LadyAmber

Raven Squad: Second Storm (Military/Spy-Fi RP)

Samantha Dalton AKA Chaos

Souk Semmarine, Marrakesh, Morocco

1410 Local Time

Chaos Versus Mech

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.

Raven Squad: Second Storm (Military/Spy-Fi RP)

Chuck Simmons AKA Boomer

Souk Semmarine, Marrakesh, Morocco

1410 Local Time

Welcome to the War of Tomorrow

---

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.

Raven Squad: Second Storm (Military/Spy-Fi RP)

Samantha Dalton - Callsign: Chaos

Sometimes Chaos Comes To You

Souk Semmarine, Marrakesh, Morocco

1410 Local Time

---

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.

Raven Squad: Second Storm (Military/Spy-Fi RP)

Samantha Dalton - Callsign: Chaos

Chuck Simmons - Callsign: Boomer

Chaos Emerging

Souk Semmarine, Marrakesh, Morocco

1400 Local Time

---

Samantha took the corner that Purna had indicated. She continued to monitor the progress on the battlefield with the cameras she had slapped up and the drones she still controlled. She didn’t know how Boomer proposed to destroy these tanks but she wouldn’t leave until she had turned them over to him. She trusted his expertise to come up with something. She had been too busy in the last battle to appreciate the work the heavies did. Jamie, Chuck, and Oliver were beasts on the battlefield. They each had their own style that suited them. Nothing got past them and they each gave as good as they got.

The heavies had pushed their way through the gate and obliterated the forces arrayed there to stop them. They then pushed forward meeting the soldiers flooding into the area from the rear of the compound where the residence was located. Boomer and Scion were working like a team that had partnered in the past as the two of them pushed through the troops Artemis had coerced, bribed, or hired to stop them. Boomer and Scion were fearsome as blood, explosions, bullets, and body parts littered the path around them as they put their focus on destroying their opposition.

As they got closer to her location Boomer requested more clarification of where to meet her. She sent it to him. He and Jamie had gotten pushed to the opposite side of the compound and were angling back towards her location. Her eyes widened as she watched Boomer take out the pickup of armed men and weapons and then Jamie’s revenge on the guy who managed to put a vicious looking hook into his armor.

Duke had followed in Chuck’s wake down the field tearing out the throats of enemies that Chuck had downed. He made the enemy don't get back up to come after his master. Chuck was actually enjoying this mission. Once the civilians were out of the way he had been able to let loose without answering to finicky politicians and uppers about how he did his job. Raven just wanted the job done as expeditiously as possible with minimal harm to innocents and the environment. That was something Chuck could get behind. He felt like he was in the right place at the right time to make a difference. It was nice to feel like he was truly making a difference in the world once more. He had signed up to serve and protect his country. He felt like he was doing that once more. He was finding it interesting to work with fellow giants that could keep up with him on the field. It was a very new and enlightening experience for him. He was used to being the biggest strongest man around. It was nice to pit his abilities and strengths against someone who could be his equal. Chuck was laughing at Jamie’s tirade to the men they had routed as he ducked into the tent to find Samantha walking towards him.

Samantha heard new orders come over the comms from Adam just before Chuck and Jamie joined her and Purna at the tent.

“Roger that Wilk. I will join you after showing Boomer his target.”

She watched as Jamie and Chuck entered the tent. She relaxed and made her way quickly towards them. She nodded at them as they stepped into the tent. She couldn’t help but notice that they both had to duck even though the tent was probably 8 meters high at the peak.

“Thank you for joining me, gentleman.”

She gave Jamie a nod as she tried to answer his question.

“Well in case you missed Wilk giving new orders. He wants you to take the front with Tiny Nord to help him get the target out. You will be playing front guard and pushing to get the VIP to Athena’s location and out of the souk. Boomer, you are to join them after you take care of these canisters.”

Chuck had heard Wilk’s new orders over the comms just as they ducked into the tent. He listened as Samantha repeated them. He nodded and let his hand brush down Duke’s back.

“Okay show me where these tanks are.”

He followed her to inspect what he needed to take care of. He paid attention to the area around him and the equipment. This was a lot of expensive and valuable equipment for a makeshift temporary lab. Why was it set up in a tent?

She gave them a quick smile “You can tell me who won the bet later.” She turned and immediately headed towards the twin tanks.

Chuck blushed crimson and couldn’t help looking and feeling guilty. He felt like a little boy when his momma caught him doing something he shouldn’t. How did she know? No one was around when they made that bet. Maybe Jamie had left his comms live. Damn! Was he in trouble? Dammit Boomer get your head in the game. We have a job to do. Focus on personal issues later. He narrowed his eyes and swallowed and didn’t say anything. He tried to focus on what he needed to destroy.

She wasn’t sure there had been a bet but they just had that playful masculine energy that said they were enjoying this operation a little more than usual that gave her suspicions. She led Chuck to the tanks.

“Boomer, these tanks are filled with that poison that Rose has been extracting from her blood. We don’t have time to test it. It needs to be destroyed. We can’t blow it up because that might spread it. These tanks are pressurized and will blow if heated. The only way to destroy it is prolonged high heat. You can’t expose yourself to it or you might die. I hope you have some ideas, Boomer.” She gave him a searching look.

Chuck had managed to bring his wayward thoughts back to the issue at hand. He listened intently as Sam shared critical information with him.

“This shit is toxic. It needs high heat to destroy it. I can’t blow it up because it will spread before it can be destroyed. The tanks are pressurized and will blow if they get too hot. Did I get all that right?”

He waited for her to nod in affirmation.

“Shit that is going to be an issue.”

He took a moment to take a deep breath and think about what explosives he did have with him. He didn’t really have what they needed. He began to think out loud. Sam was his best thought partner for this.

“Do you know how high a temperature those tanks can withstand before they blow up? And will that be a high enough heat to destroy the toxin? What temperature can the tanks withstand before they blow up?”

