FourtyTwo

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

Skye Rosalind Lyons

Kaitiaki HQ, New Zealand

As Chuck knocked, Skye simply gave her usual, stern and expectant response, like a good schoolteacher, or you know, the team leader of a multinational, multi-faceted team of diverse specialists fighting difficult to identify terror cells.
"Come in." Skye called, as the door opened, and the floorboards felt the weight of Chuck, and the excitable yet disciplined, large Belgian Mallnois following him in. The kind of dog that Skye had no doubt had a bond to Chuck thicker than blood, and the cute ears to boot.

"Chuck Simmons. As I live and breathe. A pleasure to meet you too. Don't worry about too much formality. You're here because you passed the test, and are one of the best in what you do, so you're at ease." Skye moved around, making that initial introduction, and taking the formality out of the air, as she would for any new member.

"There are a lot of questions I am sure you have. I'm Skye Lyons, former Major, British Intelligence and Marine SF. You Marine Raider boys are rather good. I worked a lot with the Yank teams, saw the work your lot did first hand. Means I know what your breaking points are, and that they're rather hard to find. It's also why you're here, and your reputation precedes you. I can imagine you're wondering why mine doesn't. This has been my work for the last few years, and as part of that, I've been dealing with an organisation the likes of which is a serious, prominent threat to not our way of life, but our very world itself. So discretion is preferred, I suppose." Skye responded, shutting her laptop, and with a stand, coming around the table and offering a hand to shake, professional, and yet for a second as she saw Duke, letting that slide.

"And who is the good boy you brought? Oh, he is handsome, what a fine little soldier he is! Duke, right?" Skye chuckled, the rare break that the Scot would have, as she approached the large Mallinois and knowing a service dog would be loyal, but would understand that well, Skye was a friend! With a gentle brush across his ears and the side, she could get the feel of him, the underlying power and . She always wished she could keep a canine companion with her off-duty, but given the nature of their jobs, it was just too risky. Yet Duke was integral to any bomb specialist, a vital, critical even member to help get the job done and well, had his own charm about him. The feeling that this dog could happily munch someone came through, albeit right now, was happily enjoying the attention.

"You know how to win me over, Chuck. Good to have you on the team." Skye stood, as she walked back around the table, pulling a file that was on the desk and sliding it across. Her Scots accent contrasted his Southern drawl, a chipper, refined husk with a sultry undertone to it making Skye's words hang with the poise of an arrowhead.

"Papers for your gear, armour, weaponry, and Duke's kennel too. Room allocation, keys, you name it. Welcome to Kaitiaki. Freya, our other heavy can probably tell you herself, but the giants of the team have their own gym, armoury and tooling station for you know, your sort of thing. The base is lightly secured but has biometrics, so they are keyed to what you provided, and there's a lot of green space out here, and nobody else at all. There's a briefing note on there if you have any questions, and feel free to hit Tahlia, our logistics lead, if you need anything. She'll even source the food for Duke's diet." Skye added, the dog coming back into frame, as she sat back down, the towering presence of Chuck in the room making everything feel small, yet Skye had been enough around this sort of operative to know what was going on.

Yet people like Chuck didn't walk or fight, they dominated, careered and overwhelmed. The bigger they were the harder they fell sure, but they also hit like a freight train on feet. Chuck was no exception, and Skye was glad to have another heavy on the team.

"We'll be getting to work on getting some pest control soon. For now, settle yourself in, and get things as you need them. We'll be deploying within 24 hours, so be ready." Skye added, before he left, making one last comment.

"Good to see you in one piece. I know it's hard to get back on the horse. But you'll do rather fine here I think, Boomer."

---

Isla Langosta / Lobster Island, Colombia

Fireteam Piranha

A Forehead like a Sniper's Dream

Tahlia watched as the helicopter took in its orbit, the Eurocopter H175 coming in over the treeline, and with a rhythmic thud, pounding the trees and jungle. Attention like this wasn't good, but then again, the team was absolutely expecting this to happen. Tahlia wanted it even more if anything, to start getting to work on sniping.

"Eyes on chopper. Jaguar, recommend you keep an eye on who's on board. That may be our VIP. While we've got the noise, I'm going to start thinning guards in the compound. Buy you a bit of time once you start infiltrating the lodges, and the noise will mask any obvious movements."

Adjusting her profile, she picked up the guards in the tower.

"Boomer, Jaguar, two tangos up in the guard tower to your direct 12 O'Clock. They're mine. Bodies should drop inside." With it, Tahlia adjusted the scope, and checking windage on the little device next to her, took a ballpark of the wind further along, using grass, flags and anything else blowing in the wind. It was parallel, which was lovely. Because she had a long shot to make, and well, with a slight adjustment of the scope, she had her marks set straight on the guard.

With a pull of the trigger and an exhale, Tahlia fired the first round in what felt like a lifetime. And the kick of the stock into her shoulder reinforced that somewhat, watching as within half a second, the round had coiled to the left, and with a satisfying plink, hit the Cartel guard straight through the side of the head, and flown out the other side, slamming him into the side of the tower he was in and completely out of things.

The end of the long breath and the bolt was pulled up, back, forward and down, Tahlia rhythmic in how she operated the sniper's mechanisms, her nerves settled down and her back. The other guard was facing the other way and the shot had been masked by both the silencer and helicopter noise, but even more conveniently, he was barely half a degree of turn of the barrel to his head. And with that, Tahlia repeated the act, pulling the trigger once again, and with barely a blink, clattering the man inside the little hut of the tower, disappearing him right there, right then.
"Clear to move. Chopper is landing."

-----

The helicopter landed in the compound, the grassy floor being blasted by the helicopter's blades as the doors opened and a team of highly armoured, highly armed and serious looking mercs clambered out, followed by a white-haired, older individual, who must. He was on his own, but he wouldn't be for long. He wore a tan-coloured suit, and clearly, looked like he was here as the contact Skye had talked about. The VIP himself, and a small group of cartel guards came out, escorting him into the compound, and further inside towards the lodges and amenities.

"Oracle, I have ID on the possible VIP. Sending via link." Tahlia called out, using a separate device on the side of the sniper's scope to pull footage of the character out of the helicopter,

"Affirmative, Taniwha." The comm went silent for a moment as Oracle ran it back, likely via Raf, and then, back to the Kiwi sniper, who had gotten the look in.

"We have no responses back. We're blind on him. He's had a lot of plastic surgery, or the guy is a complete ghost to even our network."

"Well, shit. Jaguar, we might need some clues out of him. See if you can figure out what he's up to. And what the hell is going on." Watching on, she held her finger from the trigger, knowing Jaguar had a lot of objectives to follow. The sample, intel, Thiago, and this VIP. A fairly busy day in the office, but then again, Skye wouldn't have done this without knowing his skills and the support, Tahlia guessed. Likely things would go loud sooner rather than later, but the spring was being pulled in, and when the time was right, it was getting released as a hell of a bang.

---

Somewhere near Mirador Serrano Glacier, Torres del Paine, Patagonia, Chile

Fireteam Condor

Onwards and Upwards

If ever there was a moment that even the former Foreign Legion pilot couldn't believe his eyes, it would be around now.

"Mon dieu...." Vincent simply called out, watching the suit inflate at rapid pace of all the parts of it that made it what it was, and the armoured Freya clambering inside and then suddenly being buffeted up into position making it just quite something to watch. It wasn't like Freya was just attached to a giant bag of helium, it looked much more like she was almost within, cocooned yet still able to stick out and keep some control. There was nothing quite like this, and no sense at all like it either.

"Quite something, eh?" Skye remarked, looking across to the FFL pilot, checking her MCX, tilting the rifle and checking the bolt, like an absolute fucking gangster, cycling a bullet out and flicking it out and into a holster. With a wry chuckle, she knew this was going on, as the towering presence of Freya got bigger, and bigger, and even bigger. A little stressed under the pressure, but then again, plenty of PSI in was going to do that and the unorthodox method was making it something.

"Indeed. Fair travels. Need any assistance?" Vincent asked, as he watched the suit's reflection grow onto the lake, and the hoses sticking into the thing pump and pump away, straining the rubber-like material further and further, and yet unstoppable.

"Yep, that mechanism there, the handle. Get ready to hit it. That pulses the cables from the magnetic attachments on it, and the suit should seal as soon as the line falls out of it when it goes up fast. If not....you know what happens to a balloon when you don't tie it up after you pump it up?" Skye pointed with her gloved hand, the black, red and blue composite following the fatigues she wore, the Scot's red and blue a contrast that played out again there, as it always did. She put the exo into a passive mode, saving energy and the need to carry, and the whole thing felt heavy once again, requiring a bit of work to move, at least for the moment. She checked her harness around her hips, and the quickdraw attached to it, a shock-absorber with a karabiner that would clip into the latch point right on the suit's rear.

"Oui, it gets messy. Ok, ready when you are." Vincent replied, getting ready by the handle, the grey mass blocking out the remaining sun from his view, and well, quite possibly the most impressive set of thighs he'd ever seen.

With the cables anchoring it to the floor, the suit wanted to pull away, but likely the armoured Freya was the only thing stopping it from going to Pluto right now. It was as good a chance as Skye was going to get to harness in, as she clambered up a piece of tactical webbing on Freya's inside leg, and with a swing of her quickdraw, linked it onto an attachment point right above the crest of her right...uhhh, butt cheek? it was good timing too, as the inflation of the suit itself was now bringing the legs and rest of it up, and with it, Skye was pulled off the floor, looking across to Sam, who in no doubt, was probably terrified yet thrilled for this experience. The Scot had the view of the Norwegian flag, and likely than not. Unashamedly, the view was majestic, in every angle close and far, of mountains and the two right in front of Skye.

As the suit nearly hit the full beans, Skye could tell they were ready to go- and on Freya's command, would go. Skye called across to Vincent once she did, looking down as he set himself up by the spider-like silver cabling that extended from a make-shift ground anchor of roots, tanks and a large boulders on the beach.

"Okay, Vincent, hit it!"

With that, Vincent hit the release attached to the cabling, the magnetic cabling detaching gracefully and suddenly, the duo attached to Freya's large rear end went up fast with her. The pipe trailed, then suddenly, severed out of the suit with a loud pop, the suit sealing as the latched pressure expelled it and sounded like a quiet crack of sorts. Unlike a helicopter or plane, even a hot air balloon on full burn, it was completely, totally silent. The quiet hum of the fan-replacing propulsion units mounted strategically across the suit was the only real vibration, apart from the gentle breeze, and well, the sound of rubber and Freya inside jostling around, the material gently bending under pressure in and out. Skye whooped, and looked across to Sam, the ecstasy on the blue-faced redhead now really charming. She didn't realise it, but her paint was leaving a mark on Freya's rear, even if so subtle.

"Okay...we all good? Woo....this is incredible!" The fact Skye could talk like she was inside a room, and yet they were climbing fast making it clear. It would run out, but then again, that was what the propulsion elements were for- to just get them over that last little bit, and get carried silently on wind as much as possible from there.

"Right....Frigga, airship captain, giant inflated Norwegian bum I'm riding right now, mind turning us 20 degrees and onto the AR route? And no, you can't use those spires as a slalom, or a....ah, forget it." Skye pinged that across, knowing that likely, the suit would be under strain- it was heavily loaded after all, and with two passengers and a small compartment of equipment on Freya's back, would struggle to do so without the propulsive kit. Wind would help them pass over the Patagonian spires, and into the night sky, completely without trace. As such, a vague route would exist for Freya's HUD, well, if she wasn't enjoying it with her helmet off that was.

Given how large it was, Skye could almost anchor her feet and hands on the tilting suit using the slick and low-profile cargo webbing across it's surface, the harness and quickdraw keeping her not too far from a central point if it turned in angle, yet able to lean to atop Freya's lower back like a champ as it was right now. Given how it was setup, the suit was lacking the "head" of the heavy, but for the most part, resembled her to a degree, and well, all in was as ridiculous as could be. Then again, she expected nothing less from Freya's mother, who was as ostentatious as mercs got. Skye had business to get to, that was, at least reporting in they were out and on the way.

"Oracle, this is Queen, we are airborne and uhh...on a magic carpet ride out from the RV."

"Affirmative, Queen....don't lose track of the objective. Whatever insanity you have. Call up on comms when you've cleared the base and are on exfil. Long range radio signals are minimal here, let's keep it down for operational security."

"Roger, over and out Oracle."

As they ascended, the view was simply jaw-dropping. The orange glow of the sky had turned to pink, and slowly, was turning a darker and darker shade of crimson, and then, navy blue, to black. The spire-like mountains, and reflective, endless sea of blue-white ice, jagged and fractured littered the landscape, and in way that could only be breath-taking, shimmering and deep, continuous yet ending with the lake that they had left, a long, long way down.

"Hell of a way to share it up here with you two. Have to admit, I can see why your mother liked this so much, Freya. Should get us to the target silently too."

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

Skye Rosalind Lyons

Kaitiaki HQ, New Zealand

Team Talk

The team had gotten their chance to enjoy their day, and come evening, after getting some food in together once again, came the usual briefing. The same thing, but this time, it felt like rather than the glacier like progress that had been plaguing their hunt of Artemis, they had some significant leads. The kind of leads that the team would have to divide and conquer for.

With everyone assembled in the briefing room, the team was in one place and ready to be given that insight, and Skye stood as usual in her casual yet serious demeanour, knowing the next ops were going to yield the beginning of the end for Artemis.

"Alright. We're dividing and conquering for our upcoming work, because there's two targets of note. You don't need to know all the details, but the data we recovered from Pavel's computer has proven to be quite valuable."

"Sam, Freya, you're with me as part of Fireteam Condor. Mateo, you're with Tahlia, who'll give you sniper support, and Chuck, one of our new heavies, who will blast your objective to bits if you need it as Fireteam Piranha. Apt names, for your tasks." Cutting to the next slide, it came up with an AR diagram of the next. No goggles needed, it was like a hologram but way easier to flick through, and actually rendered in more detail.

"Fireteam Condor, this is Observatorio Cruz del Sur, the Southern Cross Observatory in Torres del Paine National Park, Chile. A dark zone for light, and signals, which makes it absolutely perfect for one of Artemis's key ground stations for a satellite network that could break and cripple plenty of infrastructure assets, as well as containing a healthy dose of information on our targets. The base isn't defended with significant amounts of troops, but is near impenetrable, from all angles, containing hidden SAM sites on the top of the observatory, checkpoints all over the mountain road, and the fact is, the only way onto it is via a cable car. To that end, we'll use a radar-silent, helium lifting piece of equipment that Freya is very keen on, so me and Sam will hitch a ride, drop into the base, disable the defences and quietly pick off anyone inside to get Freya close. We'll need to keep our stealth for as long as possible to give us the best window to tap into the satellite controls. If needs be, we'll need to down a satellite out of the network, then worry about recovery later. Then we need to leave, with the mission going hot. Extract will need us to clear the observatory deck and call in Vincent, who can provide air support with the VTOL, and pick us up. Expect resistance to be small, but elite trained. I expect the troops there to be well armoured and more than a match to us, including drones. They will take more than a few rounds to drop, and likely will be very well paid mercs. So hence why our method is unconventional. Fast in, fast out. If the satellite is coming down, we will chase that. Given the tonnage and payload of what they are, wherever it hits, it'll make one hell of a bang."

"Fireteam Piranha, your target is an island off the coast of Colombia, near Cartagena. Formerly an eco-lodge front run by the Tejador Cartel, it's now inhabited with drug labs, storage, and distribution for onward cocaine and other narcotics in plain sight. Irrespective of your thoughts on the war on drugs, it's a shithole with lots of bad people in it. We have reason to believe that Thiago Tejador is meeting a HVT of Artemis, regarding a concocted drug that they seem to be taking great interest in. Your job is simple. Mateo is to infiltrate the island with Tahlia providing sniper support and our heavy, Boomer, on backup and as a distraction. Gather intelligence by any means needed, collect samples of the drugs and eliminate Thiago, and find out who Spectre is before eliminating or capturing them. There will be a lot of enemies, but I don't expect them to be well equipped- drug operations like this aren't, they prefer quantity of eyes over quality of guards. We need details, and we need to know what is going on. I imagine it's the other half of the puzzle we're trying to solve. If we're trying to hear what they're saying, this is about finding out what they're going to do. While removing one bad scumbag from the earth. You'll then extract via boat, dash and dine."

"Everyone on the same page?" Skye asked, clicking to the next, bringing up a darkened screen, but by no means done. Skye's look and voice continued, a leader's and unwavering, almost unspent.

"We are getting close to finding out what we need with Artemis's structure, and their setup. I don't have any doubts you share some of what the post mission debrief has to say when it comes to Artemis's capabilities and willpower, even if it's heavily redacted. Point being, we're up against people who believe they're right. I don't half doubt what they're saying, Pavel is an asshole but there's a reason people believe in what he says. But they want to make your families, friends back home, countries, fellow operators hurt in the process. Keep that in mind. We are getting closer to ending this."

