Natalie was thrown off her feet, flung backwards as the Hydrogen Cell went up- the secondary explosion of the tanks huge as it completely went up, the blue flame turning to a white-hot fusion that burned bright and sent whatever Hydrogen was concentrated up in flames. The entire cavern was filled with fire, as the cell literally tore through the place, Natalie closing her eyes as she hoped for the best, feeling a hurt in her body that felt too recognizable as she was thrown to a corner of the cave and felt her spine hit hard against her tanks.

Almost thirty seconds later, she came around again, pushing her visor up as she looked over at Victor. She leant back up, as she looked at her Flamethrower, and her legs. She wriggled a little, feeling no bones broken- maybe a rib, but she couldn't tell. She coughed hard, dusting herself off with her gauntlets, as she looked at the burning areas of the cavern.
"Shit...what the fuck?" Natalie said, as she knew that while her visor was just about intact, their armors had taken a beating. Bulletproof it may have been, explosive fifty cal round from a fucking minigun it wasn't. And then there was the 8"1 exoskeleton in the middle of the room, still burning. Natalie looked over to Victor, as she slowly clambered up, a nosebleed pouring down her face as she around,
"Shit...Victor, you okay?" Natalie asked, barely slumbering over as she looked down at the suit, stopping to breath and pant hard.
"What the fuck is this...it's nothing I've ever seen before, but we need to return it to base, before someone else disposes of it. Drag the remmenants out and call for that C17 to take it back to Perth, I'll scan for intel in that little corner she came out of. Fuck...I don't know how combat ready we now are..." Natalie said, looking around, as she then looked back at the suit. It was fried- whatever was inside was dead and charred beyond limit, but parts of the armor were still intact. The frame somehow was in places, intact, but in others, completely shreded. The back was completely demolished, but the front could be salvaged. The exoskeleton mechanism was gone, but the armored composite could be made out in some places.
"This cannot go back to the Coalition forces. They find this, the Chinese are going to be so angry, they won't know what hit them. And besides, we've got engineers who can tell us what we're up against next time we run into this fucking sort of thing. The CIA would just hide it from us and next time, when they walk around with 25mm guns, we'll be dead meat. Half a fucking regiment will be. Use that Fulton Balloon that we keep on our shit- it might work to lift that fucking brute, but since most of it is demolished, it should be a lot lighter." Natalie said, spitting blood, as she then looked over to Victor, aware of the scale that this got to.
"I would fucking kiss you right now...but look at us. Let's just get the job done. Get this bastard out, we'll call our C17 to pull this beast out and so on." Natalie said, as the two super-heavies, covered in dust, dirt and severe hits, seemed no longer like the impentrable giants they were. Natalie guessed that they were at half capabilities, and sustained regular 12.7mm fire wouldn't be tolerable. Small arms still would be, but Natalie made a mental note that a lot of the kevlar had been shredded, and that blast protection from the specialized kevlar weave combined with the prototype foam that protected from blasts wouldn't take much more. She looked over her shoulder, as she then put her visor back down, coughing hard as she stood up again, wanting to stand tall as she moved in towards the metal armory the exoskeletoned soldier had emerged from. Natalie's jaw dropped.

Walking around, she took her helmet off in it's entirity, looking in. This place was solely the armored soldier's, it seemed, and was mostly empty, apart from a rack, a large metal crate and a large desk with oversized drawers. She found a dogtag on a table. Nadia Hamid, and a picture. Natalie recognized the picture- a woman that she had herself met and spoken to, though they didn't get on that well. She was Qaddafi's loyal servant a few years ago, now she was a mercenary for hire. And what qualified her for this was the question, was probably to do with the fact that she had no real allegiances and served money. That was what Natalie knew well, as she looked over at the desk. She looked for other things. Documents. And in particular, one in Chinese. It was the armor, a drawing of some sorts, and a few other details. She couldn't read Mandarin, but she guessed it couldn't be the suit specifications or blueprints. But it had something to do with how this was obtained. She moved up the desk, already looking for anything else. On the floor, Nadia's clothing could be seen. Natalie tsked. She had a far smaller breast size, as she knew her mind was trying to make fun out of a shitty situation. It was the only way she kept her sanity, as she then looked over back around the room. Other munitions, as well as a few armored plates could be seen. Perhaps replacements? She carried on looking, knowing she wasn't no Batman or Sherlock Holmes, but scanning for intel was important. She came across another important document, in one of the drawers, her oversized hand just knocking the thing completely open. Amung some piles of shit, she found a text in Russian on a phone that was on the table, an Android of some sorts. From a reference called Konstantin, to Nadia.

