[h2][color=lightblue]Skye Rosalind Lyons[/color][/h2]

[h2]Rangitoto ki te Tonga / D'Urville Island
South Island, Aotearoa / New Zealand[/h2]

[center][h1]Ka Kite Kaitiaki[/h1][/center]

Skye barked out rounds from the fifty mounted on the remote weapons station as the two heavies clambered into the back, the weight decidedly shifting as she took out a couple of incoming soldiers, the gun feeling like it was almost at boiling point when Boraro pulled them out of there and floored it. The remaining helicopters were too much in chaos to be able to do anything, and what Frigga and Tiny Nord had left spewed behind would buy them enough at least- luck was certainly on their side but then again, they couldn't leave the Heavies behind- no way in hell would Skye allow that, so some risk needed taking. 

It wasn't pretty, but running now made sense, after giving them an almighty kick in the teeth. Rose probably wanted Skye's team quickly eliminated with a JDAM- but of course, their resilience wasn't something she'd bargained for. Sending this was a message, a pure detail that indeed proved the point- she'd gotten in close and gotten what she needed, and now was just ruining the rest. And as they left, Skye dwelled on it a little. Rose must have known everything. Been in there for hours, before they got back even? There would have been a way to wipe her tracks, after all. It felt like they were deep in the shit. It meant that the safehouse in Chile had been raided probably by Artemis, and that Spectre was dead or recaptured by Artemis. After spilling intel, likely the former- Skye knew it was nothing personal, and he would be compromised. It meant no more leads there, and worse, Rose now had everything in her hands. Time would be limited. They would be on the clock, and more than ever, in need to stop whatever she had planned. It was hard sometimes to put a face to evil, but in this instance....it was the one looking in the reflection of the display Skye was networked with. 

Skye had to pull all the sinew in one way to keep going, and keep it together, knowing that full well that as that team lead, she'd be looked to for answers. There would be time for emotion, hurt later. Right now, not dying would be handy. 

[@Starlance]
"Agreed, Boaro. We'll need any help we can get. I don't like this method of getting out....but we haven't exactly got anywhere to run. That's where Chaos comes in." Skye replied, the gunfire getting quieter as they bounded through the forest, over the ridge, and towards the other side of the island, to the dirt runway and docks. The message came in from Sam, as Skye adjusted her comms, getting back in touch.

"Affirmative, Chaos. Keep up the fire and keep me in the loop!" Skye called back, the fifty cooling down as she sank back down away from the monitor and joystick for the gun. 

For a moment, the drive was quiet, the road back along now emptied of hostiles. Skye exhaled hard, leaning against the wall. Freya sounded exhausted, so did Sam, Oliver, Tahlia, all of them, to be honest. Before she could think too much, they had arrived at the dock, the two bundling out of the back and Skye following, abandoning the MRAP in favour of the boat. Seems like there were bodies here- Chuck, Tahlia and the forward team had cleaned up a bunch, and a few of them had been eliminated with the bodies that were left. Covering the area, Skye followed the same routine as Boaro, before bounding across and making her move to the boat.

Clambering aboard the vessel, Skye had a moment to catch up with various members of the team, even if little was said.
[@BigPapaBelial][@LadyAmber]
"Cheers, Frigga, Boomer. Keep an overwatch, then let's get out." Skye commented, and walking up the plank, got into position to cover, eyes fixed on her from the bloodied, dirty and then across to Tahlia, who gave a silent nod, as did Sophie, Vincent and Raph. Everyone was pretty fucking ruined, so almost the words didn't carry well. As the Boaro covered sector, Skye set herself up, the MG3 perched, readied.

"All aboard!" Skye yelled, hoping Boaro would bound across from cover and reaching out, took a hand on Frigga's armoured form, a token gesture more than anything, as the boat rattled into life, and with Javi at the helm, and everyone aboard that could be at this final call, left the dock and headed out of the cove into a stormy, dark night in the Cook Strait.

As they set off, the fire seemed to drop back- the combination of the F35 and the straight up firepower of the team had knocked back the enemy. Skye didn't know where the Artemis team had come from- likely from somewhere to the south from the main part of the South Island coastline, using the jungles, forests and mountainous terrain to set up, prepare and spring the attack. But thankfully, their shock and awe hadn't worked- after all, New Zealand was remarkably far away from anything, and in itself, worked almost as a good deterrent. There wasn't much easy way to hide materiel or anything of that kind coming in- so Artemis had thrown the kitchen sink and collectively, Raven had baseball batted it out of the park. 