Samantha didn’t even need to look the information up. She was a mechanical engineer. She knew this kind of information because she had needed it for a job. She didn’t hesitate or even blink as she told him 120 degrees fahrenheit. Water boils at 212 degrees fahrenheit.”

Chuck frowned; his idea of killing the shit in the tank wouldn’t work. Could he somehow neutralize the toxin another way.

“Would releasing the toxin or mixing with another compound neutralize it? What if we lowered the tanks into a vat or baking soda or something like that and then punctured the tank or triggered a release of the toxin. Would it still spread?”

Samantha tilted her head to the side as she considered it.

“Without further testing we don’t know what might neutralize it or even if it can be neutralized. Releasing it into water is a bad idea. It could hitch a ride on the water molecules and become an aerosolized weapon then. We might be doing their work for them at that point. It would have to be a viscous liquid, think goopy. Released at the bottom of a deep barrel or bucket. It would need to be released into a substance that doesn’t boil or become gaseous like water. The substance it was released into would have to reach temperatures over 500 degrees fahrenheit to destroy it.”

Chuck frowned at her explanation and then an idea sparked and he grinned.

“How about Napalm? We don’t have any with us but there is a fast recipe for one. I would need gasoline and sugar. Does the residence have a kitchen?”

Samantha didn’t trust that evil grin on Chuck’s face. He looked eager and excited. That made her a little nervous.

“Yes, the ground floor. I passed it on my way out. Right off the foyer. What do you have in mind?”

Samantha knew they didn’t have a lot of time. She wanted to make sure Chuck had a solid plan before she left him to it. She wanted to be sure they all got out of here. She knew enough about Chuck to know that he was not above sacrificing himself to the greater good. They still needed him dammit and she refused to let him do it on her watch.

Chuck smiled at her.

“I am going to need about 4 gallons of gasoline and as much sugar as I can find in the kitchen. Hopefully they have been cooking for the troops. I will need a heavy cast iron pot as big as I can find it or a steel drum. Oh and I will need that mini laser you carry in your tool kit. I am going to make homemade napalm. Set the tanks in the barrel of napalm. Then puncture the tanks with the laser punching a hole in the tanks so they leak into the napalm while the laser ignites the napalm. The barrel should withstand the heat until the toxin is destroyed. The tanks should withstand the heat enough not to explode because they will no longer be under pressure. I rig explosives to blow all their equipment to hell on a timer. While we are getting out of dodge, the complex will be blown on our way out. The toxin should be destroyed and unusable and neutralized. Do I have your approval?”

Samantha blinked as she processed what he planned to do. Everything sounded doable except the gasoline but hell there was the pickup he blew up. He might be able to find everything he needed to do it. If not it was a marketplace surrounded by homes. He would just have to hurry to find everything he needed. She smiled at him and nodded.

“Very clever Boomer. Permission granted. Hurry though. We are not leaving without you!”

Samantha took off leaving it in his hands. Samantha took off running for her new post. She used her pistol to shoot a few soldiers who thought she would be a good target of opportunity. She used her parkour skills to get up on the wall so that she could see what was happening around Athena. Wilk had told her to take out the mech. Where was Glitch when she needed him? Mechs were his thing. She sighed and knew she would have to get closer. She quickly bounced from wall to wall till she was on the ground. She would try to get closer and see what she could do about the mech. There was no way to take it out by hacking. The mech had hardened hardware and was not being operated over electronic airwaves. This was all manual with onboard hardened electronics. Artemis was getting better at countering her tricks.

Boomer got to work pulling explosives out of Duke’s saddlebags. He planted enough explosives to blow all the equipment up. He grabbed a large kitchen pot that was being used in the tent. It was a large stock pot of some kind and the tanks. He ran over to the truck that he had flipped upside down. He punched a hole in the gas tank and collected about 3 gallons of gas. It would have to do. He then made his way to the kitchen. Duke took out the only soldier that tried to get in his way. He began tearing open cabinet doors and rummaging over the supply shelves. He found a five pound bag of sugar. He was not sure that would be enough.

He found a massive heavy cast iron cauldron in a brick fireplace that looked straight out of the middle ages. The pot was massive and almost big enough to bathe in. It was perfect he began to dump ingredients in. He started with the gasoline and the sugar. He found honey and cooking oil that he added to the pot. He began to mix everything until the mixture was a thick goo with the consistency of thick honey. He set the tanks deep inside the mixture as close to the bottom as possible. Then he used the laser to puncture both tanks. The laser ignited the goo causing it to glow orange.

Boomer didn’t wait for the show. He whistled for Duke and took off running towards where the Blue Sword team was waiting for extraction of the team.

Raven Squad: Second Storm (Military/Spy-Fi RP)

Collab between Boomer and Scion

Decimating the field

Souk Semmarine, Marrakesh, Morocco

1400 Local Time

---

Chuck had just finished reloading. He had taken down about 6 of their soldiers in a row but he was going to need to help to get through. He needed to clear a space for extraction and go take care of whatever it was that Samantha had found. He clicked on his comms and spoke into them as he continued to walk his gun back down the enemy line.

“Scion, I need some help. We need to clear a path for extraction. I also need to get over to where Chaos has something to destroy.” Chuck grinned as his competitive side kicked in. He was having a blast. He loved being off leash without all the restrictions he used to be held to. He liked his new job with Raven Squad. “Let’s have some fun with this. Who do you think can disable more of the enemy? Me or you? Winner gets a beer? Night out on the other guy? Name your stakes!” He continued to move his gun back down the line taking careful headshots. The enemy soldiers must really fear their commander. They were still running towards the heavies of Raven Squad.

The big smooth lines of Scion’s armor could contrast heavily with most types of armor his size maybe. As he hosed the approach up behind them. The occasional war whoop piercing the air during it. And the twinned Heavy Machine Guns just didn’t seem to slow down. The roar steadily.

But soon they do slow as he turns to Boomer, “Eh?” Then the grin in his voice is clear, “Oh a contest then? Alright.” He stepped up beside Boomer, “Night out? Or a Beer? I like the idea of my scotch being woody tasted. While pumping 400 pounds of iron. Alright. You’re on.” With that the other big man turned towards where Boomer is targeting. Calling into a two way comms channel, “Armor, activate kill counter. New count.”