"To Nadia- Ahmed has confirmed the go ahead. The American and Faruq are making their way out of the region, I will meet Ahmed tomorrow and probably confirm his part. It is a shame we lost Ricardo in China- but we must move on. Ahmed is pissed off, but remember- you and what you have are worth billions of dollars to the highest bidder, then you can walk away with your cut when we keep providing this security to the Group leader. Ahmed's undisclosed friend told us that the attack in Brussels was merely a start- and that for Alexandrovich's services, the man in charge of the Group will pay very large sums of money to keep himself and his friends provided with more than enough firepower and offensive support- something that I hope you will play a part in. You must enjoy that thing? I will stay in touch- Konstantin.

PS: This city is really rundown." 

Natalie looked over at the name again, confirming that as the man that was captured by operators in Dushanbe a day ago, she recalled. That man had to play a big role, but he was out of the picture. And would spill all the beans soon, she thought to herself. Alexandrovich, or Alexis for short, was the dealer- a man that didn't do much of this. Probably being hunted by the Spetsnaz right now, Natalie thought to herself, so that left loose ends. The American and Faruq. She had no idea who either could be- with things like the exoskeleton Nadia had, it could be anything, just random names. She looked through, finding another text, barely able to press it with her finger. It was the message sent before that one- before Konstantin's last.

"To Nadia- Alexis says to sell, sell, sell. This man in charge of the group is very shady- he sounds Arabic, but you need not know these matters. If you are seeing this, you are being driven into Wakhan. You are familiar with what is inside that metal container, but you now are their defender, their Ace against what could happen. This Group leader says that Brussels was executed correctly, and he expects retaliation- though he is too short-sighted on how much it could cost him. Nevertheless, you must protect these leaders- they are important to the cause locally, and will give us time to support this leader's Group to pullout from Afghanistan altogether. I will let you know on Faruq and the other man- we are completely redeploying our operations, and offloading before leaving, they have protected our supply depots in the Tajikistani side of the border well. Apparently, this man says that Fort Sarawak, or the Colonial Fort "Tempest" is where we have the last major supplies for the forces in this region before we completely pull the plug, and houses a lot of Group forces and AAA that would slow down any offensive with more information there apparently- though I do not poke my beak so vehemently into such things. Good luck, Nadia. You shouldn't have a scratch by the time we send you a way out, but make no doubt, you will be outmatched. Konstantin." Natalie read, as she swore.

