Collab between Queen, Frigga, and Chaos
Observatorio Cruz del Sur, Torres del Paine, Patagonia, Chile
The Other Side of the Looking Glass
“Affirm. Do what you can, sabotage the AA and we’ll sort the aircraft ourselves. There’s a chance Frigga’s balloon won’t hold once we get moving, so you may need to get base to steer it home and cut loose, or just pack it up. That Hagglunds out there should be plenty big enough for your size, Frigga!” Skye chirped, as she kept her rifle pointed at the techs, eyes on what they were doing, coding and programming away, the Scot acutely aware of the risk as she peeked back to Sam.
“We may need to divide and conquer here. Hawk can get me something a little more nimble than that ATV,, so I may need you to take some attention, whilst I go after the big game. That satellite, if intel is right, weighs about seven tonnes. Once that hits, it’s gonna make a really, really big bang. Tungsten carbide core, with a lot of radiation and heat shielding on it, so slowing it down will make sense, or else it’ll disintegrate whatever it hits. Probably still will….” She added, chuckling, knowing that today they would be playing with one hell of a tool. It was never a conventional thing to down a satellite, but it’d make a bang alright- and once cooled, they could recover something.__________
Frigga had been a step or two behind Chaos and Queen, so as she comes into the tech room, she’s got a guard under her left arm, the young fellas face going purple due to his continued struggles to get loose, and well the sheer lack of air going to his head. She smiles and waves to the others before with an almost casual and well negligent heave the guard goes rolling over into a corner. A grin and Frigga reaches over her back and pulls Starbreaker, that incredibly heavy warhammer off her back. Walking towards the other techs. As she’s asked to cover them. She smiles and nods to Chaos, “Oh don’t worry Chaos, I don’t think they are going anywhere.” She lets the head of the hammer fall, and pulverize the tiles at their feet, powdered tile wafting up about her feet briefly. She leans on the hammer and stares down at the tech through her helmet, “Are you?” The tech quickly raises her hands shaking her head, struck dumb and mute at the moment from the towering armored “thing” before her. Frigga grins, “See? We have an understanding.”
__________
Samantha’s fingers flew across the keyboard as she focused on hacking into the observatory’s computer systems. It became quickly apparent to her that these were low level technicians without much access or knowledge of what they were truly doing with this installation. She was surprised that they understood that the work they were doing was for a shady organization that lacked official backing. Samantha talked to Skye without her eyes ever leaving the computer screen or keyboard. “Skye, if that satellite comes down and crashes, it is going to cause a huge natural disaster as the kinetic waves throw dust into the air like a volcano would. We need to find an alternative. I think I found one.” She concentrated as her fingers flew faster.
She blinked as dust flew into the air after Frigga let the hammer drop. She chuckled, “Thank you for the assist Frigga. Much appreciated. Maybe we should let you handle all future interrogations.” She grinned at her large companion before going back to work.
First the antiaircraft missiles and guns. She turned them off after getting into the sensitive parts of the server. They had made the mistake of thinking no one would ever find this facility or be able to breach it. They had all the computers on a network of shared servers. They had unwittingly given Samantha access to everything at this facility. She had found a section of code that she recognized from hacking the asswipes personal computer from Singapore. She followed his back door into the system. She chased down the hidden files. “Anti-aircraft defenses are offline.” She froze the lack of noise from her typing startling and sudden.
She looked over at the other technician that was trying to crash the satellite. “STOP! Back away from the computer.” Her fingers once more flying over the keyboard. “He needs to stop what he is doing. They have the whole complex rigged to blow if anyone tries what they are doing without the right authorization codes.” She didn’t look away from the computer but she could only imagine the technicians’ horror at that thought. They should pick better bosses. “The satellite was designed with an ejectable computer core. It is designed to survive re-entry. They didn’t want anyone else getting their hands on their data or know what they are up to. I found the codes. I am reprogramming it to come down where you want it to. The explosion will still be big but not big enough to worry the surrounding area.” She went back to work. “Do you want to set the explosives off?” __________
Skye chuckled as Freya did her work, the hammer coming down and smashing the tiles to smithereens, the tech terrified out of her skin as she could only savor the work at play that the Norse woman was making.
“Yeah….noted. Fucking hell, Frigga. Got us playing good cop, bad cop here. Keep an eye out.” Skye broke a smirk, as she watched Sam at work, the turning realization making Skye a little sick, albeit, glad Sam had spotted it. It was helpful in this scenario to have her on board and with a pickup like that, whilst Skye would have queried it, she was glad that Sam was observant, and willing to do the right thing under that pressure, rather than give into Skye’s. She was a leader, but the team did know their roles, and Skye trusted them implicitly with it.
“Do it, Chaos. Bring the core down, and let’s get it once it’s on the ground. As for the charges….we’ll need every advantage we can get. I hate to destroy such a nice facility, but we’re going to be hunted after this. Can you set it on a remote detonator….or are we going to have to deal with the pressure of a clock?” Skye asked inquisitively to Sam, hearing her comms splutter with the sound of Vincent Cisse, pilot extraordinaire.
“Adieu, Capitane 10 minutes out till station. Call the rounds when ready, and I’ll send the fire down!” He called out across, as Skye looked over to Sam and Frigga, hoping that Sam would nearly be there.
“Alright. We’d best get a move on once that’s done. Shit is about to get real out there.” __________
Frigga looked around slowly, her visored gaze and blue white “eyes” of her visor stopped on each tech still in the room, “Now we’re not going to have any problems are we?” She said it loud and clear. Lifting the hammer from the small crater she had created just by letting the head of it fall to the floor naturally earlier, “I don’t want to have to hurt any of you. You’re all good people, I’m sure, even if working for the wrong side.” She lifts the hammer up over her shoulder, a set of three 7 inch claws snapping into place on the pyramid like pommel of the giant thing, ominous clicks and the sound of loosening chain, “We have work to do here, and all of you, need to get out of here. Alive preferably yes?” She grins brightly.
Frigga looks like she’s about to leave it at that, when the guard she had come in with makes a noise, no maybe not him specifically, it’s his radio that gives a blurt of static then someone saying they are coming around the corner to the tech room to make their check inside it. Frigga, turns, waits, yes actually waits, then as one of the doors swings open she heaves back, and throws Starbreaker. The 5 foot long hammer sailing through the air, catching the guard on the shoulder (thankfully) and breaking something as he goes down in shock. A long line of chain attached to the hammer immediately reels it back into her waiting hand, “Case in point. I don’t want to hurt you good folks. Them though, well. Karma sometimes comes calling.”
