[IC] Raven Squad: Second Storm (Military/Spy-Fi RP)

[Starlance]

Boraro
Fireteam Poseidon

---

”I’ve never even met this one.” He verbally shrugged at Chuck’s comment. He never met her and she never met him, but they both knew the other. Okay, maybe she knew less than he thought since she mispronounced his callsign. But it was generally sound thinking to keep track of the competition in their line of work. He knew she was ruthless, he knew she was brutal for brutality’s sake, he knew she saw people as resources rather than a team, but he also knew she had a short fuse and an ego the size of Manhattan and durability of a soggy paper tissue.”Wasn’t worth my time or good enough money. She’s just jealous of my reputation and record, that’s all.” He added, loud enough for Luisa to hear.

If the indignant Spanish screech was of any indication, it worked.

Luisa knew Ebrima was a mean son of a bitch in close quarters. She knew trying to tire him out was suicide. She knew he fought dirty and liked to keep his opponents off-balance and that he was used to being outgunned. But Artemis had eyes and ears everywhere, and through them she knew things few did. Not the whole story, but more than most, even if in disjointed pieces that were still sure to get him off balance when used at the right time.

The shoulder mount indeed kept the Cameroonian moving, from small dashes to leaping between catwalks, the micro missiles blasting them apart and sending them down below, hopefully away from the other two Raven operatives. Not like Chuck would even notice something like a piece of grating falling on his head, but Ban might struggle with that. He took a few pot shots back at her with his shotgun, the AP slugs harmlessly deflected away. Fortunately her gizmo wouldn’t protect her from one of mankind’s first scientific advancements as Ebrima switched to the M 25 - no, not an automatic grenade launcher, fire - launching two grenades at the apex of a flying cartwheel between an adjacent catwalk and the one Luisa was on. Luisa expected frags which she thought would be caught by the field generator, but some sixth sense compelled her to move anyway, however, and it ended up saving her life as the fireball didn’t engulf her unprotected face and respiratory system, but suddenly finding parts of herself on fire was enough to allow Ebrima to close in. Kukri drawn, Luisa just barely withstood a flurry of attacks against her face, shoulders and hands, her still-smoldering BDUs leaving faint smoke trails as she moved and only realizing many of his attacks were feints when the blade smacked the fingers of her right hand. The armored glove made sure she kept her fingers, but it hurt enough to make her drop her Pecheneg, the sling severed by one of the preceding attacks, Ebrima immediately sending the weapon clattering down among the catwalks with a kick. Luisa took advantage of that brief drop in his guard, grabbing a hold of the hand that wielded the curved blade. “That will make for a nice souvenir.” She hissed. Seeing the open-faced helmet Luisa wore, he smiled, ever so slightly, under his helmet and pulled the pin of one of his flashbangs while it was still in the pouch.

Ebrima patted out the burning grenade pouch, unaffected by the flashbang inside his armor, except a little sore under it where the grenade exploded, taking further advantage of proper choice of equipment and headbutting Luisa in the face. “Hijo de puta!” she growled through her now broken nose, intercepting the kukri clawing at her throat as her vision cleared up from the flashbang. She kicked the Cameroonian in the chest and stepped back to get enough distance between them to launch a micro missile volley and end it right there and then...

LNCHR ERR
CHCK SNSR

Both of the targeting cameras on her shoulders and the backup one on the side of her helmet had a spiderweb of cracks running across them, crippling the system. By the time she realized what he had done, she had just enough time to draw her machete before the relentless albino was upon her once again. Her blade was bigger and had a nasty spike on it, allowing for a nice bit of versatility with false edge strikes, but his was faster and more nimble. An external observer might have seen two figures in exosuits dueling with cold weapons and assumed two knights have warped into the future, even their fighting style matching that of people trying to deal with full plate armor. Realizing their weapons couldn’t penetrate directly, the fight devolved into trying to wrestle their opponent into a position where they could ram their knife into a weak spot, Ebrima’s weapon better suited to the task against Luisa’s roid rage and brute power. “I’m gonna make a fortune selling parts of you.” She hissed, “I wonder how much people made from your sister?”

It worked just as well as she thought. In that moment, the Cameroonian saw red. His attacks increased in frequency, but the execution suffered. Luisa did get hit, a strike drawing blood from her left arm, but it was well worth the opening she found. Feinting low to set herself up, Luisa switched back mid-swing, the spike finding its target in the shoulder joint of Ebrima’s exoskeleton, disabling that entire arm. This was starting to go South, somewhere around DRC, and although Ebrima had a brief excursion up to Sudan as he managed to nick her armpit and draw blood, Luisa quickly sent him back down to Antarctica when she stuck her machete between the exoskeleton and his right arm, physically immobilizing it for the time being and before he could wrench it free, she drew her sidearm, leveled it at his head and fired.

It felt like sticking his head into a metal bucket and having someone hit it with a bat. His HUD disappeared, there was a spider web of cracks across his field of view, something smelled like an electrical fire in the helmet and he found himself on the ground on his back all of a sudden with a killer headache. At least the machete fell out of his armor, a saving grace as the Colombian woman stood over him, his kukri in one hand, her Mateba Model 6 in the other ready for a Coup de grâce.

Bang, bang.

Two shots rang out. The knife and revolver fell to the ground as Luisa stumbled backwards, holding onto her stomach where a blood stain was growing with both hands.

Ebrima held his Origin in one hand, pointing up from where he lay. Shooting at that range, the deflector field simply didn’t have enough time to alter the slugs’ trajectory in a meaningful way, and at less than two feet between the muzzle and the target she would have had to be wearing a hippo for a ballistic plate to withstand a double tap.

The Cameroonian picked himself up, disconnecting the shoulder servo to regain the use of his left arm. He was hoping the mission would wrap up fast, carrying the weight of the now-dead part of his exoskeleton on his arm would get tiresome quick and his head wasn’t feeling right either. At least he could consider the fact his face would have the color it was supposed to for a few hours a silver lining, until the bruise decided to change color from black to blue, green or some other color it fancied.