Then hell came to this section of the souk, “Begin!”

Scion roared as he once again depressed the firing stud of his main twinned guns.

Chuck grinned as Scion stepped up next to him with a matching grin. Yes he could see he was really going to enjoy this. Chuck didn’t have a brother but he imagined there would be scenes like this in his life if he did. The closest he had to them had been in the Marines. But then his team had been killed in battle to line someone’s pockets. He still wanted to nail whoever that was to a fucking wall.

He had never had anyone in his life his size with similar abilities. This would prove interesting as Jamie could certainly keep up with him. He laughed as he heard Jamie tell his suit to keep track of his kill count. Chuck spoke to his AI. He would have to name this damn thing soon. “Computer, keep track of my kill count starting now.” He laughed hysterically as Jamie’s twin guns fired up to full speed and he began to decimate his side of the wall of bodies in front of them.

Chuck began to pick up speed firing as he went. He was going to run out of ammo at this rate. He grinned as he dropped his rifle as they began to close the distance to the enemy. He pulled Lucille free from the sheath on his back. Time to create some old school destruction. He let the heavy weapon dangle from the titanium chain as he began to spin it out in a widening arc as he approached the front line. Chuck called out to Jamie “Do I get extra points for style?”

Jamie cackled and swept his weapon in a short arc. Any man who crossed that path riddled with the cocktail of rounds in his weapons. AP, FMJ, Frangibles, Raufoss and a few others besides. A rich and deadly amount of lead. He watched his kill counter go up steadily too. Calling into the comms channel, “What sort of pull does their leader have on them that they come running? Like a tide on the St. Lawrence.” He staggered abit as an RPG round hissed by his shoulder. Turning and absolutely annihilating where the rocket had come from, the points are welcome, but he also wants this little moment to last. So stopping that will prolong it.

Turning back to the main fight he grins brightly, “Oh look at that a man after my own heart.” Followed by a growl when the first hopper of ammo ran dry finally, “Well, if you get style points. Then so do I. Say two times per melee kill?” At saying that, Scion swung his twin guns onto his back and from the small of his back drew The Throngler, “Agreed?”

And he too charged into the thickest number of enemies he could. A few of them pulling bats, or grabbing pieces of metal from the ground, worried about hitting each other with their guns as the pair of heavies waded into them like yapping dogs.

Chuck saw an older pickup truck with men in the back manning a large caliber machine gun. Several of the men had rocket propelled grenade launchers. Chuck kept up his conversation with Jamie over comms. “Typically I would only see this kind of dedication among religious fanatics. It does make you wonder what’s in the water over here.” Chuck targeted the fast approaching vehicle with one of his remaining missiles. “That sounds fair to me.”

As Jamie and Chuck added style points to their agreement. About that time, the missile hit the pickup truck which produced a louder explosion as the grenades on the vehicle went up with the missile in secondary explosions. The vehicle launched upwards from the force of the explosion and flipped landing upside down on fire. The men who had been in the back had been shredded by the explosion. With that greater threat eliminated, Chuck turned his attention back to the group of men he was fighting. His first swing had crushed one man and knocked him into 3 others, knocking them all off their feet. He pulled Lucille back to him with the chain.He held it by the handle with both hands as he began to lash out left and right as he waded deeper into the throng of enemy men.

The interesting things about melee weapons is that their naming scheme tells you alot. Take for instance, Dark King Fruntmore’s Edge of Dark Bloodletting. This naming scheme gives you the idea that there is more then one Edge of Dark Bloodletting, and that Fruntmore may not even be the first one to wield that particular blade. But Jamie lives on one fact, there is only one Throngler and that’s the only way you can get Throngled.

The double bladed axe cleaved through the air. And took one, two, three even four people at a time in one case. It’s not so much the killing edge but the sheer weight behind it, carrying one man along with it then into the next and the next. With a mighty cackling roar Scion finishes a strike and looks around. And this time just barely gets out of the way of the next rocket to come screaming out of a window. Just getting his hand up to push the rocket to the side and even then he gets dinged off the shoulder and pushed into a stack of pottery, that sends a cloud of red, blue, yellow and brown spices sailing up into the air.

A round of cheering going up, the fighters in that building thinking they scored a kill themselves.

But the cloud of joy and spices is quickly dispersed as eight hisses one after the other pierce the air. The spices clearing, Jamie holding his axe to his side as he empties the remaining rockets in his launcher on his shoulder into the air, which then rain down on the building. Bringing it down on those people still inside. He’ll write up a report later if that leads to civilian casualties but he was getting annoyed at that point.

With a grin he looks over at Boomer, “Do I count that as only one? Or can I say that’s ten as a good compromise?”

Chuck began to bat the smaller men aside easily with each swing taking someone out of the fight or outright killing them. The weight behind the weapon coupled with his strength and the speed at which he could use it crushed almost everything in his path. Ribs crushed and caved in, heads popped like overripe melons, and the bones in limbs were shattered and fell limp at odd angles. Screams of pain and fear rose from the front lines.

Chuck threw his head back and laughed as he heard Jamie as they waded into heavy fighting. “Well I would say just let your suit decide. The computer is impartial. I think I have to give you ten otherwise I can’t take credit for the 7 ment that were in that pickup truck. There had been two in the cab and five in the back.”

Chuck spun putting all his weight behind the kick he used to launch an enemy back into the ranks of her fellows. The man’s chest was crushed as he flew backwards; his momentum taking two more men with him before he fell to the ground. Chuck spun Lucille and used both hands as he swung in an arc taking 4 men down from the blow. He looked around to see where they were. “Chaos, Scion and I are moving towards your location. Please confirm where in the compound you are? We are currently wading through lines of our host to join you. We would hate to be late to the party.”

Chuck began to swing the weapon in a pattern designed to disable and knock the enemy to the side as he continued to move forward. It put all those lovely physics laws to work with him. It had a pattern and rhythm to it that Chuck found soothing and easy to sustain. As he began to make headway as the men around him began to thin out.

