The collective push was a sight to behold. From the heavies utterly smashing up the remainder of the gallery and the garden, with Artemis throwing everything, from exo-clad soldiers, male and female, to local Moroccan Army troops that were charging in armed with G3s and G36 rifles of their own, to other local Gendarmes coming in, the place was a fucking mess of fire, bullet casings and people getting hit with hammers, swords and hooks. There's something utterly mental about it, this whole scene feels like within one little pocket of Marrakesh's many, the place was being turned upside down, shaken about, and the coins were being flung everywhere.

Purna and Sam had done well to secure the biolaboratory- the one inside which had the compound needed neutralising, and fast. Purna had noted Sam's observations, replying in turn to her and her concern.
"Noted. This is strange. I do not know much about it, Chaos, but if she has multiple bodies, it's possible this is a test. An experiment. But perhaps there is our problem." Purna replied, looking at the tank, the gunfire getting louder, and louder.
"I'll cover that corner. You have that one." Purna replied, flicking a new mag into his MP5, slapping the thing as he got set.

---

The heavies were turning the tide, and with their presence, Ebrima was no doubt seeing first hand why Raven didn't mess around. The sheer number of troops being thrown was insane, but there wasn't stopping three heavies in the mix. Not with that sort of attitude they were carrying, at least. Whilst they may have towered, nobody of an entirely sane disposition would charge into the fire like that, and the troops trying to counter the counter-attack were at least now getting the picture. Nobody was going through them.

But they didn't have long, anywhere close to enough time to get through without there being some disruption.

Adam carried Henry over his shoulder, moving with a certain pace to him, Ebrima leaping across from out of the garden to the buildings, using the roofs to flank, whilst the heavies punctured to the end of the garden, past the fire. Moving to the tent, Adam looks to Purna, noting the heavies securing the perimeter, and getting set inside.

"Good. Let's not all stay here. Boomer, find a way to burn that tank, then back us up. Scion, Nord, you have point, Boaro, follow on them and pick off any flanks while they push through from the rooftops. We are headed that way, into the market, marker points should guide us to the square. I'll back you up, but I need to be careful with the VIP. Viper, get back to rooftops and pick off anyone else on our way there, go long. Chaos, stay close to me." Adam called, the team reinforced, and a little more in one place.

With it, the team had places to go. Purna nodded quietly, and with it, headed back out, as the heavies continued on the ground, towards the market.

The fight out of the garden was intense, but Artemis had learned, and had pulled back, taking their loss. That said, that meant a different kind of problem. Like a rogue elephant, they weren't the main team's problem now. They were rampaging anywhere they wanted, and that meant a different kind of problem not five minutes away, as the heavies kept point, Adam followed behind through the dusty Souk alleys, with Boaro and Chaos. Viper had already returned to the rooftops, and picked off a couple of spotters already, using his grapple to pull up before breaking into a run, matching the pace of the team below, Mk14 in hand, using it to pick off any other spotters, or loose exos on the roofs now. Decloaked and visible, Boaro would pick him up if he looked, but with the pace he carried, it would be difficult.

---

There were more civilians running out, but well, gunfire had that effect. Even those stubborn to move were getting it now, and Blue Sword troops, Artemis and anyone else was in full chaos. The extraction point was a hard bubble to hold open, but they had it for now in Jemaa-el-Fnaa.

"Wilk, where the hell are you! We have you a window, you need to be here, now!" Athena yelled into the comms, the large steps clattering concrete, the Valkyrie's Warhawk getting a small smattering of rounds as she blasted back, Stream-level electricity pouring out of the coil, flashing concrete and an entrenched position of Moroccan Army that were being backed up by Artemis troops, the reply back not one she found satisfactory."

"We're running, headed en route with the VIP, we have resistance!"

"Well, you really aren't kicking enough ass, aren't you? Fine, I'll split the difference!" Athena boomed back in return. She was done with this bullshit, her patience gone and well, when you had the capability she did, well, you could make that excuse. And she wasn't gonna back down. Turning the corner as she ran into the souk herself, an RPG flew by and Athena replied with a zap of the thing out of air instead of the Trophy, before then turning the energy on the coil and skewering the guy into two, cackling from how hard this shit was going.

With a thump, Athena looked down the alley, watching on as more Artemis soldiers turned from entrenching to seeing her just come for them now. There's a presence to her, almost like a larger-than-life aura that of course exuded from what she did. There were no Blue Sword soldiers with her. This one was hers. And well, moving with pace, she caught more rounds, hardly stopping as she turned up the dial, civies now fully out of way, and brought it to bear, as one lobbed a grenade, chattering dust upwards yet not stopping the arcing, bouncing electricity that found its mark. The charred ash left a mark, as another RPG flew past, Athena skidding to a halt as an exo soldier tried to leap on her, the guy hitting hard in her head, as she flung him off and into a wall, flicking one of the swords out and with an eloquent, jump-jet fuelled turn turning his throat into kebab, flinging it like a mannequin down the alley, using her coil to then use the body as a fry point.

The noise of gunfire not at her rang out, and the sound of what was an MRAP skidding down the road was more audible. Fuck, that wasn't good. They were headed directly for Adam and team. With a leap, Athena activated the jump jets on Warhawk's chassis, and with it, flung up yet mostly forwards, clearing the 20ft of distance between her and it's incoming presence, barely fitting through the tight alley. There's a look in her eye as the MRAP turned the corner and went into the parting of the alley where they both met, and Athena intercepted them before it could even make way towards the team, a 40mm grenade launcher on top blaring out rounds in the general direction of the team. They'd be feeling the heat. But, they'd turn their heads and see someone as tall as their MRAP flying towards it like a two and a half meter projectile with a motherfucking sword in left hand, gigantic tesla coil in right.

With a crash, Athena bonked the MRAP and basically smashed in the front right glass and right door, turning the coil inwards and with a brap, blasting the doors wide off, pretty much eviscerating everyone inside with a bloody spray. With almost a tempered look, the Blue Sword operations commander stared at the team, down the alley, the gold-visored, dark navy coloured heavy letting shattered glass fall about, shaking her head.
"Don't stare, I get enough." Athena tsk'd, and with it, Athena looked down and stepped off the deformed bonnet of the MRAP, dusting herself off as the comms flared back into life before Adam could reply.

"Boss, we've got way more resistance coming in. Wait, is that a....fuck, Valkyrie, we have IFVs and a mech here, we're under a lot of shit!" The comms from Blue Sword was panicked, and certainly now not equipped for what was a condensed firefight that was now not just consuming the garden, but what felt like a good chunk of the market. The Blue Sword troops were exposed out in the larger square- Jemaa el-Fnaa was a teeming mess of stalls, rather than the tight, labyrinth-like alleys of the Souk, a very short walk away from where the team were right now.

"Valkyrie, if your team cannot hold, pull them back, we will find another way out." Adam said to her in response, Athena shaking her head, turning and covering the alley where she'd come from, and the pile of fried bodies still smelling like a wet, horrid static-y vapour.

"That's a negative. I'm off to go fucking scorch their point. We aren't running. We're fighting them." Athena said, blunt, Adam angry, and yet now realising shit, of course. Priorities, Adam walking directly in front of her, Athena looking directly, committedly down at him.