__________
Skye looked on in shock yet a certain kind of delight as it smacked the man in the shoulder, the recoil from Freya’s hammer shaking the ground itself and making the Scot only remind herself that Freya in her element wouldn’t be taking prisoners today. Not after cleaning up a team coming after them, and well, using the good old fashioned, hammer-time approach to fixing problems. It was surely fixing this, but fuck, was it cool to watch. Must have been one hell of a thrill even if she was used to it, the team lead reasoned mentally, as she wanted to say something cool, but realized the situation at hand with Sam finishing up.__________
Samantha programmed the self destruct to respond to her comms based on the software updates she had made for Boomer. “I can remotely detonate their failsafe explosives. I don’t need to put it on a clock.” She looked back as she heard the door and admired Frigga’s handiwork. “I do love your work!” She knew they were on the clock before Artemis discovered the infiltration and rained hellfire down on them. “Queen, they have an alarm rigged to send out network wide alerts if the core is ejected. There is no way to override it, it’s mechanical. They will know the core has been ejected as soon as it leaves the satellite. There will be maybe a 5 minute lead time due to the distances involved before they get the signal.” She finished up by locking everyone out of the system and changing all passcodes and passwords using a nice little program she had on hand. __________
“That’s enough for us. Go for it. We’re nearly compromised as it is, so we may as well start the fire.” Skye replied, the Scot letting her continue at will, moving across the room, watching on as the techs and Sam worked away, the Scot not needing to add too much, other than the strategic and tactical situation as it played out, and then, only then, she would uncoil that tight spring on the bastards.__________
She could decrypt the system but no one else would be getting in to change anything. Even a hard reboot won’t work. She changed the firmware settings too. She cackled evilly as she stood up from the terminal. “We are good to go boss. I have set the satellite to launch the core in 5 minutes. That gives us time to clear the observatory before they know what’s happening.” She paused and looked at Skye for any additional orders. Samantha turned and appreciated Frigga’s work as she looked at the aftermath of her work. She was very grateful that the giant was on her side. __________
“Affirmative. Let’s go then. Back out the way we came, down to the tracked vehicle. I’ll see if I can call in something to help, given the VTOL can’t land here without getting obliterated, we’ll need to settle for what we can use. That hill is steep, so be careful when you drive down, mind? More for you, Chaos, I don’t want Frigga crushing you or something. Or do. I don’t know what you kids are into these days.” Skye retorted, a certain dryness to her voice, perhaps from babysitting the techs, as she turned to face them.
“In about three minutes, run for that door there, that goes to the lower cavern and out of the base, and do not stop until you are away from this compound. If you go early, you’ll die. If you go late, you’ll die. Three minutes exactly, because that is the schedule we will be on. Understood?” Skye spoke in her Spanish, the techs nodding, as the Scot shouldered her rifle again.
With it, Skye looked to the others, and with a silent, affirming nod, took point once more. They needed to get out of here, and with the Scot raising her rifle, she was back on the lead once again, knowing now this time, they were definitely going to raise some hell.
The bodies in the the observatory room with the telescope were still there, as the sound of footsteps could be heard from the door they came in from.
“Hang on, hold. Alarm hasn’t gone yet. Frigga, this one is yours. I’ll let you have some fun, Chaos, stay low with me. QRF will come through in a second…..oh boy.” Skye called, knowing that on this little occasion, Skye knew that an armored giant was good- but springing an ambush with one that could turn somewhat invisible, well, she needed her fill of entertainment, as she moved into cover behind a workbench. This was Frigga’s paradise- a giant fucking telescope, physics labs and books, and yet all in all, someone who knew more than those was about to do some damage.__________
Frigga finished reeling her hammer back to her hand, catching it with a resounding clang, and swinging it up and back onto her shoulder, turning to the techs, eyeing them all carefully, “You heard the others. Three minutes, yes?” All the techs looking from Queen to Chaos and then UP at Frigga, and nodding almost as one, “Good. Very good.” She rounded back on Queen, then her head snapping up as the sound of approaching footsteps once again made someone's presence known. With a sigh the big woman nodded, and crouched down, almost reading minds. She got behind a bank of consoles, let out a slow breath. It took a moment or two, and anyone watching gets to watch as first her chest, then her arms, then her legs and ending with her head just vanishes under this interesting glassy, almost oily texture. Her armor's stealth field capabilities ticking on. And soon, maybe 50 seconds, the only thing saying Frigga is there, is her shadow, hidden by the consoles. Her voice soft over comms, “If anyone survives my charge, take them out please my angels? Yes?”
And waited…
And waited….
The door opened.
And Frigga lamented the fact she had to break so many computers and maybe lose a great deal of data on who knows what kind of experiments and what information is lost to her sudden near invisible charge.
But if you’ve ever seen Ghostbusters Two, the courtroom scene, with the court chairs flying as the invisible ghosts stalked the judge.
At this moment as computers go flying to the side, chairs whir off, the techs running for cover closest to the door they need to get out in a few moments, it’s a sight to see as an invisible train barrels up, catches three of the guards in her unseen grasp and carries them back through the door, leaving another three for Chaos and Queen to take care of. The sound of violence…so much violence can be heard outside the door, the sight of a body flying by the door a moment later, and the sound of a discharge of the AEW, followed by a rounding crunch as the Starbreaker hits something.
Oh the humanity.
__________
Samantha stood by at the ready as she focused her attention on the two technicians as Skye gave some last minute instructions. Skye started to take the lead and turned to give it to Frigga. They heard footsteps approaching again. She snickered softly as she faded out of view behind a bank of computer consoles off to one side of the room. She always loved watching Freya fade from view as her stealth suite kicked in. Knowing that whoever those footsteps belonged too would regret meeting the battle goddess. Sam didn’t have any more time to reflect as it was go time. She pulled a knife since it was close quarters. She very quickly put the knife through the throat of the first soldier headed towards her. He was wearing a Kevlar vest which didn’t do anything for the throat or head. Not to mention Kevlar will stop a bullet but not a blade. She whirled and knocked the second guard down with a roundhouse kick. She whipped around and caught the last guard with a fist to the head. The guard she had kicked stayed down. The second guard managed to partially block her fist. He jabbed at her and caught her in the ribs. She was pleased to note that her armor stood up to the abuse much better than her last set. She caught him in the throat with her knife. After taking the three that came at her, she looked to check on her teammates. Did anyone need any help? No… well time to clean off her knife then. She put her clean knife back in it’s sheath and pulled her carbine around to the front ready to follow Skye and Freya as they began their exit run. __________
Skye put a couple of rounds into one of the men right behind Frigga’s rampage, in absolute delight, yet sort of a cosmic horror at the sight in front as Frigga went from invisible to invisible train in an instant, the rounds clattering as Skye put one into torso and one into head if the man she’d gone around, her point-shooting remarkable for the long-barreled rifle and the relative setup it had today. It was good enough to make it work, she mused, as she watched Sam get in close, slicing away, Skye clattering one last man that peeked the door, spraying rounds at Freya, to absolutely comic effect as Skye just put three rounds into his chest, the armour stopping the rounds yet dazing him- as the Scot then lept and with a subtle kick, smacked him into the ground, putting a round into the head if the blunt trauma of her exo hadn’t done it already. Kicking him aside, Skye could only nod, with a certain look on her face that didn’t say she was delighted, but beneath that stoic look, she was very, very impressed. If not a little embarrassed to admit that was cool as hell. Poor bastards were never going to stand a chance.
“Not bad at all, you two. We’ll call it a nine and a half out of ten. Let’s go.” Skye slyly commented, knowing that this wasn’t going to be it, considering how much more they had to trudge through. There was a lot more out there, and as Skye opened the door, the alarm came on, right on time, right on signal. It blared loud, and well, the sound of more boots, more men and women that were on the wrong side of Skye Rosalind Lyons’s and Co’s wrath were about to find out what happened when you fucked about.