"Kit on in 30 minutes. Lift off is in an hour. We're headed to Easter Island for fuel, then dividing from there. Condor, we're staying with the VTOL, Piranha, you'll be taking a charter all the way to Panama, and boating from there on a RIB boat."

--------------

Down in the armoury, Skye had the chance to suit up in her exoskeleton once more, returned back to it after an operation and in skin that felt a little more comfortable than spying her way into a billionaire's party. Weapon in hand and crossed over her arm, Skye had her helmet on too alongside her usual tactical glasses, an easier setup for now given they were about to be on the move soonish- and well, it was like a ritual really. The team was all here, and it was their last chance before they split their separate ways, given more likely than not, everyone was gonna sleep on this flight.

Weapons wise, she'd gone for a different setup- her silenced MCX, an M32 Grenade Launcher, FNX pistol and her usual squad leader equipment was to hand, as was her helmet, baseball cap and well, a tin of blue paint for later. A winterized variant of her advanced, thermally-resistant fatigues followed, the one-piece equipment sat in the exo, giving her a blue digital camouflage pattern, mixed in with a hex and black pattern unlike the usual MTP that would be used. It was a short change, but well, considering they were going to an observatory at 3,500m sitting on the tiniest of precipices that could take it, warmth was a considered option. That and the long ride they would have to take. The jump-jet secured, and her tactical pack, and exo fuelled, Skye knew this was time for some ritual fun.

Turning to face Mateo before he left and in a quiet moment outside of the rest of the team's kit up process, Skye rested an hand on his shoulder, knowing full well he'd understand this was a favour to have pulled, and a half.
"Listen to me. This isn't about revenge. And not a blood feud. This is business. Promise me that now, because it ends with Thiago. I know what he did, and I know this is a long time coming, and you should be the one to do it. But do it the way a professional does. Are we clear?" Skye looked him dead in the eyes, and whilst the Colombian was quiet, the facts needed to be broken, now. Skye was kind and caring, but right now, in this moment, given it was the last time she'd say it, she had to tell him that one more time. And the Scot knew right now deep down, it wasn't what he would want to hear. But it would sink when he got to rest, at least, she hoped it would.

Behind him, Tahlia had walked by, and holding her plate carrier and her own equipment.
"So no suicide missions or anything. Good luck out there, and put him down." Like good cop, bad cop, Skye knew that Tahlia would keep an eye out, but was probably less mothering. More just happy to be focussed on the job at hand, because beneath it, there was a little fear left over. It felt odd, surreal even to see her here, but then again, risks had to be taken sometimes on people. Like with Mateo, Tahlia was a good shot, and significantly above average. It would hurt not to have the help given she couldn't get any marksmen on the line. Blue Sword had something prospectively, but after Singapore, there was a lot of damage control. Skye had thanked Carl for the help, given it had bought them a significant amount of time out of there- but with every gain came cost.

Skye's intercom chattered away and tuned into one signal in particular, as she heard the voice of a very excited pilot could be heard, and well, it was quite something.
"Ma Capitane, we are ready to go. Give me the signal and we are go. This machine is quite something, c'est incroyable."

"You're not the only one with new toys. Affirm, start pre-checks and we'll be there in five."

--------------

Isla Langosta / Lobster Island, near the coast of Cartagena, Colombia

Retribution

Fireteam Piranha

1000 Hours, Two Days Later

The humid, hot swampy morning morning was taking hold on Isla Langosta, the private isle.

And in it, lay Tahlia, with her gloves on, ghillie suit making her blend into the jungle that she sat in, on a hillside overlooking the bay, against aquamarine sea the green lush vegetation full of bugs, critters and mosquitos. She didn't feel superpowered. She didn't feel particularly superhuman either given her leg, but here she was, with not her Mk14, but an FN Ballista sniper rifle, with a large-bore suppressor on the end of it, subsonic ammunition, and .338 Magnum loaded in. The dark green and olive ghillie-suit wearing Kiwi certainly felt like she was back in the game, and while she was off active combat, she was on sniper support today, and picking out targets.

The scene in front was quite a messy one. From her point, Tahlia knew she'd need to move from one side of the jungle to the next on this side of the bay, but it wasn't far- and it gave her a perfect view, at about 1km away from the main complex of buildings that made up the eco lodges, shipping containers and drug labs that Mateo was going into. Sniping meant she'd have to shoot bodies that wouldn't be findable- guards in towers, near bushes, or close to Mateo so he could hide them. What that meant was. On the other hand, she wouldn't be too close in. He had a marker she could spot him on, so she wouldn't at least snipe the blur of movement that would be him tearing through the base. He had his options- from in the forest, from the sea, Tahlia wasn't sure what he would do, but whatever his choice was, she was almost certain that blood was getting spilled today, and plenty of it.

"Taniwha is in position, Jaguar. Rounds from the rifle will take a couple of seconds to get to you, I've got a good view of the area. This is your op, but don't forget what we're here for. And don't be afraid to ask for help if it goes hot. Chur." Tahlia called out, knowing on this one, Jaguar had been left to his devices on setup. For Tahlia, it felt odd, weird to be back in the field, and even weirder to be working with the elite team. A bit of imposter syndrome, but she believed Skye was right. And she knew she could shoot. So she'd do that. Already knowing that was reassuring enough, and right here, right now, helping Mateo get revenge would be something to savour. He seemed like a decent chap, quiet even, but Tahlia could tell he was being eaten away at for this. Like he wouldn't stop when he got close. Perhaps Skye had prefered that they were here so he didn't do anything too stupid. But same time, Tahlia knew he was a good man. He'd do it respectfully. And even a superspy light like him, a ghost and a spectre through his work would need another pair of eyes when there were this many on look out, and this much shit to hunt.

That left the other member of the team. The Heavy, the new American one who Tahlia had briefly met, and briefly gotten to know. A brute to say the least, but well, he'd raise all shit once he arrived. Make for more than a distraction. Which would be perfect, and Tahlia left that detail to Mateo, knowing he could call him in on the other side of the island and have an instant, perfect distraction. Or support. Whichever he preferred, things were going to go boom, and a lot of firepower was going to get leveraged, the giant likely on his side of the island and going through jungle.

"Boomer, how are you and Duke settling in?" Tahlia added, adjusting her ranging, thinking much about that Shepherd.
"I hope he's had his treats today for this weather."

----------

Somewhere near Mirador Serrano Glacier, Torres del Paine, Patagonia, Chile

Through the Looking Glass

Fireteam Condor

2000 Hours

In quite the opposite to Colombia and later in the same day, the mountains at the other end of South America were awe-inspiring, with spires of sandstone rock dusted in snow, surrounded by glaciers, lakes, boreal forest and total quiet made it clear that here, they were very much at the end of the world. With the VTOL parked up, the impressive beast sat at the tiny clearing of the forward operating point, a hastily organised site by a wide open glacial lake, the water peering through, and the beautiful hut that sat by its side. They had gotten the lion's share of the view, and well, an opportunity to use the hut as a temporary post. Final checks on the observatory, weather, equipment, gear, and the like. Oh, and a nice little fire too, crackling with wet wood, the glacier outside the hazy window in absolute glimmery splendour. It was possibly the most beautiful place on planet earth, the clear sky turning to a hazy yellowy-orange and reflecting in pink off the mountains, about to disappear and open up the cosmos itself. The stars shone bright with almost no light pollution, though for their purpose of infiltrating, there was no moon out tonight.

Vincent wouldn't shut up about the VTOL from the moment they had landed here couple of hours back- a stealth-capable V22-iterated airframe that had taken on radar cloaking, extended range and well, dropped props for powerful jet engines, and even an armament of it's own- a retractable 20mm cannon under the front of the fuselage, storable for longer flights, as well as a set of electric motorcross bikes in the back for the satellite hunt, if it came to it. Quite the tool, and he wouldn't shut up about the V-38 Sioux's capabilities, so hell, it wasn't just Freya getting treated today to aerial work.

Hauling out the equipment from the back of the VTOL had gone quickly, and they were remarkably, ahead of schedule. So much so that they'd had the chance to even enjoy what was left of the sunset at the mountain hut. A fairly hefty drop had bene made here earlier, organised through Raven's black contacts- the one that carried a significant volume of highly compressed helium in it. It had been helidropped into the woods nearby, and well....it had stayed there, but not before the long rubber hose had been pulled out of it, and run all the way to the shore of the lake's water. After all though, helium was light, and the sheer volume it would take to carry about half a tonne of heavy operative, and two passengers. And speaking of that very lifting tool, here it lay by the shore, the craziest of cargo tools, deflated yet the outline of it at least over fourteen foot tall, and almost as wide. The Russians had invented it for Spetsnaz troops, it had been stolen by the CIA, bastardised by the FSB again, and then in the hands of Freya's mother no less, who had turned what was a fairly mundane tool into an incredible, potent infiltration, and aerial attack tool for heavies. If you wanted to attack a base as a heavy from the sky and wanted to make everyone tremble in fear, a helium suit was what was needed. Gigantic, yes, but silent, and virtually invisible until an operative wanted to make it so. And anthromorphically shaped on the very operative herself, as Skye knew Sam was in for a shock if she hadn't seen this toy in action yet. It was about as bombastic as you could make something, and for any good heavy, half the fun was the drama you caused.

Vincent chuckled as he looked at the large black-rubbery and foam-lined suit sprawled out, looking across to Skye, Freya and Sam, sitting on the bench at the side of the hut, the mountaineer's hut very barebones and basic- but enough of a post to do work in, and appreciate this before setting forth.
"Putain, you are fucking crazy...you cannot be serious. A high altitude drop, rock climbing, even some cruise missiles, that I would understand. But you're going to fly a fucking balloon at it? Over that mountain there? They will puncture it, no?" Vincent rarely spoke out, but well, on this occasion, he had to check her boss hadn't suffered any head injuries over the planning of this.

"Absolutely we're doing it. And technically, Freya's half inside the thing, so more of a suit....oh yeah, you haven't seen it inflated. So, once the sun drops, we pump that thing full. Freya steers it, we attach ourselves to the outside with rappel harnesses. Ride Freya's considerable backside, and I mean....it's a magic carpet. A steerable one, but a silent, and well, against this night sky, nearly invisible one, self sealing no less so it'll take some heat. Natalie also put thermally absorbing compounds in it, Freya's mum being an absolute enchantress meaning that it basically stays nigh impossible to spot out of direct light." Skye said, looking to Freya, then to Sam.
"First time for everything then?" Skye remarked, chuckling as she shook her head, Vincent still unsure of even the team leader's insanity on this one, and well, while he knew she had a plan, this was the maddest one yet.
"Mon dieu, even by my standards, this is crazy, mec. Alright boss girl, fine." He replied, cooly as ever as Skye checked her watch, standing on a perch by the shore, then looking across to the other two, her watch blipping with a subtle vibration. She put her helmet on, and glasses back too, the serious-looking special forces major now leading this fireteam of misfits about to do something that she was pretty confident, would be wild. But then again, fast, hard assaults was her bread and butter. Even without the MG3, Skye was ready to make them pay, get the info they needed, and finally put Artemis under.
"Alright then. Let's stop enjoying this view and get to work. Sam, plug the suit up to the tank and fire up the compressor, would you? Freya, check systems, harness yourself in. Vincent, clear any trace and as soon as we're gone, pack up and get off station. We'll be on target in about an hour, and we'll call you when we need you."
"Affirmatif, boss. Sam, you'll have a link to the 20 mil if you need it, and Freya, your spare rounds are available quickly if you need more ammunition. This will be quite the sight."

As the two got onto their tasks of inflating a Freya-shaped helium suit, Skye opened up the little can of paint, and gently pulling it out onto her glove, smeared it across her face, her glasses off and coated under her eyebrows, then along her cheeks, and almost around. For an operation like this, her face was as pale as the moon in the sky, so culling the colour of it was always something preferred. A balaclava would normally go as a better option, aye, but this felt a little more homely and didn't fog up her tactical glasses, and it took the pale out of her skin...and well, it felt right. After the chats with the team, it was almost half a reminder of home. Half a reminder of her identity, and to that, her person. The pattern from her chin to the bottom of her eyes, it turned her from a pale to a blue and red coloured illusion, rather contrasting yet somewhat battle hardened.

As they got on, Skye checked the distant peaks, the direction of the flight, past the glacier, the mountains, and ultimately into the pitch black night to a mountain observatory, before coming back to her senses and helping load up the helium suit's equipment haul, and preparing her attachment point on the right hip of Freya's soon to be very, very large bottom.

The Conflict

Well, this wasn't good.

Bethan and Sean knew that pretty fast when they heard Victor's voice boom, a sorrowful, vengeful shout and one that was hauntingly bouncing off the walls. Oh, they knew what they'd done, but hadn't expected the response to be so immediate. So now was a good time to run. Chances were, Victor was in a private deal with her outside of the organisation's known ranks, but hell, it was still going to mean that every hit team that answered to him had eyes on exactly who it was. No doubt Victor had put that together. So the two had no intent of staying around.

Bethan followed on Katarina, watching as she tapped the man in front, and taking the tool, smashed the door open. As the closest pointman on her, the Welshwoman moved through the thin gap, and moving onto the rooftop, turned the corner to find a couple more guards in surprise, turning around and in shock.
"Hey, you...." The man's shout died as Bethan raised her FNC and popped two rounds into his chest, another round following into the head of the man next to him, clattering one off the roof into a metal lean-to, as Bethan watched Sean follow her lead, and the others then come through. They had no time to lose. They would be out range by using the rooftop to the next, but they had to hustle. And that was all they did, as Bethan looked over her shoulder to check they were there, before breaking into a sprint.

From roof to roof, Bethan hustled over the varying heights, clambering the clay and offering a hand over, Sean grabbing it and moving with her, as he ran in front and vaulted another wall, hearing the sound of mercs flooding the compound behind.
"We need to keep on moving. Truck's a couple blocks over, we need to get to it, and get the hell out." Sean called back to the team, Bethan nodding as she lept the small meter-sized gap between two of them, Sean following suit and moving on, the two Brits aware that they weren't exactly a low profile on this rooftop across the market, but it would have to do. Anyone inbetween them and here was dead, so at the least, they had that in their court.

Well, until another squad came in down on the alley below where they come from, Sean seeing it first and pinning down fire as Bethan slid behind an old, outdated AC unit, Sean tapping a few rounds to make them duck.
"Contacts, in the street!" Sean called, as Bethan popped her head up, and with a couple of taps, dropped one of them, Sean hearing bullets wizz back from a few AKs, before he repeeked and using his FAL's semi-automatic fire, clattered two rounds into the head of another skinny, before repositioning. Bethan covered and dumped the magazine into it, giving Katarina and Hayden the chance to suppress, cover and eliminate the enemy, as well as get moving.
"We need off this rooftop and into the alley, we need to fucking go!" Sean yelled back, as he peeked again, and with a subtle check of the light in the dark, picked one more out and put a couple of rounds into him, before coming back into cover.

The Conflict

Sorry for the delay my end- have been a bit creatively dead lately so will try and post in the week!

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

Skye Rosalind Lyons and Sam Dalton

Closing the Net

@LadyAmber

Samantha was in the secure data room at the base. Raphael was also in the center working on the data pulled from the servers at Pavel’s company. Samantha was sitting in front of her laptop with the hard drive that contained the cloned copy of Pavel’s personal computer. She sipped from a ceramic mug of steaming coffee. It was made just the way she liked it. She closed her eyes and savored the rich sweet creamy taste. That was the good stuff she thought with satisfaction. This was only her second cup of coffee this morning. She had her first one with breakfast. Someone had made pancakes and bacon. She had helped herself. She tried to eat healthy but she burned off most of her calories. Besides who turns down fluffy hot pancakes dripping in butter and real maple syrup! Her morning was starting out well. She had sugar, caffeine, and was carb loaded just what every respectable hacker needed.

Samantha was proud of accomplishing her mission in Pavel’s office. It had its hiccups, but she got the data. She booted up her laptop and began the process of sorting what was on Pavel’s computer. She had managed to create her own security credentials so she could work with Pavel’s information but the paranoid bastard had hidden traps seeded all throughout his computer. She had gotten past his security thanks to Skye’s help in his office. She had cloned his computer. She knew he had added that final level of security to his files. Pavel had been a paranoid bastard although I guess it's not paranoia if everyone truly is out to steal your information. Pavel had motion and heat sensors monitoring his office, as well as cameras. It had required a retina scan, and a full biometric palm and fingerprint scan with a DNA positive result with a live heartbeat to open the computer. Pavel also had to speak a code phrase which would allow full access to the data on the computer. The computer was programmed to shut down and lockout if the code phrase was not given.