Scion fell into place to Chuck’s rear. Any that weren’t downed permanently by Boomer, Jamie finished off. His axe whistling through the air. Turning and catching, pulling and hacking dangerously. Leaving more then a few fighters behind them properly Throngled. Amidst a few missing limbs and rent open chests or backs. He turned to make sure their rear is clear, and lets out a grunt. Having turned in time to take an ancient looking billhook weapon to the chest rather then in his more vulnerable power pack. “Ah…well that could have been worse.” The fighter standing their transfixed that he actually hit. And Jamie feeling the edge of the hook stuck in the gap between chest plates.

The pair, fighter and giant stood for abit before Jamie let the Throngler fall and grabbed the billhook and tore it from the fighters hands, “Oh you are so dead!” He roared through the PA speaker on his armor. Before quickly redirecting power to his arms and turning up the power of the punch he unleashes to ludicrous amounts. If this were an anime the man surely would have folded over Jamie’s fist for a brief moment before the force of it sent him flying across the souk and into a pile of crates. Where he slumps to the ground, broken and probably dead. If not, then he won’t be functioning as a proper person for some time, “Ahhh that kinda hurt.” He growled to Boomer, as he picked his axe up again and turned to catch up with his teammate.

Chuck and Jamie had fallen into am easy battle rhythm together while they pressed the front line of soldiers. Chuck parted the front line like he was parting the Red Sea and Jamie was taking out the stragglers to the side as the pair decimated the front lines. Still the soldiers in the back pressed forward. Soon there was more room around them as the men began to thin out once more. Chuck had paused to get his bearings. He had fallen into a zone as they fought their way through. He needed to regroup and get his bearings on the field and where they were.

Samantha’s voice came over the comms. “Roger Boomer. Head for the large white tent just outside the residence in the back of the compound. You will find me there.”

Chuck replied with “Roger that.” He looked around and noticed they had been dragged slightly away from that side of the compound. He began to angle towards the tent. The men around them were finally breaking ranks. There was a path of broken and bloodied bodies behind them. He looked over Jamie as he heard him. “Are you okay Scion?” He noticed that he seemed to be moving okay. He chuckled a little as he offered “Need me to come help you kick his ass?” He knew he had already dealt with it but couldn’t help teasing the other man. “After this is over, I want to hear why you named your axe Throngler over a beer. I am happy to buy it. That story has to be worth a beer.”

Jamie grinned, “Oh Chuck you are so kind. A true knight in armor.” The grin turned into a cackle “I think he’s covered.” He nodded as he too got the information on the meeting place, “Let’s keep moving. But first.” He quickly changed out the ammo hopper for his rocket launcher. Shrugging abit and pressing a hand to Boomer’s armored back, “Let me just…speed this up.” Bracing he spoke out loud so Chuck can hear, “Armor, full dispersion, full roll, fire!” And all sixteen rockets flare out at once, the 30 feet or so in front of them immediately blooming with explosions. Throwing the fighters in that area around like pieces of trash. At least one of them disappearing in a cloud of red mist.

Scion nods, “I don’t get to do that near as often as I would like too. Come on we should get to the rendezvous.”

Chuck was surprised when Jamie grabbed onto his back. He had automatically come to a stop. He looked over his shoulder to find Jamie grinning like a loon. He was grateful for his visor as the missile all fired off so close to him. His AI darkened the visor to save his eyesight. He blinked still surprised. “Sheesh warn a guy would ya! Well you won this round fair and square. Let’s go find out more about what is happening to put a bee in Chaos’ bonnet.” His southern accent sounding strange and out of place with such a southern colloquialism here in the Souk. Chuck began to lead the way towards the tent. He looked back to check on Tiny. Jamie and Chuck had pulled most of the enemy to them. Tiny had enough to keep him busy but not overwhelm him. He should have thought to include Tiny in their contest. Next time.

He increased his speed as they approached the tent. The enemy was dead or fleeing. No one tried to follow Chuck and Jamie. He approached cautiously. He didn’t want to startle his teammate and end up a victim of their guns and skills. “Chaos, Puma, it is Boomer and Scion coming in.” He looked over his shoulder to check on Jamie. He slid Lucille back into its sheath.

Jamie followed along, sliding his axe back into it’s scabbard on his back. And briefly drew the Vepyr off his back and sent a few buckshot rounds after some of the fighters still in sight, giving them all the more reason to keep running. “That’s right you bunch of pricks! Run! Run! Tell them death came! Tell them we came! And brought hell with us!”

He would never know if they did tell the others obviously. He came up beside Boomer, “Sorry about the rocket barrage there Chuck, I just felt we really ought to speed up abit. That cleared the way didn’t it?” He chuckled, “We’ll talk about that bottle of scotch later.” He waved ahead, “Chaos! Purna! Hey! You called?”

Chuck couldn’t help the laughter as he heard Jamie calling out to fleeing soldiers. “That’s right you faced hell at the hands of Boomer and Scion and death by Lucille and the THRONGLER!” Chuck couldn't resist shouting and adding to the impact while subtly teasing his raid partner. Chuck grinned at Jamie. “Forgiven because it worked. Yes we will talk about Scotch and stories later. Now we have work to do.” He was still laughing and smiling as he pulled aside the tent flap and stepped inside as he ducked his head. His head sweeps to find Chaos and Puma.

Scion stepped up and slipped under the flap before it could fall all the way, “Yes, the operation isn’t done until we all get out alive.” He looked about and peered out the flap one last time before it fell, “There yes. What’s the plan?”

