FourtyTwo

The Conflict

Sean nodded to Hayden, the switch-blade enough to reinforce that had it have come to it, the knives would be out the other way, but the rubies being a nice catch. In local currency, how much were these? Maybe half a diamond, maybe a quarter, maybe nothing at all. Who knew, but hey, it was a precious gem and something that would trade. Shit, Gold was probably going to be the real standard of things...he'd hope.

"Got it. You keep looking, I'll call." Sean replied, keys in hand, knowing that while Hayden was feeling conflicted, Sean understood the grit of this situation a bit further. Perhaps his own troubled mind was playing into it, but he saw it earlier on, that chaos, that violence, what they were willing to do. It was better he did that to them before they did it to him, and he felt no humanity in this place at all. He wished he could have a strong drink, because in a day he'd dropped out of the sky and straight into a fucking slum, and he felt like after they were done today, he'd pass out proper. It was worse than a day in Helmand, and that was something.

Finding the Toyota eventually came, as he dialled for Hayden's number, looking around inside the filthy Hilux, the 80s model of pickup truck one that would start first time. That was the thing about the Hilux, it was unkillable. It did stick out, but then again, it was now probably one of the few not carrying a DShK or M2 on the back of it now, a practical, reliable and useful tool for mobility and getting around. Even the absolutely agricultural diesel engine responded in turn, torquey and like a trophy truck in the corners, zero fucks given to actually handling well but just soaking up hard kerbs and bumps like it rolled across it. A true insergent's treasure.

"Hayden, it's Sean. Got the motor. Gonna head down the street, don't be too conspicuous but get yourself in. If it ain't you, I'll put a nine through whoever gets an idea. You got no lead?" Sean asked, the phone on the passenger seat, right next to where his Sig was sitting.

----

The atmosphere even Bethan had to admit was calm, and calmer than what she was expecting. Yekatarina and her had stalked succesfully into the lion's den, and the drop they had now was impressive. She was almost under the premonition to call Sean, but for the moment wanted to keep observing, finding a pallet to sit on, still veiled up and still looking like she was innocent enough. She knew that ruse wouldn't last long, but it would for them to get what they needed, and if the boys had their end covered, get out of here.
"Ever get the feeling we're being bullshitted, Yekatarina? This is too nice."

The Conflict

Post is up- apologies for that delay. Headspace hasn't been great but I've put something together to keep things moving on both fronts!

The Conflict

Bethan couldn't help but agree with Yekatarina, but at the least was glad the team was going their seperate ways. It had to be said, Sean's idea was fucking crazy, and she didn't like the fact Hayden saw something in it. They had to play it by the rules for now, stick to some order in this chaos, or they'd join the wolves. She had nothing to add, well, aside from agreeing with Yekatarina and following her lead. With that, they were split, and well on their way to get moving through.

Moving through the streets, she knew they were women in an African slum, hardly the look she wanted to keep, and worse still, wearing camo. Not ideal, but hey, she knew they had to get themselves sorted. Yekatarina's comment was prompt, but one Bethan was already thinking about as they made their way in.

"Give me five minutes. I'll have us sorted for a covering. I won't tell your mam if you don't tell mine. Those fellas following us, keep moving, and they'll make a decision who they follow."

With that, Bethan vanished, and by the time she came back, had what she needed- two veils, traded for a diamond, but done unscrupulously and quickly. The diamond had done the talking, although it left her poorer than she liked. The men hadn't followed her- more likely than not, they were on Yekatarina. She wasn't a hard spot when she came back around, and moving through to an alley, they had a chance to at least cover up, out of sight and of the two goons following Yekatarina and Bethan.

Throwing her partner the grey veil, she put her own on, a black one, making her look awfully like a nun. She had to feel for Yekatarina, years of killing Chechens and now here she was, veiled up. It had to be killing her more than it was Bethan, but hey, it was what it was.

"Let's not piss around, we need to get in closer. Keep your head down best as you can. The alley will buy us a little time, and if they're not smart, they won't know us." The streets felt chaotic, strange, but they'd faded into the crowd, hiding the packs and all as best as they could.

