Skye and Laura
@BigPapaBelial@JamesycoThe awkwardness reverberated across the room, Skye kinda silent for the moment, not wanting to say anything...until the team German did.
"Well, we could just put some Rammstein on, now that's just fucking offensive in general, ja?" Laura jibed, standing up, all of the large lady menacing across to the kitchen area, giggling as she saw the two cook away, their differences settled but the pork and other food that they were cooking up something she could certainly comment on. Ban was getting some pork out to prepare, and the whisky that he mentioned perhaps putting in made the German lick her lips. The German had of course, totally misjudged just how awkward that situation was, perhaps not being totally aware of that song's reference...but still making a bit of a scene anyway.
"The pork, it's almost as pink as you, ja?" Laura added, looking to the American giant and giggling with laughter, the one that didn't have pink hair, that was, the one that was a hunk. She seemed very, very weird around Oliver. My word, he made Laura's big heart pump a bit harder. She'd seen him in the gym, working away. While she'd been here a while, she never had the courage to actually well, not look like a total freak while talking to him and say what she felt. But my...it was an odd lust. He perhaps just didn't catch onto her tells, or something else. It was going to be exactly as awkward as everyone else would see it, because it was all kinds of awkward.
"You know us. Plenty more food on the plate for us big people, bitte." Laura licked her lips again, chuckling praying Oliver would laugh, or at the least, show something of some emotion. Skye sighed, sipping more whisky back, then shotting it as the situation developed, the whole shebang as classic as Raven ever could be.
"Fucking hell. Can we have one evening without racism, sexism, or Laura trying to come onto everyone?" She muttered, Laura looking across and giggling like a kid.
"Oh, and you don't think you could resist, Miss Lyons?" Laura had most certainly overheard, but Skye, well, she was even sharper.
"Bigger they are, harder they fall, Laura. You think I've never had fun with big girls? Well, lookie here, fancy me putting you on extra PT because well...perhaps I maybe rethought our little arrangement?" Skye's underhandedness was clear, because she kinda wanted to stop it while it got out of hand.
"Okay, okay, point taken." Laura replied with a certain acceptance, Skye having the last word in that saying, as the Scotswoman finished the glass, hearing Su-Cheong's comment from earlier, and taking a moment to reply.
@VeyrinDay"It's possible enough, no doubt, Su-Cheong. But there's airgaps, enough to buy us time if there was an issue. I was told a previous organisation based itself on an island in the middle of the South Atlantic and was hours from anywhere had the same standard of security as we do, if anything, the fact they hardly know what Raven is helps. I'm not going to complain about this place...sometimes plain sight is as good as it gets." Skye replied to Su-Cheong, before then looking to the two others that had come into the room. A couple more operatives from the pot to use, and both talented in different ways.
"Oh yeah, and Ban? Throw some of this in, will ya?" Skye added, reaching over to the tabletop with the bottle, sliding it over to him. She sat back down, and thought about the other members of the team that had come in since, playing over their strengths in her head. The All-American gunner, and the Israeli hottie.
@JamesycoOliver's talent was spotted by Skye early on, the heavy able to carry a variety of weaponry and serve as the team's medical liason on top of beast with firepower making an obvious choice. It was a natural pairing, like a Paladin almost in the team, and while he sung that rather awkward tune riiiight in front of Howard, she knew he meant well. He was an All-American farmhand, and well, it was sometimes just how it went with this job- you had the loud big Americans who blew shit up and well, Skye put that talent to use.
@GuntherThen there was Mazi, a talented Israeli soldier that Skye knew would help fill a roll on the team as a general-purpose operative like herself, more versed in explosives and blowing shit up. That was an advantage, over Laura at least in that Mazi wasn't so liberal with it- her experience and confidence under fire resonated, that and the fact that shit, she was going to be another special forces mind on the team to keep the balance. An excellent sparring partner, and someone willing to almost match Skye's relentless, unstoppable nature. Easy to work with, easy to command, and more importantly, versatile at her job. Like a well set Swiss Army Knife, Skye knew the team had strengths across the board and she knew how to wield it when, and how, be they Laura's pyromania or Howard's lethality from afar.
"Feel free to grab something to drink. I think Oliver and Ban are cooking us something up. Smells bloody good....oh aye, that is delish." Skye commented, sighing as she looked around, all the team gathered up and a wholesome moment to say the least.
In their weird, mad way, they worked together. This wasn't a regular special forces unit, that was for sure. Somewhere beteween Bond and well, something altogether else, they all were here because they were talented what they did and made the world tick without them even knowing something was wrong.