She sat back down, Skye holding onto the side of the boat and coughing up a little, the dirt and dust lodged a little in her throat coming out now. Sophie walked across and with a gentle turn, sat next to her, bringing her medical kit to bear, a surgical kit that an actual doctor might want to use, rather than just one of the team members. Skye had kept going despite all of what had occurred- but the dump of adrenaline wearing down now was clearly having an effect, Sophie being acutely aware of the situation from what she'd gathered from the rest of the team. It was probably a good idea to have a review.
"Right. Let's take a look at you, shall we, now that we have a second." Sophie asked as Skye silently nodded, bringing an IV up into Skye's wrist and pricking it, the smart needle being equipped with enhanced diagnostics that would effectively be like plugging in a fault code recorder into a car. Now they were clear, this was important to check. After an event like that, Skye could be a serious risk to the team and herself- and with Rose's specialist blood, even Skye deep down knew there could be a risk of something like that being around, or perhaps in the toxin trace. With it, Sophie pulled out her tablet, a diagnostics for bloods, heart rate and a few other metrics- a more advanced tool than the one that Skye had access to in her smart AR-enabled telemetry. Sophie was an expert in these sorts of things- she was at the cutting edge of battlefield medicine, and keeping a team like Raven going required understanding drugs and medicine that kept the superhuman at that level. Even so, Sophie's terror at the killing was probably a rather normal response to a situation that was utterly FUBAR, and unbelievable. Back with Skye, she felt professional again, doing her job to distract from that.

"Wow. How you didn't die after that is remarkable. It is quite a potent mixture that's coagulated in your bloodstream. The antidote is real, so we can assume whatever you used, hasn't produced any adverse effects. I can't see it having any other effect on you. Long term, you'll need a transfusion to be safe, because you're going to feel quite messy and whilst I can't see any nanites in your blood, neurotoxins usually leave an effect. You're not seeing any blurring, limpness, anything are you?"
"Rose actually gave a shit about me.....then she's a little narcissistic to not put me to ashes. No, I'm okay. Just hurting, groggy, limp. Adrenaline spiked nicely to push through, but it feels like I want to be sick, Sophie." Skye retorted, shaking her head as almost a sombre reflection she internalised, Sophie nodding in response as she continued to go through it.
"Okay, that's not as bad as it could be. Let's not be sick, keep your fluids. Anyway, your bloods are alright. Adrenaline will wear and you'll probably pass out for a bit. Not much I can do, apart from hit you with more, but then you'll complain more about me. And....oerhaps Rose really didn't know what you'd do, genuinely thought she could change you. And thank you for earlier, by the way. Never thought I'd have to carry a gun, rather than a needle. " Sophie replied, Skye shaking her head, somewhat appreciative.
"That's okay, Sophie. You shouldn't have ever seen this."
"No, I know what I signed up to. Rest up. I'll stay with you and keep an eye on your vitals." Sophie replied, giving a rare smile, the doctor sitting by Skye's side, as she drifted to sleep, the boat on the rough sea peeling away and the waves crashing into the outside areas, the door beyond Skye getting coated in water.

Vincent in the meantime, caught the eye of the other African on the ship, his pastel-white skin something he'd heard of as a merc from back in the day. Boaro was a fearsome operative, a ghost yet you couldn't really avoid someone like this, not in the sphere that the Senegalese merc himself had worked in. Switching to French, the Senegalese no longer had that drawl in his accent, half glad to have a Francophone-speaking West-African on the team to compliment his own.
[@Starlance]
"Good to meet you, Ebrima. Shame about these circumstances, eh, but we move. I'm Vincent Cisse, ex-FFL, pilot extraordinare. Might have fought against each other someday, maybe togehter, but now, here we are." He commented, passing a hand out to the masked operative, the Senegalese pilot perhaps glad to have kin for once, of somewhat similar origin. The world as they knew it had collapsed, and everyone may have felt depressed, but in the moment, he knew to keep some spirit going, and well, this was as decent as he could be to keep matters at bay.

[hr]

Meanwhile, Chaos's comms would flutter up with something else, probably not great timing considering she was dogfighting multiple bogeys, and trying to cover the team down below, but she would need to keep tabs on it.