But first there was something else that had to be taken care of. Picking his knife back up, he caught up to Luisa who was stumbling along the catwalk, trying to get away. One swift kick that could have won the FIFA world cup downed the bleeding Colombian. “¡Eres un pedazo de mier-” A stomp on her neck cut her off, making a sound like breaking a few days old baguette.
Throwing his destroyed helmet aside, he hauled her body over to one of the others, using them as macabre sandbags as he switched to his rifle to provide covering fire to whoever needed it the most, taking a few seconds to steal a regular kevlar helmet from the dead Artemis rando and plug its headset into his radio. ”Boomer, Shimura, say status when able.”

[LadyAmber]

The Planet Saver

Fireteam Poseidon

Adam, Boraro,Boomer, and Vincent

---

Down Low

The gurgling crunch of Luisa’s head was brutal, as the other Artemis mercs almost stopped in a staggering kind of shock, watching on, blood splatting plenty over the immaculate white of the lab-like algal labs. There was very little between Raven and the tank, given their leader had just been felled like that, it was a statement more than anything. Like an army had seen their Queen on the field of combat get squished like a cockroach into gravel.

But there were more coming in. Lighter equipped, but Boomer, Shimura and Boraro had some mopping up to do. Through corridors, open hallways, and over gantries, this was a small army, but well, so was Raven. They were close enough to kill the tank’s contents however, and this was simply a case of pouring the counteragent. While not getting shot.

“Wilk, Poseidon, what is your status?” Called out the familiar voice of Vincent, the VTOL still out of range, considering the SAMs were still active. But, he wasn’t planning on staying away long.

“A bit occupied! We’ll create you a window soon, hang tight!” Adam yelled out on the comms, the Pole not knowing just how intense the fight was above, but given they had a crazy German pyro on rollerskates and a gigantic flame tank with more engineering knowledge than the Unabomber up here, they were not exactly of help.

“Downstairs team, how are we looking? Can you neutralize the tank?” Adam yelled, the sound of what was a gigantic belch of flame audible in comms, and from below audible too.

Chuck laughed as he released the chain on Lucille’s handle as he heard Ebrima’s reply. He laughed, his voice full of amusement as he replied. “Okay Yeah I can see that. But just saying if you need any pointers…” He laughed as he used the chain attachment to whip Lucille into a soldier, the hit crushing the man’s skull. He began to sweep the heavy weapon back and forth to clear an even larger area around him, still conscious of comprising the tanks. Chuck was doing his best to take as many soldiers out of action as fast as possible and draw the most attention. He was trying to open the way for his team members to do their jobs. About that time Adam came over comms asking for a sitrep.

Chuck: “Well sir, Boraro is making friends. Shimura is doing… well ninja stuff and I am playing baseball with the entire Artemis army down here. We are a bit busy sir. We will see what we can do to speed this up”

Ebrima plugged in his new headset just in time for the boss’ call. Far from the collected individual he’d known until now, but at the same time Ebrima had too big a headache to investigate what that flamethrower noise in the background was. In theory, their current task was an easy one, within a shorter distance than one walked to get a cup of tea in the morning, but Artemis knew. Where was that invisible knife nut when one needed him the most? ”Boomer, how’s your armor looking?” The barking of the shotgun at times overpowering the lower-quality mic he was now using, ”Can you neutralize the toxin under fire if I thin them out from up here?” A screaming Artemis operative fell past where Chuck was.

Chuck kept fighting. It seemed the more of these assholes he took out the more came in. They were literally beginning to pile up around him. He kept taking shots to his armor but most of it had been lower caliber than what the Russian Heavy had used on him. Thank goodness for small mercies or he would be in more trouble than he was now. Chuck had been fighting with the tank about 5 feet behind him. He had his back to it and had been fighting the soldiers in front of it. They had all been firing indiscriminately around the tank. Chuck had been trying to protect it from enemy fire. They didn’t want that tank to rupture before the toxin could be neutralized. Chuck heard Ebrima’s question come over comms. He checked on his armor integrity in the HUD display. His onboard AI showed him the damaged areas. “Boraro my outer armor integrity is down to 50% in the chest and backplate. My inner armor integrity is holding for now. I am in position to neutralize the tank. I can do it. Trying to give myself enough time to reach it. It feels like Artemis has bad guys on tap and are aiming the firehose at us.”

Chuck moved faster letting out a yell as he caught Lucille by the handle and broke into a sprint charging into the oncoming line of soldiers. He put all his muscles and as much speed into it as he could. He took out as many soldiers close to him as possible. He then spun firing flechettes from his wrist launchers as fast as possible, spraying the next wave. He only needed enough time to reach the tank.

Hearing the thudding footsteps from below, Ebrima didn’t even need to know where Chuck was and where he was going as an idea bloomed in his head, potentially spawned by a mild concussion but if his brief time with the outfit indicated anything, certainly in character for the group. Bounding between the algae racks, Boraro reached a group of four mercs that had just shown up, aiming to reinforce the control room below by the direction they had been going before he appeared in their midst, grabbing their rear guard and kicking the third man in the stack, sending all three down the flight of stairs like world-ending dominoes. They’d be back soon, but Ebrima only needed a little bit of time. A few seconds would do.

A crack, a snap and with some persuasion the poor bastard’s shooting arm had another joint on it to prevent him from being stupid as he threw the man over his shoulder, holding him up with one hand while swapping to the M25. Wearing the cursing merc like a ballistic backpack, he could rain fire and fury down onto the mercs Chuck couldn’t get at easily until he depleted the magazine, all the while safe from the three that had gone back up the stairs as they tried to get an angle that would let them do something about it, too slow to do so before the Cameroonian turned around to deal with them properly.

Chuck’s charge swept out in an arc, clearing the space around the tank. His flechettes took out most of the next wave. Chuck: “I’m going for the tank.” Chuck kept his momentum as he focused on reaching the tank. He began to look for ways to get the neutralization agent into the tank. He spotted a feeder chute that was used to add chemicals to the tank. It had a locked door on it. Chuck didn’t bother trying to decode the digital lock. That was not his area of expertise. He used his strength to break the door off. His back armor was taking a beating as guns bore down on him as he presented a large target for Artemis soldiers. The collective bullets ate away as his back armor chipping away at its integrity. Suddenly there was a lull in enemy fire. Chuck seized his opportunity. He popped open the compartment in his leg armor where the agent was held. He dumped it into the chute. He fell against the tank as something heavy hit him from behind. He held onto the tank as he hit the button that would flush the agent into the tank. “Neutralization agent in.” Chuck was having trouble moving his torso. His back plates were jammed, and it felt as if something heavy was hanging off his back.

