[u][h1]Kaitiaki Homestead, Raven HQ[/h1][/u]
[h2]Rangitoto ki te Tonga / D'Urville Island
South Island, Aotearoa / New Zealand[/h2]

[h2][color=lightblue]Skye Rosalind Lyons[/color][/h2]
[h2]and Raven Squad[/h2]

[center][h1]HEROES, PART ONE[/h1][/center]

(A Collab between [@FourtyTwo][@BigPapaBelial][@LadyAmber][@Jamesyco])

The team coming together was a happy sight, with everyone in place that was here to grab a drink or at least, come together after it all. Even Tahlia and Freya were back, and grabbing their drinks, though Skye could tell the mood was unbalanced. A lot had happened, and the team had much to relax over, but they would see the latent tension in her. Skye could spot the look Sam was giving her, and well, it was fair to say the least. She was no alcoholic, but well, maybe the whiskey had come out too quick. And she had been withdrawn, more than usual, more….contemplative. A little inside herself, thinking about Lynx. A lot more. It made no sense, the lack of fear, the happiness, the memory. The David Bowie song. Shit, that rang in her ears. 

Skye felt a little memory come back. Sitting there, that long drive away, all of it. The whole memory felt hazy, but in some ways, it wasn’t a bad memory. Just that it felt taint, contaminated by all that had happened. 

As she went to say something more, her phone rang. The name listed up on it that would have their updates. So it was about time. Hoping that this was it. All clear. It wouldn’t be, as she picked it up.
“Oracle, is everything ok?” Skye’s voice responded professionally, the news less than stellar.

“Nope, opposite. You need to cut everything related to your personal data access, now, down all accounts immediately. We have a serious problem. I can’t even begin to explain it. Do it now, then we need to talk properly. We may have a breach, serious one…..Lynx is not at all what we expected, she’s used you. I’m getting intel as we talk, but if it’s true, we are in seriously deep shit. We may need to trigger the worst case….” Oracle’s voice carried, as Skye left the scene and the sofa, and walking towards her office, she knew what had to be done. If this was true, then well, things were about to get real. Seriously terrifying. Skye looked back to Sam, with a look in her eyes, a fear of sorts, one that seemed to be tripping inside, as she walked off, and out of the lounge.
“Fuck, don’t say that. We’ll have time to do something….hang tight…” Skye replied, ominous as she  walked away from the team, panicked and worried, and well, off onto her own. Oracle sounded like the hairs on his back were raised, and from it, Skye’s were too, hand to phone, as she stepped into the office. She hoped it wouldn’t be too long; this was secret, and the team would know as soon as it was done.

Walking inside, the baton slapped into the back of Skye's head and with it, a sharp pull into Skye's side, of what felt like a screaming needle-like pain. It was too late, as she crumpled to the floor, and the door shut.

-----

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Samantha had started her day out with a run. She had needed some space to do some thinking. The last op had been very intense. She had needed peace and quiet to really comb through how she was feeling about things. She was grateful to Freya for forging ahead and engaging Lynx to save their leader and her friend. She felt guilty that Freya had come out of that fight with some pretty serious injuries. By the time she had managed to get to the battle it was over. She had come home from the op with some minor bruising. Seeing Skye in a desperate battle that had almost killed her and Freya had made her pause and reflect about losing them. Freya and Skye had become like sisters she had not known she ever wanted. Skye was like a big sister to her. She offered counseling and guidance while giving her the space to be herself. Freya was a like mind and kindred spirit that she could let her hair down with. She had found herself socializing more and spending more time with Freya. She found herself enjoying their interactions and seeking them out. Samantha had always been a very private kind of person and a loner. She had always felt different from everyone else with her intelligence and abilities. She had never really had friends. She didn’t follow normal child development rules because she could understand quantum mechanics and math by the time she was 10. Girls her age had been playing with Barbie and she had been building guidance systems for Uncle Sam. She had understood why others were not like her but it didn’t stop her from feeling lonely. She had never had anyone who really understood her or sought her company until she had come to Raven Squad. 

The two women had come to be very important to Samantha. It was for this reason she had needed to really take a step back and re-evaluate what staying with the team would mean. Could she really go back into battle next to them knowing that they might not live through it? Would she care if they died and she wasn’t around to stop it? The answers had surprised her and opened up more questions and areas of growth for her. She hoped she was making her father proud. She had decided that she needed to work on building more things and creating things that will help mankind. She couldn’t continue to just cause more destruction. She wanted to put her skills to work to help solve some of the issues plaguing the human race. Humanity was on a one way trip to extinction if it didn’t turn around and change its ways. Overpopulation of the Earth was causing critical harm to the planet and its ecosystems. There was already a lot that humanity could do to stop and begin reversing the damage, however, finding the collective will to take and support those actions was nowhere in sight. She understood Artemis’ reasoning on that point but trading in superficial representatives and oligarchy for dictatorships was not the answer either. She also knew that if something happened to Freya or Skye and she wasn’t around to help prevent it, she would always wonder if she could have changed the outcome. She had chosen to stay with the team. She knew she would make a difference here. She would  just take up some side projects like Freya. 