“Well, here we go. Frigga, when we get to that door, it’s your time again, Chaos, pick up the flanks and secure the route down to the Hagglunds. I’ll lay down some suppressing fire and blast whatever we get with the M32, and will call in our fire support. Reckon it’s about high time to stop the pish, eh?” Skye called, as she yanked out the magazine from the MCX, sliding in a regular, armor-piercing mag, helpful considering their Kevlar and the fact that she’d had to double tap a lot more than usual. Out there would be an absolute carnival- they’d be heading onto the courtyard, and Frigga was going to step into the very fire first, the large giantess blocking any of the lights in front as Skye kept on. Skye had no intention of leaving, as instead of the MCX, she slid the M32 she’d brought along, shouldering the grenade launcher and with an arm on Freya’s back, readied at the door, the double doors just beckoning for the sound of music.__________
She followed behind Frigga a step behind Skye. There was not enough room in this corridor for them to walk side by side. She did stay on the other side of the corridor so she could shoot around Skye. She turned and began firing behind them as guards seemed to be coming from passageways that had branched off the main corridor. Samantha had her gun set to semiautomatic so she wouldn’t burn through all her ammo too fast. Her gun clicked empty. She quickly traded out the magazine slapping it home. She began firing again and was walking backwards behind her teammates. __________
Frigga stepped back into view and let the last of her poor victims fall to the floor, his chest plate with a large burn on the front from the AEW discharge, “These all are taken care of, I don’t think I killed them.” She looks over at the guard who clearly has a broken back from the glancing blow from Starbreaker, “I hope.” She shrugs though. And turns to take the lead, making for the door ahead, the retracting claw on Starbreaker detaching as Frigga hangs the warhammer on her back. Great strides taking her down the hall, one of the axes in her off hand, the AEW held in the other. Sweeping the forward angles as they go. Unfortunately, she is not the High King of Skyrim so she doesn’t have to be nice to the one poor, mostly oblivious guard who steps into the hall from what might have been the washroom. He gets the tip of the AEW to the throat, his gagging cough cut even shorter when Frigga smacks him with the blunt pommel of the hand axe across the side of the head.
“They have the worst luck sometimes.” She mutters into the comms as she stops at the door. Sliding the AEW home and the handaxe into it’s place at her left hip. She checks it and looks about to just plain brute force it, hand over fist.
She then stops and shakes her head, if her hair had been loose her red hair had whipped from the force, “What am I thinking right?” Out again comes Starbreaker. She hefts it in both hands, takes a step away from the wall, tests the swing, heaves back, takes a step in again and swings.
BANG!
Now if this were a Video game they’d have a moment of slow motion to get in there and do a little damage.
But as it is, the adrenaline spike as the doors come off their hinges and frames is just about there.
And the Battle Goddess follows the doors out. The follow up of Starbreaker catching…holy shit was that an Exo Suit?
Yes it was indeed. The suit crumpled from the blow. And then it all begins.
__________
With a massive smash, the doors didn’t so much as blow open as blast open, flying into the abyss like a cartoonish ragdoll as with the swing it just so much as fucking yeeted into the atmosphere. The exo, similar to Skye’s was turned to pulp, as Skye yelled out, the dark night sky now replaced with full floodlighting and the glow of the alarm, as rounds started flying and primarily towards the large Norsewoman. Skye kept right behind and booted 40mm grenades over their cover and started blasting apart their position, giving prime time advantage for the larger woman to take advantage, as Skye knew their time was limited now, but they’d be blowing up anything in their way, breaking off and giving space as Freya started receiving the mother of all attention. Giantesses really did, and Freya was no exception, except this time instead of lustful viewers, they were a bit more angry than that.__________
Samantha followed in Frigga’s wake. She dispatched any guards that might be still alive and trying to target the giant after she passed. She had her rifle snugged up to her shoulder and was sighting down it as she quickly followed as they began to fight their way out of the observatory. The blaring alarm was an assault on her ears. She used the settings in her HUD to dampen the noise from the input. That was better. As they made their way into the main part of the observatory. She blinked as Freya used her hammer to help open the door to the outside. There was a concussive wave that flowed past Sam from the impact of Freya’s hammer on the door. She actually swayed a little from it. She had never been this close to Freya before when she was in battle. She was usually hacking something away from the main battle. It was impressive damage.
There was a lull in fire as no more guards appeared to be trying to attack them from the rear. Either they were routing their attack elsewhere, or they were being more cautious about approaching from this direction. She followed Skye outside through the now open doorway. She slid behind a pillar on one side and began to shoot guards that had gone out the back of the observatory and were trying up come up from the rear of the building. She crouched low and peered around the side of the building. She fired double tapping three guards before ducking back around the edge of her cover. __________
Pushing on, Skye skidded into cover behind a meaty looking pillar, reloading the M32 as another set of guards came dashing from another corridor to the side of the courtyard, Skye unable to finish her reload and instead, switching to her MCX. As she did so, she managed to get two of them, one of the others turning and spraying fire in Skye’s direction as she leapt forward, realizing at that point the exoskeleton he was wearing too. Without noticing, he had the advantage, pushing her back and skidding her along the floor, but not before she could switch to her M32 again, one round loaded in the revolver chamber and pulled tight, blasted at him. The man basically turned to a goop when the grenade hit, as Skye coughed, bouncing back and slinging the rifle back into hand, the symphony of shit hitting the fan going all to the wire. There were mercs everywhere, well armed and armored ones too, and equipped with rifles and guns that Skye did not like the look of. They had night vision, and would certainly know how to manage a response given they thought they were fighting an army, not just three people….and oh, their fire support.
“Hawk on station now, Queen. Call for fire.” Vincent called out, Skye smirking and aware that now they could respond.
“Affirmative, I need one Buzzard dropped down by the Hagglund, marker ping sent, and rounds onto the courtyard, send it danger close!” Skye called into comms, glad to hear Hawk’s voice at long last, the soothing tones of his Senegalese French accent like melting butter on a radiator. With it, Skye sent the ping to where the ATV was from earlier, and also traced up the far end of the courtyard with her HUD’s advanced targeting, using a camera on Frigga as part of her smart glasses setup to lace it quicker than she could even point, which would do the trick. And on that mark, Hawk replied in turn, the 20mm cannon blasting into life on the VTOL, linked to Skye’s call for fire, and he had the ability to prepare that very treat Skye had on offer. Clambering to the back, he pulled the matt-black, electric motocross bike level and set up the device on the front wheel, yanking it and suddenly, sending it out of the back door that was left wide open. It’d have a crash mat similar to the device that Skye had landed on in Singapore to cushion it- and once it hit, would be GPS guided to the location Skye needed it for.
On the ground however, Skye had more pressing issues.
“Frigga, once the rounds hit, disengage and get down the stairs, I’ve got your back! Move, move! Chaos, keep the front going, they’ll be moving from the caverns, do not let them get any vehicles moving and prep the ATV!” Skye’s voice was at a shrill, as she exhaled hard, moving up to the balcony and keeping in cover as the sound of what could only be a distant set of helicopters could be getting closer, and closer, and more and more troops were going. Skye raised her head over the parapet and laid down suppressing fire, clipping another two soldiers, before reloading her magazine, back in cover and aware Freya was taking the lion’s share of things. That cannon would help buy some time, but Freya would have bits to clear, and Sam would have a hell of a lot of resistance doing her job, as she reloaded her weapons in the safety of cover.__________
Frigga continued the onslaught, there was far too much to worry about now. As the armed adversaries ahead of them now had targets. She stepped forward again, and like a Canadian Lumberjack brought Starbreaker back around and slightly underhand, and golf punted another exo square in the chest, sending the wearer and suit flipping back and landing in a heap. The giant let the hammer spin her a full 360 degrees, which was probably what caused the surprise. When her hammer stops. Yes it actually stops. The head held in two huge armored hands. She blinked, and it’s like time stops briefly.
Somehow the detail here, has another Heavy!
The grey, green and yellow armored giant holding Starbreaker’s head grunts and shifts it so Frigga has to take a step in.