Raven Squad: Second Storm (Military/Spy-Fi RP)

Welcome Czelsc! I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Raven Squad: Second Storm (Military/Spy-Fi RP)

Samantha Dalton - Callsign: Chaos

Stepping up the chaos

Souk Semmarine, Marrakesh, Morocco

1355 Local Time

---

Samantha had cleared the tent. She and Purna were the only two inside. She had slapped up cameras to get her eyes on what was happening so she could monitor the situation outside. Purna had taken the job of reporting into Wilk. Samantha took a moment to check in with Bob and the cameras. “The heavies had kicked in the front door at the gate. The natives are in full route. There are still operatives trying to reach us but the mass exodus of innocents is slowing them down. They are still trying to hide their activities from the locals.” Samantha found that tidbit interesting. There were definitely groups that Artemis had bought off. She had identified some known local criminal syndicates in the area. She had the intel from when she worked in the region. They didn’t seem to want the locals to know they had been bought. She would analyze what that meant later.

She turned her attention to the data that Bob was sending through her encrypted uplink to the dead drop server. She had set it up very carefully with Rose’s situation in mind. That dead drop server had a satellite uplink but was also in a faraday cage with a kill switch that would sever all lines of communication and power out physically. Samantha was taking no chances downloading a virus or worse yet... Rose’s personality laying in a buffer or server just waiting for an opportunity. She began to search for what they were doing in the tent. She couldn’t find any data on it. When she heard Viper talking about a bioreactor and scale she began to look more closely at the equipment in the lab. She looked at the two small tanks. She would have thought they had a much larger tank of the neurotoxin by now. The equipment was the kind used by scientists for DNA research and gene splicing. There were stainless steel lab tables with microscopes, centrifuges, a dialysis machine, and some other electronic lab equipment.

Samantha began to think out loud. “There are only two small tanks because they are extrapolating this from her blood. She can only donate so much blood at a time without dying. Unless she sacrificed one of her clones to harvest its blood. Even then though, the human body only carries approximately 2 gallons of blood. Once extrapolated, there wouldn’t be much. That might not matter if it is potent enough.” She took a moment to check the cameras and caught Chuck’s charge into the exo officer and winced as the man went flying. She noted that Nord was moving slower and something seemed wrong with one of the legs on his suit. It didn’t look like it was bending properly. Jamie looked like a metallic native warrior god dancing among peons. She would have to tell him later he deserved extra points for style.

Raven Squad: Second Storm (Military/Spy-Fi RP)

Charles “Chuck” Simmons - Callsign: Boomer

Punching a hole

Souk Semmarine, Marrakesh, Morocco

1355 Local Time

---

The Souk had dissolved into chaos once the fighting started. The innocent people around them were fleeing and had already moved away from the garden. The chaos rolled out away from the garden as an undulating mass of people swept those before them as they tried to move away from the fighting. It was like watching a tide of people sweep everything in the path before them. Artemis’ assets that were located outside the garden were struggling to make it any closer, fighting to get through the panicked crowd of people fleeing in the opposite direction. Chuck relaxed as the chance for collateral damage fell. He would have to remember to buy Nord a beer later as a thank you. His plan had worked to flush the innocent people away from the garden and had caused an impediment to Artemis’ forces trying to converge on the garden.

Chuck was smiling and having a great time by the time the two MRAP’s had exploded. He was just getting warmed up. He began to laugh as he holstered Lucille. He grabbed a solider in an exo ripping his gun out of his hands even as he fired it point blank into Chuck’s chest armor. He grinned as he yanked on the guy's ankles and began to swing him in a large circle knocking down the guards running to engage him. He built up a good momentum and then let the guy fly towards another group that was heading towards him. Chuck laughed as the man in the exo landed sideways knocking the whole group over like bowling pins. “Bowling for Bozos! Strike! I win!”

The heavies had become the center of attention for guards on the ground inside the garden. There were guards converging on the trio from almost every direction. Chuck spotted what looked like an officer in an exo directing a larger contingent of soldiers from deeper inside the garden. The trio had punched through the barricade at the gate and had managed to move deeper into the garden about 50 feet. Chuck grinned and began to charge towards the exo clad officer. Duke stretched out into a run next to him.

Chuck took off running like a linebacker to intercept a quarterback down field. Chuck zigged and zagged to make hitting him more difficult as he closed the distance between them. Chuck could hear the hail of bullets pinging off his armor. He felt the wash of debris wash over his left side as a grenade went off a few yards to his left. Chuck’s eyes narrowed as he refocused on his target and picked up speed. This shit was personal now. That grenade might have hit his dog. The man in the exo had managed to get his squad all turned to face Chuck and they were bravely firing at him standing their ground. Chuck had to look like a locomotive of mass destruction heading towards the man and his squad. The man in the exo was the one who had launched a grenade at him.

As Chuck showed no signs of stopping or even slowing down, the men in his squad began to run away as he got within a few yards. Chuck hit the man in the Exo head on as he ducked a shoulder to launch the man high into the air using his momentum and strength to flip the man. The two came together with a loud crunch of explosive sound as the man in the exo caught some serious air and flipped three times before landing with a loud crunch. Chuck felt satisfaction flicker through him at the sound. The man didn’t move again. He pulled out his carbine and swapped to lethal rounds now that he was no longer worried about hitting innocent people. He slapped it home and began to fire at the fleeing squad of soldiers that had just been targeting him. “How do you like it?” He growled a little as he quickly eliminated them.

Chuck had gotten a little sidetracked and took a moment to reassess what was happening on the field of battle. The heavies were well inside the perimeter now. They had pushed in at the entrance and had spread out in an arc around the entrance on the inside of the wall. There were still guards moving towards them from the residence side of the compound. Chuck had eliminated the guards near him along the left side of the entrance inside the wall.

Chuck listened as Adam came over the comms with an update and orders. "All stations, this is Wilk, VIP secure. Team, we need to leave. Nord, Boomer, Scion, you need to push on, get through the house and head through the garden. I need EOD on on Viper and Chaos's position in the garden, ASAP. We need thermal charges to deal with the chemical tanks they've found."

Chuck blinked as he thought about what that meant. He needed to get to that tent and check out what he needed. If they found chemicals it meant some kind of bio weapon or chemical weapon. After recent events, Chuck just knew it had something to do with the situation they had faced with Skye. He whistled for Duke who returned to his side. He looked at the opposition between him and where he needed to go. All the troops moving towards the heavies were between him and where he needed to be. He cursed to himself “Well shit, this mission just gets better. No plan survives contact with the enemy. Time to improvise.” He keyed his comms before replying “Boomer acknowledges moving towards target.”

