" Tahlia called, the resistance here a bit heavier than expected, but no doubt, Enri could still bring the pain from afar in, and Jamie could go all analogue on them. A couple of the enemies weren't quite heavies, but their exos clearly indicated they'd take a little more fire, as Tahlia picked up a bead on target one....and blasted, clattering out of the sky with a satisfying clink.

---

Ditching the wingpacks, the weight felt lighter off their backs, and well, they had the opportunity to set up for the next phase. Running through the internals of a tight, claustrophobic blimp high in the sky.

Oliver's comment made Skye chuckle, shrugging.
"Well. I'll let you figure that out. This bit is pressurised. I'd keep your oxygen on in case we get a hull breach." Skye added, respiring through her own mask, knowing that well, it wasn't perfect, but it was at least better than what they'd run into before. The murmuring got closer and closer, and with it, Skye got her FNX ready.

Silence wasn't going to last long, but for now, this work could do, as one of the guards cleared the apareture, with Skye cleaning one with a couple of headshots, before dicing the next, Athena grabbing his body given her proximity and throwing one of the men straight at man three, with almost a comical effect, like someone had picked up a 80kg weight and just thrown it at someone, sending him slumped. Skye used the remainder of the mag to clip him, sighing as she looked to Athena.
"Jesus. You have a flair for the dramatic, Valkyrie?" Skye asked, the larger blonde shrugging, her shit-eating grin visible through her oxygen mask.
"I mean, what was I supposed to do, spray him? Thought precision was your department?" Athena called back, Skye sighing, and dragging the bodies out of the light, Athena just hurling the other out of the way.

With that done, it was time to get out of here, with the door at the end representing their way through. More voices could be heard on the other side, as Skye looked back to the others.
"Schematics are relatively poor. But, from what we know, server's up on the next level. This might be our Sol Hestia store here." Skye added, as she drew the pistol close, Athena bounding over, Skye nodding. This was not one to hack, given it was unlocked, but Skye knew Athena stood a better chance of going straight in than anyone.

"All yours, Valkyrie."

With it, Athena pushed, and drawing her MAC-10s, kicked the first man into another, blasting rounds into them, Skye rushing behind and clattering a third man, before getting shoved herself with the sound of him yelling. On the floor, the man tried to dive onto Skye, though was comically yeeted off and with a satisfying crunch into a nearby wall like a ragdoll by Athena.
"Thanks." Skye replied, Athena pulling up.
"Now who's complaining about drama?" The mid-Atlantic voice replied, as Skye shrugged off the push, knowing this was about to go down. They had hit the silent alarm from what she could tell on their comms units, and the noise had certainly picked attention up. That said, there it was- a large gas tank, and a deposit for activtation, where the counter-agent could be deployed.

"This is it then. Chaos, all yours to deactivate. We'll secure up in front. Nord, Athena, you two take lead." Skye asked, watching on, Athena heading to the next door, the stairs up ahead. Sweeping, she nodded to Oliver, and with it, led the way. Nodding, Athena moved through, a couple of guards coming through, armed. A yell came, and a couple of rounds above, but Athena already dumped both clips, cackling as she sprayed and prayed, and somehow, got most rounds on target, before charging upwards, cleaning bodies down the hall, past where Skye was following the two giants. More guards were mobilising, as they came up the next level, and suddenly, had to dive into cover, past where the massive server network was setup.

Skye bolted into cover, the automated turret picking up trace on the far corner, the wheeled drone blasting rounds down the corridor, Athena in a bad spot around her server, and Skye pinned down. The men that were in the server room were well equipped, and the Scot switched to her new toy, setting up the M31 and picking a corner to let them come to her, knowing they were pinned. She let it build a charge, yelping back out on comms.

"Shit, problem, direct front! Nord, anyone, kill that thing!"

In the meanwhile, Purna clambered further up, and with it, hung off one of the engines. Like a fly, he could use the fact there was chaos inside, the blimp's CCTV was dead, and could now at least stop this thing's movement.

"Queen, propulsion is ready to go down when you call it. It'll sink slow, call it when ready."

---

The SDV trundled through the dark, cavering abyss, the gentle pulse of lights illuminating the sea in front, as Ebrima took them closer in, and the team either sat inside, or clung onto the outside. It felt strange, a monolith in front of them as the leg appeared in the inky black. Ebrima's comments had been noted by Adam, as had Ban's and Freya's, with Chuck also clinging on. But no matter. They were here.

"Alright. Everyone, disembark, we're headed back up. Boaro, put it into park, would you?" Adam remarked, chirping the Cameroonian's sarcasm back at him, as he pulled himself away from the SDV, and with it, looked upwards.

"Underside should have some patrols, but we should get lucky and avoid them. Let's quietly eliminate them." Adam called, as they began to swim upwards, the flippers attached to the exo, as well as the floatation system activated now to at least give some movement in the dark sea. With the tiny pin-hole light on his helmet illuminating the way, the team slowly started making their way from the depths, along the leg of the rig, and up towards the surface.

And on it, Adam stopped short of surfacing, checking the surface above, before then poking his head, on comms to the still as they swam and floated into position.
"Okay, schematics are limited, but we'll need to take on multiple targets. Frigga, your cloaking can help dispatch the first guards at the top of this leg. Boaro, Shimura, you two stick close and head for the algae lab once Frigga does that, Boomer can give you support. Should look like a giant vertical farm, and on the other side of that is the centre of the platform- and where based on Ferrovia One's design, where they can pump the aerial particles from. Frigga, once we're ready, me and you will take the command room and hopefully, be able to shut down any SAM missiles, and the pump system from there. We'll need to look, but I am sure we'll find it fast." Adam replied, and knowing full well the next element was not going to stop, surfaced.

And there it was. Beneath a gigantic floating box in the only just calming ocean, the Fireteam had a wide range of objectives to get on with. A small access structure existed at the base of the gigantic platform leg that had the emergency egress point for the platform itself, and Adam clambered up it first, checking the area, giving a nod to those around him. No sign of anyone here, but upstairs, that would be a different matter.

"Clear. Let's get to work." Adam commented, looking out from their base position up at it. It was like a gigantic oil platform on its stilts, albeit with a warehouse on top of it. And in the distance, the pipework could be seen- a kilometre long network, supplying a range of tall chimney stacks, able to deploy material to both the near-atmosphere and with the right particle arrangement, into the stratosphere. If any Sol Hestia hit either, it was game over for Europe and North Africa. Shutting the pumps down, and neutralising the compound would be key- but between them, lay a small army of mercenaries and heavily armed, armoured and well equipped people in the pay of Artemis. If Icarus were now up against a small team with lots of tech, then Poseidon was a small team against quite a big one.

Chuck knew he was playing with fire. Running into Freya was like finding a unicorn. Chuck knew that women who were not intimidated by his size were rare. Chuck had been treated by some women as a prize due to his size but they tended to be women of poor character. He also felt like if he hugged them too hard they would break in half. He had met other giant women but most of the ones he had met had been enemies trying to kill him. They had also been highly muscled and felt more like a guy to him. Chuck was older and had sowed his wild oats. He wanted a woman that sparked his passions and was someone he could hold a conversation with. He was looking for a partner and someone he wouldn't be ashamed to take home to introduce to his mother. Chuck had been trying to get to know Freya better since he met her. There was just something about her that told him she was worth getting to know better. Of course the whole world had to implode and they had basically been running from one crisis to another. Now if they failed the world might end. He didn’t want to die without taking a shot or making his intentions known. So he had asked for a kiss for luck and prayed she wouldn’t give him a concussion before their mission began. He watched her as his heart sped up as he leaned in closer and waited for her answer.

Chuck’s eyes never left Freya's as she came towards him with her hips swaying in that enticing way that women have. His eyes were drawn to the whole package she presented. His smile got larger as her helmet opened and he heard her voice using a fake southern accent dripping honey as she replied to him. "Well I do declare." His heart sped up even more as her grin got bigger. She leaned towards him her face just inches from his. He searched her eyes and thought he had never seen a more beautiful woman. She told him "What makes you think you've earned one?" Somewhere in his pheromone-fueled brain warning sirens were going off and “Danger and Run” were cutting through the attraction he was feeling. Confusion in his eyes as the mixed signals and his own desire left him somewhat confused. Then she smiled and told him "Oh who am I kidding?...Com'ere you!" Chuck felt her laughter vibrate against his lips as she pulled him down to kiss the ever loving hell out of him. The noise of the VTOL and the rest of the team faded into the background. His world and focus condensed down to the woman in his arms. He pulled her closer and took full advantage of that kiss. In that moment he was just a man letting a very beautiful woman know how much he appreciated and enjoyed her very presence.

The experience for Chuck was well worth the risk. He had a new goal in life. He was going to save the world so he could court this lovely woman. Other men can go for angels… He much preferred the fire and spunk of a battle goddess. He slowly broke away, ending the kiss. His hand caressed her check as he leaned over to whisper in her ear, “It was worth waiting for.”

Chuck found her slight blush charming. He laughed as she told him "We don't tell my brother...or my sister. My sister will get in on me over it..." She shivered as she told him, "Jamie will try and kill you."

He let her go and straightened back up. “We have work to do. I have to earn my next date after I ask your father permission. Don’t worry about Jamie. I will talk to him.” He winked at Freya as he put his helmet on and turned to help push the SDV out of the VTOL after Adam gave the orders. Chuck was smiling and eager for this mission to be wrapped up. He had stretch goals in life now. All he had to do was figure out how to tell Jamie and her father his intentions without being castrated, no pressure right!? He couldn’t help the thrill and shiver of challenge that thought brought. He managed to put that thought away and turn back to the business at hand which was fucking up Artemis and Rose’s plans to end the world.

---

The team had arrived at one of the platforms supports columns underwater. The scene was dark and eerie. This was not Chuck’s first underwater insertion mission. He was at home in the water and felt a sense of peace before the storm in the silence below the waves. Chuck let determination and resolve fill him as he geared up to head topside as Adam gave them some last minute instructions.

"Alright. Everyone, disembark, we're headed back up. Boaro, put it into park, would you? …
Underside should have some patrols, but we should get lucky and avoid them. Let's quietly eliminate them."

Adam began to swim upwards. Chuck activated the extra floatation devices on his armor and began to scissor his legs to swim upwards. Chuck stayed close to the team as he maneuvered into a position to support Adam as he approached the leg pylon.

Adam paused in position to give last minute instructions. "Okay, schematics are limited, but we'll need to take on multiple targets. Frigga, your cloaking can help dispatch the first guards at the top of this leg. Boaro, Shimura, you two stick close and head for the algae lab once Frigga does that, Boomer can give you support. Should look like a giant vertical farm, and on the other side of that is the centre of the platform- and where based on Ferrovia One's design, where they can pump the aerial particles from. Frigga, once we're ready, me and you will take the command room and hopefully, be able to shut down any SAM missiles, and the pump system from there. We'll need to look, but I am sure we'll find it fast."

