# The Aleron Factor- A Post Modern RP (Action Thread)



## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

The skyline of Chicago was looked like it was on fire, the light of the setting sun casting the whole city in an orange glow. Had he not known better, he would have thought the view, taken in from the top of the sixteen story building where he stood, reathtaking. A huge gust of wind, laden with fierce cold and the promise of snow, whipped down across the building top, sending clutter and debris swirling in small whirlwinds, but the cold was lost on him. Mearly a sensation to be catalogued and processed, his mostly artificial body feeling the chill only as an afterthought. Glaring down into the streets and alleys below caused a vicious sneer to cross his face, his slate grey eyes as cold and the elements around him. Down there was the corruption and bigotry of a tyrants regime, down there people walked in huddled masses, minds clouded by the poisons they unwittingly ingested, sheep to the slaughter and slaves to a Government that cared naught for them. A regime of religious tyrrany and oppression, a regime that would soon fall if he had his way about it. 

Colonel William "Odin" Forsythe, stood atop the building that contained his teams safe house and for the first time in his long life he saw true hope for a better future. He was one of only three people who knew what his mission entailed and the thought if its success brought a fierce, feral smile to his lips. This war, this war that had become his life, was soon to turn in NAFI's favor. His team was the best of the best, they would succeed, an opportunity like this would not present itself again. It was time to gamble everything... Too long had they played from the shadows while the wolves stalked among the sheep. He smiled even more fiercely at the thought. 

Turning from his view, he saw that Major Augustin "Thor" Castelan waited for him, his friend's short frame belying its strength, fervent anger burning in his jet black eyes. He could tell that his second in command chaffed at being kept in the dark regarding their task, it had been the first time in close to 30 years that Odin had kept the details of a mission from him, but he bore it with the same unwavering dedication that he approached everything else. Falling into step next to the Colonel as he walked through the roof access door and proceeded to climb the steps down to their operation center, Odin watched his friend's eyebrows raise in surprise as he all but whispered to his companion, _"Come old friend, lets go end this war."_

With an effort of will, he activated his implanted com device, his voice now loud and steady, anticipation gone replaced by cool purpose, _"Nightstalkers, asssemble for briefing in 5 minutes."_

***​(OOC: I may have failed to mention it in the myriad of information that I have put out to you guys, but every Valkyrie team member has a set of implanted coms devices as a part of their enhancement. Received signals are inaudible save by the person or persons receiving as the signal is pumped directly into the brain, but sent transimissions are still able to be heard depending on your chosen level of volume.)

Loki(Santaire) & Cue Ball(CaptainFatty): You two sit in the Operations Center of the Safe House, this abandoned building that NAFI agents have used for close to 30 years, monitoring communications between the team, and any incoming and outgoing messages from NAFI command. For the most part things are quiet, no real chatter of any kind and you two have taken out a deck of cards and are playing smoking, relaxing, whatever your characters would do in down time. Chat amongst yourselves regarding the hush hush nature of this mission. How do your character's feel about the speed at which you were shuffled off to Chicago? How does the lack of information sit with your characters seeing that in all of your previous missions Odin has been rather forthcoming with details. Your conversation is eventually interrupted by the Colonels radio traffic regarding an upcoming briefing. Seconds after the Colonel stopped speaking, Loki, you notice that a live streaming video com from the Halls has just been sent, oddly requiring the Colonels authorization codes. This is something else new that you are not used to. Shortly after the Colonel's announcement the rest of the team begins to filter into the room in pairs. 

Osiris(Jackinator) & Spectre(Lord Ramo): You two pulled sentry duty. You are both out on the street, decked out in civilian gear, in front of the building, that contains your safe house. As you walk, non-chalantly in a patrol of the buildings parameter, you cant help but notice that the street, even though it is one of the less boulevards of the city, is fairly packed with people. Most don't look up or make eyecontact, their eyes dull with the effects of the drugs they have been given and the mindwashing propaganda they have been spoon fed. How does this environment make you guys feel? Sgt. Hale does coming into ACS territory once more cause any particular thoughts and feelings, especially given your history with the regime? You note during your patrol, that a group Civil Enforcers, hard looking men armed with their stun batons and non-lethal grenades, have passed by this location 2 times in your 6 hour shift. You remain unnoticed in the crowd, but the fact that the CED (Civil Enforcement Division) is even patrolling these streets now, where in years passed they have not, puts you on your guard. Do you two discuss anything regarding the hurried secretive nature of your newest assignment? Does the lack of informatio regardin your task cause you any concern as in times past Odin has been very forthcoming with information? Your patrol is eventually interrupted by the Colonel's announcement, and you two make your way back up to the Command Center as quickly as you can without avoiding notice. 

Poet(Angel of Blood) & Graham(Karak the Unfaithful): You two drew supply duty. As you two labor away in the basement of building, taking inventory of weapons and supplies, you both find yourselves flustred at the rapid nature in which the team was deployed. Things in the supply category are a wreck, hastily thrown together and unorganized, but you throw yourselves into the work with the dedication befitting the seasoned soldiers that you are. Do you talk amongst yourselves regarding the secretive nature of the mission you now find yourself undertaking? Normally the Colonel is rather forthcoming with information, but this mission seems to be more clandestine than normal. Does this cause you any consternation or worry? Over the course of the day you have gotten the supplies organized and catalogued, and loaded into the unmarked vans that the team will be using to travel in should travel be necessary. You are just sitting down to a smoke or a shot from a hip flask, whatever floats your characters fancy, when the Colonel's transmission cuts across the radio. You two make your way through the building to the command center as quickly as you can.

Buck(Anilar) & Fenris(Komanko): You two have been assigned Recon duty and are currently hunkered down ontop of a smaller, 5 story tenament house that sits next to the larger building where the safe house is located. It is cold, but it is all a days work for a Valkyrie. As you watch the streets and the surrounding buildings you see Spectre and Hale pass by you occasionally as they make their meandering patrol around the building, and you are slightly concerned at the number of CED forces that you have seen out and about over the course of the day. Not only have there been enemy patrols on your block, but another team of Civil Enforcers is walking an overlapping patrol two blocks over. Though you haven't found any listening devices anywhere near the building, a single surveillance ballon drone floated by right around the 4 story of the building that you are now perched atop, it did not float high enough to cause any chance of it spotting you, but the amount of ACS surveillance and patrols compared to the last couple of times you have bunkered down in this particular safe house is a bit disconcerting. Does this increased activity, or the secretive nature of your current mission cause you any trepidation? Usually the Colonel is rather forthcoming with details, but this time everything has been very hush hush even for a clandestine outfit such as the Valkyries. Do you two discuss any of these things or just contemplate them in silence as you watch the area around you. Eventually the Colonel's transmission cuts across the radio, and you gather up your things and make your way back to the Command Center. 

Thor(Deathbringer): As you watch the Colonel survey the city below, what thoughts are running through your head? Odin has been rather stand-offish in the last couple of days, and your teams abrupt departure from The Halls, without a word about where you were going or why has stirred you to irritation. Usually your friend is rather forthcoming, especially to you, about the details of the missions the team undertakes. Usually they spend sometime planning, collecting supplies, and laying the groundwork for an op, but not this time. This is especially concerning to you as the mission appears to be leading to the team going deeper into ACS territory, something that Valkyrie teams don't just do on a whim with no prep work. How does all this sit with you? As the Colonel rouses from his introspection, he starts for the roof access door and motioning you to follow him, lays a bombshell of a statmen on you? How does it make you feel that the mission you are on seems to be one that may be a deathstroke to the ACS? What does the Colonel's apparent certainty that this mission will effectively end the war make you think and feel? Left with these thoughts you follow Odin down into the building to the command center. 

***​ 
All: As you make your way into the command center, you are met with the familiar sight of the gleaming consoles, and laptops. Some hardwired into the center, others carefully hooked into the place by Loki. The large room is actually comprised of several smaller offices, that over the years NAFI agents have taken over and expanded. Knocking down walls, and adding the equipment needed for one of the Valkyrie teams to carry out there covert operations. You are all gathered before the Colonel and the Major walk out of one of the stairwell doors that lead to the roof and as Odin looks expectantly towards Loki, he sees that the Cyber-Tech already has the vid screen pulled up, and is awaiting the Colonel's authorization codes (Santaire if you could just write a blurb in your post covering pulling that up that would be awesome). Walking over to the console, Forsythe types in a rather long series of characters, and with a chime the large vid screen flares to life, the image of General Stephen K. Bauer, taking up the majority of the screen, you can tell by the few things visible behind him, he is sitting in his private office. 

_"Evening Will,"_ The general begins, his tone conversational and friendly. _"You and yours make it stateside alright?"_

_"No hitches General, we arrived at the safe house undetected. Everything secure and quiet on your end?"_

_"Yes, indeed, Tuggs has everything locked down on his end, though he is in a right state that I haven't shared the details of your departure with him. NAFI believes that you are in Mexico, and for the time being it is going to stay that way."_ The general said, the last a clear command.

The colonel grimaced and shook his head, clearly uncomfortable with the way things were playing out_,"I am not sure I understand the need for all the cloak and dagger where our own people are concerned, but you know the politics there better than I do. Its your play."_

Sitting down so the rest of the team was visible to the General, _"Go ahead General, they are all here."_

_"Right,"_ General Bauer starts, _"I imagine you are all wondering why you have been kept in the dark about this current assignment and once I lay it on the line for you, you may understand the nature of the situation a bit better. Up until this moment the only people who have had access to this intel is myself, the Colonel, and the operative who brought it directly to me. This mission can change the course of this conflict boys and girls, and it wouldn't do to stir false hope for the resistance. Even for you, the best of the best, this is going to be one for the books. Fires and frying pans don't even begin to describe what you will be heading into."_

Rummaging around on his desk, out of view of the camera, the general find what he was looking for, raises a large cigar to his mouth and bites the end off of it before slowly lighting the end. _"Loki if you would?"_

(Santaire a data file starts to blink in the upper left hand corner of the view screen, and porting the images to a separate viewer you open the file)

Springing to life on the screen next to the vid viewer, a series of blueprints, supply documents, and requisition orders start to fly by in sequence. You all can tell that they are for a facility of sorts, but the nature of which is lost in the sea of documents. 

_"What you see there is everything the operative brought me. What you are looking at is the target that is going to crack the ACS open. If you would take the time to look through, you will find that this is an entire history, layout, and personnel assessment of the two facilities where they manufacture, produce, and pump all of the drugs that the ACS uses to control its people into the water supplies. The memos, documents, and communications are all from the last several years and basically state that due to lack of personnel and scientists, their manufacturing facilities and distribution centers were all moved to two locations. The first, is right there in Chicago, the second is a bit trickier. We have discerned that it is in the Mississippi river delta, somewhere in Alabama, but the key thing is we know where to start looking. We have been unable to get any real details as to the drugs, distribution and manufacturing in close to 30 years, but know we know right were to hit the ACS, hit 'em in the nads and watch them crumple."_

He took a long draw on his cigar, looking at the team with eye blazing in triumph, _"We have had folks working on a neutralizer for the ACS drug cocktail for several years now as you know Will, and our boys here think that it is ready for use. So here is the score folks," the General continued, "Your mission is actually a four pronged assault. 3 targets there in ACS Territory, these two distribution plants and the Cardinal himself, the old bastard, and then we are going for the whole shebang. You will be heading back south of the border Will, a long list of targets from the Cartel families. We are going to destabilize the whole continent again my friend, and we are going to take back the place foot by foot. I am tired of waiting and I have a majority of the Council vote behind me. I have been told that if we have the opportunity, if something presents itself that can change the tide, I am to act with total authority. Well here it is my friend, we are about to start the End Game."_

With the last statement the room fell into complete silence.

(For this update I want you all to mainly deal with what your characters are feeling, especially what you think about the mission you are on. Next update the action will start so don't get comfortable. I hope you enjoy the RP!)


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## deathbringer (Feb 19, 2009)

The world burned before him, flames sending coiling tendrils of smoke rising in undulating curls.

Flames glittered in his jet back eyes, dancing around the icy cold hatred that lingered in their infinite depths, the thin line of his mouth was cast in a twisted spiteful sneers even as his fingers caressed the barrel of his revolver, a single fingers snaking in a loving caress from the graceful loop of the trigger to the gaping maw.

His eyes moved across dilapidated buildings, the wreckage of homes and livelihoods, the crumbling memories of happiness and prosperity, of what this country had once been, of what it may one day be again.

At the lip of the roof stood a figurehead of that dream, a leader, a warrior and inspiration... a friend.

The figure turned from the abyss, his eyes filled with fervor, with the light of possibility, a marathon runner that could see the tape flickering in the wind before him.

The eyes softened with a tinge of sorrow as they his own, pained by the information he hid from his comrade, by the strain the knowledge placed upon the bond between them.

He had not been easy not slumbered in the dark and accepted somethings where not for him to know as better men and better friends would have. Yet he was not a good man, he was a killer and a Castelan, nay ,he had bucked and kicked, poked and prodded snarled and raged, pulling rank on subordinates to get every report he could lay his hands on.

Nothing, even as he fell in step beside the Colonel, he let out a low growl, the deep rumble of a tiger as an unwary traveler placed a foolish foot upon its tail.

The colonel gave his a wan smile even as they passed through the access door, the softest of whispers even as the feverish glow poured from his eyes

"Come old friend, lets go end this war."

His eyebrow raised in surprise, was that the seriousness of this mission, was what they embarked upon now enough to end this war, to end the chaos. 

What then?

What when there was no one left to kill, what next for Augustin Castellan, how would he survive amongst society, with the burning rage that seered inside him, how could he go on. He had been fighting since he was born, instilled with a burning hatred for his enemies, cutting them down one by one since he could remember, his fathers loathing so deeply ingrained upon his blood stained soul, could he ever forget.

He cast a glance back even as they descended along the steps, though the flames dancing in his eyes were his own, a burning brazier of spiteful fury.

There would always be someone to hate.
_____________________________________________________

He leaned against the wall, gently slumping next to the door as he glared at the pict screen before him, the wizened face of the general as he addressed them.

The head of the military, his superiors superior, the man that had awarded him third in the chain of command.

Fucking idiot.

Everyone knew he was no speech maker or problem solver, he led and expected them to follow, if he told them to stand til they fired penultimate bullet he expected them to come back with a single round in their magazine.

Perhaps that was the reason, if Baur and Forsythe went down, they would have lost their leader and their figurehead, that was when they needed someone that would stand and fight, no matter the odds, that expected nothing less than complete discipline.

The whole thing reeked of Forsythe.

Perhaps the general knew that if Forsythe went down he was already dead or would probably die avenging the bastard that killed him, so it was irrelevant.

Baur spoke with grim passion, refusing to show his hope, manifesting it as stately intent and calm confidence, speaking of a plan to end this war, a plan that held around the nightstalkers, the best of the best tearing this fragile equilibrium asunder and allowing the resistance to regain control.

Yet they weren't trusted to know, to hold their emotions, he wasn't trusted.

A second snarl even as Baur concluded his speech the following silence broken by Thor's low growl even as he strode from the room

"As long as its not another ballsup"


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## Santaire (Feb 13, 2011)

Ethan Clancey, codename ‘Loki’, sat opposite his old comrade Eric ‘Cue ball’ Smith. The pair of them had got out a pack of cards but both had given up about halfway through and so Ethan idly messed about with nearby computer systems. It was child’s play but he was so bored that he toyed with it, testing it to the limits. He was strangely unnerved by Forsythe’s withdrawal for the colonel had never before withheld any information from his Valkyrie team. Thus this lack of info had caused Ethan to constantly second guess himself. They were in Chicago, one of the most powerful ACS cities and one of the most securely guarded with no Intel on what they were after.

It was only personal honour that kept Ethan from hacking into the NAFI to discover what the hell they were doing and satisfy his own curiosity. That, and the threat of retribution. As it was he had pulled up a system screen and was watching the comings and goings of the citizens outside the base through the safe house’s security cameras. There was Sergeant Victor ‘Osiris’ Hale and Captain Holly ‘Spectre’ Besson in civilian clothes patrolling the front of the house. On a rooftop adjacent to the safe house he spotted Sergeant Howard ‘Buck’ Payne and Specialist Pyotr ‘Fenris’ Volkov on Recon.

Ethan still didn’t know what to make of Fenris. The man was Russian and was the most solitary person Ethan had ever known. Ethan was a man who led a lonely life with few friends but even by his standards Fenris was untrusting. The only man the scout came close to trusting was Forsythe and even the Colonel did not know his full story. Indeed the solitary Russian was the only team member who Ethan wouldn’t be sure about if it came to a matter of life or death. He himself would save Fenris, but would Fenris save him? That was the question that haunted the Cyber-Tech and he wished to learn the answer before it was too late.

Supply duty was being dealt with by Sergeant Ryan ‘Poet’ Anders and Specialist David Graham. He and Eric were the only 2 without an actively assigned task. However Forsythe no doubt knew that Loki was always doing something. Currently, as well as monitoring the area, he was double checking all system connections and security systems, ensuring that to ACS sensors they appeared to be just another house rather than a facility sheltering some of the best soldiers in what had once been the United States of America.

A brief communication from Odin alerted him to a meeting and shortly afterwards the members of the team began to file into the room. Ethan shut down his systems and watched them. They appeared relaxed but he could see the tell tale signs of tension in every one of them. It was unconscious, a clenched fist or a muscle twitch but it was there nonetheless. Forsythe entered and was followed by Major Augustin ‘Thor’ Castelan. Ethan gave the major a nod and Forsythe a swift half salute before settling back into his seat.

Ethan’s eyes flickered before opening with a flash of blue. His hands twitched in the air as he used his cybernetic implant to pull up the vid-screen, both hands flat with the palms outwards before curling the fingers and moving them up. He scrolled along the screen until he found what he was looking for, an inbound message that required Forsythe’s code to unlock. Odin glanced at him and Ethan gave a slight nod to show he was just awaiting authorisation. The colonel typed a series of digits into one of the computers and the message opened. Inside was a nugget of information, a real time stream from General Bauer.

He placed his hands around the info and pushed them forwards and outwards, projecting them onto the huge wall screen set up for that purpose. From the items behind the general Ethan could see he was in his private office. "Evening Will," The general began, with a friendly tone. "You and yours make it stateside alright?"

"No hitches General, we arrived at the safe house undetected. Everything secure and quiet on your end?"

"Yes, indeed, Tuggs has everything locked down on his end, though he is in a right state that I haven't shared the details of your departure with him. NAFI believes that you are in Mexico, and for the time being it is going to stay that way." The last words were evidently a command and Ethan almost flinched. Not only were the details being kept from them but almost no one in the NAFI knew of their current location or objective.

Odin grimaced and shook his head before speaking with distaste obvious in his voice “I am not sure I understand the need for all the cloak and dagger where our own people are concerned, but you know the politics there better than I do. Its your play." Forsythe sat down so that Bauer could see and be seen by the rest of the team before continuing with “go ahead general, their all here.”

"Right," the general started, "I imagine you are all wondering why you have been kept in the dark about this current assignment and once I lay it on the line for you, you may understand the nature of the situation a bit better. Up until this moment the only people who have had access to this intel is myself, the Colonel, and the operative who brought it directly to me. This mission can change the course of this conflict boys and girls, and it wouldn't do to stir false hope for the resistance. Even for you, the best of the best, this is going to be one for the books. Fires and frying pans don't even begin to describe what you will be heading into."

Rummaging in his desk just out of their vision the general produced a cigar, lit it and then looked at Ethan. “Loki if you would?” A data icon began to blink in the upper left hand corner of the screen. He twisted his hands and placed them around it before opening it and viewing the files within. He projected it onto the screen with flick of the wrist so that the rest of the team could see. Springing to life on the screen next to the vid viewer, a series of blueprints, supply documents, and requisition orders start to fly by in sequence. Ethan realised that they were for some kind of chemical facility with a purpose unknown to him.

"What you see there is everything the operative brought me. What you are looking at is the target that is going to crack the ACS open. If you would take the time to look through, you will find that this is an entire history, layout, and personnel assessment of the two facilities where they manufacture, produce, and pump all of the drugs that the ACS uses to control its people into the water supplies. The memos, documents, and communications are all from the last several years and basically state that due to lack of personnel and scientists, their manufacturing facilities and distribution centres were all moved to two locations. The first, is right there in Chicago, the second is a bit trickier. We have discerned that it is in the Mississippi river delta, somewhere in Alabama, but the key thing is we know where to start looking. We have been unable to get any real details as to the drugs, distribution and manufacturing in close to 30 years, but know we know right were to hit the ACS, hit 'em in the nads and watch them crumple."

He took a long draw on his cigar, looking at the team with eye blazing in triumph, "We have had folks working on a neutralizer for the ACS drug cocktail for several years now as you know Will, and our boys here think that it is ready for use. So here is the score folks," the General continued, "Your mission is actually a four pronged assault. 3 targets there in ACS Territory, these two distribution plants and the Cardinal himself, the old bastard, and then we are going for the whole shebang. You will be heading back south of the border Will, a long list of targets from the Cartel families. We are going to destabilize the whole continent again my friend, and we are going to take back the place foot by foot. I am tired of waiting and I have a majority of the Council vote behind me. I have been told that if we have the opportunity, if something presents itself that can change the tide, I am to act with total authority. Well here it is my friend, we are about to start the End Game."

The general closed the screen and Ethan cut off power to the viewer. He shut down his own personal system and grinned suddenly. Finally they were going to defeat the ACS. He had devoted most of his adult life to destroying it and now his dream was to be realised. Things just kept getting better and better. He stood and walked over to Forsythe before speaking quietly, both as a question and to draw Forsythe’s attention away from Thor. “Colonel, if these things are what we think we are why are they sending just us. Surely it would be better to send other teams so that we can take out everything at the same time. I understand that if it goes wrong then our forces would be deeply disappointed and dispirited, thus easier to defeat by a determined and well trained enemy. In our advantage this would mean that they would not be able to increase security around these areas while we prepare to hit the next target…”


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## Anilar (Aug 12, 2011)

Howard "Buck" Payne was watching the people on the streets, he couldn't help himself see them as modern day zombies. Emotionally oppressed and brainwashed, to believe they lived a good life. It was a little wonder that people still loved and children was playing in the streets.
But people seem even more suppressed and downtrodden today, and Howard couldn't help but believe it had to do with the high presence of enemy soldiers patrolling the streets, something was off Howard could feel it. And it didn't help there had been a surveillance balloon had floated by a story down, its sensor package employed to watch the streets and not up. Noone was looking up at the grey cold sky, not even the soldiers.
It had been something Howard had learned early in life, look up often so you don't get caught by cave ins, stone slides and similar threats. Something cityfolks didn't learn.

But Howard still made sure he was not easily visible from the streets, hiding in various piles of junks as he patrolled around on the roof, junk that had been left by inhabitants of the building and squatters. Various valkyrie teams that had used this staging area, had shifted the junk around so it also made excellent cover, if a firefight were to break out.

Howard also spent his time analyzing the other nearby buildings, where he could hit them with grenades from his launcher, to make part of the buildings and the walls collapse, if they were to be used by enemy soldiers. The many years of missuse and lack of maintenance starting to show in the walls, many windows covered with old cloth rags or hammered in boards. In area was a symphony of grey, grey buildings, grey clothes, grey junk, grey trash, grey bricks, grey soldiers, grey weather. Only the occasional red head or black skinned individual breaking the colour scheme. The area lacked laughter or angry voices yelling. But there was no colour, just the monotone life and colour of a suppressed people that haven't realised they were being suppressed.

His squad mate Fenris the russian soldier, was up on the roof with him opposite the base building. His green eyes scanning the streets, he was one of those men in the world, that needed to smile some more. But Howard somehow felt a little safer with him on the team, his ability to infiltrate and silence enemy sentries and clearing the way for the team was invaluable, and there was noone better among the Nafi valkyries.
Howard was in no doubt if there was someone who would survive this mission it would be Fenris.

A mission that they didn't know was about, reminding him of his days as a ordinary soldier. The missions where they had followed valkyrie teams into the field, where they should guard foward staging areas or provide diversions to the infiltrating valkyrie teams. Where only the valkyries had known the objectives of the mission. Howard just knew it could only be big very big, and for some reason it made him smile. There was no doubt that what ever the mission was, it would make a difference in the lives of the Nafi and the suppressed american people.

_"Nightstalkers, asssemble for briefing in 5 minutes."_ the colonels voice sounded in his ear. Together with Fenris, Howard left the highground of the roof, went down to the apartment in the basement where a Nafi spy was living, guarding a secret tunnel into the base building complex. Activating the various security features as they walked in silence.

Entering the briefing room Howard threw a quick salute to his superiors, and with a big grin towards Odin "Guess its time to know what all the cloak and dagger was all about." Leaning up against the wall Buck's smile just became bigger and bigger, as the scope of the mission became clear to him.

_"Yeah im gonna go make so much fireworks out of those installations, there gotte be so many chemicals in those facilities I hardly have to bring my own toys. BOOOM BOOOOM BOOOOM of DOOOOOM BUCK IS ON IT SIRS"_ Howard excitedly shouted as the general winked out on the screen. His smile positively provided the lightning in the room.
Grabbing his backpack Buck started to go toward the stairs down to the supply depot, to get some toys.


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## Karak The Unfaithful (Feb 13, 2011)

Specialist David Graham stood at the entrance of the basement, where all the supplies were stroed, observing the mountain of supplies that stood before him. He groaned to himself at the thought of having to shift through all that and sort it all into organised piles.

David turned to the man with him; Sgt. Ryan 'Poet' Anders, he is your average Valkyrie team member: lots of muscle, lots of guns. David might have been intimidated but when you work with these kind of men you get use to it, besides the medic usually gets some respect.

"Its ganna take us ages to sift through this lot" he said "we may as well get started"

He walked towards the mountain of junk and picked up the nearest object to him, a box of ammunition casually dumped at the edge of the mountain, most of its contents spilled out over the floor. 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As the day wore on the two men talked a little but David mostly kept wondering how had NAFI, an organised military unit, let this place fall into such a state. Probably years of battle-tired men dumping weapons and supplies in this room, there only desire a *** and whiskey.

After completing the impossible task to the best of there abilities David decided to relax, he proped an old crate against the wall and used it as a chair. He lit himself a ciggarette and looked forward to the prospect of relaxing...

...then the Colonel's voice sounded over the radio and ordered a meeting at the command centre.

"damn, looks like the Colonel's finally ganna tell us whats going on"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

David and poet made there way to the command centre and barely had time to walk in before he began....

...when the Colonel finished the room fell into silence, many of the other men were open-mouthed and suprised, including David.

The end of the war? could it be true?

David's personal ambition was to bring some kind of lasting peace to the country, this was really something for him: to know he could make a difference and eventually stop the mindless violence that tormented this world. Of course he knew there would more enemies but he didn't care, not one bit.

A grin spread across his face, he suddenly felt an new strength flood through him. they were going to end the war.


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## CaptainFatty (Nov 9, 2008)

Eric leaned back in the chair, protein bar in one hand, loaded revolver in the other, as he watched Ethan mess with the computers. These taste like shit, he thought for the thousandth time as he took a bite from the protein bar, the poorly simulated chocolate taste stimulating his tongue. The rice and curry was so much better. He swung out the cylinder, revealing the untouched palladium core, taunting him with its perfection. He wanted to get out there and hurt some ACS troopers, get some blood on his hands. He even contemplated tackling Ethan. His enhanced mind would allow him to register what is happening before he even hit the floor, and he was always a good fight, their spars usually ending with Ethan on top. The only problem with itching for action was that they were all unaware of what action they would be getting into.

He didn’t mind the secrecy though. He was a weapon, and had rarely been unprepared for the situations that his superiors had thrown at him. What the mission actually is was something to be anticipated, a reward for his patience. He couldn’t help but throw a few guesses out there though. It would have to be a game breaker to have so many people in the dark, and it wouldn’t be an easy one if they dragged out the best of the best on such short notice.

He hoped it was something game breaking. Having to watch the oppressed people drag their feet through the streets, completely unaware of the situation that their government has them locked into. It was disgusting, sickening and Eric hoped he wouldn’t have to allow it to stand for much longer.

“Nightstalkers, assemble for briefing in 5 minutes,” came the colonel’s voice through his com device. Finally, this was it, the moment he had been waiting for.

The pair headed into the command centre, splitting up on arrival so that Ethan could man the consoles. When they all arrived, the general’s face was brought up and he quickly sped through a friendly introduction with the colonel. Even before the general gave them descriptions of the plan, Eric had a grin on his face. Change the face of the conflict, eh? The general continued to talk, explaining the documents, the mission and their objective. He could hardly believe what he was hearing. This could not only change the face of the conflict, but end it. Remove ACS control of their people and they have nothing. And hitting the cardinal himself?

Years of discipline were the only thing that allowed Eric to keep his composure. Grinning so wide it almost hurt, he looked around at his comrades, the men and women he was going to end it all with. Some were grinning as he was; others had their mouths open in shock. Suddenly, Howard opened his mouth, shouting his excitement so the whole facility could hear.


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

The supplies were a mess. Weapons, equipment and stores were scattered all over the basement, not even closely resembling any sense of order. Poet surveyed the mess with a look of incredulity. How it had even began to end up in this mess was a mystery to him. Before deploying to here he had personally made sure all the supplies were loaded on in order to stop this sort of thing from happening.

Hermes, the team medic clearly had the same feelings "Its ganna take us ages to sift through this lot" he said "we may as well get started"

He then stepped forwards and picked an ammo box, which promptly flew open, spilling its contents all over the floor. Poet let out an exasperated sigh “So not only did they leave all this in a colossal mess, but they didn’t even secure the damn boxes properly”

He took a calming breath, before looking around at the mess once again. “Ok. Let’s start with the weapons, get them all together and secure them in the cage, then we’ll move onto the ammo and work our way from there” He then moved over to the first weapon crate he could see and easily picked it up, his innate strength complemented by his bionic arms made moving the heavy crates no problem at all. He opened the crate in the weapons cage to find that it was coincidently his own weapons. He took one of his pistols and its accompanying holster and secured it to his thigh. The building may have been more than secure, but you could never be too sure in their line of work. 

“Well that’s one box down I guess”

-----------------------------------------------------------

Hours later, they finally packed the last of the stores away to one side of the room. Pulling up an empty crate, he sat opposite Hermes, placing another box between them to act as a table of sorts, he quickly devoured another protein bar, his enhanced metabolism required him to eat alot more than most men would on average. He went to pull out a pack of cards to start a quick game with Hermes, but before he could the Colonel summoned them for a briefing.

Poet stood up and donned his beaten leather jacket “Roger, Poet and Hermes en route, out” 

-----------------------------------------------------------

He remained calm and impassive as the details of their mission were finally revealed to them, though he frowned in Bucks direction as his excitement got the better of him. The implications of their mission were huge though, if they were to succeed they would change the face of the war as they know it. Though a mission like this was obviously not going to be a walk in the park, something most would call a ‘one way’ mission. The Nightstalkers had already done their fair share of ‘one ways’ though, but even then this one would surely be one of their most dangerous yet.

He looked in for Odin and Thors thoughts and orders before commenting himself.


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## Jackinator (Nov 18, 2008)

(OOC: gonna go with a curve ball and try out some first person if that's ok  )

Jostling, heads down, eyes dull, shoulders slumped in submission, yet I was alone in this tide of people. Most purposefully ignored me, the few that did look up looked down at their feet again in fear. I almost shook my head in disgust, I wasn't the enemy here, but then they weren't to know that. In my expensive looking, well tailored suit I was spot on for every stereotype of high ranking ACS officials. Tall, clean shaven, and with that certain cruelty around the eyes and jawline I'd inherited from my father, it wasn't quite a physical cruelty, just something that suggested itself. I hated it, it had led to... this, the crowds parting like a stream against the rocks.

You would think that someone would have stopped me by now, but then few ever did. An enforcer patrol passed by, eyeing me warily from across the street, they didn't cross, although it was rare to see the wealthy in this part of town, they didn't want to risk that I might be someone from the shadowy heights of the ACS hierarchy. I strolled, almost nonchalantly around the building, that relaxed, careless walk that still somehow instilled a sense of authority. Something else I had inherited from my father. I was frustrated, we'd been deployed at the heart of our greatest enemy, but not told why. Although I had to admit I was glad to be out in the field again, I had been going somewhat stir crazy back in the NAFI settlements. I hated being cooped up away from the action, when I knew I should be out here. But then it had been my own fault.

Almost unconsciously I glanced at my hand, cybernetic gauntlets they may be, but that hadn't helped when I'd fucked up. I flexed it slightly, I.. just hadn't... reacted. I didn't know why. After all those years, I couldn't do it. I resisted the urge to pull my pistol on the retreating backs of the enforcers. I had no doubt I could take them all, but it wouldn't help, I'd just have fucked up again.

I snapped myself back to reality, realising that it was the second patrol I'd seen on this sentry shift, I'd never seen them patrol these streets on my previous stays here. The regime was becoming more and more oppressive, cracking down hard on any dissension, not that it hadn't always done that.

"Unusual activity from the CED Spectre", I spoke, my voice inaudible to any not standing beside me, which, given my apparent status, was none. But the advanced implants in my throat and larynx picked up the vibrations easily, transmitting them through to my fellow sentry. I had no doubt she had already taken note, but I was uncomfortable with my current train of thought and attempted to distract myself with conversation.