"Valkyrie, the VIP is priority. Kurwa, no way." Adam replied, Athena walking direct up to him even closer now, staring him straight now, the heat of the moment for the younger giantess of the three siblings not really backing down at all.

"Sounds like a you problem, you're with me and you're getting a ride....or you can go back the way you came! You still got ammo? If not, plenty of dead goons where I came from with guns!" Athena barked back, the chirp not one that she would back down from. Athena wasn't taking no for an answer. In fact, she was going to lead them through.

There's an uncertainty to it. No doubt JamJam was not gonna be happy, but then again, he'd understand Athena cared for her teams, even if she was a little vapid. They were the people she paid, kept in line, and well, were right now taking a lot more than just a little bit of fire their end. A little logic to it existed, but Adam didn't like this. They were going towards the gunfire, not away. And with a VIP to get to transport, even if it was armoured, there was always the fact that this was going to go longer than it should have.

With that, he replied in mind of what was going on, knowing he wasn't going to say no to a ride. Not that she made it easy, but fuck, he wished she could see the picture here. Henry was quite seriously one of the only leads they had, and any way out now if that one was getting hotter than expected would be critical. He was still soundly asleep, that knockout gas certainly hitting like one hell of a drug right now. Once he woke up, he was going to be very, very dazed. As for Athena, he'd have words later. She certainly wouldn't agree, but there was no telling her not to go do this.

"Fine. Have it your way, but on your head. Tell them to get an armoured truck to the gate and pull back to our souk's gate, minimise how exposed they are because they'll get fucking shredded in the square. And we need to secure Henry at least. Team, push through the market and we need to get to Jemaa-el-Fnaa and neutralise hostiles. Boomer, Scion, you are up front, but stay the fuck out of the IFVs and mechs, not without having something to unload into them. Boaro, pick off enemies on rooftops, stay mobile and keep RPGs off our point. Chaos, I need you to find a way to take out that mech, priority target. Viper, you're with Boaro. Fuck, how did they sneak that thing in in?"

"Glad you see it that way Captain. I don't leave my men behind. Looks like you can hide anything in a market this big. We have some supplies at the trucks. And we have some tricks up our sleeves." Athena replied, back on the front again as another set of troops set up, 40mils blasting down the alley, as Athena just ran into it, then bringing the coil to bear. With a blast, the coil smashed the aluminium shacks they were hiding behind to bits, laying down cover and giving an opportunity for the others to make hay through it and press through the maze-like alleys.
"Covering, move!" She yelled, knowing JamJam was here again, and she wanted to say hi, something to him, but she knew the tag team was back. Heading back to the market, there was pockets of resistance, but between them, they were sweeping it up well. That said, as soon as they would get to the market, it would turn from just the condensed chaos of the alleys, to the wide open fire that was going to rage beyond.

---

”Did he just say ‘Mech’?” Ebrima sounded almost annoyed, ”Pick a side.” He offered to the Gurkha before making his way upstairs himself. Ebrima was glad he got sent up top. Yes, having been raised in Central Africa’s rainforests, he thrived in close quarters. Heck, it was one of the pillars he built his career on. But not having to mind stragglers when shooting was better. He had to hauů ass to keep slightly ahead of the main team, but not too far ahead in case someone came at them from behind. ”Chaos, if you still have drones up, would appreciate early warning.” He asked as he sent two frag grenades over the heads of a machine gunner and his assistant mid-leap, slamming a new magazine of frags into the M25 and transitioning to the rifle. He kept it moving, thinking less like an infantryman and almost like a fighter pilot - don’t move in a straight line for long, attack with speed and altitude - until he misjudged the material of the roof on landing and crashed through into the room below, feeling something moving under the piece of corrugated metal under his feet.

Three heads, two regular and one exo, snapped to face him. One immediately erupted into pink mist as an armor piercing round went through it. Ebrima’s brow furrowed when the exo-clad operative grabbed the other guy to use as a shield, a surprised “Wat de fok?!” indicating this wasn’t standard Artemis procedure. Some leader this was. Not that he sympathized with the South African, just that his commander pissed him off, even more so when the meat shield turned into a meat missile launched at Ebrima. He dodged him quite easily, leaving a foot behind to help the hapless guy on the ground. A groan from under the metal sheet he initially landed on confirmed the guy under it was still a factor as well. Boraro got his weapon up quick, but the Artemis Exo had a head start, a salvo of 9x18 mm from a PP-19 hammering against Ebrima’s chestplate. In true Russian fashion, the weapon’s designer seemed to compensate quality with quantity and gave his creation 64 round helical magazines, and although neither bullet found any weak spots, it would be a big bruise tomorrow.

The endless stream of lead was only interrupted by the MDR’s barked reply, the Artemis operative recoiling just enough for Ebrima to close in and grab the business end of his weapon and wrench it away from his face. Unfortunately, the other guy had the same idea, landing them in a bit of a stalemate. After a few seconds of pulling at each others’ guns, Ebrima took advantage of his enclosed helmet over the Artemis Exo open-faced design and headbutted him in the face, letting go of the Bison a split second later and throwing the other guy off balance, buying himself enough time to draw his kukri. A quick slash across the torso caught the sling and disconnected the Bison from its wielder, allowing Ebrima to hold the kukri under his right arm and yank the Russian submachine gun away and throw it to his right side. A dull thud and a hissed “Ow!” confirmed he hit roughly what he was aiming at, but the Artemis exo made good use of his now-empty hand and grabbed Ebrima’s rifle with both.

The Cameroonian made the mistake of fully trusting the sling and grabbed the kukri again to make sure he didn’t drop it, but with a sharp pull and a rip of tearing nylon, his weapon left his grip. Okay, now the guy was just copying Ebrima’s homework and slightly changing the answers. The pale merc pushed forward, under no circumstance intending to allow the other guy to aim. The kukri never stopped as Ebrima circled around the other man, the Artemis operative too busy using the stolen rifle as a shield to keep the Nepali blade away from his unprotected face to use it for its intended purpose. Moving around turned out to be a prudent decision, as it allowed him to see the South African picking up the Bison and put the enemy exo between himself and the Russian lead hose. The spray hammered against the back of the artemis exo like rain against a metal roof, the exo and shooter both startled by that turn of events enough for Ebrima to lean around him and finally shut the South African up with his USP, raising his left knee to catch the descending head of the exo operative a split second later as he bent over from the spray, following up with a kukri under the armpit as he straightened up from the blow. Exosuit or not, functioning with that was difficult, even if Ebrima wasn’t sure if he got the axillary artery or not, but the slowdown was enough for Ebrima to shove the USP into a soft spot and keep shooting until the noises stopped.

Another safety round belonged to the South African.

The man under the rubble finally got himself from underneath it just in time to be shot in the face before Ebrima retrieved his rifle, hastily tied the torn sling together and jumped back up to the rooftops to rejoin the fight. ”Still alive.”

Tiny pushed on his shield, being more of a crutch for the poorly geared leg. He began to resent the Russians who had made the exo-suit of an ancient time, but he did enjoy its sturdiness. It was something else, able to take a bunch, and he was thankful that it was strong enough to be taken down almost exclusively by large calibers, large explosions, and the eventual thing that got stuck in its mechanical joints, or eats its wiring like a squirrel that one time. But the legs were the weakest part of his armor, he assumed that was what was wrong, or at least that something got knocked loose in the joints of his knee. But problems for later, he has had broken legs before, and he has seen Forrest Gump before, he saw that kid run on those braces.