Chuck watched as Adam quickly climbed the leg and was on the platform holding the area for the next team member. He heard Adam tell the team over comms "Clear. Let's get to work."

Chuck knew he was not going to be able to be as quiet as other members of the team and tried to let the stealthy types go first. He kept his eyes open for roaming guards. The metal decking was see through to allow water to fall through. He followed Freya climbing up the pylon leg. He did his best to stay as quiet as he could. His armored boots had rubber soles to help cushion and silence his suit but his weight in the heavy suit would still make some noise. Chuck pulled himself up and over the ledge of the platform. He moved to a position that offered some shadows and cover. He would hold position here and use his close combat skills to take out roving guards as quietly as he could to help the others get into the platform. It would put him in a position to fight off additional support as well.

“Boomer in position.”

Samantha had ditched her wing pack and stored it behind some crates when the action kicked off.

Oliver had his gun up and was ready to take action as she heard him whisper over the comms. "So question, this pressurized environment, do we know what kind of mixture it has, and do different compartments have different mixtures, specially those around the servers and special storage units?" he said in a low whisper, "also, what are we doing about those in front of us?"

Samantha’s head whipped around to stare in shock at Oliver. That was the most she had ever heard Oliver talk while on a mission and it was a very good question. She raised an eyebrow in surprise as she considered the man. “The compartments are like those on a boat. The idea is that if one compartment is breached that the others will help prevent the blimp from crashing allowing it to land safely. Most blimps today use helium which is non-flammable while hydrogen has more lift and is flammable. After the Hindenburg most blimps don’t use hydrogen for that reason. However, for a blimp this size to maintain this altitude, there has to be hydrogen begging used for lift. Otherwise the blimp couldn’t support this altitude. I will have to get into their computers to find out if there is a mixture of just certain compartments with hydrogen or all hydrogen.”

Skye recommended the team keep their masks on in case of a breech. It was not long when the team made contact with guards. Skye and Athena quickly took down the first set of guards. Athena using one of the guards body as a weapon as she tossed him into his partner. Athena and Skye snarking at one another causing her to grin as Skye told Athena she had flair for the dramatic. Chaos just snickered as she couldn’t help but think had Skye met Athena? She was not but dramatic! She couldn’t help the snort of laughter that followed from her as Athana told Skye precision was her department.

They came to the end of that compartment and found the door into the main section of the blimp on this level. They could hear voices on the other side of the door. The enemy knew they were there just not exactly where. Time was ticking now as the team was being hunted.

Skye paused outside the door to share some further instructions.
"Schematics are relatively poor. But, from what we know, server's up on the next level. This might be our Sol Hestia store here." Skye and Athena stacked up on each other ready to go through the door. She nodded to Athena and told her, "All yours, Valkyrie."

With that Athena pushed into through the doorway her guns blasting. Skye rushed in behind her to help take down the men. Skye was tackled to the ground by one of the men to be pulled off and casually thrown into the wall by Athena with a crunch as his head hit the wall. Skye had thanked Athena who said something snarky about drama to Skye. She shook her head. So far she was way behind on this mission. She would need to up her game.

The team knew that the alarms had been triggered. They knew it was only a matter of time before they began to run into more and more of the enemy. They still needed to neutralize the toxin and take down Rose’s servers and destroy any remaining bodies she might have on board.

Samantha nodded as Skye told her. "This is it then. Chaos, all yours to deactivate. We'll secure up in front. Nord, Athena, you two take lead." Samantha nodded to Skye, her voice full of humor as she chuckled “Drama indeed. Aye Queen.” She turned to the large tank and began to carefully look it over. She didn’t want to trigger any kind of automatic ejection or activation sequence. She went to work as fast she could at the tank. She pulled a cord out of the toolkit and plugged Bob into the computer station next to the tank. She checked the tank for mechanical engineering components while Bob hacked into the computer station.

Samantha was frustrated as she discovered there were failsafe traps on the activation tank and valve. If she had just opened the valve, it would have triggered an automatic activation and release sequence. Some of the toxin would have made it out before the neutralization agent had time to neutralize it all. Sweat beaded up on her forehead as she worked as quickly as possible to find a solution. Her eyes lit up as she went old school and pulled out her tool kit. She sabotaged the valves on the tank to keep them from opening and dumping the toxin into the atmosphere using a small welding torch. She then dumped the neutralization agent into the activation duct which triggered the program to open the duct into the tank, dumping the agent into the tank. Alarms went off as the tank dump valves triggered error messages since they were welded shut and unable to open. Samantha grinned. “One problem down. Suck on that Rose!”

She put her tools away and unplugged Bob. The computer station was a bust. It was on a separate circuit to the rest of the base to make it harder to hack from a distance.She didn’t really get any usable information from it.

She let Skye know over comms “Toxin neutralized but I triggered alarms.”

Samantha could hear gunfire and knew which way her team had gone. She re-joined the team and slid into cover at the doorway. She peeked out to see what was going on. She saw the automated turrets that were attached to the ceiling. She also drones moving down the corridor firing like something out of a bad science fiction movie. It reminded her of original Star Trek episodes where droids look like fancy mobile trash cans with a turret on top. Samantha growled. She had not brought her precision long guns for this battle expecting it to be close quarter fighting in the hallways of the blimp. She asked Bob the distance to the drone; it was far enough away she didn’t think she could hit it with her pistol.

She pulled out her mini drone and tossed it into the air. The drone swept into the air. Samantha had it jerk from side to side as she tried to get it close to the drone. The automated turrets were trying to target it and bullets stitched along the corridor as the turrets tried to target all of them. At least the drone was pulling some of the fire aimed at the team. She groaned as one of the turrets clipped the small drone in a lucky shot. “Damn it!” The drone fell and slid under the wheeled drone. The wheeled turret got stuck on the mini-drone’s body. It was trying to free itself as it continued to target the team. It was moving back and forth and side to side. It might eventually get free but at least it was somewhat stationary at the moment. That was not what she was planning on but hey she would take it. Sometimes luck was better than planning.

---

Ebrima was the last one out of the SDV, hanging back as the now unburdened submersible ascended a few feet. Once he made sure it had stabilized again, the autopilot was compensating for any currents trying to shift it around and the locator was working, he enabled the image intensifier in his helmet and swam for the surface, trying not to think about the depths below him which naturally made him think about the depths below him. The fish that almost bumped into him, completely unbothered by this unfinned alien creature in its front yard was almost taunting him, but imagining all the ways he could cook the cheeky prick proved a nice distraction.

Switching off the NODs he climbed out of the water, pouring it out of the weapon barrels and scanning the structure above them, Ebrima gave Ban a pat on the back to indicate he was behind him, ready to move and that he’d let him lead. Skye clearly trusted the man, but Ebrima would’ve preferred to see how he worked at least a little bit in person. Ideally that wouldn’t be done on an operation, least of all one with stakes such as these, but life had a way of being an absolute bastard. He suppressed a snicker at the thought of Freya, the second biggest person in the team, being the sneaky one, but technology was amazing like that.

---

Her efforts to mess with Artemis comms were repelled with annoying determination and when she couldn’t get anywhere with it in the next 60 seconds without getting a signal analyzer between two Artemis radios, she went petulant and instead turned her sights on IFF systems. Not much she could do about automated emplacements without the involved dance she did with the AA guns, but the personal IFF beacons weren’t as protected, Artemis likely expecting their troops to be able to discern targets on their own, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t have a harder time when every single Artemis man and woman on the field suddenly lost BLUFOR tracking. She’d been so deep in the zone she had to be shaken out of it by Raph when it came time to get out.

Dismounting added another step into the communications daisy-chain. Tablet, personal radio, hovercraft, allied network up to several steps, hostile network again with more steps possible. They were losing whole microseconds here! Her inward grumbling was interrupted by the sounds of Jamie going to work. She was involuntarily captivated by the carnage for a little bit, but only until she saw a torso and legs go flying in different directions whereupon she huddled up into a ball behind a solid looking container, holding onto her head as if worried her brain would bail out and flee.

But then her brain got some traction, the perfectionist in her recognizing a golden opportunity. SHe reached out to grab Raph by the arm, probably throwing off a shot or two. ”I need one of their radios! Any radio!” There was half a body not that far away, but Enri’s voice made it clear that this was her hidey hole and she was not getting out until they had to move on the tower. Maybe 25 seconds later, Raph came back with not one, but three Artemis radios, correctly deducing that some might have been damaged by the carnage. Connecting them to the Rosetta Tablet, it worked on the second try and Enri Uemura now had access to the Artemis local communications network. She set one AI to analyze the ongoing communications, record voice patterns and figure out which voices belonged where in the command structure while a second one cooked up bogus orders and reports, sending them to one of the allied ships for a final yes or no before transmitting them.

Just in time for the repeater control center to be cleared. She desperately wished she had a closed helmet like she saw some of the Raven operators had to keep the iron smell of blood out as she entered the structure, blissfully unaware of what had just transpired in there. Setting the Rosetta Tablet on a nearby table to alert her to any problems outside that needed her attention, she pulled up a blood-free chair to a terminal and sank into it. ”Highball estimate, ten minutes.” She let everyone know and then she was mentally elsewhere again.

Frigga pushed free of the SDV and started to climb the pylon, going hand over hand, the electro-magnets in her knee pads and gauntlets letting her climb almost like Spider-woman. She stopped part way out of the water to listen to the plan, she nodded, "Copy. Give me a second." And she once again climbed. And before god and all, as she left the water and headed up the pylon length, her form shimmered, and by the time she reached a maintenance gangway it was rather hard to see her. She switched to the ladder just as she reached the top of it, coming into view briefly to motion everyone to hold. She motioned up and made the military hand signals to say she could hear people, another motion saying there is atleast two separate voices. She then flickered out of view again, creeping up and onto the service platform of the leg. And it's swift. The guards on the platform near the opening of the ladder leading up having little time to react. Just a shimmering charging them, and then four men, two of which were leaning out over the platform edge and looking in the direction away from where they climbed up. And Frigga has all four in a wide armed hold, squeezing them in her arms and against her angular chest plate. A moment or two, and they stop kicking and squirming, their faces against her arms, and one poor maybe lucky fellow with his head nestled into the crook of her arm pit. And finally...they're out. Her stealth field slips and she holds them for abit, then marches them over behind some piping, and over shared comms, "They're down. Come on up."

Shimura followed the rest of the team up, and did the ninja thing, he jumps forward, and places himself against one of the platform doors, shorter wakizashi drawn and ready to strike, held reverse grip, ready to stab into the gap of the door if need be. The eye plates of his helmet glowing a soft yellow, as he scanned about. "You do good work, Battle Goddess-dono."