‘Okay, now they’re just copying our style.’ Ebrima thought as he caught the sight of someone trying to stick a long knife between Chuck’s back plates. Well, if it worked for medieval men at arms trying to deal with an armored knight…

That glance back was enough for the three Artemis Mercs to approach, hesitant to shoot for fear of striking their friend still on Ebrima’s back. A quick glance at them, then back behind to check the direction. Once again, to gauge the distance. There wasn’t a third as Ebrima braced his boot against the man on his back and kicked off, dropping him on the guy bothering Chuck from two stories up before addressing his own three problems, Kukri drawn and about to start opening them up like Amazon packages.

Chuck was suddenly thrown against the tank again. He grunted at the impact but suddenly he could move again and the heavy weight had been removed. He looked down to see what had fallen and kicked the two soldiers at his feet out of the way. He spoke into the comms so the whole team would know. “Toxin Neutralized. Thanks for the assist Boraro.” He smiled as he pulled out his carbine and switched the rounds over to armor piercing. He let the carbine hang on his battle harness before he reached behind him and engaged his shoulder mounted MK48 FUN Gun. The large heavy caliber gun was mounted on a gimbal system and he braced it by his hip as his right hand found the trigger, his left hand supported and guided the barrel. He was surprised that the loading mechanism was still working after all the damage his armor had taken. Normally this heavy caliber machine gun would be tripod mounted. Only Chuck’s size, strength, and armor allowed him to carry this beast into battle. He laughed as he turned around. “Come and get it!” He yelled out to the soldiers who had now reached him. He guided the shoulder mounted gun spraying armor piercing rounds into the oncoming lines. Artemis soldiers went down like he was cutting through a wheat field. The heavy armor piercing rounds sometimes blowing through more than one soldier at a time. “Can we blow this popsicle stand yet?”

“Affirm! Shit is getting spicy up here, we got the SAMs down though! Vincent, we need close air, now!” Adam yelled back, knowing this was likely the only way they were taking out Laura, as well as other bits of the structure. There were an endless amount of them coming, but they were so far holding. Just.

“Yes sir, en route! I have your tracker locations, so I can direct fire into the structure to cut them off from reaching you. Every hit will weaken it, so make your markers count!” Vincent replied, the cool Senegalese engaging the weapons system on the VTOL, ready to provide some long-range CAS, as he let the VTOL take a route on a long orbit, and picked up the team. Rounds would take a while to go down, particularly the 40mm rounds, but they’d make a hell of a bang.

“Copy that Vincent, ground team need support as a priority, a fuckton of hostiles inbound! Boraro, Boomer, call it where you need it, they’ll rain some fire on who you need, cut off any routes towards you and start pulling back! We’re still occupied up here!”

Chuck spoke into comms again. “Wilk confirmed air support. Is the team ready to exfil? Please Confirm?” Chuck asked Adam to confirm they were on their way out now. He saved the remainder of his heaviest ammo for vehicles and switched to his carbine. He was careful with his ammo usage and was aiming and one shot or double tapping as he moved. “Boraro, Shimura, What is your status?”

”Ready to get out of here.” Ebrima growled as he finally twisted his hand far enough to shoot the merc pinning him down with his sidearm. ”Are we going back the way we came or making a new exit?”

Chuck threw back his head and laughed. “Finally! I get to blow shit up! Boraro I like that option. I can make a new exit. I have explosives and grenades with me.” He kept firing and moving towards Ebrima. He was working to clear a path to his teammates.

The 40mm rounds slammed through the walls, sending a couple of men flying and blatted into the hard concrete off walkways, revealing daylight through walls, and making no effort to conceal it. The heavier 90mm rounds picked a gigantic hole into the structure from the VTOL’s left strut, then the 40mm rounds followed and laced an entire group of enemies closing in on them, sending shrapnel and smoke everywhere.

"Mon amis, happy to help!”

Chuck almost casually caught the man that Ebrima had thrown in his direction. He punched him and threw him into a crowd of his friends. “Boraro, start making your way down. Structural integrity is going to start getting dicey.” Chuck focused on the wall opposite Ebrima to give the man time to leave his lofty perch. Chuck began to pull pins and lob grenades to close off the entrances to either side of the tank. He didn’t wait to watch the explosions as he turned and lobbed two more frag grenades towards the wall opposite Ebrima’s perch. “Time to move!” Explosions began to light up the chamber, the noise deafening as grenades went off one right after another. Screams mixed into the chaos as soldiers were caught in the blasts. The two he had lobbed at the wall punched a large jagged hole in the side of the metal building. Daylight was streaming in. The other side was slightly messy as he had caught some of Artemis on the other side of the wall. “Oops Clean up on aisle ten!” He laughed as he moved to the hole in the wall. You could hear the servos in his armor whine as he pulled and pushed with his hands and feet making the hole in the wall larger. The metal siding peeling back like tin. “Your exit, good sir.” Chuck’s tone was laced with amusement.

Ebrima descended from the catwalks with a few boosts from his jump pack, cushioning his fall with some Artemis guy who would not hear the end of it when he reunited with his buddies in the afterlife. He made a break for the wall Chuck had weakened, visibly stumbling and having to steady himself against a wall or railing several times. Luisa rang his bell good, but for a point blank double tap from a .44, he was doing amazing. Grabbing cover as he reached the now fully open hole in the wall, he laid down suppressing fire with the grenade launcher until Ban made it through, completely expanding his thermobarics. ”Wilk and Frigga still inside.” He reminded Chuck as he passed him by, tapping him on the back on reflex as if he could feel it in his armor.

Chuck frowned at the reminder. He didn’t believe in leaving team members behind. “Wilk do you need us to hold this position so you and Frigga can exfil? Or do you need assistance with finding an alternate route?” Chuck looked around to check on Shimura as he waited on an answer. He noted that Ebrima had secured the exit point. Chuck lobbed a few of the electrical taser grenades into the still oncoming waves of Artemis troops. The electrical surge took out groups of 5 to 8 men at a time. Chuck looked at the oncoming waves and realized this position would soon be overrun. “Wilk please advise? This position will soon be compromised. Artemis troops are still pouring into the area. This area will soon be overrun.” Raven Squad were the best of the best however even the best could be overwhelmed by numbers. Artemis had the numbers to do it.