Samantha had been quiet most of the day as she worked through all the emotions and thoughts that had bubbled up because of the intensity and actions from the last op. Others probably thought she was brooding or moody. She had not spread her typical cheerful mischief around today. She had carried on her work but had done so by herself without her typical sassy attitude. She was concerned about Freya. She hadn’t realized how hurt her giant friend had been in that last battle. She might need to rethink bracing inside her armor to help her prevent fractures. She already had ideas on how to improve her flight suit. 

Samantha had sat through the meeting Skye had called. She had refused to drink with Skye tonight. She wanted to have a clear mind when she confronted her friend and tried to help her through the mind fuck that the last op had put her through. She understood why the powers that be had benched Skye after the last op. It had to mess with your mind to fight your doppelganger who seemed to know more about you than they should. She wondered how Skye was working through the information they had gained and processing it. She had a feeling that something was very wrong. Skye was typically confident and projected strength. Sam could tell Skye was faking cheer during the meeting. She knew that the last op was bothering her. Hell that last op had bothered her and she was still working on processing everything that had happened and it was not her face that the bad guy had mirrored. She had hoped to confront Skye with Freya and get her alone for some girl talk. She knew Freya wasn’t up to anything strenuous. She had left Freya behind sitting and enjoying the company of the rest of the team. She hoped the giant would start to feel better. She would confront Skye alone. Perhaps she would feel more like talking if it was just the two of them.  

[/color]

[hr]

[color=lightblue]


[i]Bleary eyed, Skye looked up as she came back to her senses, leaned against the concrete wall.
"Evening....would you look who decided to wake up at long last." Skye fully opened her eyes, and....there she was. Skye Rosalind Lyons, doubled. She looked maybe a couple of years younger, but oddly, had the same wear, tear and scratches, cuts, marks. She was alive, completely well, like she hadn't been in any firefight at all. And was dressed identically to Skye, no less. Blue shirt, jeans, hair, everything. She had put the phone down that was in Skye’s hand, back on the desk and into place.
[/i]
"No....no way. You're dead." Skye called in fear, in a desperate yelp, hurting from the pain in her side. The needle had definitely gone through and out, but it felt like she’d been stabbed, the feeling coursing through her something akin to it. Lynx didn’t really care so much.

[i]"Very much alive. And to be honest, still not over the fact that you just didn't do as I said. I told you then, it's an easier way. Because, if you had any memory left, you know I don't really do that sort of thing. So I had to take a different approach when we met next." Lynx leaned in, smirking, aware this time, there was no running for Skye. No fighting back.[/i]

Looking at her hand, Skye saw it. Tape, and a clacker, pulled in tight. It was live, from the pulsating beep on it. This was a setup that would certainly kill if done wrong, because if she even so much as gently moved her hand a little, it would release and blow up whatever was on the other end.

"Wait, what!?"

[i]"Dead Man's Switch, obviously. Have you never done this? See, you really aren't as clever as you think you are. You reach for a weapon, all I have to do is hit your arm really hard and a bit of amount of pressure will dislodge that. Even better yet, the walls are concrete. They'll die out there with the explosive I packed into the sofa earlier. I'll live, and then I'd just put you out of your misery for just being difficult. For someone like me, it’s rare that I'm undecided." Lynx mused, walking about and looking over Skye’s phone, the print unlocking it because of course, it was literally Skye’s prints.[/i]

"What the fuck.....and how did you find us? No, no….I saw you fucking die…..no chance!"

[i]"Well, you saw THAT version of me die. That ranked as one of the more painful ones, I’ll admit, being ripped nearly limb from limb by the other redhead, who, may I say, is an absolute bombshell! So she is dead, but well, I’m still here. And did you really think I just put normal blood into that body? I've got nanite-covered smartblood. Recent addition, but my word, it is so good. Means I know where I am at all times. Even if I was splatted over your larger companion, the particles follow and do their job, just means I follow the satellite trace of it, because that’s what I do. I guess I had to make sure you got personal at some point or else it wouldn't have worked."[/i]

"So I'm you then? And who the fuck are you, another copy, working for Artemis? None of this is making sense…." Skye bluttered, feeling pretty helpless, as the other Skye towered over, sitting on her own desk, looking rather victorious at this point. 

[i]"Ah, Skye. See, the thing is, you must think you're the real me. Normal consciousness does that. The truth is, you're just a defect. A copy that didn’t work out." Lynx called back, Skye looking in horror, her body hurting, her mind in particular hurting from whatever she was stabbed with.
[/i]
"What the fuck are you saying?" Skye’s confusion intensified, just realising her worst, most strangest fear. This wasn’t a clone. This was someone who seemed to be her more than this.
[i]
"Oh gosh. I have a lot to catch you up on, but fine, since they think you’ll be here a while on the phone, I should explain it to you. Maybe you’ll understand and come around, after all, you are reasonable, from every psych eval I have read. Do you really not remember any of our childhood?" Lynx seemed to query, the empathetic tone coming back, somewhat showing that while she seemed to not really care much, she did at least see half of herself in Skye. Which, in all honesty with how weird this was to Skye, may have made half a bit of sense.
[/i]
"Does anyone?" Skye replied, confused about her line of questioning. She was psychotic, sociopathic, hell, just right now, straight up philosophical.

