[center][h1][color=ec008c]Airbus on the way to Finland: Troubled Skies[/color][/h1][/center]

[center][h2] Collaboration between Samantha, Chuck, and Freya [/h2][/center]


[color=8882be]Vincent was flying the plane and had just taken off from Tokyo. He did what Skye requested of him and opened the cargo bay doors. He was watching the light and smiled when he saw that someone had closed them from inside the cargo bay. He had no clue that Skye had jumped out of the plane. He just kept flying following the flight path he had been given. He had no clue as to the drama unfolding in the rear of the plane.[/color]

[color=ec008c]“Oracle ordered us to bring Skye in. I know that was truly Skye. I killed Rose the doppelganger clone in her office. Oracle is facing a unique situation with Rose and Artemis. Operational security would have forced them to remove Skye from operations at the minimum. Skye deserved better than that from me. It was my choice. I am asking you to accept that and support it.” 

Samantha watched as the cargo doors closed. She lifted her head and looked out over the team. She told them the truth of the matter. [i]She couldn’t be their leader if they didn’t trust her. They wouldn’t trust her if she hid things from them or didn't tell them the truth. They didn’t need to know all of it, but they deserved honesty from her about her decision.[/i] She turned her eyes to look at Freya not knowing how she would take this turn of events. [/color]

The big woman, draped over with that scratchy blanket looked up as Skye made her proclamation. Freya smiles abit. Skye speaks of loss and worry and other things. Trust, and loyalty and morale and worry, and potential for trouble. And then…and then.

[i]The woman jumped![/i] Skye fucking Lyons raced out the ramp doors and plunged free into the wild blue and the city below.

And Freya, Freya burst out laughing followed by a moan of pain as it lanced through her shoulder.

She turned to look at Sam, “That fucking little bitch went and did it.” The biggest smile on the giant's face.

[color=ec008c]Samantha smiled as she met Freya’s eyes with a smile. She felt their bond as teammates and chosen family. Freya understood Skye in ways Samantha never would. She figured Freya might be angry that she had left without a goodbye, but would understand Skye’s need to fix this on her own terms. She smiled at Freya’s response. She could weather everyone else's reaction as long as Freya didn’t blame her for Skye leaving or hate her for what happened. [/color]

The giant groans a little, leaning back against the inner wall of the plane, “That woman. Unlike anyone else I know. Not even my mom. Or my dad. Skye is, if anything, she’s unique.” She grits her teeth clearly in a great deal of pain. She turns her head to look at Sam, “Did you know I’m not the first person in my family to work with her?” She shifts so she can look at Sam better, “My brother did a stint with her a year or so back. It’s really unfortunate that Skye won’t be around to see my little brother again. He’s coming you know, and my parents, and likely my uncles. They’re gonna meet us in Finland.”

The big woman sighs, “You know I never thought I’d work with Raven, but it was JamJam’s recollections of his time with Skye that got me wondering.” She looks back towards the ramp as it finally seals shut, “The most profound words that I remember Jamie saying about Skye was, “That woman has a drive. A drive that likely trumps even yours sis.” I may have taken that as abit of a challenge.” She gives Sam a big wink.

[color=ec008c]Samantha moved closer to Freya and took the empty seat next to her. Sadness crossed her face for a moment as it hit her that was the seat that Skye had been in. She turned in the seat to face Freya. Where Freya took up all the space around her as a giant, Samantha was petite and looked even smaller next to Freya. She gave Freya a sad smile. “I never thought I would work in any kind of mercenary or military outfit. Then I lost my dad and grandfather.” [/color]

[color=ec008c]She looked off in the distance lost in her thoughts. “I joined Raven Squad as a way to track down the people responsible for their deaths. I had already taken the investigation further than the authorities had. I knew there was a hidden group behind the terrorists behind it. I didn’t realize it was Artemis till after my first mission. I still don’t know the why.” 

She paused for a moment as she thought that through. She shook her head and focused again on Freya. “Skye helped me to see how much my feelings were holding me back and influencing my decisions.” She sighed and smiled at Freya. “I was worried you would be angry with me over this.” [/color]

The giant heaves a big sigh. And looks around the interior, her eyes stopping on everyone. From Chuck and Duke, Olly over in a corner, Boraro. Thalia and the others besides. So many people who are part of this family. She takes another deep breath, “I’ll be honest, at first, I might have been. But, as things stand this just makes sense. There had to be some give and take. I don’t like that the order was given to hold her, but in a sense it’s common sense. Am I happy she decided to make the choice to go? Yes!” She smiles, “Skye knows what she’s doing, just like you knew what you were doing when you made the call.”

The big woman nods, “It was the smart call, by what you had in front of you. Just like Skye made the right and smart call to do what she just did. As insane as it might be.” She chuckled gently.