"Roger that, Osiris, it doesn't feel right seeing how we don't even know the mission yet. Keep an eye on them, if they come back again then we'll inform the Odin that we may have been compromised. "

"I agree, but I wish I knew why we were here, I hope they have nothing to do with it, its not like Odin to keep us in the dark."

But before either of us could continue we heard the Colonel click in on a separate command channel. "Nightstalkers, asssemble for briefing in 5 minutes."

Without a word I wandered casually around to the back of the building, before quickly ducking inside a small, hardly noticeable service door. I was in the briefing room less than five minutes later, hardly noticing the quiet hum of technology. I was concentrating on Forsythe, the man who had brought us here, the man who, without which, many of us would not even be here. My hand flexed again, I shoved it in my pocket.

"Evening Will," the General began, casual and informal. "You and yours make it stateside alright?"

"No hitches General, we arrived at the safe house undetected. Everything secure and quiet on your end?"

"Yes, indeed, Tuggs has everything locked down on his end, though he is in a right state that I haven't shared the details of your departure with him. NAFI believes that you are in Mexico, and for the time being it is going to stay that way."

Forsythe was clearly uncomfortable with this however, "I am not sure I understand the need for all the cloak and dagger where our own people are concerned, but you know the politics there better than I do. Its your play."

He sat down, clearing the field of view so the General could see the rest of us. "Go ahead General, they are all here."

"Right, I imagine you are all wondering why you have been kept in the dark about this current assignment and once I lay it on the line for you, you may understand the nature of the situation a bit better. Up until this moment the only people who have had access to this intel is myself, the Colonel, and the operative who brought it directly to me. This mission can change the course of this conflict boys and girls, and it wouldn't do to stir false hope for the resistance. Even for you, the best of the best, this is going to be one for the books. Fires and frying pans don't even begin to describe what you will be heading into."

He searched in the drawers of his desk for a moment, before emerging and raising a cigar. He bit the end off before calmly lighting it. "Loki if you would?"

The screen next to the General's image flickered to life and a series of blueprints, supply documents, and requisition orders flashed up, each more puzzling and at the same time more enlightening as it was replaced by another. It was clearly for some sort of large base or facility, but the exact nature was lost somewhere in the bewildering array of files and documents 

"What you see there is everything the operative brought me. What you are looking at is the target that is going to crack the ACS open. If you would take the time to look through, you will find that this is an entire history, layout, and personnel assessment of the two facilities where they manufacture, produce, and pump all of the drugs that the ACS uses to control its people into the water supplies. The memos, documents, and communications are all from the last several years and basically state that due to lack of personnel and scientists, their manufacturing facilities and distribution centers were all moved to two locations. The first, is right there in Chicago, the second is a bit trickier. We have discerned that it is in the Mississippi river delta, somewhere in Alabama, but the key thing is we know where to start looking. We have been unable to get any real details as to the drugs, distribution and manufacturing in close to 30 years, but know we know right were to hit the ACS, hit 'em in the nads and watch them crumple."

He was triumphant. "We have had folks working on a neutralizer for the ACS drug cocktail for several years now as you know Will, and our boys here think that it is ready for use. So here is the score folks," the General continued, "Your mission is actually a four pronged assault. 3 targets there in ACS Territory, these two distribution plants and the Cardinal himself, the old bastard, and then we are going for the whole shebang. You will be heading back south of the border Will, a long list of targets from the Cartel families. We are going to destabilize the whole continent again my friend, and we are going to take back the place foot by foot. I am tired of waiting and I have a majority of the Council vote behind me. I have been told that if we have the opportunity, if something presents itself that can change the tide, I am to act with total authority. Well here it is my friend, we are about to start the End Game."

I had listened quietly as the General outlined our mission, it wasn’t going to be easy, but then nothing in this job ever was. Then I heard Howard’s exited outburst, the man was irrepressible, I raised an eyebrow to Ryan as Howard left. Augustin had already stormed out, his mood black and thunderous, as usual. Not that it had put a damper on the room. Howard wasn’t the only one celebrating the targets revealed to us. David and Eric were grinning hugely, while myself and Ryan remained impassive, along with Ethan, although the Cyber-tech’s question was pointed and valid. I looked on in interest, waiting for whatever response Forsythe would produce, although it would have to be good to satisfy Ethan’s powerful and inquiring intellect…


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## komanko (May 16, 2010)

OOC: Dunno if its my best or no but still I think it came out quite interesting in some parts. Anilar I recommend that you read your part as I found this twist quite nice, just thought of it now 

The grey sky reflected against his green eyes, he scoured his surroundings, exactly like he was trained to do. He scanned the streets below looking for anything out of the ordinary, hell, he didn’t have to look, everything seemed out of the ordinary this time. Increased patrols, recon balloons, surveillance teams, everything was there, everything was out of the ordinary. 

Luckily they could be easily spotted, especially to a trained eye like Fenris’s. They were like dots of color amongst a sea of grey. They moved like flies caught in an empty jar, buzzing around, flying around, not resting for a moment. While he was cautious at first all this caution disappread when he noticed the behavior of the ACS and CED forces below, they weren’t looking for someone and they surly didn’t know of what really was going on around here. 

They moved to quickly, they weren’t restless like men before an ambush, they weren’t cautious and fearful, the stink of death did not emit from them. They were clean, no intention of killing on them, yet. Like the rest of the townsfolk below, they were sheep, all led by their “superiors” which were sheep as well, there were nearly no wolves at these times, only a handful, yet those handful… They were dangerous, mysterious, unknown… Figures to be feared.

He shook away these thoughts from his head and returned to duty, even though his senses told him that there is nothing to fear he still had a job to do and he had to keep his wits about him and be on guard.

He looked to his left, he looked at the large building which was the Nafi’s safehouse, so easy to spot, not even hidden and yet unseen. The best hide spots are the ones which are plainly visible, that was true, and no truer example could be given. A magnificent trick and yet such a simple one. The building itself, although large and imposing was not at the best shape, some walls began to crumble, like the rest of the buildings around them no color was left, only grey, like the sky, like the citizens. It blended perfectly with the surroundings, none could suspect without previous knowledge.

A sudden gust of wind caused him to narrow his eyes in order to continue seeing. Some might’ve called it a freezing wind yet those obviously did not traverse frozen wastes for several years. They knew nothing of cold. Before his mind could return to these dark memories Fenris quickly looked around trying to find something else to focus on. 

He looked down and continued watching the citizens below. They were shells, empty husks, stripped of dignity, honor, and will. Mindless fools. They were enslaved to the will of others, too weak to cry out in pain and fight for their freedom, too afraid. Fenris was like that once, no, he was not, it was someone else, it was not Fenris. He watched as people continued moving, each going to his pointless job just to return tomorrow again. They were all colorless, dead inside. Most of them would’ve killed themselves if they weren’t afraid of death more than of life. Such a mistake, death… Death was simple, forgiving, warm. It did not question one’s moral decisions or ways of life, it simply embraced you, hugged you, taking away the pain and worries. Life was the evil twin, life was harsh and unforgiving, an endless struggle which was bound to fail. If one truly wanted to be free he would embrace death, call for it, cry for it, beg for it, and when he does not fear it anymore it is then when one is free.

Again brooding dark thoughts, a grim smile spread on his scarred face, always with the brooding thoughts. Hell, he could be rich if he would’ve received coin for each dark thought that passed through his head. He sighed, damn thoughts…

His thoughts returned to the civilians once again, how could he blamed them for their inactivity, they were so drugged that they barely felt anything anyway, how could he expect them to act and revolt against the tyrannical regime, it was pitiful and yet pathetic at the same time, the government couldn’t watch them all, why didn’t any of them think about just not taking those drugs, were they so weak willed? His mixed feelings for the mindless sheep confused him, he could not understand their mentality, did they find safety in numbers or simply safety in ignorance? He could not tell and this annoyed him.

He looked to the other side of the building quickly spotting Buck, it’s not that he was hiding either but still Fenris referred to noticing him as spotting him, he referred to all prey like that. He was smiling, though he was always smiling so that was hardly surprising. Buck… Buck was one of the hardest individuals Fenris had to confront. He… He was everything that Fenris was not, he was everything that Fenris did not have, he was everything that made Fenris hate himself. A gem in a broken, degenerated and cruel society, a kind soul, an innocent child in a way. Always caring, always helping, Fenris watched him several times when he went to help the people below. Always being kind and warm, he did it so bluntly, so calmly and regularly that it made Fenris’s anger boil each time. How could one live like that, how could one still be so caring in such a dead society. 

He looked at Buck and his face twisted in a snarl, his first instinct was to throw some downgrading insult at the man, spit in his face if needed, snap him out of his happiness. Yet he restrained himself, he was not an enemy, and the world did not need more brooding and depressive individuals like Fenris anyway.

He was satisfied with a simple nod towards Buck, his face emotionless trying not to betray any of his thoughts. In a way such pureness of heart nearly broke Pyotr’s will to live… He was so corrupt, he was as dead as the husks that walked the streets, the only difference was that in his death he was serving death while they were simply slowly dying without doing anything.

They were summoned, a call from Forsythe, the packleader. None could refuse, neither did anyone want to. He nodded towards Buck again, seeing if he received the message as well and then quickly gatherd the junk they left and threw it into a garbage bin. He never left traces of his presence, not even in such safe zones. After that he moved out, heading to the Nafi’s safehouse, heading anxiously, ready to discover the secrets which were kept from them upon arrival.

Everything was organized quickly and after a short delay the screen flickered on, it was the general, the head sheep, yet one disguised as wolf to show off strength. It did not fool anyone, the real wolves were they, the general, he could do nothing, only his forces did his jobs.

Finally, after the introductions and friendly talk they cut to business, finally was the purpose of the mission revealed, in it was revealed to be a challenging one. Four stages for one mission, not bad, though certainly there would be more than, things always got screwed up somehow. He sat in the darkest corner of the room, his contact lens off, his black as night eyes watched carefully everyone’s reactions. In a way that was creepy an in another… Still creepy, he knew that many found the black eyes disturbing, yet he did not care, he found them quite intriguing especially when no one knew the cause for it. 

Naturally his body began to create his chameleonic camouflage, he noticed this process yet he did not do anything to stop it. If his opinion was needed he would be asked, until then he will watch, invisible, silent. Still, it would be a glorious hunt for a great cause.


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## Lord Ramo (Apr 12, 2009)

Holly stared through a sea of bodies, her eyes focused on the targets in front of her. The NAFI team had been deployed in absolute secrecy to Chicago, a ACS hotspot. She moved through the crowd like water, blending perfectly into the crowd so that she could move unnoticed by any surveillance equipment the ACS had deployed. Even as she walked she kept her eyes on the CED squad, armed with non lethal weapons they would be relatively easy to take if they had spotted her.

But they hadn't, it was just another patrol, though she wasn't glad to see that they had passed for a second time in her six hour shift on sentry duty. In fact if anything it aroused her suspicion more. She itched to pull out her concealed pistol, open fire on the group, but she wouldn't dare. She was a professional, a member of the most successful Valkyrie team there was. 

Holly was the third in charge of the squad, a captain. She had a responsibility to the rest of the squad. She sighed as she completed another circuit of the building, she was restless. Obviously this mission was big or else she and the rest of the squad would have the mission parameters. 

However they had been kept in the dark, something which both frustrated and intrigued her. If the mission had anything to do with hurting the ACS then it was a given that Holly would do her best to ensure they hurt, after what they had done to her old squad it was the least she could do.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*"Incoming!"* Holly yelled as a rocket hit near their position. The ACS had bombarded their position for the past half hour, hoping to soften the dug in NAFI team that was stalling their advance. Lt. Holly ducked behind the makeshift barricade as the explosion happened, she and the five men under her command spread along a line. The rest of the NAFI squad and their commander had the only other way the ACS could go, though they only had intermittent contact. 

She recovered, aiming down her sights as the ACS began their third advance. *"Book, Ice, we got incoming towards the south east building. If they get there they have overwatch on us. I want you to get there first take them out how copy?"* She spoke into her mike as she took aim on the lead ACS soldier. _"Roger that Spectre, moving."_ She heard before she opened fire, three round burst impacting on his chest and knocking him off his feet dead. Elsewhere along the line she could hear gunfire as Granite, Trojan and Shield opened fire on the ACS. 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Unusual activity from the CED Spectre" The voice in her ear snapped her back to reality as Osiris, her sentry partner spoke up, though she couldn't see him in the crowd she knew that he would be watching them as well.

*"Roger that, Osiris, it doesn't feel right seeing how we don't even know the mission yet. Keep an eye on them, if they come back again then we'll inform Odin that we may have been compromised."* She replied, keeping an eye on them as well. 

"I agree, but I wish I knew why we were here, I hope they have nothing to do with it, its not like Odin to keep us in the dark." Came his reply, but before she could answer she received a message from Odin, "Nightstalkers, asssemble for briefing in 5 minutes."

Holly turned, heading down one-side of the building. She went round back and went in the back entrance, just in case they were being watched and she headed to the briefing room, knowing that Osiris had already gotten the message. Now maybe was time to find out why they were here in the first place. 

She entered the command room, taking a seat with the others before a big screen in front of them flickered into life. The general appeared on screen, speaking to the Colonel before outlining the mission. Holly stared at the screen, could it be that they were going to end it all?! Finally they would take out the ACS and the other enemies of the NAFI, finally she would get here revenge.

Buck let out an excited whoop, obviously pleased with the mission. Holly snarled as she turned to him, *"Stow it Buck, its not over yet."* She nodded at Odin before turning and moving out of the room. She headed to check on her gear, as she analysed what she had just been told. If they were successful it would be a masterstroke for the NAFI, and a chance to avenge the five names tattooed on her back.
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Holly ducked back into cover as she pulled out her side arm, her palidium core in her assault rifle had been used up, as had her shotguns. She was down to her cybernetic implants and pistols. Trojan dove into cover next to her as gunfire flew over her cover. _"Spectre, Ice says they are bringing up more ordnance, has the commander told us to fall back yet?"_ She shook her head at him before answering* "Trojan, tell Shield, Ice and Book to dig in the building. We need to hold that or we are all screwed."* 

She was thrown off her feet a second later, a huge explosion taking up her sight and she could barely hear over the explosion. She rolled off her back, standing up slowly as she turned to survey the damage. She could see Trojan and Granite, both getting to their feet near her, the building to the south east was nothing but rubble. 

She had three men in that, and now they were gone, a second shell from artillery taking out the remains of it. She screamed her anger out as she opened fire with her pistols at shadowy shapes, ACS soldiers taking cover as three of their numbers were gunned down. 

Granite rushed over to her, grabbing her and pulling her back, Trojan laying down covering fire. She let him lead her away for a moment, before her hearing returned. *"Trojan pull back, we need to regroup."* She said hoarsely as Granite let go of her, both of them covering Trojans retreat._ "Negative Spectre, I'm hit bad. You go to the fall back point, I'll buy you some time."_ Came the reply, Granite ushering her away from towards the Fall back point.
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Five names on her back, Book, Ice, Shield, Trojan and Granite.


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

*Update #1*

Loki(Santaire), Hermes(Karak), Cue Ball(CaptainFatty), Poet(Angel of Blood), Fenris(Komanko), & Osiris(Jackinator): With a glance in Thor's direction, Forsythe turns to face Loki. After a moments pause, during which he flipped through several of the documents on the vid screen once more, he spoke, _"I asked the same question Ethan. It all comes down to the fact that we don't quite know exactly were the second facility is. I issued the orders this morning to the Guardian Angels and the Thunderbirds and Major's Nelson and Clark are now tasked to scour the country side in Alabama, Mississippi, and Lousiana looking for it. They have been told it is a new weapons manufacturing plant and the specifics of the facilities nature have not been given to them. Without an actual location the General feels that it is best to act quickly and decisively on the intel we do have. I have also activated the Dark Knights and the Shades. They are moving toward DC to recon the Cardinal's compound, they are going to do the leg work on that end giving us on the ground intel of the Cardinal's security forces, updates to the compound, and ACS military assests in the field there for when we arrive in a couple of weeks. We take a stab at the Cardinal every couple of years and they see this attempt as nothing out of the ordinary." _

Taking a cigarette packet from his front pocket, the Colonel tapped one of the cigarettes loose and lit it before continuing, _"Don't worry boys we will have back up at our other locations, but here in the Windy City we are on our own. Hopefully the teams down south will come up with something by the time we rendezvous with them. Once we crack this first nut the ACS will be scrambling to get on the defensive, I don't intend to give them the time to batten down the hatches and dig in. This comes directly from the General boys, no one is to be told of the exact nature of this mission until he lets out."_

Taking a long drag on his cigarette the Colonel stares up at the view screen, now displaying a blue print of the first floor of the chemical facility, and all of you are swept up in the fevor that seems to radiate from the man. His last words echo through your secure coms channel,_ "Nightstalkers. I want you all geared up and ready in ten. Full mission briefing will be then. Let's go hunting folks."_

Thor(Deathbringer), Buck(Anilar), & Spectre(Lord Ramo): Several moments after leaving the command center you hear Odin's radio traffic, "Nightstalkers. I want you all geared up and read in ten. Full mission briefing will be then. Let's go hunting folks."

All: You all head to your various rooms, you each have one in the building, as well as the the supply room to stock up on gear. What are your charaters's doing, thinking, and feeling as they gear up for this mission. Do you go about your business in solitude or do you seek out your squadmates and discuss what is going on. Spend sometime doing any pre-op rituals or preparations that your character does and then make your way back to the command center for the mission briefing. 

***​ 
All: As you come back into the command center you see that Odin has also adorned himself for action. He wears tight form fitting black body armor, his twin revolvers ride on his hips, and you can see his sword, assualt rifle, and shotgun, resting on a table nearby. Despite his age, he looks like he could take every one of you in this room in a fight, together or one on one. His easy sense of comraderie erased by a hunters gaze, fire burns behind his eyes, and ever movement he makes is graceful yet strong. There is a reason that Odin has held the military wing of the resistance together for as long as he has, he presence radiates surety of purpose and abosulte authority of command. 
Taking seats around the room, Odin will direct you to data slates seated in front of you. Despite the haphazard seating arrangements you are unsurprised to find the slate bearing your name at your chosen chair. Forsythe is the kind of commander that knows his troops inside and out, and your years of service under him have brought you all close as a unit. 

_"Well boys and girls, this is it. The start of a long road to the end of this war and we are going to do this one by the books."_ he directs you to follow along with him in reviewing the information contained in the slates. _" I have pared down all that drudgery the general sent us, and have included the things that I think will be the most pertinent intel for our purposes. It appears that the ACS has recently upgraded its security systems, so Loki I want you to learn everything you can about them as fast as you can. Most of what they have done is there, the system is still archaic by our standards, but it doesn't mean that the don't have nasty surprises in store for unwanted guests." _

_"The biggest issue I think we are going to face on this one is we don't know exactly how many ACS personnel we are going to be dealing with. One report say s only a couple of dozen security personnel, a mix of CED and ACS military, another indicates that it is closer to a hundred with support personnel. The reports indicate that the process of production and distribution of the drugs is almost entirely automated so there shouldn't be a large civilian presence aside from a few maintenance and sience workers. I don't want to go into things blind though, we need to do a bit of recon."_

Shifting his gaze to Thor, Odin continues, _"Take Poet, Buck, Fenris, and Hermes. Get me up to date intel on the outer perimeters, guard personnel, and layout. Maybe Fenris can get a few of those Spy Drones inside to get a good look around there to. I want you rolling with in the half hour."_

Taking in the troopers that he hadn't mentioned, _"We are going to shut this place down and move our forward operating base to safe house A39-B. It is closer to the facility and less conspicuous. The increased CED patrols in the area have me a bit on edge, especially with what we are going to be attempting. I want to limit our profile. Loki stay hooked in here until the we are ready to go. Tap into ACS surveillence and see if you can't help the Recon team with available intel. Cue Ball you and I are going to tackle the supply room, get everything you can packed into the vans, you should have enough room. Osiris, Spectre, clean this place. I want all traces of our presence erased, then get down here and help Loki tear down the system in here."_

_"Do what we do people, we are all in. Dismissed."_

***​ 
Thor(Deathbringer), Poet(Angel of Blood), Buck(Anilar), Fenris(Komanko), & Hermes(Karak): Gathering your supplies quickly and efficiently, an excersise you have done many times before, you find yourself pulling out of the underground parking facility of the building 20 minutes after the briefing with Odin is over, Poet is driving the van. You make your way slowly across the city, taking a circuitous route around areas that you know from having been here before are ACS hotspots. As you come into the industrial district of the city, you get a glimpse of Lake Michigan as you start down into the district proper just as the sun is falling below the horizon. Turning down a side street, the one you need to take to get to your staging point, you see that the way ahead is blocked by two military vehicles. There is nothing that says they are there because of you, but you can go no further without encountering them. Thor will need to decide if he wants to find another route around, if he wants to park somewhere near by and try and make it the two additional miles to the facility on foot, or if he wants to brave the check point with the fake papers you all have. [Deathbringer: If you decide to brave the check point make the decision and give the order but do not cover the interaction with the Military personnel in this update]

Loki(Santaire): You are busy hacking away in the command center. You have managed to get a good feel for the security system installed in the chemical facility, easily finding the backdoor access points, the archaic machine unable to keep up with your processing capabilities let alone what you are able to do with the high powered system in the commmand. You are even able to get a few video feeds pulled up from inside the compound itself. Thinking that Odin had asked you to see if you could assist the recon team in anyway you scroll through a series of stolen surveillence camera feeds and find their van heading down the street toward an apparent military check point. You are about to radio the recon team, to tell them that you should be able to fabricate even better cover identities for them, when all of a sudden the lights in the building cut out, the power to the main computer suddenly severing your connection with the external feeds. Proximity alarm systems in the buildings internal system, which is still wired through your integrated systems start flaring to life for you, but the audible alarms in the building do not sound, you try to radio the rest of your combat team only to find that the frequencies are filled with static. What do you do? You know that Odin did not want any part of this system to fall into the wrong hands and since you were going to be tearing it down anyway do you destroy the system? You have your weaponry but remember that gunshots would draw attention to the team if this was a false alarm, though you doubt for some reason that it is one. You also know that Osiris and Spectre were starting their cleaning job from the top of the building down, do you go meet with them? You need to make a decision and act on it. 

Osiris(Jackinator) & Spectre(Lord Ramo): You have made it through the the first couple of floors of the building starting from the top down, picking up discarded equipment and the few sniper hides that are located there. There isn't a lot to do on these floors as the Valkyrie teams that use this building are pretty good about covering their tracks, but still a loose pack of playing cards here, a cigarette pack there, are all tell tell signs of their presence. You are about to step out of the stairwell on to the 12 floor when the interior lighting in the building just cuts off, and emergency lighting does not kick on. Trying your radios you find that you are unable to reach any of the other Valkyrie team members that you are with, the frequencies just filled with static. You have your weapons with you, but remember that gunfire would draw attention to the building faster than you would ever want, and in the event that this is some sort of false alarm you don't want to go giving away your position. Spectre you will need to decide how you two proceed. Do you head to the Command center to rendezvous with Loki on the 5 floor to help him tear down or destroy the rest of the buildings system? or do you try to make it to the basement to get with Odin and Cue Ball? [Ramo make the decision and give your orders but you will not arrive at either location until the next update]

Cue Ball(CaptainFatty): You are in the supply room with Odin packing things into the two waiting utility vans parked on the loading dock in the underground parking garage of the building. You have packed all the weapons, ammunition, and medical supplies are about to start packing the last of the food supplies when the lights in the structure go out and emergency lighting does not come on. Odin immediately jumps on the radio, _"Loki, what is going on?"_ but his inquery is met only with static on the radio frequencies. _"Spectre? Osiris?"_ he attempts again with negative results. From the level above you in the parking structure, the one that leads out onto the street, you hear the grinding and wailing of something cutting through wood and metal and the sound echoes eeriely down the ramp to the dock. Odin looks at you as he unlimbers his sword, _"I am not sure what is going on Cue Ball, but it doesn't sound like friends dropping by for dinner. If we encounter enemies close combat and darts only. No noise."_ He says rolling back the sleeves of his BDU shirt to expose his weapon gauntlets, the dart gun sliding out with a quiet hiss of hydraulics, _"We hold the loading dock until the rest of the team arrives."_ The last both an order and a statement of fact, surety in your combined skills evident in his voice. _"Move."_ He says and makes his way up the ramp towards the next level.


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## CaptainFatty (Nov 9, 2008)

"Nightstalkers. I want you all geared up and ready in ten. Full mission briefing will be then. Let's go hunting folks." Forsyth’s words seemed to stick with Eric as he left the command centre. This was really it. They were going to bring down the ACS. The thought was with him the entire way to his room as he almost skipped with excitement. He kicked the door to his room open and stepped in, heading for his cupboard. Throwing the doors back revealed his armoured fatigues, the uniform that had probably saved his life more times than he’d like to admit, the lightweight alloy designed for maximum protection and far better than what most ACS troops were given. He threw a few punches into the vest, the metal plates ringing against his bionic fist. After throwing his armour on, Eric grabbed a protein bar and headed towards the supply room, eager to retrieve the weapons that he would use to kill the ACS with.

The first thing he noticed upon entering the supply room was how neat it was. David and Ryan had done a damn good job of cleaning it and everything was easy to find for once. Eric went to town, loading himself up with weapons and ammunition all the while thinking about what they were about to accomplish together. Freedom. The liberation of an oppressed people. He had always hated being on sentry duty, having to stare into the blank, almost sad faces of the people while being unable to do anything about the ACS patrols that wandered the streets. Well no more, he thought, slamming a fresh magazine into the heavy machine gun and throwing it over his back, it ends today.

Sweeping a few ration packs into a large pouch, Eric headed for the command centre, happy that he was ready for any situation Forsyth deemed necessary to throw him into. The Colonel himself was geared up and ready to go, his very presence commanding loyalty. Despite Eric being physically larger than the Colonel, he knew there was no chance he could beat the man in a one on one fight, perhaps not even ten on one. He was a god on the battlefield and the greatest leader he had known. If they were going to destroy the ACS, he was glad it was with this man. He took a seat and looked around at his squad mates and noticed the fire hadn’t died in their eyes. Most of them were just as eager as he was about ending this although some were unnervingly calm. Looking down at the data slate, he began to flick through the information that Forsyth had prepared for them as the Colonel went through the briefing. They were to move closer to the facility and scout it out, beginning what would be their most ambitious and potentially difficult mission ever. Eric knew they could do it though, the men and women he had served with all these years plus the Russian, a man that, because the Colonel trusted, he could trust, would have no problem with the trials ahead.

"Do what we do people, we are all in. Dismissed."

“Sir!” Eric nodded in reply to the Colonel and followed him down to the supply room where they were to pack everything into the vans and move to the next safe house.

Once everything but the food was packed, Eric sat leant on a shelf, opened protein bar in hand. “Sir, once we’ve scouted this place, are we gonna-“ he started speaking but was cut off by the loss of lighting. When the backup lighting didn’t come on, they knew something was wrong. Forsyth tried to contact the members that were still in the building to no avail. They were alone for the time being.

"I am not sure what is going on Cue Ball, but it doesn't sound like friends dropping by for dinner. If we encounter enemies close combat and darts only. No noise." Forsyth said after hearing the grinding sound from upstairs. As the Colonel readied his weapons, Eric did the same, drawing his knife, activating it and sliding the dart gun out of his weapon gauntlet. "We hold the loading dock until the rest of the team arrives. Move.”

“Roger that,” Eric replied, following the Colonel up the ramp. He didn’t need the last order, if the troops were hostile, they wouldn’t lay a hand on the pair that moved to oppose them, he was sure of that, “they won’t get near the dock.”


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## Jackinator (Nov 18, 2008)

*Victor 'Osiris' Hale*

I stooped to grab an errant cigarrete butt, tossing it into the duffel on my shoulder, despite it's relatively small size there was almost nothing in it. The previous teams had been fairly efficient before they moved out, he'd only found the odd ruffled pack of cards and one collapsible hide on a corner balcony. Our mission was playing on my mind, I knew why we had to do it, why it was only our task, but it didn't mean I was happy about it. I knew how important it was, but that was why I couldn't quite get it out of my mind. I had enough understanding of how they worked to know that having only one team responsible was a risk that we didn't have to take. I half-smiled to myself, but then we were the best, the closest to a guarantee the NAFI had.

Perhaps it was just the situation on the streets preying on my mind, I kept getting drawn back to the patrols I'd seen. I remembered men like that, on the rare occasions when my father took me with him to work. Hard men, dull, uncommunicative, but good at inflicting pain, a complete contradiction to the appearance of my father. He had been smooth talking, intelligent, likeable. I'd never seen him with 'enemies of the state', but I'd read enough reports.

The lights flickered, and died. I snapped back to reality, frowning at myself, I hadn't been on active duty for over a year but that was no excuse for my disengaged attitude over the last few days. I paused in my clearing as the emergency lights failed to go on, we were used to the regular powercuts and fluctuations in the local lines, but the backups ran independantly. I pulled my pistol from it's holster, pulling out a silencer from a belt pouch. I screwed it into the barrel, we couldn't risk weapons fire being heard, but I wanted to be prepared. It wasn't an old style, of the kind that only dropped the report by a few decibels, but one of NAFI manufacture with advanced sound dampers along it's length, it gave it an odd, knobbled look, but meant that shots from it were literally whisper quiet.

I slid it back into it's holster, but left the strap unbuttoned, then unslung my hatchett from the back of my vest. It felt heavy and familiar in my hands, offering some small measure of comfort. Then, I slung the duffel onto my shoulder and began to move towards the stairwell, the odd bits of evidence up here were acceptable losses, especially if this mission went well. But if the ACS could get their hands on the equipment in the operations room it would be catastrophic.

I tried to contact the other team members in the building, but despite the nature of our communications, locked channels, codes, back up frequencies, every channel was filled with static. There was something up here. Holly was bound to be heading for the control room as well but the stairs would take to long. I stopped at the elevator and powered up the hatchett, sliding the blade between the doors, before turning it off again and working them open. I gazed into the darkened lift shaft, my vision, sharpened from my implants and upgrades easily picked out a path down the wall.

I swung down off the slight ledge, working my fingers into cracks, using the supporting girders to drop fifteen or twenty feet at a time. Dropping lightly on fingers and toes. I nearly slipped at one point, dust spiralling down from where I'd dislodged it. I swore under my breath as I swung out from the wall, legs swinging. I threw my arm round, catching a ledge so I hung spread eagled with my legs swinging below me, grunting, I heaved myself up a fraction until I could get my feet back on the support. Enhanced I may be, but a multi-storey fall would still give me pause for thought.

I stopped when I reached the floor of the operations room, forcing the doors open and stepping out into the corridor. I hefted the hatchett into a throwing stance, and advanced cautiously down the hall to the operations centre...


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## deathbringer (Feb 19, 2009)

Preparation was a ritual, every single movement needed to be perfect, if he was not perfect, the mission would not be perfect. This was his moment, the single moment of calm, like the snipers final breath before the shot, the archers moment of tension as he held the string taught.

The point where one is no longer human, he is the weapon in his hands, his body was the weapon and he must become at one with it.

His reflection scratched gently at its shoulder, tracing a long line of puckered scar tissue, fingers gentle and delicate over the hard muscle. He closed his eyes, nostrils flaring as he inhaled, he wa.....

Emotion clouded him and he let out a low snarl, falling forward he slammed to the ground and his muscles corded as he pushed himself up arms tight to his sides muscles bunching. Extend, repeat, extend, repeat, he burned away the burn of Forsythe's gaze, the searing heat of reproach he had felt as he left the room. He fought against their mistrust, that he had not been trusted to know, to know of the hope burning in their hearts.

Extend, repeat, extend, repeat, he shouted curses at the walls, growling grunts of anguish came through gritted teeth as his heart pounded, a dull rhythmic metronome thudding against his chest.

Then the anger was gone and he lay upon the floor, sweat running in rivers down the deep groove of his spine.

He was left with hate, the one emotion that could never be burned away, it's scars seered into his soul with flame, the possibility for forgiveness ashes that blackened his heart. 

He clad himself, every motion was slow, a ritual before the mirror, he watched as he placed his vibro blade within a sheath strapped to his left thigh, the stun batton in a long holster along his right. He watched every detail, pictured it in his mind, remembered the locations of his blades, of his pistols, engrained them in his mind. They were but extensions of his arms.

Fully clad, he breathed, let his lungs fill, let calm bubble over the hate, a brook running through molten lava, it burned away.

The eyes opened to stare at the door, a low hiss as he stood their hand upon the handle, a mantra of hatred

"I am hate, i am the weapon of destruction. None shall stand before me. For my father and those that have lost their father I shall kill. For my mother and those that lost their mothers I shall avenge til the world is whole again."

The door opened and he faced the blank corridor

"Blood cleft it in twain and blood will mend it again"

His tongue flittered across the sharpened spurs of his left fist and the iron tang filled his mouth a leering smile spreading as he strode away

"be it mine or the blood of my enemies, i shall not be found wanting"
_________________________________________________________

Forsythe, held them before he even opened his mouth, his sheer presence defying his age, the feeling of something unconquerable, undefiable, a beast that could not be caged.

Others sat in the scattered seating yet thor perched himself against the left wall, still a little surprised to find a data slate sitting their waiting for him, his eyes flicking idly over it as others filed in, words leapt out at him, yet nothing grabbed his attention, his mind flowing over the diagrams, etching memories in his brain.