Making their way closer in, the neighborhood felt flooded with people, nonetheless the two that had been stalking the two lads now off her and Yekatarina's trail. She couldn't tell one goon with an AK from another, but it was good enough as a starting position to try and understand things. She felt comfortable with the Russian, oddly enough, despite the fact she knew in an ordinary situation she was taught to mistrust the Ruskies, she felt Yekatarina felt genuine, honest, flawed perhaps but someone capable. Someone who had grown up in the shit of Russia, and no doubt found Chechnya a trial by fire. But there was this unbroken nature to her, like she was straight in a situation that demanded it. Something Bethan respected, that had to be said. And with veils on, they had the opportunity to get in closer, giving them a chance to at least understand what was going on. A lot of goons, and around the majority of the area there were technicals with gangsters in the back, dotted with the occasional sight of gangs in the streets themselves.

"Looks like they have seriously wanted to bulk up this area. Weapons are all Eastern Bloc. Less South-African, more ex-Soviet. Bought from COGS, or whoever COGS normally buy from. Not sure. But that could be something. Well, Melani would know that, surely...." Bethan spoke under the veil to Yekatarina, moving past a group of traders, keeping an eye out. And eventually, that it did, noticing something else on the bustling roads, something that felt as out of place as they did in that moment.

"Wait, hold on. That car there, the Mercedes. In a place like this, can't be someone unimportant, can it?" Bethan mused, nodding as she began to keep her eye on it, and while aware following would be impossible, at the least they could copy it's directions on the busy streets, mingling with the crowd that slowed traffic down to the pace of a strong jog.

------

Sean in the meantime saw those two goons approaching, and with a wry nod to Hayden, knew they had to find some transport, and lose their tail. Perhaps some curious locals, who had seen them coming into Malkia's turf, and wanted to find out why two western mercs were on their front door. Keeping an eye over his shoulder, they looked like the two that had been looking for the girls, and now had diverted their attention to him and Hayden,

"Follow my lead then. Let's not do this in the open. They'll keep coming, mate....we drop them, and we get moving quickly before we get spotted again." Sean knew that while in this turf they'd have eyes all over, only those two were beaming at them right now, and they had a chance to stop this before it escalated it. It was a chance to break whoever was coming, and rather than getting shot, getting them close in would work better. In an alley they'd follow, and finding a blindspot, they could make that work, and that is what Sean did, knowing that the gangsters would be chasing them in now they'd broken line of sight.

Moving around the corner of a shack, Sean drew his machete and holding back in a dark corner, waited, patient as ever, hearing the men barking and fanning out. One of them turned directly to Sean's position in cover, and was greeted with a hard headbutt, throwing a punch Sean could take and flank with a machete straight to the side. The man's croak was that- a hit to the lungs between the ribcage made it quick for Sean to draw the machete out and slit his throat with the sharp edge, exhaling hard as he watched Hayden move on his man. The Northern Irishman wasn't a stranger to fighting, and this machete, as brutal as it was, was just a bigger tool in his hand, sharp and blunt at the same time, able to just do the job when swung. It wasn't fun, but dragging the two bodies out of the way, he knew they'd be left in the open and more likely than not, left to rot. Not a great idea to be killing already, but then again, they hadn't been left much else as a choice. Running would make them look even more exposed, and given the brief moment they had in the alley, it was enough. Strange how Sean felt comfortable with this, but then again, he'd seen the reality earlier on. They'd do the same to him if he didn't first, and he'd seen enough people getting stabbed to understand you didn't come back from it.

Searching the guy's pockets, he found a set of keys, what looked like a Toyota badge.
"Well, that might sort us out. Now we just gotta find a Toyota around here....tell you what, Hayden, I'll go find whatever the hell it is, if it's parked close. Give me a call when you're closer in, or about to get stabbed. I'll come grab ya." Sean threw the keys into the air and caught them, dragging the poor bastard's corpse back as far as he could into a small ditch in the alley, unlikely to be the first body that had been dumped in there, Sean guessed. With that, Sean went on the hunt and knew he was looking for a Hilux, or something of that description- some wheels to get them moving while he knew Hayden could take a look around.

The Conflict

Honestly it's all good- my end has been a bit rough lately which is a shame as I really want to get something out there. I'll post tonight as I've gotten some rest in and feel a bit better after a rough week or so.

The Conflict

Gonna try and post tonight - apologies for the delay.

Raven Squad (An Eccentric Military / Spy - Fi RP)

Bumpity bump :)

Raven Squad (An Eccentric Military / Spy - Fi RP)

Okay all- given there's lots going on I've made a Discord OOC chat! I've PM'd it to everyone.

This should be a bit more live and provide a bit more bullet-point responses beyond the OOC content above as we're ticking along really nicely.

The op we're on will have probably another round of posts and I'll be putting some more exposition in- I feel it's ticked along nicely and soon we'll get to see the threat escalate a little. Good fun.