[BigPapaBelial]

The Ronin

Ban stood his ground, the first five circled him, while yet another six had just joined them. The Yakuza, cosplaying as a samurai, swords held high and low stood stoic. He smiles all around, “Yosh, I can work with this.” One of them he’d disarmed earlier of his gun surges forward leading with his knife, held high in a tomahawk blow. Ban moving, shifting to the side, catching the arm on the flat of his blade, twisting, turning and sending the man sprawling into one of his compatriots. With another twist and a turn. Ban shouts, “You! Get over’ere!” A six tanged spear head lances free of his left greave, trailing a line of twisted steel, and slams into one of the back line number. Catching the line, Ban pulls and breaks the separated lines. Shimura cackling, and almost casually over the radio calls, “This spear line works wonders! My compliments to lady Chaos, and her work!”

A yank and stomp the spear dislodging from the enemy soldiers collar bone. And the first head rolls. The stroke of the sword had been so clean. Barely any blood wasted one the floor.

It’s quite then. For a moment. And responds to an earlier radio call to check in, “Shimura responds. I have this well in hand.”

With a leap, he throws himself forward. Rejoining the fight, breaking their reverie.

A stab, he flows to the side, catching it on his greave, turning the man, the sword blow below the armor under the arm.

A flowing twist, the knee, the man goes down screaming at his missing leg.

Shimura stepping back as one man from the back line and two from the front decide to do the smart thing and act as one…kinda. He deflects knife blows, turning hands, pushing men into the line of fire of the one with the gun. Keeping them off balance. Twisting, turning pulling. And again, “Get ova here!” The spear lashing out again pulling the gun toting man into the back of the two knife fighters, throwing them all over balance.

Two strokes. That’s all he needs, one with his long sword, taking a man in the chest, straight through it in fact, the second, takes the other two men across the shoulders. All three drop.

Shimura taking the time to flick both blades, drops of shed blood hitting the floor, “We’re not done yet are we?” He asks as he motions to the last remaining five. He takes the moment to spin one of the discarded blades up off the floor with the tip of his sword and sending floating up into the waiting hands of one of the front line, “Pick it up. Fight.”

The Bastion

Jamie paced down a path, he'd not encountered anyone quite yet. But he could tell the path opens up ahead. And he can hear the sound of fighting.

As he comes out of the path he spots the main compound and the fighting going on. Jamie hums, "Guess I'm rolling up my sleeves for this. And then he broadcasts to any bluefor in the city, "Blues get your heads down." He lets his HUD do it's thing. Targetting clear knots of fighting, and highlight opfor groupings. Incanting to his armor, "Full Barrage, fire for effect. Target positions."

And for a moment he's again enshrouded by smoke and fire. As he again empties his rocket pods. Pillars of smoke, tipped by dark death dealing tops. And then they streak out and impact. Sending Opfor flying. A few of them ended rather solidly by the impact or the explosive or fragmentary aspects of the rockets. Jamie felt a little bad for the situation this had to happen in, but well here they are. They had work to do. Work is work. It's not personal.

So it is that Scion steps into the main compound, walking along one of the main throughfares, HMGs lowered. As Opfor came running out of cover to reengage, a few of them spot the danger, and even a few less then that shout out warning. Before that road is filled with varied kinds of .50cal rounds. Small explosions, clouds of fragments, holes appearing in cover. Now the Opfor know there's a new beast on site, and it's something they need to come up with a counter for. If they can that is.

The Edge Walker

"Laura!?"

Freya couldn't believe it! Not for a second. Until.

Well until Laura did her thing. That gout of flame. Freya threw herself forward, angling her shoulder, the flames spattering against one of her shield generator fields. And she felt it when it burned out.

"Laura!" She shouted and followed the other big woman. She couldn't help it.

Look Freya and Laura have a history. They'd worked together a couple dozen times in the field in several capacities. And...well she's not about to tell Chuck but Freya's first ever and not the last ever lesbian encounter was with Laura. Dirty secret it'll stay under wraps.

So Freya wanted answers. She lopped off in pursuit, calling back, "I'll be busy a moment."

Into the depths of the plant they went. She could hear the clack-fizz of Laura's roller blades ahead. Freya came lopping around a corner, and came face to face with Laura's jet flamer. Freya threw herself forward and to the side, the high heat jet of flame just missing her, "Laura you bitch! Stop and talk to me! There is still time to talk about this!" The other big woman chuckled, "You got moves yet fluffer butt. Emmm still use that one lotion?" Laura giggled then gasped, out of the heat waves came a blue beam of energy that just missed her, "Laura don't make me do this!"

The THICCC suit and it's wearer took off down the hall. With the Big Battle Goddess racing behind, "Laura stop! Talk to me! I don't want to have to hurt you!" Laura raced ahead around a corner and by the time Freya got there she was gone again, deeper into the depths of the halls and walkways. Laura laughed from somewhere, "Come on Freya baby, this is work. Treat it like that." Freya passed a door then dove again as a jet of flame blasted from the door she passed. Laura cackling, "Oh that was close babe. Come on." And raced off again. Freya taking off at a run. Coming around the corner and staggering as a pair of big slugs from those paired UNICAs smacked into her shoulder, "Laura you're starting to piss me off." An answering, "And what you gonna do about it Red?"

Freya snarled, and then faded away. Her voice echoing down the halls now. Laura blinking suddenly feeling like she went from Hero fight to Boss Battle. Freya called, "Fine, I'll show you. You remember you like to burn things? So do I." A gout of blue-white super heated plasma, cutting off an entire length of hallway. Laura started going in the other. But then the hall on that side go cut off. Laura looked on then laughed, "You made your plasma flamer!? Oh baby I wish I could kiss you! I wanna see the schema UGH!"

She's cut off as Starbreaker slams into her stomach, only her armor keeping her from turning into paste. A second later Frigga appears her cloak going down, and she hits Laura with a lariat. Pitching her onto her ass.