Into the electrically charged fists of the enemy Heavy, who lands a one two strike across Frigga’s helmet. The hiss and clatter of the charge on Frigga and her armor makes her take a step back, “What the fuck who…”
And a voice the trio may remember growls, “You cost me a good job back there woman!” The voice of one Geza Ingwe growls from within the opposing armor.
Chaos and Queen’s own giant shakes her head to clear it, and rumbles into the comms, “Girls, move around me. I hate to do this but…”
And it’s a clash of titans. As Geza and Frigga engage. It’s as much weapons fire, as great swings of a hammer, and lashes of a truly huge iklwa spear, and great heaving blows of fists. Frigga ducking a wide slash of that spear and bashing the pommel of her hammer up under Geza’s helmet, rocking him back. A great shotgun blast catches Frigga on the chest.
__________
Skye’s confidence in Freya, even in the heat did take a more dour look given the other giant- and unexpected detail here- to turn up, as Skye realized there was no running. The 20mm was focussing on other targets, and right now, Skye knew that she couldn’t just run and help Sam down the stairs, when she was halfway on them. Freya was one on one given the 20mm had cleaned the rest of Ingwe’s entourage, and here and now, she had to do something. Something, anything….bingo.
“Frigga, on my mark!”
M32 readied and loaded, Skye didn’t spring from cover but lept, using the jump jet to leap around the side, rolling tactically and yelling. It was like for a moment, fear had left her completely- a sense of complete lack of self preservation and knowing that there was a good chance that without taking a big gamble in her ability, she’d be very, very dead in an incredibly brutal way.
“Oi, fuckface, over here!” Skye yelled, blasting the MGL at him from the flank, knowing it would be like nothing to him but it would concuss him a little- she could see his Trophy System snatch a couple, but the other four, they were direct hits, and well, straight to the top of him. Nothing to kill him, but a daze, because his armour looked as good as Freya’s, if not better in ways. Geza’s armour was tremendous, a suit of green, gold and grey, a custom suit for a bespokely tall individual that proved an equal to Freya with its significant layering, and well, was on the wrong side right now of explosive grenade launcher rounds. The man wearing it would turn quick, but not before Skye could dash once again with the combined force of the exoskeleton’s hybrid pneumatic-hydraulic system and jump jet, leaping backwards at full chat, sending her off the edge and out of sight, and before he could unleash hell onto her- the look even beyond his armor saying he was pissed he couldn’t fire one off at her.
“Shit!” Skye called to herself, knowing she was off the parapet, rolling behind and into the abyss.__________
Frigga bent at the knees, from the shotgun blast. Lowering herself under the rain of MGL rounds. She heard Geza gasp then grunt in pain. The patter of his trophy system catching some of them but not enough. As Frigga is coiling back up, he can see the smoke billowing up from his back and shoulders. His dazed stance. She growled, “Sorry about this Geza. But I can’t let you stop us!” She tucked the AEW up and fired, not the bolt mode or the Anti Armor mode, but the gods amazing lightning bolt mod.
A squeeze and then the thundering BOOM! Of an electrical discharge so powerful that it’s natural cousins are hotter then the sun! And Geza screams!
Once.
Twice.
Thrice!
And then tips overs. His entire armor was smoking, sparking, and a large section of his abdomen plate sloughing off and onto the ground, bright red hot at the edges. Frigga pants and rubs at her neck, “I think I pulled something.” And then she’s lumbering off. Leaving the prone form of the other Heavy.
__________
Samantha could hear the gunfire hitting the edge of the building around her. She didn’t have all day to fuck around. She needed to get to the alcove and secure Frigga’s suit and their exit vehicles. She rose to her feet and pulled a grenade out of a pocket on her suit. She pushed a button to arm it and then leaned around the edge of the building and threw it as far as she could. She then made a concerted dash towards the steps moving down to where she had found their motor pool. Sam knew she had to trust her team to do their jobs. She needed to prevent vehicles from leaving and sabotage the others. The observatory had seemed to roar to life with guards and bullets as the chaos of battle seemed to separate the team a little. Chaos had to focus on her task. She knew what her job was. She had heard Skye over comms giving orders. “Roger that Queen.” She didn’t wait for Hawk otherwise their position would be overrun. She made a dash for it. She had to trust her new armor some time. She ran an erratic pattern and aimed for cover where she could find it. She used parkour moves as she flipped over the side of the stair railing. She fired at guards on her way by. She didn’t stop moving. Her only goal was to incapacitate them long enough to get by them. Samantha heard explosions and gunfire behind her but was hyper focused on what she needed to accomplish. __________
Skye used the last bit of the boiling jump jet thruster on the exo to shunt her onto another ledge, the exo’s whine and the jump-jet’s strain evident as she switched to her rifle seamlessly, clipping a few more guards with the optic of the rifle. She was seeing Sam under pressure, blowing up and taking on enemies.
“Chaos, on your three, got covering fire, move! Keep moving, we stop and we’re iced!” Skye yelled supportingly, putting rounds accurately down range as she stayed in cover, the 20mm rounds from the sky clearing up another patch of guards on a railing and blasting apart a bit of the observatory, the explosions making night vision goggles. Leaping a balcony, her exo seemed to be a little healthier again as she lept up, leaping over a few shipping containers and clattering rounds into another couple of troops near a checkpoint post, the sound of a loud “THUNK” echoing as the sound of the bike hit into the snowy ground ahead into a rapidly inflated crash mat. Skye held back knowing that Freya still had to come down, and it was nail biting stuff right here, right now, given they were in a full firefight. Another strafe of 20mm rounds blasted a balcony, and Skye relocated, heart pounding, fully warm now in this state of affairs, Skye exhaling hard and feeling the burn as she reloaded, peeking cover and checking on both Sam and Freya’s HUDs.__________
Frigga finally managed to catch up, limping a little, one of her leg plates grinding and catching on another, “Not often a Heavy is honestly put to the test. If it hadn’t hurt so much I would almost be exhilarated.” She pipes as she lumbers by Queen, “Come on my dear. We need to go.” She humps down the stairs. And crashes shoulder first into the wall at the bottom, “Queen if you would be so kind as to move.” As the giant turns and aims the Sun's Core up the stairs. “I’m not going to let them follow us down.”
Frigga waits only as long as Queen takes to slip by, before the plasma thrower whirrs and sprays super heated matter up the stairs. An Exo suit wearing soldier, getting absolutely covered as he tries to catch up. The layer of blazing hot matter slows pursuit.
Frigga stepped into the room and looked around for her suit, “I hope no one, ah haha good!” She makes her way over to the now semi deflated balloon rig, “Oh dear, you’re going to take far too long to reinflate.”
__________
Samantha heard Skye over the comms which broke through her focus. “Already moving towards the motor pool boss.” She almost missed a guard at the bottom of the stairwell. He managed to fire a pistol at her. She caught a round in the chest. It stole her breath for a moment and she stumbled. Her new suit worked the way she anticipated though. She might have some bruising later but she was not incapacitated this time. She grinned and shot the guard in the head. “Not today asshole!” She then continued her run towards the motor pool. She was seeing guards beginning to make their way into the area from the opposite stairwell. She had to stop and switch magazines. She pulled out some of the knock out grenades. She knew her comrades had sealed suits and began to throw the gas grenades to blanket the area around the motor pool. She saw guards start to fall. She ran as fast as she could towards the other set stairs on the other side of the alcoves. She began to lob the gas grenades up the stairwell. She needed just a little bit of time. Once she was pretty sure she had blanketed the area, she ran towards the motor pool. She saw Frigga at the ATV. “Frigga get in the ATV.” She began to run around the motor pool sabotaging as many vehicles as she could by slashing tires. It was effective and fast. She was running by a tarp that covered something in the corner.