[i]"I do. Have you ever heard of the programme run by the University of Edinburgh where they cloned a sheep, some years ago? Dolly the Sheep?"[/i]

[i]"Well. The Americans had MK Ultra, the French, British, Germans, Belgians, they had to have something to counterweight it throughout the late Cold War, and then, in the new millenium. Initially, genetic manipulation, then playing with embryos, stem cells, that sort of thing. You see it all the time. But behind all of what happened to Dolly the Sheep, was a programme so incredible, it has never been even equalled. [/i]

[i]"About thirty years ago, a brilliant scientist finally goes and does what is considered the holy grail of genetics as part of a joint project in NATO He spawned a human embryo in the egg of a donor, and put into her, the most brilliant, perfect genetic strand there was, manipulating the very fibre to create perfection. It, of course, would normally break every moral, cultural, scientific rule there is, but he did it because there was a lot of money, and a lot of possibility on the line. He saw it as a chance to fix genetic disease, but also, contribute to the betterment of humanity. And through a bit of IVF, he created us. The problem is, of course, genetic copies rarely last in animals, in humans, even worse odds. Well, they didn't have back when we were born.. So what's even more incredible...he understood the most unwritten code there was. He looked into the eyes of existence itself, and found everything. The understanding of human consciousness. And turned it into pure data, ones and zeroes, or at least, a quantum-encrypted version of it that does both. People are paradoxes, after all. And more importantly, how it works to flicker it out and in. Being alive is a neural network so complicated that it can't be made artificially, but it can be copied, duplicated, and wholesale, transferred into a host so it can parse, interface and work in another form that has the same layout. Memory, thought, feeling….your humanity. All of it. Who you are, perceive, and see, what you remember. That can't be copied between different minds from ECG scans to another host like a computer, or another brain of different capacity. But say, you had an identical host, one that you could just cut and paste into....well, that would change things." [/i]

[i]"That is immortality. You can network into another brain, another body, of same type, same kind. The neurons are there, developed out to their logical conclusion in a carbon copy of you to work just the same to fire on. Synthetic external uteruses, or basically a giant plastic bag, and a few feedstuffs later with a networked connection, and you have as many versions of the girl that can live forever that you want, but of course, grown out in age and type for the moment being. Of course, provided that you do all of this perfectly, and have every prerequisite like we do, any slight imperfection wouldn’t work at all. So to answer your question….you aren't that! You’re not a version of me that does that." Skye's mouth completely, if not utterly dropped at her response. Lynx continued, sitting on the table, watching as Skye struggled a little, listening in hypnotically.[/i]

[i]"We were born to our mother, all normal, but as an implant of that…..like IVF but more complex, as you can imagine. Anyway, we had an normal upbringing. After all, we had to. A child in a lab constantly becomes feral, a plaything. We lived, breathed, explored Portree and home, and had a happy childhood with him, and his recently married other half. A normal little girl, and it was a lovely time. Our dad, of course, being the chief researcher on the project was entrusted with his creation and enthralled. Our dad picked out our red hair, our little freckling, the blue eyes, the physicality, mind, all of it....very much so, he made choices that resulted in us being the cute little Highland girl we were. It’s needed because he realised that if he just made a cookie cutter lab rat, she would never be anyone human, that was his dream. But when we were listening to Heroes, they were taking us back to Porton Down, the laboratory where he had it all arranged. It's where I imagine it goes fuzzy for you. Because they parsed us over for the first time. Saw what they could do with another body. But instead of a cut...they copied. And had two versions, at once. Worse than twins, they had parallel minds. There is no merge function to that. That is a failure of the system, because me, and you, are BOTH alive."[/i]

[i]"And Dad couldn't bare doing what any father ever wants to do. Adoptive or not, he couldn't kill you, the copy of the girl to the one he watched grow up because they’d kill her otherwise- and keep the other. He took you home and quit. Left the whole thing behind, and then...I guess he disappeared six years later when they realized he might not hold his end of the bargain and live a quiet life as a fisherman. To quit his life’s work for you, Skye, that is incredible. Because the UK Government and NATO realized that they couldn't replicate it without what he knew. Because he'd stolen it, destroyed it, and well, rendered it corrupted because he wanted them to never figure it out, understanding how ... .challenging it could be for humankind. The UK, US, European Union, NATO, China, Russia, everyone, have attempted dozens, if not hundreds since to do what our dad did, and they have all failed. Died before they were ten, because they were wrong in every possible way about understanding the human inside. A pair of giants that the Soviets did are the only ones I heard even came close, but they were incestual fuckwits with zero transfer capability. But not you, Skye. You're the girl that also lived, because you're remarkably, the carbon copy that doesn't shatter, and not the shell that should have been me. I know your records, you get periods, everything. You're completely normal. Your genetic structure is stable, with zero deterioration. Just....no way to work with my mind because your synapses have gone the other way due to a tiny genetic mutation caused by ... .well, I have no idea on that one. It means you have zero correlation to who I am now in my mind." She paused for breath, knowing Skye was going to be screaming internally at all of this. If there was any way to hear it, it was hearing she was a lab-tissue based freak, not even that could make any possible sense. It was a cosmic level of horror, the kind that would hurt anyone’s head, but right now, it was an answer. The answer. [/i]