[b]"Chaos, it's Oracle. The New Zealand Navy have a frigate approximately 20 kilometres out from the zone that will clean up any remaining support ships and provide extra SAM support, and we have aerial assets from a nearby US Navy asset inbound for support, approximately 30 minutes out. I'm sending your team a navigation point. They're to head for Wellington Airport, aiming for the southern cargo area for the US Antarctic Survey hangars- get them to run the ship directly to the nav point, getting it aground and, then on foot to where they need to go. Until then, you are the only friendly aerial asset in the sky, keep eliminating any threats wherever you can. Artemis will be hurting and limited after being beaten back, but they will pounce if they can."[/b] Oracle called out on Sam's personal comms, taking a breather, knowing normally he wouldn't pause to give more detail, staying professional - except knowing that Sam was likely to be struggling with some of this and rather in shock with it all.

[b]"Listen, for what it's worth, you're doing well. What's going on with Skye is beyond complicated....for now, you need to get her out. I've got some additional intel from Spectre, the data core and from historical records. I'll send an additional navigation point once the team get airborne and we'll go into more detail. Right now, just focus on what's in front and we'll catch up later. Oracle, out."[/b]

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[center][h1]Wellington Airport, New Zealand[/h1][/center]
[center][h1]Exit Strategy[/h1][/center]

The ship jostled through every single wave, every single hit blasting water over the bow in the pitch black- the team utterly and completely helpless out here if they took a hit- this was an inconspicuous vessel, but the fact Artemis knew was a concern. The ship team hadn't encountered any more fire or boats on their journey- the storm had cloaked them, and Skye had been even seasick, the Cook Strait's stormy and dark nature cloaking them as they rolled on through, the Scot asleep considering the state of her. The frigate hadn't seen them either, but in the distance, had probably kept an eye out for any other naval assets trying to make a play, and locked it down. Through a mixture of sheer luck and bad weather, the team had gotten their method out- and crossed into New Zealand's capital city, and headed for the isthmus that the city's airport sat on, a relatively small international airport yet with great significance for its location.

Running aground onto the foreshore, the boat rattled and slumbered over, Skye coughing from the dirt and dust in her lungs, looking down at the drop onto the adjacent rock groyne. With a gentle hop, she dropped down, offering a hand to Tahlia, before clambering down from the rocks and up the beach, towards the southern perimeter road of the runway on the isthmus.
"Fuck me." Skye could only exclaim, sarky and cold as ever, Tahlia shaking her head in response.
"I think you really shouldn't say that when you've killed your doppelganger twice in one day." Tahlia's dry, dark and deeply spirited response got a cackle from Skye, that weird bond between the two hitting so hard when she was at the bottom of her barrel, shaking her head as she looked back.
"Yeah....shame to lose home. Fuck, I'll miss it, weirdly. You holding up okay?" Skye enquired, the prosthetics of Tahlia clacking back, with her giving a quiet nod. She was feeling pretty weary with everything, and right now, didn't have a proper reaction for all that had happened. For now, she awaited Skye's response, as the team bundled down and off the boat, the Scot having some idea of what to do, from the memorised contingency plan. Chaos would brief the team on it, but Skye already knew it internally.

"Alright, team. That there, is our way out...I think I remember it well enough. I'd rather not bring any more Artemis attention to Wellington, or else they'll do that fine city what they just did to us. Let's scoot out of here and leave. She'll give us fire support if we need it." Skye called, and with it, the team kept their areas covered, albeit now they were very much in a civilian area- on an access road looping the airport's southern perimeter, and scaring the ever loving shit out of locals who were seeing almost two dozen personnel, including three giants and three very heavily kitted operators crossing the road.....which must have looked like the scariest thing that had ever happened in south Wellington, ever. As far as you could be from a warzone and that heavy a set of weapons, well, it was way worse than any gang warfare or drugs you could even consider in what was a relatively safe country. The reason Skye kept the team on alert was the uncertainty if Artemis might be here- there was a possibility a strike team could still be a risk- they were covering for good reason, and Skye knew they had no time to waste if they were getting out of dodge.