Frigga smiles, then well in the moment turns, her face plate opening and she winks at Chuck.

Shimura takes a deep breath, looking around for the target that has been assigned him. The Algae Labs. He nods then looks over, "Ready Boaro-san? Looks like we have some ground to cover. We should get moving." And to make sure and that bat on his back, Ban started down the hall. Between steps, he first drew the Katana in one hand, then the switched the Wakizashi to his off hand. Ready for close combat. His steps are quiet and sure. And off they go.

---

Scion reloaded his rocket launchers, essentially mini MLRS systems honestly. Slightly larger then the ones his dad used to wear and use with ease. He grabbed the canisters that Tahlia had brought him slotting them into place on his waist for later, "This is Scion." he joined the conversation, "Long range Rocket Artillery will cease for a time until we make land fall." He pulled his safety line off where it's located right now and makes his way off the top of the hovercraft. Placing himself on the safety skirt. The harness line reattached, and waiting for when he's dumped off.

When his turn came, he unharnessed himself and shunted power and strength to his legs, two long strides and a push, and he sails a good sixteen feet or so. Landing on the rocky beach he's been taken too.

He can be forgiven the stumble maybe?

He turns to look back at the hovercraft, "We're good here. Proceeding to make an unholy, and maybe even a holy mess of myself."

And he began to stride ahead. He held his twin HMGs over one shoulder. The smaller of the group could do the running around, he intends to try and play the Moving Bastion this time around. He finds a road, a path, and walks down it. Seeing Bluefor ahead, engaged with Opfor. He nods, then calls ahead, "Bluefor, be advised, friendly approaching from the south east along the road. Heads down."

He gave them enough time to hunker down before he stepped into view of the opposing force. Swung his HMGs down off his shoulder. And amidst astonished shouts and a few spattering of small arms. He started to hammer the Opfor positions, shouting through his PA system, "This time your doom is here. On a pale horse he came, and the one who rode upon it, is death. And hell followed with him!"

Great chunks of masonry that the Opfor hid behind spattered about. Men trying to dive and run for more cover. As various types of rounds whickered and whistled. It's impossible to tell what his weapons are going to shoot next. At one point a Raufoss round, a penetrator round punches through the door of an Opfor armored vehicle. The following small explosion from the internal copper penetrator followed close by a small HE charge, minces those behind the vehicle. Later a Fragmentation round hits the chest plate of an Opfor and blows him off his feet as the shards from the round cut into the fighters beside him.

Jamie capped it by bracing, and shouts, "Suit, both pods, two rounds, direct fire!" And with a pop-cough-blamf! Two rockets flare out, up and then into the Opfor forces. Sending several of them flying from the HEDP mini warheads. Debris flying. Jamie motions to the Blues, "Forward, check'em, police'em, then if you're in for it I'm going to locate the heaviest fighting and try and draw as much attention to me as possible." He called into Raven comms to the rest of the fireteam, "Scion here, made contact with the enemy. And made an impression. I won't believe they didn't get a call out about me. So I'm going to move to make as big a nuisance as I can, pull as many fighters away from other operations areas on as I can. If you see any Armor, you let me know. So I can try and take it out. Scion, oscar mike."

"Fuck me!" Tahlia yelled out, watching another explosion, Jamie deciding to bring all of the firepower to Southern Greenland this morning. If that didn't wake her up, she wasn't sure what coffee would. Picking off another flanker, she sniped the exo-wearing operative with a headshot, smacking him out of the picture, covering Jamie's rear.
"You are gonna love me someday, Scion. They're seeing you alright." Tahlia added, pulling the bolt ready, adjusting and finding another target.

Raph stayed close with Enri, staying in front, clipping another stray operative that had somehow avoided getting his head kicked in, as the distinctly-non superpowered feeling Israeli could see Jamie pulling troops away, and had decimated the building they were heading towards. Every launch of his shoulder-launched munitions a comma, every yell a very bold full stop, and bodies everywhere in the small compound, as Jamie had decided to make a ruckus away from where Raph and Enri needed to work. Looking to Enri, he hoped she had what she needed radio wise, and after going from H-barrier sandbag to sandbag, now they could at least enter the structure. It was quiet enough, and with a few servers posted up, had a high-tech interface that she immediately could get on. Checking the mag, the Israeli knew combat wasn't his usual wheelhouse, certainly personal protection wasn't either, but given the fringe of the base and the fact so much fire was going on down there, a light team was a better way to go than not.

With a check around, Raph stepped over the bodies from the bullets Jamie had littered through the metal frame of the building, .50 cal holes punching their way through two walls at a time and leaving equally big holes in the people they hit inside, mostly techs but well, all Artemis affiliated. Which was not confidence inspiring, but hey, so long as nothing more than that came, all gravy. Plus their sniper was keeping an eye out too.

"All yours. I'll cover, you hack." Raph added, knowing she was on her ball, as he checked any other corners, for any hidden surprises. He was dry as ever relative to the Japanese hacker's jovial tone, but well, working with the enemy was always strange. Even if it was at what felt like Ragnarok come to life. "For the record, you may not be my favourite person, but right now, I'm fucking glad you're with us." Raph joked, knowing a stare like a thousand daggers was going to come from Enri, but well, at the height of it all, the tension needed some breaking. And even the usually dry Israeli couldn't help observe it.

Meanwhile, outside, Tahlia continued to impersonate a tuft of moss, sniping another target on a ridgeline, cycling the bolt and trying to refocus on another target. Not before she saw the rumbling in her distant scope, that of a pair of armoured vehicles.

"Scion, break. Eyes on a pair of BMP-3s, rolling in over the hill, and about a platoon's worth of troops, well equipped, and likely are going to charge you. Nothing I can do to it, and they'll give you a bad day. Looks like you may be able to ambush it, he won't be able to get his gun on you from there. Scion, it's your call, tell me when and I'll start picking off people. Or, get the fuck out of the way, and Enri can light that thing up for some fire support. I'll cover your six either way." Tahlia called into the comms, adjusting her position, seeing another enemy on Jamie's flank, picking him up and exhaling, putting a bullet through the helmet, in a comic moment of quiet in the gunfire from Jamie's end.

"You are welcome! Keep fragging them, big man!" Tahlia replied, chuckling as she continued to pick up targets, knowing full well the rest of the attack was going about as well as planned. A lot more troops were moving in, and whilst not in the immediate vicinity of Jamie, one Scion was about the same as a platoon's worth of firepower up here, and they were all trying to pick lines. Attack helicopters dodging MANPADS, more armour getting bombed by F35s and dodging ZSU batteries, the overall scene unfolding like WW3, in a very condensed mine. The wider hollow had pretty intense fights taking place, with Royal Marine and US Marine amphibious vehicles laying down grenade launcher fire, soldiers going from plant machine to gravel pits, and all manner of hell raising.

There was a distinct feeling that a hard, sharp kick to the balls was taking place to Artemis here, but it would be for nothing if they didn't sort that transmitter tower out, and the other two teams didn't do their bit, as from Tahlia's vantage point, she could tell what was coming. Enri had some more hacking to do, and Jamie some ambushing.

---

The sound above was that of people getting hacked apart, and a distinctly Wilhelm-like scream coming from the likely quarter of a ton of cloaked heavy literally shuffling their way up an oil rig leg, and then clearing the position above. Well, that indicated the rest was good, if Freya had personally seen to it that close. With it, Adam started clambering up, the ladder strong, but my god, it was going to have to hold for Chuck. That lovebird was going to need to hold on well, or else they were all going down. Clambering over, the gentle patter of rain and sea-spray now fading, Adam sighed as he looked at them. They were distinctly squished, he could tell from the bruises and marks.

"Death by snu-snu, Frigga? That's new." Adam dryly joked, as he gave a hand to the next operator up the ladder, pulling them up, with the entire team now up onto here.

From being up in the platform now, the team moved slow. Adam peeked the corner, silence still kept up, just about, but how long they had would be questionable. First corner was clear, but before moving, a plastic sheeting was in front, and he knelt.
"Divider here. Algal labs are that way. Command is this way. If that merc is around, be really, really fucking careful. Boaro knows the horror stories, if she comes out, expect a hell of a fight. If it's in our way, clear it out. No friendlies on deck. I trust you guys to get it done. Once you've secured it, dump the counteragent and stop anything that moves. Me and Freya will get air support to lend us a hand, because it's going to be intense." Adam called out, and with it, the team split into two. Freya with Adam, whilst Chuck, Ban and Ebrima had the algae lab.



The algal plantation and lab itself, when they got there would be highly manned, not set up for defence. It looked like a gigantic vertical farm, at least three storeys high, and a massive warehouse-like structure full of enemies, nooks and corners everywhere, corridors between them and gantries, and tight, confined corridors that were basically so tight only hand to hand would really work. An exo's paradise in the centre, and in the centre of the lab past all the pipework, the large store for the Sol Hestia that needed killing. There was going to be serious resistance all the way, and likely as the team moved into position, sneaking on the first few guards past the plastic sheeting that were on patrol, flashlights on with only the glowing green tanks illuminating the place outside of the gigantic floodlights that would be activated on movement, making the scene.

This was a prelude to a serious, if not insane fight. And the team had the chance to spring their trap, when they want.

Moving through, Adam led the way in front of Freya, the scene a little funny, like a lion following a cat really, given their relative heights.
"Clear." Adam called back, peeking the corner. More of them on patrol, and whilst Adam felt Freya push against him, almost like a lion wanting to just clothesline them with ease, Adam let them go. With a gentle patter, Adam pinked a round into the far man's head, then the one behind, both falling down the stairwell with ease, as they headed up, the tight corners near impossible for Freya, but more navigable for Adam. The next door revealed a lot more contacts through, in an overlook and large control room looking down into the algal lab below, as well as then spiralling onto the roof, and ultimately, the command point for the rig.

"Well, we went as far as we could quiet. I'll throw a flash in, you might have a few seconds of cloaking to smash into a few of them. I'll lay down fire. You ready?" Adam craned his neck up to the Kantaario, even though he was further up the stairwell than she was. On her ready call, he prepped a flashbang, and opening the door, flung it in with the pin popped, and then got the fuck out of the way, and it smacked bright light, and then, the party was on.

Meanwhile, Luisa was eyes on the PDA. Structure breach. Well, that only meant one thing. As she stepped through the shadow, the floodlights lit up, sequential through the lab.
"Intruders! You came to the wrong facility, surrender now or face the wrath of Seniorita Vasquez and her merry men! All guards, find them and make them suffer!" The tannoy announcement was nothing but cheesy, but as Adam reflected on it, man, it made her want to kill her even more. Jesus, she had a voice like a cheese grater....