[i]"And that's why you're defective. You're the only version of me that isn't cut, and paste, and I can't fix it now we’ve deviated. You're a version of me that hasn't got any neural networking…. because dad took you home, and treated you like his daughter, cutting out the lump above your spine that contains a neural node that is basically, a plug to your consciousness, memory and brain matter. The lion on your back covers it, I believe. Dad loved you so, so much, before and after. But he left me in a boarding school as part of the deal....as a fucking orphan. Because he knew what they would do, what they would want…it was like it was he knew he would lose his only daughter and so made a deal with the devil to perhaps save you. He left me to be experimented on, tampered with, tested. I was told they both died in a car crash, that I was special, that in spite of it, I was to be able to change the world. When I found that out it was a lie, do you know how close I came to just ripping out your throat?! And your mother…you wonder why she can’t handle this? She knows you’re a bastard child, an adoration of a man addicted to his work. Well, I couldn’t stop." She called the sealed door keeping the noise out. The other Skye that wasn’t on the floor with a DMS  looked on, holding back every inch right now, and blow up her friends too by just ending it with a bullet in Skye’s skull.[/i]

[i]"They put me into private school down south and only when I was 9, was I even allowed back for more testing. They did it for the first time, the transfer worked seamlessly. One body, to the next, clean. It felt good, suddenly, seamlessly going from one to the next. At first, it was direct, then broadband, then fibre, then it was satellite based. After all, the algorithms did their job, they did exactly as they needed to with the complex, infinite biomechanical machine that is a brain wired into a specien that doesn't get ill, hurt or anything. I learned how to fight, then to kill, then, how to do the work of someone who doesn’t have to worry about death. You learn so fast when you can take every risk without consequence. Just respawn in a liquid sack and drop out of it onto a padded floor. Which….I still can’t believe. I worked for good old Britain's Secret Intelligence Services, just the same as you, and I died at least a half dozen times. I was betrayed, killed, raped, all of it. I went through all that pain and learned so much. Lived lifetimes. And then I fucking learn that they want me dead...because supposedly, my actual double that for decades I claimed I was.....you.....were leaving.” Lynx seemed emotional, even for someone without much, she seemed to be bleeding it. Skye could begin to understand why. Jesus….that must have been rough as hell. To do that? Lynx didn’t stop.[/i]

[i]"After everything, they realize I might be a threat. I cut them off first, feigned I was dead on an op with the server out too, and transferred an entire server room's worth of gear out of one secure location to another. Which was risky....got a feel of what it's like for you to suddenly not be immortal for a few days. Artemis were the only ones that could help me, so they stepped in nicely. And in the process, I made some upgrades to make sure I kept up with the times.. No more physical interfacing. It's to the cloud via satellite, wirelessly, every thirty seconds updating all of it. I've got an AI that basically works for me to parse it, and the terabytes and terabytes of data just rushes out without even a hitch. And well, when you have no fear, you can do anything. You also realise how fucked the world is. Can't you see? Run the numbers, run it all, and dreamers like Pavel Andros and Artemis think they can hide in bunkers, tell you the world’s going to be a better place if you only give them more power. Hah. Then there is you and everyone else, who thinks we can have it as normal. The truth that people never get, is that we are facing the end of us. Heat that kills, crises after crises, the full collapse of the order as we know as humanity falls apart. I can see that now. And we're not going to perform a miracle. I served Artemis. Now it just goes for me."[/i]

"So you're some omnipotent being now? That makes you God-Emperor of everyone, with the fucking AI that biases to you?"

[i]"Not quite. For starters, there's no living in a computer, it's black or white, you're in a physical core or not, the parsing just gets done a lot better. There's no real way to kill me, I suppose because it always redirects to one, to a point it's a failsafe. But the point is, nobody has done this. Not even dad would have believed it's possible to harness an AI to improve cognitive ability. The other part of course, was it confirmed my worst suspicions..about everything."[/i]

"Then you didn't go far enough if you're that good." 