He stopped for a moment as he reached the next wall and stopped for a second before pushing against it with his shield, "I fuckin' knew I should have brought the 20; they have a mech?" he asked as he pressed against the wall to go through it, not like there wasn't a door or anything he could have used. It might have been too small for him, but it's best to just... Go through it all, he still had enough mechanical power for walls. His shield reeled back for a moment as the nice rounded corner square chunk of wall departed, and he kept moving faster against the next wall. He disliked using his shield in such a brutish way; he already had to get dents out of it and enough bullets and fragmentation, but the stone scraped; he didn't like some of the noises, mostly the ones that sounded like teeth-grinding together.

But it seemed like an efficient way to get through the building, he only wished he hit a hallway first instead of what looked to be some form of living room, or guest room. Some old memories flooded back with the style of interior design and decorating of those within the Islamic world, even the far reaches such as this, but it did bring back a group of memories, good and bad. But, for now, he didn't notice any doors of beads that hung from archways.

He was thankful to not get stuck in those... again, but there was a small hallway, and there it was a garden. A sharp clang came from his back as something hit him, he did not know what, he could not see or pivot around, but he figured it couldn't hurt him, out of the corner of his eye, he saw something that looked to be a scimitar bouncing from his back and landing from the ground, it seems the wielder did not enjoy hitting him either.

"I have a bug on me if anyone behind me can get it, I can't turn well in this building." another wall collapsed, he felt what seemed to be some form of rifle on his back, and he finally got fed up with it to see a young man with an old martini henry rifle trying to reload. The man slowly plucked it from his hands, and lifted the belt up hoping it would come off with the rest of the ammo, it didn't, so he tugged until it came off. He looked at the scimitar, and pushed the younger man against the far fall to retrieve his new loot before turning back to the shield.

"Fucking cool." he said as he started to charge the next door, "It's like fucking Iraq all over again with guys using weapons from the British empire, dude had a fucking sword and a martini-henry. I just got shot by a gun older than all of us."

The door shattered as he looked at the garden, and he looked around for a moment. "Okay, I could find only one combatant, and he is armed to fight with Lawrence of Arabia. Now... if nobody minds, I need about a minute of quick repairs 'cause there is a fucking dent from the Fake Irish bastard outside and my leg is starting to hurt from being stuck."

Jamie nodded, "I'll back Boomer up. Never know when another pair of hands is needed." He jogged along to catch up to thr other man. As they went he peeked out a window and slowed. A wall of flames and screaming outside a short ways off. Only a few people he knew could do that kind of thing. When a wall of force...death...go with a little column A and B roared he nodded, "Thena's about. Just one more and the whole team would be here. Then it'd be a party..." He chuckles and runs to catch up. Passing by Chuck as he worked. Peeking outside again. Then whistling randomly.

The team of Artemis and local army who walked to the beat of the enemy organization looked up. They had been sure they were in a safe flank ready to.jump that tent one of theirs had spotted. They leveled weapons and fired up at the giant thing up there. Rounds whispering and hissing off the armored form. Jamie frowned and almost casually looked back at Boomer as he worked, "Almost done? Good." Jamie reached out the window and dropped several grenades out after he pulled the pins from them. The fighters below scrambling and a quintuplet of thumps from the concussion grenades went off. Jamiebthen leans over and blazed several seconds of rounds from his Vepy down onto them sending a few to meet their makers. And a few more to scramble away their ambush foiled.

Scionnquickly rushed to get out with Boomer, hearing orders to rake point and move for extract. He sighed , "Scion copies." He growled out, back to business. His armor whirring and the power pack buzzes enhancing his speed as the big man zips forward to get ahead of the starting exodus.

And he starts it by dropping a barrage of rockets into the area between them and the extract area. Flushing enemy out of hiding. The big man chuckled, "A good start."

---

A certain Battle Goddess

A medical trainer stood beside the tall woman.

"Careful now..."

The chain on the exercise machine unspoiled as Freya pulled on the bar, exercising her arm. She'd had enough rest. The team is still out and about. She didn't want to keep them.hanging doe too long.

She let the bar fall them again.

"Careful is one thing sir...ahhh...I need to be ready. I need...uh...to stand by my team and friends again!"

The trainer nodded, " I understand that dear. But you don't...." She trailed off ad Freya pulled again and the thick steel pin holding up near 450 pounds sheared off and the weights slammed to the ground....again.

Freya grinned, "Getting there."

The gym sergeant collated, " Damn it woman! The next one is out of your pay cheque!" The trainer sighing, "fourth one this week..."

Freya rolled her shoulder smiling brightly.

---

Omake
May or may not be canon

Whiiirrrrr-clang....keeeerk-whump...

The sound of the work out room foe the big people in Perth is a buzz. Three giants work up a froth.

Jamie pounds the dumbells. Arms heaving as he goes.

Athena on her back, big beautiful and bodacious as she works at the heavy bar, lifting no less then 400.

And Freya works at the power lifting bar. Snatching and grabbing better then some world competitors.

The sound of their work out, like the beat of a song.

After abit. Jamie starts to hum a bass beat. "Ba da da dum..." over and over. The click of thr bar as Athena lifts is joined by lyrics, " Oh...sweet dreams are made of these..." And soon joined by Freya as she heaves her bar over her head, "Ah, who am I to disagree!"

Jamie coniutes to provide the bass to the song as his sisters sing. " We travel the world and the seven seas..."

Curiously Blue Sword mercy stop at the door. Listening to thr impromptu show within. Victor and Natalie stopping during their business to listen to their talented kids.

"Every body looking for something..."

The trio kept.working out, joined in a sibling moment. None of the mercs or their parents would say anything later. A beautiful moment of family really.

Sometimes Chaos Comes To You

---

Samantha had been tasked with taking down the mech by Wilk. She trusted that Boomer had the destruction of the toxin in hand. She had lost her commandeered drones in supporting actions. She had hacked them and turned them on their own men. They had helped distract and take out guards when Purna was fighting his way out of the residence. Artemis troops had taken them out with extreme prejudice. Samantha still had Bob monitoring her temporary button cameras that she had slapped up around the area on her way in. Samantha had been standing on top of the wall to assess what was going on around Athena and the Blue Fire operatives when she received Boraro’s message about giving him a heads up.

Samantha took a moment to review the footage around where the team was and where they were moving too. She was not surprised to confirm the IFV’s and the mech close to the Blue Fire Team. Samantha gave the update over team coms. “Boraro movement spotted to the south of you. Looks like local allied criminal forces are trying to come up behind you. They are moving through homes and alleyways and avoiding the main streets. They are spreading out in an arc. There is a two person team with an RPG launcher to the East in an alleyway that lets out into the main road of the souk, there is what looks like a sniper and spotter team setting up on the roof terrace of that white three story building that looks like a tower. There is a five man fire team converging on the garden from the west through a merchant home and shop. They are currently in the alleyway next to the restaurant with the yellow sign.” Samantha gasped as Bob interrupted her with an identified high value target of opportunity. “High value target identified leading the fire team. Bomb maker for hire Friedrich Koch.”