She had lost count of the number of times she had to reboot and start over with a fresh clone of the man’s computer. Once she had finally gotten past all that then it was a matter of finding the trigger so that she could see his hidden data. That had taken more time but her patience was being rewarded this morning. She was using a faraday cage and air gapped network to ensure that no signals could be sent to or from the harddrive containing the data. She had a cup of coffee sitting next to her and a notepad. She wanted to note anything of interest and the file names and numbers so she can pull it up fast. She thought back to what his code phrase was. She typed in “I am God.” The screen flashed and showed an image of Pavel depicted in robes with heavenly light around him.

Samantha rolled her eyes. “I will never get that image out of my head.” She grinned as she took another sip of coffee. She was working in the computer lab on Pavel’s information. She had isolated it just in case it had viruses. She didn’t want anything nasty released onto the base’s network. She started reviewing what she had. “Skye, I got into Pavel’s computer. Need your input on how you want the work split up. There are 50 terabytes of encrypted files to sort through. It is going to take some time.”

Skye rolled her eyes, seeing the login open up, with the guy whose PC they’d copied coming to life, the Scot making her daily visit to the data room, mainly to visit Raphael and Sam.
“What a twat.” Her Scots mannerisms were clear regarding his self-worth as she sat down on a beanbag to the side of Sam’s workstation, watching the American benign tapping into it, knowing the isolation had at least kept it off grid from any prying eyes, Raphael keeping to himself at the moment with other work.
“Alright, anything you can get on contacts within Artemis, emails, messages, documents with people. And then anything to do with Vale’s black sites. He has his offices, but only he will have access to what we found earlier. It’ll tell us where the base station is we found in Aralsk of where Artemis are moving gear in.” Skye replied, knowing there was a hell of a lot to sift through, and no doubt, Sam was going to be a busy bee working away at it.

Sam nodded and hid a smile as she took another drink of coffee. “Right, just everything important. Well hopefully Pavel kept his files organized to make this easier.” She began searching the file organizer and began to pull out reams of data. Samantha began copying data to a file for Skye to use after checking it for malware, spyware, and hidden bots and viruses. “There is over a terabyte in saved emails. I have a feeling Pavel kept all electronic correspondence as reference material on those he was involved with. I will begin cross referencing that list against known Artemis contacts.” The list was building rapidly. She copied it over and sent it to the shared file on the base server so those working on the data could access it. “These are the emails I have identified so far.”

Skye had a peer, picking up her tablet, the advanced, AR-equipped advice allowing her to start scanning through, taking a look over and starting to look over the people that might be on it. A lot of guests, clearly, but that wasn’t going to be anyone higher up. After all, it was a seemingly endless list of hydras, but someone had to be at the head of all of this. And it wasn’t certainly Pavel, because he could tell the emails that were coming from up on high from anonymised, unknown email accounts. His fear was substantiated, and it confirmed all he’d been saying, as she rapidly went through it, seeing that well, reference had been made. He had been a proxy to it all, or at least, his network had been used, but there was no doubt, the hack had come from his network. Skye was wondering again why she hadn’t killed him, but then again, that was heat that Raven did not need now. Besides, his “incident” had gone viral, enough to put him out of picture.

“Right…” Skye seemed deep in thought, as she flicked it back down, looking across to Sam, deep in her own thought process of what this was, confirmation yet nothing too novel.
“Confirms a lot of what we knew, but we may need to keep going.” Skye added, looking to Sam, watching as she continued to scan.

Samantha began to put all the documents together and began sorting them into folders. She started with business documents from employees, email attachments from the cross-referenced list of Artemis contacts, business documents from others, and a patents and design folder. She started a file for pictures saved on his computer. The man had a ton of photos of himself meeting various celebrities and world leaders. The man was such a narcissist. She was sorting image files when she noticed a series of maps. She did a quick scan of the files to ensure they were safe to share. Her eyes widened at what she had found. “I think we hit pay dirt Skye. Take a look at this.” She flicked the file over to Skye’s tablet.

Samantha began to dig around on his computer for files associated with those maps and began to compile them all for Skye. She pulled in the communication and emails associated with files. She found shipping manifests and personnel requests. She found actual Artemis mission parameters for Aralsk. Her face hardened, somehow those bastards had known they were coming. Samantha began to put the pieces together with what Skye was saying. She began typing faster as she dove deeper into Pavel’s data and began putting items together in another file marked Project Mercury. Pavel didn’t have just one satellite, he had at least three satellites that could be moved. He had built satellites that intercepted communications signals and one thing that Pavel excelled at was breaking into other companies and nations’ secure systems. He had the perfect set up to hi-jack what should be secure communications. Those signals had to be fed somewhere though. Pavel had ground stations that were remote and secure. The stations were the hub of Artemis’ communication and intel network. The more powerful higher ups helped divert official attention in those locations away.

“Okay….oh, perfect. They’ve talked about a black site in particular. One that’s here.” Skye sat up again, swiping across and pulling a map in closer to Patagonia, namely, an isolated river valley near Puerto Natales, Chile.

“This might be it. It’s the Southern Cross Observatory, or Observatorio Cruz del Sur. Interesting. Not exactly a great place for a geosynchronous network, given the strength of the signals that it has to emit, but then again, it blends in. And if they are running it, which it seems like it is part of one of Vale’s charitable arms, funding it, then well…they have access to it themselves.” Skye noted, making some notes on the tablets, about roads, access, . It was modeled after the famous Pyrenees observatory of Pic du Midi, and sat on a large ridgeline, overlooking an incredible glacier and dense, boreal forest. It was an incredible place, with very, very few ways that weren’t guarded, or could see you coming from a mile out. It was a truly stunning location, and perfect to hide at the end of the world. It likely had access to a hydro scheme nearby, and likely would have excellent defenses by pure nature.

“That is one part of it. There seems to be this reference to Project Mercury, that must be the satellite network. Guess they want to keep reference to it to a minimum, because they say all the business related to it is there. Including their internal data for Artemis. Though if it’s stored on a satellite, we are going to need to figure out something creative.” Skye added, looking to Sam, brushing her red hair aside.
“This is good. Shit, nice work.” Skye retorted, before going back to the emails, scanning again at the other details.

Skye flicked over to it, eyes widening as she pulled it up. It was a picture of Pavel there, and another figure, in his 50s it looked like, with a white beard, and pale white skin.
“Dunno who Father Christmas is, but clearly he might know the score. Possibly someone in Artemis, but he rings no bells.” Skye added, making a note for later with the file, as she ticked across to the next, bringing in the patents.
“This is getting more interesting. We’re on an encrypted network built by a former member of Raven, the kind that is at the cutting edge, and Xan can testify to it. Even so, the base itself is airgapped to prevent our location leaking too, but we’re secure in the field. We are now reinforced to these attacks again. Because it looks like what Pavel was doing was not so much hacking, but just brute forcing commands in through computational power. If they can do that to us, they can do that to infrastructure, power grids, anything. Shit, this isn’t so much a hacking program as it is a sledgehammer. Crude bastard. I expected better, but then again, it makes it usable on anything. No programming needed, pick your target and fire.” Skye shrugged, pulling up the potential ground network, and then the satellites.
“No details on how many they launched, and their capability. Looks like they can point it at a radio or receiver frequency and they are in, but….shit, that still doesn’t make sense. That’s all been erased, and it’s confidential. Because it’s in Artemis’s hands. Sam, this is something they don’t even want him to know.” Skye retorted, sighing as she took the cold cup of tea and finished it, a little disgusted by the taste and sitting up on the beanbag.

“I’m no electronic warfare specialist, but in theory, with enough computational power, he’s giving Artemis an in on infrastructure without touching it, not just through computer networks but to overload their signals. Couple it to a conventional attack, and that’s what they’ll do next. It’s why they wanted the Wildspitze facility.” Skye said, noting Sam’s blank demeanor.

“Ah right, the server network half of the intelligence services of the west use. That one. We went in and stopped them from stealing any data or servers while you did the Devil’s Cooker. That would have given them a backdoor into it. We stopped them, cos you know, we’re pretty badass.” Skye added, guessing Sam was a little confused, but it would tie into her thoughts.

“So he made them this system and he’s basically handed them the keys. And there is no way to control it from his network, because of course, he can tell his fiends in Patagonia to do it. And now, who knows what’s next.” Skye sighed, as she stood up, looking out the window, and then back down to Sam again, grabbing a small jug of water and bringing it to the table, pouring herself and Sam a glass.
“Okay. This is good so far. I wonder, if we can get access at that ground station. Find a way in, get access to Artemis’s whole network, or at least, stop them from doing any damage. End this fucking mess for once. That said, given the access is hard, we might need to come up with some interesting insertion methods. I might need yours, Xan’s, and Javi’s help with that.” Skye replied, sipping down water, cautiously optimistic.
“See what else you can find. Actually….Tejedor. See what you can do if he’s in there. You might be able to bail me out with Mateo….and I think it may be worth looking up.”

She found emails routed through Artemis’ satellite network from South America from Thiago Tejedor. He seemed to be a relatively new player in their network. Artemis was using his smuggling network to get supplies and people in and out of countries around the globe. He also seemed to be supplying them with conscripted labor for a several large projects. The destinations of where these people were being sent will take a little longer for her to figure out. The data had missing chunks. It looked like those higher in the organization didn’t want Pavel to know everything they were doing. There was a drug formula attached to some encrypted communication from Tejedor. “Skye, this has the potential to be something bad. It doesn’t say what this drug does but Artemis wants it.”

Samantha pulled up the chemical formula. Samantha had some understanding of chemistry because she sometimes needed chemistry to temper a metal or needed to know the impact a chemical could have on a material she planned to use. She was not versed in biochemistry though. She had a basic understanding of what she was looking at. “I am no expert in biochemistry, but I can tell you this is a psychotropic drug of some nature. It has a biological component. It is not all artificially manufactured. It is more likely a combination between a natural substance and chemicals. No idea on the effect though.”

Skye looked it through, scanning it over, another site that was now of interest. Not another fucking evil project, she wondered. Cartels were evil as is, but if it had Artemis involved, Skye already had her concerns, the redhead Scot looking through it before turning to Sam.
“Shit. If it’s biological, or chemical they want to go down, then it plays into their anarchist’s beginner guide. But I don’t get it. That sort of thing goes noticed, and it’s why they haven’t done it, pandemics are far too uncontrolled unless they have a screw loose. Chemical attacks are too limited. So why are they trying to lace it into their drug network? They’ll just kill junkies with it, and opioids are too good at that anyway. Maybe they want a dry run. I know they’ve done worse. Might even give my ethically sourced, 100% wee fairtrade drugs a run for their money.” Skye wondered, pulling it up, finding the network and then pulling up another site.
“I need to chat to Mateo about this one. I think there may be a site we need to look at, and one where Thiago himself might even be. But Patagonia is critical for the main team. I may need some help on this one, and I might know who to look for. This one is important to him, Sam. In a way you probably know, but it’s his business. And I’m a person of my word.” She comfortably sipped down more water, the silver-haired hacker bringing out the goods now. Skye knew Sam herself had her own demons too- people that had screwed her over, and her family. It was tragic, and she knew Sam would likely be looking for them too. But in this line of work, it wasn’t always possible to get back straight away. And even if you did, the void was still left. What was taken was taken, and there was no way of taking it back, even if you had the skills. There was just moving on, and that had hurt Skye herself for years, because having the slate clean and the attention of Raven to work for made her life a little more directed.

“Thanks for this. Once Raph gets a look at the depth of it, we’ll know how far this will go. Chat to him if you can, though I do advise, he basically runs on coffee. If he hasn’t got a mug full of it, don’t talk to him.” Skye chuckled, sipping down more on the water, reflecting on Sam’s talent. She’d certainly made it look easy, but a CIA analyst always would pull the goods out. They knew how half the world did their business, so Raven must have felt like it was filling in the blanks for her.

Samantha thought about it but there were simply too many variables and scenarios to give Skye a reasonable answer. “I don’t think we are going to be able to figure that out unless we find something else out in the communication. There is an email noting that Thiago will be on hand to demonstrate this new drug for a member called Specter. This demonstration is scheduled to happen next week at one of Thiago’s locations near Cartagena. Evidently Thiago owns land around a small bay there where he ships product out of his private docks in Columbia to other parts of the world.” Samantha sent the communication and the details to Skye’s tablet.
She understood what Skye was alluding to with Mateo. It made her wonder if he had lost someone to a member of Artemis the way she had. She didn’t feel it would be right to come out and ask Mateo. It was his business. If he wanted to share with her, he would. If Samantha could help him get some closure and a little payback, well she would help him do it. She would want someone to do that for her. “We will probably want to acquire hard intel on what this drug does and find out if there is an antidote or a way to counteract it. Thiago has already shared the formula with Artemis. We can’t put the genie back in the bottle. If something happens to Thiago, they don’t really need him to move forward with their plans. Whatever they are.” Samantha looked worried about what they could be planning with this drug. A group that would set off a dirty bomb would have no qualms using biological or chemical warfare against innocents.
“Then that might be the spot. It’ll be heavily guarded. Hard to get into, and well, zero support from any others. It’s a simple hit and run. Mateo will be personally invested in it, but he’ll want nothing more than to kill Thiago. It might cloud his judgment for what we need, and there could still be some info. But also, I’d want the bastard dead too if I were him, so it’ll come with the territory. Do that, then find the details on the drug.” Skye thought out loud, knowing this would be a tricky one to run on the side, and chances are, Oracle wouldn’t like the idea of Mateo in. But given the opportunity, Mateo probably knew the area better than anyone, although she wasn’t sending him alone.
“I’ll call a contact of mine. New to Raven, but no less capable to give him backup and heavy firepower if he needs it. And Tahlia has been doing well on the range. She can get him close, and get set down as a sniper. She might not be as mobile as she once was, but the less people involved in this, the better.” Skye added, looking across to Sam, seeing the worry on her face.
“Believe me, shit like this comes up from time to time. My concern is why he’s doing it this way. If they wanted a biohazard in their chain, they’d attack a secure facility and steal it, so why bother going to all that effort to kill a bunch of guys doing lines of coke?” Skye knew that again, Raven’s predecessor had stopped that sort of work - it came with saving the world as per usual, but once again, what that had was of concern. Coupled to the satellite network, she wondered about what they were trying to achieve, and do. The sooner they got answers, the better.

Samantha turned to Skye “Exactly, this feels out of nature for Artemis. Usually their connection to drugs is manufacturing them to fund their terrorist groups. It makes me nervous to see their interest in something like this. There are simply too many variables and ways it can go bad. We at least need to know what this drug does. We might be able to recreate it from the formula but there may be other things involved in how it is administered that might change the effect. If Artemis is interested in this drug, you have to ask what it does that would fit into their agenda. Anything I can think of is really bad and hard to fight against or prevent.” She shrugged as she knew she was always uncomfortable around drugs. Her worst fear was not being able to control her own mind and thoughts. It was why she didn’t like alcohol all that much. She craved control and hated feeling out of control for all her adrenaline junkie ways. “I am glad we are at least going to investigate.”

Skye nodded, looking it through and knowing Sam definitely would want to get some answers given the work she’d been involved in too, and likewise the same for Skye’s own ends. All of these things going on, it felt odd that they were disconnected, yet part of a wider grid of things going on. Vale had clearly been involved in some of the agricultural setup here, through a shell and yet why would Pavel need to know? Maybe he was a cokehead and his dealer was just letting him know what was up, but irrespective, it still seemed strange. Irrespective, she made some notes before putting down the tablet.
“Aye, we can figure this puzzle out. Pavel’s belief might be a little more than wrong if they want to do something as fucking stupid as this. And that’s what worries me more, because there is more to it. I’ll let you crack on..” Skye stood up on that note and glugged the rest of the glass down, heading across the data lab and grabbing some fruit from the communal basket, looking back over at Sam. She was certainly getting in with the team, and any doubt of her combat ability, or ability under pressure had long since gone. The optimism drove Skye’s spirits higher, all things considered.

“You know, your father and Takahashi-san would be proud of you. I’ve never seen someone hold onto their humanity so well in this line of work. Whatever you do, keep it. Gives you something to fight for beyond your trust in people. Once it’s gone, believe me, it’s really hard to find a way back.” Skye seemed solemn in her words, knowing Sam’s backstory well enough, and knowing who she was as a person. Analytical, and sure, a little high energy, but fundamentally, a good person. Irrespective of what had happened, and Skye couldn’t always live down the idea that she took not just the weight of the responsibility of the team, but sometimes, the morality that came with convincing yourself that you had to be right doing bad things. Much like Pavel did. She only hoped that ultimately, her gut was right and that narcissistic assholes like him were very wrong. Sam made her belief a little stronger, and for Skye, that sometimes for someone who looked invincible on a good day, was more than enough.

Samantha blushed as Skye told her father and Takahashi would be proud of her. Her mother had died giving birth to her. She found out at a young age that she was different from others. She had intellectual gifts. She had always strove to help people. She had always thought it was her way of balancing out the universe. Her mother had given her life to bring her into this world. She needed to help the world be a better place to justify that sacrifice. She had never told that truth to anyone. She knew it and understood it. Having a moral code allowed her to honor her mother. She had never known the woman but she lived on in her memory through her father’s stories about her mother. That was part of the pain of losing her only living relative that had meant anything to her. She had lost that last link to her mother. She would never share these thoughts with Skye or anyone else. She just nodded her head before replying “I hope so.” She turned back to the computer to escape the emotions that Skye’s observation and comments had
dredged up in her. She went back to searching and sorting through all the data. She kept pulling the information together into files for Skye to review.

