[h1]Singapore[/h1] [h2][color=lightblue]Skye Rosalind Lyons[/color][/h2] [h2]Long Way Down[/h2] 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. ---- [h1]Kaitiaki HQ, New Zealand[/h1] [img]https://blog.goway.com/globetrotting/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Coastal-View-Abel-Tasman-National-Park-New-Zealand_31885258.jpg[/img] [h2]Whānau / Family [/h2] "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.