Laura groans and looks up, seeing Frigga with Starbreaker poised to come down like an avenging comet! Frigga saying, "I'm sorry baby."

SPANG!

A big bore shot hits Frigga in the knee. An Artemis soldier with a heavy 12.7mm Anti Material rifle taking her in the leg. Frigga groans, and unclips a smoke grenade, tossing it.

And starts running.

She calls through her comms, "Frigga here. I...had a talk with Big Bertha, she's down but not out. I'm making for the outer walls of the plant, I'm gonna try and make my own exit. May need a pick up!"

The Ronin

Shimura grinned broadly.

Twisting turning and spinning. His swords lashing. Two of the remaining five jumping from opposite sides. He caught a rifle butt on the flat of his blade and slide the other, up and under the other mans arm and armor. A kick shattered the impaled mans knee, and the a skip step sent the man with the rifle sprawling.

A flick and a kick the spear shot out and caught the rifleman in the small of the back. A stomp the spear came free, and the rifle man dropped grabbing his back. ”Boomer, Shimura, say status when able.”

Shimura turned holding his blade out towards the last remaining three soldiers facing him, "Shimura here, I'm nearly done. I'll be rejoining you shortly. I'll fight my way out if I have too." Two of the remaining men facing him raised guns. Shimura made a single motion, he sheathed his blades in a down motion, grabbed two throwing spikes, and jammed the barrels of both guns, which then exploded in their users hands when triggers were pulled. Shimura drew only his long sword this time, taking up a high stance, like the one that the great Kojiro Sasaki would often use in his duels. The last three men drew their knifes, and charged as one.

The first move, deflected a knife stab and caught the man in the shoulder. And it gave him time to lift his sword back up and bring it down, the blow caught the second man from above and nearly took his arm off. But the skillful reverse strike came up from below, the famous Tsubame Gaeshi strike. A downward blow followed by a smooth rising strike. The last blow caught the last man in the chin. And bisected his helmet, leaving him with a cut on his chin. The last two dropped.

Shimura flicked the blade, a single perfect drop of blood hit the floor, and then he slide the blade away.

He then started moving, running for the exit.

[FourtyTwo]

Iceberg Ahoy!

Fireteam Viking

Tahlia Harris

The hovercraft drifted, rolling behind Jamie, though it would have likely bounced off him with the presence he was bringing, no doubt absolutely relishing his opportunity to turn the environment before him into even more rubble than the mine already made.
"Need a lift?" Javi asked, door open as Raphael operated the crew-mounted 20mm, blasting rounds down range, covering the retreat of Jamie, even though it looked like there was no retreat of his to really cover. There was a lost of destruction, damage and hellfire, but well, they'd trooped through it. Tahlia looked from afar at the explosions, roaring of jets, and blasting of autocannon and various other weapons packages onto Artemis like it was a death knell.
"You look like you turned this grey mess into even more shit!"

Not bad for a morning out.

---

Skybound!

Fireteam Icarus

Skye Rosalind Lyons

Athena Anna Kanataario

Purna Chai Gurung

Soundtrack: Sea Power- Suffragette Riots

Skye's red hair poured from her helmet in a cold look into the abyss for a second, looking to Purna, and glancing at the copy of her below. She really was everything like Skye, minus a few cuts and bruises, like a version that had been polished, brushed up, but well, there was little variation. Genetics set you on a path, even if there were variations in that. And yet there was Rose.

Her heart lept a little, over all of it. But she'd been shattered, broken once, and broken again and again. The idea of "self" echoed, even if what the team had said were right. Who was Skye Lyons, really? Just a name pulled from a hat, given to another sample? Was that all she was? And Rose? It was harrowing, scary even to see that this was what she was capable of. This was what Skye could do with enough commitment of her own. All of this. All that blood. For what, some hijacking of an anarcho-capitalist group? And now with all this in the open, now what? Go live a normal life, even what she knew as normal in just working to eliminate threats like Artemis? It felt like she was physically decoupled from her own skin, as she looked at her own hands, and then Rose.

"Skye. You still there?" Purna asked, Skye lost in her own thoughts, the Scotswoman replying.

"Yeah. Still coming to terms with this. It hurts."

"Nothing's going to change that, Skye. We did our job. We need to go home."

"Where's home? We are done." She sighed, almost a little defeated. Like in that moment, the crack was allowed to wedge, even if she didn't show it entirely.

"Wherever you find it." Purna replied, putting an arm around her.

"Yeah. It's somewhere. Pretty fucking hard when you're looking at her though. Image is never gonna leave me. Takes doing after what we do." Skye sighed a tone only a Scotswoman could, exhaling hard. Taking it in for a moment.

Then Sam's message came through. But almost a second late, as she processed a response, Skye was broken out of her shock hearing the call in the radio, and the HUD flash up with Sam's vitals. And her being flat.

"Sam, you good?" Skye called into the comms, slowly standing up with hand to ear, realising, and with heavy footsteps, running. It was dawning. And it was becoming more and more real. And she found something inside of her instantly perk every hair on her neck. She'd dealt with casualties. But this, this was something else.

"Sam! Fuck, Athena, find a defib, Purna, Oliver, secure up the area, if she's here, find Rose, tear her into fucking two!!" Skye's voice echoed, with pure, unbridled rage.

Running up to Sam at the exit of the server lab, she ran herself up to the American, spasming a little with her movement on the floor, and Skye almost the same in her own shock. She'd done this before. She'd had to apply CPR, then a defibrillator, but this felt different. Like Skye had got her revenge, and now watched Rose get hers, in the most fucked way possible. How much she wished it wasn't her own. Sam had more than Skye did, so much more, and even if any member of Raven would be willing to fall, not like this, not now.

And not when it seemed like Rose just had been back to her last.

It was hard to understate that while Skye was someone who had long since led teams, she was merciless, a lion roaring, yet here and now, it was all that mattered. Doing all she could was all she had to force herself into.