—-------

Hybrid Mind

Skye had been rather impressed about Sam’s progress on hacking, as she sat there in the office, still working away, reviewing the data herself, as well as a few bits from Tahlia regarding procurement- the usual crap. Her usual casual attire on, she didn’t really give that look of a super serious boss, rather one that just didn’t enforce too strict a set of rules on a group of people that didn’t do it. Work was work, and Skye hated being an office bound jockey, but at least the sound of Tame Impala’s “The Less I Know the Better” made the place a lot more funky, an old indie singer she loved and kept to heart. For such a badass queen of a woman that seemed almost like she would prefer metal and screaming classical, to see that was quite a contrast.

Samantha was still sorting through all the piles of crap that Pavel had stored on his computer. She had made a great deal of progress on discovering what was stored on it throughout the day. Most of it had been sorted in categories such as business emails, personal emails, and Artemis contact emails, purchase orders, calendar invitations, shipping invoices, and research. Items of interest connected to known terrorists or criminal parties were being pulled into their own files for review together. She had quite the overview of Artemis’ network because Pavel’s communication hub was at the center of their network. There was a great deal of information there. Sam was sure some of it would be passed to other Raven teams or the appropriate party to handle. Some she knew Raven would deal with personally to ensure true justice would take place.

Her conscience was bugging her though. Skye had prodded her gently about how she was feeling in regards to her father. She felt bad that she had turned to work and shut her out for the most part. She had not really re-engaged her in conversation since then. They had worked quietly next to each other for most of the day. Skye didn’t seem worried or upset but Samantha knew she had let her own insecurities push the other woman away. She struggled to talk about her feelings, especially the complicated ones regarding her family. Samantha had made tremendous progress at least sorting through the data on his computer. She had added another cipher to search for keywords in all his stored emails. She had included the address in Patagonia to see if anything popped out.

Her conscience would no longer let her sit still as she had been fidgeting for at least a half hour. “Skye…” She really didn’t know how to start this conversation but she knew needed too. ”I owe you an apology.” Sam’s eyes were focused on the computer screen as her face flushed a pink tone. “I find it hard to talk about my parents. I appreciate that you were trying to help and check in with me about it.” She cut off obviously embarrassed.

Skye reached over and flicked the AR device off, the music cutting out as Skye looked across.
“It’s all good. It’s not an easy one. Look….fancy taking a break from this? Get a moment away from it, grab a walk and have a wee chat. If that’s alright with you?” She suggested, the warm motherly tone implying that whilst Skye knew that Sam was comfortable hacking away, staying here was probably going to not be the right place to talk- while in the thick of it. The Scot could read Sam, and the nerves had come back in an unintended affect, and she felt a bit bad about it. Then again, Skye knew she had to bridge that gap, make sure she was there for her. It was the right thing to do. She didn’t want to delve more, but at least, address the burning thing in the middle of the room, and help.

Sam’s face got even redder but she nodded. She set the computer up to continue its work without her. She knew she could deny Skye’s request and that she would allow it. The truth of the matter was that Sam liked Skye and being a part of Raven. She wanted to be on good terms with her boss and team. The least she could do is see what she had to say. As she rose to her feet, her stomach rumbled. It had been a long time since breakfast. “As long as food is involved too, my stomach is growling.” She gave Skye a sheepish smile as she fidgeted like a toddler on a sugar high. “Lead on.”

Skye nodded, as they got up and headed out of the office, Skye giving a wave to Raphael as they headed back out into the afternoon sunshine, looking back over at the American.
“Aye, I’m sure we could arrange that.” Skye wryly commented, chuckling, knowing it was probably about time for some lunch, and probably something as simple as could be.
“I might go tough on you all sometimes, but I’m here to listen, Sam. There’s a lot of stuff going on. Like how Mateo’s got things in his life. Freya might seem perfect, but I know how hard it is for her to keep that way given what typically a giant would have to deal with, and Xan in his ways. I might know a lot about your past, but what I need to ask is what I can do to help. That remains a mystery to me.” Skye calmly and gently said in her quilt-like accent, looking over out the sea as they walked down the stony track, the redhead looking back across at Sam, the tall Scot calm in her demeanor and open to things.

Samantha gave Raphael a passing wave of good bye as the two women left the secure intelligence room. She walked alongside Skye. Her eyes scanned the horizon. She appreciated the contrast between the dark blue sea with heavy gray clouds on the horizon and the green hills and trees surrounding the base. She took a deep breath feeling a deep knot of tension she hadn’t realized she was carrying began to unfurl a little. “I know we all come with our own personal baggage. Mine is no more or less important than anyone else’s on the team.” Samantha thought about how to put what she was feeling into words. She shrugged and grinned mischievously as she embraced the cliche. “It’s complicated.” She laughed a little at how it was such a simple phrase and yet so true at the same time.

“I have never known my mother. The closest I have is the elderly woman who taught me martial arts. Her husband was with my father at the game that day.” She sighed wondering for about the millionth time why this was so hard. “All I knew about my mother, I learned from my father. It was like growing up with a ghost I was supposed to know, respect, and love.” She paused a little before continuing. “He never stopped loving her. He never dated or tried to get to know other women. He would just shut them down gently. He was my link to her. I have no memories of my own. I didn’t just lose my father that day. I lost my mother, my father, and the man I considered my grandfather.”

Her voice grew harder as thoughts of how she lost them pulsed through her awareness. “I need closure. I know they are dead and not coming back. I need to know that the people responsible for that act have paid for it. It is not about revenge. It is about being able to think about them without anger and rage. I should be able to remember the things that made me smile and love them.” Her voice cracked. She stopped talking and just looked off into the distance. “I know that Raven Squad will help me when the time is right and the information is there. In the meantime, I have to live with the knowledge that the only other person who really knows me, is an elderly woman who I love. But who will probably pass away in the next 5 years or so.”

She tilted her head considering what Skye had said about Raven Squad. “I feel like Raven Squad could be my new chosen family. I am trying to build lasting relationships with people who I can trust to know all the parts of me. My rage, my crazy need to test boundaries and ideas, and my need to fight for the little guy. I watched all my life as my father endured having my mother talked down about because she was Hispanic. That he deserved being poor because he had embraced people not of America. Which is utter bullshit, my mother was a citizen. I watched him be pushed around by gangs, harassed by officials, and more. Justice means something to me. It means people don’t get to push other people around because they can. Someone who can fight back should step in the way and help. I want to be that person.” She nodded as if clarifying her own feelings and thoughts. She blushed as she realized how much she just verbalized to her boss. She looked at Skye for her reaction.

Skye nodded, listening away, knowing that while she couldn't compare her own experience, she could understand, a certain kind of compassion she could put back and know that even if what she said wouldn’t fill that void, it would be something.
“It’s why you’re here, after all. Quite extraordinary.” Skye simply retorted initially, nodding, aware of the facts, the story, what had happened, and how it had happened.
“Justice is a tough one to give out. There’s none in this world apart from the kind we make, and then we live with it. And what’s worse, sometimes the one that pulls the trigger, or the knife hasn’t a clue why they did it. There’s always some bigger fish. And that is the bit that is really scary. Leaves things hard to see.” Skye added, knowing it wouldn’t give comfort, but at least, it would give some rationality to what she was thinking on her mind. Skye didn’t mind, if anything, she was happy to see her open up, the black box that was sometimes Sam now coming a little more alive.

“I guess I found what drives you. If Mateo’s is revenge, then yours is that. Compassion. And it’s a rare thing to have, especially doing what we do.” The Scot added, as they turned a corner, Skye instead taking them on a different track- not down to the base but away, down towards another patch of forest, a winding one down to a beach.
“Sam, you probably by now realize I’m not all a good person from some of what I did in Singapore. I don’t play fair, and that’s even by CIA standards. That I know, is that there isn’t a lot you know about me. From what you did before, and right now. But I may as well tell you too. There is a lot of blood on my hands. More than I can even recall. A lot of bad people, and a lot of them probably had families. Even some of them really didn’t deserve it. But it was me or them. And it keeps me thinking sometimes. I did it because it was service, duty, commitment. I was good at it. And still am. And yet that world of niceties isn’t one I can ever go into, Sam. It’s distant, far, and temporary. I can’t turn off. Let go of it.” Skye added, shaking her head, chuckling, knowing the weakness never came out, never really showed, the Scot baring her honest self.

“So like I said earlier, hang onto it. That bit of good. I meant it. You lose that, your night out with Freya last night becomes less about life and more about escape.”

Samantha listened to what Skye had to say. She disagreed with her on some of it. “I am trying to let it go by throwing myself into work. It is hard to let it go when the pain still feels fresh. I know the work that we are doing will help someone else not lose a parent. She turned to face Skye. “I have taken lives and tortured people for information Skye. I am not as naive or innocent. I see the darkness of knowledge in your eyes. Of the things you have seen and done. We do them because we are strong enough to live with having done those acts to spare others. Some would call the act of simply taking a life evil. If taking that one life spares thousands of innocent lives, then I am going to pull the trigger. I think the difference between us is that I still know that there are good things in life from those who can accept me, friendship, love, a life of fun and companionship. I want my life to have meaning. I will bear what I must so that others will see justice. I used to believe that justice would come from the court systems or governments. I am not that naive anymore. I have found that working outside of those constraints suits me. If it looks like a nail and I don’t have a hammer but a gun, then it's okay to use the gun.” She shrugged, “I am okay with that. On the other side of that argument, I know that the woman I consider my grandmother, will never understand this side of me. I have found surprising acceptance and friendship among Raven Squad. I am in no hurry to leave.”

Skye nodded, hearing the fire from Sam, almost hearing her words say it almost be that confirming, good piece that at least reassured her that the American was in control of her feelings. Saw this for what it was, rather than some fest it wasn’t.
“That’s fair enough. Just a fair warning, that’s all. And the team, they make it bearable, eh?” Skye added, chuckling as she walked down the steps, the track winding through the jungle and with a bit more walking, out onto a small sandy beach, as Skye found a small piece of driftwood, a log that had made its way back on shore, and sat on it, the wood dried from how long it’d been sitting in the sun.

“It’s a tough one, I guess. Meaning, purpose. This is quite a good one, as far as it goes. Get to adventure, travel, and do good. Not many careers like that.” She simply added on, thinking on the words of Sam, knowing she had plenty of wisdom herself, and perhaps, in another angle to help, she could open her own self up.

“My mother never would. She never really knows, to be fair. I feel awful sometimes, this alcoholic that practically disowned me. I did all I could, but the reality was, I never could help her. After she lost my father, there wasn’t much of a chance of that.” Skye solemnly commented, looking over at Sam, baring herself as she sighed a little, then looking back across to the sea.
“Never met my grandparents, on either side. My dad told me I was a Lyons through and through in spite of that, and while it was never a great clan, it was one full of a lot of pride, courage, conviction. Gave me a lot of these things, a childhood that was amazing, all of it. Then he just fucking vanished. One day, he’s there for me every moment, the next, gone. I don’t get it. They say he fell overboard, yet every time I try to figure it out, can’t. Maybe I tell myself that because he couldn’t have had that happen to him. But I tried. And found nothing.” Skye sighed, knowing that emptiness of regret wasn’t like Sam’s. It was just empty, an acceptance that it was random, disorganized, nonsense.
“So yeah. This has meaning to me too. Helps give purpose when a lot of it’s random.”

Samantha chuckled a little and shook her head. “Don’t go there Skye. Your mother made her own choices. You are not responsible for them. If she was shitty or abusive to you, those were her actions. There is no shame in not allowing yourself to be a verbal punching bag. As far as your father goes, maybe he meant to come back and couldn’t you will never know. I understand what that feels like. I will never have any first hand knowledge about my mother. I only know what she looks like through pictures. I will never know what her cooking tasted like, or what her hug might feel like, or what she smelled like. It is the same with your father. Unless some new evidence comes to life you only have what little you know which sucks. Like me you have to live with it.”

She had walked down onto the beach with Skye. She sat down on the driftwood log next to Skye. “Raven Squad members have their own issues, yes. But they are going to understand what it means to do what we do. They will be there to support us during an op and after. Skye you just have to let us know how to support you. You are the leader, yes without a doubt. But leaders deserve support too.” She smiled as she playfully nudged Skye with her shoulder.

Skye chuckled, wrapping her own arm around Sam, the feeling of warmth close as she held her close, looking out into the sea, then back down, for a moment taking this particular one in.
“True. You know, I never told anyone that. Not until now. I guess I don’t think about saying it. But sometimes it’s good.” She retorted, her husky Scots tone playing out, as she sighed, looking at Sam, then back at the ocean, vacant.

Samantha smiled as Skye put a comforting arm around her. She allowed the warmth to be shared and nodded as she listened to Skye. “I don’t usually talk about my mother either. I find it hard to talk about her. Most people just offer pity and try to understand but if I hit them with my truth they don’t know what to say. Thank you for listening and sharing.” She leaned into the side of the Scot and gave her a mischievous grin. “Great! Then the next time Freya wants to do a girls night out, I know how to guilt trip you into coming with us. She said I have to plan the next one. How do you feel about a rage room? Do you think we can find one to withstand our battle goddess?” She tried to help Skye lighten the mood without breaking the moment. “I promise not to tell the guys that you have a heart hidden in there.” She winked at Skye conspiratorially.

Skye chuckled, shaking her head and giggling, just envisioning the idea of Freya in a rage room. She didn’t need a room, she needed an entire town to contain her when the hammer was out, not one piece would remain unbroken.
“You’ll struggle to find one. Though saying it, we rather are in the business of it…and I’m sure they’ll all find it in time.” Skye giggled, looking back with her warmth back in again, like she was back in the room once more.
“No worries. It’ll be hard to understand, because it means different things. But I’m happy to be there.” Skye added, standing up as she looked across the waves, then back over to Sam, dusting her jeans off of sand and dust.

“You really should stop by Javi’s sometime. He is really talking too much about you. Though don’t give him more coffee. He has enough.” Skye dryly remarked, brushing the rest of the dust off her as she looked across at the blonde, former CIA-agent.

Samantha chucked at Skye’s answer. She pictured them having to find a small operation where they could turn Frigga loose to smash to her heart’s content. Maybe she could find a nice smuggling ring they could take apart for fun one weekend. They would need their gear. It wouldn’t be too dangerous for them. They probably wouldn’t have the kind of weapons that could touch Frigga in her suit. She pictured a beautiful drug runner’s estate with huge holes in the wall and a caved in roof. She might have to see if she could get Skye to approve that. It sounded like fun.

She perked up at the mention of Javi. “Javi is the mechanic right? I have been meaning to swing by and see him about some vehicle designs. Ever since we have started narrowing in on Patagonia as a potential operations site, I have been thinking about an armored snow cat with a turret on the roof with modified heavy machine guns and grenade launchers. Snowmobiles with a front facing armor shield and mounted machine guns.They could be helpful in snowy terrain. Any requests?” She smiled at Skye looking like a kid who had been told they had an unlimited budget in the candy store. She followed Sky rising to her feet and dusting off the yoga pants she preferred when lounging around the base.

Skye chuckled, very ornately aware of that fact that Sam would go wild once she gave the green light.
“Haha….well, it’s the forest I’m more worried about. Something gives me a feeling we may need to go quiet. But it wouldn’t go without help.” Skye retorted back, as they headed back up the track, slowly but surely, the Scot happy to share her time with one of the team’s hacker, and whilst it felt odd to share, it felt like her own load may be easier too.

------------

Kit Check

With the computer work out of the way, Skye had made another detour as the noon turned into afternoon- back to the armoury.

With the fact that they were headed to Patagonia now firmly on the radar, Skye had time to at least prepare her equipment before the team would know about the further details. There was a lot to work out, but firmly, she knew it was good as time as any to start preparing her equipment. Her exoskeleton frame and the various ballistic plates across it's skeleton-like embrace held a snug, insulated MTP uniform that would be good for the forests and rocks of the observatory approach.

Next to it was her SIG MCX, the customised and highly pimped out battle rifle sporting a silencer, thermal optic, secondary holographic sight, tactical grip and custom skeleton stock no less, a weapon that felt like a machined piece of Swiss elegance rather than the crude hose that the MG3 was in her hands. Magazines loads with ammunition, it felt ready to go, as did her helmet, plate carrier, and most of all, the sweet, sweet boost pack. R&D had managed to turn the double jump into something even harder hitting, and the exo wasn't much more faster, though it could certainly now more easily break into sprints faster than prior- the overcharge now coming in a little quicker. A few adaptations to her AR/holographic glasses also helped out too, giving her a little more insight into Sam, Xan and the team's other members when out on operation. It felt like a little extra something something, and the Scot loved her combat toys as she checked over the M32 MGL that was also ready to go, with a quick loaded set of 40mm grenade rounds, and a few utility ones too.