Bounding across, Skye took a relatively dim view of the gate allowing entry onto the taxiway by using a breaching charge, and well, from there, they had their route through. With a tactical run, the team cleared the cargo parking and taxiway, the shock of cargo staff being told by an invisible hand to do nothing, to sit still because there was a security incident going on that Raven were single-handedly in the eye of the storm for. The airport had been informed incredibly briefly of what was going on, the airport was to stand down- and well, to any civilians, it would be just an exercise, an unplanned security event....not the near end of the world coming down on them. The rainy tarmac mirrored the lights from the skyscrapers and hillside houses in the Wellington marina as well as the floodlighting all over the cargo areas between the 777s and A320s parked up, Skye bounding with the last remaining pace she had to get ahead and ensure that there wasn't anyone in wait when she got to where she was going.

Moving to the hangar, the dated lettering of "United States Antarctic Survey" could be seen on the hangar doors, as Skye headed to a side entrance, no longer having ID so instead, kicking in the door with the last vestiges of her exo's power supply. Heading in, she flickered the lights, and headed to the control for the entry, switching the hangar doors to open and revealing what was inside.

"Damn. Okay, that's not a bad choice. Chaos, keep the skies clear for us. We have our ride. Hawk, she is all yours." Skye whistled, looking to the others, the last part she could hold to a smile, that finally, fucking finally, they may have a ride out of here. 

And what a transport it was. An Airbus A400M, a large prop-driven, grey USAF liveried aircraft that was parked up in storage, readied intentionally as a backup aircraft for Antarctic operations, containing a basic habitation unit at the front, and a cargo area in the back. A hell of an option for them in the short term, and while nowhere near as advanced as the prototype VTOL they'd recently been using, it would do the trick for the time being.
"Oh, she's quite something. Okay, all aboard. I'll run checks quickly and get us out. Fire up the APU, Skye, I'll get us moving soon." Vincent said, walking around and starting, Skye clambering inside and running to the rear, the APU flickered on and providing power as Vincent did his thing. The rear door opened up, and moving through the hab, she got to the seating all the way at the back and the cargo door, the wide space able to take the entirety of the team and then some. It would be a home from home for at least a few hours while they headed off, and given this plane was on standby, it was fuelled and ready for long distance.

Skye slunk down into one of the jump seats in the rear, and taking her helmet off, exhaled hard, head back and her body crashing out.
"Ebrima, you have absolutely golden timing. Sorry to put you in the deep end. You did well." She said, brushing her messy red hair with her gloved hand, checking out the Cameroonian following by, and the others beginning to shuffle in, only in utter disbelief of it all. She started to feel like she was melting, her hand on her face, her hurt definitely sinking. This was getting worse and worse. She had zero idea of what now. They would take off, and was she on the chopping block for Rose's actions? Was the entire team? Were they already too late, and Rose was rolling on whatever insane plan she had? It felt a lot more hopeless than even usual. In this instance, the hurt was still sinking, the bits of the neurotoxin that swirled about her still making her still feel a little lethargic and torn, when the exo wasn't basically carrying her willpower up now.

As the other members came in, Skye looked across, unable to stand yet happy to see them intact, at least somewhat after all of this.
"Apologies, everyone. I really, really hope it's not you lot that put a bullet through my brain, I'm not putting you through that." Skye commented, leaning in, off comms, aware that no pickup from Oracle was going to happen here. It was almost a half serious comment, considering the breach- and well, it would have been Skye/Rose that caused it, right? Something stark about that sat untrue, and she felt like she needed answers first, before she was going on that funeral pyre, if she was going that way. Nah. She was too stubborn to die. And she'd go out and kill the bitch a thousand times if that's what it took.

With it, Skye started to explain to anyone who wasn't there what had happened. The entire story. Skye's doppelganger, everything about Rose, what she had said, what she had done, what it meant. The stakes were decidedly high. Rose would come back, Skye was her genetic copy, and well, she'd now taken a lot of Raven's data- though had of course, been cocky and left traces behind they could work with. While physically she hurt, Skye held herself mentally and used it as a crutch to go logically and concisely through it. As she finished up, she knew they may have questions on what next, Skye not so sure now all things considered.

"The plan is a bit loose in my mind of what happens next. What should happen, is we'd relocate to another base run on Raven's behalf. There is half a chance the entire network will be compromised, even if Rose died there, she'll probably wake up sooner or later and find out how to get access through the backdoor. So it may mean we end up somewhere I didn't expect. Either way, we'll have a chance to talk to techs about recovery of equipment, any research, anything at all. It will take a little time, but considering what the stakes might just be, I think we may be thrown an awful lot attention more than what we're used to." Skye added, knowing the team were gagging for answers, must have been, and many more would flow through.