Samantha pulled her attention back to her objective. She needed to get to the mech and figure out a way to take it down. Samantha used her parkour skills to get down the wall bouncing from one wall to the other where it met on the outside of the garden. Samantha began to run in a crazy random pattern designed to make her a harder target to hit. She began to move as fast as possible. Her goal was to make it to the mech. She already knew she would have to hack its hardware or sabotage it manually. First she had to get there.

Blue Sword was engaged with the enemy. Samantha was surprised when three men who looked like more of the same criminal elements lunged for her out of an alleyway she was passing. Her reflexes had her flipping out of the enemy’s hands with a kick to their jaw launching them backwards. She used the momentum she had built up to come all the way around to face the three men who had surprised her. She had pulled her pistol as she spun and began to target as her body continued the rotation. The one she had kicked had flown backwards and was on the ground. She quickly shot at the other two men aiming for center mass. She hit one of them with the shot knocking him backward. She heard him grunt but didn’t see any blood. She didn’t wait around to see if he was wearing body armor. The other man she had missed had a wicked looking scar along his chin. He lunged towards her with a wicked serrated blade in his hand. Muscle memory kicked in as she blocked his attack easily. His body telegraphing his move as he overextended himself. She slipped inside the range of his arm and tucked her pistol into his chin and fired at point blank range.

She then pushed away from him and kept running towards the end of the alley where the mech was. She knew the faster she could move the less time the enemy had to break her stride and momentum and react to her. Her speed and agility were two of her greatest assets in close quarters combat. She was smaller and weaker than many of those she fought. She made up for it with skill and dedication to her arts. Her speed and flexibility allows her to escape holds and stay out of bad situations. She knew she would inevitably lose if they could stop her and lock her down with a hold. She only needed to disable them so she could reach her target. There was enough happening that she didn’t believe she was being targeted on purpose. She probably presented what they thought was an easy target of opportunity.

Samantha could see that more local muscle was piling into the area from surrounding back alleys and other paths that were probably only known to locals. She did notice that the local henchmen were heading back towards the garden instead of towards the fight where Athena and Blue Sword where fighting. “Wilk, Purna, Tiny Nord, and Boomer heads up. You have local henchmen from the surrounding area heading towards you from Athena’s side of the souk. They seem to be avoiding the fighting going on by Athena with the Mech and IFV’s.”

Samantha continued to spin, punch, and kick, as she made her way closer to the mech. She noticed that enemy combatants seemed to change to local army troops who were targeting Blue Sword and Athena. Samantha turned her head seeking the best path towards the mech. She saw an old box truck parked to one side of the souk next to a market. The door was open and it had obviously been abandoned when the fighting broke out. Samantha grinned and ran straight for it. If the enemy could have seen her face, they would have seen her eyes light with glee. The old truck was an older model with a heavy steel frame. It was a workhorse truck that was built tough and solid and was still in use because they lasted. She had a plan for the mech now.

Samantha hopped up into the cab of the old truck, closing the door. She carefully buckled the seat belt. She laughed, noting that the keys were in the ignition. She smiled appreciating the sound of a well loved machine as the old truck turned over with a powerful smooth growl. She grinned as she put the old truck in gear and hit the gas. The truck was slow to move at first but she quickly had it speeding up as she went through the gears. She didn’t bother to dodge much once it really had some speed behind it. The old heavy truck had mass and momentum on its side. This was either going to be one of her worst ideas ever or one of her best! She just needed to slow down or stop the mech long enough she could try to disable its weapons system. She hit the gas pedal and turned the truck aiming right for the mech.

Crows were audible, loud, cawing and cawing and cawing in the foggy early morning dawn of the Wiltshire countryside. And within it, on a small complex lay an experimental research facility that mostly tested chemical and biological weapons, but today was different inside the specific unit they were going into on campus.

The shutter doors rattled, as the four dress-shirted men entered, lights flickering on, and a litany of British Army troops following in, sweeping out, rifles raised, the blood all over the floor and bodies everywhere, alongside missing equipment making gasps of men. It was a clear sight to see. Everything they had worked on, everything they had chased, gone, in an instant. It must have been a surgical break in. Everyone in the guard detail was dead outside, and mysteriously, not a single prompt had been given that it was happening. By the time the operation must have been done, two hours must have passed and everything had been co-ordinated, surgically, like someone knew precisely what they needed.

Henry was all too aware of what that phone call meant. And the sight of it, and the smell of rotting bodies was no unfeeling sign.

"Fuck me." He yelled, the sight the older, bald, glasses wearing man looking to the third, then back to Henry.

"She knew. She knew alright." The man looked on, Henry shaking his head, walking up to him and grabbing his shirt, the other man pushing back.
"You fucking moron! Do you have half an idea what we've done? What YOU did?" Henry yelled, grabbing him, the armed man separating the two, looking at them both, specifically the older one before they both had the chance to reply and argue.

"Sir, we have no leads on who attacked. Nothing. Whoever did this, knew how to hit us. She knew us from the inside out. There was nothing else any of the lads would do. Whoever hit, was a team as good as any of ours." The lead soldier called, as Henry looked back, the glasses wearing man holding a disdained look on his face. Henry replied first.

"I told you so, didn't I? Once you start this, it doesn't stop. And now, you have her on the loose. And working for God only knows what." Henry added, in disbelief, the stories now all proving true. It was a nightmare. Worse than they could have wanted to deal with. But, it was the reality. A comeuppance. The other white shirts wanted to say something else, they were high ranks, after all, but they did not stop Henry. A quiet man turned angry.

With a sigh, he walked past a bloodied body, the main culprit obvious.
"Fucking hell, Rose. I guess I shouldn't have expected any less. But even I'm shocked. All of this. It's not exactly like it's just one container's worth. She took all of it. Everything we set up. All of it. Those two technicians there. She killed Grace and Harriet....she grew up with them, for crying out loud." Henry added, shrugging his shoulders, one of the other white-shirted scientists looking across at him. The other looked more formal, Military or Intelligence even.

"Meaning what?" Another voice called out, one of the other dress-shirted men.

"Rose isn't like any other operative on SIS's books, but she'll slip up in time. The system, all of this....isn't replicable elsewhere. She's in the wild with her arse between her legs unless we help her put it back. She'll end up dead in time. Failsafes are in place, we just follow them to the end. Just one operative among many talented ones we have." Another said, Henry shaking his head, now livid, in his response to come.

"So you think she came here, took all of this, killed at least thirty people who have families we now have to somehow cover this up on to the highest level of government secrecy, and she has no plan? You said it yourself. No operative like her....she has a plan and you're already a part of it. Well, there's ONE operative like her we can't even tell that held a fucking normal life for her, and about a hundred EXACTLY like her, aren't there?!" Henry added, almost scalding in his tone replying as one of the other white-shirted men piped up.

"Are we telling Oracle?" He asked, another replying in sequence.

"Of course we're fucking not. You know why." One white shirt man replied and, went to another who replied.

"Because you think he'll tell her? He needs to know. Well done us, we try and cover it off for Ian's sake and maybe, just maybe, we sort this out. Henry, calm the fuck down. We need to manage this. Now." Henry listened to him, shaking his head.