---

Skye cursed, as she turned and saw Sam's attempt at first fail, but well, buy enough time. With it, Skye turned up the bolt, and unleashed it at the drone in a brief moment of its disability.
"Have that! Appreciate it Chaos, no pressure but that's one problem down!" She called, as the M31 barked out and spat a tungsten round that carved the top half of it away, the Scot giving a wry chuckle before darting into more cover, more operatives coming.
"Fuck me! Where they hell were they hiding?! Viper, hold off that, we may need that as a contingency, make your way to our flanks as we're headed up!" Skye yelled out, as she moved out, peeking from the server at another side and lacing a round into another merc's legs then head, back in as Athena moved to another set, MP412 REXes in both hands like some sort of fucking Wild West shooter, putting rounds into Artemis mercs filling the voids between the racks, filling the air with custom-made .357. The REX really was a revolver after Athena's heart, a bespoke, weird, non standard thing. But well, when you didn't really have much to deal with in recoil, it made sense, as even she made note to keep in cover.

The fight was intense, as Skye kept on her toes, Athena spraying rounds past a server, a charging exo-equipped operative no match for her, as she at first had to resist getting a hand on her face, before flipping the woman in the exo over and suplexing her into the floor, crushing her out between her legs. Skye DEFINITELY gave her a look for that, before more gunfire interrupted, Skye using her flank to lay some more charged fire down from the gauss-gun like weapon, the penetration a bit too high for what she liked, but given the internals of this thing, unlikely to go too far.

"Contacts down! Keep moving!" With it, Skye moved forwards, laying down fire, Athena grabbing a rack and throwing it in front of Skye, slatting a guy out as Skye double tapped, Athena roaring as she lept over a rack and sprayed three more mercs, hosing them out with fire, cackling.
"Eat that, fuckers!" Her voice seemed to carry, and stealth was now very much out of the window, as Athena seemed to not be approaching unarmoured combat with a feeling of a lack of weight, but like anything could be, and would be thrown. Sam was probably loving this, the part-armoured heavy showing what she was capable of in this sector of the server farm. Skye looked around, trying to find an access point, but there was nothing here.
"Chaos, we need to keep on. I can't see any access into Rose's digital brain here. She must have it configured to her own place up there."

Coming around the corner and up the next steps, the two kept moving, the end of the server room coming up to another corridor that was immediately filled with bullets, from an over-reactive killzone forming drone.
"Well, no way through there. Viper, a hand here?" Skye called into the comms, the Scot taking a breather, checking herself over, as Athena did the same, another drone blaring intermittent fire above them to create a killzone in the stairwell.

"Gotcha. On my mark. Keep your oxygen on, there'll be a breach." Purna replied cooly, as that felt like the understatement. What felt like a suddenly pulling could be felt as the entire ship lurched as the glass smashed and the turret blew up, Skye chuckling as the automatic shutter on the frame shut the opened up frame, as if knowing the thing was going down.

"That's us! Let's move!" Skye called, as she kept a move on, heading out of the industrial-feeling servers and up into what felt like...well, living quarters. A gigantic penthouse, this was Rose's home from home, clearly. Athena whistled.
"I will redo the decor, but this'll do. Where's the steering wheel?" Athena chuckled, the blonde reloading her MAC-10s as Skye could hear more around the corner. The light beamed in through the windows, made of heavily reinforced glass, creating a feeling that were in a skyscraper, albeit one ridiculously high up.
"Another storey up. We need to move through this. Fuck me, what a place. Careful with your rounds here, more breaches are gonna hit. Purna, think you can get to the wheelhouse?"

"Affirmative. I'll move to secure." The reply was cool from Purna, as Skye leaned in against the hyper-modern black wooden framing, peeking it, before looking back.
"More bad guys. Ready?" Skye asked, as the taller blonde chuckled behind her, nearly knocking over Skye.
"Let's fucking go!" Athena roared, running around and spraying rounds, her scream almost eliciting a chuckle before Skye herself had to make a move. This was all action, no thinking, and right now, they had to keep on. In the next room, what looked like more tubes similar to the kind Skye had seen were visible- not that Skye had the bandwidth to entirely explain to the rest what that meant- and the penthouse's open-floored layout was quickly becoming a killzone.
"Nord, Valkyrie, keep point, Chaos, see if you can find this hacker!" Skye called, as more gunfire barked out as Skye skidded behind a couch, spraying fire above it in a burst, catching a couple of guards off kilter with that move. With a turn, she peeked a corner and laid down some fire, as Athena just ran over the couch and kicked another guard in the chest, fumbling over after taking a couple of rounds herself, sighing a little in pain as she rolled back into cover. If not anything, really fucking cool, but her body armour was only gonna want to take so much.

Chuck had come up after Freya. He cleared the decking and moved into the shadows as he looked around for any more guards. He watched Freya as she dragged the guys she had dropped behind some piping. Chuck’s dopey grin got bigger as she winked at him. He winked back before his head on the swivel, checking the area out. Once the team had all assembled on the decking. The small number of guards meant that the guards were probably on rotations in small squads of four. It wouldn’t be long before more came along.

Chuck was very amused when he heard Adam tell Freya. "Death by snu-snu, Frigga? That's new."

Chuck couldn’t help but add: “Yeah but what a way to go!” He snickered suddenly, having the best time. They might be under pressure to save the world but nothing was going to ruin his good mood.

Adam called them together and gave out orders.

Adam: "Divider here. Algal labs are that way. Command is this way. If that merc is around, be really, really fucking careful. Boaro knows the horror stories, if she comes out, expect a hell of a fight. If it's in our way, clear it out. No friendlies on deck. I trust you guys to get it done. Once you've secured it, dump the counteragent and stop anything that moves. Me and Freya will get air support to lend us a hand, because it's going to be intense."

Chuck acknowledged his orders with a nod to Adam. It looked like he was with Ban and Ebrima to take out the algae lab. Chuck turned to his two teammates.

Chuck's voice came over comms: “I think the best plan is for two of us to distract the personnel and guards while the third goes for the tank. I should be on the distraction team. Ebrima is great on the long gun and overwatch. I suggest Boraro takes the high ground. I will take the center. And Shimura goes for the toxin tank.”

Chuck and his team had been moving towards the algae farm while talking. He paused outside the entrance waiting for his teammates to weigh in on the plan. Then all hell broke loose as the flood lights came on and “intruder alert” blared over the loudspeakers all over the base.

Chuck laughed as he pointed at the guards coming towards them.

Chuck: “What is this an episode of Star Trek?! Hey look guys, red shirts!”

Chuck didn’t wait and ran towards the four man squad in an eager anticipation of battle. He decided to go old school due to the cramped quarters. Besides their numbers so far they didn’t have anything that could scratch him. He let out a battle cry and put his hand to hand combat and martial arts skills to work. It had been a while since he had fought like this. His heavy armor protected his body and made it a weapon that easily harmed anyone not in heavy armor. Kevlar vests didn’t protect from kinetic damage. Chuck was strong enough that he could pull limbs off and dent helmets. He punched one guard in the throat while delivering a spinning back kick to the chest of another which launched the guard backwards about 10 feet where he came to a sudden halt when his body met the steel wall. Chuck quickly used an arm sweep to knock the gun out of the hand of the third guard before twisting and slamming his armored first into the next guard chest causing his chest to concave.

Chuck made that heavy armor look more like spandex as it moved with him. Chuck’s close combat skills are not hidden by the heavy armor he wore. He looked like a mixed martial arts pro wearing sports wear but in reality was clad in heavy high tech armor that shouldn’t move that way. Most would think that his armor restricted his movements and he would move more like a robot. Chuck made looking badass in armor easy while scaring the shit out of the guards attacking him. His armor shrugged off a few pistol shots that managed to land on him.

Skye took out the drone that she had managed to jam the rollers on. Samantha winced a little as she heard Skye cursing.

Skye: "Have that! Appreciate it Chaos, no pressure but that's one problem down!"

Samantha pulled her pistol and popped up and shot two guards before ducking back into cover. She heard Skye’s gun across from her before she heard her illustrious leader cursing and chuckling once more. More guards came towards them. Samantha popped out of cover and quickly shot three more soldiers charging towards them as she got a look at the server room. She ducked out going low that time and emptied her clip into legs and knees coming towards them from a kneeling position. Before she spun back into cover cursing. She quickly popped in a full clip stashing the empty in a pouch.

Skye came over the team coms.: "Fuck me! Where they hell were they hiding?! Viper, hold off that, we may need that as a contingency, make your way to our flanks as we're headed up!"

Samantha had seen Skye in action before and it was always a thing of wonder to watch. Athena worked alongside Skye and it was like a Wild West trick shooting gallery in the server room and the Artemis personnel were the little ducks being knocked over. Samantha started giggling madly as she spun back out to help the other two women. She couldn’t help the comparison to the ducks as the soldiers hitting the floor had their feet pop up. It reminded her of those ducks falling over. They managed to take enough people down to give them a little bit of space.

Chaos: “Athena has to come with us on our next girls night out! We can have a girls competition at a shooting gallery. It will be fun!”

Samantha’s eyes widened as she paused in aiming to admire Athena suplexing the exo-equipped soldier into the floor. Samantha managed to hit two that had just popped up out of an alcove to the side of the compartment before ducking back into cover. They seemed to be getting tied down even though the bodies were piling up in the server room. The fight intensified as shots and bodies were flying through the air.

Samantha heard Skye over comms.

Skye: "Chaos, we need to keep on. I can't see any access into Rose's digital brain here. She must have it configured to her own place up there."

Samantha switched to her knife as a guard got past Athena and Skye. She ducked and kicked the guard in the stomach before stabbing them in the neck with the knife. She took a breath and cleaned her knife before responding to Skye.

Samantha: “I agree with you Skye. The server room is just the server farm. They are locked up tighter than a royal heir’s chastity belt. Okay probably not the best analogy. The servers are hardened against EMP and in sealed cabinets. There is no way to access them in this room. The terminal has to be somewhere else in the blimp.”

Samantha followed Skye staying close on her heels. She threw a knife at a guard who came in from behind them. The knife caught them in the chest and they went down. She retrieved her knife, cleaning it on the guards clothing before heading back to Skye’s side.

Skye: "Well, no way through there. Viper, a hand here?"

Samantha could hear shots coming from the stairway. She slid into place next to Skye. She took the moment to swap out the clip on her gun once more.

Viper: "Gotcha. On my mark. Keep your oxygen on, there'll be a breach."

There was a large explosion above them and the blimp lurched and began to tilt at an odd angle.

Skye: "That's us! Let's move!"

She followed Skye up into a swanky looking living area. Athena followed her.

Athena: "I will redo the decor, but this'll do. Where's the steering wheel?"

Samantha snickered and looked over at Athena who was reloading her guns.