"Fuck, stay with me, come on Sam!" She roared, with a yell that sounded like a big cat screaming in the hallway, pulling her over, pulling her helmet and visor open, checking the vicinity of course before doing so, before putting bunded hands into her chest and pushing. She kept going, frequent, and she had to fight, fight to keep her mental side from slipping completely in this moment, the parts of her that wanted to give into all of the emotion, all of the feeling, all the rage, just directed instead towards just keeping her head, keeping focus and wanting to keep Sam alive. Every push, as she put her mouth to Sam's, exhaling hard, leaning her head back to get the air in, before going again. One, two, three, four, five.....

Athena pushed on Skye's shoulder, bringing in a box, what looked like a portable defibrillator she had found. No words were exchanged, as Skye was focussed, not the first time she'd done this, but for a moment, deeply in this moment. Every second mattered, everything counted, and she was going to have to hope this worked. An electrical shock had fried her feet and legs and run into her and out of her hand, without her tactical gear, she'd be burnt to a crisp, so it had done well to insulate her as well as it had. More amps than anyone would have been able to handle, and the first thing Skye had noticed was now not shocking anyone else, given Sam had fallen away from the trap after getting burnt by it.

Bringing the defibrillator into place onto Sam's thorax, after pulling armour out of the way, Skye looked over to Athena, putting the sticky electrodes across Sam's chest with a gentle push, and hit the button. The defib charged, and with another push of the button, the unit sent a charge.
"Clear!"

Oliver and Purna would have gone through the blimp, but found no trace of Rose. Not apart from one missing wingpack.

---

The Planet Saver

Fireteam Poseidon

Adam Stanislaw Kajtanowicz

Soundtrack: Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe- Extraction Point

Things were going utterly apeshit on the rig. Adam had survived barely getting scorched, and somehow, Freya had kept going after Laura. And whatever their relationship was. Somehow, without saying a word, he felt like she may have had more history than just Raven, from the way they almost seemed to be flirting with one another, but Adam kept the hell out of the way. Instead, he went for a flanking squad of enemies, keeping in cover whilst his field generator recharged, sending rounds down range and clipping them, before flanking them with a clever push, spraying them with rounds.

Staying to the flanks, Adam sent rounds into one of the AAA platforms. He made his call into Vincent, before hearing the flamer belch, and Freya respond in turn with her own. She was not getting involved in that fight. Even Adam's survival instincts were smart enough to realise he was not bringing anything to that confrontation, but rather, he could keep pushing the control room while she kept Laura busy.

Leaping down, Adam flanked through, hosing down another two more mercs, moving in, finding the rig's main controls, and a vast array of AR enabled, and digital touchscreens at the rain soaked control room. Perfect. With it, he got to work, and started fiddling away. He called that into the team as well, and started to sheer off the connections to the geothermal network, closing valves, and sealing certain routes, that would be flooding with Artemis mercs at this point. And well, some more chaos with the wind turbines and the pump infrastructure for the vapour.

"Well, that'll stop them coming! Rig's cut off now, pumps are set to detonate. It'll make it unstable, so we haven't much time to bail!" Adam should have really known better. A high pressure, geothermally linked system to a massive set of pumps, now without safeties? Well, it was going to destroy the place. And suddenly, the building shook, the sight of a massive explosion in the horizon as the first of the substations blew on the far-away satellite pumping station.

"Team, we need to leave! We now have a window, but we can't stay long or we'll get swallowed in it! They'll not pump anything from here anymore!" Adam called back, knowing the team below had dealt a blow to the tanks, but here and now, they needed to extract. He was hasty, but if he hadn't of done that, there was a chance the team below were going to get overwhelmed. And just in time too, as fire from the sky from Vincent's VTOL, 40mm and 90mm rounds slamming into the structure below, punching holes, as with it, Adam left it behind. He headed back towards the flames, checking his box magazine, before heading down, hearing Freya pin Laura down, before taking a high caliber round. Adam flanked and wiped the team out, Freya retreating into smoke, as did Laura, clambering barely, waddling out with pain, but right now, fuck that. This place was falling apart.

"Merde, the thing is falling into the sea, and I have hostiles all over. Get to the water, I'll put the ramp down but you need to find a way to get to me, fast. I cannot stay long!" Was the response Adam did not want to hear. And moving towards Freya, Adam regrouped, knowing there was no point chasing Laura. She was as good as drowned considering, and well, she'd be a problem for later to deal with if she survived. The comms were clear from Adam to her, knowing she was in shock, no doubt, but time was of the essence.

"Your new boyfriend is waiting for you, we need to get the hell out!" Adam yelled, knowing Freya was hurting, no doubt her segment of armour was going to be pretty blasted, but well, unless they made a move for it now, they were not getting off this rig. A massive explosion licked above as one of the green hydrogen tanks detonated, sending a massive pipework through the entire rig, slamming through the floor, and making their drop down a little quicker. Adam kept leading the way, clipping a team ahead, replying to Chuck.

"Boomer, get moving with the others, this place is going to shit, so carve a path back down to the SDV!" Adam barked back, a staircase collapsing entirely to their side as Adam kept moving, knowing Freya was struggling behind, the Pole looking back to her, pointing out another way.
"You won't like this. But the SDV is nearly direct below. You might need your magnetics to get you attracted to it. I'll try and pilot it." Adam called, realising they weren't going to make it to the rest of the team. The sea was a cauldron below, but well, they had no other choice. Chuck, Ebrima and Ban would have a shorter drop, maybe even they could just go down the ladder and back where they'd parked up, if they were really, really lucky, grab their rebreathers and floatation kit, but that was looking less viable by every missed second.

"Boomer, Shimura, Boaro...don't wait on us, we have another way out, meet you at the bottom and get on that fucking boat!" Adam called, looking to Freya, tapping her on the shoulder, and realising that the fiery stairs below were maybe not the best way. But, the exposed wall, and the four storey drop into water might be their only shot at it. And well, with hardly any more motivation, considering the entire thing was coming down, he made his move out and off the platform.

Leaping into the sea, Adam pushed for air, seeing the SDV, swimming hard, in spite of the weight wanting to pull him down, and grabbed a hold of a rail.