"Because that wasn't the point. Ian didn't want this. Any of this. Neither did I. I think you know that. And now, she's going to come for you. One by one. She left these bodies as a point. Oracle isn't helping. Imran is telling you he told you so. Oh, he knew. Shock? Yeah, he knows. But doesn't know it was Skye and Rose fucking Lyons. So he's going to tell you to shove it where the sun doesn't shine if you tell him what happened here, and who. Because when, not if, he finds out, he'll come for you as much as Ian probably would." Henry said, sighing, looking around.

He was talking to senior military and intelligence officials like shit, and the normally coy Professor, a quiet man in his usual life was not taking prisoners. They had nothing to say, because they couldn't fathom the blood in here. Henry couldn't either, but rage had a hold.

"I suggest you tell your families you love them. I got told I was out of this affair. For you to fuck it all up again. I don't think you understand how screwed we are. You know what she can do, and you're still acting as if this is under control." He added, his tone underlying, fearful, almost shaking yet angry more than anything.

"Well, with respect, Henry, we don't have a choice but to bring you here. Stop panicking. Now you know why that phone was there. We never meant for this. Clean disconnect, clean end. And she somehow finds a contingency? You know that we pulled the plug, from the wall, as hard as we can. And she still ends up crawling out. That is why you are needed, how the fuck were we to think that is even psosible? And anyway....we'll take care of that fact, it's what they pay us for. Not your business. And frankly, we need answers, not complaints. You're not in our line of work. Just tell us what we need, and we'll be done."

"Well, fuck me for pretending you knew better and not thinking one of your best assets might realise you might backstab her! I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation. Lt Col Atkins, in his late fucking moronic wisdom thought it would be a good idea to leave Sol Hestia in her as a failsafe, and Ian, rest his soul too! I told you it was a shitty idea. Now, we have a walking fucking timebomb on our hands that can't exactly be defused, and she seems to be able to kill an entire complex of trained monkeys with a bunch of ghost mercs, and shift two articulated lorries out of rural Wiltshire without any questions, so no.....sorry, I don't think I know better. I thought you're fucking experts, why am I pointing this out!" Henry ranted, almost turning red in the face, the men offended, but Henry giving zero shits.

"We have our measures....calm yourself Henry. We'll hunt her down. Find wherever this went, who attacked, and end it. With, or without Oracle and his band of merry men. And anyway, if we tell him, half of NATO finds out about this. And the Russians. And the Chinese. And this all goes to shit. You're right, he won't hold back. If he knows. Neither do we. Not when we have to."

"What part of what I just told you did you not listen to? Forget it. She'll be a ghost in the wind now, and there is nothing we can do. I recommend you find whatever funded this. And eliminate them. Tomorrow. She isn't just going to be angry. She's not going to stop until you cut off the neck."

"Our thoughts too. We have our best on it. This is being dealt with. Lieutenant, over here! We need photos on markings left here. Henry. Don't shit yourself. We've had things like this a while ago. Bear with." One shirted man added, as the phone wobbled in Henry's back pocket, the researcher sighing.

"Hang on."

Walking outside, the phone buzzed in Henry's pocket, and without thinking, in the millions of phone calls he'd already had to field this morning, took it. An encrypted phone, in theory. No other calls came to it, unless of a crisis like this. An old one, to be fair. But the use case was enough for someone.

"Hello, speaking?"

"I think you get the picture now....and I am glad you understand. Do not turn, and do not put the phone down. I know you, your wife and your children have had a very productive life since you packed this in. Bella is in that teenage phase now, yet she takes after her dad's music taste. No need for me to interfere, and, I suppose they deserve a bit of protecting. I'll come for you when I need you." The voice was only one. Only one.

His heart almost stopped, as he stared into the foggy abyss, and for a moment, he swallowed the most sour lump in his throat, adrenaline charging in.

Rose had intended for this. All of this. There was no tracing or going through the recording, and she wasn't bluffing. It wasn't a message for anyone. It was his. Directed at him. He was here for that reason, none of those men had an idea, but it all went back, she probably listened in on that entire conversation too. And he couldn't even spill half of it to them. What had happened. They knew knew the semantics. No detail. And the horrors of it.

Not exactly an amazing morning so far.

"Are we understood?"

Gulp.

"Yes."

---

It was anarchy everywhere.

Up down, there here and fucking anywhere. Specifically, there.

---

@Jamesyco@BigPapaBelial

All hell broke loose as gunfire poured everywhere down on ground level on the way out of the Souk.

Boomer, Tiny Nord and Scion's presence ripped through the side of the alleys, and Adam picked off the man with the scimitar on Tiny Nord, using his rifle even in spite of the man lifted fireman-like over shoulder, keeping an eye on the now four horsemen of the apocalypse he had to keep an eye on around him. This was quite something, safe to say, he was appreciating his hearing protection more than usual today, nodding to Tiny Nord as his gesture was interrupted by the distinct yelling of the Warhawk on point. Jamie, or Scion had blasted a barrage into the alley. Now the rats were exposed, and the dark-navy, near grey coloured heavy was taking front and centre stage. She'd been waiting a while to get back to work, and here she was at it.

Athena was yelling out as she sent a wooden stall flying with static towards two Artemis soldiers, bullets flying an an RPG clattering stone near her, as she roared, yelling. Her other heart pounded in her chest, and it was clear where some heavy might even take a moment to settle, she just didn't stop, she used the coil to either fry or bash people in, her Trophy catching a 40mm round, the sight of it something and a half as it detonated. Even another mechanised Heavy came in, a DsHK loaded and yet Athena seemed to be fuelled by pure adrenaline, her hearts pounding as she used her jump jet to leap forwards, rounds clattering as she crashed straight in front, the static pinning him as she grappled him and he tried to punch back, yet nothing come from it given Athena's sheer, screaming relentless power, using one of her swords to basically skewer him through his Altyn-like helmet. Even Adam kept out of the way with what came next. You know those things in Tom and Jerry, or cartoons where a bunch of people get into a fight and you just see clouds of dust, dirt and smoke?

It looked like that, except when Athena was about done, she had marks on her armour, and still seemed to be standing, yet 20 men in the alley no longer were, with the heavy used to soak up a few rounds held in her left hand with the remains of his mechanised system propping him up like a chunky armoured human shield, whilst her coil fried a couple more in her right. Then it went quiet. With an pull up of her helmet, she kissed him on his metallic forehead and let him peel off her sword, looking back at Adam, not much dust on her face but an awful lot of sweat, even in spite of the AC inside the Warhawk being cranked to max, whooping with her heart almost wanting to explode out of her mouth, very much visible to the Pole.

"Oh, eat shit fuckface!.......oh yeah. This way. My men are posted up. We've got anti-tank weaponry. And some more toys. I told you....get yourself a girl that can fuck shit up. Chaos, threat's handled....but the militia are refocussing in one cluster in the stalls in the market, they ran when they realised what was coming." Athena commented, the static smell sticking out to Adam as well as the smell of the heavy on the floor very bloodied and messy, the Pole shaking his head from the level of violence that this woman had. Fuck me, she was barely not a teenager and able to blow more shit up than any heavy he'd ever seen, well, not outside of Raven at least.

"You are fucking crazy, Valkyrie. You guys came expecting a mechanised platoon?" Adam commented, Athena shrugging with the look staring back daggers.