Samantha: “What!? I thought you were driving. So who’s steering this thing? They need their license revoked. Do you need a license to drive a blimp? We should definitely report your crazy ass sister to the authorities Queen.”

Samantha grinned and laughed as she looked at Skye. If the world was going to end, she was going to enjoy every minute she got with her friends.

Samantha: “You know Queen, I don’t know how we will top this girl’s night out.”

Samantha winked at Athena as Skye ordered them to climb up another storey.

Skye snickered as she asked Purna to secure the wheelhouse.

Samantha snarked into their open coms as she took her place along the wall next to Skye.

Samantha: “Is that the equivalent of fetching the car?”

Skye had no sooner asked if they were ready before Athena roared and took off spraying rounds.She just shook her head laughing and charged around the corner after Athena.

Samantha snickered as she asked Athena.

Samantha: “Is this Athena’s careful mode?”

Samantha had dashed to the other side of the room as Athena took most of the action and attention of their enemies so handily. Samantha slid into a small cubby space along a wall. She tucked herself into the corner putting the wall at her back.

Samantha heard Skye call out over coms.

Skye: "Nord, Valkyrie, keep point, Chaos, see if you can find this hacker!"

Samantha got to work with Bob as she worked to isolate the hacker’s signal. She used her knives to defend herself as she continued her work to find the hacker while she fought on.

Samantha: “The hacker is on the blimp someplace. They are using Rose’s closed network. They have direct access that is why we are struggling to do anything. Rose must really trust them because she gave them most of the keys of the kingdom. Bob’s working on tracing their exact location.”

Ban hiked his blade and slide it up behind his arm and alongnhis shoulder. He paced along with his detachment, scanning the halls as they go. This particular area really didn't play well to his style sadly. But he's sure he'd been sent along here for a reason. It's just a matter of time before that reason presents itself. He nods slowly as they go, "Think your plan has merit and not to work. But as someone once said, No plan survives contact with the enemy. Sun Tzu said something much the same as I recall. We should be..." Ban trails off as they reach the divider and turn for their objective. As the lights flared and thr alarm sounded the swordsmen blinked in surprise.

And them grinned behind his mask, "And this is..." His arm and sword flashed as one of the guards jumped the gun...and fired his SMG. Shimura's arm flashed moving in front of Ebrima automatically and deflected the short five round burst. Looking at his blade briefly then swinging and ricocheting the last sixth round back at the man who fired. Rewarded with the guard letting out a shocked bark as the ricochetted round pinged off his shoulder guard sending him staggering back.

Ban grinned. And spotted more coming from the left. He barked, "Those are mine." And tore off to the side. As he ran...okay so he unknowingly performed a Naruto-like run, he drew his long sword, the family katana. The reinforcing squad had a moment or five to register the man in modern samurai armor. Before Shimura leapt, and hit not just one or two or three but five of the group with a battering of flying kicks. Laying them low but not out. Dazed and reeling.

Ban chuckled, "Now then." And his swords hissed, silvered arcs cutting the air, skill and purpose. And pieces of guns fell to.the floor. Triggers, barrels, stock and chamber mechanisms, fell to the floor in a clatter. The guards watching suddenly empty handed. Shimura smiling. The guards going for knifes next.

The Yakuza grinning and rumbling, "Yosh, good. A man doesn't know the mind of another until they have tested steel against steel!"

[Hr]

Meanwhile, Freya paced along with Adam. She'd eschewed her rifle for now. And tested Starbreaker in hand. The dense hammer held easily the enhancing arm.and shoulder exo for her already incredible armor, shifting and clicking. The retracting chain already attached to the handle of the immense weapon. She nodded, hearing the aound of gunplay and fighting, "Seems they've met the enemy. I wonder how long it will be before we end up meeting anyone?"

With swish her super dense hammer traced an almost easy path through the air. And all.it would take is a flick of her arm.to send it hurtling down the hall at any point.

She caught the hammer and held it ready. It would not have been hard for her to have slid around the corner and brained the lot.ofmthem. but the quiet approach worked.

But then that door and all those inside. She sighs and backs up, her cloak coming back up, the shimmer of her form and the transparent.outline of Starbreaker held at the ready, "Go" was all she said. Her visor dulled the flash through the window. And just as Adam cleared out, she hit the door. One side of the door went one way smashing into some material racks. The other just barely hung onto.its frame. Near half a ton of raging woman smashed into the room. The first swing of her hammer caught two of those inside on the handle, the fore swing sending them flying. And as her cloak flickered off, revealing the silver blue and Grey armored giantess amidst them, her hammer came back around, low and legs and hips shattered, guards going down in shock and pain. Her arm then locked back and she threw the hammer. The chain rattled as it spooled out and hit a single exo suited guard right in the chest. The sound of armor protesting under the stress a highlight in the moment. The exo them shouting in shock as he dragged back to Feigga on the end of the hammer.

Ending with The Battle Goddess catching the exo in her off hand. A poster moment then ad she catches her hammer with her main hand and holds the battered exo in her off hand. Backlit by the flare of an emergency light.

---

”Get a room, you two. One without bioweapons in it.” The Cameroonian chuckled with an audible roll of his eyes at the flirtatious giants as he, Ban and Chuck peeled off from Adam and Freya to do their thing.

That was when the floodlights flickered on and the PA crackled to life. He really hoped it would take longer to go loud. ”Over the loudspeaker? At least the mercs I worked with had class.” Ebrima groaned. He would have to give some good-natured grief to Purna later, with the whole Ghukra-Kukri mythos and meanwhile this Jap is here stopping bullets with his sword like a real-life cartoon protagonist. Where and how did Skye keep finding these people, it was a superpower at this point. Good thing that was a thing of hers that Rose didn’t share.

But he thrived in environments like this, was molded to it by his uncle Monday - and no small amounts of unkind fate - and even though the algae farm was a far cry from the jungles of Northern Cameroon where Ebrima was trained or Eastern Nigeria where Monday cut his teeth before that, there were enough similarities to make it count. Close quarters, obstructed sight lines and no need to take the other side’s lives into consideration. A few leaps and jump pack boosts and he was on the top deck following Chuck’s plan, cutting off the option of getting attacked from above as a bonus.

Up on the catwalks with no cover to speak of, speed would mean survival. Speed, or making his own cover. Ebrima took off running toward the nearest hostile, the USP barking twice to make room for the Kukri in the other hand. The PDW clattered on the grated floor along with the hand holding it, the same arm that did it wrapping itself around the freshly-minted pirate like a hydraulically-powered constrictor snake, holding him close to Ebrima while the knife found a gap between the kevlar collar and ballistic mask. Ebrima felt the rounds impact his plates harmlessly, losing enough oomph going through the Artemis merc to be a non-issue for the Raven merc. More rounds continued striking as he ran forward, holding the dead body like a shield until he reached the two others, throwing the body at one and launching himself at the other with the jump pack.

Ebrima’s boot slammed into the left merc’s stomach like a forging press, ducking under a left hook while swiping the knife to his left to knock a pointed weapon away and following up with another side kick to reinforce the lesson that the guy should stay. Fucking. Down, the Artemis operative’s head leaving a dent in the railing it got slammed into. He followed up with a jump pack-assisted roundhouse kick to unsettle the man on the left and a likewise boosted shoulder barge sending him clean through the railing and tumbling down toward where Ban was no doubt slicing up bad guys like a Teppanyaki chef; Ebrima keeping the momentum from the charge to keep moving because speed? Speed meant survival.

---

She didn’t even look up from her work, merely raising her voice over the clattering of the keyboard. Touch screens and AR were good for the civilian sector, but defense needed simple, reliable and, if possible, fixable with a screwdriver and a fourth-grade education. ”I don’t need you to like me, and if I want your opinion of me, I’ll just read your emails.” She still wasn’t discounting infecting Raph’s personal computer with some particularly annoying adware for his meddling in Colombia, but despite the harsh words she sounded happier than before, her mind in her own world, one of ones and zeroes where death was an abstract concept. About as true as weight loss commercials, but at least it was an effective coping strategy her mind cooked up to compartmentalize this end-of-the-world, action movie shitshow she’d been thrust in. Worse, one she went into voluntarily.

Kicking off the wall and covering half of the distance between herself and Raph on the office chair with what was definitely a practiced move, Enri gestured for him to turn his back to her. ”Don’t move.” She opened up his backpack, trying to reach in and having to tap his shoulder to get him to bend down slightly. Reaching in, she shoved a spool of cable into his hands. ”Hold this.” She pulled out the toolkit she needed, putting the spool Raph was holding back in and zipping the bag back up. ”You’re free.” Up until she got talking to Shalev’s warehouse manager once, she had no idea how much something as stupid as packing a bag could be optimized. Old German guy had a point, otherwise she would’ve put the heavy stuff low and light stuff high and now would’ve had to throw out half of the bag to get what she needed.

She disappeared in the server room with an impressed whistle, coming back out a few minutes later. ”If he wasn’t a genocidal asshole, I’d suggest hiring their network tech. Everything in there’s neat and labeled down to the last cable, beautiful.” She sat back in the chair, double-checking everything once more. ”It’s ready, on your go.”

Soundtrack: Watch Me Bleed - Fearless Motivation - The Julianno

---

Ebrima: ”Get a room, you two. One without bioweapons in it.”

Chuck just chuckled, sounding downright happy as he replied.

Chuck: “Well I can’t deny that I would love that but Ebrima do you think it is a smart idea to potentially insult Freya? Not to mention our lovely Battle Goddess could rip your arms off and feed them to you if you piss her off. I am pretty sure her siblings would help her. You do know her father’s temper is legendary right? Besides, the plan is to kill Artemis and woo the lady respectfully first. I like my heads attached to my body, you know.”

Chuck had run headlong into battle. They needed to deal with this damn toxin. Chuck had just taken out four guards as their group engaged the guards coming towards them. Ebrima had gone high and left as he had charged towards the center of the space. Chuck heard heavy clunking up from behind him. He turned back towards the center after kicking a soldier into the wall. Three men in exos were coming towards him. One of them was a giant like chuck. He was in the biggest exo unit that Chuck had ever seen. He easily topped Chuck’s impressive height by about a foot because of the exo. He was more muscular than Chuck as well. He had a nasty jagged scar running down the left side of his face that bisected his eye. The eye itself was cybernetic and glowed a neon blue. The man was shaved bald but had a blonde beard. The black tattoos that ran up the side of his neck identified him as Russian.