She pulled it off and grinned. “Queen I found your ride!” Sam called out over coms. She did her best to sabotage as many vehicles as possible. She then ran for the ATV. She had already broken into it earlier and prepped it thinking this might be necessary. She released the lines that had tethered Frigga’s suit. “Toss it in girlfriend!” She then climbed into the ATV’s cab and took the driver’s seat. __________
With a nod to Skye by Freya, the Scot got back up, Frigga in a hell of a state considering the fight she’d been in, like watching two lions go at it on the Savannah, or Polar Bears, more fittingly, considering the cold windswept place they were in right now. Probably weighed about as much too, and well, she’d rather take on a cuddly white thing than Freya right now, all things considered. She’d torched the stairs and the screams of the soldier that got caught in it, the near wall of flame and super hot fire making it easy as Skye moved on her command, rifle raised and putting rounds down range, aware Freya was the main target today, but not that she would care- Skye had the opportunity to take on two more on the near side of the cavern. Exhaling, Skye reloaded the mag, watching Sam clean the inside out, Skye’s cold demeanor just making sure that Sam’s net was fully closed and that nobody was going to leave, nobody was going in. It was working a treat, and making a mincemeat of this.
“Aye, both of yous, head for yours. I’ll get moving on my own steam. Oracle, this is Queen, we’re in pursuit of the satellite, we’re downing it and moving onto it. Situation is heavy, out!” Skye yelled, her shrill voice booming on the comms, left wide open now for the team to hear.
“Affirmative, you have significant Artemis presence, I’ve got a stack of radar signatures and significant thermals, enemy presence will know you’re there and moving. Presence is minimal in the expected crash site….are you sure about this?”
“Good, then we’ll fucking go through all of the fuckers! Queen out, Oracle, leave me to it unless it’s critical! Hawk, hit the ground targets ahead of us, danger close and fire on anything that isn’t going as fast as we are!”
“Oui, more rounds inbound!” Vincent called back, his tone raised and even though he wasn’t there, Skye’s tone was infectious.
With it, Skye saw another two move out of a cabin and she dived onto the floor, spraying rounds from around cover before leaping up and running for the bike, using a shipping container for cover to drag it away from the 360 degree firefight, and bringing it to bear. Now this, this was a toy and a half, as she put her NVGs back down again, as makeshift goggles, and yanked it out of the mat.
“Right, Condor, let’s get us a shooting star.” Skye yelled, her voice now at a crack, despite being a foot and a half shorter than Freya, making her sound like she was eight foot tall too! Skye pushed and shouldering the rifle over back with the MGL on her side and the stock pushed all the way in, then pulled her pistol out and placed it on the dash of the bike, attaching it to a mounting point and with it, pushing the motorbike out of the mat. This was going to get fast. She’d done this once, only once, but never in anger.
The mountain was steep, and virtually an impassible place- with snow, it was perhaps less bad, but the sinewing, windy road that was up it was not the route they were going to take. Oh no, they would go direct. The other three faces of the mountain were sheer, if not over-sheer with overhang, so this was about 40 to 60 degrees of steepness, and well, relentless hairpin bends, with giant slopes between. Speed was their friend, and if anyone could do it, it would be the three amigos. Out of the base, the 20mm fire raked the ground and clattered another set of troops as fire from the sky rained, the helicopters getting closer, and closer, and closer. __________
Frigga caught the suit as it drifted towards the ground, and with a sigh at treating it so badly she packed it into the ATV’s trunk area. Growling knowing the amount of rips and broken lines. Her mothers going to kill her later for being so rude to one of these rigs. Frigga is stuffing it in there when a rattle and she catches a full burst from a five person squad that are firing from above through a sky light. She spins and fires the AEW, forgetting it’s still in Lightning Bolt mode. As another man made bolt flares up. Sending the enemy running and leaping for cover, they’d seen what that did to their heavy and don’t want to get hit directly.
Frigga finishes with the suit then with some grunts and having to physically manhandle her own bulk up onto the vehicle. She looks around then up and wiggles her way around, grinning, “Oh well hello, this is very interesting.” She sticks her upper half almost all the way up out of the roof hatch and works to get one of the guns into place, “Yes I like this. I don’t suppose we can keep this can we?” She calls over comms playfully.
__________
Samantha was grateful she spoke so many languages. She could read the words on the dash and controls. She got the ATV in gear and hit the gas. It lurched forward and began to pick up speed. Samantha chuckled at Freya. “I say we need to build one big enough for you and Boomer to operate. That could be some fun right there.” She shifted the large vehicle and it once more picked up speed. She could hear pings of bullets as they hit the armor of the vehicle. She laughed as she let gravity help the vehicle gain speed. They quickly pulled away from the guards trying to chase them on foot. She didn’t know if she left any vehicles operable behind her. She had to concentrate to keep the big vehicle on the road. She called Hawk over the comms “How are we looking Hawk? Anything chasing us?” She had no sooner asked as auto turrets popped out along the road hidden in what had looked like rock formations. “Shit” Sam cursed as she began to drive faster. She managed to drive fast enough that they popped up as the vehicle passed. They were spinning around to fire into the rear of the vehicle. The first one got a heavy caliber hit on the rear of the ATV and caused it to slide a little. She began to use the rear compartment of the ATV as a pendulum and swung it over the auto turrets to take them out as they passed. __________
The mountain was lit up with fires, explosions and the base station at the bottom getting a few rounds pelted at it too, as well as the sight of rounds flying from the sky, Skye roaring across the steep slope and past a pylon of the cable car spraying snow, stone and gravel everywhere.
“Shit, choppers are trying to lock, you need to take the helis out, fast! I have eyes on a buggy 200m down the mountain from you, looks like they are preparing to head after you both!” Vincent called, the sight of flares suddenly illuminating the night sky, and ominously, the sight of three Agusta Westland Wildcat helicopters, armed with miniguns, missile systems for anti-air, and well, gunners on the side. It was going to get rather spicy, and whilst Vincent’s 20mm would put them off, they needed to be stopped from the ground, fast, or their air support, and they themselves were toast.
Skye kept on the throttle as she flew the silent yet snow-flinging electric bike on mush, skidding down an embankment and seeing a guard post ahead, drifting the bike to a halt and using the M32 at her side to blast it apart, before letting it swing on safe and then riding around the wrecked post, catching air and whipping the bike onto another icy patch, barely in control and skidding.
With it, she tried one party trick to turn, using the jump jet on her exo to physically send her and the bike over a rocky section and sending the bike high as the suspension brayed and barely held on by Skye’s reinforced limbs after the very large send, as she saw one of the choppers turn and bank heavy, this time picking her.
“Fuck, I’m feeling a bit rabbity right now, little help?” Skye yelled, seeing one Wildcat try and aim its AA missiles at Vincent, who was trying to adjust his arc from the VTOL’s fire support position, the orange flares it produced still emanating the dark sky with a golden white-yellow air, and the last one trying to make a beeline for the ATV. Skye skidded the bike and dodged a strafe, as the helicopter bounced past, Skye knowing they were nearly half down, but they had half to go, and a base station to race past still, snow thinning and turning to gravel and stone bit by bit, the chopper rolling back. __________
Frigga held onto one of the hand holds as the ATV rumbled to a start and away they went down the mountain side. She pumped a few shots back behind them, to keep the enemy back there on their toes. But as they are pulling away she doesn’t waste those big rounds all that much. Turning the turret back around just in time to duck as the auto turrets pop free and fire down on them. She growls, “Oh you pieces of!” She levered herself back up and fired with her AEW, taking out quite a few of them with well placed lightning bolts. “We got out of there alive. I'm not letting a bunch of automated toys stop us.”