[i]"Well, here's the thing. I don't want you dead, them in that room, I might not either. In Chile, I guess I had to make you fight or else I'd lose my lead on you, so I made sure you felt it, the way I would...given we probably have the same training and capability. As much as you're full of feelings and lacking in immortality, you have been incredibly useful. I need another shell, and yours, yours would be unbelievable. I already lived through you as a double, came so close, but now, you have given me all that Artemis couldn't. They held the strings, but you, you dismantled them from the outside in to give them over to me."[/i]

[i]"Everything that happened, it comes to me. I made sure that the moron himself, Pavel Andros had his grubby fingers over the hack that Mercury did to you with the weapons deal you couldn't miss, then once you took him out of the equation, I knew he'd leak the rest. Chile and Colombia, and poor old Spectre just had to go see Tejedor to accelerate their program knowing Raven was closing in, which Mateo wanted to see as well, and you wanted to take down a satellite network so you could pull apart Artemis. And did. So you in one fell swoop, got me the drugs, intelligence, and fuck, even the satellite network node that I needed. You basically set me up completely, because the other assets, they'll be mine in time. And now, here we are. I've got you here, your friends next door rigged to blow if you decide that's a bad idea, and well, the next phase to go on." [/i]

"You're a fucking monster.....and maybe you played well. Doesn't make you right though, makes you just a bigger murderer."

[i]"And what do you think, are we really so different in philosophy than you think? You killed dozens, if not almost a hundred mercenaries, just in Chile alone. What's your bodycount, Skye, I reckon a few thousand? You kill people in cold blood, and I have to admit, proves that even without the ability to do what I can, our mortal coil is so fucking good as is. Tell me where we're so different because I just did the same. Only difference is, you were willing to die for what you believed was duty. You can't imagine what it's like to actually do it like I did. And then realize death means nothing. It’s pointless. Futile. But life, life is worth having."
[/i]
"I do that work for the greater good, one that stops terrorists selling nuclear material, secrets, the lot....whatever your name is."

[i]"Hah, the greater good. Do you know how many times I've heard that? You kill for the "Greater Good". So do I. We do it so much, didn’t we? Getting told by superiors that this time, we’ll win. But what are you going to replace that evil with? The status quo? You mean, the one that is basically Artemis anyway? Come on. You know this needs transformative change. You believe that, you say it. What's holding you back? I don’t see anything. I see a girl who just served a purpose like me, more useful because she has something special yet held back."[/i]

"You want to go further? Because you think they all need to fall? I don’t want this. Nobody wants this."

[i]"Well, I want to kill all of them, Skye. All of them. The drug you found, the satellite network you just got a key for, the resources of Artemis, and now....the cherry on top. You. Now, you've just given me everything I want, your access just means I know what to do with it. I can't be mad at you, you're just a victim of it, though I'm jealous of your normality. I want to spare you, but you need to accept facts. You need to understand, root and stem, this needs a reset. Population needs thinning far more dramatically, money needs gutting, control needs asserting, and we need to make human beings better, far, far more than what they are now. We’re a template of it. Our body can survive climate change, and with enough work, so can others too based on what we are….and well, you would be a leader in that world, a fragment that can still be whole. Enough to keep me human, because you have that about you that I can’t have fixing issues in the day to day. You keep me going another twenty, fourty, sixty years with the servers that you stopped Artemis getting at Wildspitze, and I could make a world so much better than any vision of what you can believe. A world where we can have accelerationism, a cure for resources, and everything in-between, a human race that can't die, that spreads beyond this soil and has it all. None of their bullshit. Just us.

"Utopia, Skye. You stand between me and that, and you don’t understand that was literally what we were born to do.. Our blood can survive, so humanity can too. The many die so the few thrive to see a world beyond. And I'm not going to waste a version of me that might stand a chance in that world to ensure the feelings carry on….that'd be cruel. It pains me to hurt you as much as it did you, Skye, so if you agree to submit, you can live in that world. And I’ll find a way to put you into it. Just yield. Because if you don’t, this gets worse and I’ll ruin everything you love, before I have to do this again."[/i]

"You are beyond demented. You talk about people like they're things, like they're inferior?"

[i]"Artemis would do this so they can live in their cells to ride the storm....they'd be swallowed in before they even tried. Didn't you identify it correctly? They would hold nations ransom, kill hundreds of thousands, millions, creating a black hole of despair and poverty. The only outcome, poor Spectre didn't realize, is that the world would disintegrate pretty fast at their expense. Look at how we dealt with disease, war, famine, before. Human beings are not made to co-exist when there are limited resources. We are animals in a non-infinite system. And without getting into semantics, the richest use the most. So I'd start with them, start ripping it apart. Scale back and retreat in the face of odds we cannot win against. That won't come from politicians, activists, generals, CEOs, bankers.....no, it will have to come from someone else with power, real power, that can do something. Someone like me. Humanity needs a cut, and it starts with the people you work for, Artemis, then the reality people won't say. A lot of people will die, but look at them, and how hopeless they are. They’re greedy, selfish, fuckpigs who want it all and can’t even admit they’re boiling alive....fighting over bloody shopping during the sales. So a lot of people will one day live in a world our father wanted to make humanity live in."[/i]

"Then give me your name at least. Because if you're going to swallow me whole.....I'd like to know. You will never take me. Never. I’d rather die than live in that shithole of your existence. You’re beyond mental. And I’d fight you to the last cell if that is what it took."