The Conflict

Sorry for the delay guys- I had to think that post over a little as I wanted to sow a bit more discord in. It's not something to immediately jump on, but just something to play on our characters minds a little as the plot grows.

The Conflict

The scene was disintergrating, fast, and Sean and Bethan both felt the same about how unhinged Melani was being. It was one pull of a finger away from turning dirty, making their Mexican Standoff look almost ordinary in this situation, watching Hayden nearly get stabbed and impaled on a pound-shop piece of metal. The more Bethan watched the more he watched as Hayden seemed to be falling apart, unafraid of dying, unafraid of letting go. Something she'd seen earlier, that fire in his eyes. Like a lack of control was in there, and it worried her. He was capable, no doubt all the shit he'd done was legitimate. But he'd sold his soul to the devil too long ago, and it was gone. Shit, she was feeling the same in this hellhole, Melani now calming down as Bethan looked only to Yekatarina and following her move, not Sean in that moment, a mutual look.

The gang leader explained the job, and the two Brits stayed quiet, listening throughout. It wasn't a lot of money, hell, it was nothing much compared to their last, but it was an in. But this couldn't continue. Sean made a mental note, and didn't say anything stupid. The girl had hung up bodies in here. He had no intention of joining them, as arrogant as he could be, he knew she was batshit insane and if this was the good person in this situation, she didn't want to learn what it would turn into if they were up against Malkia. Nodding in agreement, Sean made sure he made a mental note to make an exit strategy before they ended up way in over their heads here.

Leaving the building, Sean and Bethan didn't hestiate either to agree with Yekatarina, now out of earshot, the former replying first to Yekatarina's shock.
"Well, we're in the heart of darkness now, girl. More skin on offer in there than a whorehouse. Nuke it from space, yeah?" Sean only said to her, a wry fucked up smirk on his face, trying to almost comparmentalise the situation by not staying in horror, but making what any squaddie would do in that situation - call it for the insanity it was. Bethan sighed in response, not taking that same tack, looking across at the map and quickly figuring out the situation and what they needed to do. The suggestion of pairs rung out to her as well- she knew who she'd rather work with.

"Pairs sounds like a plan, Kat. I checked mine, looks like it's fine for now. I suggest we hide our weapons, me and Kat get headcoverings on, Sean and Hayden find a vehicle in the neighborhood to steal and create a distraction while we get some intel, gives us transport outside of SAMC's provision too so when we need to we can get out of here if the situation goes downhill. We can find out where he's based, what his crews do, and then go back. Should be enough for Melani to act on." Bethan replied, her reasoned approach rebutted quickly by Sean, who had seen something the others hadn't perhaps noticed.

==

"Hold the fuck on. We're getting paid five diamonds. I know it's an intel job, but we just paid 20 to go steal a truck. I'm not saying we're being lowballed, but there's no guarantee we've just been shit up by Victor here, surely?" Sean's comment was horror to Bethan, who was now even further from believing it had any shred of reality left in him after today's incidents.

"What, you've got ideas now? Shit, here we go..."

"We're being paid five fucking diamonds. She's paying us a pittance to go deal with some warlord who would gut us worse than those poor bastards in her house. And if Malkia's a threat, then he can't be alone, I bet you he's got support if he's putting up a fight. No doubt that Victor wants them dead because well....COGS are helping them...and this is the easiest way to get at them. Seems rather fuckin' logical?"

"What, we try and go our own way...against a guy that just gave us a lead up into SAMC's leadership? Oh fuck, and the guys that shot us earlier, Sean? Some psycho warlord who is paranoid as shit isn't going to kill us on sight, you don't think? Fuck, the price of stupid goes up ten dollars a barrel and I'm going to drill a hole in your fucking head at this rate." She replied, almost flabergasted at the thought, totally in disbelief that he would even think that through- he was suggesting playing with even more fire than they had already.

"They're both gangsters playing each side. Way I see it, law of the jungle, everyone's a fucking psycho and they're hoping we stay on side. There's no loyalty here, and this gets us nowhere but loyal to Victor. Which may I remind you if you didn't so fucking noticed, Victor's doing this outside of SAMC's remit to make a point. If he pisses it up, he's dead meat. Malkia on the other hand, might reward the intel we have and give us an idea of who his contact is in COGS. They don't know us personally after all, and in exchange for a favour, we get closer. Then we can find and whack this Hyena bastard and get out of here. Not sure about you, but this place is hardly five stars."