A brief lull, very brief, and she sees the Wildcats approaching, “You have got to be kidding me…Chaos, don’t slow down!”
And spins the turret about, fisting the .50 in one hand, and firing rounds up at them from below. And adding lances of bright blue-white bolts of lightning as well. Cutting up at the helicopters in the air. Shattering their formation with the first few bolts. The rounds from the turret gun hammering into the heli’s relentlessly. Sending a few of them whirling towards the rocks below as their rotors slow.
With a moment to spare she sees the choppers trying to make a run for Queen, “hold on there my dear!” She calls turning and aiming, lancing a bolt from her AEW down, and coring the air vehicle right through the cockpit, woe to the pilot and co-pilot. She watches as the heli rams into the mountain side and rolls clear of the ATVs path long before she and Chaos reach the spot, “If it weren’t so heavy, I’d almost be excited about what’s happening. How long until that satellite comes down?”
__________
Samantha selected an option on her HUD. Her AI had managed to infiltrate the systems control on the ATV. She had the AI target the incoming Helicopters. She wasn’t sure the guns would have the range or angle for them but she targeted them anyway. She let the AI do the targeting as she focused on driving. Sam had named her new AI Bob. “Bob target helicopters and fire rear 50MM cannons.” Her AI accepted the voice command and only she heard its reply “Affirmative.” She saw what had Frigga concerned. She didn’t know how much more speed she could get out of the armored behemoth she was driving. She floored the accelerator and the last bit of speed she could coax out of the vehicle had them plummeting down the mountain’s almost 65 degree side. Sam checked the timer she had set for the satellite capsule. “It has been launched. That is why we are seeing so much resistance. The alert must have gone out. It should be visible in the sky.” Not that she had time to look for it. She squealed as she turned the large vehicle as a huge boulder appeared and the path curved to the left. __________
One helicopter down, but a buggy joined that chase, with the vehicle leaping over a wreck, the scene straight out of Mad Max right now, with the grenade-launcher equipped buggy bringing way more heat that wasn’t even needed, and skidding out and onto the icy and slush road, joining in the absolute rampage that was going on here. The sound of the chopper slamming into snow and ice rattled the mountain it felt like, and the fire itself turned the night into almost daylight.
“Woo, nicely done!” Skye yelled, hitting another bank, slowed and behind the crew given the diversion she’d had to take to dodge a helicopter.
It was a dark sky park, being made a bright star on earth, paired to the explosion that would soon happen with the observatory, then well, shit was getting real.
“You have a contact on your rear, focus on the helis, I’ll sort your tail!” Skye yelled, knowing now was about a good time to get a tit-for-tat- the helis had slowed her down due to her sub-optimal, icy and perilous steep route, so instead, she was behind the ATV now, rather than in front.
Well, Skye wasn’t having any of it, as she saw it join the switchback road, and with it, Skye kept on her course, knowing it was a collision inevitable. The buggy lept down faster than the truck went as it skipped a shallow meander, but Skye, somehow, went even faster now. Pulling a slight angle, she aimed at one of the hairpin bends and sent the bike over, and letting go, pushed the bike down while pulling the pistol to ready, using it as a platform mid air to leap, and using the jump jet, sending it past another hairpin to catch the buggy. It would take everything she had right now, and the absolute adrenaline, hardwired, pumping feeling was right in her. This would work, it just had to. And with every setting on overcharge, the jump jet recoiled a significant boost right before she went through the floor of the back of the assault buggy where she aimed herself towards, instead pulping the man in the back into two as she raised her pistol and clattered the two mercs inside, leaping down and inside the thing, kicking out the driver. Not barely a heartbeat had passed.
“Favour returned, now let’s keep going! Sam, blow the observatory, we’re clear of the radius once that thing goes up! We can cause some real chaos as we’re running past the base station, then we’ll have time for the satellite!” Skye called, taking command of the buggy, and realizing well, Sam would have a good opportunity now to do it. Fire was still raining down on the encampments around them, and well, nothing was short of noisy, loud, hair-rising fire. She knew this would be a hell of a call, and when that went, daylight would evaporate. Let alone when that unit hit from space…
Looking up, Skye held her breath, aware that what was about to happen next was going to be nothing short of absurd. If this whole five minutes hadn’t been already. It was continuous, Michael Bay, extravagant, over the top, explosions, mayhem and insanity.__________
Samantha was hard pressed to keep track of everything that was going on. She was gifted but this mission was feeling like a scene out of an action movie. She chuckled at that even as her inner adrenaline junkie was thriving and rocking to the beat. She laughed as she called out to Freya “Are we having fun yet?” She giggled as she gave Bob a new instruction as Skye gave her the command to blow the observatory. “Bob trigger the self-destruct for the observatory.” Bob acknowledged the order. Above them a series of massive explosions lit up the night sky until it looked like daylight. Flames and debris erupted from the top of the mountain into the night air. Chaos swallowed as she realized what she had forgotten to take in account when blowing the observatory. “Heads Up! We triggered an avalanche!” Debris was rolling down the mountainside in a wave of dirt, rock, and snow. Samantha focused on taking tight curves. She gained as much speed as she could as she saw the rock and snow avalanche that was now racing down the hill towards them. __________
The Giantess turned back to continue peppering the choppers in the sky. She could almost hear the alerts for engine troubles and rotor alarms going off as more than a few of them began to have visible trouble staying in the air. Frigga growled, switching to the AEW for a moment firing one handed, switching to the more concentrated more accurate Anti Armor mode, beams of energy lancing up, rather then ragged bolts of lightning. Fires a bit quicker too, rather than the click charge of the lightning mode. One hand trying to drive off the helicopters while she reloads the gun she’s on with the other, tossing an empty canister into the vehicle, and manhandling a new canister up into place, “Auto loading turrets! If we get one of these for ourselves. I demand turrets that are auto loading! I want to shoot things, not reload guns!” She ducked as one of the helis took that moment to swing in and strafe the vehicle. Her body panging off the brace behind her as a few of those minigun rounds peppered her, “Ah you sonuva!” A lance from the AEW sheers off the tail rotor of the offending chopper, sending it spinning into the abyss below.
Frigga chanced a look up into the sky. Her eyes went wide, “hellige ku! Look at that! It’s like being witness to the comet that obliterated the dinosaurs!” Above she can see a hurtling ball of fire. And it’s growing larger by the moment, distantly the sound of something large and burning can be heard.
Frigga wrenches the turret back into action, aiming and driving off more air vehicles, “Get off our asses already!” She shouts bringing down yet another. A large hand grabs the side of the ATV as the snow and rock from above approaches almost as fast as the great burning ball from above as well, “I’m loving this already!” Watching more than a few of the choppers getting clipped and driven down by the force of the rock and snow of the avalanche.
__________
“Fuck me! My ears are gonna take weeks to recover!” Skye called, and the echo boomed, the snow and air itself shaking with the explosion of the observatory, turning the sky orange…..and illuminating just how bright the giant white speck of light was of the satellite coming in, Skye exhaling as she yanked on her chest, feeling her heart as she hit the next switchback, rolling in front of the heavier tracked Hagglunds ATV, the speed needed considering the massive snow and rockfall now suddenly pounding from the mountain.