"It's Morocco, what did you expect, we would come light? Come on. My men will not hold long. They'll need help. Get going, drop the HVT and we'll need to carve a path out. I'll be at the front, before you bitch." Athena said, the Blue Sword troops now visible on HUDs up ahead, now turning away from the troops that were between them and it. Extraction was right there. And well, a point to drop off Henry at least, who was still fast asleep. Always HVTs seemed to be out, it was like someone didn't want them talking in the heat of battle or something.

"Oh fuck you, Valkyrie. This better work." Adam replied, dry as ever, not wanting any command to slip here, given well, he couldn't exactly say no. But this was not a position he wanted to lose all his power, he had to remind. So did Athena.

"Yeah, yeah, something something fucking energy shield, something something fuck you not kicking enough ass!" Athena replied, as sarcastic, and as absolutely much a ten year old would.

With that, Adam moved forwards to the trucks leaving her silly comment behind, Athena looking across to Jamie, her look in her eyes clear. Blue Sword troops beckoned over, and with it, Adam dumped Henry into the back of one of the trucks, grabbing a stash of magazines inside, whilst Athena addressed the business behind. Her brother, and Tiny Nord, specifically.

"Appreciate the assist. Not bad unloading rockets into them. There are a lot more that way though. There's refills in the trucks, JamJam. See, always thinking of you and your expenditure." Athena added, walking on by, not adding more, not letting him have more, for now at least. As for Tiny Nord, she kept an eye on him, as selfish as she was, he was struggling, and she wasn't going to let him stay behind.

Looking at Tiny Nord's armour, Athena reached down, whistling to one of the soldiers, one of her techs to be specific, who ran in, the brief interlude interrupted by Jamie and Chuck raining down shit in the more opened up square littered with stalls and stands, and where the vehicles and mech were roaming. Inspecting it, they could tell he mostly had it fixed, but her and the tech finished the rest as much as they could. He had a good moment to look up through the corn-fed all American heavy, well, 2 of 2, or 4? She had no idea what her and JamJam were at this point. Probably some weird blend.

"Good to go. Hydraulic cylinder caught some damage, new one should keep you running. And we have better replacements than Russian for that. My mother would know. Come on.....they can't hide you back here. Dude down there has a DShK if you're feeling like you want more high calibre, than what you're probably swinging down there. Oh...did I say that bit out loud?" Athena cackled, wiping the dirt and blood off her shoulders, tapping him on the shoulder, and with it, breaking into a run, leaving a little static crackle on his arm as a friendly jive.

"You're rolling with Valkyrie now, Tiny Nord, I know, you probably heard about me. Stay with me, and keep blasting. We have a world to go fucking save....apparently." With it, Athena locked her faceplate back down, and set the coil to regenerate, leading the way out of the souk, under a destroyed arch and out into the warzone beyond.

---

@Starlance@LadyAmber

Purna kept moving onto the alley, catching sight of Ebrima getting annoyed, and well, moving his side across the rooftops. Clattering into an exo, Purna was powerless to help, well, apart from sliding behind an AC unit on a roof as a sniper shot rang out, as he peeked out, Mk14 back in hand, cloak back on and gently peeking up, clattering a round as well as a countersniper could into the sniper, then the spotter of the .50 cal position, before back down again, another MG barked out, picking out his position. Well, fuck off, he thought, as he ran back on, hopping another alley and noting a couple more troops heading on Ebrima's flank, Purna skidding on ground.

Taking a hard breath in, he peeked and using his MP5 instead to clatter down shots down range, the militia-like forces getting rounds direct on the next rooftop along, using his positioning low-slung to the ground and almost as a blur to make the most of it. The cloak was basically pointless, but well, it had done its job for now, as he disengaged it to save the last of the battery, using the grapple to leap onto the next roof to help clear the bigger gap, watching Ebrima come back onto the roof. He'd helped in his own way, silently from the background, and didn't really need to say much.

"Few tangoes eliminated, moving forwards to Cafe L'Adresse. Copy, Chaos. Sniper team and loose elements eliminated." It was almost like it was just an exhale for him, not much to say, probably something the Cameroonian would appreciate. Despite their initial differences, more similarities perhaps matched them, more than either would be comfortable at all admitting. Poverty was a shared story, and well, they knew how to fight dirty and make the absolute most of the cutting edge. For now, he had his own issue to deal with. The door kicked open near to where Purna was, the final one in a coffee shop balcony overlooking Jemaa El Fnaa, as the exo-clad operative walked out, two more men moving on Purna's position, an NLAW in the hands of one and a PKP in the hands of another. Ah, fuck. And like that, a fireteam's worth of exos had appeared following those initial group. They were ambushing. Purna would have done the same, picking off with anti-tank weaponry? Now that was just fucking unfair.

Time was of the essence.
"Boaro, get to me, stat. Gonna need help here. HVT has a fancy exo. And there's enough AT here for us to turn the tables with." Purna's voice was persuasive, not understating yet cold and almost removed from what he was describing. All mags reloaded, he kept out of sight using the dark shadowy terrace, watching as the men barked orders in what sounded like Russian, clearly the banner of language they chose. They were right on the flank of the square, and the mech towering in the distance could be seen, at least 12 to 14 foot tall or so, as were the IFVs rolling in, cars on fire, stalls on fire and generally speaking, the warzone that was filling. USPs in hand, Purna kept his kukri held loose in his left, watching as one set up the NLAW, and precisely on motion, clattered a round into his head. One exo-equipped soldier recieved four more, but his reinforced armour took the brunt, and he had already lept forwards, clattering through the wood towards the Nepali, Purna rolling out of the way and shooting the other man with a round to wound him, before charging forwards and drawing the pistol back down.

With a push, Purna ran forwards and ran off the balcony top with the unprepared supporting AT soldier, grapple fired straight back in as the other body flew out with Purna holding on, giving him the chance to at least leash back in, smashing through a window and back into the cafe. He was fluid, a fireteam totally unaware of a body getting sent into one of them as Purna kept on blasting, rolling through a coffee stall and using his speed, fluidity and parkour to keep them on edge. Bolting through, he used the walls to pivot around another, emptying the mag, and flicking the pistols back into holsters. With his MP5 set, he dived behind solid cover again inside the cafe's ground floor, exhaling hard, knowing he'd caused enough shit to at least make them have no idea where they were being assaulted from. Normally, Purna would rip through people like butter- but Artemis's more advanced troops were a harder ask, especially in an active warzone where they'd be tooled up to find people just like him.

"Fireteam of exos above me, they've got an AT position set but I can't fight them alone, need some muscle here Boaro! If you want to avoid nearly getting your head kicked in, tell me when to ghost up and I'll slit the throat of any fucker you want, but you only get one shot!" Purna called out into his throat comms, knowing Ebrima was likely following suit down his side of the market, and would be able to hopefully return the favour. Whatever Boaro was gonna do, Purna could follow suit, HK slapping his MP5 with a new magazine and underslinging his kukri in a tight grip, and preparing his cloaking system for one last jolt.

This moment was one for Boaro to use to go one against four, and win. On his command, Purna would be able to do what was needed in that cafe to help him win the fight.