Chuck went straight for the giant as the giant surged towards him. The titans met in the middle with a horrendous crash of sound. The groaning and tearing sound of metal could be heard. The exo clad soldier on the left tried to get around Chuck to engage Ban while the one on the right lifted his gun and began firing at Ebrima. Chuck was knocked back as the Russian slammed his boot into his side. Chuck was lifted off the floor by the strength of the blow. Chuck’s fist slammed into the knee joint of the exo in an attempt to immobilize or slow down his opponent. The giant managed to dodge. The tearing sound was some of the outer layer of Chuck’s armor being torn by the blow. Chuck spun and lashed out with an armored boot as the one on the left was trying to get past him. His foot connected with the soldier’s chest and knocked him off his feet. He managed to dent the man’s armor and he was down for the moment. Chuck spun back around and launched a fist at the Russian’s armored head. Chuck’s fist was stopped by the man’s helmet but he managed to crack the helmet.

The Russian growled and shook his head, raising his heavy guns up and taking a shot at Chuck. Chuck didn’t see the Russian because he had turned his back on him to engage the other exo clad soldier that was targeting Ebrima. He managed to surprise the man in the exo from behind. Chuck wrapped his arms around the man and caught his armored head in a lock. Chuck applied his augmented strength and began fighting the enhanced strength of the exo as he tried to break the man’s neck. You could hear actuators whining and metal being stretched. Chuck let out a scream of effort as he put his all into it. There was a popping and tearing noise and Chuck felt the resistance give. At that moment Chuck took a hit to his back as the heavy caliber bullets from the giant ripped into his back plate.

Chuck spun and began dodging but there wasn’t a lot of room for that in here. The Russian managed to continue to hit Chuck. Chuck lifted his wrist and sent some taser flechettes from his wrist launchers towards the Russian. They hit his suit and didn’t seem to even slow him down. He didn’t want to switch to armor piercing rounds because they still had to neutralize the toxin. They didn’t want to pierce the tank and release the toxin before it had been neutralized. Chuck knew what he had to do. He charged towards the Russian, taking heavy fire as he went. He needed to get close enough to grapple with him again. Chuck kept charging even as he felt his armor weakening as he felt pain along the rib cage. He let out a battle cry as he tackled the Russian giant taking him down off his feet. Chuck and Russian began a metal suited wrestling match. The Russian was very good. Chuck couldn’t get a hold on him. Chuck was hard pressed to hold his own. The Russian managed to break Chuck’s armor further and worked a knife in between his ribs as Chuck slammed his knife home up from beneath the man’s chin where his armor was weakest.

Chuck: "Damn that hurts!"

Chuck pulled the knife out as quickly as he could. He pulled an emergency dressing out of the first aid kit in his thigh armor. He opened the pressure dressing and slapped over the knife wound hopefully sealing it up. Chuck groaned as he managed to roll over and get up on his knees with a grunt of pain. He used one of the algae racks to help pull himself to his feet. His voice was gritty as he asked for a sitrep over comms.

Chuck: “Is the toxin neutralized yet?”

Chuck was looking around trying to get a sense of what was happening in the battle. He had lost track of the greater battle while he dealt with the giant. He was feeling a little disoriented.

---

Samantha trusted Skye to help keep her safe as she turned her attention to shutting down the rest of Rose’s network. Samantha tucked her crazy away as she narrowed her focus to working with Bob. There was another lurch as the blimp was slowly falling from the sky. Samantha was thrown harder against the wall. She was trying to regain her position and brace when her hand seemed to hit a hidden pressure plate. She noticed the wall popped out a little as if on a spring catch. Samantha had triggered a false panel that had popped open. The entire section of the wall swung outward. She got to her feet and scrambled up. She dropped as bullets flashed through the air where her head used to be.

Samantha: “Found the hacker!”

Samantha pulled one of her knock out gas grenades out of a belt pouch and popped the pin and tossed it inside. She had Bob working on breaking the encryption into Rose’s wireless networks. Samantha didn’t want to fire into the room. The brief glance she had gotten told her that it was the access point and had Rose’s clones in it. She didn’t want to damage the terminal there and trigger some kind of last resort scorched earth contingency plan of Rose’s. It would be just like the bitch to booby trap it. She wanted to be very careful because Rose was batshit crazy enough to destroy all her clones if it meant taking everyone with her. Who has a hidden room on a blimp? Oh right, she forgot crazy paranoid psychos out to destroy the world.

Samantha: “Be careful firing into the room. The access terminal and clones are in there. Rose probably has some kind of contingency last resort measures set up on this room. If we destroy the terminal, who knows what it will trigger. Keep your masks on. A knock out grenade was deployed.”

Samantha ordered Bob to try and isolate and lock down all signals going into and out of that room. Samantha used an armored foot to kick a hole in the drywall next to the door. She pulled some tools out of her pouch and made the hole wider. She began to root around in the wall. She pulled out a mass of wires.

Samantha grinned as she called out. "Jackpot! Cover me while I try to do something about this."

She grinned as she sorted out the cable for the network in the room. She paired back the wires and used a it to splice in her own terminal from where she sat. She began to work her way past the encryptions and security. She spliced in a signal splitter into the line to try and block the hacker's access from the terminal inside the hidden room.

The strides are paced and careful.

They eat the distance in an almost stately way. The Blues from earlier trailing along in a staggered wedge formation he at the spear tip. A few small skirmish had been had since they linked up. A focus fire situation being worked out quick. Scion lead the way steadily, letting the fights last just long enough foe Opfor to.send out earnings of the walking tank.

And it sounded like it paid off, as Scionnis notified about the BMPs rolling towards them. He grinned brightly responding, "Scion copies." He motioned and the blues scattered for cover, a quartet settling into his armored shadow as Scion hunkered down a little.

They waited. The first armored vehicle hove into view. And was met by a ripple of rifle rifle fire, the Bluefor causing a distraction, long enough for Scion to paint the first vehicle, then the second one as it came out from behind the first.

Eight rockets fire. Six from Scion, and another two from Bluefor man portable systems.

It was an order of magnitude more then needed.

One BMP got hit by all four rockets aimed at it at once. Armor buckled and the thing went up in flames with an almost pathetic thump. The other got rippled, the four rockets hitting it one at a time. Gave it time to burn it rolled forward, trailing flames before plowing into a tree and them finally exploding. Jamie nodded then motioned to keep moving.

He radioed to the crew "Armor taken care of. I'm moving to one of the compounds try and make as much noise as I can. Let me know when to start falling back."

Raph followed her instructions, letting Enri get to work, adding no words. Sometimes it was best to let the master work. And well, outside it sounded like Jamie was doing precisely that, painting fire, and blasting apart the BMPs, then making a hell of a lot more noise, the .50 cals ringing out. Far away, Tahlia was picking up targets of opportunity, but knew she had to get moving herself. Best not to stay too long for any other countersnipers to get a bead. She'd overstayed her welcome.

The BMPs detonated outside, as Enri gave the all clear. With it, Raph hit the command on the laptop he was at, and well, the tower severed the link, and with it, jammed the signal.

"Queen, do you read? Signal is out, repeat, signal is out. Do what you have to do."

The supporting forces were driving one hell of a wedge, and a friendly LAV-25 rolled past Jamie, the troops nearby looked in awe, a silent one as they had a mine to secure. Jamie was a giant among men, perhaps one they'd tell stories of one day, but it seemed like here, their work was done.

"Nicely done, team. Javi, grab the team for extract, then come by me. We'll let them take it from here. Much as we need to join the fun, let's keep our presence here to a minimum. We got what we needed." Tahlia called into the comms, the decision hard, but a pragmatic one. No point sticking around if the transmitter was doing it's thing, and NATO forces had now stopped the counter-attack, and gotten their presence here clear. Questions would be asked the longer they stayed as to what exactly Raven's presence had been.

When they would turn up to the tower, they'd likely just assume it was a disabled telecommunications transmitter, and that the rogue element had been defending the mine itself, as perhaps a dispute rather than a formal tool. That was best. Questions would sink the secrecy that Raven held dear, and well, questions could be answered better to senior officers, rather than grunts.

Time to go. Time to get out, as Raph covered the door, and moving across, the hovercraft rattled into position.

The light at the end of all things. Raph, and Tahlia just prayed that the other teams had their bits covered.

---

Soundtrack: Free Bird (TOTEM)- Lynyard Skynard

The heavy that tangled with Chuck certainly had made a mark, but as he gurgled on the floor, a horde more troops were coming in, which Ebrima had gotten to, as well as Ebrima, who was turning shit inside out. It felt fluid, fast, and most of all, unhinged, algal tanks spilling on the floor and creating a messy green from the spotless concrete and metal, the gunfire echoing. Troops were charging around, and a heavy contingent of exos lay between them and the final tank, right at the end of the room, where the Raven team had cut through a hot knife like butter to reach.

There were a lot of hostiles to clear, and no doubt, the Raven team must have felt like they were in a spectacularly epic end of the level fight, with vertical movement, soldiers getting ragdolled and blasted from every angle, given how much munition was getting thrown around in here. If there was ever a moment for each of them to demonstrate what they could do, it was now, from Chuck tanking fire despite his hurt, to Boaro slicing through enemies, to Ban bouncing bullets and running circles.

They were so close, but there was one last one, in her heavier-set exo, field generator active, saucy response with a skull and heart-like balaclava on, Luisa seemed determined to hold them back, a custom-rigged PKP in hand, a mini-missile system equivalent to Rose's exo in Chile on her shoulder to just make sure he kept moving. Money was one motivator. Wiping out Boaro was another. And his stupid friends.

"Ah, Boaro! So nice of you to come see us! Shame you'll be leaving, in a fucking bodybag, mierda! You and your two friends!" She nonchalantly yelled, as the exo-clad soldiers started pinning down Chuck and Ban, giving them a tougher fight at the centre of the rig, whislst Luisa picked out Ebrima, one on one. She had the upper hand in tech, but no doubt, even if she didn't survive this, she was dragging him with her to hell in her mind.

---

Meanwhile, up top, Adam watched as Freya just went in and slaughtered the room, red everywhere, including over the giantess in the midst of it.

"Clear. We need to move to neutralise the pump system, fast. Don't hit any pipes, if there's any leak, we're totally fucked. Once we get confirmation the toxin is dead, then we raise hell." It felt like an afterstatement, as Adam opened the next, a few bits of gunfire rattling from below, as they moved through the catwalk, and to the next door, Adam spraying rounds into two more men that ran through, before Freya had the chance to turn them into liquid. Running through the tight door, one Freya no doubt would need to squeeze through, the rounds were heavy outside, and Adam's field generator at least held for now as he slid into cover, spraying rounds, covering Freya. She was no doubt about to turn this into a popsicle field, as they moved through the top of the rig, on top of the massive warehouse, through the pipework and various structures that dotted the topside, on the spray-filled morning of the Atlantic.