Clambering into the steering, he picked up HUD elements for the other team members that were falling off the rig too, a fairly decent descent down, and well, he had to recover people. Hooking into the SDV's oxygen supply, he found the first person, then the next and the next, picking them out of the water one by one and getting them air from the SDV's central tank, the weighed-down SDV having to go deeper and deeper, before he could pull it back to buoyancy and back towards surface. Vincent was adjusting the VTOL as part of the rig just exploded and cascaded with a huge lean and fell into the sea spitting out shrapnel and bodies, the main rig itself still standing, but in bits now relative to what it had been before.

And pulling the SDV towards the ramp, it was a messy affair, but they'd gotten out. Artemis soldiers were trying to evacuate too, but none of them had the luxury of an underwater craft and a VTOL for evacuation. And with it, Adam could at least trawl the SDV to the rear, and drive it inside, the part sub now beached, and allowing the team to get out, and most of all, the SDV to dust off.

[LadyAmber]

Skybound!

Fireteam Icarus

Skye Rosalind Lyons

Athena Anna Kanataario

Purna Chai Gurung

Samantha Dalton AKA Chaos

Soundtrack: See You Again - Carrie Underwood

Samantha had finished destroying all the data on Rose and her clones and the Sol Hestia. She had killed all of Rose’s remaining clones in the room before she could hop to any of them. Samantha had finished her work in Rose’s hidden room on the blimp and was moving to rejoin the team when she triggered Rose’s final countermeasure. Rose’s original body was awakened by the deaths of her clones. The clones' deaths armed a pressure plate trap that Samantha had missed. The pressure plate took up most of the middle of the floor on the way to the exit.

Samantha had been hit by 220 volts of electricity that arced up from the metal floor plate up through Samantha’s body. The voltage had been strong enough to jump past Samantha’s combat boots which had nonconductive slip resistant soles. The electricity had arced and jumped to the hidden circuitry in Samantha’s armor. Her armor was designed to collect and direct kinetic energy back into her suit’s systems. The strong voltage had surged into it and blew the circuitry all to hell overloading the built in circuit breakers. The electrical surge had hit her body and climbed it. Samantha’s body had jerked and danced frozen in a lance of electrical fire before the electrical blast cut out, its charge spent. Samantha’s body had cried out in agony before passing out as her body had hit the floor falling away from the pressure plate.

Samantha’s armor smoked where the circuits had been overloaded causing the surrounding material to heat up. Fortunately for Samantha, the ballistic gel lining her suit was nonflammable and dissipated some of the electrical surge but her suit wasn’t designed to compensate for sustained high voltage strikes. Samantha’s body was still twitching as her nerves and muscles responded to the remaining electrical impulses. Her heart beat would flatline and then stutter and give a blip before flatlining again.

Samantha was unconscious and unaware of Skye fighting to save her life. Samantha was flat on her back. The front of her armor had been torn open down her chest. She was unresponsive as Skye started CPR and rescue breathing.

Time was passing slowly for Samantha. Samantha was confused and she was in pain. She opened her eyes and everything was fuzzy and blurry. The light was so bright she could barely see. She closed her eyes again. When she opened them again, she could see the blurry outline of two people approaching. Samantha felt pressure in her chest and gave a deep gasping breath.

Samantha’s consciousness faded again. She heard Skye yelling at her.

"Fuck, stay with me, come on Sam!"

Samantha looked around for Skye. She suddenly felt so weak. She couldn’t talk and barely managed a whisper. “Skye?” She couldn’t find Skye. Everything was blurry again. Her chest felt like it was on fire. Pain was coursing through her body. She faded out again.

Samantha’s eyes opened again and the two blurry figures she saw stepped towards her. She blinked as she recognized them. She didn’t understand why she was laying on the ground. She didn’t seem to be able to stand. “Dad? Sofu?” Samantha had tears running down her face. “I have missed you both so much. How are you here? You both died…” She was sobbing, unable to catch her breath. That horrible pressure was building in her chest once more. Her body shuddered as another harsh gasp forced breath into her body.

Skye had forced another rescue breath into Samantha before continuing CPR.

Samantha winced as pain washed over her taking her father and grandfather’s images away from her. She was crying out “Don’t go!” The words never leaving her lips. Darkness took her away. Slowly a light in the distance grew once more. As the light lit up the area around her, she could see her father and grandfather again. She reached out trying to hold their hands. They leaned down and each took one of her hands.

Samantha couldn’t speak as tears choked her. She could her father’s voice clear as a bell.Then suddenly he was back standing in the light again with her grandfather at his side.

Jake Dalton: “Samantha, I will always love you. You know I will always be a part of you. You have to go back. It is not time to join me yet.”

A new voice reached her. One she barely remembered.

Maria Lopez: “Samantha, I am so sorry we didn’t have much time together. I know growing up without me was so hard for you. I am so proud of the woman you have become. It is not time for you to join me and your father.” Her mother stepped into the light, her arm through her father’s.

Ryuji Takahashi: “Magomusume, please tell Kameko that I am waiting for her. Please share my regret that we didn’t have more time together. She will join me soon enough. But Samantha, it is not time for you to join us yet. You must go back, granddaughter. You have not yet fulfilled your purpose.”

Samantha wanted to protest. She had suffered so much. It is warm and comforting here in their presence. In the presence of those she had lost who loved her. She didn’t want to go back. Only pain and misery waited for her there.

Ryuji Takahashi: “Samantha you know the truth. You know better than to think those thoughts. Even now your new friends are trying to save you. Skye will need you more than ever. My beloved granddaughter. I would spare you this pain if I could. You must go back.”

Samantha fought it but their images grew fuzzy again. That horrible pressure was building again in her chest. A heavy weight held her down. She couldn’t breathe. Darkness took her again.

Samantha’s heartbeat flatlined in the HUD once more. Skye had managed to get the electrodes onto Samantha’s chest. Skye: "Clear!" Samantha’s body bowed up off the ground as Skye hit the button, shocking her heart. Samantha took a deep breath in and let out a blood curdling scream before pain caused her to pass out again. This time though, her heartbeat remained steady.

[LadyAmber]

Fireteam Poseidon

Chuck “Boomer” Simmons

Adam Stanislaw Kajtanowicz

Vincent Cisse AKA Hawk

Soundtrack: Light Up the Night - The Protomen

---

Chuck stood just inside the hole he had made into the wall. He held the exit he had made until Shimura had managed to join them and until he had heard back from Adam on whether he needed to hold it. Chuck continued to hold the breach like a moving wall. He decided they were leaving anyway. He emptied all the non lethals he had left into the oncoming waves of soldiers. He would save the heavier ammo for the next part. Sparks of electricity from the taser rounds lighting up the air in the smoke now filling the air. Screams from soldiers caught in his attacks filled the air. Then suddenly there was Shimura emerging from the smoke.