He read on, Forsythes words rebounding off the burning hatred inside him, til the tone changed directed at him and his eyes lifted to meet the colonel's gaze.

Good, they would be doing the recon. His list of trusted personel was a small subset of this room, namely himself and Forsythe, reliable personel, the entirety of this room minus the russian.

The boy had skills, but he wasn't a fan of slippery things he couldn't always see.

The rest of the world could go screw themselves, the intel that had lead to the ballsup had come from a reliable source and that had left good men dead and Forsythe bleeding to death a force of irate assholes on their backs.

He would never forget that day, never, not til he died.

The team to go with him included the russian, he couldn't complain, something you couldn't see was a good thing to have on a recon mission. A medic was always useful if things turned sour, plus they could not make noise here, if things got nasty and murder had to be done, always good to have someone who knew how to make cover up obvious signs of foul play. 

Poet was dependable to the last but Buck always made him shit himself. See an orphan and the bastard always looked like he was going to go awol and blow the whole thing. 

Always one.

He'd have taken spectre if the choice had been with, she was poet with tits and a marskmans badge. Devoted to the cause with a body to match but considering their cover, he understood the reason she was being left on cig butt duty.

They said women had an eye for detail, being fair it was probably because women gave a fuck.

He said nothing, he never did, there was nothing to say, he just met Forsythe's iron gaze and smiled.
_____________________________________________________

The van ran smoothly down the road, about 10 blocks away two military vehicles sat, squat ugly things.

Poet could have them both from 100 meters if he chose, single grenade laucher shot onto the engine of the first, ignite the gasoline, fire, burn, death.

The checkpoint caused him little thought and he leaned back as he eyed it up watched the military personnel, lean and efficient, their stance bored and annoyed as some were admitted some turned away to try their luck elsewhere.

What to do, ample time to turn, the papers they were given done by Nafi and checked by Loki, so often excellent, 95.3% effective the tech boy said.

Thinking annoyed him, he preferred to talk but this was his decision yet the silence gnawed at him, so he spoke, his voice low and gruff

_"I think the colonel has made it abundantly clear, this is the endgame. This is no fuck up territory."_

3 options, go through, go around, park up and footslog it

_"I dont think I need to go through the obvious with you, but as were in the endgame and I have such a beautiful voice...."_

he wasn't walking, their cover was workman on a non existant project, workman dont walk to work.

_"This is a no combat operation, if we get spotted we walk away, if we do get our blades bloody, we sure as hell clean up and make it look like the most innocent of accidents."_

Going through had its merits, it would test the Id and mean for the real thing the boys on this checkpoint would know them already, familiarity allowed you to get away with so many things, people relaxed if they knew you.

_"A single person mia in a high priority area like this could make it fucking difficult to crack when we come here for the real thing"_

if they got denied who cared, but he'd prefer to avoid as much acs contact as possible, use the papers when they really had too, plus a little detour would allow them so see how many of these checkpoints there were per mile, how much manpower the acs was willing to blow on this place.

5 blocks away he put the radio to his mouth hoping to call Loki to get some monitoring on com networks, maybe a little intel on the number of roadbloaks.

Static hissed, no connection.

That settled it

He wasn't going in blind, not if the ACS knew where they where, or who they were. No risks

_"Take the next right Poet. Command centre frequency is offline, either its jammed or Loki's already packed up and left. Either way were on our own"_

His mind was made up and his tone moved from irritable condescension to hard intensity

_"We've got time on our side and the more information we get the better. We're two miles out so we can start off with a perimeter scan and try and judge the number of road blocks the acs are putting out, if we can get a roadblocks per mile approximation, we know roughly how many personnel are going to be coming back at us once we blow the compound. It also means we know which roads they probably wont be using when were slipping out."_

He gave a little growl

_"If we have no choice but to push through a roadblock, Fenris, I want you in the hatch down below, if things get ugly, at least we have a safety net."_

his eyes turned to the little ruski

_"If we are turned away, when we turn this hunk of metal around you reckon can you roll out and disappear without detection?"_


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## Karak The Unfaithful (Feb 13, 2011)

David prepered himself, making sure everything was in perfect condition, he wasn't going to take on the ACS with faulty equipment. He had his armour ready, medical equipment, shotgun and all that other crap that you have to take but hardly gets used.

He couldn't stop thinking about the day ahead, a million things could go wrong; the intel could be off, the ACS setting a trap for them...
a million things.

Hopefully nobody would get too badly hurt and give David a well-earned break but considering the scale of the mission, he doubted it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The van moved across the smooth road surface with any trouble, easy going so far.

He sat in the van, not really feeling or thinking anything. With him was Buck; a cheery kinda guy with a whole of load of explosives. Thor; the officer incharge of this little group, he was...different. Poet, the guy who had helped him clearing up the supplies. and finally, Fenris, a russian guy, nobody seemed to to keen on him.

That was it, the squad, everyone else were doing other things to do with the mission, wether they were also cramped in a small van he didn't know.

Thor was giving orders to poet, who was driving, David didn't care that much because it was not in his place to care. David was a medic, the saviour of life in a battlefield full of death limited only by the tools and equipment NAFI provided.

Which is why he didn't care what Thor was saying, it was his job the heal and mend and not anything else.


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## Lord Ramo (Apr 12, 2009)

Holly moved through the building quickly, heading to her private arming chambers and quarters. She knew that the Colonel would give the order soon, suit up and report back to him for duties. She wanted to move out soon, make the ACS hurt bad before wiping out the rest of the NAFI enemies. She entered her quarters quickly, moving straight over to the chest that kept her combat fatigues and armour.

She changed quickly, combat fatigues taking place of what she had worn while she had been patrolling outside. Her light body armour she pulled on over the top, it was light and allowed a lot of movement, as well as some protection from small rounds. She took from the bottom of her chest a pair of dog tags, placing one around her neck and the other in her boot. 

"Nightstalkers. I want you all geared up and ready in ten. Full mission briefing will be then. Let's go hunting folks."

She sighed as she grabbed her balaclava, donning it before her helmet. She finally put on her shooting goggles, allowing her to shoot in dusty conditions. She strapped her vibro kukri to her leg, and her two pistols to her hips. Finally, grabbing her assault rifle and slinging her shotgun over her shoulders, she headed out of her room and off to the briefing room. 
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"Well boys and girls, this is it. The start of a long road to the end of this war and we are going to do this one by the books. I have pared down all that drudgery the general sent us, and have included the things that I think will be the most pertinent intel for our purposes. It appears that the ACS has recently upgraded its security systems, so Loki I want you to learn everything you can about them as fast as you can. Most of what they have done is there, the system is still archaic by our standards, but it doesn't mean that the don't have nasty surprises in store for unwanted guests." 

Holly followed his trail of thoughts with the information provided on the data slates by the colonel. It would be a challenge but she was up to it, as was the rest of the team she hoped.

"The biggest issue I think we are going to face on this one is we don't know exactly how many ACS personnel we are going to be dealing with. One report say s only a couple of dozen security personnel, a mix of CED and ACS military, another indicates that it is closer to a hundred with support personnel. The reports indicate that the process of production and distribution of the drugs is almost entirely automated so there shouldn't be a large civilian presence aside from a few maintenance and sience workers. I don't want to go into things blind though, we need to do a bit of recon."

Shifting his gaze to Thor, Odin continues, "Take Poet, Buck, Fenris, and Hermes. Get me up to date intel on the outer perimeters, guard personnel, and layout. Maybe Fenris can get a few of those Spy Drones inside to get a good look around there to. I want you rolling with in the half hour."

Holly almost stood from her position. She was annoyed she wasn't going with the others, she could have provided overwatch for them, and any chance she could find out anything that would be useful to help her harm the ACS in anyway. She stayed quiet though, and was glad that she had her face mask on, so that no one could tell her annoyance.

"We are going to shut this place down and move our forward operating base to safe house A39-B. It is closer to the facility and less conspicuous. The increased CED patrols in the area have me a bit on edge, especially with what we are going to be attempting. I want to limit our profile. Loki stay hooked in here until the we are ready to go. Tap into ACS surveillence and see if you can't help the Recon team with available intel. Cue Ball you and I are going to tackle the supply room, get everything you can packed into the vans, you should have enough room. Osiris, Spectre, clean this place. I want all traces of our presence erased, then get down here and help Loki tear down the system in here."

She almost sighed, great she was on clean up duty. 

"Do what we do people, we are all in. Dismissed."
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She moved through the rooms, making sure no evidence of them remained whatsoever. Even though it wasn't the most glamorous of jobs, it was a fairly important one. They could not allow the ACS to know that they were operating in the area so she did the job seriously. She had progressed through the floors quickly, as had Osiris. In fact she had just finished the floor, and headed to the stairwell when the lights cut out.

She waited for the back up lights to come on, but when they didn't she frew one of her pistols. Obviously something had gone wrong, had they been found out? She tried to raise first Odin, then Osiris on the radio but all she got was static. She broke into a run, heading for the command room. Odin could look after himself and they had to ensure the command room was completely wiped. She drew her blade and holstered her pistol, she didn't want to attract attention to the building and her fellow Valkyrie members.


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## Anilar (Aug 12, 2011)

Howard made a quick salute to Holly as she scorned him for his enthusiam, a apoligizing smile on his lips. Buck didn't let it bother him, most of the people on the team had skeletons in the closet or heavy bagage from there past, but Buck had come to trust that everybody would do there part. He was no shrink or fortune teller, so all he could do was be there for them and smile.

Buck had no problem about being ready in 10, he was allready ready. He always went on sentry duty completely ready. So he spent his 10 minutes in the supply depot, filling a bag with some choice explosives. A few pouches with 10 bricks of plastic explosives each, detonators securely packed in hardened cases. A roll of explosive cord, fuses and a couple of claymore mines. Some extra grenades in the pockets of the bag, a few small shaped charges, and he was set.

In the command center Buck was not surprised to find a pad with his name, where he sat down. The Colonel going through the briefing, his presence of authority complete. Scrolling through the data, Buck went for any details he could find of the buildings and structures they were to assault. Layout, powerlines, storage areas and similar. As usual there wasn't much intel on the materials the structures had been made of, thou he suspected old time hardened concrete buildings. Which did have a tendency to survive even large explosions and bombardments. Luckily Osiris and Buck had a tendency to come up with the right solutions to that particular problem. Buck would let the soldiers and the scouts handle the intel on the security issues. Listening to all the questions, Buck kept quiet, if what Buck needed to know wasn't in the intell, he would have to find his information in the field together with his explosives.

As the recon team left the building, Buck was thinking to himself that he was still surprised how it could be, that fully armed soldiers in bodyarmour, just covered with some loose fitting rags of workers, could get through ACS checkpoints even with faked identity papers. But it did mean that he was not afraid to bring his bag of explosive, was the vehicle stopped with the intent of a search, there would be a hundred things that would give them away anyways. Buck guessed that the soldiers was also drugged, and therefor not so observant when it came to roadblock searches and similar.

There wasn't much talking as the van drove through the grey urban jungle, but as the closed in on the perimeter, they spotted a roadblock up ahead. Thor started to speak mostly to himself it seemed, but a order was given and a question asked, they were to drive around the perimeter, and count roadblocks. Buck released one of his little spidery marbles, he had modified it to release a heavy smoke cover if needed. He rolled down the window a little, as the van turned up another road, letting the marble climb outside of the vehicle, up under the building materials that was a part of there cover.

_"Sir"_ Buck said directed at Thor _"I have deployed one of my marbles for heavy smoke cover on the roof of the vehicle, just give the order if I need to deploy it. If we don't want to use up Fenris scout drones, I can deploy one as a set of eyes we leave behind, thou the range I can see through them is much less than Fenris Drones."_
Buck had no doubt that thoughts along those lines was allready going through Thor's mind, but Buck had been trained to present any options he had to his commanding officer. If you didn't present the trivial and straight forward options, how could a officer trust that he would be presented with options, if a situation had went right into the drain.


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## Santaire (Feb 13, 2011)

Forsythe turned to face Ethan. "I asked the same question Ethan. It all comes down to the fact that we don't quite know exactly were the second facility is. I issued the orders this morning to the Guardian Angels and the Thunderbirds and Major's Nelson and Clark are now tasked to scour the country side in Alabama, Mississippi, and Lousiana looking for it. They have been told it is a new weapons manufacturing plant and the specifics of the facilities nature have not been given to them. Without an actual location the General feels that it is best to act quickly and decisively on the intel we do have. I have also activated the Dark Knights and the Shades. They are moving toward DC to recon the Cardinal's compound, they are going to do the leg work on that end giving us on the ground intel of the Cardinal's security forces, updates to the compound, and ACS military assets in the field there for when we arrive in a couple of weeks. We take a stab at the Cardinal every couple of years and they see this attempt as nothing out of the ordinary."

Forsythe took a cigarette from a packet and lit it before continuing "Don't worry boys we will have back up at our other locations, but here in the Windy City we are on our own. Hopefully the teams down south will come up with something by the time we rendezvous with them. Once we crack this first nut the ACS will be scrambling to get on the defensive, I don't intend to give them the time to batten down the hatches and dig in. This comes directly from the General boys, no one is to be told of the exact nature of this mission until he lets out.”

Forsythe took a long drag on the cigar before staring at the blueprints for a short while before he spoke again, broadcasting to the whole team. "Nightstalkers. I want you all geared up and ready in ten. Full mission briefing will be then. Let's go hunting folks." Ethan nodded and left the control centre, heading to his small quarters. Once there he shrugged off the casual clothes he had been wearing and pulled on his combat fatigues. Over it he fitted his armoured Bodyglove and trench coat. He pulled on his black gloves and dark tinted sun glasses before leaving the room.

He headed down to the supply area and noted that it had been sorted out by Hermes and Poet. He took his SMG and Pistols first, slipping the pistols into their holsters and the SMG into its case before strapping them into place. He picked up his extendable stun baton, checked the charge before strapping it onto his leg. Finally he took hold of his sheathed Vibro Blade. He slide it out, examined the blade before slamming it home and strapping the sword into place. Now armed and armoured for battle he moved back up to the control room in preparation for the briefing.

Once everyone had arrived they sat in their places and Forsythe directed them to the Data Slates in front of them

"Well boys and girls, this is it. The start of a long road to the end of this war and we are going to do this one by the books." He directed them to follow along with him in reviewing the information contained in the slates. “I have pared down all that drudgery the general sent us, and have included the things that I think will be the most pertinent intel for our purposes. It appears that the ACS has recently upgraded its security systems, so Loki I want you to learn everything you can about them as fast as you can. Most of what they have done is there, the system is still archaic by our standards, but it doesn't mean that the don't have nasty surprises in store for unwanted guests." 

"The biggest issue I think we are going to face on this one is we don't know exactly how many ACS personnel we are going to be dealing with. One report say s only a couple of dozen security personnel, a mix of CED and ACS military, another indicates that it is closer to a hundred with support personnel. The reports indicate that the process of production and distribution of the drugs is almost entirely automated so there shouldn't be a large civilian presence aside from a few maintenance and science workers. I don't want to go into things blind though; we need to do a bit of recon."

Shifting his gaze to Thor, Odin continued, "Take Poet, Buck, Fenris, and Hermes. Get me up to date intel on the outer perimeters, guard personnel, and layout. Maybe Fenris can get a few of those Spy Drones inside to get a good look around there to. I want you rolling with in the half hour."

Taking in the rest of them he said, "We are going to shut down and move our forward operating base to safe house A39-B. It is closer to the facility and less conspicuous. The increased CED patrols in the area have me a bit on edge, especially with what we are going to be attempting. I want to limit our profile. Loki stay hooked in here until we are ready to go. Tap into ACS surveillance and see if you can't help the Recon team with available intel. Cue Ball you and I are going to tackle the supply room, get everything you can packed into the vans, you should have enough room. Osiris, Spectre, clean this place. I want all traces of our presence erased, then get down here and help Loki tear down the system in here."

"Do what we do people, we are all in. Dismissed”

Ethan stayed in the control centre as the others filed out and opened up his vid screen. He tracked the recon team’s progress via cameras before moving on to hacking into the ACS system. It had been updated but he found the back door easily and entered the system. He passed through the files, saving those that looked interesting and avoiding those that contained viruses. Bored, he switched to activating the few remote cameras. The Recon team was approaching a checkpoint and he went to radio in.

“Thor…” he began but was suddenly cut off by a rush of static. He checked his vid screen, nothing. He had just been cut off. “Odin… Spectre…” he tried but was greeted by nothing but static. “Damn,” he cursed and froze for a split second while he processed the details of these new circumstances. He had 2 viable choices; go and meet Spectre and Osiris who were near the top floor or begin to wreck the control room and strip out all incriminating equipment and systems. Ethan went for the second option and moved quickly and silently to one of the wall stations. He placed one of his revolvers on a desk to one side before beginning to gently ease the wires from their sockets.

While he worked his eyes scanned the room and the sophisticated organs in his head began working, transmitting data to his mind about the occupation of the surrounding buildings. He closed his yes momentarily and when he opened them they glowed blue and he could see the electric pulses radiating from everything that was consuming energy. He sensed the computers and, very faintly, the other members of his team. He continued with his work but kept his gaze fixed on the doorway as he waited for someone to enter…


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## komanko (May 16, 2010)

Wolf spoke to sheep, hunter to hunted, Fenris found it peculiar that Forsythe communicated with the general so casually, it seemed so wrong that a wolf should be bound to a sheep by ties of friendship or respect. He snorted his displeasure, though the general was a sheep in Fenris’s opinion Forsythe did command respect and as such he should not be questioned about his ties with the general as peculiar as it was.

They both continued speaking, it was Forsythe’s turn to speak now and it seemed, through his words, that the location of the second facility was not known yet. How did they expect them to take over the facility if the location wasn’t even known… Fenris sighed at those words, he had a feeling that they would have to search for it themselves.

The discussion was finished, the general gone now, back to his duties. The wolves were left to hunt. Forsythe decided that it was the time to reassure them, telling them that they will have back up at the future locations… Useless information, there was nothing to fear, nothing to be reassured about, if it would seem that the enemies numbers are enormous the solution would be simple and easy, thin their ranks, exterminate, cull the weak. The weak were everywhere and as such weakness was found everywhere.

His ear flickered as it caught the sound of inhaling, Fenris’s attention was caught by Forsythe’s habbit, a single cigarette hanging loosely from in between his fingers. Bad habit, a wolf shouldn’t make his risky life even riskier. It can prove to be suicidal. Not to mention it created a habit, habits were weakness to be exposed by the enemy, soft spots to be used against one. Fenris could not afford such weakness, one such as this would being swift death.

His mind drifted away as he thought about the millions of grey people, all smoking the same poison, yet Forsythe was different, why would he fall into the same pit of hopelessness… It was beyond him… 

Finally they were dismissed, Forsythe dismissed them in order to gather them, an ironic thing yet necessary for those who weren’t ready. Fenris was always ready, he did not need anything, all he needed was implanted inside him in the form of alternation and experience. Even without his weapons he was still the herald of death, his footsteps silent as the flight of an owl at night, his breath silent like that of a dead man. 

He stood up, the chameleonic effect quickly ended as his skin returned to its normal color. “That’s a bad habit colonel.” Fenris said and pointed at the cigarette before he left the room.

After a short walk Fenris reached his room, as ironic as it was his room was even greyer then that of a normal person, lifeless one would say. Grey walls, grey floor, grey ceiling. A chair, a bad, a small closet. That was all, his stuff he always kept here, he did not trust others with his stuff, it was too risky, one could lose it, misplace it, and when it is most needed it shall be gone. No… He couldn’t trust someone with such things. 

Without further thoughts Fenris began to pack his things, after he finished with the regular things as clothing he moved to his weapons. He should be armed and ready. His revolvers were placed in their holsters on his waist, both his swords were holstered on his back and his assault rifle over his shoulder. As usual he hid his knives, his most trusted weapons, his deadliest one, a surprise to any overconfident opponent. 

When he was finished Fenris say down, closing his eyes he breathed in and out slowly, it was his secret ritual, his depressive anguish. “I offer up my body and spirit to the endless void of death, I commend my spirit to your could grasp and my body to this earth.” Such a depressive ritual, it brought memories racing, his first mission, his first kill, his whole life... His whole death… If he would’ve dwelled on such thoughts a little longer he would’ve realized that he never truly lived, all of his life was surrounded by death. But to dwell on such things was to invite madness, and madness was a weakness to be exploited by the enemy, this he could not allow. His cold calculating side took over quickly and he finished his ritual “May the deaths I inflict come and hunt me after my life is over, may the families forgive my most grievous sin…” His heart wrenched as pictures of his murdered family surfaced in front of his eyes. They were gone… Long gone…

++++++++++++++++++

A short trip back and Fenris was in the command center again, he looked around inspecting his squad members, everyone looked ready, their spirit soaring ever higher. He looked at each one of them until he was caught in the wolf’s gaze. From across the room he saw Forsythe, both locked eyes in some sort of a mutual understanding, a bestial nature was within both of them and each sensed it on the other. If Fenris was a wolf then Forsythe was the alpha male, a leader of unquestioned strength and skill. Fenris would proudly serve under him.

Everyone sat down, and as such, so did Fenris, although sitting down was the last thing he wanted to do now. After he cast his soul once again to its death he wanted nothing but to spring on his prey and slit his throat. He was ready to hunt, not ready to be lectured but such a position demanded certain requirements and as such he sat down.

Forsythe was enthusiastic, hopeful, in a way he might have even seem desperate. He wanted this to end, he so desperately did and while his talk seemed, it left a lot of room for doubt and uncertainty. Because of Forsythe’s desperate need to end this conflict it seemed that he decided to not leave anything to luck this time, he wanted everything to be perfect, to be sure, yet such perfection… It takes the fun out of the hunt… 

Fenris’s eyes gleamed in anticipation when Forsythe said that the security systems were upgraded, it would be more challenging hopefully, manslaughter, it was a child’s game, anyone can kill a man, but to take it into the level of an art was something completely different. Different game, different rules.

Yet as much as it seemed that Forsythe wanted this operation to be perfect it still looked like they are missing a lot of information to help achieve such perfection, after discovering that the security systems were upgraded it was also noted that they have no information on the amount of personnel in the facility. This was getting more and more interesting by the minute, he could feel his heart racing with grim anticipation. Only through blood could he ever make the grim and grey existence of his feel more sufferable… 

As if someone was listening to his thoughts Forsythe continued and said that he was to go, along with some of the others to get an up to date intel on the outer perimeter. It seemed that his life’s purpose is about to reach its glorious ending, beginning so many years ago and now… Now he will be able to repay his debts. Looking behind him he could nearly see the trail of bodies which he left in his wake, so many dead and dying, so many maimed and injured yet they were all silent, afraid of the wolf that claimed that pile… A fiendish smile spread on his face and his green eyes gleamed maliciously.

++++++++++++

Fenris was waiting for the past ten minutes, it seemed that not everyone were as excited as he was towards this glorious hunt. Not all shared his twisted vision of glory yet none of them was eternally locked in a prison of anguish only to be released to hunt. He growled in displeasure, they were taking way too long.

Finally they were here, their stuff packed as was Fenris’s. They all got inside the vehicle, it seemed like this time Poet would be driving. They drove in a circle, their way much longer, yet a lot safer… Each moment seemed like eternity for Fenris, his senses were on the edge, so sharp that it was painful. The grey sky and grey walls of the buildings around him seemed to be reeking with life, too much life, too many pointless lives which will not lead anyone anywhere yet it was not he who chose the targets, and as such those common civilians, those puppets on strings would live another day, although he would be doing them a favor by ending their lives, they served no purpose…

The ride went on and on, it seemed that they were driving really carefully as Fenris noticed that they were going around the major activity points of the ACS. He let out a near silent growl, these were the most disgusting sort of people, a hybrid between a sheep and a wolf, sheep’s that served wolves as guards, pfft, that was pathetic. Their lives should be ended at sight, they had no reason to live, they lived to serve others, they didn’t enjoy the hunt, they didn’t marvel on the taste of blood, empty husks with no real guts. He narrowed his eyes in hatred as he watched them pass the ACS patrols, another time… His blood lust knew no bounds…

Suddenly they stopped, he watched from the window of the van, then he saw the reason for why they stopped. Two vehicles were blocking their path, they were not opening fire against them, it seemed that they were not expecting them nor awaiting them, was it a trick by the ACS, was there a mole in the organization? It wasn’t possible, only a handful knew of their plan… Yet if there was… Then it must be one of them! No. It wasn’t possible, he have never seen such trickery from the ACS they were too simple, they couldn’t pull off such a plan.

He heard his name, it resounded several times before he realized that someone was speaking to him. He blinked several times, his focus lessening, the world seemed to change in shape but his hearing was coherent now, he did not realize until now how much focused he really was.

He looked at Thor, his hungry eyes reflecting from Thor’s cold determined eyes, he didn’t speak, words were useless, he nodded and moved back towards the hatch, he would be ready if the need arose. In total silence he will drop out of the hatch, he will move like shadow itself, his skin will mimic his mind’s eye, and in but a moment he would be gone, ready to scout and wreak horror and paranoia on the enemies senses.


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

*Update #2*

Thor(Deathbringer), Buck(Anilar), Poet(Angel of Blood), Hermes(Karak), & Fenris(Komanko): As you all drive in a circle around the perimeter of the chemical facility, you find several interesting points of intel. First off there is a roadblock at each of the 7 streets that lead into the facility. Each is manned by two humvee like vehicles each vehicle having a compliment of 3 men. The all carry standard issued m4 type carbine weapons popular with the United States military for the last 200 years. The weapons are far inferior to your own compliment of arms, but the men who bear them carry them with a relaxed proficiency of professional soldiers. You have not been able to get a close enough view of the compound that lies about a quarter of a mile behind each of the check points other than to see that the facility itself is surrounded by a concrete wall with secured, gated entrances along each of the main approaches. After observation of the 7 roadblocks you believe that the one coming from the southeast would be your best bet. The soldiers there appear to be less capable. The rarely turn away vehicles, and over half of them are seated away from the checkpoint, playing cards at a makeshift table. As you continue along, Fenris you notice that for the last several minutes an unmarked black sedan seems to be tailing your movements. The car is totally non-descript, fits in well with the rest of the traffic flow, but the fact that it has turned the same directions you guys have puts your nerves on edge. Thor it appears that you have all the intel that you are going to get by doing a perimeter check. Do you brave one of the checkpoints at this time, or do you try to find an abandonned building or secluded alley in which you can dump the van and go in on foot. You don't know what is going on with the sedan that Fenris spotted. Do you use caution and try and act more normally than before, or do you lure the sedan into an alley and attempt an ambush? Thor make your decision and issue your orders. The rest of you react and comment on what your characters are seeing. Buck what do you notice about their arms and munitions that you feel might be pertinent information that the Major might want to know? _(Anilar the rifles they carry are as I said standard M4 type assault rifles, but you can tell that they have been well cared for by the soldiers that wield them. Each having a variety of accessories to optimize their use. You also can tell that the humvees are equipped with weapon mounts, but that they do not seem to bear the heavy weapons that would go there at this time.)_ Poet what do you think of the solidery? They look like they have training but what do you notice about them that you feel would be important to mention? _(You pretty much have free reign here, just remember that they look like trained and experienced warriors)._ Fenris what are you thinking and what points about the sedan and the soldiery catches your marksman's eye? Hermes what imput do you have to the situation? [Thor once your decision is made begin to enact it, but again, if you approach the road block stop before you begin interaction with the military personnel there. That will be for next update.]


Cue Ball(CaptainFatty): As you sneak up the ramp to the next level at the Colonel's side you begin to hear the chatter of other individuals on the level above, your enhanced hearing making them audible well before they come into view. You hear the rumbling of several engines above and place them as heavy trucks or large SUVs. What strikes you as odd is that you can barely understand what they are talking about as they seem to be speaking in rapid spanish. That bit of information doesn't sit well with your new house guests being ACS. Looking to the Colonel you see that he is listening intently to the conversation going on above, he puts a finger to his lips and make a gesture that tells you to stay where you are for a moment. After what seems like an eternity he ghosts across the intervening ramp and sqauts down next to you, _"I don't know what the fuck happened Cue Ball, but those are soldiers from the Mendoza Crime Family. From what I can gather they noticed Spectre and Osiris while they were on patrol. I recognize the name of the piece of shit, Rudolfo Ruiz, that is leading them and it is obvious he is out for revenge. Spectre killed his brother in Mexico about 14 years ago. What the fuck are they doing this far into ACS territory. The last thing we need is a war with the Cartels while we are trying to sort out the ACS. I am hoping that he assaulted us here without informing the family. We need to hit them hard and silent, we don't need the whole weight of the Mendoza's to fall on us right now."_ A sudden noise catches Forsythe's attention, and he clams up, listening. It sounds like there are several sets of boots walking down the ramp to the level you are on now. _"Silent and final,"_ Forsythe whispers to you before melting into the shadows on the wall opposite you. Sure enough seconds later three large individuals walk down the ramp, all armed with shotguns and small automatic pistols. From your concealed position you watch as the move just past you and the Colonel. Your heightened hearing hears the shot of the dart, where the victims of the attack are clueless, and one of their member crumples silently to the floor as Odin explodes like a panther out of the shadows where he had been hiding, grabs the second by the side of the head from behind and with a vicious twist breaks his neck. This leaves one for you, silence him quietly. [You of course would have leapt into action as soon as the Colonel fired his dart, so act simultaneously with his second kill. Just take care in how you kill this one, actions have consequences.]

Osiris(Jackinator): As you make your way down the hall way, you are surprised when a man, short dark haired and dark skinned, comes barreling around the corner of and intersection. He is just as surprised by you and he raised his shotgun to fire. You are a hairs breath faster and you react with your hatchet, flinging it through the air directly at him. Luckily for you his shotgun jams, and the round does not go off and he crumples to the ground, dead before he falls, your hatchet imbeded in his forehead, smoking slightly at the edges of the wound as the blade does its work. Taking a moment to listen for further intruders you hear nothing, so you take the opportunity to examine the body. He is definitely hispanic, which does not jive with your knowledge of the ACS and their military assets, but what would the Cartels be doing this far into ACS territory. You still need to make it to the other side of the building to meet up with Loki so move cautiously, there may be more enemies about.

Spectre(Lord Ramo): Travelling down the stairwell to the floor where the command center is located you keep your senses up and move cautiously down the stairs, taking two at a time, though you make very little noise as you do. This is a good thing because when you reach the 6th floor (you started on the 10th, and the command center is on the 4th) you hear to voices filtering up the stairwell. What strikes you as very odd is that the men are conversing in rapid spanish. You have no idea who it is that is currently in the building, but you are willing to bet that it isn't the ACS. Slowing your pace you come around a corner, just peaking past the edge of the wall, and see that there are two men climbing the stairs toward you. The both carry large shotguns and have small automatic pistols holstered at their waist. Whoever they are they don't belong here and they are armed. As the walk you hear one of the mention the name Rudolfo Ruiz and you are forcibly reminded of a mission into mexico roughly fourteen years ago. You now know beyond a shadow of a doubt that these men are Cartel soldiers. Silence them and move onto the command center. You have the drop on them so you shouldn't have any issues taking them out before they are able to get off a shot, and it does not appear they have radios so them alerting any allies is all but impossible as long as you are quick and quiet. [Ramo get with me over on MSN and we will talk about the mission and history that is pertinent.]

Loki(Santaire): You furiously work at disabling NAFI systems and hardware and as you do some you are able to tap directly into some of the surviellance cameras that are placed around the building. Multi-tasking like this is a breeze for you and you find that the building itself has 32 cameras that you are able to access remotely giving you a view of floors 4 and below. In the parking structure you see three large black SUVs and around 8 men, all carrying large shotguns and pistols, roving around, and a 9th man who wears two ornate looking pistols in shoulder rigs. He looks vaguely familiar to you and as you access your systems you place a name with the face. Rudolfo Ruiz, lieutenant in the Mendoza Crime Family. What the cartels are doing here is a mystery to you, but you work all the faster to disable and destroy evidence and NAFI intel. You see Odin and Cue Ball dispatching several Cartel soldiers in the lowest level of the garage by the dock, as well as Osiris take one out on the other side of this same floor. Unfortunately you can't get a visual on Spectre. As you flick through the camera feeds one by one, you find one that looks at the main door into the command center and you see that there are two enemy soldiers advancing on your position. You think that Osiris will be able to intersect them before they make it into the room, allowing you to deal with them together, but you are not 100% sure. If you had to take a gamble you would bet on Osiris making it. The only weapons that you have that would not cause a raucus are your baton and your sword, but you don't think that you could dispatch both enemies before one got a shot off, alerting the other cartel soldiers as well as any ACS personnel that were nearby. What do you do? Wait for Osiris? or try to take them both out solo before getting back to destroying the system? [Your choice will have consequences so choose wisely]

OOC: Angel of Blood- if you are able to post please do so. I would like for you to cover the last update, but you only need focus on the part when the recon team leaves headquarters and after that.


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## Anilar (Aug 12, 2011)

As the vechile moved through the streets of the city, around the objective. Buck got a good view of the road blocks that lined the perimeter. All seven access roads was guarded by two military vechiles, and six ACS soldiers. Each vehicle was equipped to mount heavy weapons but non was present, but what caught Buck's eye was the modified M4's which each soldier was carrying, at it was clear they were well maintained too. It seemed each soldier had been allowed to modify the weapons after personal preference. Which indicated to Buck they were soldiers, that had been granted special priviledges from there leadership.