The fighting was hard, as Adam went from point to point, using his EVOLYSYS to spray down heavy fire onto the cabins, clipping a squad of men, using his exo to charge hard and keep moving. It felt relentless, and Freya had her own share of things to do, but between them, they carved like a knife through butter, Adam leaping over a catwalk and ambushing another group as Freya took fire, clipping her flanks with relative ease. The command room was up ahead, and whilst there was another way to it, this was the fastest way that didn't involve going through the majority of forces defending the toxin tank below.

As they made their way into the command room, the sound of thumping could be heard, Adam checking the bottom half of the large glass-fronted structure, a large lobby that lead to a massive control room looking over the rest of it. There were a lot of bodies, a lot of blood from the fighting, and even Adam was feeling a bit of the toll. But they were heavy as hell footsteps, and suddenly, around the corner, there she was.

Laura Zeiss.

"Oh....kurwa." It felt like an understatement. Many people laughed at such an operator, and Skye had known how many people got torched on fire by someone like that taking it very seriously. There was no reasoning with her. That armour, Trophy System, and well, her flamer kit, that was no joke. The stories were all true.

"Freya! Shit, I didn't think it would be you!" Laura cackled through her gas mask, turning her flamethrower towards the two. There's no denying, whilst the Russian below was large, Laura was....well, intimidating in her own way. Her THICC suit seemed an impenetrable wall, and well, having a modified flamethrower with a jet-engine like flame wall arrangement that she'd made in her own workshop, well, now that just made things a little unfair.

"Laura, what the fuck are you doing here?" Adam yelled, watching as Laura chuckled, heartily, a little disappointed it was going this way, but still, business was business.

"They promised me a spot after it's done, business is business so I guess I made my decision.....come on Freya, not too late to join, but your little plus one, he ain't coming!" And with it, Laura turned the flamethrower out, filling the hall with fire, cackling, knowing it would certainly affect Freya alright, and if it wasn't for Adam's quick field generator flick, he'd have been fried. Running back, Laura giggled, and with it, sprouted what looked like a pair of rollerskates at her feet, and with a gentle push and what looked like her turning her pyro another way, rattled forward.

Adam didn't have words. He imagined Freya, a friend of hers, may have had even less.

They were gonna have to stop her if they were taking this plant out. One way or another.

---

Skye plinked a few more rounds down range, the M31 in a rapid fire punching hard holes into the targets they hit, the recoil sharp but nothing the Scot couldn't take, the coiled rifle making a hell of a bang up against armoured targets, whilst Athena simply put rounds down range and threw loose items at whichever one of them came her way, improvising with one of their HK416 rifles at one point, dumping a mag into one before like an angry toddler, throwing one down the hall at one and then icing them with her REX revolver. The redhead and the blonde made a team, as the Scot, even exo-less was still picking up targets like no tomorrow, moving around a island-styled kitchen unit and picking up crew on the other side of her cover.

Out of nowhere, a roar could be heard, as an exo tore through the wall, the only thing between Skye getting crushed being Athena, who in turn, managed to bear hug. What sounded like hydraulics screaming into Athena were then Athena yelling out, as Skye clattered a round into the exo's head, knocking them back, holding the trigger and holding, then releasing. The shot basically turned their head into a pink mist, as Athena dusted herself down.

"Thanks!" She shrugged, Skye giving a middle finger back, sighing.

Moving forward, Skye looked across to the team, Athena covering the rear, including Oliver who followed close, the call of Sam finding the hidden compartment news to Skye, as she knew they had to keep pressing. Skye gave a wave to Oliver to help her out, knowing they needed to secure that room, post haste.

"Chaos, get to that terminal and take the hacker out! Don't touch a fucking thing, check the hacker to see if there's anything on him!" Skye called into comms, skidding into cover, Athena blasting rounds before switching to the MAC-10s and spraying more, destroying a little more of her future penthouse, or so she hoped. Skye peeked and with the M31, slotted rounds efficient into two of their skulls, with a sickening crunch.

The hacker sprayed rounds down range at Sam, but was clearly not as good of a marksman as the Raven team were. As well trained as he was, as good as he was setting up traps, he was outgunned, outmanned, and clearly, out of his end.

Meanwhile, Skye moved from cover, the next door for the wheelhouse, and well, the cockpit of this blimp.

"Well, you gave it a good go." Rose's voice called, as the door opened, rifles aimed, the counterpart of Skye's walking across, looking at everyone gathered here, fearless even in this end.

"Hands by your head! Your repeater is out, so no activating the rig, or going anywhere. You're at a dead end, Lynx. Rose. Whatever your fucking name is!" Skye roared, Rose looking on, shrugging, sitting up on a table, hands by her head.

"So you gonna shoot then? I mean, you're smart enough to understand how this works now. And you touch that terminal, you're dead anyway. Not that you care, you'd sacrifice them all in the end to make sure I don't come back. Wouldn't you?" Rose asked, sighing, Skye moving closer, but far enough to beat Rose's reaction time.

"You have one last lecture, before I lose my shit and put a round through your skull, and every fucking version of you. It's over, Rose!"

"Then I'll make it a good one! Well. See, I thought right before the end, I'd keep things interesting. You ever wonder why the split happened?" Rose asked, Athena's raised REX pointed directly at Rose's head.

"It had me thinking, but well, they knew. You were contingency. Look at Raven. What you are. What you uphold by doing this. Best social experiment of twins there ever was, Skye. No, I understand it now. This is how it happens. When you put a bullet through my head, I wonder....did they bring two heavies to make sure you didn't get any silly ideas? They got what they wanted. Their antidote, perhaps......they got their continuation if I ever went rogue. Or perhaps if you ever did. Maybe it's fate!" Rose retorted, as she sat up.

"Are you done being clever?" Skye asked, as Rose shrugged, looking to Athena, knowing Oliver was helping out Sam.

"Or, maybe they figure that bit out later. Look. You couldn't convince me what I'm doing is wrong. Erasing the slate, everything, all of it is at least fair considering how bad the world is about to go. Maybe a few survivors will at least realise their priorities aren't funding billionaires, or institutions that take, thieve and reduce this to where we are. Society heals up a wound we just aren't smart enough to consider now. And you took that opportunity away." Rose said, sighing, before she continued.

"Then how about you? You're going to keep that system going. And when it collapses, it'll collapse on the side of the people that when they decide they'll have enough of you, will do the same to you what they do to me. They know what you are now. Where you come from. And they will hunt until they have it, because no matter what they say, they want this more than anything behind closed doors. Because you can't stop that.......you can't protect any of it. All of it has to go. All of it, Skye, because people will suffer one hell of a lot more. Athena. Oliver. Purna. I know you're out there, and you can hear this." Rose replied, looking around. The air seemed quiet, almost dead, apart from crackling glass. Purna was still outside the cockpit, with his MPX raised, aimed at the back of Rose's head, cloaked but in position in case anything went down.

"Chaos, status on that terminal? Cut it when ready." Skye uttered into the comms, as Rose shook her head.

"Chaos....Sam. You adopted her like a child, didn't you? Isn't Raven just full of them? Orphans, lost souls. You mothered them and perhaps it's what makes you alive. Yet if you had to, you'd force her to hurt everyone she loves too, you'd kill her if you had to....just the way this job works. What about Athena? She's just here for the blimp. Has a fat ass like one too. Fuck it, if I'm gonna die, at least someone should tell her, that she is a power crazy, narcissistic, self-centred, fuck who epitomises the worst. Shame I wanted to wipe everyone out because of people like her." Rose cackled, a smirk on her face, as Athena had to be held back almost by Skye's glare, to not remove her head from her shoulders and kick it like a football.

"I suppose you made them into weapons. Into monsters. That's what you do. I hate what you did. And I'll die here hating it. So yeah. I suppose I don't get the last laugh. But if I'm your blood, then I suppose I told you so. Everything they did, for nothing." Rose added, and well, that was the final word.

With a sombre look to Athena, Skye sighed.

"Well, for the last time....see you in hell, Rose. You played well." With it, Skye put a round through her chest, clasping through, walking over.

"Contact down. That's it. Rose is out." Skye added, checking her over, checking any dead man's switches on the very casually dressed copy, Athena going over and putting fist through plaster.

"Bitch! I do not have a fat ass! It is plump, round!" Athena yelled, as Skye coughed, and the blonde righted herself. Realising maybe now was not the time.

"Right. Shit. Sorry." Athena replied, as Skye nodded back, looking down, kneeling, pensive.

"Secure the cockpit, Athena. Drop the altitude down and get us on the floor. Chaos, Nord, confirm all her files are dead. If she sprouts out anywhere now, it'll be here. We need to give it a sweep." Skye added, sighing as she looked down, raising her hand. Pulling inside of her fleece, she searched her down, for any dead man switches, for anything. But there was nothing.

"Cockpit clear, Skye. Thanks for this toy. I appreciate you a lot." Athena giggled with joy, throwing one of the pilots bodies out through the door like a ragdoll, that had already been taken out by Purna. The Nepali came in, the pressure back on as the windows resealed, looking around.

"Now what? Skye, she was insane, right?" Purna asked, looking at the body, rifle pushed aside for a moment.

"She was. Been too long in our game to understand people treat people like things. But not us. We don't do that to each other. We need to get down. Debrief. And I think I need a very stiff drink. The rig team should have it all contained. If not, we're going to have to fucking nuke the place." Skye sighed, the redhead taking off her oxygen mask, looking down at her dead self on the floor, taking a moment to contemplate.

There was a lot of doubt. Rose was off the deep end. But she wasn't wrong. Skye would no longer be needed, she knew that much. And there were going to be an avalanche of questions. Perhaps she'd be running the rest of her life. Perhaps she'd be back in service again and this whole thing buried, with every server. But she knew that any questions she had, about her father, Spectre, anyone else, they had to die too. Killing a part of her family, who she was, what she was. But she had gained so much more. A family of this team, and in that moment, Purna noticed it in Skye's eyes, that look of distraction, that moment of staring away.

---

With a gurgle, the machine unclasped.

Rose yelped. The last one. The local network. The one that Sam hadn't seen, because this wasn't a server host. Nope, this was her original body. The final failsafe. The last one left, the Rose that had been pushed into this very containment, at the back of everything, inside that tiny room, a saferoom if you will that was effectively like a bomb shelter aboard the blimp. This was a hurtful one, because transferring to this was particularly painful. Degradation had hit, and Rose wasn't her usual athletic self, but wheezing a little as she moved. But enough for now. Enough to do what she had to, as she coughed fluid everywhere, falling out nude. Memory had been poor for the last couple hours, given the severance, but Rose knew enough to understand if she was here, the blimp was compromised. And she had to get out.

Pushing the hidden door open, she was in the cargo bay, freezing, but her conditioning holding her for now. Right by the wingpacks covered up, in fact, where she saw the tiny intrusion marks. One of the dead techs had clothes that fitted poorly, and without oxygen she'd likely pass out, but it would be enough to get her under 15,000 feet without hypoxia. After all, with lungs like hers, she could survive that. And noticing Skye's works, she knew that was how they got in. No point taking risks. She was on her last life now. Final time to do anything. And make something matter.