“Don’t stop at the base station, full speed, into the treeline track!” Skye yelled, her voice at full pelt as the buggy caught air on the next switchback, sending it over a checkpoint with rounds clattering her, the buggy and the sky, the white light in the sky that overrode the huge explosion of the observatory, helicopters left and bullets and gunfire. Skye appreciated the help of Sam and Freya a lot right now- but right now, trying not to die was her priority, the overwhelming pounding of her heart, lungs and brain fizzing like the most insane sugar rush ever. Her organs felt fit to explode, she hurt a lot, and it all felt dazzling. Artemis were not playing around, they had serious troops here and their defense had been tested through and through.
Skye led the charge as she didn’t go for the main bit of the base station base, avoiding the base while catching rounds, using her M32’s last remaining shells to blast grenades willy-nilly into a guard post, hitting a cluster of boulders and leaping the buggy over, the snow and rocks behind catching faster and faster and faster….
“Treeline, treeline!” Skye yelled, handbrake turning on landing with the heavy hit and skidding onto a track adjacent to the lift cables, and hurtling down, now fully in soaked gravel and mud, blasted the buggy on, knowing she was very much the hare in this scenario, even without the bike. Still, that was because the fire was going one way, direct to Freya and Sam who were making the racket of the day…..
The base station was getting wrecked, the gondola, cable line and struts ripped from the ground and part of the mess, being thrown as the Artemis men weren’t sure whether to shoot, or to run, or both.__________
Samantha could feel the rumbling of the mountainside as she focused on getting them to the bottom and away from the trailing edge of the avalanche that was gaining on them. The fact that she could feel the shaking in such a heavy vehicle meant it was a massive avalanche. She was glad that she was inside an armored vehicle. Sam and Freya would be okay if they were caught in the avalanche. She was doing her best to make it to the tree line. The avalanche’s force would break up as it hit the trees. The trees would slow it down and reduce the impact and force of the avalanche dispersing that energy over a larger area. Sam focused on driving while she trusted Freya to handle the heavy hitting. She told Bob, “Bob Identify friendlies and take out hostile targets of opportunity.” Bob began to provide support fire for Freya.
Samantha saw the road break to the right into the tree line ahead. It was going to be a tight turn. She was going to have to slow down a little to make that turn. She slowed just enough to make it as she called out to Freya “Hang on tight! Tight turn!” The ATV rocked as the track on the left side left the ground as she swung the heavy vehicle to the right suddenly to get it moving into the trees. The vehicle made a loud sound as it regained traction once they straightened out around the curve. The heavy vehicle flew down the tree lined track. She picked up speed once more as the tracks began to tear gouges in the road behind them. She paid attention to the road as they were still moving at a high rate of speed. Sam spoke to the AI once more, “Bob eta to capsule impact?” Bob came back with “3 minutes.” Samantha turned the vehicle as the road had a long curve to the left this time. “Estimated touchdown of the capsule is 3 minutes.” Samantha watched as the force and strength of the avalanche covered the forest behind them. They barely outran the snow and rock as the track behind disappeared behind some trees. __________
The battle goddess swung her turret around, rounds pattering and growling up at the choppers and only slowing as they entered the thick tree cover. She braced the AEW beside the turret gun, and fired once more, the lance of energy tearing through a tree and coring one more helicopter before the tree became far too thick to easily fire through. She spun the turret back behind them, seeing more bikes and another ATV behind them somehow surviving the avalanche and trying to follow them through the trees, “They don’t give up.”
Even through the tree cover she looked up and watched the ball of fire growing closer and closer, “I would say maybe two to seven more minutes? I’m probably being totally inaccurate with that guess though.” She spat rounds back towards their tails, picking them off one by one.
Finally as the bikes either fall back or are left in smoking heaps. She braces the AEW up again, taking aim, and pegging the cockpit of the ATV, a big smoking red glowing hole left where the driver would have been, “I think that might be it for now? I’m hoping anyway.” She relaxed her grip on the heavy gun and lowered her own weapon, scanning around, “How are we doing my dears? Everyone still alive?”
__________
Skye appreciated the explosions behind her, the snow, rock and ice one force of nature, Freya Kantaario and Sam Dalton, Frigga and Chaos, the other 50% of it that hit probably about as hard, and in each and every way detonating things, the base station getting swept in the end of the combined force of both and much of the Artemis force being suddenly clattered to bits, the momentum being winded out of them faster than that of Raven had. Skye for a moment stopped hearing bullets flying over and around her, and felt her armor over, checking for nothing serious, before exhaling, focusing on the road and feeling the adrenaline almost turn her muscles to wet paper. Soggy, horrid and sinuous, but she had to keep on. The gravel track winded deeper into the forest, and the sound of snow and rock clattered down a deep ravine to the side of the forest trail, the light in the sky getting brighter and brighter by the second too. The comet-like appearance was burning red in the sky now, reentering at a speed that was so fast that it almost seemed impossible to believe.
Screeching the exhausted buggy to a halt, Skye stopped and realized that this was as far as they could go for now. It was as far as SHE could go for now, as Skye leant over and with one foul motion.
Blergh.
With that evening’s snacks out of her with a solid chunder driven purely by the amount of adrenaline in her and her queasiness from what she’d just done, she leaned back, exhaling hard and took a long breath. She reached to her chest and tanked her first aid kit, pulling out a couple of needles and yanking them into her, the shot of “Blue Blood” another Soviet invention Skye could thank- a cocktail of drugs that her predecessor had perfected into an adrenaline-like, energy inducing shot that could right her up again, giving her a little more fight for the foreseeable, enough to get her home at least. With that pull, she could get back on comms, and into response.
“Yeah, not dead! You both not dead?” Skye asked directly, to the team in general.
“I’m not dead either. Thank you for asking, Queen.” Hawk’s voice calmly spoke on the radio, as Skye giggled, barely getting it out of her system.
“Vincent, head to stand off. That thing hits, if you’re in blast radius, it might throw you out of the sky from shockwaves. Then you won’t be, for sure.” Skye muttered, her voice gone, her ears ringing louder.
“Copy that, heading over the ridge.” The reply was simple as Skye cleaned the mess off her face as she crumpled out of the buggy’s open frame, on the floor and aching, feeling the adrenaline mess flow in and out, in and out, the heartbeat inside her skull it felt like.
With it, Skye heard suddenly the loudest crack, and snap, as the trees suddenly rippled, and the shockwave hit, the air physically feeling compressed and tight.
“Team, hold the vehicle, wherever you are. Oh shit….oh lord. It’s fucking coming alright!” Skye uttered, watching as the shooting star that seemed so bright and bright in the sky suddenly went supernova, and like a star colliding, smashed into the forest past the ravine, suddenly turning everything a shade of white.