Buck informed Thor of this little fact, something that was easy to miss when modified weapons and high end technology was a part of your ordinary day.
Buck couldn't help but wonder what details the others and expecially Fenris was spotting, as they passed the road blocks. Buck was no recon specialist and he knew that, his talents was of a different sort. It wasn't unknown that when he was in the position to do the recon or look-out, that the others asked directly for certain pieces of information, since it simply didn't occur to Buck to spot everything.

Fenris also began to indicate they were apparently being followed by a black vehicle, which Buck only spotted as Fenris pointed it out. It was clear to Buck that Thor was pondering the best course of action. Buck just told Thor that one marble could rather quietly, puncture two of the tires of the pursuit vehicle. Thou it would to a relatively trained eye, indicate the presence of a military team in the area.

Buck started to fiddle with his handgun in its holster, awaiting Thors orders.


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

Once the briefing was over, Poet immediately headed down to the storage room and picked up his kitbag, locating all of his equipment easily having just stored them. He put most of his weapons into the kitbag along with some armour, but for now remained in his civilian attire being the driver and needed to remain incognito. Even so, he kept the pistol at his thigh and also stowed away his sub-compact into a concealed holster in his jacket, finally attaching his vibro-blade to a sheath at his belt in case he should need to dispatch anyone quietly.

Jogging to the underground car park he began to prep the van so they could move out the moment the rest of the team were ready. He threw his kitbag into the van and began his checks. The van was plain and unassuming, rusted in the right areas and coupled with some careful dents to give the appearance of an old and battered work van, though in reality it was lightly armoured, contained comms suite and other equipment in the back and had a more than capable engine hidden under the bonnet. Poet trained his experienced eye over the whole of the van, checking the run-flat tires for wear, that the engine had enough oil and was in good working order, that the van was fully fueled and a whole host of other prelims. Finally he made a point to check under the van for any tampering. The base was secure as ever and no one had been in or out, but there was no harm in being careful.

He stood up smoothly once he was happy there was nothing out of place, giving the old girl a pat on the bonnet. He'd used this particular van on multiple occasions and missions, despite its ugly and basic outwards appearance, it had gotten him through them all. He'd managed to storm blockades with it, come out tops in hectic car chases in it and still it kept going. It was the little things like this reliable van that kept Poets spirits up. As he waited for the others he took out and ate another protein bar. It was one of the few downsides to his augmentations, his metabolism was always ticking over, he never felt quite satisfied in regards to hunger. As he ate the bar he suddenly noticed Fenris was also in the car park, waiting against one of the walls. How long he had been there Poet didn't know, he might have been there before even he got there. He was definitely the odd one out of the group, always seeming apart from the others and out of touch, but then so were most of the sniper he had known in his life. But even by the usual standard, Fenris was still that little bit more…..odd. Nevertheless he nodded at the sniper as a way of hello, receiving no reply in return. Shrugging indifferently he finished off the bar as the others arrived and loaded their equipment into the van.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Poet drove the van slowly through the busy industrial sector, taking a careful circular route along the network of roads that would avoid the worst of the ACS attention. He hated the cities and dense urban areas. They showed the worst of this world, the reek of despair was all around them as the populace moved like drones to their next destination, ACS patrols littered throughout, itching to make someones already miserable existence even worse. What he would give for one of those patrols to try and harass him down a dark alley with no one else to see. He briefly saw Lake Michigan, it looked like an ocean in its own right, the setting sun cast a beautiful glow over the lake, taking Poets breath for a moment, beauty was rare and hard to come by in these troubled times. As he rounded a corner onto the road they needed he was greeted with an unwelcome sight.

"Shit" he muttered under his breath as he saw the roadblock ahead. He didn't bother pointing it out to Thor who was sat beside him, he would already be working through his mind what to do and as if on cue he began to voice his thoughts out loud. Poet thought nothing of it, he was used to the Majors manner of speaking his thoughts out loud. Instead he concentrated on the roadblock itself, Thor would speak to him directly when he wanted him. The roadblock was nothing special. Two military vehicles and a group of ACS troopers, to the civilian populace it would probably look intimidating. To Poet it was a minor obstacle, one he could quite happily take out on his own without breaking a sweat, never mind the rest of the team with him. But that would not go unnoticed, they would either have to test out their forged papers or find another route. Even so he began to charge one of his kinetic blasters situated in his hand should the need arise. 

They were only five blocks away when Thor made his decision. "Take the next right Poet. Command centre frequency is offline, either it's jammed or Lokis already packed up and left. Either way we're on our own" 

Poet nodded and took the right turn, depowering the blaster as he did "Guess it's your lucky day" he thought to himself with one final glance at the roadblock. Thor decided they would scout out the other roads as well, see how frequent the blocks were for future reference. Poet merely nodded once again and carried on driving, though he noted in his side mirror that a black sedan took the turn as well, it was impossible to tell whether it was following them or was also avoiding the checkpoint, but once again, you could never be too careful and he made sure to keep checking it as they went. 

Every road leading to the facility was blocked off swell, each one a carbon copy of the first one they had encountered. Two vehicles, three men each, M4's across the board. To him they all looked to be professional, they carried their weapons in a relaxed yet sure way. Too often inexperienced soldiers would hug tight their weapons or hold them tightly as if expecting trouble at any moment or the opposite and not even hold them, rear slinging them, holding them loosely at their side or even leaning them against an object of some kind. Which was the first thing he noticed about the south-eastern roadblock. Three of the soldiers were playing cards on an upturned crate, their M4's resting against the crate. Two of the others were in deep conversation with their weapons slung and the last one was lazily ushering most cars through the checkpoint without much fuss. And for the final nail i the coffin, they all looked remarkably young apart from the NCO in charge who was incidentally one of the ones playing cards. He pointed these observations out to Thor. If they were going to have to brave a checkpoint, that was certainly the best one to go for in his opinion.


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## CaptainFatty (Nov 9, 2008)

Eric moved silently up the ramp alongside Forsyth, dart gun pointed forward, eyes scanning for any movement. He could hear the rumble of a couple heavy engines, indicating that they had brought trucks, or at least some other heavy vehicle. He could also make out the voices of several men, but could barely hear them over the sound of the engines. As he strained his hearing as much as he could, he realised he still couldn’t understand them. They weren’t speaking English. _They couldn’t be ACS_, he thought to himself, confusion taking over for a split second, _then who?_ He looked over at the Colonel and saw that he was also listening intently. A quick gesture from the Colonel told Eric to wait as Forsyth moved ahead, most likely scouting out the upper level. Eric took this opportunity to finish off the half eaten protein bar in his pocket and relax, sure that nobody could sneak up on him.

It felt like he was kneeling there forever when he noticed the Colonel moving across the ramp. Eric nodded as he squatted down and began to speak. "I don't know what the fuck happened Cue Ball, but those are soldiers from the Mendoza Crime Family. From what I can gather they noticed Spectre and Osiris while they were on patrol. I recognize the name of the piece of shit, Rudolfo Ruiz, that is leading them and it is obvious he is out for revenge. Spectre killed his brother in Mexico about 14 years ago. What the fuck are they doing this far into ACS territory. The last thing we need is a war with the Cartels while we are trying to sort out the ACS. I am hoping that he assaulted us here without informing the family. We need to hit them hard and silent, we don't need the whole weight of the Mendoza's to fall on us right now."

“Mendoza? What the fuck…” was all Eric could say before something caught Forsyth’s attention. _This is the last thing we need right now._

Eric silenced himself and listened, hearing the footsteps of several men coming down the ramp. Forsyth motioned for him to take them out silently and moved to the other side of the ramp, disappearing into the shadows. Not a moment later, three men walked down the ramp, all armed, and moved past the two concealed men, completely unaware of their presence. Eric knew that they would have to be taken out silently and quickly, before they could get a shot of and alert any ACS patrols outside. The last thing they needed was to be fighting on two fronts at the same time. After they had passed, Eric heard the sound of a dart being fired from Forsyth’s position. As the centre man fell, Eric leaped out of the shadows, the cartel soldiers still completely unaware of the situation they were in. He wrapped both arms around the closest mans head and twisted, rotating it to an impossible angle and breaking the neck. Forsyth had done the same and the two men crumbled, hitting the floor at the same time. All his previous worries went away as the thrill of taking a life took over once again, and he nodded at the Colonel, waiting for orders.


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## Karak The Unfaithful (Feb 13, 2011)

As the truck turned for what felt like the 100th time Graham felt boredem creeping into his mind. When really, on the most important mission of his life that would be the last thing to expect.

However, this was only the start, when Thor gave the order it would truly begin and all that training, the cybernetic enhancments and the death of his own family would have finally be worth it.

Hermes was sitting on the edge of the void now, it had all been planned but who knew would what truly happen? How could they know?
He imagined it, all the generals, officers, tacticians gathered together contemplating everything they could think of, deceiding on every possible outcome.
But so much could still happen.

He looked to various roadblocks, more specificly; the men guarding them. Using his Occular auspex he could make out the heart rate of the guards, which gave him a very good idea of what they were thinking.

Steady heart rate; obviously quite relaxed, most likely professional soldiers with at least due to the relaxed nature, especialy around so much weaponry. An educated guess would be around 7-11 years of combat, give or take. The men had good muscle tone and were all in good health, most likely they hadn't seen combat for a while now, probably because they were stationed here.
So did the ACS suspect something? they wouldn't divert professional soliders to a simply roadblock duty without a good reason.

Graham realised he was growing impaitent, not to kill, but to get out this grotty van and a make a difference.
He looked to Thor: "Orders sir?"


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## deathbringer (Feb 19, 2009)

Wordlessly Poet swung the vehicle, his indecision going without comment, the men in the back swaying slightly at the turn, balance adjusting seemlessly to keep them upright even as tool boxes and other objects that compromised their "cover" slid over the floor with the dull rasp of metal on metal. Checkpoints flowed by, 7 streets, 14 humvees, manned by well equipped soldiers, their movements laced with by the dull lack of activity that epitomised the bored.

It was infecting his own men, the need to act, to bathe in the rush of endorphins only contact could bring manifesting in edgy rustling and vacant stares. The crank of a window caught his attention, irritation gnawed at him as he saw Buck unleash a spidery marble the tiny silver ball scuttling up and out of sight onto the roof of the van, his voice burning with some sort of accomplishment even as he informed them of his action, the capability of his fucking marbles.

The hatred seered, his teeth suddenly on edge a steely glint burning through the flames of his hate filled eyes, lips tearing apart with a little snarl his fragile temper like dried wood, a spark away from a roaring fire.

"When i want fucking accessories on my van, I'll ask for them sergeant. "

He turned momentarily angry features twisted with spite as he rounded upon Buck

"Though if you've got a fluffy pink airfreshener It'd be rather useful to cover up the stench of your shit ideas"

He turned to the front eyes blazing even as he pointed poet down a second side street

"Personally I'd be rather suspicious if i saw a small marble wandering up the side of a builders van, or perched neatly upon the top. Thus I'd prefer it if you dispensed with the initiative in future, save those fragile remaining braincells for a rainy day huh." 

The rage spurted through his lips, a mix of cold abuse and degradation, a vent to the steamy heat of the rage that bubbled in his soul

"Leave it, where it is, if someone noticed it climbing up, it climbing down is a sure fire way to affirm their suspicions."

They kept going, checkpoints affirmed his fear, this was no spot perimeter, if you wanted to get in without hitting a checkpoint you had to go on foot, not a massive dissapointment, they were fit portable and deadly, the loss of a van changed nothing.

The last checkpoint they came to caught Poet's eye, the reliable driver giving his observations the words causing thor's eyes to narrow drawing his attention, youngsters, unprepared, bored and irked, a perfect way through. Yet something caught his eye, a low slung dark black sedan following them lazily, a glance in the rear view mirror stirring memories, a similar car, following them at previous turns, was it the same, he was almost sure, yet was this perverse paranoia. 

The drawling tongue of the Russian confirmed his suspicions, forced his hand, a plan forming within his mind even as he shot a glare at Buck, if it was the fucking marble....

"Straight across Poet, into the allies, if we've got a tail lets give them a surprise."

The benefit of a van, par a driver, they could not be sure who else was inside. A little advantage. A quick glance in the rear view mirror revealed tinted widows and dark glass the shadows of a driver and passanger the only details of the occupents within.

Yet the mission hadn't changed, nothing new, the recon was the most important, time to split.

If it was ACS he didn't want bloodshed, he wanted them to see a mirage of his own making, to learn the identity of their pursuers in the most innocent way possible.

The ghost of a smile flittered across his lips, time to split, but who and where.

Fenris was the obvious choice, no doubts, he'd have sent Buck but you keep that which you dont trust close. Hermes was a solid choice, but the blood shed would be here, not with the recon squad, had to be Poet.

"Hermes, in a sec, switch with poet and take the wheel"

The smile was growing even as the plan formed, uncoiling in his mind

"The mission objectives havent changed, the recon is our goal, but we need to deal with the tail. Fenris, Poet. Next blind turn i want you both out the hatch and into the allies, take some of the tools, try and make your way towards the compound, keep in touch, we will recon with you in the van once we've taken care of the tail."

He gave a little nod to Hermes. 

"Once they're out hit the gas and hit it hard, open up a little distance between us and the sedan while they're blind then take it nice and steady , take the next sharp turn and stop hard. I want to hear the breaks squeal"

"Buck i want you out and into cover, higher the better, i want some cover, if in doubt deploy the smoke."

He let out a low growl before murmering

"use your initiative, you suspect something go all out. If it's acs caution is best but failure is fatal"

he turned to hermes

"i hope you can act, little one, because as far as they're concerned, you've just hit me, and i need the tail to believe it"

_________________________
It was simple really, poet and fenris go further on the recon, buck in cover as the safety net, hermes, a builder late on his way to work covered by the papers loki provided, desperately looking for an entrance to the compound that doesnt exist.

His apparent victim lying in the ground screaming in agony, clutching his leg or more precisely the large revolver and blade strapped to his thigh.

If it was ACS Hermes had an alibi and the papers to prove it, identity without ambush, if it was something more sinister they had the firepower and the misdirection to blast their way out.

________________________________

He let out a low snarl, his eyes glittering face a mass of snarling teeth, adrenaline seeped through his veins

"Are we ready?"


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## Lord Ramo (Apr 12, 2009)

Spectre moved silently down the stairwell, as she descended the building towards the command centre. She hoped that Odin and the others were alright, it would be a pity if some of the others had to be replaced, and if Odin died then it would be down right tragic. He was the inspiration behind the Valkyries, and if she got the chance she would give her life for him. 

She took the steps two at a time, speed being of the essence if they were under attack, though she made little noise as she did it. This would aid her well, as she came to the sixth floor, two floors away from the command centre she could hear voices, in hushed tones being carried up the stairs. She stopped still and listened intently, trying to make out whatever the voices were on about.

One thing that stuck out to her was that the men were conversing quickly in Spanish, which meant that it was most likely not ACS forces. She slowly walked to the nearest corner, and cautiously looked out from around it. She could see two men ascending the staircase towards them. The first thing she took note of them was that they both carried shotguns, with small automatic pistols holstered at their waist as well. 

She slowly slid her Kukri out of its sheath, they would have to both be taken out before they could fire a shot, or else they would attract anyone else in the building to her whereabouts, and Spectre wasn't in the mood to have to kill an entire team and fight her way out of the building. However she stopped when she heard them mention a name, one name that had changed her into what she was today. Rudolfo Ruiz.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spectre was crouched in the shrubbery outside the Cartel compound, her weapon pointed at the head of a patrolling guard. Next to her Granite, her partner slowly stirred as he stretched his limbs from lying down for too long. Holly and Granite had been reassigned after the death of most of her team, and she was now a member of the infamous Odin and his second Thor. It was a privilege and an honor to have been chosen to join them.

The squad was dotted around the outside of the perimeter of the compound, waiting the command to strike, deal a lot of damage to the Cartel and bail out before they knew what was going on. The target was the eldest Ruiz brother, one of the Mendoza cartel family. His death would deal a lot of damage to the cartel.

Odins voice broke through the silence of the night, the command given Spectre and Granite rose like shadows and moved forwards, guns trained on the guards in front. *"Two guards right, one left. Wait for the others to announce themselves before firing."* Holly said quietly to Granite, only getting a grunt in return to show he heard and understood her. 

They waited just a moment before an explosion blossomed in the night sky, taking the guards attention away from the perimeter for just a moment. Spectre aimed down her sight, firing two quick three round bursts, both guards on the right crumpled before they could yell a warning out to their comrade. Granite took the other one out, sneaking all the way up to him he slit the mans throat, and left his lifeless corpse jerking on the ground.

The two of them moved quickly, knowing they only had moments before the others rallied and became organised enough to put up some resistance. They arrived at the safehouse without alerting anyone else, Odin and the others on the opposite side of the compound had seen to that. As they rounded the corner she could see Thor and his partner were already waiting, stacked up on the door. No words of greeting were exchanged, there was no need. A simple nod was all Granite needed from Thor before he kicked the door in, the others spilling in after him, flashbangs disorientating their targets inside.

Spectre swept in, shotgun in her hands whilst her assault rifle hung from one of her shoulders. She fired two shots, two guards who were turning to open fire on the group were blasted off their feet, one crashing in a pile of crates, the other knocking over a third man who Granite finished off with a burst from his assault rifle. Spectre and Granite headed upstairs whilst Thor and his partner cleared downstairs, the plan already laid out by Odin.

There was only one room to note upstairs, and as soon as they entered they could see the Ruiz brothers, Rodolfo, just a boy cowering by some crates, as his brother opened fire on the pair. A round impacted on Spectre's body armour, causing her to snarl in frustration but little else. Granite took cover by a window, dragging Spectre down with him. She waited for Ruiz to reload before standing, the fool not quick enough to get into cover fumbled as he tried to yank a pistol from its holster.

Spectre didn't pause, firing twice, the first buckshot tearing into his leg, making it useless, not that it would matter at any rate. The second pulverized his chest, killing him instantly. Before Spectre and Granite could extract though guards rushed from behind, forcing them to stand and fight. She was dimly aware that the young Rodolfo, enraged at his brothers death had grabbed a grenade and hurled it towards the two NAFI operators. 

_"Spectre get out!"_ Was the last thing she heard as Granite hurled her out of the window, saving her life but ending his own. As she fell to the ground she could see the explosion, fire blossoming out of the window, as well as more windows shattering, little pieces of glass hailing down. She hit the ground, winded by the impact. As she unsteadily got to her feet she knew Granite was gone, there was no way that he could have survived the explosion.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A little part of her had died inside that day, he had been her closest friend, her partner. The fact that they said Ruiz meant that they must be Cartel, and he must have been close by. The only obvious explanation was that he had recognized her when she was patrolling and decided to get his revenge. She would get hers first, she promised Granite that silently.

She leapt around the corner, her Kukri spinning from her hand as she threw it at the furthest away man. The blade whistled through the air spinning, before it buried itself up to the handle in the mans head, killing him instantly. The other man tried to raise his gun but it was too late, Spectre was too close. A quick kick to the groin caused him to drop his weapon, both hands reaching down to protect himself and to cover the pain.

Spectre calmly kneed him in the face as he doubled over, causing blood to spray from his mouth before she followed through with two powerful punches to the gut. The man collapsed to his knees, moaning in pain as she stepped behind him. She took his pistol out of its holster, throwing it to one side before moving to the other man. She yanked her blade from his lifeless head, blood and brain matter following the blade out.

She moved quickly, so that the one alive didn't have time to recover. Time to realize what she was doing. She stabbed him, the blade entering the back of his neck and exiting the front, causing him to gurgul as he died. She waited a moment, before pulling the blade out, wiping it on the mans clothes. Fourteen years ago she had lost her friend, fourteen years waiting for vengeance. It would happen so, she would see to that. 

She headed to the command centre, her hand on her assault rifle, she may need it soon, it was only a matter of time before all hell broke loose.


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## Jackinator (Nov 18, 2008)

The hatchet had already left my hand before I had fully registered the man before me. He was short, dark skinned, with hanks of greasy black hair hanging over his forehead. That was before his face was disfigured by the flying axe embedding itself in his head.

He collapsed to the floor, the shotgun clattering to the floor beside him. I winced, expecting it to go off, but instead heard a loud click. It had jammed. Close. I paused where I was, listening for any more intruders, but nothing reached my ears. Even so, I doubted he was alone. He looked hispanic, but why would the Cartels be this far into the ACS territories, they tended to keep mostly to their own territories, bar the usual border orientated crime every country's underground engaged in.

I padded softly over to him, my footfalls quiet and confident. I paused to pluck the vibro-hatchet from his forehead, the flesh was smoking slightly from it's effects and it came out with barely a whisper. I thought for a moment, then stooped and retrieved the shotgun as well, holding it in my off hand. I never left anything that I could use behind, you never knew when it could come in handy.

Poised and ready, I began to make my way towards the control room and Loki, I only hoped no one had found that yet.


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## Santaire (Feb 13, 2011)

Loki sped up his movements until he was little more than a blur, all his attention focussed on his current task. As he stripped one of the laptops from the wall he saw a hardwired data port in the wall behind and smiled. Working quickly he slipped a data spike from his left index finger and jammed it into the port. Instantly data flooded his mind, he ignored most of it and focussed on worming his way into the camera systems. It worked and soon he had a view of almost the entire building, 32 cameras to be precise.

Cycling through them with his mind while his hands stripped laptops and computers from their sockets he eventually focused on the garage. It showed eight men and 3 vehicles. The men were armed with shotguns and pistols while the vehicles were black SUVs with tinted windows. A ninth man watched the others, wearing 2 ornate looking pistols in shoulder rigs. Something about the man’s face and arrogant posture was familiar and so Loki looked up his face. A file came up, naming the man as Rudolpho Ruiz, a lieutenant in the Mendoza crime family. What the hell was the cartel doing in ACS territory? 

While he worked Ethan looked further into the man’s file and discovered the reason. A little while before he joined to replace a casualty the Nightstalkers had been sent on a mission to eliminate Rudolpho’s elder brother. They had succeeded, Spectre shooting him in the chest but the young Rudolpho had thrown a grenade that killed Granite, Loki’s predecessor. The lieutenant had held a grudge ever since and Spectre must have been recognized while she patrolled the outside of the building.

Loki flicked cameras once more and saw 2 men approaching the control room. Osiris was nearby and if he had to gamble, Loki would have said he would make it whereas if he went for them himself there would be less chance of it being silent. There was an 86% chance of Osiris making it but only a 56% chance of Loki managing them silently. Those were long odds for a man who rarely ended up in a position where none of the options had less than 70% chance of victory but the fact that both were tense and alert with loaded weapons and twitchy trigger fingers downgraded the odds rather seriously.

He decided to leave them to Osiris but kept one hand on his sword while the other continued stripping systems from there assigned positions…


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## komanko (May 16, 2010)

OOC: As I said, kinda short, but not much to cover either.

He sat, his senses painfully alert, he was listening to everything and nothing at the same time. His focus was unimaginable, so focused that he did not even notice that they were driving in circles for the past minutes, he didn’t raise his head up to look from the window, he did not even try to scout, the objectives here were easily spotted, his eyes were not needed. He did not see how each of the roadblocks was defended by humvees, but he did here their sound, the unique engine stutter of a military vehicle. It was not the first time he heard it and his highly enhanced senses quickly picked off the sound, separating it from the rest of the different noises around him.

It was a funny feeling, his enhanced senses let him in a way see noises, he could put a color for each noise, easily separating it from the other noises. Something which was impossible for a normal human yet something that many animals knew from birth. As if he could see sound. Like a bat he could create an image of his surroundings just by sound alone, at least of something around him. Nonetheless, though he did not see, he could hear and thus he heard the roaring of an engine, not leaving, not disappearing, no matter where they turned and where they went, there was one sound that always stayed the same and this made Fenris edgy. He felt like he was being stalked. The hunter becomes the prey.

Annoyed by the constant feeling Fenris raised his head and sneered in annoyance. He looked through the window and scouted the surroundings, everything seemed to be normal. Yet the feeling did not let go, this was the only thing which kept him at his place, he learned to trust his instincts, they rarely let him down. He continued watching the road behind them until he finally understood what alarmed his senses, though it could be just a coincidence there was a vehicle behind them which was stalking their movements, always slowing down before getting too close, always letting them lead the way. It seemed so normal that it alarmed Fenris even further.

++++++++++++

It was winter, alone in the woods yet again, it has been years since the death of his family and yet he still wondered, he still was making his way out of the blasted country, his senses tingled with a mixture of excitement and fear, he could feel the forest closing him around him, he could hear the night stalkers around. Owls, wolves, rodents and what not. The forest was as alive as any city. He could hear the soft treading of paws on winter snow, the warm body leaving vivid trails. It seemed that he was stalked, hunted…

++++++++++++

He gazed at the vehicle stalking them, it movements so precise as if it knew what it was doing yet some things gave the so called attempt away, the windows were tinted, there were only a few tinted vehicles which were used by civilians and they were especially rare, Fenris more than doubted that he head the honor of seeing one. It seemed way too normal, like a wolf moving slowly through the high grass as if to not alert his prey.

“Thor.” Fenris said, seeing that the leader of this small squad had his attention on him he continued, “I am pretty sure that we are being followed. That black sedan behind us has been following us for quite a while already, the driver seems to know where he is heading yet he slows down a bit every time we are turning to adjust his course, something not completely natural… I suggest that we act cautiously.” 

Thor let out his plan, it was a solid one, one which would undoubtedly involve destruction and bloodshed, a shame Fenris won’t be there to take his toll. Still, if the plan was to work he will have to act differently this time. He looked at Thor and nodded, he will do what he was asked. This time, he will be the hunter. A grim smile spread on his featureless mask, death is coming.


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

*Update #3*

Cue Ball(CaptainFatty): As you and Odin slowly lower the bodies of the cartel soldiers to the ground, trying to avoid loud noises, you hear someone begin to chatter away in rapid spanish. You have been slowly trying to learn the language, but are not yet fluent in it, so you pickout about 2-3 of every 5 words. The tone and tempo of the speach is rapid and hurried and the voice sounds angry. You are able to pick up that the Rudolfo has lost contact with two of the men he send in to the building up the stairwells. This brings a slight smile to your face as you realize that your Team mates are taking care of business as well. You haven't heard any gunshots, so they are probably ghosting their targets before the kill just as you and the colonel have done. You are on the side of the ramp closest to where the voice is coming from and glancing over to Odin he flashes several hand signals indicating that you should sneak around and take a look. From your vantage point you see that there is a support pillar not far away that you think that you can make it to without being seen. Move quietly and quickly and take cover behind the pillar. From that vantage point you can see more of what is going on with the assault force. You see six men standing around 3 black SUV's, and 2 men running off in the direction of a stairwell leading up into the building. 5 of the men, as well as the two running away, are armed identically to the ones you have just dispatched, the last though is dressed differently. Instead of fatigues and assault gear he wears slacks and a leather jacket. Inside the jacket you can see two large pistols swinging in shoulder holsters. From your area of observation you can also see that the rear passenger door of one of the SUV's is open and there is another individual inside with a laptop hooked into a small black box that rests next to him on the seat. This must be how they are jamming your comms. You need to convey this infomation to the colonel, wait for an opportunity to sneak back down the ramp and then do so. You are still wary of making a bunch of noise as a fire fight would draw the ACS down on you guys. 

Osiris(Jackinator): You are making your way down the hallway to the command center when movement ahead of you causes you to slow your advance. Moving silently down the hall you see two more Cartel soldiers, both armed with shotguns, creeping their way down to the command center. If you know Loki you know that he has eyes on the situation, but you also realize that his task of destroying evidence of NAFI presence is going to be first and foremost in his mind. You need to deal with these two quickly and quietly. The first is easy to deal with, you are able to sneak up behind him and snap his neck, kill him with your hatchet, or however you decide. The second opponent is quick to recover from the shock of his companions death and quickly levels his shotgun at you. You are able to dodge to the side out of the path of the barrel and with a strike of your vibro weapon cleave his shotgun in half before he is able to fire. Instead of drawing his pistol, he grins at you wickedly and draws a large knife from a sheathe at the back of his waist. You two exchange blows, and you find that he is skilled with a knife, his forearms littered with scars that show his proficiency, and most importantly his longevity in a close quarters fight. A single fient catches you by surprise and you take a shallow wound across the top of your bicep, as he experly places the slash between two plates of your body armor. This spurns you to press him harder, quickly overpowering him with a flurry of strokes finally killing him. The whole fight lasts maybe 30 seconds, and you are shocked that he never went to draw his pistol or radio for help. Cleaning your weapon you make your way into the command center and find that Loki and Spectre are finishing off two more soldiers as you do. 

Spectre(Lord Ramo): Making your way silently and quickly toward the command center you turn down the hallway that leads to the room through a door on the oopposite side of the the building from Osiris. You get there just as two soldiers manage to break through the locked door that leads into the command center. One shouts in spanish and you hear Loki curse and the sound of his sword being drawn, as you bear down on the other one. He is just leveling his weapon to fire at Loki when you creep up behind him. You need to do something to change the aim of his weapon and hopefully prevent him from firing all at the same time. Be creative. [What you decide to do will have consequences and I would love to talk over what you are going to do over MSN. That being said the first option that you present me with is what I am going to go off of so consider wisely. I will tell you what to include in your post after we talk] (OOC:sorry for doing it that way but sometimes that is the only way to add a bit of uncertainty into an written RP)

Loki(Santaire): As you wipe the last hard drive and tear the last connection from the hardwired system you see that Osiris is dealing with the two that you say approaching in the hallway just outside. As focused as you were on his progress and the task of wiping and disconnecting multiple systems you almost miss the fact that there are two more soldiers just outside the door that leads into the command center from the opposite side of the building from where Osiris fights. You have just enough warning to spring to your feet and draw your sword as the door to the command center goes flying open and a Cartel Soldier comes barreling into the room his companion close behind. Based on where you were sitting, he doesn't see you immediately but as he barrels into the room your position will become evident quite quickly. You need to get the jump on him and kill him quickly, hoping you have enough time to deal with the second before he has time to fire on you. You have the jump on your opponent, use the element of surprise to finishe him quickly.

Loki(Santaire), Osiris(Jackinator), & Spectre(Lord Ramo): Now that you are all together and the current enemies dealt with you assess your situation. Loki reports that the system has been wiped and the hardware removed to eliminate traces of your presence. He also provides a report regarding what he saw on the cameras regarding the disposition of the Cartel soldiers. Captain Besson gather your team and head down to the Loading Dock to rendezvous with Odin.

***​
Buck(Anilar), Poet(Angel of Blood), Hermes(Karak), & Fenris(Komanko): OOC: Gentlemen for this update I am going to assume that all of you are going to follow Thor's orders regarding the plan for dealing with the tailing vehicle and the continuation of the recon op. You have all worked together as a team long enough to trust his orders so disregarding them would be out of character. If you have any problems or concerns as to how your characters would act PM me or get with me on MSN.

Fenris(Komanko) & Poet(Angel of Blood): Poet you change seats with Hermes, a manuver that you are comfortable with as you have been called onto do so more than once over the years, and as they take a turn into an alley you two roll out the hatch in the bottom of the van, disappearing into another narrow alley and out of sight before the tailing vehicle makes the bend. You can't be 100% sure about it, but you believe that you made it out without being noticed. Poet you are the ranking officer here so you must decide what to do, but you are completely aware of where you are in relation to the established checkpoint radius and you believe that you could sneak through that perimeter quite easily on foot. Taking off at a cautious run, the two of you do get past the security perimeter with out enemy contact, though there is a sticky spot that brings you very close to a roadblock so you must move slowly and with caution to avoid notice. As you are trying to sneak passed, this occuring only a couple of minutes after you exit the van, you hear the sound of gun fire and and explosion in the distance and the soldiers at the roadblock mount up into their vehicles and take off in the direction of the noise. You continue on as orderd and come to the perimeter wall of the chemical facility. Stopping for a moment to catch your breath you see no visible cameras on this wall, but you do see a two man foot patrol making their way in your direction. Work as a team to dispatch the sentry patrol and hide the bodies in one of the abandoned buildings that litter this part of town. 

Thor(Deathbringer), Hermes(Karak), & Buck(Anilar): You guys pour on a bit of speed and make a corner, giving your van a few moments of cover from the tailing vehicle, allowing Poet and Fenris to exit out of the hatch. Captializing on this speed you take a couple more turns you end up on a deserted side street that Thor selects for the ambush he has planned. Hermes you park the van, Thor you get out and into position to start the ruse, and Anilar following Thor's orders you book it to the roof of a two story apartment building with a good line of sight. 

Thor(Deathbringer) & Hermes(Karak): Shortly after you get set the sedan pulls in behind the van. You can tell that they have a moment of indecision before the driver's side and passenger's side front doors fly open and the driver and the front seat passenger get out. Immediately you recognize that these are not ACS troopers. They are both hispanic and both armed. The Driver gets out and levels a heavy calibre revolver right at you Thor and fires twice, both rounds ricochetting off of the pavement. How do you react? Hermes you have a very clear line of sight to the passenger out the back window of the van and you see as he exits the vehicle he carries an old, AK-47 style, assualt rifle. It appears that the time for silence is over. You two need to deal with the visible threats quickly. Now that gun fire has errupted ACS troops can't be far off. You barely have the time to think about why the hell the Cartels are attacking you here, in broad daylight, so far into ACS territory.