"Well, that'll stop them coming! Rig's cut off now, pumps are set to detonate. It'll make it unstable, so we haven't much time to bail!"

Chuck gave a sigh of relief to see Shimura emerge. He was a new team member but still a team member. Chuck gave him a nod as he watched for incoming enemy fire from behind him.

Chuck told Shimura as he arrived “Nice work. Now for the easy part, leaving.”

The whole rig shook in a warning of its impending demise. Chuck balanced and rode out the wave of shaking trying to throw him off balance.

"Team, we need to leave! We now have a window, but we can't stay long or we'll get swallowed in it! They'll not pump anything from here anymore!"

Vincent: "Merde, the thing is falling into the sea, and I have hostiles all over. Get to the water, I'll put the ramp down but you need to find a way to get to me, fast. I cannot stay long!"

Chuck had just thrown out his last grenade when he heard Adam finally give him the response he had been waiting on. He wouldn’t leave Freya behind if she needed help escaping.

"Boomer, get moving with the others, this place is going to shit, so carve a path back down to the SDV!"

Chuck replied immediately as he moved through the hole to rejoin his part of the team.

“Boomer acknowledges, Creating that path...”

Chuck grabbed his carbine in his left hand and used his right to guide the heavy caliber FunGun. Chuck began to jog back towards the front of the rig where they had come up from the SDV. Chuck laid waste to anyone who came close. His heavy caliber gun took out a drone that had been firing down on them. Explosions rocked the rig as metal began to groan. You could hear metal shearing and twisting. Chuck roared as he put the heavy machine gun to use as he sprayed soldiers on jet skis and in smaller patrol boats. The heavy machine gun put holes in their rides and punched through their soldiers as he made a path for the team to exit. Chuck could feel his armor being ravaged as he drew enemy fire. He did his best to keep moving.

"Boomer, Shimura, Boaro...don't wait on us, we have another way out, meet you at the bottom and get on that fucking boat!"

Chuck frowned and he didn’t like it but he acknowledged the order.

Chuck: “Boomer acknowledges Frigga and Wilk taking an alternative exit.”

A massive explosion rocked the rig, the shockwave throwing Chuck to the ground as the platform began to sink on one side. Chuck was grateful he had packed a spare rebreather since his armor’s integrity was shot to shit by this point. He looked back and saw secondary explosions rocking the platform even more. He was out of time. He hit the latches that would drop his outer armor chest and back plate. He had to ditch his helmet too. The visor opened but the rebreather wouldn’t fit into the opening. That would reduce his weight some. He had lost the flotation devices help for his armor. He stumbled as another explosion rocked the platform. He took a deep breath and jumped. Chuck fell like an ungainly stone. His velocity was broken up on impact with the water with the help of his remaining armor. He hit the ocean kicking up a 20 foot splash. Debris from the rig was falling into the sea around him. He barely managed to dodge a piece of metal railing. He was still sinking like a stone.

He swam hard to get some buoyancy and distance. He managed to get the rebreather attached to his mouth. He took a deep breath as he searched for the SDV. Chuck was an experienced diver and swimmer. He swam away from the danger area around the rig. Swimming was hard, the weight of his remaining armor dragged at his legs. Chuck was able to do it only because of his strength but he was tiring quickly. Chuck had begun to kick for the surface when out of the dark turbulent gloom under the waves came lights from the SDV. He was grateful for the pickup. His legs felt like lead. He grabbed onto the handle on the outside and tapped twice to let the pilot know he was on. He couldn’t talk with the spare rebreather on to give them comms acknowledgement.

The SDV picked up others as Chuck hung onto the outside of it. He tried to kick his legs to aid the SDV’s progress since he didn’t have flotation devices to help with buoyancy. The SDV finally surfaced next to the VTOL. Chuck swam to the ramp. Chuck took out the rebreather and took a deep breath of fresh air. He then got up and helped pull the SDV up the ramp. Chuck waited there to see if anyone needed help getting out of the SDV. He did his best to curb his anxiety.

[Starlance]

Boraro
Fireteam Poseidon

---

As if it wasn’t chaotic enough, now Adam canceled Artemis’ free trial of the doomsday platform in the second most spectacular fashion imaginable save for a nuke. Ebrima was staggering in Chuck’s wake, trying to pick off any Artemis that were still bothering them instead of trying to save themselves - the lengths some people would go to for an extra hundred on their paycheck - as he noticed his vision becoming slightly blurry on the right side. Yup, that was a concussion alright. Each explosion made movement even more difficult and every fall exacerbated his headache and soon he found himself in disbelief at thinking this was worse than the damn double triathlon Hell they put him through when he signed on. Somehow.

Reaching the edge of the platform felt like Sisyphus finally getting that damn boulder onto that stupid hill. Stowing his gear so it wasn’t loose during the fall and subsequent swim, he grabbed a nearby Artemis corpse and dragged it toward the edge of the platform, glumly noting that his PFD had fallen prey to Luisa's machete as he threw the body overboard before jumping after it. The dead man broke the water's surface just before Ebrima’s feet hit the sea, cushioning his landing quite a bit. Still, the Cameroonian sank like a rock, the exosuit not designed to swim without the ruptured air bladders. For a second he thought Luisa might get to kill him after all, even if she didn't live to brag about it.

Thud!

The smooth hull of the SDV under him felt like the softest foam mattress. He quickly found a handle and maneuvered inside, securing an air supply before tapping Adam on the shoulder to let him know he was in. Once they were aboard the VTOL, he took his radio out of its pouch, smashed it against a wall and threw it and the ‘borrowed’ Artemis helmet and headset out the back before powering down his armor and starting to untangle himself from the dead exoskeleton, removing the power cells once he was out. If Rose had trackers in her blood, he wasn't taking any chances with any Artemis gear or Raven equipment that had been connected to any Artemis tech. ”Now do we get to have a week off?”