@Laser KiwiTylar was already on it, and her skill as a bartender perhaps played into that little trick that Skye also had. Pick the right people for the team. Not just on the battlefield, but off it. They were all oddjobs, but the little things, they ticked in. The skill that Tylar had with drinks, more than just pouring fingers of Whisky made her even reconsider her ban on cocktails. Skye would never be seen with one, but hey, you put the talents of your team to your advantage, and they paid you back and them some, as Skye nodded back to her.
Laura also acknowledged Tylar, looking across from the beanbag, giving a wave as she poured.
"Don't tell Skye, but the bartender knows what she's doing, ja?" ========
The conversation and chats carried on, Skye zoned out for a moment as she felt her phone buzz, an audible alarm that pricked her feeling immediately. With a wry shrug, Skye stood up and headed over to a quieter corner of the room, the encrypted phone call from Oracle- and that only meant one thing. She stayed across the room for at least the best part of twenty full minutes before walking out, away from the sweet-smelling cookery of Ban and Oliver, and the chit-chat of the rest of the team. She didn't do much talking, mostly listening. They'd have time to eat, chat, talk for a little bit longer, but she would be back in time.
Laura looked on, then back at the others as Skye walked out.
"That is the look of "ve are going to go killing again", I think. Anyone want to bet? Strip Poker this one? No, nobody? Urgh, fine." Laura said, shrugging her gargantuan shoulders and casually dropping a reference probably nobody would get, leaning back on the beanbag again, sprawling her mass across it and hiding no part of her figure. But she had a point- Skye didn't take calls like that without reason. It's worth mentioning that Laura's accent then did inflect- whilst sounding like a normal member of the human race, her calling tell was that she sounded as German as they came when thinking of something nefarious in particular. Hard to explain, even Laura didn't get it, but it was a thing.
As if almost on cue to that, the footsteps of the Scottish woman came back, a little more ardent than the ones that left the room. Skye was easygoing, chatty, happy and helpful, nice really ordinarily. Yet now the fires of her hair matched the looking gaze she gave, a driven, almost a mentality that refused to stop and switch off kicked back in like a generator switch coming online. The kind that knew the whisky was gonna sink through enough while they got ready to go, that and the food.
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"Right people, listen up. We have a job to do, shit is getting real. We're briefing en-route, but we'll all need to have pretty serious tooling required. Oliver, Tylar, Laura, I want all three of you on this. Su-Cheong, Howard, I'm sending you in advance, again, I'll give details on a need to know. Get kitted now, and we're meeting at 2100 at the helipad, fifteen minutes." Skye barked at the team, taking a look at every member in turn, moving towards the exit of the room. She stopped before leaving, knowing questions would abound- but they'd want to know what kit to have, not why now.
"Nutshell is, there's a critical secure data storage facility buried in the Austrian Alps that's just gotten hit, belongs to a whole plethora of intelligence agencies but put it lightly, they can't afford to lose what's inside there. It's a complex built into the side of Wildspitze, with a significant network inside that contains a series of quantum-encrypted data drives containing a lot worse than your wee maw's sex tapes.
Looks exactly like Black Flag- and expect infantry, helicopters and armed vehicles. A timelock's the only reason we have a chance to respond. They've already got a triple-A presence too so we can't Leroy Jenkins the place- and the majority of it is inside the mountain so we can't bomb it. We need to take out the AA on the face that the complex opens up onto, then rush the place, wipe them out and find out who's on site before they take any data out.
Howard, take an arctic ghillie, and a sniper. Su-Cheong, I need you to spot targets for Howard so take the same, and in infiltrator garb too to get close in and take down the AA assets. We'll paradrop you on the other side of the mountain ridge so bring crampons and axes- you can pick up a sniping position and take out the AA and strays trying to reinforce the base. Su-Cheong, you need anything, you tell Howard.
Tylar, Laura, take your usual. Oliver, bring an M2 or a M134, either/or, and your shield. We're gonna load a drop-pod inside the Osprey, put you inside it, and drop you right onto their front door once that AA platform gets sniped out of commission. You know what to do once you hit the floor. If it moves, kill it.
Mazi, Ban, you two are with me. The V22 will swoop in once the outside is secure. I need you both to be ready for close quarters, and to push forward with the heavies taking the heat through the halls and into the server room. Once there, Su-Cheong, you're up for countermeasuring whatever they are trying to break into the network with.