The team would likely be keeping themselves busy on the island- either through setting up their own equipment too, enjoying the sunny environment and getting geared. They wouldn't have much longer to enjoy it, as Skye had informed the team they were getting briefed tonight, and already, the gears were slowly beginning to turn for the next operations. There wasn't just work to do in Patagonia- they had another target of interest, and the Scot had a promise to keep to the team's infiltrator, one she knew would be demanding answers sooner rather than later.

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

Singapore

Skye Rosalind Lyons

Long Way Down

The scene was quickly turning. What with Pavel's incident, Jamie, Freya and Carl all taking care of Skye's tail, Pavel and Ingwe in one, she had managed to break across the rooftop bar, a series of guards chasing after her, guns drawn. Oh, they knew what was up, and weren't taking any chances. Skye had certainly appreciated the spot from Freya- with it, that had bought her some time, time to round more guards on her six and at the least, drag them across to her part of the roof. She was hearing Mateo and Sam at least bail out using their wingsuits, so that was good at least- they'd put distance between themselves and the situation, which was more than reassuring.

With the guards attention now turned fully to Skye, she kept her composure, hearing the rest of the team begin to make their exits, hasty-like too. There was no doubt that in her red dress Skye was a target- with Freya, Jamie, Carl using the chaos on the other side and their pure brute force, they'd be able to smuggle themselves out of the way, so the Scot had no such luck, because all the guards could tell she'd been with Pavel last. And they weren't so stupid to let her go now.

Coming to the balcony, Skye looked over, hearing the rest of the guards follow, her heart in her mouth, looking back across as she slid out of her heels, watching a few come by, pistols at the ready, shrugging her shoulders as she glanced over the glass once more.

"Well, I guess you won't take me alive!" Skye yelled back, and pushing hard against the fear that bubbled in her veins, she ran out of her heels and towards the balcony edge, leaping over and into a swan-like dive....

Freefall without a parachute was strange as hell, and not the less that she'd soon be hitting terminal velocity, if only for a split second. The trailer was there, and well, it was almost a black speck in the distance, but enough for her to go for, as she coiled over, bringing her hands and legs spread, eyes watering, the feeling palpable and just bonkers. Levelling herself out, she felt her dress tightly grip around her freefalling body, steering herself with a bit of movement as she caught air, totally, utterly, in that second.

The night sky of Singapore was a blur, and this was no regular fast ticket out, it was a chaotic, maddening blur.

"Shite!" Skye yelled involuntarily, as she saw the trailer come closer, and closer, and closer....

The canvas ripped apart as Skye fell through it and smacked into the back of the trailer's airbag, smacking hard into the floor as it deflated around her, the grey material almost swallowing her whole in its rubbery, now less stiff embrace, as she coughed, exhaling hard and checking herself, feeling the adrenaline pound so hard it made her ears feel like they were on fire. Every part of her felt like she should be dead, but right now, here she was, alive and kicking. It was another day out, but once again, that part of her brain that had told her this was an awful idea had gotten overruled again. She wasn't doing that again in a hurry. And as she composed herself, she had the moment to check her comms, hearing the team report in.

"All stations, good work tonight. Head to the RV point, and let's put the evening to a close. I'm breathing, don't worry about me, I'll see you there." With that, Skye exhaled hard, checking herself over once more, in her own moment to take it in.

Composing herself again, she rolled off the side of the airbag, finding a spare change of clothes in the back. Something completely the opposite to what she had- a black t-shirt with Slayer on it, jeans, a baseball cap and a set of prescription glasses. Skye had to admit, going from her feminine side to something almost totally androdgynous felt strange, yet well, it worked- the switch worked on people and her ability to seemingly become a chameleon, not through the use of a wig or prosthetics but simply by just taming her femininity altogether. Turning into someone else was a common part of Skye, a part that she'd used. The kind that didn't fear death, the kind that just became someone into the next when she needed it. Yet somehow, some part of her must have felt as human as ever to feel that rush, that spike.

With the disguise on, she pulled on the container's mechanism, yanking on the handle and pulling it upwards and back, the evening light coming through. With it, Skye did the last thing she needed to do- the dress, as well as her gloves and the airbag couldn't remain, so she set up a small portion of lighter fluid and with an adjacent match, tossed it in, setting a small fire up that would eventually catch on the rubber's flammable skin, and leave no trace behind as to what happened when it really caught within a few minutes. With that, Skye slunk out of the trailer, and moving off the street through an alley, making her way out of the search zone, and on foot, as far as she could go. Unlike the rest of the team, Skye didn't have the luxury of distance flying away or a car so she needed to go incognito, and that she did, knowing she'd need to be even more careful on profile now. But she'd get away. Get on a Metro, get to their RV point in the port, and from there, get home. For all most people knew, Skye Caldwell was dead, but there'd be no body to find, not when they put the pieces together.

----

Kaitiaki HQ, New Zealand

Whānau / Family

"What was I saying about you not going back to work so quick?" Sophie looked at Skye's ribs, the shirtless redhead sitting on the doctor's bed, wrapped up with bandages around her chest, clearly from the mess that had happened

"It's just bruising. Hurts a bit, but if that's what you say it is, then I'm fine." Skye almost said firmly, as if she wanted it to be better in her own words, rather than listening.

"I told you, there was no way it was not going to leave a mark. Fine. Whatever you do next, try not to get shot without your armour. Or falling out of any seventy storey buildings again. You know, I prefer it when my patients aren't so stubborn. Anyway, standard painkillers for a week, and after that, don't put too much exertion on it. I mean it, this time." Sophie retorted, the Swiss doctor a little frustrated, but alas, aware that well, Skye did as she pleased. It would end badly at this rate, but well, there'd be some sense in Skye to perhaps not go mountain biking now after more bruising. Jumping off a skyscraper came with consequences, after all.

"I do as well. Cheers, Sophie."

With that, Skye left the room, and putting on a navy-coloured t-shirt and grey hat, the redhead was out of the room once more, her red locks allowed to flow like the Highland fox that she was. A defining feature, and even despite the black-coal like dust that had once murkied it, or the dye that had turned it crimson in Singapore, it still remained as ardent as ever, her defining trait that she almost wished didn't stick her out as much as it did.

---

The mid-day New Zealand sun beat down as Skye walked along the track from the support complex up to the main homestead itself, the trees breezing gently in the wind in the small forested patch, still wet from the night's rain, a reminder of course that well, this place wasn't some verdantly green paradise without a bit of it.

It was rather a fine day in a rather fine place. The noise of the city traded for quiet, calm, ocean waves, sea breeze and rainforest.

On that note, her phone rang, and the familiar unknown caller code made it clear that through this particular burner, it could only be one person.

"Oracle, good to hear your voice again. Long time no speak." Skye blurted, knowing Oracle would have gotten the debrief from her- their involvement in the operation had been surface-level, given the need for security. The chance to catch up since Aralsk, and now this op gave them a chance to re-evaluate things, and Skye was not surprised by the call.

"It's been a while. I saw Singapore went well. Risky op, but your post-mission report reads. Confirms a lot of the intel we had, but more importantly, we've got access to a data set I never thought you'd be able to break into. Nicely done. What do you think about it?"

"Pavel seems like a pawn in a bigger machine. He's a committed freak, but they're taking him for a ride. He definitely did the hack to us, and well, the transcript says it all. Doomsday prepping, all into control, all that shit. Sees us as a threat, now we just got to dismantle his network and get what we need on the heads of Artemis, then go put them on ice. What else do you want, really?"

"See what you can get from Aralsk, and the Singapore data will come through. Pavel is going to go to ground sooner rather than later, and we'll need some leads to stop this sooner rather than later."

"Aye, and I anticipate it. Though, I have a quick question. Sol Hestia, does that mean to you?"

"That's Greek, makes no sense. Why, do you think Pavel's got some pet project?"

"I'm thinking it goes past him. Which makes me wonder." Skye retorted, knowing Oracle would think the same, the Scot confident, albeit that seed of doubt in her head still.

"Well, if he talks any more about it, we'll have him as bait. He'll be getting paranoid and closing up shop. Time to see what he does."

"Agreed. I'm gonna need a few more operatives. Stafford's RTB, so too is Hornet. Tough gigs for them recently, so I've sent them off. I'll need a Heavy at least because I think we might have a lead on a few other sites."

"I can get you one."

"Splendid. Anything else, Oracle?"

"Nothing else, just thought to say thank you for the work recently."

"First person to say it."

"Trust me, know the feeling all too well. Let's speak when we have an idea of what to hit next. I'll call you if I need you. Oracle out."

With that, they finished their brief call, the Scot heading towards the house, and after passing the biometrics, heading down into the secure section. The bit of the base that lay beneath the fancy rec room, accomodation, office and billionaire's summer house. The bit she really fancied. The yellow and grey coloured walls gave off a real cutting edge feel, reflecting the white LED light with a certain shimmer, the kind that felt brand new, without dust even. It was remarkably sterile, yet the yellow made it feel....well, like some sort of secret lair.

------

Skye headed first to the armoury and firing range, and as part of her routine for the day, had a bit of shooting to do. The SIG MCX loaded, she flicked a set of ear defenders over her ears, and popping the range open, set herself up, loading a mag, and with a confident slap, setting up the 6.8mm chambered rifle on range. With a brisk couple of taps, she started blasting, pulling the target further and checking her point shooting, aimed pickup, sighting, and her overall feel with the rifle. Important given she hadn't exactly used it in anger in a while, and currency always paid dividends. That said, she wasn't alone- the sound of a semi-automatic rifle a few booths down could be heard booming from time to time, Skye aware that the shooter didn't need to be disturbed yet. But after Skye had finished up her drills, checking the backup sight and doing some TLC, she had the chance to find her, the blonde-haired, half-Maori marksman come housekeeper cycling her Mk14 EBR, her short-cuffed shirt revealing her full sleeve of tattoos.

"Practicing your shooting? My, I'd have almost thought that was behind you." Skye retorted, watching her check her ACOG optic, the Kiwi lowering the weapon and look over her shoulder, almost unflinched.

"And kia ora to you Skye. I thought I get to enjoy my hour off without my boss interrupting. And at least you're not giving me shit on my grouping. Yet." Tahlia replied with a hint of sarcasm, very much aware she could give it back, taking her own noise defenders off, making her weapon safe on her part of the range, and finishing up her arrangement as Skye came around.

"Nah. You're not a bad shot still, Taniwha." Skye whistled, the Kiwi nodding in response. She was equally as blunt as the Scot was, if not worse, and despite how much she wanted to heap it on, the respect remained mutual at least in that angle of things.

"It never leaves you. Dad said you get a bond with a rifle, it never leaves your side. Apart from that, I guess team's been settling well." Tahlia added, the grip on the Mk14 tight in her hands, a rifle that had gone through all the fighting that she'd had in Blue Sword. A loyal, precise tool in her hands, a silenced, modified battle rifle that in her hands, was accurate as ever.

Most of all, it was a special rifle, her father's from his time in the special forces, so even though it may have been older, it still fired true and well after many barrel changes and refits. Tahlia was equal parts the warrior he was, and if anything, even more abrasive than Skye was- she was warm but in a way that only a bush-dwelling Kiwi would be, reliant, hardy, and straight to the point.

"Point taken. And yeah, they're not too bad. Cheers for keeping an eye on them. You know, for someone who keeps us turning, you seem to have a knack for the other part of working our buisness. You ever wondered about going back?"

"Nah yeah, that isn't really possible with...well, you know, the leggies. And even with an exo, it doesn't add up, it's too serious a weakness. I'm not seeing bionic legs exactly on the market either. But you know, if I could, I would, heaps."

"Doesn't mean you can't be useful, Tahlia. Keep up the shooting. I'll keep you in mind." Skye nodded, as she finished up her own, walking out with her SIG and putting it back into her section by the rest of her kit, magazines stashed next to her exo, as Tahlia followed her over, her clicking of her titanium-sprung composite legs against the concrete clear as day, as she went straight to the point seeing Skye put the gun away.

"Skye, told yous, I've got no fackin' legs. What am I good for? I keep you lot turning. What do you mean you're gonna keep me in mind?"

"Fire's still in you then?"

"Too fucking right, toa never leaves you." Tahlia replied, the Maori leaking out with a hard, aggressive inflection, Skye even raising her eyebrows.

"Then that's what I meant. Active work, maybe not, the rest, keep that in mind. I'm sure you get your share of downtime." Skye teased back, Tahlia getting the picture as she put her Mk14 back into her part of the armoury, nodding.

"Alright. I'll keep it up here." Tapping her forehead, Tahlia walked out, her legs clacking on the floor, the blonde-haired, Southlander even giving Skye a moment of a run for her money. There was no denying it, Skye could see a little of herself in Tahlia, and it was why she personally wanted her here. Anyone else wouldn't do the things Skye needed, especially given the fact that Skye wanted this team to run, and actually have what they needed. Any bootlicker, or stampkicker wouldn't do, they'd piss her off, and anyone too nice would just drop things. Tahlia actually kept a bit of fire on, and well, it made sure things ran when everyone needed what they needed.

----------

After her catchups in the armoury, Skye headed a level down- with rounds sent, the next visit was to the vehicle pool, and coming in on the team's vehicle tech, Skye found him under a Land Rover, welding away as he heard the footsteps of Skye's shoes, rolling himself from out and underneath the car.

"La Hefa, it's like you've been avoiding me or something?" The Spanish-Mexican chirped as he put the welding mask up, dusting himself off, the sight of the team lead a rare one down here, but then again, present as and when needed.

"No, just....well, you know I didn't want to see you after blowing up two DPVs with modified V8s in them. You know, that sort of thing goes really, really badly with a petrolhead like you." Skye chuckled, as he stood up, looking around back at his work, then back at Skye, chuckling.

"Si, but these things happen. I spent a lot of time on it, but I heard how it went down. Big, big boom, haha!" Javi's excitable nature never failed to give even the tacit Skye a smirk, well, he seemed to have that unescapable energy, that enthusiasm that never died. She fucking needed that today, that was for sure.

"Yeah, pretty big boom ey....so, you got anything you're working on to replace them?"

"I might have some new tools. Got a Land Rover in, already figuring out how to fit rally raid suspension onto it, a .50 cal and a GMG, and some more power too. It'll be a beast when it's ready. And, supposedly we're getting a new VTOL to replace the V22. Something faster, stealth-rated too. Vincente will not shut up about it." Javi gleefully replied, as he showed off the car he was working on, the electric motocross bikes leant against it flanked by the black, stripped out old-school Land Rover Defender.

It sat there mounted with jump seating and a cackle of weapons, making it a hell of a tool- it was the larger variant, so it'd even be able to take two Heavies. A battle bus, no doubt. Light, fast vehicles were perfect for Raven- yes, the use of an APC or IFV would be good in heavier environments, yet nothing beat speed, firepower and aggression with the kind of team that Skye had put together. It was a nice machine, and she appreciated the touches to it, uprated and set for war.

"Damn, word travels fast, thought I was going to tell you. Yep, she's a cutting edge machine. Should be in tomorrow." Skye nodded, watching as Javi clambered around the car, sitting up on the bonnet, his happy-go-lucky attitude one that certainly added some charm to the team.

"It's easy work. You know, you gotta get Sam down here spending more time. What she knows about cars, that chica would do some serious work with me. I heard of her reputation man."

"I thought she might have visited? Then again, between her getting hurt, I wasn't sure if she would have the time."

"Sure, but you know the score. I'm always here, and I got some projects to work on she'll love. You know the deal."

"I know, I know...I might have a few bits for you to work on. Some more exotic kit. I know Freya's gonna want that..."

"Oh yeah, that thing. Yeah, I got it, that and a few more aerial options for the team. This secret agent shit, I get it, you want some cutting edge tools, but you forget, I can make fucking anything out of anything. I'm like Macgyver, but with a blowtorch, an arc welder and a tooling bench, so your wish is my command Queen!" Javi called back, as he walked around the garage, chuckling, Skye putting her hand into her face, chuckling with cringe, and in some amazement for how much energy he had.

"How many coffees have you had?"

"Four."

"Jesus, remind me to get you decaf to you instead."

----------

Collab with @LadyAmber
Samantha was sitting in the rec room at the base. She was sitting at the table with her laptop on the table in front of her. She was sifting through all the low level data from their hacked drone op. She had been busy building gear for the team and involved in more pressing hacking needs for the team. She finally had a little down time to use her analyst skills. Samantha dumped the raw data into a quarantined database on an external hard drive. She began cleaning up the data and sending in her custom built algorithms to sort the data into categories where the bad guys usually forgot to hide.