(Starlance- treat Purna as an NPC here for what you'd like)

---

Yet it was the shortest of respites. The mech was armed with an autocannon and rocketpods, and laying waste to a Blue Sword setup up ahead, and there was no time to waste, the BTR-90 IFVs trawling over cars, stalls and all sorts. At least three left, and Adam had picked up an AT4CS, rolling it over shoulder, USAS in hands with frag rounds for the exo-equipped soldiers.

"Scion, you keep the right angle, Boomer, you're on left, Valkyrie, you, Nord and Fireteam Gold have the middle, I'm in pursuit! Boaro, if you're at that AT position, steal what you can and clean up BTRs from up on high, any mortars, hit the mech even, fuck, work out what you can but don't fuck around, we're taking serious fire!" He called out, mortar rounds clattering out now. Mortars? What the fuck, were they actually committing to a warzone here? That meant only one thing- don't fucking stop moving, and keep killing anything in front.

This wasn't like New Zealand for much of the team, even like Chile, not really like Aralask, this was full blown, all out warfare in the busiest market square of a major city that could be, and this situation had gone from zero to one hundred in the last spell of about 10 minutes. They wanted Henry badly, dead even if they had to, but the attack had probably left them uncertain of what in the high fuck to do. Same for Raven. All that Adam knew was, they had to keep rolling the momentum hard enough, or they would get stomped.

Athena charged on, Adam leaping up and over a stall to clatter a squad with flechettes, as Athena barged straight through a stall with her own jump pack and basically ripped through another squad with an LMG post with a fluid arc of electricity cauterising the setup, roaring as Blue Sword troops sent 40mm rounds over the next stall in support with smoke and high explosive, Trophy Systems of the IFV coming in close picking up a few before Athena refocussed herself to deal with that.

The BTRs fired on stalls, sending wood splintering everywhere as Athena bolted across and Adam sent the shield back up, her fist raised and picking out one on her targeting system. A missile screamed out, and with it, smashed the wheels off one of them, immobilising it.
"Fuck yeah!" The yell replied back, as she didn't so much as run at the IFV but simply threw herself up six feet into the sky and clattered into the hull, buried the coil into the top hatch, and pulled, with a big jolt of electricity just blowing the door off and blasting the inside. The doors blasted off the rear, as she felt smug for herself for a moment there.

A 20mm round from another IFV made her rethink that, sending her clattering down, over a stall and over, exhaling hard, the round's impact against her armour not puncturing, but certainly knocking the air out of her breathless charge.

"You fuck!" She scrambled back, the Trophy System not catching that one, as it sent rounds flying all around, Athena using the shell as cover as Adam followed, the sight of Chaos on the networked HUD moving very fast making him worry. Almost like in a comic fashion, Athena's tall frame looked down at Adam, and the supporting two Blue Sword soldiers joining in, as well as Nord. The look on his face was not a positive one.

"Oh shit, Chaos, what are you doing!?" Adam called out....she was in a truck? Oh fuck no. Athena on the other hand, well she beckoned up.

"Chaos, you crazy fucking bitch, I like it!" Athena yelled, turning up the coil and with it, nodding to Adam, Tiny Nord, and in a sense, the other two heavies.
"Cover my ass, stay the hell away from me but get ready to rain down some fire! Scion, on your quarter, I'm gonna make a run, Chaos, now!"

With it, Athena moved out from the IFV, and with a turn up of the coil, broke into it. The jump jet pointed almost a more flat angle, she sent herself across, skidding through a stall in a comic fashion sending oranges and fruit in a colourful blast, running at pelt, heart pounding.

"Fuck me, you're gonna get yourselves killed, run it back!" Adam yelled with a venom, almost beyond disappointment, just hoping they weren't about to get killed. Everything he had said that, but well, there was no stopping. With it, Adam moved around the BTR's wreck and unloaded rounds on a group more Artemis troops were reinforcing, cutting them down, reloading with a tactical movement and keeping his head low, the woodwork making this area one hell of a killzone, the kind that only the heavies would survive. Moving through, he drew the AT4 off his shoulder and picked up a shot on a BTR, firing off a round and watching the Trophy attached snatch it out of sky. Fuck, that wasn't gonna work, but then again, it was just a tube, nothing advanced. Not like what Boaro would be able to pick up. Moving from point to point, he recharged the shielding up again, barrelling behind more solid positioning, staying the hell out of the way of whatever anarchy was going on further in.

The mech didn't miss spotting Athena, not one bit, and unguided rockets flew out towards her, blowing up all sorts, nearly detonating her with it as she took one last call into the tannoy to make sure she had its operator's attention, as well as all the BTRs and troops rushing in. She was centre of attention, and in most circumstances, this would be pretty much her getting killed. If it wasn't for all the fire support she hoped she was getting, one last jump upward and she was right where she wanted.

"Hey, Athena Awesome is right over here!"

With it, Athena cackled, and with the coil turned up, the last mode was left she really wasn't hoping to use, but considerate of the fact that up until now there wasn't much stopping this thing, she may as well have a go. The Fryer. Mini-missiles weren't hurting that thing, it had a Trophy System, her usual system wouldn't pierce it, but this, this might do something. And with it, the coil discharged anything it had left, not a blast to fry through armour but instead, an EMP-like shatter that would almost certainly short anything it hit. A complete overload in the short term, even for the military-grade circuitry that it was going into. Short range as a shrill of course, but enough to shock it for a moment.

Including her own.

Although, Athena realised a bit late that the pilot of said mech wasn't just any. It was the big bastard that Freya talked about a while back. Geza, fucking, Ingwe.

"Back at you." The tannoy replied.

The mech swung for her with a paw and clattered her over, but the pulse was well timed, and with it, killed the mech momentarily, as she got beefed into a wooden stall with a hard hit. Considerate of the fact it couldn't turn on her and unload its weapons, it just swatted her instead. The impact was hard. Heavy even, and breaking more stalls, she wiped out momentarily, unable to move for a second and pinned in. Not dead. But certainly dazed, and well, hoping the others had the rest covered.

If this is breathless, and you can't follow, well....there were far too many strands to follow, far too much to really focus in on, and try and establish. But one thing was clear. They needed to clean up the IFVs, any remaining Artemis troops, and most importantly, that mech killed or stopped, one way or another. Athena had started that process, likely Chaos would end it. The IFVs and troops around the massive square? The heavies in Boomer, Nord and Scion had those, but they couldn't exactly go toe to toe with wheeled steel and reinforcing exos and other troops, so they'd be pressed and would have to play dirty. Boaro and Viper had to eliminate their hostiles in the Cafe and then get AT to help out to that end, and get on with that.

Athena took a deep breath, and with it, bounded over stalls, clambering and running from fire, the armour ridiculous to bear, but no doubt, something she could at least hobble in. Her vision was blurry, her hearts were sucking a lot more in than she could manage, and she could at least swing by the wreck of a truck, huffing hard, taking a second to re-establish, and then get back.

The team had free reign here to kick as much ass as possible, together, or else they'd be making their end here.

---

Boomer had completed his side task of destroying the toxin so it couldn’t be used by the enemy and helping destroy the equipment on site to prevent them from being able to start production right back up again. He had then hightailed it out of the garden and back into the marketplace out the other side of the garden. He was heading towards the Blue Sword team with Scion. He and Scion had been dumped right into the line of fire immediately taking on enemy hostiles coming towards the garden from the marketplace. Very few locals remained as they started to flee as soon as the gunshots started to fly.