Chuck began to charge, planning to punch through the guard line moving towards him. He began to move deeper into the compound. He had his carbine on semiautomatic and was carefully picking targets. He went for efficiency and precision over spraying bullets. He began to target heads and moved from one target to another as he walked in a bent knee smooth gait for shooting as he moved. His training and experience on full display even as he made it look graceful in heavy armor. The soldiers he hit didn’t get back up again. They were dropping and tripping the soldiers behind them. He just kept walking his gun down the line. He paused and reloaded in a flash as he continued to push towards the heavy line confronting him.

Raven Squad: Second Storm (Military/Spy-Fi RP)

Charles “Chuck” Simmons - Callsign: Boomer

Rocking the Doors Down

Souk Semmarine, Marrakesh, Morocco

1355 Local Time

---

Chuck and Duke had been squeezed into the back of the box truck that was dressed up to look like a local delivery truck. The back was a tight squeeze with three giants in armor in it. The upgrades Sam had made to Chuck and Duke’s armor gave the animal some cooling along his body to help him deal with the oppressive heat. Duke was lying quietly but his ears kept twitching. He could tell that Duke was picking up on all the noise around him outside the truck. Merchants hawking their wares to tourists and locals alike. Tourists bargaining for the best deals. The sounds of that much humanity packed into such a tight space. Duke was well trained though and was alert but calm. He was not showing any signs of stress or heat exertion. Chuck always hated that period of time on a mission when you were waiting for the action to kick off. You could just stay revved up and tense while waiting, you would wear yourself out from the tension. You needed to be alert and ready to go at a moment’s notice if anything went wrong. Chuck rubbed Duke gently behind the ears to reassure him that he was there.

There was a window with a sliding wooden panel on the front wall of the back of the truck that could be opened by the driver allowing him to see into the back of the truck. The wood slid open and the man spoke to them through the window in harshly accented English. The driver said, "Okay, go time. Front door is yours, boss man says raise hell."

The sounds of explosions was in the background as they were told it was go time. Chuck had been towards the back of the truck with Duke. Oliver was closest to the door which he easily flung open. Chuck was amused as Oliver made a point to mention there was no water. Chuck grinned having been on that op with Oliver at the end. Oliver had come to help them exfil on the Columbia operation and had complained about being on the boat the whole time. He liked the man but found his distrust of boats and being on water amusing. He almost wanted to yank his chain and remind him that the garden had a fountain in it and was a natural oasis. He decided now was not the time to poke the big guy. He followed Tiny Nord out the back of the truck. Duke jumped down easily and stayed by his side. He gave Duke the hand signal for guard.

Chuck was a little puzzled when he saw Oliver looking at his shield. He raised an eyebrow with a wry smile at the megaphone duct taped to the top of his shield. He winced as the megaphone made that loud thump noise as he tapped it and then did a high pitched squeaky feedback noise. Oliver then fired a few shots in the air as he drew the attention of everyone nearby. Duke’s ears lowered as he growled softly not liking the noise. Chuck put a hand on his back to reassure Duke as Oliver began to address the crowd.

"For those who wish to leave, you have five seconds to do so, if you don't feel free to shoot at me and see how well it goes!" It was as if the announcement was open season on Tiny Nord as the megaphone was shot to tiny pieces.

Chuck could not hold back the laughter as he listened to Oliver’s announcement and watched as his megaphone met a quick death. He stepped up next to Oliver. “Thank you for trying,Tiny. It was a good idea” Chuck watched as Tiny Nord set up his shield and rifle and charged towards the heavy on the barricade side of the entrance to the garden. Chuck thought it was a great idea. Maybe they didn't understand him. Chuck asked his AI to set his suit to transmit on high volume. He then began to speak in Arabic. “If you don’t want to be involved in the coming fight, flee! Attack us and you will become a target too.” He flipped off his impromptu megaphone system and charged into the fight.

He pulled Lucille from its sheath on his back and ran off behind Oliver towards the MRAPs. Duke charged hard at his heels before slinking away into the alleyways along the sides. Chuck dodged as best as he could. He still had admirable agility and speed in his suit with the extra assists that Samantha had built into it. He was still taking fire from the auto-turrets. His armor was shrugging off the automatic fire as bullets pinged off his heavy armor. He lifted Lucille high and swung it with all his might at the auto-turret on the MRAP in front of him which was to the left of the main entrance. The heavy club crushed the barrel which caused the gun to misfire and explode. Chuck didn’t waste any time as he charged towards the next MRAP to disable the automatic gunfire the team was taking. Oliver was tanking the heavy in the middle. That left the two MRAPs on the right for Jamie. Duke had lunged out of a dark alleyway taking down a soldier who had been firing at Chuck from behind with a gun. Duke had torn the man’s throat out before moving on to look for his next target.

The fight had just began. The streets surrounding the garden became a scene of total chaos as locals who were not part of whatever was happening with the garden fled the area in terror. Those who were part of Artemis or getting paid by them came towards the team of heavies working to remove the barriers between them and the residence. Chuck noted that Ebrima was correct. The locals were getting off the streets and moving away from the fighting. That made Chuck breathe a little easier. He hated it when the bad guys used innocents as shields. Raven Squad's attack had obviously caught them by surprise. They were responding but were unable to use those kinds of dirty tactics and hostages to their advantage. Chuck decided it was the right time to show them why he was called Boomer. "Hey Tiny didn't you say you wanted some fireworks? I would tell you to hold my beer and watch this, but you seem like the type to drink it instead." He grinned as his southern drawl was playful as he joined Oliver in taking the fight to the enemy. He fired a missile at the two MRAPs now that he had disabled their automatic turrets. The MRAPs showered the soldiers around them in shrapnel as they exploded.