[color=00aeef]Javi looked shell shocked as he stared at the closed cargo bay doors. He seemed to still be processing what had happened. His eyes went from the doors to Samantha to Tahlia. He looked at Tahlia and took in what she had said about Samantha being their team lead. He just nodded. He was following orders. He had once been in an impossible situation and it was Skye who had helped him into a new life. He would not begrudge her need to do things her way. He had made his decision and seemed to settle more comfortably into his seat.[/color] 

[color=8dc73f]Chuck let the confusion he was feeling show. He had been standing and listening to Skye as the cargo doors had opened. He was holding onto one of the cargo hook points welded into the ceiling of the plane. He didn’t move as his eyes followed Skye as she jumped out the back of the plane. His head whipped towards Samantha as the doors started to close. [i]Was he supposed to stop her? What was going on? Why did Skye just jump out of the plane?[/i] He knew their leadership had changed due to the attack on the base. He thought Oracle just wanted Skye for questioning to clear up any questions about what had happened. Chuck had just joined the team but he had been in the military a while now. He had worked with troops and mercenaries from all over the world on missions. He trusted his judgment of character and Duke’s. He had trusted Skye Lyons.

He thought about everything he had gone through with a compromised chain of command in the marines. [i]Losing his team to the greed of others Almost losing his life to be pulled out at the last minute.[/i] He could understand Skye’s need to do this her way. He knew better than most, that chain of command could be compromised. He respected Samantha for telling them straight why she had let Skye leap from the plane. He nodded to her, accepting her as his current leader. He moved closer to her as she sat next to Freya. He had seen the giantess around the base but had yet to really meet her. He knew she was injured and wanted to check in on her. He moved closer to them. He knelt in front of the two women with Duke at his side. 
[/color]

[color=ec008c]Sam gave Freya a gentle hug. “I am so glad to hear that. I can handle everything else.” She gave Freya a cheeky grin. “So I am gonna get to meet your siblings then? Finland? That is one country I don’t think I have been too. I guess I will need to learn Finnish now as well.” She winked at Freya. [/color]

Freya gives a chortle then again groans as her shoulder twinges, “I gotta stop doing that.” She says with a little giggle. She takes a slow breathe, “Well yes you will get to meet my siblings. Actually you may already have met one and know of the other.” She grins and scrambles abit for her phone. “So remember the Singapore op? And remember how I ended up wrestling with Ingwe on the floor for abit there? Remember the big guy who had come up and watched us? I’m sure you remember that report right?” She grinned at Sam brightly, “That was my lil’ brother. Jamie Cole Kanatariio, callsign Scion. I fire bolts of energy, he just carts around a pair of linked .50 BMG GMGs” She finally gets her phone open and flicks abit.

After a short bit she gets her X working, and opens a page, “And this…” She holds the extra big phone towards Sam, revealing the #AthenaAwesome X page open, “This is my little sister.” She chuckles as the first picture is Athena back on to the camera, and what amounts to a bit of FLOSS between her rear cheeks, “Yes…you will get to meet them both in the flesh soon enough.”

[color=ec008c]Samantha turned to Freya with a smile as she listened to her tell her about her family. “I think I passed him while you had all that attention on you. I was already sneaking into Pavel’s area towards his office. I didn’t get to stop and enjoy the party much.” She shrugged and looked a the pictures. “He is handsome though.” She watched as she flicked over to a picture of her sister. “I have heard of your sister of course. I am on the computer and we have similar hobbies. She models gear for a lot of the brands I buy. You can’t be into that stuff and not see a picture of her somewhere on social media.” Samantha rolled her eyes a little. Athena was a household name in some circles with a personality and reputation as well. [/color]

[color=8dc73f]Chuck reached out and put a comforting hand on Samantha’s shoulder. “You will be okay Samantha. Just own your decisions and don’t doubt them.” He had seen younger officers struggle with hard decisions in the field. He wanted Samantha to know he supported her to help with whatever she was going through. He offered her a hand to shake. “I am Chuck Simmons. I know we have passed each other but I haven’t had time to really introduce myself to much of the team yet.” He shook Samantha’s hand warmly and was careful of his strength. He saw Duke sniffing at her hand. “This is Duke, my canine partner.” Duke wagged his tail and sat next to him, his body thrumming with energy again. 

Chuck turned his attention to Freya and took her hand. He lifted it to his lips and kissed the back of it. “A proper greeting for the goddess among us. I am so pleased to meet you Freya. I am Chuck.” He smiled warmly at Freya as he looked into her eyes. “I have never met a woman giant before.” [/color]

[color=ec008c]Samantha was startled as she felt Chuck’s hand settle on her shoulder and give it a slight squeeze. She nodded at him. “Skye had told me about you joining the team as a heavy. I am sorry we are meeting under such circumstances. Thank you for helping get our support team out.” She gladly shook his hand. Samantha didn’t ignore his words of comfort about command. She was still processing and didn’t want to dwell on her decisions at the moment. Her eyes widened a little as he kissed Freya’s hand and introduced himself. She grinned while watching. [i]It seemed Freya had an admirer.[/i] She pretended not to notice and greeted Duke with a vigorous scratching behind the ears. “You are such a handsome boy. Yes you are.” She greeted Duke and felt his tongue licking her hand.[/color]

The giant woman sighs, “The part I’m dreading is having my entire immediate family close by again after some time away. I can already feel the tongue lashing my uncle Ross is gonna give me for getting hurt. And the fussing my other uncles are going to give.” She sighs, “And I can only imagine the ribbing I’m gonna get from JamJam and Thena…”

She sighs then jumps. Yes jumps. She was not at all prepared for Chuck to suddenly appear. Her eyes wide as he slides close and introduces himself. She blinks then and almost yanks her hand back when Chuck grabs it, lifts it and then kisses her knuckles. She blinks, once…twice…thrice. Then with a chuckle she wraps her fingers around Chuck’s hand and squeezes, “Well wasn’t that gentlemanly of you. Chuck, yes I saw you during the fighting. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Freya Kanatariio of course. And female giants are pretty rare yeah.” She smiles then a quick wind up and a resounding smack on the cheek with her good left arm, “I’m not made of lace by the way.”