"Shit...Victor, I just hit golddust. Get Merlin on the comms, now. He needs to know- remember, we keep to silence on this suit's direction and where we're taking the wreckage. Tell them to drop a resupply crate while they're at picking that thing up- my M134 is in the crate, and it'll be better than this flamethrower, for what's next." Natalie said, as she knew that Victor would have to get a vague Fulton system set up on the destroyed armor, Natalie aware that the C17 crew were PMC-loyal, and a bit more directly involved in the company to serve their needs.
"This is Merlin to Brute and Bear, what is your sit rep? We heard you ran into heavy fire?" Natalie heard, as Natalie chuckled, looking around the little armory.
"Yes, we did. Area is clear- but we have intel in the armored suits. It looks like they are moving out of the region along with operators, they've left altogether. and Konstantin is hiring them out like Mercenaries to the highest bidder from a dealer called Alexandrovich, Seems like the Group is paying most, so they get service."
"That we figured out from Konstanin already, his dealer and the fact that they exist- did you just say that they're working as mercenaries?"
"Yes...and they're contracted through the Group, or whatever they call it."
"Shit...well, Alexis is currently surrounded at his villa in Southern Russia currently by a Spetsnaz Alfa Gruppa team, and Konstantin is currently in our custody. So who is commanding them now?"
"They just lost their handlers...but they don't need a middleman when they get paid directly by the Group and are going to play ball with them. It seems like they were all fucking pawns...except those fucking armored bastards and the Group. They're escalating. I'm sending the phone data from a cell phone I recovered, will get to work on scanning these documents shortly. I need whatever special forces team you have on the ground here in half an hour to clean this up." 
"Affirmative, Bear- we are relocating a DEVGRU team to your position, they will be 20 mikes to reach your location and will pull you out to your next LZ. Any other intel?"
"Well...they want something bigger. From what I saw, we're dealing with the Ex-Leader of the Amazon Guards of Qaddafi's bodyguards, Nadia Hamid that was among the dead. And there's a few mixed mercenaries, though mainly Taliban. My guess, there are two ways about it- getting rid of caches will be pointless or keeping us in a limited scope would not cut it, so this is out of the question if you think that undermining the Group's activities in area will do anything. We need to assault Fort Tempest before the day fully breaks, and eliminate the last Group forces that we can, then spreading out to get rid of the Taliban in a fully-fledged operation that knows no bounds. Or, we can sit here and let this counter offensive do nothing after it's done, bypass all the important people and then let Brussels happen again. Merlin, just make sure our transport arrives on time, and we can regroup with this team that we're meant to move out with on Tempest- we need to clear it, ASAP. This fight is far from over- and you better have that fire support on hand." Natalie said over the comms, as she sent the file, Merlin coughing as he then sighed.
"Understood. But you better not put our forces at risk. Nice find on the intel- it confirms that Tempest is more important than we first thought, and that Konstantin's a cog in a machine he no longer needs to be a part in. If they really kicked it up a gear, I suggest you get yourselves combat ready, and prepare for redeployment. Out." Natalie heard, as she adjusted herself in the suit, looking over to the rack.
"Copy that." Natalie simply said, looking over to the rack. It was sizable, and the crate had a lot of Chinese markings on it. Something felt uneasy about this- and she knew that what was next was to simply raid Fort Tempest, and eliminate the biggest stronghold of enemy "Group" forces, to perhaps gain an insight on where next. There was no point chasing the dealers and people like Konstantin now. They served their needs. But now, chasing what was left of this relatively unknown and well armed force in Wakhan while they could would serve to their advantage- to find out whatever intel on where the Group was going next, and to stop it before it turned the world on fire. Natalie already finishing up, put her helmet back on, brushing the dust off, as she headed back out with a jog as best as she could, aware that they were well battle worn for the day. She saw Victor finishing up, as the crate fell from the C17, slamming into the floor close to one of the AA compounds. She looked over to him, patting him on the back, as she smiled under her visor.
"Over there. Come on." Natalie said, as she looked around for enemy contacts, searching for anything that still posed a threat.
"If that's one, I really don't want to know what another set could be like. Fuck...that thing was innacurate and put more holes into the air than us, but still...when that shit hit, I couldn't even imagine an IFV lasting a long time against that." Natalie simply said, as she led the way, trying to at least keep some level of confidence and positivism in the air. Against all odds, she had to keep in this- just keep sane and alive somehow. She moved over to the blue smoke of the crate, already getting to work as she opened it out and found her multi-barreled weapon and the huge rucksack of choice for herself.
"Perfect." She said, as she looked back at Victor, herself sitting on the crate as she knew that while she wasn't as powerful as she had been jumping out of the plane, she still had some serious ass to kick.
"More intel gathering...I mean, this is what it comes to. I remember the good days, where they said to us to raid a Somalian town and clean it of everything that holds an AK, or wingsuit onto a plane? Shit has to be this complicated now...I suppose it could be far worse." Natalie said, looking over at Victor, aware that this part of the mountain had been practically eradicated by the two super-heavies, who now sat partly overlooking the base, that was on fire, the flames from the exoskeleton's fuel cell making NVs a non-essential thing to have on at the moment.

(It gets dragged out at times, but basically, the snipers begin in my next post, almost 30km east of where that all happened.)