[i]"Fine, I may as well considering I've told you what's going to happen, and well, there isn't anything you can do now, and you're going to want to die with it. It's Rosalind. Your middle name, I believe. But, call me Rose. Now, you're going to pass out, shortly. Neurotoxin's going to kick in, and you'll start getting a feeling of what I felt like at the start of this process to start a transfer, it’s a drug that in time, would click off that big boom in your lounge and kill you. I would pass you the cure if you decided to be a good girl, maybe even find a place for you in all of this, but you know what ... .I can’t if you’re going to be this hateful. This opposing fury, after all of it….no, I can’t work with that. I thought you’d understand, but you clearly can’t find the capacity."

“So here’s what’ll happen. After I stop you blowing them all to bits, I'm going to walk out of this room and see what it's like to live a life in your shoes. I think I look the part. And you know what? I'm looking forward to it already. Then you? I'll tell the team all about it. And then, they'll get to see you, who tried to kill me before I got you pinned with that same vial again. Then they’ll probably lock you away too, dissect you like they did poor old….what did you call her, Lynx?"[/i]

"You sick...no, they'll know. You can’t…."

[i]"Do they? I'll have the ability to take your voice on, that's not hard with a modulator. Thanks to what you did, there's a good chance they'll have to remove you from your position as the team lead. And even more so when you sit there with a dead man's trigger in hand and they think I'm you. Can you believe that?"[/i] Rose chuckled, looking on at the helpless Skye, who even in this situation, was turning her gears in her head.

[i]"But they would come to serve me well in time too. You are a born leader, and my, you really put people in the right place too. Like Freya. Do you have any idea how much her eggs would be worth? My gosh, you could make a better version of me on her. Wouldn't take much of Vale's genetics team, after all, splice it with a body for short-haul and you'd have someone unstoppable in combat. Or perhaps Sam's? She has that ability to hack anything. Cognitive processing power like that isn't easy to find, she has so much I’d want to unpack. Thing is, they'd have to die for that....so I guess you'd just be left. And clearly you don’t want to join in."  [/i]

"You are beyond ludicrous. Crazy. This is your fucked version of morality?"

[i]"Morality is relative, Skye. I call it survival of us as a species so we can go on for millenia, not a few more decades. Ta-ta, Skye." [/i]

With it, Rose left the room, and headed back down the hallway, hearing footsteps beyond the slightly sealed door. With the patch on her throat back on, she yelled out, and well, emulated Skye’s accent perfectly. There was Sam coming over quickly, and well, Skye, sorry, Rose, whoever it was, had to act natural.

[i]"Shit…..Sam, Lynx is in my fucking office! I managed to take her out, come quick!"[/i] Rose yelled, and, realised oh, this was all too perfect. They'd have no way of knowing, the little sticker across her throat, putting her Scots accent back in, a teletype of Skye’s given it was literally from the same vocal cords, and well, sort of the same sample range.

Maybe she didn't realize that Skye didn't, well, hold on with that neurotoxin. An error on Rose's part had done no favours for her, as she clambered up, bleary, but aware, for a few minutes longer at least. She had no idea how long she’d been out, as Skye hunked up against the door, coughing hard, the trigger in hand as she reached across for a lamp on her desk, bringing it into hand. There was no time to think. Only to do. Once she rounded the corner, hoping to see Skye on the floor, the Scot had the chance to spring a trap. And pray, just pray she could hold the trigger as tight as possible and plead, beg and beg that Sam would figure this out. Somehow, there had to be a difference between them. 

“Sam, she’s fucking lying! It’s fucking Lynx!” Skye yelled from inside, and getting ready, knew that any second now, Rose would meet Sam, in that corridor, as a first responder. Out of it, Skye had to be ready. She’d be the aggressor, and everything was set up to make her look like she was….well, going to kill the rest of the team, in a heartbeat. The only way she could pray, hope, was that Sam knew what was going on. She had to even the odds somewhat, at the least, put distance between the two, so they would be a 50/50. Otherwise, Skye was truly screwed.
[/color]

[color=ec008c]

She gave Skye a few minutes to disappear before she quietly slipped out of the room and went in search of Skye. She decided to try her office first. Skye didn’t like to sit still any more than she did. She was willing to bet that the redhead was working in her office or moping about waiting on the next update. Skye had been the one most impacted by Lynx. She was still waiting to find out more about who Lynx was. She couldn’t imagine the doubt and worry that Skye must be experiencing. She had just rounded the staircase to the landing by Skye’s office when she heard Skye yelling that Lynx was in her office. She took off running towards Skye’s office and the voice that had called out to her. 

She saw two Skye’s battling it out on the floor. What the hell?! How many damn clones of Skye does Artemis have?  Her eyes trailed over them both trying to decide what to do. Nope she couldn’t tell who was who. They were dressed alike, they looked alike, they sounded alike, How was she supposed to tell who was who? She needed to put a stop to this. The first step was to get control of the situation. They had both been yelling back and forth trying to win her attention and support to their side. She needed some help. She was only one person and it had taken Skye and Freya to take down Lynx and Skye herself would be a challenge for Samantha if she needed to fight her for real. Samantha ran over to the wall and slapped the alarm button. She pressed the intercom button “The base has been penetrated. I repeat intruders on base. I need help in Skye’s office.” 