As they broke out into the chaos, Boomer dropped into that bent knee walk that looked awkward but provided a smooth and more stable firing platform from. He pulled his modified carbine up and began to target heads. If they were firing at him, they were fair game in his book. He swapped out a magazine quickly as he continued to nail the stream of enemies targeting them. The gunfire and violence was bloody, loud, and abrupt. The heavies quickly made a pocket of space around them with dead bodies or injured men who had been disabled. The metallic tang of blood permeated the air around them overpowering the typical scent of spices from local merchants. As they were making their presence known at the entrance to the market from the garden area, Athena was tearing up the space around her as she took on large groups of Artemis soldiers at the other side of the market.

The marketplace was a scene of utter chaos and upheaval with firefights, guns, explosions, and collisions happening everywhere at once. Adam came over the team comms with new orders.

Adam's voice was heard. “Scion, you keep the right angle, Boomer, you're on left, Valkyrie, you, Nord and Fireteam Gold have the middle, I'm in pursuit! Boaro, if you're at that AT position, steal what you can and clean up BTRs from up on high, any mortars, hit the mech even, fuck, work out what you can but don't fuck around, we're taking serious fire!"

Boomer calmly called over the comms “Boomer acknowledges, left side is mine.” He gave Duke a hand sign since the noise level made verbal commands awkward to hunt. Duke immediately slunk towards the side of the marketplace and disappeared down an alley. Boomer had to trust his canine partner would be okay until they met back up. Duke had already begun to seek out anyone who smelled of gun oil or gunpowder taking down a man who had been missed in a side alley. Duke lunged for the man and his teeth closed on the man’s throat and his weight knocked him to the ground. Duke had been moving fast enough the man’s shot missed him.

Boomer focused on what was happening on his side of the marketplace. There was an IFV that was bogging down Blue Sword troops on his side of the marketplace. The IFV was firing at Raven forces with high caliber shells. There was also a large number of troops being led by officers in Exos. Boomer had fired his missiles off earlier. He began to run towards the troops firing his carbine as he went to take out as many of the enemy as possible. Boomer was a great shot and almost every shot counted to at least injure or wing an enemy trooper. Boomer shot towards the action, his suit helping his speed. His steps leave marks in the concrete pavement due to his weight. Boomer was focused on getting closer to the exos and the IFV and had missed the large caliber shell sent his way. He was flipped over backwards as the IFV opened fire on him.

Boomer’s armor stood up to the punch but it knocked the wind out of him and left a dent behind. He was wheezing and felt like he had been kicked in the chest by a mule. “Somabich! That hurt!”

Boomer rolled over and pushed himself up onto his knees. He made his way back to his feet. Now it was personal. He had dropped his carbine when he had been knocked for a loop but it was still attached to his combat harness. He began to jog towards the IFV. He pulled Lucille back out from her sheath. He made sure it was connected to the wrist clasp. The first EXO clad enemy moved to intercept him. He growled and spun Lucile overhead. The EXO fired point blank at his chest but his armor held. Boomer was feeling no pain now that his endorphins were kicking in. He let his rage out as he brought Lucile down in an overhead smash using all of his strength. The heavy Japanese style mace slammed into the EXO soldiers head. His helmet held for a split second before the energy generated by his swing cracked the man’s helmet and his skull like a ripe watermelon.

Samantha had been focused on how to execute the order that Adam had given her. She couldn’t hack the mech remotely. The only option left was to try and disable it in person. In order to do that she had to get close enough to touch it. In order to get anywhere she would need to be able to get to sensitive parts. She needed to immobilize it for a bit. If she can just knock it off its feet or disabled a leg she might stand a chance. She planned to use the truck to ram the mech. The heavy old steel body truck might just do the trick. She had clicked the seat belt just in case. She didn’t plan to stay in the damn thing when it hit the mech though. This thing didn’t have airbags and only had a lap belt. She knew better than that. She was waiting for the opportune moment and place. She also had to get the old truck some speed and momentum built up. She had gone past the mech and was turning around to aim for it building up speed.

She was just starting her line up run when she heard Adam call out over the comms. "Oh shit, Chaos, what are you doing!?" Samantha rolled her eyes as she replied to Adam “What did you expect me to take a hardened mech down with? I left my lasers and missiles in the F-38 and shop.” She snarked back at Adam. Samantha’s sassy attitude on full display as she heard Athena as well. "Chaos, you crazy fucking bitch, I like it!" Samantha grinned. “Thanks for getting his attention, Athena. Now keep it for a few minutes while I get this ancient truck in gear, so I can ram it up his ass. Be prepared to disengage on my mark.”

Samantha shifted the truck gear and unbuckled the seatbelt. She grabbed one of her daggers from her bandolier and quickly stabbed it down on the gas pedal jamming it down. She quickly pulled the lap belt around and through the steering wheel. She clicked it back into place. She sat down on top of it and had enough play to steer by. She was getting closer to the mech. She rolled down the window on the driver’s side. She managed to get her feet up on the driver’s seat. She climbed out the window and stood on the side rail steering the truck through the window. She tugged the seat belt tighter as she got closer to the mech. She was coming at him from an angle. She was hoping to hit from the rear side. She was aiming to cripple that hip actuator and joint to disable the leg and get the mech on the ground.

She was focused on finding just the right spot to bail when she heard Adam over comms. "Cover my ass, stay the hell away from me but get ready to rain down some fire! Scion, on your quarter, I'm gonna make a run, Chaos, now!"

Samantha spoke to Athena over comms. “Athena, here I come, disengage now!” She was passing one of the market stands. She cinched the seat belt tight as the truck was lined up as best as she could get it. She leapt from the truck and tucked her body into a roll to spin off the excess force. She landed in a pile of rugs which padded her landing somewhat. She was still going to feel those bruises tomorrow. The gel padding in her suit helped to spread that contact force out some. The heavy 2 ton steel truck had managed to get up to about 45 miles per hour and was right on target when she bailed with only about 15 feet to target. She curled up in a ball and covered her head as she heard the truck hit the mech with a massive boom! The sound of the collision shook the ground as the two heavy objects collided. Samantha could feel metal raining down around her and punching through the canvas and corrugated plastic roofing of the nearby market stalls.

Samantha waited for a minute as she got her breath back. She then uncurled and made her way out of the merchant stall. Everything was blocked by shredded canvas hanging from the ceiling. She made her way carefully outside. There were large and small pieces of shrapnel from the collision all around her. She finally made it outside and oily smoke filled the area. The old truck was on fire and was the source of the oily smoke. The heavy truck was completely destroyed on the front end and had flipped over on its side, which had been shredded as well. The mech had been knocked forward. She could see the operator was trying to right the mech. She did a quick fistpump as she saw the hip area on the mech was crushed in and the leg was barely hanging on and was jammed. The mech operator might be able to sit the mech up but it was not moving anywhere. The collision had cleared the area around the mech as the shrapnel from the collision took out anyone who was not heavily armored. She began to make her way carefully towards the mech. She hoped the operator was too busy to notice her. She tried to slip around behind the mech.