The team’s resident team lead was the next to follow in, her tired gaze from their evening out in Singapore like a hangover on her head. The op had mostly, mostly gone to plan- a few things always went to shit, but then again, that would be the way Raven rolled. They didn’t do insanely difficult without sometimes breaking a few things, and hey, there they were, back to figuring out what next. A rough debrief had followed, but Skye had a decent idea of what was going to have to happen next- and to that end, was already glad to see Sam at work.

Bringing over a small cup of decaf coffee for sam, knowing right now probably wasn’t the time for a massive hit of caffeine for one part of the team’s hacker trio, Skye took a seat as she took her own cup of Earl Gray tea to hand, dumping the teabag into an open bin across the room with a flick, making it almost look graceful and like something she’d done too many times before. The redhead almost moved with a certain je ne sais quoi, an understanding of the mindset Sam was in, analysing and working away as she leaned back on the sofa, looking over.

“You alright?” Skye must have seemed like she was far too casual for this situation, yet still, approachable and chilled as usual, even if a little sore, the Scots charm in her voice on the warmer side rather than the, kill it if it moves side today.

Samantha was startled to hear Skye’s voice as she had been in her zone as she crunched all the delightful data and made it sing for her. She looked up at Skye and blinked before smiling and nodding. “Hey boss. Yeah I’m good. I am just getting started on all that data I pulled from less secure sources from that Artemis base where the drone got hacked. I haven’t had time to clean and look at that data to see if there is any usable intel there. I usually find something.” She glanced at her screen to see that her pc was almost done with the initial sort on the data.

Skye nodded, knowing that Singapore was slowly coming through, but the Aralsk stuff would at least be coming to some conclusions, given how much they’d recovered. It was a trove of content, and digging through was leading to some interesting content.
“Nicely done. It’ll combine well with what we’re getting from the server farm.” Skye replied, nodding in a positive response, knowing she was deep at work, and no doubt, deep in mind on what she needed to do. The Scot folded her leg over her other one, looking across to Sam once more, rather appreciative of the recent work she’d been putting in.

“You know, the file I had of you didn’t tell me how capable you were with this sort of stuff. I mean, Javi and Tahlia are singing your praises. I have no idea what you’ve been up to, but if they’re impressed, it must be something.” Skye commented, taking her tea and sipping it, a bit of positive reinforcement always coming some way, knowing in that respect, it was true- Skye had every bit to be impressed, and she’d gone beyond. No doubt she’d overcome a lot of adversity- it was something Skye saw in others, and as sometimes dysfunctional as the team may have been, it was as elite as it was from a well trained nous of how to get the most from them. Perhaps it was just experience, perhaps it was almost a personal drive, from her upbringing and mentality on things. It felt like belonging, good even to do right by those who needed that next level.

Samantha fidgeted a little. She was not used to others singing her praises. She was used to doing her best and getting constructive criticism or feedback on what she could do better. She knew what her skillset was but she was still learning to be a part of a team. She had tried her best to put her skills to work for her new team and embrace that. “I grew up wrenching with my father. He was an automotive mechanic. I learned a lot about vehicles from him. It was the only way he had any time for me as a single parent. I helped him out in the garage to spend time with him. I quickly outgrew his knowledge though. I just keep adding more complex tools and knowledge.” She shrugged a little. “I am doing what I was hired for and part of that is supporting the team with gear. I like building gear. It is always a challenge of skill and intellect.” Her computer beeped at her that it was finished.

She began to look over the rough draft of the data. There was a lot in the logistics category. Artemis was moving a lot more material around than she had given them numbers for. She pulled it up and looked up at Skye with a puzzled look. “Skye, do we have any idea of the numbers of soldiers or operatives that Artemis has?”

Skye shrugged, her face blank as she looked across at it, her eyes scanning the laptop, then back to the American.
“Rough estimates are tough. Depends what terrorist, criminal or other private contractors they’ve got into bed with. It can fluctuate from a few hundred to possibly, even a few thousand. They’re rather shapeless, formless ‘wee bastards. But I wouldn’t put it past them they try and run it on a central network for their high end gear.” Skye commented, sitting up, taking a deep breather for a moment, looking across to Sam.
“You know, I remember my da’, he was like that too. Lost him when I was young. I know it hurts a lot. But you keep moving, keep doing like you say the work we do. Fills the void, but, I suppose it never really does till you find a family of your own. I guess in my own mad way, I found this.” Skye chuckled wryly, knowing the topic was fluctuating, but she had to comment. Knowing Sam’s file, it had similarities to her own. Almost too many, but then again, such was life. Special Forces operators, intelligence operatives, people like that didn’t come from perfection.
“Anyway, that’s interesting. We’ll be able to correlate the data with the satellite receiver and control stations from Pavel’s company. He might be able to move, but he can’t make a new one of those from scratch. Highly secured networks after all need a basestation and that needs protection. I wonder….those probably link together.” Skye pondered, knowing Sam was probably half thinking it too, but more likely than not her chat with Pavel, among many, many other things was tying that thread in her mind right now.

Samantha was still reading on her screen and reviewing the data as she talked to Skye. She looked up at Skye as she mentioned her father. “I lost my mother when I was born. I only ever had my dad. His loss is still a deep pain. I think I could handle it if I had lost him to disease or something like that. But to have him ripped away from me by terrorists. His life was not theirs to take. I will one day make them pay for that.” Her voice was hard and full of anger. She went back to reviewing data as their conversation turned to their most recent op in Singapore and Pavel’s organization.

Skye felt the anger, knew what it was like, and had sometimes had to admit, it was hard to not get tied into someone else’s too. Yet the stoicism in her knew that she’d never be able to. It was watching her own family collapse that got her down, but Sam’s, hers was pretty awful to say the least. Anger fuelled a fire, but Skye knew as much as it was a bottomless pit, revenge wasn’t always the way to go. It got you so far, but that ran dry and left its own void sometimes. And that, Skye knew all too well to be careful about. None of this crap about revenge making you feel happy- nah, Skye knew in her mind, her head at least it did, until that ran out. But outside, she knew the words.

“And they will, they’ll hurt plenty for it.” Skye nodded, replying in turn and looking across as Sam went back to the laptop.

She noticed some trends in the data. “Skye what I am seeing mixed into this low level data is military level logistics for soldiers or personnel. Things like food, soap, and gear. Things you would see ordered by a base or encampment of some kind. The amounts points to much larger numbers and some numbskull left delivery addresses for where to send it. We can follow up on those addresses. They might be blind drop points to hand over supplies to other organizations. They might line up with terrorist camps or organizations. We should check some of them out. What do you think?” She turned the laptop to show the indicated data to Skye for her to review.

Skye had a look and peered through, picking up the locations, including supply drops and arrangement.
“Reminds me of Tahlia’s shopping list. Looks like their own.” Skye chuckled, her dry sense of humor always finding a room in, her sultry and confident tones holding true, as she looked through the list, seeing a few uncommon ones on there.

“Chile, Andorra, Finland, Poland….those aren’t your usual places for encampments. The usual, Afghanistan, Armenia and North Korea are there too though. I’ve had enough of those places. They’re clearly disguising it if they are, using it as a backstop.” Skye added, searching through, quiet in her approach as she flicked some red hair from her face, knowing it wouldn’t be much, but enough to at least do a satellite sweep of.
“Now we just need to figure out where there might be a ground station. Satellites are going to be needing something secure, so it needs power, and some sort of access.” The Scot added, her deductive reasoning clear enough, from experience of what she would have thought to do so herself, as she looked over to Sam again.

Samantha reviewed the list of sites and frowned. She began to think out aloud. Maybe something she said would spark with Skye’s deeper operational knowledge for Raven Squad. “That is a highly unusual area of the world for their to be terrorist activity. You are right that is typically seen in the Middle East with warlord activity in Africa. You see some terrorist activity in Africa and South America. You see European nations targeted because they are part of the West and their ties to the economy and white privilege.” Samantha tapped her finger on the table as she tried to pull the puzzle pieces together. “What you do tend to see more of in Europe is crime families and syndicates. You might see political crime in Eastern Europe which fits the Poland locations but Finland doesn’t fit either of those.” Samantha felt like she was on the cusp of something. Maybe if she cross referenced this list with the data from Pavel once she finally managed to decrypt it. That man had codes on codes. She had managed to clone his laptop but getting it to give up its information was taking some time. “Well we could always search for locations in those areas drawing power from the grid. We could use satellites overhead to find hidden airstrips and smaller ports with unusual activity.” She turned to Skye to see what she was thinking.

Skye nodded, noting her train of thought, knowing it would be tough to find, but more likely than not, it would be a start.
“Good call. Chances are, they’ll try and take advantage of something already there, some of those places will be close to it. I can see what Oracle can pull for us, get us some imagery. It’ll be a lot of sifting, but I’m sure we can get it. If not, at least it’ll bring the areas into focus and give us a rough idea of what to start digging up for Raph’s contacts..” Skye replied, keen to see this sorted, as she slurped some more tea down, looking out at the overcast skies outside, and the sea shimmering in the background.

“Bloody hell. I keep forgetting how pretty this place is.” She added, standing up from the sofa, finishing her tea and putting the mug down on the table next to the sofa, looking back across her shoulder towards Sam.
“I’ll be honest with you. Pavel is an ass, and he caused us a lot of shit in Singapore. But I get this feeling, whatever it is Artemis wants, I don’t think he fully understands it. Like he seems to get one part of their goals. But if they’re decentralized, it concerns me. Means there’s a lot more hydras. And we’ll be just responding next time they decide to go for something.” Skye commented out loud, looking across, the scarlet-haired Scot open, if a little curious.

Samantha smiled at her boss. “Well if the satellites don’t reveal anything. I can always do a fly over with a drone and cameras.” She shrugged “I am always down for some decent skiing.”

Skye nodded, knowing it would be a bit of work to cover. But if anyone could, Sam and the intel team certainly could.
“Andorra or Chile this time of year would be pretty sweet. And it beats another op in North Korea.” Skye commented, stretching her hands and clicking them out, knowing they had some leads now to follow, and that would certainly come to fruition soon enough.

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

Singapore

Skye Rosalind Lyons

The Dying of the Night

Skye lumbered on out of the of the office, the CEO over her shoulder and the Scot aware she had to get this poor, silly bastard back up top. Leaving him here would risk exposing the infiltrators if a guard found him, which was going up in estimation by the second. At the best, she had to buy some time, and she could do that- by putting him in full view of everyone.

"Ohh....." Pavel moaned on her shoulder, garbling something in Greek that she couldn't decipher.

"Hestia, Hestia Sol....they....they're....it's not mine." Pavel mumbled, slobbering now, waking up more yet not fully in control.

At this point, Skye had no idea what he meant - any trace of that they would find on the computer probably, because Skye didn't really have time for the rest. His details, dealings, emails, all of it. There was good chance that the human touch of his biometrics would open up the computers like they were nothing and find that out. All shite, but hey, it was entertaining as she stayed back around a corner, a suite of guards moving through, Skye staying in the shadows and keeping her hand over his mouth, the tough Scot feeling able to at least dart past. And that she did, up the stairs, as elegantly as she could in heels that were beginning to hurt, her dress thankfully corrected by Sam and not too rough at least. That was, aside from the man she fireman-lifted up a set of stairs, straining under his weight but using the bannister, just about pulling it off.

At the top of the narrow stairwell, Skye peered round, and moved in, coming through an auxillary exit back into the party, the hubub of it making her almost seem like she was just part of the crew. Well, until a few heads turned, and Skye lumbered down his body, the sight of a few more partygoers coming over clear to see, as well as in the corner of her eye, a series of guards.
"What the hell happened to him? Is he alright?" One asked, Skye shrugging in response, looking down at Pavel, then back at the Chinese-accented, tuxedo wearing guest and his partner wrapped up against his side.
"Promise, I found him like this. I have no idea."
Skye's sultry Highland tone carried like a light breeze, innocent and dainty, yet certainly carrying the underlying dagger that she always held back in there. With that reply, Skye could only back away, and moving through the crowd, tried to look for Freya.

To that, Pavel stumbled up, bowling about, and moving into the crowd. Perfect, he was coming to life just when she needed it, the guards squarely looking at Skye and her movement using the bodies to her advantage, now finding a denser part of it, as she heard the man come to life behind him.
"Eyyy! Gettaoutamyway, peasants!" Pavel yelled, and then proceeded to retch, fumbling drunk across the floor and rather spectacularly, through multiple people. He was playing it utterly perfectly, and the minutes this would buy would get the team over the line, Skye watching Pavel climb onto a barstool and to that, she stopped in the crowd to observe.

"I'm the king of the world! And you know it!"

And poetically, and if almost, with a hint of perfect, sweet, beautiful irony, he fell forwards and to no guest, guard or anyone even trying to catch him as he fell flat onto the bar, and off it onto the floor in a heap. And the cocktail then did it's worst. The worst that a guest loudly yelled with the best Canadian accent Skye could have imagined.

"Oh god.....he's crapped himself!"

Skye was now dying of laughter the guards coming in closer, the red-dress, red-haired Scot holding back the scene yet it was etched in her memory, permanently. She could spy Freya talking to Ingwe, but all of a sudden, it was clear, well, he had bigger priorities to deal with. As fast as Skye moved, he seemed to move like a bowling ball through people, and while the team's giantess had certainly pulled him close, right now, Skye had no priorities but to put people, space, and room between her and him. Not if she wanted to have a spinal cord that worked.

"Crap! Team, grab what you need and get the hell out! Frigga, follow on my lead! I'm going for Plan B!"
Skye left her comms open, knowing it was the last chance. Security was going to swarm now. And the sooner Freya picked up the redhead in the crowd, she hoped the better.

And with that, the fire alarm came off, the sound of a loud klaxon making it very clear everyone was getting evacuated. Guards would swarm from beyond, and likely, the police were on their way.

The building was going to go into lockdown and wherever the team was would get an increased presence. Downstairs, the sound of more suit-wearing guards with 9mm pistols and a view to ice anyone they could find were flooding the office, and soon, they'd make it down to the server room. Guards like that weren't exactly ready for a full on firefight, but neither would much of the team. So it was probably better to run, than fight.

There were options here. An emergency stairwell would be available for anyone, but it would be guarded and no doubt very tricky to get through.

The infiltrators had the option of wingsuiting out- certainly, Sam was set for that, but Skye had left it open to the others. From 68 storeys up, it was more than viable and the fastest, albeit longest to setup for which came with risks. Alternatively, they could probably rappel down or use the elevator shaft, but against all odds, they were probably even riskier than literally flying out.

Xan probably had the best option- hide with the staff and eventually get out. It would work, well, unless he wanted to break from here and follow Skye's lead. She hadn't seen him in a while, but no doubt, she'd been helping Freya keep her intended man occupied. Freya would have had that luxury, if it wasn't for the passed out guard from earlier. Which her options limited. And fuck, Skye knew Freya was gonna hate her even worse after if she followed on the team lead's direction.

Skye's current option, the one she knew she was likely going to have to gun for? Well, that was one she really, really didn't want to use. Pretty much suicide, but then again, in this game, you had to think creatively. She'd done it once, but from at least a quarter of the height of this, and it was effectively like the greatest circus act you could probably think of. Doable, but one hell of a way out.

Leap of faith it was into an airbag in a semi truck trailer, a very, very long way down. Last time she had checked, it hadn't been towed.

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

Vale Systems Offices, Singapore

Skye Rosalind Lyons

Two to One

Skye felt the fear, but whatever it was, kept it down. That stoic nature, trust. It came from doing this over, and over, and over. The term "operative" covered a lot, but you killed people, lied to people, stole information, did everything, Skye knew the members of her team had seen it themselves, but in that regard, Skye had to be one of those who still played it her way.

They were in the same area as the infiltrators were now, and Skye knew that they would be sneaking out of the way, and staying out of Skye, Pavel's and Alexei's reach, knowing they were unmarked and unfollowed aside from the occasional patrol. But then again, no better place to get the support if things went to shit. Though knowing the fact it was likely soundproofed, it would be risky. Worse so, because Skye knew with this chat, she had to get what she could, and play the situation out. The office was like a house almost, wooden decor reducing the wide open spaces down on this area, with Pavel's office being a large, tinted glass suite of its own kind in his own area.

Entering the office, Alexei standing at the back, Pavel took a seat, his strength clear to see in this position, the power a CEO had in his lavish, almost luxurious Singapore office one to behold. It was clad in a modern style with wood finishing and a soft wooden floor that felt like it bled money, without being tasteless. The sort of guy who didn't fly Emirates clearly, because he valued warm, clean aesthetic over garish, loud noise.

"So, you're in the presence of a CEO, a man with power. You are lucky indeed."
His voice carried, as Skye shook her head, now knowing pretenses were off. She needed Alexei out of the picture. This wasn't going to go perfectly, not the way she envisioned. He wasn't going to leave Pavel alone if she asked nicely, so she'd have to force the matter. It meant being a bit difficult, and well, setting her expectations a little too high.

"Is that how you address a lady like me?"