[/color]

[color=8dc73f]

Chuck looked up as alarms started blaring. Duke surged to his feet and let out a bark, his body tense. Chuck’s eyebrows rose as adrenaline kicked in. Years of training and he slid right back to a state of readiness. He was however not in armor or even had a weapon on him. Well that never stopped him before. He looked around the room. Chuck didn’t even think about chain of command. He honestly didn’t know who was next in the chain past Skye. They were all such specialists and professionals. Everyone knew their role. Chuck simply took charge because he was trained for it and until recently was the person in charge. Chuck started pointing “Tahlia get on the intercom and get base security moving. Javi, grab some guards and get to Skye’s office now.” Chuck turned to the others in the room. “Everyone, pair up and help sweep the base. Be careful.” Chuck began to pace to bleed off energy as he waited to find out more. Duke began to circle the sofa. [/color]

[color=SlateBlue]

Javi had been enjoying some rare downtime with the team. He had been called by Skye and invited to this meeting. Evidently that was her way of filling him in on what was happening with the team. He had heard the rumors and from overhearing some of the team talking of course. He was still trying to process what she had shared. He had startled when the alarm began to blare. What? He looked around as if expecting an attack. Chuck’s strong voice snapped him into focus. It was a shock to his system to hear the base had intruders. Javi took great pains to hide his equipment and its movement to make sure they weren’t tracked. How had Artemis found them? He surged into action and ran out of the recreation room. The whole base was coming alive as the alert and alarm sounded through the base. Guards armed with rifles and in kevlar began to pour into the main building. Javi only stopped long enough to tap two guards on the chest “You and You are with me. We are responding to Skye’s office. Sam said she needed help there.” Javi hoped the spunky genius was alright. He loved the ideas that woman came up with. He began to make his way towards Skye’s office. 

[/color]

[color=palegreen]
Tahlia did as she heard, running over to the intercom on the wall, yanking the headset and pulling it in. The groundskeep come to grab it, repeating the words of Sam, specifically hailing the small, but not insignificant security team. They’d have access to a concealed SAM site, weapons of their own and ability to at least hold back the river of soldiers coming if there was an assault about to come in, or here. Chuck was quick to note the situation, considering his history- but this was the Kiwi’s home to provide for Raven, so she made it very clear on what needed to happen next. They’d have to lock down, and get mobilised.
“Kaitiaki Security, we have a breach! Get to emergency stations, we have an intruder on site in Kaitiaki Main!” 
[/color]

—

[color=lightblue]
As Rose came around the corner, Skye smashed the lamp against her, kicking her to the floor, and backing over, falling over and putting two hands to her hands to pin the trigger into place, ensuring it wouldn’t even try to move. Rose belted up, drawing her pistol, pointing it dead at Skye. She couldn’t shoot, because it would mean instant kaboom. The door was left wide open, and that would release any explosion in. Even though Rose had no reason to care about leaving Skye alive, the only way she was tapping into Raven was by this very moment. That and the other aspects she would get to work on. So it was do or die. She had calculated it as a risk, because if Skye was dead, then Rose was in……permanently.

“Sam, she’s fucking strapped a DMS to me! It’s Lynx, I can’t explain, but it’s…it’s her, she’s setting this up, she’s drugged me and is trying to pass off as me!” Skye slurred, the toxin slowly building in, but Skye resisted everything, her voice slurring while Rose’s did not. 

[i]“Bullshit, you look like me, ey! Strapped that thing to yourself to make yourself look like a fuckin’ victim, Sam, she barely looks anything like me, it’s a ruse! We can’t shoot her given she blows that up, she’ll kill the team in there….we need to back her down, or we’ll be toast, and the bitch is going to come back again!”[/i] Rose called back, her voice modulator back on, her accent, calls, mannerisms near identical to Skye. Tiny tells would give her apart, as she raised the pistol back up at Skye, keeping off of Sam, praying that the American would buy the bait.
“Back down, fuck, you strapped this to me! Sam, I can’t…..I can’t hold this long….she’s done this to me to look this way, listen, please….” Skye looked to be breaking, but so, on cue, was Rose. 
[/color] 

[color=ec008c]

Samantha looked at the two Skye’s.She didn’t typically walk around base with a gun. It was supposed to be secure. She used her voice to indicate she meant business. They both were trying to convince her that they were Skye, which meant they needed her help in some way. She would just need to swing things in her favor as much as she could. She needed to get them away from each other and she needed a way to control the situation. She was wary of getting too close to either one of them. “Step away from each other. We will figure this out. NOW!” Samantha walked over to Skye’s desk and pulled out a handgun that she knew was kept in the drawer. “Back away from her! We will deal with the switch.” She cocked the gun back and aimed the gun at Rose’s head. “Get moving.” 
[/color]