Raven Squad: Second Storm (Military/Spy-Fi RP)

Samantha Dalton Callsign: Chaos

17:30 Local Time - The infirmary

Samantha had been nervous facing Freya. She was used to operating alone and not having friends. Having friends and people who depended on her was something she was still getting used to as she got used to Raven. It was probably a big part of why she was so protective of Skye and Freya and so defensive about her decisions. Samantha had not exactly been avoiding Freya but she had been nervous about how she would feel about what had happened when they landed. She knew that Freya understood that Skye had made her decision and why Samantha had supported that decision. They had talked on the plane. Sam was grateful that Ebrima had suggested that they bring her some food. A bribe wouldn’t hurt, right?

For a giant, Freya looked wan and pale. There was almost a fragility to her along with a sense of enduring strength. She knew her giant friend had been going through a lot of pain. They were keeping her on a drip to accommodate her physiology and metabolism. She looked to be resting when they came in. Sam was almost sorry they woke her up. Relief floods through her as Freya greets her warmly with a smile. Samantha relaxed as she felt Freya arms fold around her in a hug. Samantha squeezes her gently in return.

She gives Freya a stern look as she begins taking the blame for her injuries. “Hey no one gets to talk about my friend that way. Not even you! I agree that you have a bodacious butt though.” She smiles playfully at Freya for a minute before allowing her face to fall into more neutral lines. “Seriously, you did it to save us all. I have some ideas on ways I can improve your armor so you can’t injure yourself like this again. We will talk when I get back from this next op.” She gave her hand a light squeeze so she could pull her table and the food closer so she could eat.

Samantha bit her lip and looked down as Freya addressed her yelling at her sister. She looked up to meet Freya’s eyes with a sheepish look on her face. “I already apologized to her and she didn’t flatten me into bug paste. I appear to have been forgiven. We will make it work. You just focus on healing. You take your time and do it right yeah?” She gave Freya a stern look. “I have your siblings for back up. Honestly I feel like the midget in the giant brigade at the moment.” She gave Freya a rueful smile. She chuckled as Freya thanked her for the food. “I can’t take all the credit. It was Ebrima’s idea to bring you the food.” She chuckled a little as Freya’s stomach growled. “Rest, good food, and listen to the doctors. They will get you back on your feet before you know it.”

She tilted her head to one side and tried to decide how to answer Freya’s question of where they were going next. Samantha had seen the intel. She had a good idea where the team was going next but it hadn’t been announced yet. “Adam has not given any official orders. Based on the intel I have been looking at, my guess is somewhere in the Middle East.” She looked at her friend and gave her a warm smile. “Enjoy your dinner. We have a briefing to get too. I will visit again as soon as I can, okay? You rest and get well. I will cover the team’s back on this one. It is my turn.” She gives Freya what she hopes is a confident smile. She then makes her way to the briefing room.

---

Souk Semmarine, Marrakesh, Morocco

1330 Local Time

Chaos in clear sight

Samantha sat with Purna in the little tea shop. They were drinking mint tea and seeking a respite from the sun and never ending heat. The streets that made up the maze like bazaar seemed to hold onto the heat like an oven. The warm breeze was almost non existent blocked by the buildings that lined the ancient marketplace. Samantha’s gray eyes picked up the color of the turquoise scarf and made her look even more exotic. Her face covering pulled down below her chin so that she could sip her tea. The little shop felt like an oasis of calm in the busy noisy marketplace. Sam’s eyes had taken in the interior with ease in a single glance when they entered. She had only spotted locals inside. None of the patrons had the bearing of a skilled soldier or cop. Samantha had been taught how to look for body language and posture that could give away a skilled operative or a person who had combat training. The patrons seemed to be shopkeepers and locals at the market for their own purposes.

Samantha smiled at Purna as he shared what would sound like a natural conversation to anyone paying attention to them. “It is lovely, Uncle. It is a bit sweet for my tastes as well.” She saluted him with her cup even as she replied in softly spoken Arabic. She kept to her role as the niece of a local shopkeeper helping her uncle with a market day. Samantha had watched careful for any signs of a tail or that they had drawn any attention at all. They had been accepted as one of the locals and blended right in. She had traded some common well wishes and greetings with other locals. The kind that they might offer a common acquaintance or someone they thought they knew. No one had batted an eye. She had trailed behind Purna at a respectful distance protruding a respectful and dutiful demeanor. Purna had played his part to perfection, acting the protective uncle to a favored niece. She nodded dutifully as he said it was time to leave. “Yes uncle.” She gave him a respectful nod as she answered in softly spoken Arabic even as her eyes twinkled mischievously. She rose to her feet and followed Purna out of the tea shop. She stayed a step behind him to his left. She didn’t want to be in the way of his weapon if he needed to draw it. She walked close enough to hear him.

Samantha listened to Purna describe his home. “I will have to visit your home at some point. It sounds like a fascinating place. I would love to see the history that I am sure is still evident in the culture there.” Samantha’s eyes followed the action as tourists were stopped by local military and police. Sam and Purna passed unmolested. She raised an eyebrow as she noted the t-intersection where so many of the tourists were being stopped. A gateway to other activities in the market perhaps? She casually stumbled and caught herself along the wall with a hand as she slapped one of her disposable cameras into place. She wanted to keep an eye on what was happening at that intersection.

Samantha paid attention as Purna went over the plan once more. Samantha was fine with this plan. Her skills were going to come in very useful for this op. She was glad to be paired with Purna for this operation. This kind of operation was more in her wheelhouse than attacking facilities. She was used to subterfuge and stealth to find the information she needed. She softly answered Purna again in Arabic in case anyone was listening. She wanted him to know she had heard him. “Understood.”

Samantha moved easily at Purna’s side as he held her hand. A way to signal to local men that she was under his protection as a family member. She understood that he was playing the part and this was expected in this part of the world. She kept a pleasant look on her face as she pretended to adjust her pack just like a native woman would if the load shifted. It added to their story. No one had tried to stop them or even sell them anything. The hawkers in the marketplace could be downright aggressive and were with tourists. Their cover as locals was holding up as they made their way through the Souk. Samantha easily picked out the armed men that were local military or police. The closer they got to the garden the more nefarious types of armed men began to show up. They appeared to be local muscle for the differing criminal elements around. She noticed the local military and police here didn’t seem to notice them at all. She did notice that tourists seemed to be stopped more frequently the closer they got to their target destination.