We all clear? This is need to know, so kit up and we meet at the helipad, wheels up at 2105. I'll explain the rest when we're in." ====
With that, the team was mobilised, and in various shapes and forms, moving to get ready for a fight. A fight Skye wished they weren't on, but hey, that was their jobs.
The majority that didn't have anything else to grab, but they had time to spare. Skye didn't need to tell anyone how this worked. It was instant, and the alcohol would be out of their systems within the time they got close. Skye wouldn't let anyone get too pissed, as much as she enjoyed a finger of whisky, she knew how to keep control. Team mum, after all.
Skye had the chance to lead the first group down the lift, moving into the armoury and quickly finding her kit. Like a Firefighting Unit, they had it ready to go at moment's notice, and Skye's was fairly simple. Fatigues, MG3, MAAWS, AA-12 with a drum. The Osiris Exoskeleton unit, a light carbon-composite and aluminium framed second-generation combat carrying exo and a singular jump-pack did the job for her, providing a fairly typical load-bearing vest, ballistic protection, the MTP fatigues contrasted by navy/green tartan pattern on the exoskeleton's actual frame itself. An updated Ops-Core looking-like helmet followed suit, as did a navy blue baseball cap that tucked under, with a holographic display up on her tactical glasses that came tucked into her fatigues. Skye's setup was more than sometimes a regular medium would have, it made her fast, nimble, heavy hitting and quick. Perhaps not as sharp with a sword like Ban was, or as truly scalpel like as Mazi was, but she could more or less run like a greyhound and chase the team around, like a real team mum would. The buzzsaw loaded, Skye felt the cells power on and the weight get pulled back, the LMG go from a bag of bricks to feeling like an MP5 in her hands, and like she felt like an invisible cable was pulling her up and along. It never got old, as she bounded to the lift, punching the button and awaiting the rest of the team to go up. Skye Rosalind Lyons may have been a cute-looking redhead, but right now, she looked like the mid-21st century's equivalent of a Highlander about to go scalp some English fuckers, a resolute, burning figure on her face.
Looking across to anyone else that was there, she had a readied look on her face, the sort that you'd definitely call a game face.
"Alright then. Another rec night ruined, but still, we have a job to do. Mazi, Ban, just remember to keep out of the killzones so you don't get turned to paste. I'll take any elevated stuff and any opportune targets, you guys focus on the close-in work."
=====
Meanwhile, Laura had gone to the Heavies area, the fact that exoskeletons and heavy armours needed a little more space making it their own section of the sprawling armoury and shooting range. Stripping completely, she didn't take much time to instantly care how the others might feel, just that ehh...it was a thing if she walked about like that. Almost a ritual for her at this point, well, that and it hurt less given the suit was padded and any clothes would just sweat out on it. It was also probably a sight for the team....because Laura really did not give a shit about who she walked in front of in that moment. The THICC armour, as it was lovingly called by probably just Laura, to be honest, was leaving incredibly little to the imagination. A pull on a set of chains and the chest pulled apart, allowing the chunky German to slide in, rather strenously to say the least given her mass, as she pulled eventually in after much grunting. She took the chain that held it open and let it release, the tight suit now skintight to her and the cell-driven muscle-actuation helping her carry the 200kg of reinforced ballistic material and flamethrower tank. The gas mask was the last fitting, for the moment sliding it over the back of her head to keep her face visible, as she moved across the room, flexing.
"Never gets old!" Laura wooped, letting out a Germanic sounding war cry, looking around to see probably the awkward looks from the other two.
"Ah, right....probably had a bit much whisky, ja. Uhh....yeah, with the drop pod you two, don't worry. Might be different to what you're used to, but it's basically a capsule that can fit us, just. When the alarm sounds, just pull the lever in front of your face and the door will fire off, and it'll boot you onto the floor out of the slot you get into. Don't do it when we're high because uhh...yeah, just make sure you aim for someone if you do, right?" Laura added, giggling as she checked the flamethrower's pressure, the ignition coming on as she felt it heat up on her back, chuckling as she slapped her own side, marching on whilst humming and singing along to Erika, yes, the one from the meme. There was an element of absurdity probably to it, but nonetheless, Laura made it her own. Unlike some Russian giants, perhaps she wasn't totally batshit, but absurd? Oh yes. She joined Skye at the lift, the strain from the armour clearly taking a toll on the industrial-grade device, and she had no intentions of going cold turkey with the flamethrower.
Once the team were ready, the lift went up, and they'd be off to the helipad into the back of the V22- ready to set out to go stop shit hitting the fan in the world once more.
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