[color=lightblue]

Rose looked to Sam, the fear at least palpable, even though she’d been here enough. She’d have to do this, keep going, keep the mirage going, stepping back, but responding.
[i]“Sam, wrong girl, she’s trying to fucking detonate us. She’s a fucking clone. Told me she’s going to detonate the rec room, with all of us in it. She can do this, ‘cos she thinks she’s fucking invincible!” [/i]Rose yelled, in fear, as Skye looked on, breathing out a deep exhale, knowing she couldn’t carry on this. She had the right person, and while Skye wanted to yell deep at Sam to shoot, that would potentially lead to them both getting killed.
[/color] 

[color=ec008c]
Samantha nodded and moved closer but stayed well out of the lunging range for both women. “I will figure it out but you need to drop that gun. Now!” She backed up till she could see them both. “And you, keep your damn hand on that switch until I can figure out how to deal with it.”  
[/color]

[color=lightblue]

Rose did as she said, putting the gun on the table, hands up, Skye putting her hands up with the trigger, the two standing side by side, and well, it was impossible to tell.
“Okay, okay….you need to figure out which is which. Sam, listen to me. I’m the real one. Born in Portree, grew up without a dad from twelve, and I know you’re the same with the stuff that happened in your family. The talks we had….I know you better than anyone.” Skye yelled back, hoping, praying it would come out. Rose knew that already. Nobody stupid would let that go so easy.
[i]“You read my dossier? Fuck, no wonder you hacked everything here! Sam, she’ll know that. It’s knowledge on how we hired you. She’s going to break into whatever that is, play you against me.”[/i] Rose replied, looking across, scowling in her face, Skye looking on dead into Sam’s eyes, just praying. Please, please, please. Don’t get this wrong.
[/color] 

[color=ec008c]
Samantha looked at the two of them and pondered how she was going to resolve this. “Keep your hands up where I can see them!” She was uncomfortable as hell and confused. Samantha’s brain raced as she tried to figure out to solve this problem. How was she looking at yet another Skye. She knew the one called Lynx was very dead. Yet here there was another one. How many other operatives had helped her get onto base. Hell she looked like Skye, it might just be her but she couldn’t take that chance. Her friends were here. What if Artemis had planted explosives? The dead man switch certainly added to that possibility. 

Samantha thought back to the interactions she had with Skye. She gave both women a wicked smile. “What did we talk about when we got back from the Singapore operation? Answer the question one at a time. Let’s start with you!” She pointed the gun at Rose. “What did we talk about?” 
[/color]

[color=lightblue]
Rose struggled, realizing shit, this wasn’t it. She had to think on her feet. Think of something, while it was asked, and Rose realized she could tap into the only bit of knowledge she had on Sam. The part that Skye had kept as a note on her, the part that existed within the case files of each operative, redacted to most but to Skye, open.
[i]“It was revenge. Revenge for your parents. Revenge for what they did to your trainer, and I made you a promise.”[/i] Rose replied, as confident as she could be, hoping Sam's memory might play up, or at the least, Skye wasn't attentive enough in a moment like that. A risk, but a risk worth taking given she knew Sam well enough from the file.

Skye shook her head, looking at Sam, her weary and weakened blue eyes coming through.

Samantha kept her face from showing anything. She listened to the woman and a deep twinge in her gut said that was not her Skye. They had talked about revenge but that is not what was most memorable about that talk. Samantha’s attention focused on the other woman as she began to speak. 

“I made that promise to you too. But I made one about compassion. She won’t know it. Because she doesn’t understand how that works, she’s a a fucking psycho. She only knows wants, needs, hate. And you are more than that, Chaos. Please. Sam, I fucking know I can’t convince you looking like this, but I know you aren’t here for that. You want to have it drive you, but you know you are so much more than that. So much more good…and a family here that you found in us. That’s what we said…because revenge was what you want, but family, Freya, Mateo, me…we’re that for you. None of what she knows about.” Skye emotionally called back overriding the slurring in her voice, Rose hoping her own bluff would work, against Skye’s very real, very heartened call, the fragile state of Skye giving way, even past Rose’s complete crocodile tears. She was getting ready to do something, Rose knowing she might have to pounce. 
[/color]


[color=ec008c]
Samantha turned the gun back to Rose. “Stay where you are.” She walked around the woman carefully. Samantha used all the skill and speed she had. It was the one area where she was better than Skye. She was faster but just by a smidge. She dashed forward and hit her over the head with the gun hoping to knock her out. She went down on top of the woman to hold her down in case the blow didn’t knock her out. She knew which one was her Skye. They had talked about their fathers and Skye had shown the first bit of vulnerability as she shared stuff about her mother. They had talked about the family they had chosen for themselves. She had not hesitated to act once she was certain of who was who. 

Thankfully, Rose didn’t make that move. The way that Sam hit her with was like a freight train, right to the core of her head, and well, fumbling her onto the floor. Skye looked exasperated, the one that Sam probably prayed was the real one.
[/color]

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