[color=8dc73f]Chuck smiles warmly at her his eyes lighting up with mischief. He couldn’t regret the way he greeted her. [i]Seeing her smile even though she was in pain was worth it.[/i] Even as he took a light slap to the cheek for his forward greeting. “You are a rare gem indeed, my lady. You deserve to be treated like the goddess you are. My mother would beat me if I dared to treat you otherwise.” He winked at her and let go of her hand. He gave her a more serious look now full of concern. “How bad are your injuries? I heard that you had been injured of course.” He felt a wet nose bumping his hand. He looked down and laughed. “Oh I forgot to introduce you to Duke. This is my canine partner.” Duke gently nudged Freya’s good hand and wagged his tail. [/color]

[color=ec008c]Samantha smiled as she saw the interaction between Freya and Chuck. She giggled as Duke moved his head into her hands and pushed harder for more scratches. He finally let her go as he moved towards Chuck. Samantha’s attention was caught by Raphael and Sophie. She got up and moved towards where they were sitting. 
[/color]

The big woman smiled, “Haha you’re a flowery talker here aren’t you? We haven’t had a good drink yet I wanna hear you roaring drunk now. See if it’s the same.” She chuckled then winced, and heard a soft wruff and a worried whine and felt a warm nose under her good hand. She looked down, “Duke…well hello there handsome boy.” She smiles running her hand through his fur, over his ears, giving him a good hearty chin scratching, “Aww look at you. You keep your partner in check don’t you. Not the other way around. I can tell you’re the boss.” She giggles as Duke gives something that sounds like an affirmative sound, at the same time lifting his chin to get more scratches.

[color=8dc73f]Chuck watched as Duke worked his magic on Freya. He knew Duke understood she was hurt. His partner offered comfort in the way he could. He smiled and ran his hand down Duke’s back. “Duke thinks he is the boss of this relationship. I guess in a way he gets the better end of the deal. I take care of him and he takes care of me.” He looked down at his dog with love and pride. His southern accent is evident in his deep voice. “Well we will have to get a drink and see if it makes a difference once we are on base and you can have alcohol.” He grinned at Freya. “It is a date. You name the time and place.” [/color]

With a big grin and leaning down to give Duke a kiss on the nose, she nods, “Alright, when we’re on base, we’re all settled, we can break into the base kitchen and see what they have. After what just happened, the entire team needs a drink. And because of all the new faces, we’re going to need an ice breaker.” She gives a nod, “We’ll get a little drunk, get to know each other properly, no bombs, no attackers. We’ve already been blooded, now we can get sloshed.” The giantess nods, “No better way to meet someone proper.”

[color=f7976a]Sophie had watched confused as Skye made a speech and then jumped out of the back of the plane. The woman had been through hell in the last day and she had completely lost her mind. She jumped out of a perfectly good aircraft! Just like that, with no hesitation. Sophie looked over at Samantha and then back to the cargo bay doors. “What… .just happened?” Samantha told them what had happened but Sophie was struggling. She had been pushed a great deal out of her comfort zone in the last day. She turned to the others she was close to in the support staff and saw that half of them were struggling too. [/color]

[color=f7941d]Raphael felt as if his head was gonna fall off. He tried to follow everything that was going on. He watched Skye give a speech and then jump out of the back of the plane. Samantha closed the doors and told them what happened. He was confused. [i]Wouldn’t Oracle just want Skye to clear up what had happened? They wouldn't imprison or hurt Skye… would they? Why wouldn’t Skye want to report to Oracle.[/i] He tried to think it through. He could see from an operational standpoint, how would they know if it was Skye or had been replaced with a Rose clone? [i]How would they trust her on operations? What if there were other ways they didn’t know about; that comprised security?[/i] He could see Oracle would struggle with that. It wasn’t exactly fair to Skye but he couldn’t blame Oracle for wanting to protect Raven either. He sighed, feeling conflicted.[/color] 

[color=ec008c]Samantha reached the seats where Sophie, Raphael, and Javi were sitting. “I know today has been alot to absorb and cope with. You are all gonna be okay. There will be no repercussions for you over my decisions. I will make sure of it.” She addressed what she thought might be bothering them. “I owed Skye the opportunity to do this. I don’t regret it. The responsibility is mine and mine alone. Understood?” She looked over them all. [i]She didn’t want them in trouble for her decisions.[/i] Once she got a nod from them, she moved to find a seat once more. 
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