"Sean, WE are dead fucking meat if we do that. You cannot be serious." Bethan looked over in Yekatarina's direction after, hoping she agreed in the least, that her partner was being ridiculous at this point- for her, a veteran medic it just seemed out of order to break from that line of control. Whatever his fucked up mind had in play was clearly willing to play the sides, but with that came the risks involved.

"I'm not saying we do it. I'm saying we think about it. Staying loyal to Victor is going to last us so long, Hayden, you must agree, right? Just remember that when Melani has us hanging by meathooks and Victor is smiling when he realises he could abuse some Westerners for nothing. The guy has plenty of diamonds and clearly wants to be a bigshot, and that road is gonna run out sometime. I've seen fuckers like them. Bigger they are, harder they fall. There's no single way up the chain here, way things work here, you beg, borrow or steal to get somewhere." Sean added, sighing, checking his shitty mobile over, then turning back to Bethan.

"Fine. Let's try your plan. Hayden, I guess we can go find a Hilux or something to go steal. We need wheels, gives us more of a chance later. Yekatarina, Beth, if you find out what you can and call us, we'll go from there. If you need help, we'll join in. Try not to get shot at though, yeah?" Sean relented, knowing that even if he had a point, it was probably best not to go with it yet. But the thought was out there now, and he knew that if there was another job that paid as badly as this, Sean was going to reconsider the arrangement here if they weren't getting anywhere and were being put in harm's way.

Raven Squad (An Eccentric Military / Spy - Fi RP)

=========

@VeyrinDay@BigPapaBelial

The scene outside in the winding road upward into the mountain in the green wooded valley was chaotic to say the least, dead helicopters, squads and anything else being pciked paart.

Black Flag had one last card left to play, however. They had what appeared to be a couple of Pandur IFVs coming up the hill with 20mm autocannons and ATGM missiles attached, the eight-wheeled Austrian IFVs packing a serious amount of firepower, and a cutting edge piece of equipment. This wasn't a shitty BMP, this was something that was well armed, and both were even equipped with Trophy Systems- so would need to be taken down through other means than firing an RPG at it, but with bullets or something ele. The lights would be relatively underequipped to take on that fight, but they did have one thing up their sleeve- between both Su-Cheong and Howard, they'd be virtually unknown to the enemy and in a place where they could intercept it.

There was about a squad's worth of troops to deal with too. But if the IFVs reached the base, they'd encircle the heavies.

"Copy, Dollface, Lasanga. There's gonna be more coming. Go finish the job." Skye simply replied to them, the Scot moving forwards as Mazi and Ban cleared the forward area.

=========

@Jamesyco@Laser Kiwi

The scene in the hangar and at the front of the base was also a maelstrom to say the least, and the fire and ballistic damage to Black Flag's heavily armoured troops were getting ripped to pieces. Laura now was going further into the hangar, and had the last remennants to clear, the flamer moving around past the containers and starting the fire again, a squad unfortunately in her path as she roasted them alive, another throwing an RPG near her as her Trophy didn't even pick it up and it went flying past her big side, the suited pyro then burning that soldier alive to show her appreciation. It was hardly Geneva Convention stuff, but hey, who was regulating this facility anyway? When the rules were broken, every one of the others seemed to join it.

Taking rounds always felt odd, as she lobbed a couple of incendiaries over a container and omminously walked over, the large German then setting fire to that area, the last little pocket in here driven out as another soldier got a solid bead on her and unloaded his AK into her helplessly, Laura only making sure it was quick. She didn't really think about it much, there was so much fire after all, the smell of home-brew sticky napalm was delicious, an addictive, aromatic fragrance that now lined the entire place, perhaps a little too much. Bullets were a point, fire had none apart from destroying all it touched.

With that, Laura heard the call from the other Heavy, trying to take down the helicopters.

"No eyes on...wait, Tiny Nord, did you go up the mountain?"

The last Lynx came around and with a hail of Hydra rockets managed to blast the area near the top, exposing itself but unloading a small shit-ton of munitions near him. Likely with the intent of realising if they couldn't find the .50 cal minigun firing on them that it was best to take down the whole slope. It wouldn't have been where Howard was on another face, but it would have riled him, that was for sure, as the rockets blasted apart the snowpack and rockface to create a small avalanche.

Laura could see through her tactical link just where he was, and watching the massive pile of snow, debris and crap coming down right at the front of the hangar- not enough to block it but enough to cover a good portion was something she prayed he wasn't in. He was way too hot for that, not in the pyro sense but the...other sense?