The trees immediately around it eviscerated, and beyond, were flattened, suddenly turning the sky into a glowing blue-orange of sorts as everything immediately within 250m just caught light, the only mercy of a firebreak allowing the fire to burn incredibly hot, likely to be oscillating out of existence from the sheer cold in the forest floor in due course but still, blazing it up. It was a primal, rainforest-like environment, but right now, it felt like it was ruined completely and totally by that, the sight one to behold and the dirt and dust raining from the sky momentarily blocking any of the light from the other explosions. Dust, dirt and heat filled the air, and the noise was astonishingly loud, to a point where it temporarily deafened and blinded Skye, even in spite of the ear protection she wore, as she ducked in the ditch she’d parked the car in to protect both senses, at least, for the first few seconds.__________
Samantha brought the heavy vehicle around the bend. She brought the heavy vehicle to a stop. She turned the vehicle off. “Yeah Frigga, I am okay. Not sure how much further this beast we are riding in is going to go though. It took a helluva beating back there.” Samantha looked up as the glow in the sky was closer and brighter. She tracked the capsule which looked like a falling star until it was close then she closed her eyes. She tried to relax her body as the capsule hit the earth. The capsule hit with enough kinetic energy to be compared to a large bomb going off. The concussion wave took out the forest around them. Trees exploded into nothing shattered by the force. She was grateful she was inside the armored vehicle which protected her and Freya from the full force of the blast. Samantha called out after the blast “Is everyone okay? How ya doing boss?” That impact was like a force of nature unleashed. It had to have been hell on Skye being out exposed to it. At least she was in her armor. __________
Big Lady Frigga pants a little as things slow, she gulps in air, and grumbles pulling a minigun round out of a fold of armor on her neck, “I’m okay too. And this behemoth took us pretty far. It’s all beat up thou…” she just trails off and looks skyward then dives into the vehicle. Getting to a window. And even then being inside the vehicle, barely lessened the truly horrendous concussive force of the landing of the capsule.
Now Frigga and her siblings have caused explosions. They were within a mile of a Rwandan oil op that they caused to go up in flames, and that was big. Frigga was within 500 meters of a bunker buster that cored out a huge terrorist cave enclosure. But this, now this is something else!
The big woman holds on to a hand hold as the force buffets and rattles her insides. Alarms in her suit going off as systems are shaken. And she closes her eyes and can still see the flames through them.
__________
Skye got to her feet as her exo whined unhappily, looking on at the horizon, totally, completely transfixed, her NVGs up and her dirtied face totally in awe. Nothing but sheer awe, the light coming back from the fire as Skye got back to her senses, and cleared her pressure out of her ears from the blast wave, the light and explosion insane. As it wasn’t explosive force, the kinetic energy itself felt like it had shaken the very ground, at least a couple of tons of tungsten hitting like a bullet fired from space- even in spite of all the air braking and other measures.
“Well…..that was a pretty awesome way to end the fireworks show. Are we still breathing now?” Skye asked, hoping that the containment of the tracked and armored ATV had at least shielded them from the sight of it better than Skye’s somewhat shielded overlook.
“I bet that is oven ready in there.” She wryly commented, the heat of the capsule likely to be at least 1000C, and well, it would need a few minutes of them hiking in, and letting it cool before it would be ready.
It was off the road and in the now ruined forest about a kilometer away, so it was foot travel time for them, as she stood at the top of the ravine gap, looking over the stone, snow and rock filled river below, and the primal forest giving way to primal charred black hellscape beyond in the small pocket of the boreal virgin alpine forest, visible from their vista point.__________
Samantha sighed in relief knowing her teammates were alright. She thought of them as family these days. She hit the start switch on the ATV. “Hey boss our ride has some holes but it will get us to capsule. Do you want to join us?” She looked out over the broken landscape that had been flattened by the capsule. There was still steam coming off it. She had expected it to be glowing. “Hey boss, they probably have liquid nitrogen in the capsule to protect the computer cores from overheating. I think that may be why it is not glowing. I bet it was programmed to release the nitrogen on impact.” Sam began to nudge the ATV into action. The heavy vehicle was armored and could take the heat which was dissipating quickly in this cold climate. The fuel for any fires were obliterated in the impact. She was pretty sure she was right about the capsule. She didn’t think that was smoke. Now that she considered it, it was probably the nitrogen cooling the surface of the capsule. Artemis wouldn’t want to stand around and wait if they had to retrieve a core. __________
The world stopped shaking, finally. Or is that her just now reaching Valhalla? She’s not really sure. Frigga opens her eyes, and looks around, nope still in the ATV, “Okay, now…as seriously as we can…sound off? Frigga, okay.” She coughed then crawled back and pushed open the back of the ATV. having to crawl over her suit to do so. But out the back door she goes, her feet landing in fresh powder, and ash. Her helmet opens and she scans the area, AEW tucked up at her shoulder, just in case. Slowly turning and gazing out into the crater that the capsule made, “So now we know what happened at Tunguska.” She rattles nervously into her comms. Lost for words in that instance perhaps. She looks out over the destruction, then as calmly as she can climbs back into the ATV, “This will be a helluva debrief.”
Back up out of her turret and looking down into the depression left by the crater, flames flaring, trees burned or ashed, “Take us in, captain.” She calls to Sam, “At your leisure of course.”
__________
Skye spluttered a response, looking over at the ATV further up the track, dented, damaged and bruised, but alive. With the other two that mattered a lot to her, and right now, she was happy survived. The mission had gone off the rails significantly more than expected. Enemy coverage was half this, maybe a third, but they’d just run into ALL of them, apparently. It felt strange, odd even- they weren’t on alert, but they had bulked defenses and what they had in addition was a surprise. Probably just down to bad intel, but hey, the job was a job, and shit went wrong. Never knew with Artemis, after all.
“Smart of them. Like in emergencies they knew what to do. And aye….this is bonkers. Makes sense too, Frigga.” Skye replied to Sam’s comment, agreeing about the nitrogen, hearing them clatter along and come down the road, the vehicle hurting, clearly- the tracks damaged and the holes indicative of how heavy the fighting had been. Skye noted her earlier comment too, but didn’t add too much, working out how to get there. The nearest bridge had been blasted apart, and a ford further along was a much longer diversion, then back up.
“Route around is messy. Luckily, mine isn’t. Go around guys, without me. I’ll head directly over the ravine. Old girl’s got some last remaining juice on the exo. I’ll recover it, just in case we have any last remaining fuckers coming in before you get there.” Skye called, knowing it would put her split and away, but in this instance, it was unlikely that there would be anyone. Recovery would be priority, and it would likely be light resistance left that Skye would need to clean up, patrols in the lower forest, perhaps.
With it, Skye reactivated the exo once more, and with it, clambered down a bit of the ravine, before finding a narrower bit and with a solid charge, lept forwards, carting her forwards and allowing her to grab onto another section, clambering up the wall of the chasm and up onto the other side, away from the rest of the team.
“Moving for secure. Standby.” Skye called, moving through the forest, and through the thick vegetation, the lights going darker again as the burning fires began to quell, and slowly, even the fire below began to char out.
Observatorio Cruz del Sur, Torres del Paine, Patagonia, Chile
On the other side of the crash site and deep in the other side of the woods, the figure must have looked similar to Skye, in all but the exo she wore. Lynx was rather similar just like that. An exo clearly a little more armored than Skye’s, and a little more advanced too, a mirror in many ways. A matt black color to it all, with a thin red line across its front, the woman was listening in, a full faceplate over her face and concealing her features.
Oh, she was paying attention to it now they were in range on the tapped in communication channel. It had been incredibly difficult, and yet, quite simple.
And courtesy of Raven, it was quite a spectacular show she got to see. It was just incredible.
Explosion, explosion, explosion! Just when one firework wasn’t enough, the grand finale was something else.
And it was the direct delivery of her very favorite thing in the world right now. It was just so, so perfect. Timing had been perfect, and while it was a longer hike than she thought, it was around the right place at least.
She wouldn’t have personally done it any other way. Oh, and of course to meet Skye Rosalind Lyons, in the flesh, as she lived and breathed. Cherry on top. It was like this whole thing was just perfectly choreographed, every piece, every inch.
A bit of collateral and it would all be worth it for what this was worth for Lynx.
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