They approached the entrance to the La Jardin Villeneuve. What she could see of it through the opening was beautiful. There was a heavy presence of Morrocan Army soldiers at the entrance to the garden. Tall stone walls surrounded the garden. Across the streets surrounding the garden were buildings and shops in varying heights. There were tight alleyways between some of these buildings leading to inner courtyards behind shop fronts or residences for shop owners. Purna pulled her into one of these alleyways as if it was his shop. Confidence could sell that you belonged in a location. They went far enough down the alleyway to be out of sight.

Purna began to pull out his equipment. They were splitting up from here. She nodded as untied the fake cloth that covered her tactical pack. She unzipped it and began to pass him some equipment as she began to explain how to use it. “Wait, I have some gear for you. These are disposable button cameras. Just peel and stick and push once to activate.” She passed him a set of 10 cameras. “I will be able to watch their feeds and have my AI monitor them.” She passed him a small zipper pouch of buttons. “These can help disable cameras and electronic locks. Peel and stick. Press and count to five. It will deliver a small electrical charge that can short out electronics such as cameras, motion detectors, and electronic locks. They might also work on auto turrets that require motion detectors. It can prevent the lock from opening after being disabled. So use it carefully.” She dug back into her pack and pulled out one of the perfume bottles of knockout drops. “Spray in their face and it will put someone to sleep in a hurry. It's the same stuff as in the grenades but in a container for one on one use.” She gave him a grin as she watched him put it all away on his person.

Purna gave her a hug and she returned it. “Don’t worry. I will get in easily. I got your back. Be careful in there.” She released him and watched as he went forward and took off through the shop they had been next to.

Samantha put her pack back on and secured her look as a local woman once more. She walked out of the alley and passed the barrier in front of the garden. She deliberately walked past the guards and turned down the side of the garden. She grinned when she found what she was looking for. She turned down the alleyway next to a tall two story brick and clay building. The building had a flat roof with a terrace on top. The entrance to the terrace was from stairs from an interior courtyard that was hidden from the garden side of the marketplace. The shops all backed up together to create interior courtyards for the shopkeepers who lived above their shops. These interior courtyards became a communal outdoor living space for those who lived in that block of shops.

Samantha grinned as she ran and jumped up and bounced from wall to wall pushing up and over until she had landed on the rooftop terrace. She reached through the slit in her robe and began to slap button cameras along the edge of the roofline to give her a view of the street below. She then began to run and jump onto the next roof. She slapped cameras along the edge of the roof as she went. She went as far as she could before she ran out of rooftops that could take her weight. She knew if she landed on that tin roof she would fall through it. She accepted it. It was too far for her to jump across. She would have to get down and scale back up.

She climbed down and came out of the alleyway walking as if she had every right to be there. She had noticed there seemed to be fewer locals this close to the garden. She didn’t draw any undue attention. She made sure her face covering was on. All that was visible was a thin slit with her eyes showing. She walked to the far corner of the garden where the residence was. She quickly scaled the old wall. There was plenty of handholds for her. The wall was wide enough to walk on. She ran down the wall headed to the residence roof. She didn’t want to get spotted up here. She was fast. She thought for sure the guards below her would have spotted her. They had been looking the other way smoking.

She jumped over to the residence roof. She slapped a few cameras up as she climbed over the wall that separated the garden wall from the residence balcony. She ducked down below the balcony wall. She crouched low with her back to the wall. She pulled off the cloth and her tactical backpack. She pulled on her gloves and pulled off the turban. She pulled on her helmet. She rested back on her heels in a position she could move in a hurry if she needed too.

She was just getting started when she heard Purna tell her. "Inside, Chaos. We have a lot of hostiles here. Be careful."

Samantha kept her voice low so she wouldn’t reveal his position. “Chaos in position. Beginning electronic countermeasures.” She wanted him to know in case she kicked the hornet’s nest. She settled into the zone. “Bob begin scanning for accessible computer systems and signals. Deploying mini drone.” She touched her necklace and deployed the minidrone built into it. She began to scan the skies around the garden. She was surprised she had not been caught yet. She looked around and began to scan for drones. She laughed a little as she spotted them. No wonder she had not been spotted. The drones were hovering over the open main entrance that had all the soldiers and barricades. The other drone was hovering in front of the residence but had cameras that were stationary pointing down. They would have spotted her if the drone had been higher but it was just below the roofline. It was below where she had come in from. If they had another drone, she had not spotted it yet.

Bob reported back within moments. “Encrypted Wifi signal coming from the residence. Cellular wifi signals coming from multiple directions. Some are encrypted, some are not.” Samantha thought about that. It made sense a great deal of the merchants probably had cellular wifi for their businesses to take card transactions. “Disregard cellular signals and focus on the encrypted wifi signal from the residence. Show me the camera feeds.” For the first time since she slapped up some of the cameras she could see what they were capturing. The best ones were the ones she had just planted on the residence facing the main gate where all the soldiers were. “Bob monitor camera feeds and notify me of soldier movements at the main gate.”

Samantha settled into work. She activated her haptic gloves so she could interface with her laptop and went to work trying to gain access to the systems remotely. Who knew she might get lucky. She was ready to announce she was here just yet. She wanted to give Purna a chance to get in deeper before she let them know they were here. She sneered as a short time later she had managed to infiltrate the residence wifi. She had gained access to their network. Within moments she had managed to take control of the drones. She left them hovering but had lopped the camera feeds. She doubted the operators were skilled enough to pick up on that though. She began to have Bob go after the databases and download as much as he could. “Bob scan active cameras using facial recognition. Notify if any high value targets show up.” She keyed her comms and reported in. “Chaos controls the airwaves.”