"Tiny Nord...you better not be getting buried up there, or else I'm gonna have to put my fat ass in that snow and find you, how copy!?" Laura seemed almost a little sarcastic more than anything else. More likely than not he'd avoided it, but if he hadn't killed that heli, she was gonna be up against more with Thirteen in support.

"Queen, Big Bertha has cleared the hangar out of anything else left. Recomend you use the corridors to leave, lots of fire here, and I can feel the heat in this thing and uhh, it is sweaty as fu..."

"Donnae' give us details, Bertha. Nicely done. You three secure that area, and help the lights down the valley below. We're nearly done here. Let's get it done." Skye replied, watching ahead as they carried on moving, slowly and tactically through the corridors into the main area itself.

=========

@Theyra

The soldiers that Mateo was no doubt worried about did make their way over, moving in, and it was something that Skye responded to, guessing Jaguar had gone ahead and sliced his way inside. Now he was there, no doubt he would see the scale of the operation here, row after row of servers deep inside a dark, secured room. A timeclock meant the data couldn't be removed without destroying it, and that clock was counting down into minutes now, nor hours. Raven had turned up at the exact moment they were thinking they'd get it- a specific choice to catch them off-guard through a hasty assault.

But the soldiers were there to destroy it, and find out who the hell had breached their defenses. Infiltrators were something they knew of, but perhaps not just how capable Jaguar would be.

"Copy, Jaguar. If you're in, get ready for more of them to come, the system says it doesn't have long at all to go. The system is on a timelock, and the moment it goes, they are going to try and start stealing drives directly rather than copying the data. Or, they're going to try and blow the place to kingdom come - and more likely than not they'll try and figure out what EM signals you got. Go radio silent, and do what you need to do. We'll see you shortly." Skye called out, as they came up to the beginning of the next room, and she got herself ready for it.

Jaguar had always been reliable- like Su-Cheong, infiltrators were like gold-dust when handled correctly, and she knew his history had been one of dealing with corruption and evil that seemed to never stop. Perhaps he found a reliability in Skye, and she found the same in him, able to stalk and rip apart defenses like there was no tomorrow.

=========

@Gunther@BigPapaBelial

A hail of bullets around the corner that Skye peeked made it clear they weren't welcome, Skye tutting as she almost felt inconvenienced, looking back to the other two.
"Typical welcome." Almost with an annoyance, she had a look at the concrete wall to bound something off of, and quickly formulated how to clear the admin room- a larger room than the smaller ones in the corridors with more specific offices. This one seemed larger, and was the last room before another door headed through to the server rooms, a route that Jaguar wouldn't have taken.
"Alright, Wolf, you're on the left, Shimura, you're on right. There's a direct route to the server room through here...I'll keep moving, you two shore it up." Skye mde it seem easy, but given the rounds still flying, the red-haired Scot seemed calm and precise under pressure. She'd done this before. And while an assault on this scale might have seemed out of the ordinary,

With a Flashbang lobbed at the wall opposite them, leaving almost a mark in the wall from how hard she'd thrown it, the echoing concrete bounded it back to them, but it was enough to suppress for a moment and give the assault team a chance to charge in.

Going past overturned tables Skye had the chance to unload with the AA-12, blasting a cluster of Black Flag militants, knowing Shimura would be a blur and already moving forwards, and Mazi would be snipping out anyone on the left quickly and relentlessly. Skye herself was fluid as ever, leaping right behind a desk as rounds flew all over the place, using the AA-12 to pepper the room with suppressing fire, knowing the other two would clean up the other side of the larger room. The soldiers they were up against weren't badly trained so were using cover and had body armour, making them of course more difficult to kill, but still, they would bleed. And Skye knew that full well, moving from cover to cover from a table to a concrete pillar, the AA-12 barking into wooden barricades they'd made and blasting apart holes that Mazi could more likely than not shoot cleanly through, that and dropping any hostile that was in their way.

Jesus, if Laura was in here, it'd be 500 degrees with all the nice furniture, and more likely than not, an absolute logistic mess to clean up afterwards. That and speed was key, in here, an armoured giant would be too heavy a liability to risk compared to three faster and more agile operatives.

"Fucking have at 'ye!" Skye yelled out, her rare anger surfacing as she reloaded her mag, taking a minute to reposition herself and allow the others to push the flanks, while she stood firm feeling the fire blast around their side of the room.