"I address you how you I like. File please. Before we talk anymore, I need trust. Then we talk terms, conditions, and all that shit." Pavel couldn't hold back his tone here, seeing the girl across from him as just another pawn in his game.
He felt angry to be doing business here, but he'd get his way, after all, he held all the cards and if she was so desperate to come into his clutches, he wasn't taking her tone. And she would come around after the money, just that he didn't like being spoken to like that first. Skye knew it was his weakness. And she was using it against him.

"You know I'm not giving you that. Not without you telling me what it's worth to you."

"It seems to be going down in price, as well as your life. And such a pretty lady, too. I would make a woman out of you." Pavel slyly retorted, leaning over the table, his womanising gone and now something far more sinister. It was like a switch tripped and out went the rich CEO, in came in the monster that had done what he did to Freya's workmates, and the other girls that were rumoured about.

"They commonly say that, but I'm smarter than you think. No dice. It's 50 million, and that's the preliminaries, only." This was a rather aggressive interview, but Skye was driving it up, not down. It would put Alexei in position and she'd know if he was armed, or not.
Skye retorted, as Alexei walked behind, Pavel sighing.

"I don't accept a waste of my time. I always get what I want. Alexei, if you would remind her of the situation." Skye smirked at him, watching as he went for his Sig Sauer pistol, Skye rolling back on the chair as she drew her own chunk of acid out of her handbag that was contained in her purse, swinging out simultaneously and grabbing his arm, twisting it over and smacking the weapon out, though the big man certainly had his wits on him. A hard hit came from him as he twisted out and threw Skye against the glass of the office, hurting plenty as he walked over, dusting himself off, pushing her back up the cracked glass, and wrapping hands to throat and up her neck, the air beginning to be squished out, Skye watching as he silently pushed tighter.

"Not my kink!" Skye wriggled, using a heel to get him in the groin and smashed the acid-filled perfume against his throat, allowing her to pull him down like a mountainside, wrapping herself up on top, punching him hard in the head. It wasn't enough as he rolled back, hitting Skye hard in the head with a response, enough to push her off and roll across and grab his pistol. With a pickup of the pistol by Alexei, Skye had no other options left, the whip cable off her purse taken as she charged, Alexei firing a couple of rounds at her, and yet unlike the anticipated effect would be, Skye didn't stop. She simply lept up with a kick, aware nobody normal would do this. The whole getting shot thing, that is.

It was why you had a ceramic lining in your dress, because it helped that idea out.

Alexei tried to grab but the kick sent him down as she wrapped the cable around his throat and pulled, winded as Skye lept onto his now weakened grip and turning the Sig Sauer in his hands out into her grip. The cable she held with her legs and knees was working, but this pistol was faster. With it, she pulled his hand back towards him and clacked him in the head, tapping twice with the trigger in his hand bent back towards him, the claret spilling bloodily from the bald Russian at point blank.

With Alexei out, Skye panted, exhaling as she drew the pistol up again, seeing Pavel try to get up and past the mess, of course, Alexei making it easy for the two to block the way out as they were at the door of the room. He'd been scrambling through his drawers, but his draw wasn't fast enough as he fumbled the pistol into hand, Skye already having hers raised before he could take hold. He wasn't even holding it right.

"Sit the fuck down. You're not going anywhere."

---

One to One

"You work for a competitor? Then I'll pay double what they want. Jesus!" His shock was palpable seeing his bodyguard get iced, but even more so, how easy Skye made it look, considering the size of Alexei and his talents. It seemed freakish, his nerves clear to see.

"It's not money I want, Pavel."

"Then who the hell are you? And what are you after then? This is in the way of a greater good, whatever you think you're doing, this goes so much bigger than what you are!"

"The greater good? You mean how your tech is in the hands of a shadowy organisation?" Skye's voice carried, as she knew the exact words she'd let slip.

"No idea what you're talking about....."

"Bullshit. I know you're in with Artemis."

"Well, it's like I don't have a choice. Artemis want the same thing, and nobody is going to change a thing. You can't see this, can you? The world is going to shit. How do you think the world keeps turning with all the gadgets, everything you get?"

"And you think that makes it okay to fund organisations trying to create a dirty bomb? Or is it just so convenient your algorithms are all over their work?" Skye was fuming- oh, she knew what Artemis might be like, probably enriching the rich for their own good through anarchy, but this, oh this was pandering to the worst.

"Because nobody will do what is needed. You live in fear, I live in opportunity. So tell me, what do you want? If you want to kill me, do it. They'll eat you alive by the hour. You do not know what you're messing with, MI6, CIA, whoever the fuck you are."

"None of the above. And I'm not going to kill you, Pavel. You're more valuable to me alive."

Skye pulled up her handbag once again, containing a vial that was encased inside a lip balm canister, drawing it out. This was nothing like what Sam had prepared- nope, this was a Skye special, from back in her day. She didn't want the team knowing she had something this awful, given that well, if Xan got his hands on it, the pranking would be terrifying.

"See this? I think it'll tell me a lot. It's a truth serum, I put this in you, and you tell me everything you know about Artemis, what you do, and who you've been hacking lately. Side effect is though in about five minutes, you'll be in a state of mind that is what you feel like after ten shots of vodka...and you will crap yourself. Choice is up to you if I inject it, though."

"What?"

"You'll need to go back to the party after our little chat. Your security isn't coming for you because you're not to be disturbed. I can get you up there, but what happens to your image, reputation, all of what you are is up to you."

"So that's it? You think Artemis will let me live if I tell you. I'd be a dead man walking."

"That is it. It's a risk you have to take. Gut tells me you'll live because you're too important to them. And to yourself, Pavel. Just get better bodyguards, yeah?"

He sighed, knowing he was truly screwed. There was no way out of this. And to him, his image was all that mattered. Being the best, on top. There was no fighting his way out of this. If Skye could do that to his henchman, and the pistol that she had was centred right at his head, there was little chance he would have.

Trick was, she had to engineer him a little here. Skye knew what she had spilled was risky, but it was enough to make him scared because she knew what he was involved in. It was enough to make him run to his network, rather than hide- the fact that someone like Skye had come in and done this would make him talk to his friends in a panic, realising he was under threat. It was more the idea of the fact that the bad men were coming after Pavel, more than anything. Making a man who thought he was invincible feel very mortal, and save his skin for now, before the team got the details they needed of him and his wider connections.

"Alright. After a few years ago and the original setup of Artemis fell apart, a group of government officials, CEOs, companies, realised that drastic measures need to be taken to protect us from our own mess. I heard it was much worse, what is on the table is better, and that is all I know. Artemis is going to put the world back on course, after some....setbacks. I'm just a supplier and I don't know shit, I promise, but the cabal on top in Artemis, they want to fix this whole thing. They don't want anarchy. They just want an order."

"What are you fucking talking about?"

"None of these solutions are going to work to solve all of our problems. They're all linked. Governments that don't work. Overpopulation. Climate change. Inequality, resources, water, food scarcity, all of it. There will be anarchy soon. People fighting over basic amenities let alone smartphones. And nobody wants to do a thing. We are out of time for the solutions. The only answer is to control, and that is down to people like us. People won't listen to speeches, technology, promises, they listen to fear. People will die, but we might keep things intact, and ourselves too. You kill me, there'll be another tech billionaire who has the same idea." Pavel paused, clearing his throat, his swear and fear dying back as he backed himself, Skye respecting that bravely enough, he was trying to justify it.

"Listen, you seem clever enough. Whatever your name is. You don't have to do this. You can replace Alexei, call it here and give in to reason. If you want to stop Artemis, I don't care what government, company, anyone you work for, it won't stop. It's inevitable. Because if they don't the wave of shit comes for us all and it all burns."

"No thanks, you seem like an asshole to work for. You know, I know about Pascha and Talisa. They thought they could do the same after they did what they did. They were going to fucking nuke major population centres, and kill billions for their cause. Because they believed they could repopulate the world with perfect people, and rule the ashes. And you think otherwise? Or did your overlords not tell you?"

"Not like that. They were a rogue element. They don't want to kill everyone, but you know as well as I do, the brakes need to be put on all of this. And it keeps me where I need to be. And the rest."

"Sure there's no more? You want more power for yourself in your crypto-fucking-fantasy? Control corrupts, and soon you will kill plenty more than you imagined. Starts with a few, ends with everyone. Way I see it, you're part of the fucking problem."

"Not just me then. I just host their servers and they keep me off hitlists of people like you, and keep business going. I promise, I've got nothing to do with any of the dirty work. Just a lot to gain if it goes right. And it's so much bigger than you think.....all of it. All the people in this. Listen to me, you can't stop this. You're either with them, or you'll be next. I have my bunker when it all goes to an end. Do you?"

"Well, clearly it's not working, keeping the riff-raff like me away. I feel fucking sorry for you, Pavel. All that money, status, power, everything. And yet you talk you're above it all, keeping your hands clean of blood and talking about people like they're things. At least I'm honest about killing Alexei. Not sure about you."

"So you'll join that world of hurt then. Whoever it is that is paying you will too."

"That's not for you to decide. I'm not getting any answers I like, so let's cut the crap."
Skye pulled the vial out, and knowing Pavel was scared, would get the last bits she needed, one way or another.

"Shit.....wait." Pavel mumbled, as he put his hands up, now the shoe being firmly on the other foot.

"There's my satellite network. It got used in a hack on an organisation I don't know anything about....a difficult one. My contact wanted it stopped badly. They came for something that was valuable to the organisation, and whatever it was, it was critical enough for me to throw everything I had at it. I want you to know that, before you do whatever you do to me, you won't be able to do anything with it, given it's out of reach. Even if you hack my computer, I don't see you living long enough. That's how it happened. Look, now you know, it won't matter." He retorted, chuckling, yet somewhat still in fear and worried. Gloating now was probably worth it, given he knew he'd done enough not to die.

Pavel knew his security would pick up the pieces quickly enough for this chancer, well, if Skye was alone they would. Little did they know that they were occupied, disabled, or worse, being snuck into.

"The security will lock this place down, or Artemis will find you again. They seem to know you personally. And I bet they're trying to send a message, whatever it is the Cabal want. It must have been you. Make them know they noticed whatever you are. So good luck putting it to use. With or without me, they get what they want."

"That sounds like you can't even own up to it. Like you're scared of what you gave them, and have to lie to yourself to keep it going. You know what I said about lying?"
Skye retorted, eying him up, rather sick of his semantics. Fuck, he was so much like a Bond villain, he had gone DOWN in her estimations. At least he'd just been a regular twat before that, but right now, he was a weaselly, snarky little bastard.

"You really deserve a bit of clarity."

With it, Skye took the concealed balm and with a flick, pulled the syringe and dabbed it straight into his neck, pushing him against the wall as he squirmed, before leaning back.

The cocktail wasn't exactly a truth serum, but more like a mix of rohypnol, anaesthetics and other psychoactive drugs from the time of MK Ultra, fused in a chemical cocktail known in the industry as "Runner's Martini". It would put him under for about three minutes, and waking up after that in recovery would feel like getting roofied, being so drunk, high and out of his ass, he'd start spewing all kinds of nonsense, as well as in time, fluids and other bodily functions that didn't need thinking about. There was no antidote, and it lasted for a good hour of utter comedy till his stomach was cleared. The sort of thing you used because you wanted a target incapacitated, and then very much awake, but a bumbling, utter train wreck. The sort of drug that wasn't a sleeping agent, but more like a spy's wet dream. A perfect distraction that ruined people.

Pavel had spilled some interesting details too. The satellite launches and network that everyone knew about clearly had some effect on the mission in being able to tap into comms and could have some wider impacts beyond that as well as other activity that Artemis had for communications or untrackable data, but they wouldn't be everything that they needed. That was likely to be on the servers, and computers, including right here, in his office. That was one part- and likely it held much of Artemis's information, not just the hack itself. That bit was small change, what was more important was who was tangled in it- namely, this shapely bastard and his role in it, and the wider network would emerge from that. That, and the fact that they weren't done here for information. Sam had bugging to do, and they would find out who, what and where he was calling when all was said and all was done.

What concerned Skye was the fact Pavel clearly wasn't all the way in with Artemis's activities. He was involved, but more likely than not, doing it for his own protection, and everything pointed to that. Like he was paranoid about people coming for him and taking his crown. For his own defence, which in some way, scared her a hell of a lot more. If even Pavel couldn't look after himself, then who the fuck was in the middle of this? It suggested Artemis's motives were far darker than anyone knew. Not just some corrupt government, but if they'd convinced Pavel he was safe from what was to come, Skye almost wondered how bad it would get.

A few years ago, a black on black debrief document came out after a mission involving a suspected set of nuclear launch sites in Kerala and Idaho being hijacked by fringe elements of Artemis, the kind that Skye's predecessor had to go and deal with- even then, most of it was redacted. It was a lunatic thing to have read, but it had been stopped just in time, and very, very quietly, everyone had been sworn to secrecy given the world as everyone had known it had almost ended. And it probably wasn't the first time. Not that the main elements of the team knew this, of course. What she wondered was that perhaps Artemis were thinking the same. If at all something like that could happen, then it wasn't just some shady anarchist group. Perhaps they were even bringing modern day feudal lords like him over the table. Live, in a new world, or die, with the old. Just how they were doing it, Skye didn't know. But it didn't sound good, and Pavel had been convinced he had to be there on the right side of things, and blackmailed to whatever was required.

The last bit though, that one sunk in. Skye had to wonder. Maybe it was a nudge, to let whoever she worked for know, they were being noticed now. Pavel probably had no idea, but perhaps, he'd put the dots together and finally saw his enemy in the flesh, not on other side of a screen.

---

One to None - A Workplace Guide to Human Resources, Project Management and Motivation with Skye Lyons

On that note, Skye started the process for any HVT's personal details- biometrics for scanners in particular, and anything on his person. There was no personal alarm on him, and his security team were probably too busy with Freya, as she got to work. In the field it would have been too much work given it took time to do a full scan, but with the hidden phone, she could do that, starting to get his handprints onto their network, as well as his eyes, where he sat out cold.

It was going to be an interesting process to say the least- Skye now had clear space to properly talk, and address the team properly given they were all at work.

@Wayward@LadyAmber@Theyra

"Change of plan, team. I had my chat and I'm in his office, currently with a very out of it Pavel. Guard details are minimal, but keep your eyes open. Hornet, Chaos, Jaguar, I'm getting his fingerprints and his retinal image. I need to get him back upstairs soon, so I might need a hand sneaking up to drop him at the top of the stairs. Recommend you get to me soon as you can, that gives you time to hack his computers. Jaguar, the servers the next level down will be more difficult to break into, but Chaos might be able to help from Pavel's computer. We do not have much time, so everyone, hustle your shite."

Skye seemed confident as ever, firm as ever even as the team lead dusted herself off, the marks on her neck clear to see that she'd nearly been choked out, but hey, once again, not dying was always a top thing to do when you were held by a Russian bodyguard.

Could recommend that, checking her dress and the metal rounds falling out from where the weave had stopped the rounds. If they weren't hollow points, she'd be hurting a hell of a lot more, when the adrenaline wore off.

She felt for Mateo, who clearly was going to be a little more pissed at Skye than she was comfortable with, yet couldn't blame him for. No doubt Freya might be the same. She had a lot of apologies to make, but sometimes, the greater good like Pavel said, needed a few sacrifices in the short term, as awful as she had to agree with him there was. Besides, she knew she'd have the details for them both soon, there'd be a way back at some more revenge. Opportunities and all that, and she hoped that she'd make it up in the long term as a result of this work, as likely the network might include some people they wanted to see.

@Awesomoman64@BigPapaBelial
"Frigga, Glitch, recommend you tell Carl to short Vale stock, and stay on top of their security until you see me. Trust me, it'll be the best financial investment you ever make, so Glitch, make sure the cameras are all eyes on Pavel when he comes back. We may need to go with Plan B for our way out. When we do, follow my lead and don't stop. That's a way I don't want to use if the alarm goes off, but we might not have a choice."
Skye looked around after she'd finished up, and pulling up his computer kept her eyes open, knowing that Sam, Mateo or Michelle could get to her now- likely it would be Sam in here and Mateo to the servers, though she knew that they would figure that out for themselves, as she cut the comms to Mateo, last of all.
@Theyra
"Just trust me on this one, Mateo. We'll get him, we'll have ID on the cameras but not here."

She began to pull the slobbering Pavel up against the desk, and with an uncomfortable pull, got him in a position that could be fireman lifted onto her shoulder when ready, sighing, as she murmured to herself. It wasn't the first time she'd done this.
"The things I do for drunk people."

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

Singapore

Skye Rosalind Lyons

Social Butterfly

The atmosphere was certainly getting busier, as more guests came in, the sleek wooden floor getting more busy as the team were getting caught up, one by one. From Freya tangling up with the guard, Carl keeping watch over the rest, Xan serving drinks, Sam breaking and entering, and well, the others doing what she hoped was their little part to play, Skye kept her own attention turned to the fact this was business, not pleasure. Though the sight of Xander with a tray of drinks, including champagne, as she took the glass, sliding the keycard under.