Buck(Anilar): You make it to the top of the building Thor selected just as the sedan pulls onto the street. It pulls up behind your van and though there seems to be a moment of indecision on the occupants part, the front doors fly open and two armed Hispanic males get out of the vehicle one firing immediately on Thor with a heavy calibre revolver, the second weilds an AK-47 style assualt rifle. More pressingly as the two front soldiers open fire, the back doors of the sedan open and two more soldiers start to get out of the car. You need to make a decision here. Thor has given the greenlight for noisy eradication and allowing the other two soldiers to get a bead on your team mates would be a bad thing. Deal with the two rear soldiers as quickly and effieciently as possible.​


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## Anilar (Aug 12, 2011)

As the vehicle tore around the target corner, Howard jumped out of the car before they had come to a full stop. The area seemed empty which made it perfect for the intervention. Buck was running at full speed towards the fire stairs of a nearby building Thor had picked out. A jump grapping the rails of the first floor platform of the stairwell, quickly scaling the rest of the stairs to the roof.

Buck was running light, leaving his grenade launcher and backpack of explosives behind. Keeping an eye on his teammates, through his deployed marble. As Howard reached the roof and threw himself into cover, the target vehicle rounded the corner.

A couple of seconds later two men exited the sedan, and started shooting. Buck had used those seconds of indesicion to line up his submachine gun, to cover the passenger side of the car. The men seemed hispanic and armed with old reliable and powerful AK-47 rifles. Decently maintained Buck mused as he took aim on the far side passenger that was coming out. As he was about to swing his rifle around to take aim at Thor, Buck released a short 3 round burst. All three hitting the man in the chest, making him sag together down on the ground. His rifle leaving his limb hands.

The second passenger heard the rounds, and took cover behind his cardoor scanning the buildings and rooftops for Buck. Which gave Thor and Hermes plenty of time to take care of there two threats, without having to worry about the passengers. Buck waited a second longer, the searching sweep of the enemy making him stick out his head. Another 3 rounds burst out of Bucks submachine gun, making 3 neat holes in the skull of the hispanic man.

Buck quickly took a look around the area from his elevated position, to see if there was any other threats incoming. Not that he was in doubt ACS forces would arrive shortly. Leaving it to Thor and Hermes to secure the enemy vehicle. Keeping a eye on them through his marble. Buck couldn't spot any immediate threats, but he spotted that the neighbouring building was supported by several wooden supports and holes in the wall was covered in wooden planks.

Buck reported back to Thor.

_"Sir the perimeter is clear. Sir if I may, we can crash the vehicle into the neighbouring building, and I can make it look like it has caught fire. There is also a lot of flammable materials inside and on the building. Making for a inferno, even if they don't write it off as a accident it will take hours before they can salvage the car and the burned corpses. And then it would still take a very detailed autopsi to deduce any clues we might have left behind, and for the ACS to identify them as hispanic males. Or Sir I can simply blow the vehicle to pieces, im sure that I don't need to tell you how covert that would be."_

Buck awaiting Thors orders, kept himself in cover on the roof.


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## deathbringer (Feb 19, 2009)

Silent ascent met his words, a sneer twisting his lips even as they obeyed, movements laced with seemless efficiency, his eyes never left the sedan behind them, two suitable opportunities discarded on minor technicalities, his hand raised, the eyes behind him fixed upon it.

The slightest click of his fingers snapped through the air sending Fenris and Poet sliding from the van to disappear into the streets behind them, a figure and what seemed to be the barest outline slipping through side streets. Fucking russian, but they would make good time, radio contact later, if their pursuers had their frequency, no need to make it more obvious the party had split.

A building caught his eye looming above the other even as they moved towards it, perhaps hermes had noticed it, yet he nodded to it anyway, a click of his fingers showing it to buck even as they gained speed, a gap moving, the sedan lurching with acceleration behind them, struggling to close the gap.

They took the cornor sharply, the sedan sliding out of view and a final click sent them skidding forward, dust swirling around them even as he slid from his seat the door sliding shut even as he pushed forwards, falling to the dirt, a howl of pain splitting the silence.

He exhaled, a slow breath as the mission continued unabashed, the insidious nagging of their slow progress alleviated even as he focused his mind upon the ruse.

Necessary flamboyance, they couldn't take the risk, but why, why would the acs follow them, had they been spotted had they been obvious, their progress round the perimeter monitored and tracked. His teeth itched, his vey gums felt raw with unease. Their was an uncounted for factor, like a letter missing from a word, a sign from a sum.

It ate at his innards and he let out a low snarl hand curling around his revolver, stroking the curl of his trigger. He waited, a viper in the dirt, coiled even as he unleashed a second howl, more to alleviate the dull boredom that sated the adrenaline flowing through him.

The car turned, a certain hesitation in its movements even as their pursuers drank in the scene before them, the tinted windows giving little access to the response of the predator, the loud click of doors the only response.

The indecision gnawed and he was moving before he had even seen them, warning lights flashing in his mind as he let out a curse, drinking in the situation, the new information like a capital letter in the middle of the word.

The cartels here? What madness had possessed them to come so far, what sinister machinations spoiled their plans. He struggled to make out a tattoo insignia to tell him more, to shed some light, some motive.


Hispanic features, arms uncovered weapons raised swept from the car, the assured poise of a gunmen mixed with the scuttling gate of a bad one, a heavy solid slug revolver in his hand the mouth bucking even as he rolled backwards, his own revolver coming up, as dirt skittered up infront of him, shrouding his assailant momentarily.

The slug ricocheted and whistled away, a second shot following it and now thors hands were out and his arm straightened, the barrel thrusting through the cloud of dirt in front of him.

The finger curled and the trigger depressed, the recoil, thudded yet his bicep held him steady, and he lay slumped, declining the need for a second safety shot even as the dirt cleared.

Blood trickled down the squat fat nose of the gunman, his eyes were wide and staring even as he teetered momentarily, brain and body at odds with its mortality, seemingly unaware of the hole that oozed crimson between its eyes, the spattering of its brains that caked the ground behind him.

and Thor was up tight to the van, he moved low even as a second figure emerged from the rear door, only to collapse, under a burst of machine gun fire, the muzzle flash of Bucks rifle lighting up the corner of his eye.

His voice snarled through the mike, a sit rep concise and clear, options well thought out be not to his taste.

"there's brains in the dirt and blood in the dust, i dont reckon a car crash will cover this shit, better to make it look like a deal gone wrong. Stay up their, if theirs one, their might be more, keep an eye on the streets."

He let out a low grunt, moving forward pistol still raised, knife appearing in his left hand, 

"More worrying is the power balance, cartel members in acs can only mean bad news. I'm sure there have always been little people, two bit dealers and thieves but these are big fish."

he let out a low grin

"The little fish dont come after us, not if they want to see the sun rise"

He nodded to hermes, 

"Search the bodies and the car, find any tatoos you dont understand call me. I want to know which fishy thinks he's big enough to take on a shark."


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## Lord Ramo (Apr 12, 2009)

Spectre moved quickly through the corridors as she headed towards the command and control room, to ensure that the data contained within would be destroyed. She had no doubts that Loki would have destroyed the data, or at least it would be done by the time she got there, and no doubt Osiris would have the same idea as her and head towards the command room. She moved silently through the corridors, having been trained her entire life to be able to move quickly, but without making a sound.

She looked around the corner as she neared the command room, seeing two men, both armed with shotguns as they finally managed to breach the control room. She swore under her breath as she thought that she would have more time, and would have been taken before they could breach, and threaten the work that Loki was doing. She moved quickly down the corridor, but staying silent still as she did. 

She couldn't run the risk of a weapon fired, and if the two men had noticed her, then at the range they were at she would have no choice but to use her assault rifle, shotgun or pistols to take them out, but that would attract far too much attention. Better if she could take them out quietly, or failing that, only allowing one shot to be fired.

She had to quicken her pace as she saw the first man enter the control room, and she was sure that he could take one, but would the second get him. He had his weapon raised, and she could see that he was readying himself to fire. Spectre cursed as she realized what she had to do, and stopped where she was.

*"Oi, your boss sent you to kill me, I'm right behind you, you damned bastard."* She snarled in spanish, causing the man to jump as he turned weapon raised. He pulled the trigger, a smile spreading on his face as the weapon discharged. Spectre closed her eyes a second before the round hit her, knocking her off her feet. She stayed perfectly still, in the hope that she could draw in the Spanish bastard that had just shot her, so that she could silence him without another shot.

Mentally she tried to figure out whether she had been injured without moving. She had been pretty badly winded, the impact on her armour had been enough to drive the breath out of her. She was pretty certain that the round hadn't gone through, and that she was still 100% operational. He could hear his footsteps as he got closer, and her hand tightened its grip around her knife.

She waited until he slowed before leaping into action, throwing the knife at the man. It impacted into his shoulder, and cursing he dropped his shotgun. Seeing this Spectre leapt to her feet, as the man pulled her Kukri vibroblade and dropped to the floor she took a defencesive stance. 

The man smiled as he run forward, even though he couldn't see Spectre's face behind her ghost face mask it was pretty obvious she was a woman, and he was confident he could beat her. She ducked underneath his first swing, jabbing two quick punches into his stomach before moving around behind him.

She moved quickly for the guy, ducking and dodging his punches before counter attacking with quick jabs and kicks. The man tried to grab his shotgun, but Spectre was too quick for him. She grabbed a hold of her knife, and as he was bending over to grab it, slammed down her knife through his neck. She waited a moment, until he had stopped gurgling before pulling her knife out and placing it back into its sheath.

Spectre entered the control room to see Loki had dealt with his target, and that Osiris was there. *"Loki status update, is all the information deleted? We good to move?"* She asked, quickly, getting an affirmative back. *"Alright Osiris take rear position, I'll take point. We move towards the Garages and try and link up with the Colonel, any questions?"*


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## Jackinator (Nov 18, 2008)

I came to the final corner before the command centre, the building's layout long since committed to memory. Flattening myself against the wall, I peered round the corner. Two. Civilian clothes, shotguns. Just like the one I had already killed they were hispanic, with greasy black hair and swarthy complexions.

Hearing one trying the door I knew they would break it down soon. Slipping out of my hiding place I trotted down the hall. I swung the shotgun round, pulling it tight against the first man's windpipe, crushing it. He dropped, gurgling, and the other turned, already bringing his shotgun up. I sprang to the side, dropping the shotgun and chopping down sharply. His weapon broke cleanly in half, leaving two smoking pieces in his hands.

Unfazed, he grinned wickedly, drawing a long knife and settling into the poised stance of an experienced knife fighter. I was a little surprised he hadn't gone for his sidearm or radio. His overconfidence would be his undoing.

I staggered back as I realised that he may very well be mine. He fought with a determined skill, a quick feint causing me to overstretch and then recoil as a line of fire burnt up my arm. It was only a shallow wound, but my own arrogance had led to it.

Feigning shock, I waited for him to lunge at me. As he did I twisted, grabbing his wrist and pulling. His mouth was open in shock, staring up at me from the floor. His body collapsed a moment later.

I unlocked the door, entering the control room, Spectre entering a moment later. I nodded sharply at her order, hefting my hatchet in one hand, the long knife in the other.


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## Santaire (Feb 13, 2011)

Loki wiped the final hard drive and ripped the socket from the wall just as he saw Osiris dealing with the 2 in the hall. So focussed had he been on his task and watching Osiris’ back that he did not notice the other 2 outside the control room until they barged the door down. He had just enough warning to draw his vibro blade from its scabbard before the first man was in. He barrelled into the room with his companion beginning to follow behind. Because of Loki’s position he had remained unnoticed so far.

However the Cyber-Tech knew this could change at any time and so he went on the offensive. Knowing it was not needed he let his Vibro Blade clatter to the floor. The man heard the noise and turned to see Loki sprinting towards him, his trench coat flying out behind him like wings. He launched himself into a flying kick that hit the man in the chest. The Cartel member staggered back and raised his shotgun. Loki pivoted on his left foot and slammed his right into the side of the barrel and followed it with a swift jab beneath the shoulder into the nerve cluster. Then before the man’s finger could jerk and pull the trigger he continued his spin and slammed the heel of his left foot into the man’s head.

The man collapsed, disbelief on his face and the shotgun fell from his grip. However he was still alive and so Loki punched his gloved fingers through the Cartel soldier’s eyes and into his brain. He hooked them at the knuckle and tore them free, taking a chunk of eye and brain with it. He wiped his glove clean on the man’s jacket, feeling no remorse at what he had just done, only a mild distaste at dirtying his gloves. His job done he turned to see Spectre finish off the other man. Osiris entered through another door and Loki nodded to both of them.

Spectre asked for a status report and Loki nodded an affirmative before she said “Alright Osiris take rear position, I'll take point. We move towards the Garages and try and link up with the Colonel, any questions?” Loki did not have any questions but did speak up, saying “Captain, this building is crawling with hostiles led by Rudolfo Ruiz. Odin is in the garages as you believed and Cue Ball is with him, that is all.” Loki said before taking his place in the centre of their formation as they headed to the garages.


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## Karak The Unfaithful (Feb 13, 2011)

It happened very quickly, it ended with two bleeding bodies. He had to hand it to the Thor, the old bastard knew what he was doing and Buck was also living up to standards. Their cover may have been blown, but it would have happened any time.


"Search the bodies and the car, find any tatoos you dont understand call me. I want to know which fishy thinks he's big enough to take on a shark."

Hermes raised an eyebrow; "tatoos?" that was suprisingly specific.

The medic grabbed his shotgun and made his way to the messed up car, taking it carefully incase any more guys showed up an intended to fill him full of holes.

He opened the door of the vechile and inspected the scene, the gunman was dead, very dead indeed. The other body didn't seem quite the same way...

Hermes raised his head; "Thor! I have something better than a tatoo!"

He looked back to the dying, bloody man infront of him, he was rasping for breath, Buck's shot had done alot of damage but he had clung onto life.

"He has internel bleeding, organ failure and about six minutes to live, if hes lucky"

Thor began marching over, quite ready to inflict whatever torture he had instore for the unlucky sod, but personally Hermes thought he wouldn't need much.


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## CaptainFatty (Nov 9, 2008)

Eric moved slowly towards the wall at the tip of the ramp as he listened to the angry voice coming from further up. It was very rapid Spanish, making it difficult for Eric to pick up what little he could. It sounded like he had lost contact with a few of his men inside the building though, meaning that the rest of the team had probably begun clearing house. The lack of gunshots also meant they were doing it silently. Good, Eric thought as a grin spread across his face, this should be real fun. He quickly glanced at the Colonel and was silently ordered to move up and take a look. Eric nodded and looked around the concrete barrier, eager to see what they were up against. A pillar stood several metres away and was in the perfect location to view the cartel soldier’s position.

Moving quickly but quietly, Eric reached the pillar in no time, noting the lack of reaction of the men to his movement. Looking around the pillar, he saw seven men, footsoldiers, armed and dressed like the others, two of them running towards a stairwell. They were no doubt sent to search for the men that were reported missing. Eric thought nothing of them, they would be dead soon enough. The group in the car park were the ones to worry about. He also noted one of the men, no doubt Rudolpho, was dressed differently and carried two large pistols in shoulder holsters. Three black SUV’s, identical to each other, sat behind the men, one of which had a door opened and a man sitting in the seat was visible. He was using a laptop which was connected to a black box, no doubt the source of the comm jamming. A sweeping glance revealed nothing else and Eric waited for one of the soldiers to look away before moving back towards the ramp, certain he hadn’t been spotted.

Eric moved down the ramp and knelt beside the Colonel before whispering to him. “Sir, five men plus Rudolpho remain; two just ran off towards the building. There’s a man in one of the cars, he’s got a laptop connected to a box, possible source of jamming. Orders?” Eric thumbed the blade of his knife, hoping for the opportunity to use it soon.


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## komanko (May 16, 2010)

Poet quickly switched seats with Hermes it was a maneuver that Fenris witnessed several times, one that Poet seemed comfortable with. Time slowed down, out of the window Fenris could see them approaching the turn, he knew that time was nigh, the maneuver will be initiated as soon as they take the turn, it would give them exactly enough time to retreat into the safety of the shadows, at least it would give Poet enough time, Fenris did not need so much time due to his skin’s special capabilities. 

A thought harassed him constantly, he felt like he was being watched by Thor, he felt like the man didn’t trust me, naturally so, yet still, this mistrust will force him to work in a duo team something which he did not appreciate, he was a lone wolf, an alpha male, he had no need of advice or help, he was experienced and skilled in his field of work and he felt like Poet would only slow him down. Yet before he could voice his concerns the turn came, instincts kicked in, muscles tensed and as quick as lightning he rolled out of the speeding van, his chameleonic skin kicking in immediately making him blend almost completely with the dark grey colour of the concrete road.

Like a wolf he used all four of his limbs, using his arms to propel himself back up he turned the roll into a sprint with an enormous burst of speed. Before the van ever completed its turn Fenris was already sprinting towards the dark alley scouring his left and right as he ran looking for any potential threats or misplaced gazes. 

Leaning against the wall his eyes darted from place to place lightning quick, lingering only for a second yet taking in the whole surroundings. It was the eye of a true hunter, one who looks for his prey, one who could spot it in this ocean of grey buildings. He waited for Poet to catch up with him, unsurprisingly so he thought cockily. Yet as confidant as he was in his skills he was still outranked by Poet and as such he would have to listen to his decisions, unless of course they would look ridiculous to him and then he will suggest a course of action.

A few hasty commands and they both took off, it was good that Poet reached a decision so quickly, to tally in such a place would spell their own death. Hostiles could lurk behind any corner just waiting for them to make a mistake… The dread feeling of paranoia began settling around Fenris. Yet as they went onwards he saw that dull protection which was put around and the feeling slowly vanished, his over confidence soon began resurfacing, yet as overconfident as he was he was still focused and doubted that he would be caught offguard.

As they went onwards they passed through several security perimeters, each time easily avoiding being spotted. It seemed like they were not expecting infiltration on foot, nor any infiltration of any sorts, the impression that he got was that the soldiers were confidant, they didn’t seem edgy, nor did they make any sudden unexpected moves, they weren’t expecting them, they weren’t expecting death. Like the wind they both passed undetected, unheard.

Fenris’s heart started beating loudly when he heard gunshots, the gunshots, directed at them or not could not have started at a more incontinent time. An explosion sounded alarming every guard patrolling around them. This happened exactly when Poet and Fenris were passing in the middle of the road, in the most visible of all places, yet luck played in their favor and the guards, who apparently were shocked by the sounds of fighting did not react for a brief moment giving them enough time to dart off. Taking cover in the next alley Fenris’s heartbeats slowly died out, returning to the unnaturally low amount of heartbeats yet for Fenris each heartbeat was like a small explosion rocking his ears. 

He watched as the guards slowly gathered their wits back and quickly mounted their vehicles and took off towards the sound of fighting. If they will be lucky some more guards would go away as well making their infiltration even easier. After both caught back their breath they continued forward finally reaching their destination and taking a short rest a small distance from the perimeter wall of the chemical facility. As they both rested Fenris’s keen eyes noticed two forms approaching towards their direction, the shadows played in their favor and at this moment they could see their targets yet be unseen by them. This moment won’t last for long and Fenris’s hunting instincts kicked in quickly. He didn’t waste any time with explanation, his voice low yet full of authority he pointed out the incoming guards and then told Poet to get their attention by quickly moving towards a different piece of cover a bit further away. If they would be lucky the guards, alarmed by the sudden movement would quickly follow Poet letting Fenris blend in with the surroundings and then sneaking up behind them and quickly dispatching them with precise and deadly knife work. The hunt was drawing near, he could smell the blood already.


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

*Update #4*

Buck(Anilar): From your elevated position on the roof of the nearby building, you have a good view of the scene that is unfolding below. It seems that the right rear passenger from the sedan survived the three round burst you delivered to his chest, and you watch as Hermes tends to the unfortunate fellow enough for Thor to interrogate him. You are barely able to hear the conversation that takes place between your Major and the dying man, your eaves dropping made all the harder since the conversation appears to be progressing in spanish. Your attention is drawn away from the interrogation below by the sound of approaching vehicles. From the north of your position, from the direction of the chemical facility, you hear the unmistakable sound of heavy engined military vehicles, from the south you see flashing lights and sirens indicating the approach of the CED. YOu are just passing your report to Thor when another sedan, identical to the one you guys just dealt with turns unto the side street from the east. Unfortunately this has pinned you and your companions in the street, your van trapped between the two sedans. As it approaches the sun roof on the sedan opens and a hispanic male hauls himself half-way out of the car and as he does he shoulders a heavy machine gun. Your companions are, for the moment, obscured by your van, but this new threat needs to be dealt with. Do you shout a warning to Thor and Hermes? Deal with it quickly, time is of the essence as ACS forces are closing in on your position rapidly. 

Hermes(Karak): You quickly go to work stablizing the dying man as much as you are able. You know that Thor is going to want him to remain alive as long as possible as your Major is obviously incensed and desirous of information from the unfortunate soul that lays before you. Jumping right in on the injured man you find that any further minstrations, other than stemming the flow of blood from an entrance wound near the mans stomach, would be pointless. One of Buck's rounds took him in the Liver, and where the wound isn't immediately killing, it is ultimately fatal. As Thor begins to speak to the man in rapid spanish, you listen on. Like some of the other newer members of the squad, you are learning the language but haven't gained the proficiency that say Spectre or Osiris possess. Catching about every third word as the man prattles on, your attention is soon drawn from the conversation as Buck radios down that ACS forces are approaching rapidly. Looking around, taking in your surroundings you notice that another sedan, identical to the one you guys just dealt with turns unto the side street from the east. Unfortunately this has pinned you and your companions in the street, your van trapped between the two sedans. As it approaches the sun roof on the sedan opens and a hispanic male hauls himself half-way out of the car and as he does he shoulders a heavy machine gun. You assume that Buck has also noticed the sedan. What do you do? Do you await Thor's orders, or do you simply assist in dealing with this newest threat, giving the Major time to get as much information as he can from the dying man? 

Thor(Deathbringer): "Thor! I have something better than a tattoo!" you hear Hermes cry out to you. You approach and find that one of the gunman, a backseat passenger from the looks of things, is laying on the ground, struggling for breath. It seems that Buck's three round burst cut a diagonal path down the mans abdomen, obviously perforating the man's stomach and shredding his liver. Hearing Hermes pronouncment as to the man's prognosis, and trusting your medics observations completely, you know that if you are to get any information from him you must hurry. He is fading fast, not to mention the fact that you can hear sirens and you know that the sound of gunfire has no doubt drawn the attentions of the ACS down on you. [Deathbringer we will work through the conversation you have with the dying man over messenger. It is going to be rather fluid, and his responses will be based on your questions.] Your interrogation is soon interrupted by a radio transmission from Buck indicating that as you suspected ACS forces are closing in on you from both the North and the South. Do you issue any orders to your troops such as to maintain the perimeter and engage hostiles? or do you order them to regroup at the van and make ready to get the hell out? What does Thor do as he finishes his questioning?

Poet(Angel of Blood): (OOC: I need you to post for last update) As you make your way up to the walls of the chemical facility, Fenris throws out an arm to stop you, nodding down the intersection roadway indicating the two man patrol that is coming in your direction. He has suggested that you stealithy and silently make your way down and behind the two approaching soldiers then provide a distraction to allow him to sneak up behind them to finish them quietly. This is your show, issue your orders and carry out a plan to kill the patrol. After they have been dispatched, you find that the building, the corner of which you had just taken cover behind, is abandoned. It has a large open basement that would be a perfect place to dispose of the bodies. 

Fenris(Komanko): (OOC: At this point I have been unable to get a hold of AoB for about three weeks, so I am going to kinda take control of him as an NPC. If he posts something before you, follow his direction, if not, Operate under the assumption that his orders are to follow your plan. I give you permission to take control of his character for the sole purpose of inacting your plan.) As Poet makes his way down the wall, it appears as if the Patrol has taken the bait. Both of the soldiers turn to follow his movenment, giving you the opening that you were looking for. The first falls quickly to your knife, but the other reacts a bit faster than you had expected. He is able to spin away from your killing blow, your knife sliding down the side of his ribcage instead of piercing his side, through his ribs, into his lungs and heart as you had intended. He falls to the ground in pain and begins to raise his rifle at you while reaching for his radio. You need to finish him quickly before he can radio out. After finishing the soldiers you and Poet dispose of the bodies in the basement I described above. 

Spectre(Lord Ramo), Osiris(Jackinator), & Loki(Santaire): You three move quickly through the hallways, back to the stairwell. As you enter the stairwell, you hear the unmistakeable sound of boots pounding up the stairs, and you hear men rapidly conversing in spanish. You three all speak the language and quickly gather that these men are coming to find the others that are failing to report in. You also pick up that they both heard the shotgun discharge and are ready for trouble. Looking down the middle of the stairs you can see that they are moving quickly, shotguns raised and ready for trouble. Spectre what are your orders? Do you set an ambush for them, or do you charge forward full bore thinking that the silence has already been pierced by the unfortunate discharge of the shotgun earlier? Issue your orders and work as a team to dispatch the two men coming up the stairs[So fellas, I know that this is a bit of a change in things, but Jack and Santaire you are going to need to wait for Ramo to post before you can. It is probably also going to take you multiple posts over this update to get things coordinated and done. Either that or you can do everything over PM. For this update, and this update only, I am not as concerned with post lenght as long as over the multiple posts you get the job done.] With a coordinated plan the two cartel soldiers are felled easily and you make your way to the bottom of the stairs. 

Cue Ball(CaptainFatty): As you kneel back down next to the Colonel, you notice that he has his submachine gun in one hand and his weapons gauntlet fully activated. He is screwing a suppressor onto the front of his weapon. You wonder what his plan is when your enhanced senses pick up the sound of a shotgun blast, several floors above you in the direction of the command center. You watch as the Colonel's gaze lifts in the same direction, but you are relieved when you look back over your shoulder and find that the Cartel soldier's seem not to notice. Apparently the sound is outside of the range of normal human hearing. The Colonel looks to you and says, "It seems that our reinforcements may be waylaid. On my mark we break cover and as quietly as we can engage the enemy. Darts and flame throwers first since we can't suppress your weapons, I will try and keep them pinned down so you can get in close." You ready yourself and follow the colonel as he runs back up the ramp, darts out and across the way to the column where you took cover before. Looking out you see that the 5 soldiers are still walking around, but Rudolfo is no where to be seen. two of the soldiers have walked over to the SUV where the tech still sits with his apparent jamming device. "I will take the other three," the colonel says, "you take those two and the tech. We need to get comms back online." For a brief moment the usually stoic colonel clasps your shoulder before saying," GO!" He rolls out of cover and you hear the hissing pops of his suppressed rounds flying towards the enemy, followed by rapid orders being yelled in spanish. The two Soldiers by the tech turn in the direction of the commotion, giving you an excellent opening to get them. Use your weapons gauntlet and combat blade to eliminate them quickly. As you turn from your kills you find that the tech has exited the SUV, leaving the black box unattended. He is however leveling an auto-pistol directly at your head. React quickly and attempt to beat him to the punch. [I would like for you to PM me the method in which you are going to react the the tech with the pistol. I will tell you what to include in your post regarding him based on what you send me.]


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## Karak The Unfaithful (Feb 13, 2011)

It didn't take a genius to work out there was no way this man could be saved, However it did take a Medic to be able to keep him breathing a few minutes more, and Hermes was a damn fine medic.

Without being ordered or told he carefully placed his shotgun away from the gunmen (he may be wounded but he had tried to kill Hermes and Thor) and had set to work tending to the wounds.

This man was needed alive, Thor would suck all information from before he was going to die, and this man, would welcome death when it came. However, Hermes had a feeling that he wasn't quite ready to die, not just yet.

Who is?

To him this man was another faceless victim, he had met so many, He knew nothing about this person infront of him and yet his life had being placed into the medic's hands. This is where the Enhanced brain functioning really started to kick in:
to anyone else this dying gunmen looked a mess, blood everywhere, sweat trickling down his forehead, but through Herme's eyes he saw the bullet holes, the veins, artries, the problem, cause, effects and of course: the conclusion. In this case it was death.

The medicae gauntlet that was his right hand opened up with a ready equipment for all Hermes' requirments, the Servitor Arms appeared from his back and through pre-cut holes in his uniform. One in particular ready with a syringe of Morphine which quickly located a vein in the gunmen's arm and injected the pain killer meaning he could focus on stopping the blood flow without having to fiddle with morphine.

By this time Thor had arrived ready for whatever he had in store:

"You don't have long, I've given him some morphine but not enough to cancel out the pain completely so you can still do your thing. However the rate of blood loss is quick, his liver is failing fast and the subject is traumatic, anymore severe injuries will surely kill him. so in short - go easy on him"

Hermes was in his own world now, a world of wounds, needles, knives and blood where he held the power of life and death, where he could play god.

However this was interrupted by Buck on the radio, warning him about an identical sedan powering down the road, it stopped and another hispanic man hauled himself out of the sun roof with a machine gun. 

The bullets rained down upon them like a storm, it would be wise to move but his patient wasn't going anywhere, so neither could Hermes.


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## Anilar (Aug 12, 2011)

Buck surveyed the perimeter while Hermes and Thor secured the scene, one of the assailants was only dying, and Thor had decided to question him. Buck was certain that Thor would get the information he wanted and needed and then some.

Buck tried to eavesdrop on the conversation between Thor and the Hispanic man, but he didn't understand much. The language spoken was spanish, not a language Buck was that motivated to learn and then it was hard to hear too.

Not to mention that Buck started to hear heavy military vehicles to the north in the direction of the cemical facility and CED forces approaching from the south sirens and everything. Interupting Thor in his interogations, when he took a breath Buck quickly gave a status report on the situation and the approaching vehicles, with an ETA.

Buck had hardly finished his report, when another black sedan turned the far corner of the street of the incident. Its motor noise had been masked by the sirens of the CED, and the layout of the nearby buildings. As another Hispanic male was climbing up throught the sunroof, with a old but powerful heavy machine gun, Buck was in no doubt it had to be dealt with and quickly. While pulling a fragmentation grenade, Buck sent a mind impulse to his Marble, with a loud hissing noise it exploded into smoke, that quickly covered the street totally blocking the view between the two sedans. The Machine gunner got startled by the sudden appearance of the smoke, and started shooting before he had braced the machine gun. So the first volley went wide, and wasn't threatening Buck's team mates.

Informing Thor that he was engaging this new threat, Buck sent his grenade flying, his elevated position still giving him excellent view over the street. As long they didn't get into the smoke. The enemy Sedan still accelerating it was clear to Buck they would try and hammer past the Valkyrie van, and get Hermes and Thor into view again. The man with the machine gun was beginning to get his weapon under control.
Buck was allready beginning to line up his submachine gun, as the grenade landed just infront of the Sedan's path. The vehicle had just passed over the grenade when it exploded, the shrapnel shredding the rear tires, making the driver loose control of the vehicle. Buck also hoped the sedan wasn't too heavily armoured, since at least any passengers would be filled with hot shrapnel too.

Buck fire a long burst with his submachine gun, as the Sedan skitted out of control, the brakes screeching in protest of a foot that had slammed the brake pedal to the floor. A cross pattern of bullets taking the machine gun man out of action, his body falling half way down the sunroof, being pinned in place by his heavy weapon. The car thundered into the opposite building of Bucks, just at the edge of the smoke screen. Buck started to shoot short burst at the car, keeping the doors and the sun roof covered, still not sure if the car was armoured or not.

Informing Thor and Hermes that he had the assailants pinned down, and they could engage the new enemy at the edge of the smoke screen opposite building.


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## Lord Ramo (Apr 12, 2009)

Her fire team moved rapidly though the abandoned hallways that once served a purpose as the NAFI hideout. Spectre led her squad towards the stairwells again, the only way in which they could traverse to the garage were the colonel was and their way out to the new safe house. Spectre gritted her teeth as she moved quickly, she didn't want to leave the building until Rodolfo was dead.

She had a score to settle with that slimy bastard, revenge for a dear friend. If she could she would have her assault rifle out, prowling through the corridors killing anyone she came across until she found Rodolfo and ended his miserable and worthless life. However that was not to be, she knew that while she may have revenge on her mind her job was to regroup with the colonel and follow his orders.

Whilst killing the sack of shit, and all his goons would make her feel a lot better, it would also attract far too much attention, unwanted attention. She had her blade out, the red blood of her previous kills still visible on the blade even though she had tried to wipe it clean quickly.

She was the first to enter the stairwell, and immediately she could hear the sound of boots moving up the stairs quickly, as well as the harsh and rapid tones of men speaking in Spanish. She held up a hand to indicate to her team to stop, they would be able to hear it as well and wouldn't be stupid enough to do anything without her orders. She swore under her breath as the men mentioned the shotgun blast that had knocked the wind from her, so they were expecting trouble, especially as their fellow hitmen hadn't checked in.

She could hear them moving up the stairs and mind her mind up. *"All right listen up, I want these two killed silently. Loki you take position on the stairs going up so they can't see you, Osiris on the opposite side of the door leading back into the corridors. I am going to lead them into the corridors by jumping through the door when they see me. Loki you get the rear guy and Osiris you get the first guy that comes in after me. Make sure they don't fire a shot off we clear?"* She got the affirmatives and watched them take their positions. 