Flinging on Skye's, of course, made to measure, she had to admit. This was her last run of the dice. But it bought her time. Got her enough to get away from all of this. There was one, last, final, failsafe. And she had less than twelve hours to get there, make it so, and restore what was left.

If Spectre had truly delivered the goods on the last piece of Artemis he held in his locker, then that was enough. She pulled on the hatch, and going back the way that Skye had come in, came to the last bit. Noises could be heard above. She pulled on the next hatch, and with a hard push, felt the cold strip everything, everything go numb, but she was free, as she flung herself out, and pulled the controls taught to fire the jets on the wingpack to point her down, back towards air.

One last run at things. And she knew for the first time in forever, this really was it. Every part of her wanted to fall apart, but she had to believe in what she remembered now. She wasn't going to live in that world she wanted. Not anymore. But she could at least get what she wanted for after. And she had people to see, things to do, and an ending to make.

Samantha hastily stripped wires and spliced in components, wires, adapters, and other equipment as she worked with the wires that she had pulled from the wall. She was feeling the pressure of moving as fast as she could. She didn’t want to give Rose time to transfer any data out. She needed her ability to hyper-focus like never before. It was only the world at stake right? The adrenaline flowing through her was making her hands shake. Samantha’s body was fighting the flight or fight reflex from all the hormones and adrenaline hitting her system. She took a deep breath and pushed her high intellect and compartmentalize skills to the max.

She focused on getting everything spliced in. She managed to narrow her focus down to what her hands were doing. She pushed away the chaos of gunfire, the floor beginning to tilt as the blimp fell from the sky slowly, people screaming, and the voices coming over the comms. She managed to reroute the outgoing signal projectors into a buffer loop that would overload and destroy all the data. That would prevent any signals from getting out. She couldn’t do anything about the terminal with the hacker yet. She had managed to isolate what they could do from it though to the secret room. Samantha used her haptic gloves as she began to hack through the encryption and over the top security protocols that Rose’s hacker had used to secure her systems. Samantha was biting her lip as she worked. Rose’s hacker might be better than her. Samantha was struggling to break through.

Samantha’s concentration was broken by Bob’s voice. “Signal isolation and lock down has been achieved.” Samantha smiled as she finally broke through Rose’s firewall. She took control of the systems and locked the hacker out. Samantha had Bob locking down the computers to prevent any commands in or out. Making the terminal the hacker was using a door stop. She could hear cursing from inside the room. It was at that moment that a huge noise sounded behind Samantha as the Exo crashed through the wall sending shrapnel flying across the room. The action was moving fast and before Samantha could react, Athena and Skye had already dealt with the threat. More soldiers kept flowing into their location.

Samantha realized that the knockout gas grenade she had sent into the secret room had not worked. Her best guess was that either the grenade had failed to deploy or Artemis had developed a counter of some kind. Maybe the room had special air scrubbers to prevent a chemical attack. That might be likely with the clones in there. It didn’t really matter because the only thing that did was it failed to take the hacker out. She had hoped to take the hacker out without having to fire into the room. It was at this moment that she heard Queen come over comms.

Queen: "Chaos, get to that terminal and take the hacker out! Don't touch a fucking thing, check the hacker to see if there's anything on him!"

Chaos: “What the hell do you think I have been doing, braiding my hair!”

Chaos couldn’t help the snark. It was how her body was bleeding off the excess adrenaline enough she could think.

Chaos: “Queen, I have locked the terminal in the hidden room out of communication and locked it down. I am moving in to deal with the hacker now.”

Samantha left the jury rigged mess on the floor by the door. She grabbed a throwing knife in each hand. A knife would be better than bullets. She could control where they went better and they should theoretically cause less damage. Not to mention that they wouldn’t ricochet like a bullet could or would have as much force behind them. Samantha got up on the balls of her feet. She stood up and backed up a few steps before running and diving through the door. Samantha rolled and came back up on her feet running. Samantha put her all into crossing the distance towards the hacker who was firing a gun at her as fast as they could just spraying bullets towards her. Samantha’s body was pushed off balance as she caught a bullet in her right side. She kept pushing even as she felt another bullet throw her left shoulder back. She hurled the knife in her right hand as soon as she had a clear visual on the hacker. Her aim was spot on as she managed to nail the hacker in the throat. They dropped their now empty gun and grabbed their throat eyes wide before falling to the floor.

Samantha began to look around. She didn’t want to touch much in here but she wanted to be sure Rose couldn’t leap to another body. She had managed to lock out all signals but her clones were still inside this room where the signal was active. Sam quickly searched the fallen body of the hacker. She pulled everything out of his pockets. She suspected sol hestia had been used to booby trap the room. The hacker had a glass vial of liquid on a keychain with a removable 100 terabyte hard drive in his pants pocket. Samantha didn’t touch the terminal yet though.

Queen: "Chaos, status on that terminal? Cut it when ready."

Chaos: “Terminal is secured.”

Samantha began to look over the machinery that was hooked up to the clones. She quickly figured out how to turn it off. She turned the life support off. She didn’t wait for Queen's order as she began to execute Rose’s clones. She used her pistol to put a bullet in each one’s head. Samantha was not usually a blood thirsty type. She was the one to sneak in, get the intel and get out. But she took great pleasure in eliminating the four clones in the room. She would not leave this evil bitch any hiding place to run too. She would not let her terrorize the planet or her friend any more.

Chaos: “Come back from that bitch!”

Samantha heard alarms screaming but she had locked the room systems so the only thing it could trigger was any failsafes that had not been disarmed when she took control of the terminal.

Chaos: “Bob what are the alarms for?”

Bob: “The alarms are alerts that the clone’s vital signs have flatlined. There was a failsafe code tied to the clones like a dead man’s switch to release the Sol Hestia. However that was neutralized when we first got here. The code never left the room since we locked the signal transponders down.”

Chaos smiled content that at least Rose would be unable to hop into another body from here. She began her inspection of the terminal. She bypassed the security since she had already taken control. She began to disable all the traps on the terminal. She began purging the information on the terminal. She didn’t trust anyone with the Sol Hestia and the information on the clones. She deleted that information in blocks. Personally ensuring it would never see the light of day again. She did download any files that had to do with Artemis operations. She would turn that over to Raven upon their return to base. Samantha’s focus was on the data in the terminal unaware that Rose was doing her stereotypical evil villain monologue to Skye.

Queen: "Contact down. That's it. Rose is out."

Warning lights began to flash across the screen along with error messages. Samantha began typing frantically to try and understand what was happening.

Queen: "Secure the cockpit, Athena. Drop the altitude down and get us on the floor. Chaos, Nord, confirm all her files are dead. If she sprouts out anywhere now, it'll be here. We need to give it a sweep."

Chaos: “Already working on it. Clones in this room are dealt with. Something triggered though. I am working to figure out what’s going on.”

Samantha backtracked the error messages and finally understood what had happened. She contacted Skye with anger and panic in her voice.

Chaos: “Queen, Rose’s original body was on the blimp. Before we managed to isolate the servers her backup triggered its awakening when all her clones were killed. She is somewhere on the blimp.”

Samantha executed the final purge of data and set the system to reformat and overload. No one would get anything off this computer. She wanted this evil to stop here. She simply didn’t trust any organization or government with either the cloning or Sol Hestia information. She would ensure that the world never faced this particular threat again. Samantha stood up from the server and began to make her way out of the secret room. Samantha fell to the floor with a scream of pain as she was hit with a bolt of electricity. She heard Rose’s voice laughing

Rose: “You didn’t think I would leave my revenge to chance do you?”

Samantha had managed to destroy the terminal but there had been a manual trap she had triggered. There had been a pressure plate on the floor that had armed when the clones flatlined. The pressure plate triggered an electric shock of 220 volts. Samantha’s suit has some insulation qualities but not enough for such a strong and direct jolt to her system. Samantha felt as if her nerves were on fire and she passed out from the pain as her heartbeat stuttered. Her unconscious body in a heap on the floor, smoke wafted off the charred section on the front of her armor.

Soundtrack: Light Up the Night - The Protomen

---

The heavy Russian had ravaged Chuck’s armor. Chuck was in pain but functional. Endorphins and adrenaline were already helping him cope and keep moving. He shook his head and blinked a few times. He was a little disoriented after dealing with the heavy and the other two exos. He had lost his situational awareness as he focused on the giant. He was trying to find out where the team was in their mission objectives.

Adam: "Clear. We need to move to neutralize the pump system, fast. Don't hit any pipes, if there's any leak, we're totally fucked. Once we get confirmation the toxin is dead, then we raise hell."

Chuck’s head cleared quickly as he dealt with the knife injury. He looked towards the Sol Hestia tanks they were all trying to reach. It felt like a small army was pouring into the room. They didn’t seem to care that they might hit the Sol Hestia tanks as they came in all guns blazing. The heavy had taken out and had even been using high caliber armor piercing rounds. That was part of why Chuck’s armor looked like a rabid dog had gnawed on it. There were jagged holes here in there. His back plate was chewed up with several holes. His front plate looked like a clawed monster had pulled it apart in places. The floor had become slick with algae and water from the tanks that had been hit by stray bullets.

Chuck knew it was time to up the carnage. He would just have to be careful to knock people away from the tanks instead of towards them. Luckily Chuck had a plan for that. His leg armor hadn’t been hit yet. His jump jets were still in working order.

Luisa: "Ah, Boaro! So nice of you to come see us! Shame you'll be leaving, in a fucking bodybag, mierda! You and your two friends!"

Chuck sighed as it appeared the lady in charge of the exo-suited squad between his team and the tanks seemed to have beef with Ebrima. Was there anyone the man had not pissed off in the past? The lady in question went directly for Ebrima leaving a sea of exos facing him. Chuck smiled wickedly as he told Ebrima over the coms.

Chuck: “You know Boaro, you seem to make friends wherever you go. I think you need lessons in how to talk to ladies. Not that I would rate that freak threatening you as a lady.”

Chuck began a running charge towards the line of exo-clad soldiers in front of him. He was already taking fire from them as he reached back and grabbed Lucille. He activated his jump jets and pushed off hard just before he hit their line and leaped up and over their heads getting enough air to flip so when he landed behind them he was facing their backs. Chuck began to swing with all his might knocking soldiers left and right but away from the tank behind him.

Chuck: “Batter up!”

Chuck’s enhanced strength along with Lucille’s weight and strength combined to crush helmets and toppled heavy exo-suited soldiers. He only managed to crush a few skulls and knock two over but it was a start. Chuck did his best to distract and engage as many soldiers as possible as he began to lay into them with his Lucille.