@Awesomoman64

"Why, thank you...Henry." Skye replied back to the waiter, the incognito Australian fitting in just perfectly. The handoff was slick as anything, the pass sliding across under the other like it was barely a thing, the two proficient at their craft. They had to be, because any slip-ups here meant it was certainly going to hell.
"You seem to be a rather dashing waiter, out of all of them. I'd say you'd almost have a knack for it." Skye added, giggling, making it out she was flirting with him as she walked up to his ear, her height allowing her to just lean in and peck him on the neck, then whisper up in his ear:
"Pavel's behind you. Leave me to this one." She whispered to Xan, using the chance to look over and see him.

And there he was, Pavel Andros, talking to two other businessmen, the late 30-something tech billionaire exactly the depiction of wealth you could imagine. Smart casual with a shirt that on the surface looked not that expensive, but in reality, was in the thousands of dollars, with a watch to match, and sunglasses on his temple that followed. A sharp look in his eye and obviously some physical training at the gym, but one that of course, just masked the nerd underneath. He was a weasel trying to play at being a big man.

Looking back into his eyes, Skye gave a wry blush and left him with that, walking across to the bar, champagne glass in hand and one keycard lighter. The piano playing away, the soft tones filling the void between conversation, it was a rather classy place to be. The redhead certainly felt the part, her presence unlike her usual warhawk self, in this instance, smooth and easygoing, like she was a part of this. A chameleon, moving like any of the bastards she didn't like did.

@LadyAmber
With that interaction, she kept her ear out, hearing Sam's voice call in her ear, knowing she'd already started her way in but being unable to respond. After taking a separate entry, Sam was headed down into the gutter of the offices, and had gotten her kit, as well as already getting into the cameras. Not bad at all, considering everything- and well, making her moves. No doubt Michelle would be following Sam down into the gutters, the master thief so quiet Skye sometimes forgot how quiet she was in these situations. Alas, you let professionals do their thing, and they got results. Skye knew that all too well in her own method.

-----

While unable to reply just yet, Skye looked back over to Freya, Carl, Jamie and Geza, the sight of them getting together and interacting on certainly enough to turn the heads of the party. Including guards. But not Skye's, as she took her champagne and sipped it down, the red-head, red-dressed Scot moving towards the group, glass in hand. There were security around, but well, it was free-flowing. They were talking all kinds of tech, as Pavel cut away from the group, Skye watching as she knew she'd missed this chance. That was because the twat had something to say, heading towards a raised podium across the floor, where one of his lackeys held a microphone, hooked up to the speaker system of the place. The vibe died suddenly as the speaker kicked in, the pianist finishing his piece, anticipating as the man on the platform put mic to lips.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we thank you for coming to our party tonight, and hope you are enjoying your time! We hope you enjoyed your free drinks, and that the music is to your liking, please give it up for James Nicholls on the piano! And now, for a special speaker, the Chief Executive Officer of Vale Systems, Pavel Andros!" The suited man stepped down as Pavel emerged from the group of suited men he was talking to, the small crowd applauding as he took the microphone, hand up, waving to the group, this corporate little bit of hand waving inevitable. Of course there was something like this.

"Thank you, thank you Christopher! Hello all, once again, thank you for coming and taking the time out of your busy schedules, but I know many of you will have been on our journey as key investors. So many faces I recognise, so many people working to make the world a better place, and without you, we change the world. Vale has been recording record share prices this year, and through my leadership, where would we be?!" Pavel started, the crowd chuckling to his more likely than not, sarcasm that was probably really how he saw himself.

"We have been at the cutting edge of technology for over ten years, and our time in Singapore has been one we have seen particular growth in our design and sustainability sectors, through engagement with the local market. Our journey has proven that we can disrupt the market, and do things better, cleaner, faster. From cutting edge solutions in electronics and computing, to our proven record in ore to chipset management, we have proven that the future is Vale."

"But most of all, I wanted to take this opportunity to say to you now, that your trust in Vale's values is one I take to heart, and it's why I take the opportunity to announce our investments in our new, large-scale, Vale Systems, World Engineering team. For too long, we have suffered the effects of climate change and resource scarcity. No more. Our Ferrovia One project starting later this year in the Canary Islands is on the front line against our changing climate, stabilising and bringing frequent rain back to North Africa and Spain after years of drought, and with our new satellites, we are finding new deposits of rare earth minerals that will better humankind and allow us to optimise the way we find, mine and manage our vulnerable resources, making Vale a market leader. We are investing in AI systems to help us fix the big problems, the challenges of the world through connected, linked systems for major infrastructure providers. "

The bit people didn't mention, or at least, if you were somewhat read up enough was that Pavel was full of shit. Ferrovia-One was an overhyped idea of hybrid iron fertilisation blended with wind, solar and seed fertilisation for clouds- and was incredibly inconsistent as an idea. Incredibly risky even, and even national governments had an issue with it in dealing with multiple heatwaves, and given it was being funded to protect agricultural interests, was rather closed in on a certain problem of other companies Vale worked with. So too was the satellites, that bit in particular, Skye knew something was sneaky there. And the AI? Shit, he was getting his claws inside the system. Not because he was with Artemis as a goon, but no doubt, it would be rather handy.

The crowd took it in, but deep inside, Skye had her concerns- sure, it was noble, but once again, overpromise, lie, and turn the wheel. Oh, what a guy.

"We are delivering the future of that world you once dreamed about, today, and we have natural computation models that are years ahead of the curve. We have invested in computational power that now makes us a market leader, and we are putting that to use, while generating record growth, return and achievement. And I thank you for your investment, because you're with us on this journey to make a better world."

"You can all sleep easy that you may be drinking champagne, but you are all making real change. So please, enjoy yourselves, and enjoy your evening with Vale. Thank you, once again for coming, and thank you for your support."
Pavel finished to the crowd's applause, stepping down from the platform after drinking it in, the crowd calming down and back to their conversations.

After Pavel's little speech, Skye knew he would be swamped. So she gave it a little while, finding a corner to drink her champagne in, before looking back to Xander, then back at Pavel. In time, she'd make her move, as the team went through the site.

---

Skye had the chance in the interim to chat with other guests, keeping up her façade, aware that right now she needed to move off that whole idea of a bodyguard, and well, someone who fitted in here. She was a ghost, and no doubt, she'd have a fair amount of bullshit to get through, but if you believed your story well enough, it worked. As Sam would have seen, this place was full of well to do businessmen, Vale employees, execs and directors, even a couple of Sheikhs, but worse than that, well, Andreas Tejador. Shit. That one wasn't part of the plan, but then again, he was milling around the rest. She adjusted her frequency, picking up Mateo. She'd seen him come in, and mingle a little himself before likely going downstairs to join Sam on the servers.

@Theyra
"Mateo, recommend you don't come back up. There's one of the Tejador boys up here. Looks like he's out of the way, but don't get tied into anything. Stay focussed on the task at hand. We'll sort him another day." Skye commented calmly, out of earshot and mumbling into her comms, before recentring herself, looking around, and then finding Pavel once again. Right by the side of a bar, under a little porch area, and right for the taking. She had to hope Mateo had his wits on him- he'd figured it out no doubt the sort of crowd that was here, and she hoped he trusted her enough with her word. There were bigger fish to fry, and Skye was very aware she was depending on a lot of trust here to get this done.

It was a strange place to be. Skye knew that the themes that Pavel had touched on were the very real problems that many wanted answers for. Inequality, climate change, all noble things to try and fix. Even she had to admit, some of it felt needed. But the encroachment of that world on politics, the order of things, it felt like it was in the tipping point. Artemis was chaotic and fuck, they weren't eco-terrorists, they just wanted carnage. And to make money, which just felt at odds with Pavel, and what he was doing. If they were tied up, then Skye's concern was more significant than that. They were up to something in the end, and while Skye knew how close previous groups like Artemis had come before in establishing a new world order, or straight up destroying the world as they knew it, just bombing things felt like a misdirection for a greater play. One that needed some answers.

With a sly move through the crowd, Skye came up through, seeing Pavel just about finish up with one group, making her way through, seductive as ever, her Scots accent sticking. There was relatively little in the way of guards, now that Freya had most of their attention, leaving a only a couple of bodyguards in the close vicinity.

"Pavel, that was an excellent speech, aye, no' bad at all. I think we met last year, back in....Dubai, I recall?" Skye introduced herself, knowing full well that well, rubbing ego was the way to go. When you were working on social engineering, you became an echo, and slowly, but surely, you crept in. It was confidence trickery- you made them believe you, get in close, then bam, get them. You play a very specific game, Skye said to herself. This wasn't like trying to convince someone in her team to work, no, this was getting inside his head without losing your own. Making rapport, getting confidence, and then in exactly the right moment, making them do what you want.

The fact she was also a redhead in a red dress, and rather ripe for the taking was always a thing. Pavel was a serial womaniser, suppressed enough by an army of lawyers to make sure nothing ever got out, and while his business mind would tick, Skye's mere presence would start it away. A sultry-toned Scot, her voice like a Highland breeze just being enhanced by the champagne she'd been drinking. She looked every part of the elegance she was, and Pavels' heart rate only increased, even in his confusion.

"Maybe? I am not sure, but thank you. Sorry, who are you again?" Pavel replied, turning his head across, Skye standing at the same height at him, and no doubt catching him off guard, her charm back on again.

"Skye Caldwell, freelance consultant. Used to work for Jottunheim a while back, but doing my own thing...we met while I worked there. I heard a lot about your own work on superconductors, so just had to meet the man who's big in the game for them again, we chatted a bit about it last time?"
Skye remarked, back to her usual game. There was a way to play social engineering off, and she was experienced enough a field operative to know how to do it. Her stoicism paired with a little ability to play naive, be someone she wasn't could come out to full effect.

"Really? I had some run in with your old boss....she is quite the character, hey? Talk about dominating the workplace....it could make someone want to get out there." He smugly remarked, not giving anything away, but oh, Skye knew it all in the here and now, and played along.

"Yes, you could say that....I was in her R&D team, a while back. Needed my own thing after a while. But your business is certainly doing well. The industry turned their heads after your work in South Korea on their new Maglev line."
Skye started, making sure she could tap into that ego of his. It got him good, that was for sure, the Eastern European accent of Pavel broken up with the Greek Cypriot and predominantly Americanised, Silicon Valley exec tone he held.

"It did very well, yes. You know, I don't think I'd get anyone who knew superconductors here. Tell me, where was Freya up to?"
Skye had him in. Oh, but she didn't know much, but well, this was what she had gambled on a little. That initial confidence, curiosity would just keep digging.

"Well....NDAs and all that, but she was doing some very interesting tests. I can't say, but near room-temperature superconductors for coil and electromagnet systems. Really interesting. The industry will be certainly changing again when that stuff gets to market, including your material sciences program and engineering consultancy." Skye knew a little jargon, she'd gone in prepared, well, enough to hold her own here.

"Well...whatever NDA it is, I'm sure I could pay off her lawyers. That is, if you were willing to discuss a little more?" His business brain turned, because well, that instantly got something going, as he leaned in close, a little too close. Fuck, he was a freak. But of course he was, with his history and Skye looking the way she did, the athleticism rather than sheer muscles making her look like she was just some runner of some description while out at the party. He got in close, eyeing up Skye, already giving her absolute creep vibes. It felt odd, he wasn't obviously attracted to her like the 20 year old girls he probably courted, but hell, even this felt weird. Skye had dealt with worse, but hey, you did what you did to keep their attention, as Pavel put a hand on hers, Skye slowly pulling back as she replied.

"Uhhh....we get on well. In fact, as an old colleague, and she invited me too.....shit, I wasn't sure about this. Feels bad. But...I guess I kind of made most of it happen. So thought you might be partial to it. Though if anything, purely because I'm looking for work..." Skye played that fiddle rather well, the other one that didn't have strings and was quite small. Pavel had strict orders to his team to not let in anyone else beyond Freya to this party, given their past run in, but right now, this was too interesting. Skye knew that she had to risk it with that, but it gained trust, and established that well...maybe she was smarter than she seemed. Unluckily for Pavel, this was working nicely.

"You don't need to worry with me. It is more than consulting makes, yes? I get it, you're worried about trade secrets you worked on, and you sound honest. Come on, let's grab a drink and talk more. I'm rather interested in what you have to say, and make some introductions. Dave Harris there, Director of Materials Science there would love to..." He started, Skye putting her hand up, shaking her head knowing this had to be contained- the guy across the other side of the bar couldn't join. Not for their chat.

"Oh no, that's ok. Look....if it's alright, I don't want anyone to know. I'd prefer if we could talk about it in private. " Skye added, pulling out a document from her handbag, sliding it in front. This was a bad time to realise it, but she'd....borrowed? Borrow, yes, borrowed, one of Freya's documents. And it looked like one of the composites that Freya had gotten from Vale, albeit modified, in a way that no doubt, would raise some eyebrows. A glance from Pavel confirmed it was the real deal, well, passing enough to look like something confidential.

"Interesting. Why pick this party, Skye? You could have just gone to Dave if you were looking for work, and look, he knows..." She had him now. Hook was in, line....now...

"Because any other way gets me sued to oblivion by her. And this got me in. I know what Freya does to people too......so could we grab a quiet spot downstairs instead? I'm not sure how else this works, without the two of you killing each other, and she is over there, your security looks like they've got a handle on her. It's not something I can do easy. Then we can get the contract drawn up with lawyers tomorrow morning, and get back to this party." Skye astutely responded, knowing this was tapping into all of it. She was making it clear she wasn't stupid- no, she got this full well, right when it mattered.

The history with Freya, and the others. In a way that suggested she knew the rumours, and yet was on Pavel's side, with a goldmine of something he wouldn't be able to turn down. That and for him, it was a spot of revenge. Skye knew how to get inside people's heads, and very expertly, knew she could make Pavel see things in a particular way. No matter how clever he was, no doubt he'd made his own hole and right now, Skye was giving him the option to be clever about it. That, and well, her charm had burnt through the remainder of his defence, leaving him fixed on her, and wanting only that time. She knew what she was doing, Skye very much aware while she wasn't some casanova, she was honeypotting him quite well.

"You have my interest. Fine. You don't mind if Alexei comes with me?" Pavel suggested, looking over his shoulder, the bald-headed guard coming through.

"Sure." Skye replied, letting it sink in.

Ahh fuck. He may not have been as big as the giant Freya was currently holding up, but he was at least 6"8, and an absolute beefcake. There was no way in hell that the pepper spray would work on him. The sleeping agent would basically be like trying to use it on a bear, and the acid, maybe that would hurt a little. Which left the other tools. And putting them together. Finding a way to do that would be tricky, but it would get her the seclusion she needed.

With that, the three broke from the crowd, and heading down to another set of stairs, headed down, into the offices. Where they were going, Skye wasn't too sure, but she made sure Freya had seen them going, as well as Xan. They were headed down to a meeting room from the mumbling Skye heard Pavel call to Alexei, and the Scot only hoped they weren't going to get into the way of the others.

The Conflict

"Noted, but from what I remember, these savages don't really take a PID the usual way." Sean called back to Yekatarina, the Russian's disgust met with only a wall of of apathy, as he looked across to Bethan, following Hayden in. Not that Hayden was in a good way. Even Sean had to admit, he felt like he was in his own deep end, but the Canuck was in deeper.

The noise of the hostages yelped out as they headed through the insides, and Beth was pulled to it, just the same as their half-appoitned leader. She ran over, the ex-Marine holding her worry the same as Hayden, for a moment seeing the skeleton-thin like hostages in cages, in shock at the sight of it but trying not to let it take hold of her. All she could do was do something, not talk in shock, whatever Kat, Sean, or Hayden had to say.

They looked awful- starved and certainly held as a pawn against whoever their respective governments were. This was an awful place to be stranded, and no doubt, she could feel the pain they felt, given their situation earlier. Doing something felt natural, to Beth at least, as Sean looked on at the scene, watching as she took a prybar from the floor to try and pull off a lock, yelling as she pulled the chain out, opening it and freeing another cage.

The scene escalated quickly, as the sound of SUVs crowded into the compound- whatever hell they'd started, the reinforcements had arrived.

"Fuck. We have company. Hayden, Kat, we need to go, now! Put the hostages between us and them, fuck this!" Sean yelled, his voice barking, not interested in the captives and certainly not interested in staying here. They had to make a move, and Sean was ready by the door, steady to make a move quickly whilst keeping an eye out on the approaching cars, far enough for them to get going.
"If we have the time, chances are, they're more likely dead with us....shite." Beth muttered out loud, looking at Kat, trusting her call on this one, yet fully aware of the circumstances.
"No time for that, these goons look geared, it's fire or run, make your call!" Sean yelled back at all of them, raising his FAL, steadying it at the vehicles coming in, ready to cover fire and make sure the team could bolt, or at the least, steady himself to do so if they fucked around anymore. He wasn't dying here over some poor hostages. They got their job done. They needed to go, and now.