She moved to the door, holding it open as she looked down the stairs waiting for them.


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## komanko (May 16, 2010)

OOC: A completely "meh" post from my side, don't blame me, I haven't typed anything in such a along time 


His heart raced with excitement, it has been some time since their team was active. He longed for the feeling of thrill and dread that filled him, a lust for death. He watched as Poet contemplated his plan, a few moments later he nodded and without delaying took off in the general direction which Fenris pointed him to.

The fools were easily mislead by his actions, quickly they followed, unsuspecting of the real plan behind this. Never underestimate your enemies, this was a key rule if one wanted to survive in this world, and it seemed that these guards were not about the follow the rule. Fenris sniffed the air, it was quiet around them and he swore he could smell the uncertainty emitting from the guards. They were like him in a way, longing for action, yet unlike him, they were already dead.

As both soldiers followed Poet Fenris sprung into action, his steps silent yet swift, he moved like a ghost, unseen and unheard. With a quick motion he pulled out his large combat knife and tossed it through the air, catching it quickly and without effort. His heart pounded with excitement and longed for the smell of blood, his life’s purpose was a morbid one, yet in such a world, such morbidity was always nearby. Quick steps brought him closer to the left guard, from behind Fenris gripped the man’s face covering his mouth with his free hand and with a quick stab he slit his throat wide open. Blood poured out magnificently from what seemed to be a second mouth in the soldier’s neck, the blood stood out against the grey of the city, and as the life drained from the man it gave life to his surroundings.

Fenris took his time, it has been a long time since he sated his bloodlust and he intended to relish this moment. Yet this slight hesitation in his actions was enough for the guard nearby to notice the gurgling of his friend. As the guard turned to see what was happening Fenris quickly slashed forward missing the guard’s neck yet sliding across his ribcage, cutting through it, piercing into the lungs and heart. Death was not instantaneous for this one, he was a feisty one, full of spirit. The guard raised his weapon with one hand intent on alerting the others and the radio with the other. 

Fenris snorted in contempt as he watched the guard’s futile attempts. With a quick kick he sent the rifle flying away from the man’s grip, the kick was quickly followed by the sound of crunching bone as Fenris landed his boot against the guard’s other hand, smashing the radio and breaking the bones in his hand. “You are lucky, you are special, you survived.” Fenris said as he put back his knife, “Yet your luck now ran out.” Heartlessly Fenris landed his boot on the soldier’s face, smashing his face into a pulp and thus ending his miserable existence. 

Fenris approached Poet, both corpses dragging behind him like marionettes, as he approached Poet showed him the basement which he has found, it was a good place to let the dead rest in, just like in that cabin in the woods… Before any memories could flood him he hurled both corpses into the open basement, both crashing down against the stone floor below. “If we need a quick hiding spot we can hide here.” Fenris stated, “So remember this spot.”


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## Santaire (Feb 13, 2011)

Loki nodded in acknowledgment to Spectre’s order. He backed silently up the stairs and looked up. His eyes alighted on a pipe fixed to the ceiling. It was swathed in shadow. He contemplated it, processing information in a nano-second. His orders had been to back up the stairs but, being a genius, Loki had a habit of modifying his orders to suit his whims. The overall reason for sending him back up the stairs was to keep out of sight and he would be out of sight if he was on the pipe. Luckily Spectre, while always expecting an order to be followed, had got used to this and so Loki dropped his trench coat to avoid it hanging before leaping upwards. His fingers hooked over the pipes and for a second he hung there before he swung his legs up.

He paused and took his garrotte from the small pouch at his belt and, looping it around his right hand, crawled along the pipe until he was directly over the doorway then let go with his hands. His body swung slightly so that his torso was now vertical, running parallel to the wall. He flexed his fingers and waited. Sure enough there was a startled curse as Spectre was seen. Loki watched as she jumped through a doorway and heard quiet, cautious footsteps as the 2 enforcers approached the doorway. He watched Osiris hug the wall and glance upwards, his enhanced eyesight picking out Loki hanging from the pipe. A flicker of a smile crossed Osiris’ face before vanishing almost immediately afterwards to be replaced by the customary haunting guilt.

Osiris waited for the second man to pass through the doorway before he made his move. They moved in unison, Loki reaching down for the cartel member directly below him while Osiris began to attack the other one. Loki couldn’t reach the man with his fingers but he had already worked this out and his garrotte hung from his outstretched fingers. He looped the black wire around the enforcer’s neck and pulled it tight. Such was the speed of his movement and the strength he had done it with the man’s feet left the floor.

Loki pulled harder, straining his muscles as he lifted the man. Then he saw that the enforcer was holding himself just above the garrotte. Loki sighed in annoyance and, with a single swift movement, pulled the knife from the man’s hip and plunged it into the back of his head. It had all been so quiet and Loki took his spare garrotte from his pocket and used it to tie the corpse in place, swinging from the pipe. He dropped to the ground and stood there, crouched for a moment before moving over to pick up his trench coat. He put it on and turned, walking to where Spectre and Osiris where standing. “New orders captain?” he said quietly to Spectre.


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## Jackinator (Nov 18, 2008)

There was a swish of displaced air as Spectre soared through the door next to me. I heard the two men cry out as they made to follow her, one coming through the door next to me, Spas 12 extended before him. I shook my head disappointedly, never ever enter a doorway like that, ever, it shortened your life span dramatically. I tripped him, sticking my leg out and pulling his up with my foot, he cried out as he fell forward but I caught either end of his shotgun, stepping behind him and yanking it up hard. It hit under his chin, forcing his head back. There was a sharp crack and the man went limp, his neck broken.

I turned, hearing the sharp thud of a knife piercing flesh and bone. The second man was hanging from the exposed pipework in the ceiling, a large knife protruding from the back of his skull. Loki dropped from the ceiling, picking up his trenchcoat before moving over to wher Spectre and I stood. "New orders captain?"

"I suggest we get back to the Colonel, there might be more in the building and we'll be more secure as a group."


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## deathbringer (Feb 19, 2009)

He advanced on the body before him, absently sliding fresh slugs into the magazine of his revolver before sliding it back against his thigh. He advanced upon the corpse with the lazy grace of a stalking hunter before him fingers stretching wide, shadows stretched and perverted by the rising sun into long tendrils snaking over the motionless corpse.

Who are you? 

Who the fuck thinks trying to take me on is a good fucking idea.

His fist balled,a single of his spiked knuckles piercing the glove to show the chilling bleached cream of sharpened bone The fist raised, casting the empty eyed stare into shadow as embers of hatred sparked into ruthless anger.

"Thor! I have something better than a tattoo!"

The fist dropped and he spun around face, the emotions sliding away til the rage dwindled in the very pits of his hateful eyes. They latched upon his victim with gleeful intensity, a cacophony of mirthless naughty spilling from between his broad smile. 

Sadistic delight seered from his eyes as he advanced eagerly, a starving lion upon a wounded gazelle.

"You don't have long, I've given him some morphine but not enough to cancel out the pain completely so you can still do your thing. However the rate of blood loss is quick, his liver is failing fast and the subject is traumatic, anymore severe injuries will surely kill him. so in short - go easy on him"

He ignored the medicae, his words rebounding away, falling away from the sudden walls of concentration that melded around him, his face pressing in upon the frightened eyes of his victim, dominating his vision, the twitching terrified pupils crossing as they sought to keep him in view.

His voice was a malicious hiss, his tongue flowing easily around menacing spanish, such a beautiful language, now sullied by unworthy tongues.

"You have a very short time to live my friend, and you have two choices for your final minutes on this earth.”

He withdrew his gaze, a small smile spreading across his face as the terrified eyes never left him. The smile disappeared as he shrugged with casual abandon hand gesturing in mid air, even as the other slid to clench around his knife.

“you can spend it telling me exactly what I want to know and die under the glorious rush of a morphine induced high or….”
He was back again, knife scything through the air with the deadly hiss of rattlesnake, blade glittering, even as he closed upon the man. The petrified eyes lost focus as they struggled to keep him in view, widening as his captive found the knife suddenly inches from his outstreched fingers.

The hand trembled, eyes twitching back to his own as Thor's smile stretched

“you can help me with an experiment I’ve been longing to try,”

The edge of the knife scraped tenderly across the soft brown flesh. Pain fogged the dull muddy eyes before him his, mind seeming to fade away for a moment as agony bit at his insides.

“how much skin can I remove from one human being before his mind snaps”

The eyes were back with him, stretched wide in petrified ovals, a glimmer of recognition in their depths a low whimper squeaking from between blood stained lips. His body convulsed with fear even as the prisoner forced himself to break the guys, to look deeper into the pools of sadistic delight that threatened to swallow his courage.

The defiance amused him, a long laugh stretching from his lips at the pathetic show of desperation, yet the gaze remained resolutely upon the door of the car. 

His hand latched around the outstretched arm gripping it, startled resistance nothing compared to the pure power as he forced the flat of the icy steel against the naked flesh.

"Do you know who i am?"

Menace ladled the rhetoric, yet the captives eyes were fixed on the blade, whites wide like a rabbit in a snare, even as he gave the slightest of nods, eyes refusing to leave the flat of the blade even as it slid gently along the length of his arm.

He was fighting the vice like grip, shying away from the horrific torment, the visions seering themselves into his skull, his feet shuffling on the pavement as he fought stone, immovable, resolute, crushing.

The blade reached the inside of his elbow, the slightest flash of gold, catching thors eyes, a crucifix glittering on his blood soaked chest even as his resistance died and he went limb, breathing hard. Moist eyes met Thor's even as desperate salty tears carved a meandering path across his face.

"Then you will know that I have performed acts that would make your saviour weep in shame, that I am so deep within the devils clutches, that I would not think twice, about performing acts of such heinous cruelty upon you that would you wished you were being buttfucked by satan himself. I am going to give you once last chance to talk"

A name turned into a mantra under his breath, a single word barely audible, unintelligable, a desperate call for strength, a war of loyaltY against the icy blade that pushed hard against his flesh, then it broke, the mantra ending with a single comprehendable name

"Ruiz, Rodolfo Ruiz"

The name lit a fire in his mind, recognition, a lieutenant of the Mendoza cartel, middle fish, but middle fish with burning hatred. 

Spectre, he remembered it clearly, he should have taken upstairs, perhaps Odin, had wanted to give the new members a right of passage, that was his fucking style. 

He would have ended them both right there, kid or no kid, gun or no gun. 

He couldn't remember who he had been paired with that day, he couldn't see his face anymore. He just remembered, he was fighting, he remembered crushing a windpipe with his stun baton, a hamstring shot with the knife, followed by a backfist temple shot, then a shattering of glass, a thump outside and an explosion that had torn his mind apart.

They were suddenly overrun more flooding in and he was killing more and they were still coming. He was alone, where was.... someone was shouting about Spectre, Spectre, was it Javi? Wasn't it too late for Javi, could it have been Javi or was it Loki. Fuck too many fucking dead, and she was lying their mind seemingly shattered on the floor even as he pulled her away, her legs unable to walk, her mind unable to grasp the concept of the last few seconds, her lips were mumbling a name and they were running, and he was firing trying to go back but he was being pulled away by Javi, it must have been Javi, he would have told a new kid to fuck himself.

A report from Buck cut there reverie, ACS closing and his intensity grew as he turned back to captive with a grunting snarl, business like, the knife pressing to release a bubble of crimson, driving the weakness in his loyalties, driving him onward, a low gasp of pain slipping from his lips

"I don't know senor,"
His voice cracked, his breathing rabid, the lowest gurgle of bubbles resounding in his speech, blood spilling from the corners of his mouth

"He was meeting someone. A man."

The knife drove further deeper, blood oozing from a long shallow cut as he dove deeper,

"give me more, another dealer a new avenue for the mendoza? more damn you"

He was," pain caused him to cry out, a high pitched squeal of anguish followed by a deep hacking cough

, "Federale. ACS."

Blood spattered out onto his shirt, a thick oozing stain tearing across the clean white linen.

Thor recoiled, the knife lifting his grip slackening as he fixed deep upon the eyes of his captor with weighted judgement

"no fucking way"

Every ounce of sense reeled, his logical function exploded in a bewildering shower of colours even as he fixed upon the dull eyes before him. He could see no trace of a lie, but it had to be, if they were beginning to collaborate, if they were starting to negotiate.

The sheer potential defied belief and he let out a low snarl.

A savage backhanded slap shattered the silence and he bellowed with anger even as the wounded mexican recoiled in fear

"your lying to me you little cunt, i swear" 

His fingers latched around the outstretched arm and he pressed the knife down, feeling it bite deeper into the flesh drawing a long howling scream from the depths of the wounded mans lungs.

"I know nothing else about his meeting I swear!"coughing disfigured his words yet Thor bit back words distorted by rage. Buck was snarling a sedan he was engaging but Thor didn't care, flecks of spit flying even as the little man before him erupted with another torrent of blood specked coughing

"then how did this little raid start, who thought that was a good fucking idea. Who gave us away, name the informant or i swear..."

Gunfire, burst and he felt himself pulled towards the man before him ,lips trying to give voice to the word, which oozed from his lips in a malicious hiss

. "There was no informant," he paused breathing deep before hissing in a hoarse whisper

"Rudolfo saw that bitch, the one that killed his brother, on the street. Even know he and his soldiers are assaulting your safe house. Your friends, the other soldiers are dead by now...."

The anger burned bright, and he reacted on impulse, the bloody knife plunging deep into the mans thigh relishing the high shrieking scream that split the air, rising above the deep boom of a grenade. His fist clenched, bone spurs splitting the fabric as he growled 

"where is rodolfo?"

"I have already told you, traitorous son of a whore, he is slaughtering your comrades."

"numbers? how many of you are there tell me anything you know and ill let him give you the morphine, you will end your mortal existence in paradise"

Bargaining, was he that scared, did he truly believe Odin might be, he didn't dare, didn't dare utter those words.

"there were enough...." gasped the captive, the last of his life draining from his lips
"to send you all to the hell you deserve." 

His face twisted into a scowl, hands reaching out balling into hateful fists

"Rudolfo wasn't the only one to loose family that day."

Thor thrust his face into the little mans tremulous features a snarl of hatred slicing them apart

" you've failed to account for one thing little one"

He threw him away drawing his pistol even as the mans eyes grew glassy, his features still,

" I'm still alive"

(ooc I'm going to leave it there, midge i am going to pm you thor's plan so it saves you doing a thor what do you order update and we can move it on)


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

*Update #5*

Hermes (Karak): The conversation between Thor and the dying cartel member takes you by surprise. Not only is your Major's reaction violently animated, the news of the assault on the team's base of operations is something that concerns you. Seeing that your patient is dead and the sounds of gunfire from the newly arrived black sedan, a twin of the first, now silenced. You stand by and await Thor's orders.

Buck (Anilar): Seeing that Thor and Hermes are preoccupied with the interrogation of the prisoners and that their view is obstructed by your smoke screen, you decide to descend from your elavated position to check the vehicle that has showed no signs of movement since you disabled it and killed the machine gunner. Approaching cautiously, you notice that the sirens of the ACS patrol closing on your location are growing closer by the second. Arriving at the car you see that the machine gunner is slumped over on the roof, clearly dead, several bullet holes tracing up the line of his breast bone, ending in a neat hole just below the jaw line. it wasn't visible to you through the smoke and haze and the angle of your position but you now see that the driver's side window is shattered and broken. Looking inside you see the carnage that your grenade imposed on the other two passengers in the car, both dead. After making sure that there are no further immediate threats, you jog over to join Hermes and Thor. 

Hermes (Karak), Buck (Anilar), & Thor (Deathbringer): [Deathbringer I am taking some liberties here based on the PM you sent me regarding your orders. If any of this doesn't track for you, please let me know] As the Major turns to you, Hermes and Buck, his eyes are filled with barely controlled rage. He silently, as if composing himself and attempting to order his thoughts, returns to your van, removes the remainder of his equipment, and comes back to you, his shoulders and bearing set in decision. "Get your asses back in the van and get the fuck out of here before all hell breaks loose. Find that damn Russian and fucking Poet and complete this damn recon." Taking a breath he obviously is attempting to keep his rage from spilling out and continues, "Put Fenris in charge once you get there Hermes. If anyone can get in and out of the damn place, while gathering the fucking intel we need to save this clusterfuck, it is that sneaky bastard. Move! Now!" At this point Thor takes off at a dead run, moving in the direction of the safe house you know to be under assault. Take the van and amongst yourselves determine how you are going to get in contact with Poet and Fenis. 

Thor (Deathbringer): As you take off at a ground eating pace, you duck into side alleys, keeping out of sight, dodging ACS patrols that are now crawling all over the area. You are forced to, several times, circumvent security check points, barely avoiding detection, unless you choose direct conflict with one of the two man patrols [if you choose direct conflict you will easily overcome the two men of the patrol. However there is a chance that you will be discovered, either in the act of their destruction or in the disposal of their bodies. Choose wisely.}. I really want you to take the opportunity to really delve into the psyche of Thor. What is he thinking and feeling as he makes his way slowly back across town to the building where the other half of his team, including the Colonel, may very well lie dead. Please end your post with Thor arriving back at the operations building and approaching the entrance to the underground parking structure at the rear of the building. 

Spectre(Lord Ramo), Osiris(Jackinator), & Loki(Santaire): As you stand you have four more flights of stairs to reach the sub-basement that connects to the parking structure. As you reach the sub-basement you make your way through the connecting rooms with speed and ease, until you arrive at the door that leads into the parking structure. You all know that this stairwell will put you out on the other side of the building from the supply room and loading dock. The door itself is slighting ajar, an obvious sign that the Cartel soldiers that you just encountered came through this door as one of the Valkyrie team would have made sure the door was secured. As you approach, you hear the silent hiss of suppressed gun fire and the roar of a vehicle engine, followed quickly by the whip crack report of unsilenced rounds in response. After a sharp intake of breath at the unsilenced rounds Spectre turns to the team, "Loki, Osiris, no point staying quiet if the Colonel and Cueball have got them firing. Switch to unsilenced weapons and stack up, Osiris on point and I'll take rear."

As you quickly enter the parking structure in an organized tactical stack, weapons ready, you see the following. Off to your left you see a collection of three black SUVs and Odin engaging three Cartel soldiers. One of those soldiers lies dead on the ground, several bullet wounds in his abdomen and chest, but the other two are taking cover behind a concrete support column. One of the soldiers sits on the ground, shotgun roaring, bleeding profusely from a nasty leg wound, but the other is hale and healthy, laying down a barrage of suppressing fire with a submachine gun. This is keeping the Colonel pinned down behind one of the Cartel's SUVs. From the far rear left corner of the garage you hear more shouts and sounds of gunfire and can only assume that CueBall is back there engaging more Cartel soldier's. From the right down the ramp that leads from the street two levels above, speeds another black SUV, identical to the ones already in the garage, leading to the logical conclusion that it contains more Cartel soldiers. 

Taking in the situation with a steady experienced eye Spectre begins to issue orders, "All right gents, Loki split off and flank around to take out those men supressing the Colonel. Once thats done move to where Cueball is and provide assisstance." As her unblinking gaze shifts from the young computer tech to Osiris, ""Osiris head to the left, those gunshots can only mean that Cueball has engaged the remainder of the Cartel soldiers in the garage and he will probably need support. Loki will join you once he has taken out the forces suppressing the Colonel."

"You have your orders! Go!"

Loki (Santaire): You immediately surge forwards, your enhanced body taking in all the factors of the conflict around you, and as you get into position open fire on the troopers pinning the colonel down. Your rounds tear through the already wounded man dropping him like a lifeless sack. His companion yells in surprise and has he turns to face you it gives the Colonel the opportunity he needs to drop him. You watch as a fine red mist surrounds the Soldiers head as the Colonels rounds pass through his skull from temple to temple and he falls dead to the floor. As you take off at rapid pace to meet up with Osiris and CueBall, Odin falls into step with you. 

Osiris (Jackinator): You immediately rush around the perimeter of the room, trying to get to CueBall has fast as you can. The sound of struggle has ceased from that corner of the room, but instead of being relieved the lack of sound fills you with a sense of impending dread. You round the back of the SUVs and a vicious tableu comes into view. Two soldiers of the Cartel are dead, but what fills your vision is the fact that one of the Cartel soldiers has a pistol aimed right at CueBall's face. Before you can fire, even your advanced and enhanced reflexes cant react fast enough, the Soldier pulls the trigger, a malicious smile on his faces as the round slams into CueBall's head, a grunt of surprise escaping his lips as he slumps to the ground. The soldier barely has the wherewithall to notice you before you end him. Finish the soldier and go check on your team mate. 

Spectre (Lord Ramo): You watch your comrades rush off to comply with your orders and you begin to rush towards the newly arrived SUVs, but before you make it two steps two heavy impacts crash ram into you from behind, and your left calf burns with sudden hot pain. The combined injuries are enough to pitch you forward onto your hands and knees. As you try to steady your breathing and get back to your feet a cold laugh echoes out of the shadows to the side of the door you came through. Stepping into the light is none other than Rudolfo Ruiz, a heavy pistol aimed straight at your face, a cool emotionless smile playing around his face though his eye harbor nothing but festering rage. He approaches closer, thinking you more disabled than you really are, and lowers the pistol to point directly at the back of your head. In spanish he speaks, "Now bitch... You will die. My brother will be avenged." 

Gathering yourself, you lunge forward, hand locking around his wrist, twisting the pistol from his grip it clatters to the ground as you land two heavy blows to his rib cage. He grunts in pain, but to your surprise he doesn't fall, instead he twists, breaking your wrist lock, and following through with his momentum lands a heavy backhanded blow across your mouth. As you spin to recover you find that he is backing away trying to draw the other pistol he has resting in a shoulder holster. How do you react? 

Fenris (Komanko): Turning to you Poet says, " Alright man... time to get that intel we needed." He pulls out a datapad that contains the schematic of the chemical compound and pulls up the page that indicates the second floor of the main building. Zooming in on a particular room, on the blue print it is labeled room A212-r, he jabs a finger at it. "According to the info we were provided that room is their security office. In there you should find all the watch rotations, security patrol routes, camera frequencies, staffing numbers, the whole shebang." Staring down at his rifle he continues, " I can't move in an out the way you can. I will stay here, it is a good enough staging point as any, and try to get in contact with the rest of the team.  I will be on tac com channel 4, if you hit the shit, radio me and I will bring the cavalry. Now get moving." 

Taking off from the abandoned building you take of south following the wall until you find a good position to go over, or through. With a thought your skin instantly mimics the concrete of the wall, making you invisible to both passerby and security cameras. Get past the wall and begin to make your way to the main building at the center of the complex, making note of all relevant information such as security patrols and locations of security cameras.


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## Jackinator (Nov 18, 2008)

There was a sound of gunfire ripping through the parking lot. The Colonel and Cueball were evidently under attack and their opponents didn't care for stealth. So much for attempting to keep a low profile, "Loki, Osiris, no point staying quiet if the Colonel and Cueball have got them firing. Switch to unsilenced weapons and stack up, Osiris on point and I'll take rear."

Spectre issued the order quickly and quietly and I nodded sharply, unslinging the SMG from my back and unfolding the stock. I thumbed the safety, selecting single shot and raising it too my shoulder as the two others prepared behind me. Spectre tapped me on the shoulder to indicate her readiness and I moved in through the door, checking the room and seeing the conflict obvious there. I turned left, knowing it was my job to reach the farthest point as quickly as possible and hearing the sounds of gunfire from the furthest corner. I left Spectre and Loki to deal with the cartel soldiers attacking the Colonel, breaking into a run as the firefight in the corner intensified. I kept the SMG raised and ready.

The sounds of conflict from that corner of the room had ceased and far from relieving me it only filled my mind with a sense of dread and I increased my pace as a sense of urgency began to rise. I rounded the corner too late. Cueball was slumped against one of the jeeps, a large black pistol aimed at his face. I raised the SMG, but I wasn’t fast enough and I saw an evil smirk form on the soldiers face as he pulled the trigger and Cueball’s features vanished in a flash and a spray of blood. Less than half a second later I annihilated him, a half second squeeze of the trigger reducing the upper half of his body to a red mist.

Checking the area quickly I moved forward, keeping a wary eye out for any concealed cartel soldiers. There were none about and I sank down on one knee to check the recumbent Cueball.


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## Anilar (Aug 12, 2011)

Buck was covering the sedan a few more seconds, before he realised that his team mates wasn't engaging the enemy. Looking back to Thor and Hermes they still stood around the prisoner.
It was quite clear for Buck he had to secure the Sedan himself. Quickly climbing down, there was still no action to be seen from the Sedan. At a quick run, he quickly covered the distance to the vehicle and a welcome sight met Buck. His grenade had done wonderful work, but still Buck was careful, placing a bullet in each of the cartel thugs just to be sure they were dead.

Buck quickly ran over to thor to retrieve new orders, and Buck didn't like what he was hearing. It was clear Thor was letting his emotions dictate his actions, but Buck also knew this was not the time to speak his mind simply answering yes sir. Buck was confident Odin was on top of the situation he was in, and if someone was to reprimand Thor it would be Odin, maybe spectre. It defeniately wasn't Buck himself, he was the one that would show Thor that life continued afterwards, even if this mission was going to hell.

Buck returned to the van with Hermes, taking the driver seat quickly starting up the van and moving east where the second Sedan had come from. In an attempt to avoid the incoming north and south bound ACS and military vehicles, that Buck had spotted from the roof. Driving so Hermes could assess the situation and formulate a plan on how to connect with Fenris.

_"Sir! with a little luck the close by roadblock might have been abandoned and we might hook up with Fenris and Poet on the other side."_ Buck cautiously suggested to Hermes. While he turned the vehicle up some streets that would hopefully circumvent the ACS patrols, and bring them back towards the area where Poet and Fenris had been dropped off, and where the closest roadblock hopefully had been abandoned.


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## Lord Ramo (Apr 12, 2009)

The group moved quickly and quietly through the building as they headed towards the garage, Spectre expecting trouble still held her knife out ready. The sounds of gunshots spurned the group on, blasts from shotguns and sub machine guns as the Colonel and Cueball held off whatever assault group attacked the garage. As they neared the door to the garage Spectre issued her orders.

*"Loki, Osiris, no point staying quiet if the Colonel and Cueball have got them firing. Switch to unsilenced weapons and stack up, Osiris on point and I'll take rear."* She said unslinging her shotgun and placing her blade back in its holster. They had mere seconds before they would have to breach, if they messed around team mates could die. 

The trio stormed into the room, weapons readied sweeping from left to right, Spectre already taking in the tactical situation. The colonel was pinned down by some vehicles, two men were firing at him, one man bleeding nearby. Shots were heard to her left, obviously Cueball. Finally she spotted a lone vehicle blocking the escape route, and quickly her decision was made.

*"All right gents, Loki split off and flank around to take out those men supressing the Colonel. Once thats done move to where Cueball is and provide assisstance."* As her unblinking gaze shifts from the young computer tech to Osiris, *"Osiris head to the left, those gunshots can only mean that Cueball has engaged the remainder of the Cartel soldiers in the garage and he will probably need support. Loki will join you once he has taken out the forces suppressing the Colonel."*

She didn't wait for an acknowledgement, knowing that they would do as she commanded instantly. She turned and began to move towards the vehicle, shotgun held up and ready as she took her time moving there. There was no point rushing over, if there was anyone inside they could take her out if she wasn't prepared. However the vehicle blocked the escape route, and she knew it had to be moved if the NAFI members had any chance of an escape.

She got closer before she reeled forward, projectiles slamming into her body armour, knocking the shotgun from her hands. Her left leg flared up with pain and she hit the deck, hands knocking her shotgun away from her as it skidded across the floor. She turned her head to see the triumphant Ruiz step from the shadows of the door they had entered from. Whilst he had a cool smile on his face his eyes betrayed the anger he felt, obviously like her he hadn't forgotten.

Her own eyes mirrored the rage in his, the bastard being responsible for taking away her closest friend. He walked forward arrogantly with a heavy pistol in his hand, confident he had incapacitated her enough to kill. He was mistaken. She allowed him to level the pistol to her head before he spoke in rapid spanish. Spectre knew immediately what he had said. "Now bitch... You will die. My brother will be avenged."

Before he could gloat even a second more Spectre struck quickly, moving like a snake she grabbed hold of his gun hand, twisting his wrist till he dropped the gun. Whilst she was doing that her other fist smashed into his ribs twice, causing him to grunt in pain. However he was no easy opponent, and backhanded her hard enough for her to spin. A ring on his finger caught on her cheek, causing it to bleed.

He backed away, hands scrambling to get his reserve pistol out of its shoulder hostel so he could fire on her. A chance she would not allow him to get. She used the spin from the backhand to pivot herself up, drawing her combat blade in one fluid motion. It was the closest thing to hand and she wanted to make the bastard bleed before she killed him. 

Spectre rushed forward, moving quickly to make up the lost ground as Ruiz struggled with his holster, every millisecond counting to the final result of this battle to the death. With a triumphant laugh Ruiz pulled his pistol out of his holster and began to bring it up to aim. However Spectre was too close, a fact that they could both see as she launched her attacked. With a vicious uppercut from her knife hand she severed the fingers that held Ruiz's gun, causing him to cry out in pain.

As they were severed from the nerves the fingers twitched and a round was sent flying out of the barrel that skimmed Spectre's chest, Spectre ignoring it, allowing the adrenaline through her body take care with any pain so she could finish this bastard off once and for all. She moved her knife forward in a lunge at Ruiz's throat, though he battered her attack away with his arm. Quickly he stepped inside her defence, punching her in the gut twice and using the same move she had used earlier on his gun to knock the knife from her hand.

When he hit her, she could see that he was in pain also, hitting her with the hand that was minus fingers now, but she could also see that he also was running of anger and adrenaline. She dropped down as he aimed a punch for her face, punching him hard in the gut before rolling past him and striking him in the back of the leg. He stumbled forward, though used the momentum to duck underneath a kick she had aimed at his head to knock him down. He span quickly, hands wrapping around the knife that she had used to sever his fingers, still slick with his blood and took a vicious swipe at her stomach. 

Spectre leapt backwards having to switch to the defensive to stop herself being skewered by her own knife. Ruiz moved forward, clutching the knife hard in one hand he began a serious of attacks at Spectre forcing her to drop and dodge each attack. One strike he over extended himself and Spectre leapt forward grabbing hold of his knife hand she planted two blows to the side of his head before she was sent reeling. He had headbutted her, causing her to loose her sight for a second before tripping her over using his legs. She fell hard on her back and saw her knife descending for her throat.

Without thinking she put her left hand in the way, the knife going through and burying itself to the hilt in her hand, causing her to cry out in pain. The blade stopped mere inches away from Spectre's throat Ruiz seeing his opportunity quickly applied his weight as he tried to force the blade into her throat.

Spectre tried as hard as she could to stop this, other hand punching wherever she could reach on Ruiz, though he seemed to ignore the pain. A pained smile lit up on his face as he saw the moment in which she would die, and he twisted the knife to try and cause more pain.

However Spectre saw her opportunity, and with one quick blow had her hand hit the side of his head. Her palm stayed open and next to his head something that confused Ruiz for a moment. *"You killed someone close to me scumbag. Now I am going to send you to join your bastard of a brother in hell."* She snarled at him as she opened fire with her hand blaster. The blast knocked him off her, and Spectre leapt to her feet. She pulled her blade out from her hand, before putting it back in her holster. She would have to get the medic to look at her injuries, and see if her left hand blaster was still operational.

Slowly she drew one of her side arms and levelled it at Ruiz's head, making sure to stay far enough away so that he didn't have an opportunity like he had afforded her. *"Say hi to your brother for me, we're going to end all the cartels and see all scum like you burn."* She snarled.


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## Santaire (Feb 13, 2011)

Loki nodded in response to Spectre’s orders and drew both pistols. As they entered the garage his enhanced mind took everything in, analysed it and processed it within a millisecond. Due to the bioengineered organs in his system he could sense the bio-electric fields of everyone present. As Spectre gave orders he peeled off to help Forsythe, watching Osiris round the vehicles and Spectre began to move towards the vehicles themselves.

Loki saw the wounded man pinning the colonel down with an SMG and threw himself into a sideways dive. Before he even hit the floor he was firing. The world seemed to be moving in slow motion.

‘Fight time’ Loki’s old friend Cage called it... Had called it the Cyber-tech corrected himself, Cage was long dead. His finger squeezed the trigger. The hammer struck the bullet and the slide slammed back. The caseless round left the muzzle with a tiny flame behind it that vanished almost as soon as it appeared. The barrel came up and Loki let it, bending his wrist to absorb the recoil as the slide slid back into place. Only a second later he squeezed the trigger of his second pistol and a second round was fired. The first, white hot, hit the enforcer in the leg. His finger was still on the trigger and as he fell the SMG continued firing, raking the wall and ceiling and he threw his arms out as if to balance himself. The second round hit him beneath the armpit and penetrated his chest. The man didn’t even have time to scream before the bullet reached his heart

The second enforcer turned, crying out with shock and rage. Loki hit the ground and rolled to his feet but before he could bring his pistols round there was the chattering sound of an assault rifle firing. Loki felt no pain and wondered if this was one of those wounds that the old veterans talked about where the pain came only later. Then he saw that it was not the Cartel soldier who had fired. Forsythe rose from cover and Loki watched as the rounds the colonel had fired tore from temple to temple. The enforcer’s head was haloed with a red mist for a split second before he fell with a thud. 

Loki did not pause so much as to even acknowledge Forsythe and was already running to meet up with Osiris and CueBall. Odin fell into step beside him without so much as a word, only a simple nod that Loki returned.


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## Karak The Unfaithful (Feb 13, 2011)

"Get your asses back in the van and get the fuck out of here before all hell breaks loose. Find that damn Russian and fucking Poet and complete this damn recon."

without so much as a 'yes sir' Hermes and Buck took off in the direction of their van, They reached it without even a scratch. pefect.

It will still chaos out their, with bullets being exchanged in so many places and alot of the vechiles being turned into swiss cheese. The whole mission was turning sour, their cover had been blown wide open and now they had to pay the price. They said it would destroy the ACS, but now the glory of that moment had worn off and the cold, gritty realism of war had taken its place.

Buck took the wheel of the van and Hermes took the seat next to him, the ACS must have figured out what was happening by now because they seemed to be sending an army after them.

_"Sir! with a little luck the close by roadblock might have been abandoned and we might hook up with Fenris and Poet on the other side."_ 

"Sir?" asked Hermes slightly puzzled, "you've been around the officers too long"

"Its sounds like a good idea, Buck, if that roadblock isn't abandoned then I'm sure we can manage it, but lets him them hard"

Buck nodded, stamped his foot on the accelerator and they were off.


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## deathbringer (Feb 19, 2009)

Smoke was filling the air around him, twisting and twirling as he thrust through the rolling tendrils, pistol in one hand, the deep throb of blood pounding against his temple. The stretch of old woulnds long healed nagged at his subconscious, the slightest nip like a dog snapping playfully at his heels, mild irritations. He disregarded them, ignored them, cast them into the flames of hatred watching them curl and smoulder. 

Consumed, devoured by the wild fury that caused his muscles to convulse, his pistol raising high. He wanted to kill, to destroy, to become the avatar of his codename, thunderous, wild and devestating. It epitomized him and he embraced it with open arms strived to reach the destructive potential of a god.

He was a god in his own way, he hadn't met anyone that could best him, anyone that could match his fury and withstand his onslaught. He'd kicked the shit out of Odin and Odin had kicked the shit out of him. Especially in the early days, when Odin had been a colonel blooded and regal amongst reeling civilians and broken soldiers. He'd just been a civvy trained by a civvy to be a warrior, a pale if vicious imitation, untrained and wild looking up into the face of...

No not that day, not that fucking day. A beast of a man, standing in worn fatigues, his fathers... no fuck that, fuck that shit.

He broke the mist hermes on his tail, taking in the mangled, blood spattered innards of the car before him with a grunt of irritation. He had wanted to kill, wanted to fight. No the fight was not here, if it was a fight, if they had survived the attack. 
Massacre. The very idea set his teeth on edge.

He could hear Forsythe telling him to stay, to finish the mission, that the mission was paramount. He could hear himself telling Forsythe to shove it.

He already knew what he was going to do, his moment of hesitation his conscience of what was right, easily defeated.

Buck was looking at him with bland curiosity, Hermes with wide eyed intent, a puppy staring into the whirring meat grinder. Did he feel the same, buried beneath the hatred, stored within forgotten vaults, emotions he had refused to feel for so long.

Was he scared for them? Did he really believe they could have been taken totally by surprise.

He already knew the answer, his plan made that evident. His voice was terse, barely constrained even as orders spilled from him

"Get your asses back in the van and get the fuck out of here before all hell breaks loose. Find that damn Russian and fucking Poet and complete this damn recon."

He was already moving, yet he halted with an afterthought, his responsibilites coming to him

"Put Fenris in charge once you get there Hermes. If anyone can get in and out of the damn place, while gathering the fucking intel we need to save this clusterfuck, it is that sneaky bastard."

They were staring at him as if he was mad and he rounded upon them with a roar that sent them sprinting into action, affirmations coming from worried mouths

" Move! Now!" 

He was moving too, pausing only to grab his gear from the van, a surge of his powerful legs taking him between houses, his mind already straying from their worried mouths and burning eyes. He could feel Forsythe's reproach, the colonel's stern gaze seering into his back even as he fled, words of responsability of duty fighting against the hate, the longing to kill, to avenge and protect.Fuck them all, if the colonel was killed it would be a catastrophe, his carcass picked clean of technology of information. This could set them back years, the loss of their figurehead along with the loss of their best and brightest. Disastor, it was the right thing to do.

He was moving upwards as well as forwards, free running across walls leaping gaps in a rush of exhileration, suddenly above the world even as federale moved like ants around him converging on the gunfire, an ants nest forming around the remains of the cartel.

He would have preferred to have cleaned up, but there was no time, the whole situation a bubbling boiling mass of chaotic entropy, bubbling, on the brink of spilling over. He was a causer of chaos, he always had been, even in briefings he stuck in the general's craw, acted like a spoilt teenager denied access to a cultural fad.

ANd he was third in fucking command. The major was mad, Forsythe blinded by comradery. He was no figurehead, no leader, he was blinkered by the very emotion that fueled him. 

He leapt up another ledge, cutting through some slum flats, decrepit and dingy, eyes lingering in the darkness only to flitter away as they met his own eyes.

Even now he was ruled by emotion, though this was the right thing to do, operationally prudent to either survivors or corpses were retrieved, all data destroyed. That was not why he ran, he ran because he hated, he ran because deep inside him he feared and he hated the fear so he ran with his default intention. To slaughter the fear without mercy, to crush it beneath his fingers.

Approaching the parking structure, he drew blade and baton, sliding the gloves from his hand to reveal long talons of bone upon each knuckle.

At the entrance he paused, a momentary breath to clear his mind, to brave his heart against the horror that may lie before his eyes. 

"Fuck it"


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

*Update #6*

Buck (Anilar) & Hermes (Karak): As you drive out of the area, you hold your breath for a few tense moments as ACS vehicles and foot soldiers swarm the area. Fortunately for you, you attract no attention as they passing soldiers are too intent to get to the scene of the shoot out, the plumes of smoke drawing them in as moths to a flame. You are able to approach check point you had selected without resistence, but it seems that the ACS has brought out more of the Civil Enforcement Division to man the checkpoints as the soldiers are off dealing with the fallout of your encounter with the Cartel soldiers. They are unarmed, but obviously cautious from their stance as the van approaches the checkpoint. There are three Officers of the CED present at the checkpoint, one is taking papers, another is sitting off to a side in an idling jeep, an archaic looking laptop on his lap, and a third is taking photographs of vehicles as they pass through the line, of which there are three ahead of you. The Officer with the computer, you notice, has positioned himself so that he has a clear view of the license plate on the front of your van. Putting two and two together you can assume that he is confirming vehicle information. At this point it is too late for you to back off, or turn out of the line, a car having just pulled in behind you, without arousing suspicion. All you can do is hope that the papers that Loki fashioned for both you and the vehicle are enough to make it through, the fact that the ACS now have a photo of your van and plate something that can't be avoided. [I would love to work out the coversation that Buck will have with the CED Officer in real time over MSN, Yahoo, Skype, or similar Anilar. Get with me Via PM and we can work out that communication.] Hermes what are you feeling and doing as the conversation is taking place with the Officer? Are you preparing for a fight, keeping an eye on the other officers? What are you doing? 

Osiris (Jackinator): As you slide to Cueball's side you begin to take stock of his injuries. Contrary to your earlier observation the bullet did not penetrate into Cueball's head, but in fact ricochetted around the side of skull, exiting behind the left ear. It is a miracle that the shot was not instantly fatal, but feeling his neck you feel that Cueball still has a pulse and is still breathing, albeit very shallowly. His face is a mess of blood and black powder burns and you know that he is just clinging to life. Hearing a curse behind you, you look up to find Odin rushing forward, Loki by his side. The Colonel immediately rips open a pouch on his tactical vest, pulls out a large medical pack, and rooting around inside of it he finally extracts a hypospray syringe. You watch as he presses the item firmy against the side of Cueball's neck and blink at the sudden hiss of air as the device shoots adrenaline straight into Cueball's blood stream, causing his eyelids to flutter, but ultimately roll close again. Odin shoves a wad of bandages into your hands and barks, _"Osiris put pressure on that wound, lets get him patched up as best we can. We will rendezvous with Hermes soon enough, lets just hope that it is in time."_ Methodically go to work helping the Colonel stabilize Cueball. 

Loki (Santaire): As you round the back of the van you come across the scene of Cueball lying motionless, his face a mass of blood and close contact powder burns, Osiris by his side. The Colonel immediately rushes to assist Osiris in stabilizing your teammate, quickly pulling medical supplies from his vest. After a breif conversation with Osiris he turns back to you, jutting his chin in the direction of the nearest SUV, he barks, _"Loki, see what you can do about that damn jamming device. We need to get in contact with the rest of the team. Get communications back online Lieutenant!."_ Turning to towards the SUV Odin indicates, you see a black box with a small readout and blinking lights, but your eyes also see the strong EM field the device emits. It is now apparent what was shutting down comms. As you take the small device into your hands you attempt to shut it down only to find it disabiled by a command control code. Work your magic to disable the device. [Santaire, I would like to see a very detailed description on how you use your abilities to disable the device.]

Spectre (Lord Ramo): As you stand over your foe, you can't help but think that you should just end him, now. The ruined left side of his face leering up at you, bringing images of the past, of dead friends, of friends dead at this man's hands. What is going on in Spectre's mind right now? The consumate soldier, professional and detacted, warring with the woman who still lives with the nightmares of battles gone by. Slowly, time seeming to move ploddingly by, you can feel your finger tighten on the trigger. Every instinct telling you to stop, but a voice, Granite's voice, whispering to you to end the pitiful wrech that lies at your mercy. Before you can act your pistol arm gets wrenched upwards and back, an iron grip pinning the pistol and the hand that holds it to your right shoulder. Looking over, you see Thor as he quickly commands, _"leave him."_ His eyes locked onto the unmoving form of Ruiz. 

Thor (Deathbringer): As you enter into the garage you immediately come to a door that leads to the stairs up into the building. As you approach the door slams outward and a cartel soldier comes barreling out, obviously intent on getting to the lower levels of the parking structure, he barely notices you in time and as he hastily raises his weapon to confront you you take him out barely missing a stride. [you can incapacitate or kill this soldier in any manner you choose, just remember you are on street level and still slightly visible to anyone who may come to investigate loud noises.] You move quickly through the garage and as you round the end of the ramp from the first to the second level, you hear the unmistakeable pop of gun fire, thought it is muffled by the tons of concrete that surround you. The fact that there is still gun fire causes you to hasten your steps. You come to the ramp between the second and third level of the garage and you find that there is a large black SUV blocking the ramp. You can still make it by, but it is obvious that the Cartel soldiers were attempting to keep vehicles from getting by. You approach cautiously, but find that the vehicle is empty. Walking slowly down the ramp, taking in everything you can see, looking for threats, you hear the echo of voices, though what they say is unintelligible, and almost immediately as the whole of the third level opens up to your vision you see Spectre. She stands over the unmoving form of who you believe to be Rudolpho Ruiz. The left side of his face is mangled, scorch marks tracing their way across the right side, blurring his features. Spectre has a pistol leveled at Ruiz's face and it appears to you that she is about to shoot him. You need information, information that Ruiz alone has. Stepping in you stop Spectre, ordering that she "Leave him." What do you do from here? Do you go to check on the rest of the team? or do you begin to work on Ruiz?

Fenris (Komanko): I need you to post for the last update when you can, I understand your time constraints.


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## Anilar (Aug 12, 2011)

Buck was willing his pulse to slow down, as he navigated the van through the streets towards the checkpoint area. Even thou he tried to navigate around the most obvious roads toward the area, they had fought minutes ago, the streets was still filled with ACS soldiers driving and running. But none of them gave Buck and Hermes a second look, as it was clear all there attention was to reach the area of battle in a hurry. Buck just hoped that all there bad luck on this mission had pooled up at that incident, they could use some good luck now.

But it didn't seem quite like there luck was turning, as Buck turned out on the road towards where he hoped the checkpoint wasn't anymore, only to be disappointed. The checkpoint was still there, but instead of soldiers it was members of the Civil Enforcement Division manning the station. As Buck drove up in the line of vehicles waiting to be let through, he shot a look at Hermes, before he checked out that his disguise was in place, and that there was no visible weapons or other stuff that could give them away at a glance.

When there was only one car between them and the checkpoint, Buck rolled down the window and prepared the papers, that Loki had provided. Buck was certain they would look legit, but current events could have changed security protocols.

As the vehicle in front drove away and Buck was waved forward, Buck made sure to wipe the smile of his face, trying his best to but on a submissive face, avoiding direct eye contact with the officers at the checkpoint.
Pulling up to the officer taking papers, Buck notices his eyes flick over the van, taking in everything about it. It is clearly a man dedicated to his work and quite proficient at it.

_"Papers."_ The officer states simply and matter of factly, keeping a hand out showing that he does not tolerate and delays.

Buck quickly hands over the papers Loki had provided, three sheets the work order and the indentification papers on Buck and Hermes. Answering the officer, _"Right here Sir."_

Examining the papers thourougly, the officer looking up and down a few times, before he addressed Buck again his voice full of suspicion.
_"I wasn't aware of any electrical work that needed done. Not only that but an electrical crew just passed through here about 5 minutes ago on the same work order number and why so many men for what seems like a small job according to these papers?"_

Buck keeping his eyes adverted and putting on a submissive tone in his voice, answered the officer.
_"Im sorry Sir, but it is not my job to question orders from my supervisor, he gave me and my buddy here that workorder. Im not sure about another crew, but it is not uncommon that our supervisor does not inform us about everything he decides, like how many crew he sends for a particular assignment. And I really would like to not disappoint my supervisor by being late you know"_

The officer raising an eye brow, it was clear to Buck that it would take some persuasion to come throught the check point without all hell breaking loose, just hoping that Hermes would keep calm and quiet Buck continued his conversation with the CED officer. 
_"The other workman were from a different company. How do you explain that?"_ He asked.

_"I can only speculate Sir, but I could imagine someone from the ordering end have doublebooked the assignment, probably in hopes to have the problem solved quickly. Im just wondering you only indicate the other crew was one workman. From what I know of the assignment it is a two man job, I would be working on electrical wirings and such, while my partner here would be watching various consoles and stations to spot the errors so we can figure out what need replacement and what might have short circuited."_ 
Buck responded, not answering too detailed as not to lose the man, and keep him believing he was the smart one here. Making lots of room for the officer to ask more detailed questions of the work if he so decided. But Buck was pleasantly surprised that the officer seemed to move on in the conversation.

_"Indeed,"_ he said incredulously, _"a moment please."_
He steps away and joins the Officer with the laptop. He hands that officer all of the papers that he took from you and slowly strolls back to your window.
_"It will take only a moment for my partner to run your information through the system. Please wait here." _
Stepping back from the window, he takes what appears to be a small communication device from his breast pocket and speaks into it quietly. 

_"Ofcourse sir"_ Bucks says quietly, hoping that he can pick up some of what the officer says, but unfortunately not able to. Buck watches the third officer standing up, walking around the van snapping photos from all sides, including clear photos of Bucks and Hermes faces. Looking back Buck can't help himself responding to the pictures being taken, a small smile on his lips.
_"Dont believe it is standard procedure taking pictures of workcrews Sir, my wife is bugging me for a family picture every now and then."_

_"I don't believe you are in a position to tell me what standard procedure is citizen.... in fact, why don't you step out of your vehicle. I intend to take a closer look at your equipment and cargo."_ Was the unfortunate response that Buck received for his quip. Quickly taking stock of the situation Buck could see the officer with the laptop was coming back over with the papers in his hands. Nothing indicated that he was overly suspicious, so Buck took a gamble hoping the officer would simply hand back the papers and let them move on when he had reached them. Buck aimed to stall for a little for time.

_"Im sorry Sir, im just a bit nervous around cameras, have for as long as I remember Sir, so I apologize sincerely if I came out as rude Sir" _
Buck then leaned ever so slightly forward to turn off the engine, then unbuckling his seatbelt, doing it a bit slower than what people usually would do, but not so slow as to arouse suspicion. Then turning his head back up to see the laptop officer approach, wearing Sergeant's chevrons it was clear he was the senior officer at the scene. He lays a hand on the other Officers arm, 
_"They check out Charlie, let them go. We have bigger problems."_
Looking at Buck and Hermes he says, _"have a good day citizen, get moving, I wouldn't want to delay you further."_
Handing over the papers and waving the van ahead.

With a thank you sir, Buck quickly buckled his seatbelt and started the van up again, moving away from the checkpoint. After a few hundred feet Buck felt like he could breathe normally again. Smiling back at Hermes. _"That was a close one Hermes, I feared we had to kill the unfortunate souls. Lets get some distance before we try and contact our friends. And remind me to inform Loki of the pictures taken, they were taken with digital cameras, so most likely they will be uploaded to CED or ACS servers, and im sure Loki would like that little challenge of purging the records of us passing through that checkpoint when he get the chance."_


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## Santaire (Feb 13, 2011)

“Loki, see what you can do about that damn jamming device. We need to get in contact with the rest of the team. Get communications back online Lieutenant!" Loki was already moving. His mind became focussed on the jammer, all else was blurred. He slid to a halt and withdrew the keyboard from the machine. His fingers danced across the keys as he began the process of shutting down the damper. ‘Access Denied, Authorisation Code 18 required’ flashed across the screen. Loki cursed, he should have expected this.

He brought up the screen and began adjusting it. He jabbed one spike into the side of the jammer and information flashed up on his screen. This was hacking at its most basic, long lines of code that had to be manipulated. He knew that brute force would simply cause the machine to lock up completely and so he had to be careful. His eyes scanned the code, flickering as they processed all the information. He began to edit the file code. He teased apart the script that ran the jammer and edited it.

All this was happening in milliseconds and on several levels at once. Loki knew that the instant he was impatient, if he made a foolish mistake then he would fail so he kept his mind focussed at all times. He twisted the override spike, pushing it deeper into the machine and suddenly the code on his screen changed. He then knew. This was a pirate job, and a damned well done one too. He’d been changing an actual communicator; the jammer was hidden inside the system. A simple way to fix this would be to smash the machine with a hammer but this would also essentially broadcast their position through the mass of white noise that would follow such an act.

He didn’t have a screw driver handy and the wires would likely be interlocked with others making it nigh impossible to tell which ones to cut. He needed to do this through the code as he had been. Now that he understood it was easy though. His hands twitched, his eyes flickered and shone blue and his head twisted slightly. He delved deep into the code, past the layers of countermeasures and right into the heart of the system. There it was a simple task of uploading a virus he had manufactured personally. He withdrew before it could affect him and watched from the edge of the maze of code as it was eaten away from the inside by the virus.

“Sir, communications are back online,” he reported, looking back to Odin

 Resolved and merged got rid of your other post for you. -darkreever


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## Karak The Unfaithful (Feb 13, 2011)

Hermes had that feeling, things weren't going to go well and although he was a glass half full kinda guy he couldn't stave off that feeling. In his defence, they had already been attacked before any real progress had been made.

However, the battle was causing most ACS soldiers to become distracted. It mighti've been good for him and Buck but it meant bad news for everyone else.

The vechile pulled up and a mild-looking ACS officer put his hand forward, _"papers"_

While Buck dealt with the officer Hermes kept his eyes on the other ACS soldiers around them. These were the unlucky ones, the ones who were stuck here while their buddies were out fighting. The whole mood of: 'I'd rather be somewhere else' was floating around.

That aura of bordem stopped at the officer Buck was talking too, he appeared to be the only one who took then job seriously.

As a Medic and Doctor Hermes knew a few things about phycology, prehaps this man had had a dreadful past. Maybe, as a soldier he was attacked doing the very same job maybe a car bomb or something, yes that would seem like a good idea if you wanted to do that sort of thing...

_"I don't believe you are in a position to tell me what standard procedure is citizen.... in fact, why don't you step out of your vehicle. I intend to take a closer look at your equipment and cargo."_

Hermes train of thought was interupped by the Officer, Hermes went for his seatbelt when another officer, ranking sergeant came up to the van and placed a hand on the officer's arm.

_"They check out Charlie, let them go. We have bigger problems."

_Charlie? sounded familar.

It was lucky that the sergeant had arrived, a search of the van would mean their cover would be blown making the entire mission alot harder.

_"That was a close one Hermes, I feared we had to kill the unfortunate souls. Lets get some distance before we try and contact our friends. And remind me to inform Loki of the pictures taken, they were taken with digital cameras, so most likely they will be uploaded to CED or ACS servers, and im sure Loki would like that little challenge of purging the records of us passing through that checkpoint when he get the chance."

_Hermes shifted in his seat;
_"I still don't like it, they just let us in. bypassed the entire procdure.We need to keep a close eye on things from now on, that was too close. and what did that guy mean 'we have bigger problems?' those guys were on door duty so why would they care about the battle? there's something else going on here"_

_"hey, does charlie sound familar to you?"_


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## Lord Ramo (Apr 12, 2009)

Spectre stood over her foe, one hand holding onto a pistol her other hand, the one that had been stabbed through was holding her ribs where Ruiz had slammed two punches into. She felt pain all through her body, she was bleeding where his ring had cut her cheek and still felt a little dazed from the fight.

Ruiz was even in worse condition that she was though, a single comforting thought for the moment. His burnt face leered up at her, and she thought that she should end his life, it would be easy enough. With no one left in the team in eye shot then she could say she had no choice, that it was him or her. A part of her longed to do that. Everytime she looked into his face she could see the eyes, the same eyes she had seen a moment before the death of her closest friend.

She unconsciously tightened the grip on her pistol, finger tightening around the trigger. She owed it to Granite to end his life, since his death she had sworn to kill the one responsible. Here he was lying on the ground, completely at her mercy. No, she thought. She was a soldier, a professional. The Colonel would want to have information from this bastard, there were questions that needed to be answered, information to be gleaned. 

Then again, Granite was like a brother to her, her closest comrade in arms. She only survived thanks to his sacrifice, its time she honored his sacrifice by sending the very bastard that took his life to hell. She tried to fight her instincts, her training fighting against her emotions. There could be only one winner though it would be delayed by her training her emotions would win over. She tightened the trigger grip again as a familiar voice that she hadn't heard in a long time creeped into her head. 

"End him. Kill the bastard that killed me. You owe me that much and more." The voice of Granite told her. She fought against the voice and its words, she was a member of the Colonels team, one of the best fighters in the world. She couldn't let emotions rule her. Even as she fought she stepped forward so the pistol was aimed at his head, but before she could do anything else she felt an iron grip grab hold of her wrist and pull it away and into the air, pinning it to her shoulder.

She looked up to see Thor holding her arm, she didn't struggle there was no point. She was badly bruised from the fight with Ruiz, bleeding from several places and her ribs and hand were sending fresh waves of pain through her constantly. She could not win the fight and she knew it. "Leave him." He said as his eyes locked onto Ruiz's form, Spectre knowing what he would do to him wouldn't be pretty. 

She stayed perfectly still for a moment before finding her voice and saying quietly, *"If he had killed the Colonel, would you have left him? The bastard needs to die Thor."* She slowly placed the safety on her pistol, and he allowed her to place her pistol back in her holster. She knew that he would suffer a lot to Thor, the man was excellent in torture. He would die, but first information must be taken the soldier told her in her head. 

She no longer felt the adrenaline that had seeped through her, she felt weaker from the fight. She sat down on a nearby crate before saying, *"The Colonel and the others are further in the garage. As far as I know they are alive. Once you have gotten the information from him Thor, I want to take his head."*


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## deathbringer (Feb 19, 2009)

He was in a different mode now, a predator hunting, a fortress of hatred shielding his mind from the attrocities that could lie before him, the deeds he may have to perform. Burial rites merged with the destructive scavenging of carrion. 

The door before him swung open, a cartel soldier barrelling out with wide eyed terror and thor's knife arced reflexively, the neurons in his mind firing as the man raised his weapon even as the blade took him in the throat. His weapon clattered to the ground as his hands went to his severed windpipe, blood pouring over his fumbling fingers. A high pitch scream became a rasping gurgle even as his lungs failed to inflate. A strong push kick sent him back against the wall of the stairs, crumpled deflated, eyes rolling in their sockets.

Thor waited for him to asphyxiate, watching the mans lungs fail to inflate, watching him struggle against the blood shed to remain conscious even as the blackness swallowed him. As he grew still Thor moved away, slowly, ponderously, ears straining, eyes lingering across the garage.

A pop of gunfire made him increase his pace, the sign of resistance a brief sign of hope, that someone may be alive, that their was someone he could pull from the fire.

He was trotting now, ascending the levels with greater urgency, muffled sounds suggesting confrontation ahead. He was running now, the sight of a car ahead making him pause, his baton slipping easily against his thigh, his pistol raising as he searched for a sign of movement. He waited with baited breath, seconds counting down before moving forward.

Empty, a method to prevent vehicles reaching them, they had done their scouting, had thought they may return.

How hadn't they known, who had fucked up?

He could hear voices even as he pushed up the ramp, the language distorted by the concrete, was it english or spanish. Then the scene came into view, battered and bruised Spectre standing pistol raised above a haggered ruined figure, the half of his face in profile a twisted mass of charred flesh.

Relief sparked within him as he caught sight of her tall and slender, blood stained and scarred, valorous like a warrior queen of old, her foe vanquished at her feet. His face twisted into a smile, the ebbing hatred and gnawing fear that had haunted his journey slipping away.

Then he caught sight of her expression.

He was running, watching Spectre's face contort in anger. It had to be ruiz, the murderer of her partner, naught but murderous vengeance could inspire such hatred. He would have let her do it, fuck it, if his blood had been up he wouldn't have hesitated but their was a calm tranquility within him, a sanity that was unnerving, unusual.

Was this what comradery felt like?

Who gave a fuck, she was going to kill the only source of information they had. Revenge could come later, now was not the time.

He was beside her in three strides, his hand clenching around her wrist wrenching it up despite her startled resistance

"Leave him" he snarled. She met his gaze with a look of pure loathing, anger burned and he almost smiled, though he held it in check as he read the emotions in her eyes. 

"If he had killed the Colonel, would you have left him? The bastard needs to die Thor."

She was going to try and fight him, try and beat him. She was right but he just met the gaze with blank dead eyes, eyes that swallowed the soul, that cared not for emotions only death. She was good, but she was a sniper trained in combat, he was bastard trained in combat. He had years on her, he had strength on her, she might have a little speed on him, but he was a nasty cunt that would kill her before she came close to beating him. She had balls to try though, but he'd always known that.

He watched the light die from her eyes and he released her even as she flicked the safety on, holstering the pistol 

"The Colonel and the others are further in the garage. As far as I know they are alive. Once you have gotten the information from him Thor, I want to take his head."

He looked at her, head in hands upon the crate, destitute, her mind weary from the battle, the emotion, to have her desires torn away from her. 

"I do not fear death, but to be crippled, to be useless, unable to walk,a soul trapped inside a husk. I could fear that."

He grabbed the unconscious Ruiz by the collar and slid his body over to her

"Begin. I want to talk to the colonel"

He was walking away though he gave a low snarl over his shoulder

"Make sure he's alive when I come back or you'll wish he'd killed you."


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

*Update #7*

Thor(Deathbringer), Loki(Santaire), & Osiris(Jackinator): [Jackinator if you can post for last update that would be awesome, but being current is more important to me] Loki as you finish deactivating the jamming device, reporting back to Odin that you have finished, you find that he does not respond to you. Bringing the whole of you attention to the progress Odin and Osiris are making with Cueball, you watch them exchange glances as they work furiously to try and save your comrade, but it doesn't look good. The sound of approaching footsteps draws your attention away from the grizzly scene and your pistol makes it halfway out of its holster before Thor comes into view, rounding the back of the SUV you are near. You watch as Thor takes in the situation with a practiced flick of his eyes and you join him as his lurches forward, intent on helping Odin and Osiris. You are stalled in your progress as Odin reaches down, closes what is left of Cueball's eye lids, everything about his posture and expression wracked with grief. Muttering under his breath, Odin rips the sleeve off the dead cartel warrior that lays nearby, and he stands, furiously scrubbing the blood off of his hands on the remnant of cloth, eyes closed, head turned skyward, the words of a silent prayer on his lips. 

Thor as you and Loki come to stand next to Odin, he takes in your presence, but his questions are forestalled as Thor makes his way slowly to Cueball's prostrate form. As Thor kneels down, he can see the horrific damage to Cueball's face and he can't help but pray that he didn't suffer. Osiris and Loki you watch, slightly mystified at Thor's behavior, the man beneath the rage showing through as he mourns his comrade. Removing Cueball's dog tags he whispers, just loud enough for you to make out, "he came into the world alone, he died with brothers buy his side, thus maketh the man." Thor stands and faces Odin once more. 

Odin raises a questioning eyebrow at his second in command, awaiting Thor's report. 

"A couple of cartel bastards tailed us, but we got the jump on them," Thor's expression changes as he continues, "but we had no contact with you and I thought they might have had you." He swallows, "I wasn't going to let them get away with that... Who know what they could get from your body dead or alive." The last part of his statement comes out jilted and stammered as if he was steeling himself against the very thought. 

"What of the others?" Odin asks, his voice quiet, his eyes boring into Thor as if trying to glean the answer from the other man's eyes. 

"Poet and Fenris bailed as soon as we got tagged and made the tail to keep the recon going. I sent Buck and Hermes after them after we dealt with the cartel guys. I haven't had a radio so I don't know what their status is," Thor answered. Gathering himself back together. 

Odin puts a reassuring hand on the other man's shoulder, a look, a glance of understanding passing between them, before Odin takes a deep breath and begins to bark orders. 

"Loki, Osiris, get the van. Load anything left on the dock into it and get it up here on the double." Thumbing the micro bead of his communicator he taps it a couple of times, sending a pulsing static through the system that you all can hear. "Hermes, Buck, Poet, Fenris, I don't care what in the fuck you are doing right now, pull out. We are regrouping at Safe house A39-B, get there now and get there quiet."

Taking a look around the garage Odin takes in the entirety of the scene, including the tableau of Spectre standing over the unmoving form of Ruiz. Looking at you Thor his gaze hardens, his eyes, that were just a moment ago rimmed with tears for his fallen soldier, turn to steel. Frightening purpose radiating from them. He juts his chin in the direction of Spectre and her captive, "you have business to tend to Augustin. I want to know why they are here and I want to know now."

Spectre (Lord Ramo): You stand over your captive, amazed that Thor has allowed you to begin the interrogation without him present. What does Spectre do? Does she resort to physical torture, waking the unconcious Ruiz to activity through pain? Do you rouse him roughly and ask questions? Is Spectre concerned about what is going on outside of her line of vision? Delve into what your character wants to do know that she has the man responsible for so much of her pain and anguish powerless in her grasp. Whatever you decide to do you are going to need to do it fast, Thor will be returning soon and will want some answers. [Ramo if you decide to wake Ruiz we will work the conversation out on messenger.]

Thor (Deathbringer): As you turn from your commanding officer, you are still wracked with visions of his body, dead on the floor, blood pooling around him. It is a vision you had prepared yourself for, but you just can't seem to shake it from your mind. Is Thor stunned by his reaction? Is it a reaction that is borne of the personal loss that it would have been to you had Odin fallen or is it strictly business, concern for the command structure of NAFI's Valkyrie teams and there for the success of the movement. Explore that more as you approach Spectre. What does Thor do once he reaches her once more? [Again if need be you, Ramo, and I can work this all out on messenger.]

Loki (Santaire) & Osiris (Jackinator): As you two rush to carry out Odin's orders how are you each feeling as a result of CueBall's death. It is not often that a Valkyrie falls, so it is a sobering experience usually for the fallen one's team mates. What do you two talk about, if you speak, as you go about the task of throwing the last couple of crates of ammunition and supplies into the waiting cargo van, before Osiris takes the wheel, turns the engine over, and head up the ramp to the next level to meet up with the rest of the team. 

Buck(Anilar) & Hermes(Karak): Despite you both wracking your brains to place Charlie you both come up empty. His face looks familiar, but neither of you can quite put a finger on why you might recognize him. Now that you are through the checkpoint, your objective is to meet up with Poet and Fenris. The problem is that you have know idea how you are going to find them. Your locators are offline, seemingly suffering from the same equipment malfunction that is interfering with your radio communications. You both remember the mission briefing and between the two of you you are able to get a rough direction that you need to travel to get to the point that was supposed to be the infiltration site. Though you are met with this limited success, you are still at a loss as to how you are going to contact Poet and Fenris. You drive around for awhile, before you decide that it would probably better to get off the beaten path, pulling down an unoccupied alley. You are both about to give up in frustration as sudden static on the Main Ops channel on your radio flares, causing you both to jump in surprise. Mere seconds latter Odin's voice cuts across the air, "Hermes, Buck, Poet, Fenris, I don't care what in the fuck you are doing right now, pull out. We are regrouping at Safe house A39-B, get there now and get there quiet."

With communications online, your hand-held locator starts to beep in rapid succession and Poet's voice echos over Tac Com channel 4, "Finally you lazy assholes," he barks, the harsh words undercut by his friendly and somewhat relieved tone, "I am right around the corner from you, rendezvous with me and we will beat fucking feet out of here. I still can't get that crazy fucking Russian on coms, but we will figure it out when you get here." 

Group in the Garage, Thor (Deathbringer), Osiris (Jackinator), Loki (Santaire), & Spectre (Lord Ramo): Osiris as you pull the van up next to Odin he motions for you to get out of the driver seat and as you move he takes your position in the car. Thor, you and Spectre are not able to get much interrogating done, as the van pulls up Odin barks at you to load him up so you all can get moving. Loki throws the side door of the windowless panel van open and helps you haul Ruiz into the cargo compartment. Almost before the door slides shut behind the two of you, Odin floors the accelerator guiding th e van up through the parking structure and out onto the street, heading East. Loki, Odin turns to you as he continues to drive and says, "Tap into their surveillance system Lieutenant, I don't want this van on any still shots or video feeds. We have already drawn far too much attention to ourselves. Make sure that there are no records of our presence." Thor you and Spectre can continue your interrogation of Ruiz in the van if you wish as the van speeds in the direction of the new safe house. 

Big Al (Romero's Own): It has been three weeks since you were awoken in our room in the Golden Lion's current safehouse, Frigga, your commanding officer standing over your bed, hands on hips, a disgruntled look on her face. Over the course of the next twenty minutes she fills you in on the fact that you are to report back to Valhalla, NAFI headquarters in Canada, that your orders and assignment have been changed. You are suprised to find that you are being re-assigned to the legendary Nightstalkers, the best of the best. It is with a mixture of regret and enthusiasm that you embark on the three week long car journey from the tip of Florida to headquarters. Your arrival is unheralded and before you are even able to get a shower, a good meal, and a quick nap you are shuffled off to General Bentley's office, where you meet with the general himself. He tells you, without much preamble, that you are headed to Chicago, what your mission is there he won't say, indicating that Odin will fill you in upon arrival and that you need to get there with all haste. After being dismissed by the General, you gather your gear, with a look of longing toward the barracks, and shuffle off to the carport where there is an armored SUV waiting for you. Taking your seat in the rear of the SUV you are shocked to find that your brother Andrew occupies the seat next to you.

Breaker (flash43): It has been three weeks since you were awoken in our room in the Shades' current safehouse, Bull, your commanding officer standing over your bed, a disgruntled look on his face. Over the course of the next twenty minutes he fills you in on the fact that you are to report back to Valhalla, NAFI headquarters in Canada, that your orders and assignment have been changed. You are suprised to find that you are being re-assigned to the legendary Nightstalkers, the best of the best. It is with a mixture of regret and enthusiasm that you embark on the two and a half week long car journey from the far reaches or the Canadian wilderness to headquarters. Your arrival is unheralded and before you are even able to get a shower, a good meal, and a quick nap you are shuffled off to General Bentley's office, where you meet with the general himself. He tells you, without much preamble, that you are headed to Chicago, what your mission is there he won't say, indicating that Odin will fill you in upon arrival and that you need to get there with all haste. After being dismissed by the General, you gather your gear, with a look of longing toward the barracks, and shuffle off to the carport where there is an armored SUV waiting for you. Taking your seat in the rear of the SUV you are shocked to find that your brother Alexander occupies the seat next to you.

[flash and Romero: I understand that your update is not quite as meaty as the other folks that have been in the RP for awhile. That is simply because you need to develop your character's more through interaction with the rest of the group and to do that I need to get you there. In this update I would like you both to deal with how your character's deal with the news of their new assignment and their curiosity regarding the nature of your mission. Next update you will be meeting up with everyone else, so don't worry, your updates will fill out as your character's become part of the main action.]


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## Romero's Own (Apr 10, 2012)

As Alexander listned to the General talk he could hardly beleive what he was hearing. he knew he was being reassigned (Fragga had told him that morning) but not to the famous Nightstalker Squad. Of course he had already been told this by Fragga back in Florida but hearing General Bentley say it really proved it once and for all. But the General went on to give more details and Alexander leander forward eager to know all he could about his new assignment. But it turned out the General had little to say. He simply explained that he was heading to Chicago and would be filled in there by 'Odin'. With that Alexander was dismissed and sent to gather his gear before leaving base again for god knows how long. 

As Alexander made the long walk from the General's office to the armoury his mind was racing. Alexander hated not knowing what a mission entailed and always expected the worse. But this doubt and anger was pushed aside by the great excitment he felt at being assigned to the Nightstalkers. That squad was literally the best of the best, the creme de le creme. Even after all his years as one of the SAS finest he was stilled excited about the recognition this assignement showed. It meant that NAFI now really held him alongside their finest agents. It meant they accepted him as one of their own.

With these thoughts filling his head Alexander reached the armoury and pushed his way in. It didn't take him long to gear up. He quickly pushed his various pistols and revolvers into the holsters around his body. One on his left hip, one on his right thigh and another on the right of his chest. He then hefted the two monstorous minguns he used and made his way through the doors. He quickly made his way towards the carport, giving one last look of longing towards the b arraks, and squeezed into the rear seat if the SUV that stood waiting.

As Alexander relaxed he sensed someone else in the car, beside him. He glanced across and could not beleive it when he saw his brother, Andrew in the seat next to him. He quickly pulled him into a bear hug and held him close.

"Where have you been brother?"


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## Jackinator (Nov 18, 2008)

Well that had been successful, the entire operation had been exposed in one fell swoop, and by the Cartels as well. It was a humiliating and sobering experience, sharp edged by the death of Cueball. I hefted the crates in silence, still coming to terms with the death of my team mate. It was strange, Valkyries were not used to death, sure it happened, but the rare occasions were so few and far between we developed a sense of our own immortality, to lose someone before the mission had started, and to such an ignoble death was a cold shock to my system. I should have been there, I could have been faster, if I'd reacted and used my own medkit, not waited for the Thor. If I hadn't frozen up...

I tossed another ammo crate into the car, I was fortunate they were NAFI crates, if I'd treated the ammo used by the ACS or the Cartels this way something would probably have gone off by now. I hurled another crate into the van with enough force to rock the vehicle on it's hinges and stopped myself. This was stupid, I shouldn't be behaving like this, but it wasn't because I was angry at Cueball's death, I was angry because I couldn't bring myself to really mourn him.

He might still be alive. But he wasn't, he was dead, gone, lifeless. It should never have happened. But despite that he couldn't quite find sorrow for Cueball's death, he was sick of himself, maybe he was his father's son after all. "Loki. Will you miss him?"


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## flash43 (Apr 14, 2012)

Breaker opened his eyes, he had been aware that the sargent was moving around for some time now, but he was only showing it now as the aptly named "Bull" stood over him, there was a slight growl from within Bull's chest indicating he was about to speak; "Up! New orders!". Takar slid silently from the bed and saluted, his mind focused completly on Bull, "Which are?" he said at a volume that only Bull would hear. Bull growled and spoke. "Don't know much, just got told that you are out of here. You're being sent down to HQ. Good luck, it's been good having you" Bull smiled sadly as Breaker rose quickly and walked out. It didn't take long for Breaker to be packed and on a armoured car making his way across Canada.

4 days later Breaker stepped out from the car and stood in front of Vahalla, the HQ of NAFI. He walked into the familar corridors and made his way down to his old room. He smiled slightly as he put down his bags on the simple bed. But there was little time to relax as only a few hours after he arrived he was called before the General.

Breaker emerged from the General's office with his mind racing. He could hardly beleive what he had just been told. He had been sent to join the most famous secret squad in the world, the Nightstalkers. His journy to the carport was a blur of excitment, disbeleif and nerves. He was bundled into a SUV and it drove away. But his train of thought was disrailed when an old familar person grabbed Andrew in a crushing bear hug. "Where have you been Brother?". Breaker gasped for air as he replied in a weak voice "Canada, you?


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## Santaire (Feb 13, 2011)

Loki started forward, going to Odin and Osiris’ aid. Then he froze. He knew, even before the others did, that his friend was dead. There was silence as Odin closed Cueball’s eyes. The Colonel raised his eyes to heaven, the words of a silent prayer on his lips. Loki joined his prayer, knowing instinctively what it was. Once finished he watched as Thor added a few words of his own after removing the fallen soldier’s dog tags. "He came into the world alone, he died with brothers by his side, thus maketh the man."

“Grant this soul peace for he has earned it a hundred times over,” Loki whispered. “Let him see a free America, what he has fought for all these years."

He straightened, his eyes glistening. He turned, grief wracking his face and saw Spectre standing over Ruiz. His expression hardened and he took a step toward the man responsible for Cueball’s death. He froze and his face displayed the warring emotions in his soul. “No,” he whispered. “Vengeance can come later, for now we need this piece of filth.”

‘Is that really what you think my friend?’

Loki spun, searching for the source of the voice. “You’re imagining things,” he muttered. “Cueball’s gone, the best we can do is cause his murderer the greatest pain while protecting the living members of the team. We need to learn how he knew the location of our safe house.”

In this time Odin had turned to Thor and he raised an eyebrow, awaiting the major’s report.

After Thor had finished speaking Odin placed a reassuring hand on the major’s shoulder, a look, a moment of understanding passed between them, before Odin took a deep breath and began to bark orders. 

"Loki, Osiris, get the van. Load anything left on the dock into it and get it up here on the double." He tapped the micro-bead several times, sending a pulse of static through the system. Loki winced; it was not the best way to treat equipment. "Hermes, Buck, Poet, Fenris, I don't care what in the fuck you are doing right now, pull out. We are regrouping at Safe house A39-B, get there now and get there quiet."

The lieutenant was numb as he moved beside Osiris to carry out Odin’s orders. As they were beginning to load the van Osiris paused suddenly and said softly “Loki. Will you miss him?”

The cyber-tech spun swiftly and grabbed his friend by the shoulders. “Victor, you are not your father.” Loki gazed deep into Osiris’ eyes. “Remember that my friend, he is cruel, arrogant and vicious. The only trait you share with him is the luck of the devil. I should know,” he added with a rueful smile “I partook in an assassination attempt on him before I joined the Night Stalkers, when you were still training.” Then he inwardly cursed. Not the best thing to say, that last part...


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## Anilar (Aug 12, 2011)

Buck looked in the rearview mirror for the 117th time after he and Hermes had passed the checkpoint, always expecting someone following them. But it seemed they had gotten through cleanly, thou Hermes words kept resonating in his skull, _"hey, does charlie sound familar to you?"_.

_"I can't come up with anything on Charlie, even thou I believe I should."_ Buck said after they had driven around for a while, once again looking in the rearview mirror. _"Something has gone terrible awry in this whole op, I can feel it in my cybernetics."_ The two valkyries keeping on driving around, in the roughly direction of there destination, locators and radio still jammed, no sign of Fenris or Poet.

Buck turned into an abandoned alley, he and Hermes had agreed upon it best to get of the trafficked area, out of sight and mind, and it would make it easier to see if they were followed. Buck was becoming quite frustrated by the lack of progress, he really felt like blowing something up, and Buck was certain that Hermes was just as frustrated in his own way. Buck winced not so much from the shock, but more the static screech that followed as the radios suddenly flared into life, Odin's voice filling the air with orders to pull out and regroup at a new safehouse.

Buck quickly acknowledged the orders, his suspicions somewhat confirmed, a withdrawal to a new safehouse could only mean they had been compromised. Once again looking in the rearview mirror, some might see it as nervous tick, thou Buck's smile could make anyone doubt that assumption. _"It was good to hear Odins voice again, eh Hermes?."_ Hermes answer disrupted by the sudden interuption of Poet's harsh but unmistakeble relieved voice.
_
"Good to hear your voice Poet, and ofcourse we are close by Hermes isnt quite up to the task to protect my ass alone so he insisted to go and get you as backup, oh and Poet does Charlie ring a bell to you?"_ Poet said as he once again looked in the rear view mirror watching for vehicles and shadows, as he turned to corner to where Poet should be.


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## Karak The Unfaithful (Feb 13, 2011)

Buck had been checking his rear view mirror constantly, Hermes could understand why but it wasn't half annoying. Neither of them could come up with anything about charlie, anyone else should have kept their focus on the mission but his cybernetics meant he wasn't just anyone else.

Buck didn't know either, he guessed they would have to get someone to dig up that information later, it had to be linked to a road block or checkpoint, he just knew it.

Just then Odin's voice crackled info life on the radio:

_"Hermes, Buck, Poet, Fenris, I don't care what in the fuck you are doing right now, pull out. We are regrouping at Safe house A39-B, get there now and get there quiet."_

_"It was good to hear Odins voice again, eh Hermes?." Buck smiled._

Hermes nodded, it was good, but it did mean that things weren't going exactly to plan.

"You nervous Buck?" He asked, Buck gave him a puzzled look "don't try and lie to me, it doesn't work anymore, you've checked that rear-view mirror many times now. I understand the situation, but I don't think we're the prority"


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## Lord Ramo (Apr 12, 2009)

Thor gave her an order to start the torture, but to ensure that she did not get overzealous and kill him before Thor could get his chance at getting Ruiz to talk. She knew that it would not be a wise idea to disobey Thor, but she felt tortured herself at the idea of being left alone with the killer of her best friend, with orders not to kill him. 

Then again she could make him feel pain he had never felt before. She quickly tied Ruiz's hands in front of his body with some flexicuffs, ensuring that he would not be able to fight back against her and attack her after he was awaken. He would need to be awake to talk, though she was sure that he would not tell her any information, if it was the other way round and she was the one being tortured she would not give anything away that might compromise the mission or her fellow NAFI members.

Spectre wanted to know what was taken the Colonel and the others, the gunshots had stopped long ago. Was there some problem? Had the incredible happened and they all been taken down? She doubted that in the extreme, but something was going wrong which disturbed her greatly. She turned her attention back to the downed Ruiz, slapping his burnt face hard in an attempt to wake him through pain. 

He stirred slightly, but was not fully awake. Spectre sighing angrily slapped him again, a hand mark being left in the burnt and flaking skin. His eyes started to open, Spectre hitting him a third time before his eyes burst open, focusing on her after a moment. As he saw her a slow smile spread across his lips, and his tongue darted experimentally from his mouth, playing over his burnt lips. 

"Puta murgriento." He said, hate flashing in his eyes for a second as he spat at her feet. She crouched next to him before responding to his insult, "I maybe dirty but at least I don't spit at others." Before slapping his face again. He just glared at her and struggled a little in his bonds, though there was no way he could escape. 

Realizing that he couldn't escape he began swearing in quick Spanish, Spectre only catching a few words that he threw at her, as he spoke so fast. "Oh shut up for half a second." Spectre snarled hitting him again in the face. He grunted at the slap, see could see that it hurt a little at least but that was it. 

"I am going to ask you a few questions now, mainly why the hell are you in the city? For every unsatisfying answer, I will break one of your fingers. So shall we begin?" Ruiz bellowed with laughter as she finished, Spectre keeping her emotions in check even though she wanted to strike out at him. "Fuck you." He snarled at her in defiance.

"Well that was not a very satisfying answer, was it now Ruiz?" She said in return, a sadistic smile played across her face. She may not be allowed to kill him yet, but she could cause him pain. She reached down to his hand that had not had fingers severed and grabbing his index finger and quickly twisted it, snapping it in one fluid motion. 

Ruiz writhed on the ground even as he half screamed in pain, half laughed in madness at the act. "Why is the cartel in this city? What is being planned Ruiz?" She growled at him again, waiting for his defiant reply so she could snap another finger. Even if he gave the information she would snap it, he must feel pain she thought to herself. 

"None of your business you horrid bitch!" He yelled at her, Spectre pretending to shake her head in dissapointment. "Wrong answer." Spectre grabbed a hold of his middle finger, twisting it slowly until it snapped with an audible crack. Ruiz screamed in pain, though he clamped his mouth shut, trying to stop any satisfaction that Spectre would get from his screams, even though she could still hear it just.

"What is the Cartel doing in the city? Why are you here Ruiz?" Spectre asked again, Ruiz staring blankly ahead, attempting to ignore her. "You can ignore my questions, but can you ignore pain?" She said standing before stamping on his hand which was missing a few fingers. 

Ruiz screamed in pain, before biting down on his lips again this time drawing blood. He writhed on the floor again, squirming to cradle his broken fingers and damaged hand. Spectre felt her smile growing wider at the pain she had caused him, relishing the blood on his lips.

"What are the cartels doing in the city Ruiz? WHY ARE YOU HERE?" Spectre raised her voice so he could hear her better. She put her boot on his hand even as he tried to squirm and started to apply pressure. He writhed but managed to say, "Cartel business, a meeting! You were just too good an opportunity that I couldn't pass up."

She looked up as Thor came back into view, smile vanishing in an instance. "A meeting for the cartels in the city sir. That's all I have gotten out of him."


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## deathbringer (Feb 19, 2009)

Spectre seemed distracted, her mind lingering in the past, taking in his orders without comment even as he strode away into the other room, rounding the SUV to stop dead, his mind stalling, the gears in his brain choking and grinding as he took in the scene.

Blood ran over the floor, even as two figures worked frantically, hands flashing as they sought to pack the wound to stop the bleeding, blood spattering their faces flicked from the ends of their sodden fingers. They were blocking his view, their broad backs casting shadows over the features, his mind struggling to account for the possibilities, the truth more devestating as reality crashed down on him. 

The impact stirred him into life, the name

"Cueball" like a flash of electricity lurching him forward, yet one of the blood stained figures was rising and he stopped, a single glance into the Colonel's eyes leaving him numb and hollow, anesthetized to the pain, watching as blood flowed freely across his bald head, a single drop slicing the eagle tattoo apart. They were standing together, each man left to his own thoughts, the silence stiffling as the others were struck by waves of emotion,anger and grief. Thor felt nothing.

In life he felt everything but faced with death, he was a void, emotionless and cold. It was a feeling he loathed, a feeling of failure, a feeling that could have been prevented had he been stronger and harder. He moved towards the fallen, his footsteps cracking across the silence as eyes swiveled to him, head bowed, his last mark of respect even as he knelt before his comrade, the catastrophic damage tearing apart his features suddenly cast into the light. 

The Major did not flinch his movements suddenly slower as he took in a deep breath and tore the dog tags from around his thick neck. Something needed to be said, they could not send their comrade from the world in silence, yet he was not a talker.

Words sprung unbidden in resilient grief

"he came into the world alone, he died with brothers buy his side, thus maketh the man."

Gently along with Osiris he pulled a corner of a sheet over the body, the removal of the sight seeming to bring Odin back to his senses with a questioning gaze, a single eyebrow raised. His report was choked, relieved as he looked into the colonel's eyes his mind turning from emotion to duty on a dime as he remembered his place, swept the relief under the sheet to bury it along with his pain.

Odin's face was still racked with anger eyes suddenly blazing with purpose

"you have business to tend to Augustin. I want to know why they are here and I want to know now."

He nodded

"It's already done"

He met those eyes and the flames of bitter hatred burned once more, his resolve stiffened, even as they parted and he strode towards Spectre as she worked on the captive

"A meeting for the cartels in the city sir. That's all I have gotten out of him."

The fingers were missing on his left hand, the wound clotting the hand bloody, ground into the dirt yet Ruiz's defiant features still shining across a pained face even as he shouted

"Besame el culo hijo de puta." spit hit the ground inches from his feet as he snapped in Spanish, a vinidictive look across his face"Traidor."

He felt anger flare at Spectre, the minor wounds inflicted showing even through the hate, despite the fact this bastard had destroyed one of her nearest and dearest, she still didn't have the stomach to break someones will. 

He'd given her an opportunity and she'd failed. He didn't know if it was the failure or the esteem he held for the person in question but he felt a tide of anger wash over him, his fragile temper snapping head turning to face Spectre

"get out" he snarled, " get the fuck out"

She looked surprised, perhaps hurt but she no longer existed, she had proven she was weak, that even with emotion to help her she didn't have the guts he'd thought she had.

He lashed out at Ruiz his anger at Spectre manifesting into a strong hard strike catching him on the cheek and sending Ruiz reeling back, slapping into the wall with a hard thud before he slid whimpering to the ground, head lolling. A second vicious slap brought his head back with a squeal even as Thor sunk onto his heels before him.

He met the captive's gaze with hatefilled, joyless eyes. Normally he enjoyed torture, the mental manipulation through pain and suffering soothed his twisted mind... not today.

"ok dickweed heres the drill, the sadistic pleasure of flaying the very skin from your bones went when i skinned the little cunts you sent after me,"

Hollow, wild laughter met his claim, a defiant insult over ridden as he restrained the urge to slap the charred features again fingers balling into a fist

"Good news for you it means this is going to be quicker. Bad news is I in between their sobbing and crying and pleading as they desperately tried to spit out their own bollucks, they told me everything in their tiny little heads"

This would be quick, he had no time for this mans bullshit, gently his hands slid off the first of the mans shoes

"You know nothing,"he snarled kicking out ineffectually at the muscle on thor's leg "and you will get nothing from me..."

A sharp slap brought another squeal then silence

"which means every time you lie to me your going to loose a part of your body"

Ruiz's eyes widened even as thor started to slide down his blood sodden jeans

"starting with the parts your boys didn't have enough of"

for the first time Rudolpho truly met his gaze and he was fighting him kicking out even as thor tore off his pants, standing to unleash a vicious stamp on his knee sending him back against the wall with a desperate squeal even as he leant back into hiss

"and trust me they didnt have any by the time i finished with them"

He let out a squeal as he stamped again

"ask your questions!!!"

He settled back on his heels, the knife already stained with blood appearing back in his hand as he moved in close to Ruiz

"Who were you meeting"

Rudolpho seemed to summon up the last of his resolve, teeth gritting with determination as he spat out

"Your flea ridden whore of a mother,"

The suprise never reached thor's face though his eyebrow raised

"bad move unix"

In a single vicious move he planted his knees upon Rudolpho's ankles one hand slamming the restrained wrists against the wall, the knife in his left hand pushing forward towards his exposed groin

"Go on you fucker, you don't have the stomach," 

Thor laughed a high cold laugh meeting rudolphos gaze even as his warm spit ran down his cheek.

"you really dont know me do you ruiz?"

He shook his head gently before plunging the knife deep into rudolpho's groin, feeling skin and flesh break before the momentum of his knife even as the man beneath him flailed and screamed, held motionless by thor, curses flew past him even thor assessed the situation, blood flowing over the knife to stain the lily white boxers around him. 

He cut across with a savage motion til the knife came three, watching flesh and blood ooze from the hole running across the floor and thor released Rudolpho moving away as he writhed and screamed, clutching desperately at the area with ineffectual hand even as yet more blood stained his fingers.

Thor did not turn away, he never did, he felt it was a matter of duty, he had ruined a mans life, he had to see the consequences to know it was worth it. It helped he enjoyed the pain, took a sadistic pride in being unmoved even as ruiz clutched desperately at his ruined bollucks, on teste sliding through his agonized fingers to roll away ,resting upon one of the drains as blood began to ooze into the plumbing below.

The sheer amount of blood running across the thor made him nervous and he gave a shout to Spectre even as Ruiz curled into the fetal position hands still curled desperate around what he no longer had, his curses fading into howling sobs of agony. 

"I need a fucking medikit in here" he snapped to Spectre outside before slamming Ruiz back against the wall, levelling the knife again, Ruiz's eyes following the blood red viscaera flowing from the point to drop between his legs

"talk before you become a blind unix" he snarled

"ACS." he mumbled

"Fucking ACS!" 

His suspicions were affirmed and he pushed onwards

"why?" he snapped back

"I don't fucking know," 

He sent the knife forward, flicking the horrific ooze across Ruiz's face, watching him recoil from the fluids of his own body, letting the blade dominate Ruiz's vision

"gonna dare me again?"

"I don't fucking know you lunatic. they contacted us." 

Thor let out a smile, lunatic, maybe, he preferred bastard.

"when is this meeting?"

His breathing was labored, sweat beading on his forehead as he struggled to restrain the pain as the blood flowing to the drain began to mass and he roared at Spectre

"if you want him, you better start start patching this.... well not man up"

"You get nothing else from me pendajo."

He seemed to steal himself, a flicker of true terror across his face

"oh honey.... dont test me again... because you know i'll do it"

He drew back the knife, leveling it before Ruiz's left eye the fear mounting in his face, even as thor's head twisted curiously meeting his gaze

His hands raised from his ruined bollucks to protect his face only to be slammed against the wall

"9:30, tonight. A warehouse on Halbraith." 

He believed him, believed he had broken him yet he drew close eyes narrowed studying the features as if curious

"Do you think he's lying spectre?"

He turned to her though he didn't see her, she was dead in his eyes, before turning back to Ruiz staring him full in the face
"i think he's lying"

the knife drew back even as thor's smile widened

"and you know what that means"

"no, no, no, ...." he was writhing, weakened yet still a man terrified, his desperate flailing useless against thor's strength

"9:30, tonight...3890 Halbraith." tears were running down his cheeks, his mind broken.

"who called the meeting"

The silence reigned and thor raised an eyebrow at this last vestige of defiance. Someone truly terrifying must be locked in that mind. The knife began to descend, slowly as thor took careful aim for the dead centre of his pupil

"Michael Hale..." 


Thor almost dropped the knife, staring straight in Rudolpho's eyes and seeing no hint of a knife. The ACS head of security, of if he was coming to the meeting, such a big moment, they truly could strike a tremendous blow here.

Thank fuck for revenge, thank fuck.

"will hale be at the meeting?" he growled

"I don't know..... He called the meeting, I was sent. That is all I know."

"is this the first?"

"With my family, yes.... I know nothin' about the other cartel's business"

So they have never seen Ruiz, an opportunity, a possibility.

"Me and my posse, representing Escobar, I know nothin' else."

He stood up and nodded at Spectre moving to hiss something in her ear, stopping himself, let, her have her moment of revenge, don't spoil it. We all deserve that one moment alone.

"I'll be outside" he growled before turning to Ruiz

"something tells me you wont be representin that shit hole anymore"

He strode from the room, stopping outside, not wanting to intrude on her moment even as his fury at her bubbled beneath the surface.


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## Lord Ramo (Apr 12, 2009)

"Get out" snarled Thor, "Get the fuck out."

Spectre nodded, knowing that Thor was pissed at her. She hadn't gone far enough in his eyes, he had expected her to do a lot more than she did. She almost banged her head on the wall, she didn't want to have gotten overzealous and taken it too far, then Thor would be even angrier then he was now.

She waited, listening to the screams until Thor told her to get a medkit and start patching him up, especially if she wanted to kill him afterwards. She worked away on Ruiz, ensuring that he stayed alive long enough to get her revenge but nothing else. 

Once Thor was finished he growled that he would go outside, though she knew that when she was finished she was going to get Thor's wrath on her. It didn't matter though, not now, not when she was so close. She nodded, not saying a word as she moved over to Ruiz, standing over him for a moment before kicking him sharply in the chest. 

*"You bastard."* She snarled as he jerked, aiming a second kick into his gut, *"YOU BASTARD!"* She almost screamed slamming her boot down where Thor had begun his grizzly work. Ruiz erupted in a howl of pain as Spectre stamped three more times, face a display of anger and sorrow. Not sorrow at Ruiz's situation, sorrow at the death of a friend.

She stopped herself, allowing Ruiz to roll around on the floor in agony, breathing heavily as he did so. She wasn't sure how to end it, earlier she had been calculating, planning on blowing his head off with her pistol. Thank god that Thor stopped her, it would have been an injustice to Granite. She stalked to the SUV, looking through its contents until she found some duct tape.

Turning back she saw that he had stopped screaming though he whimpered as she came near him again. *"You kill my best friend with a grenade you little worm. I can't think at the moment of anything more ironic then sending you to hell likewise. Admittedly I'll think of something better later, but it doesn't matter now."*

Stamping down again, revelling in the howls she used the tape to put a flashbang right next to his left eye, and one next to his right. Heading back to the SUV searching through the boot until she found a half full gasoline can. She walked back to him, bending over before pouring it over his face and torso, Ruiz screaming and writhing on the floor as he realized what was to happen, how he would die.

She kicked him in the side again, before bending over and grabbing his mouth turning so that she could see the fear in his eyes. *"That's the first time you have looked truly terrified of me Ruiz. It's so satisfying to see that in your eyes."
*
She moved her hands grabbing hold of either flashbangs pin, smiling sadistically at him before standing, the pins coming with her. She took a few steps back and covered her eyes for a second as the flashbangs went off, immediately the magnesium fire reacting with the gasoline. Ruiz screamed as he was set on fire, Spectre watching as he rolled and writhed on the floor, face an emotionless mask. 

He screamed over and over as the skin on his face peeled away, Spectre staying until his motions lessened and eventually stopped fully. Walking over to his body she pulled out one of her pistols and fired five shots into his body. That done she turned away, moving back to where Thor was.

*"Sir."* Was all she said as she stood there, waiting for his wrath. There was no avoiding it, and to be fair she deserved it.


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

*Update #8*

Thor (Deathbringer) & Spectre (Lord Ramo): You two stand face to face, unspoken tension crackling in the air between you. Taking in the manner of Ruiz's death, Thor has your anger at Spectre subsided any? She has reported to you as ordered, what do you say to her? Spectre, does Thor's approval or disapproval of your methods even mean anything to you? Your revenge has been carried out, your guilt and pain satiated, and the information has been obtained, so what does it matter that Thor disapproves of your methods? After all you are not the killer he is, perhaps that he disapproves is more of a comfort than a problem. You two work out your issues, have the conversation that needs to be had. Before getting in the van, Thor you head over to Cueball's body, having already collected his tags, you take a small canister from the breast pocket of your tack vest, that is a cylinder about the size of an ink pen, and depressing the activator you toss it onto the corpse. In a flash of superhot flame, what was Cueball's earthly form burns to ash in a matter of seconds, the heat of the magnesium explosive white hot. 

Loki (Santaire), Osiris (Jackinator), Thor (Deathbringer), & Spectre (Lord Ramo): [this is going to be a copy and paste from last weeks update as none of you made it to that point in your posts]Osiris as you pull the van up next to Odin he motions for you to get out of the driver seat and as you move he takes your position in the car. Thor, you and Spectre are not able to get much interrogating done, as the van pulls up Odin barks at you to load him up so you all can get moving. Loki throws the side door of the windowless panel van open allowing Spectre and Thor to jump in. Almost before the door slides shut behind the two of you, Odin floors the accelerator guiding th e van up through the parking structure and out onto the street, heading East. Loki, Odin turns to you as he continues to drive and says, _"Tap into their surveillance system Lieutenant, I don't want this van on any still shots or video feeds. We have already drawn far too much attention to ourselves. Make sure that there are no records of our presence."_ Thor I want you to go ahead and give Odin a briefing on what you learned from Ruiz as you ride.

Hermes (Karak) & Buck(Anilar): Rounding the corner you see Poet, exiting out of an abandoned building, slowing to a stop, he jumps in the side and immediately orders for you to take off in the direction of the safe house. As you round the corner, Buck you see in the rear view mirror that by some stroke of luck you just missed the foot patrol of ACS soldiers that have come into the area. Breathing a collective sigh of relief you feel that you are out of the woods. It is only then that you realize that Fenris is still unaccounted for. Poet, seeming to have the same thought says, _"That damn russian..... I can't even get a bead on his locator. We are going to have to assume the worst. We will make a report to Odin and see how he wants to proceed. This whole damn mission has gone Fubar!" _

Big Al (Romero's Own) & Breaker (Flash43): after several hours of riding in the SUV you have both had time to catch up on each others activities. As night falls you see the glowing light of the ACS perimeter fence in the distance, just outside of Duluth, Minnesota. You have a tense moment where the gaurds at the fence question your entrance, but the false papers, indicating that you were on long range reconnisance for the ACS military, appear to work and you make it through. 10 long hours later you find yourself pulling into the outskirts of the city of Chicago. 

All: Each of your groups slowly arrives at the safe house Odin indicated. It is a small, two story brick house in the Grey Hills community outside of Chicago proper. The fact that this site was chosen, seems to convey Odin's worry, it being so removed from your current objective. The fact that you have two new members of the team, Breaker and Big Al, and that Fenris is missing foremost in your thoughts. Everythings seems to be falling apart in this, your most important mission. Breaker and Big Al introduce yourself and along with the rest of the team make your way into the basement, a room that contains a control center similar to the one in the last safe house. Finally Odin enters. 

_"Take your seats Gents,"_ he orders_," Big Al, Breaker, good to see you made it. More extensive introductions are going to have to wait. First I need to say that it is with a heavy heart I inform you of the death of Cueball. He was shot at point blank range in the head by a cartel soldier. To that end we have a problem. According to some information gleaned from a Rudolpho Ruiz, who I am pleased to say is no longer going to be a problem,"_ He finds Spectre and Thor, a nod of recognition thrust in your direction,"_ but what we learned is troubling. It appears that the ACS has started reaching out to the cartels. For what purpose none of us can speculate. It seems that Michael Hale, Top Internal security Officer for the ACS, has called a meeting with the Escobar crime family. We can only assume that he has had contacts with the other Cartels. I have been in contact with General Bentley and despite the fact that the Chem plant is still a priority, he wants us to investigate this growing relationship further. We are going to crash this meeting, that is scheduled for tonight, perhaps we can forestall the ACS and the Cartels from making a strong alliance, but at the very least there may be important folks at this meeting. I don't know about you,"_ his gaze falling on the senior members of his team, lingering a bit on Osiris, _"but I want another crack at that Hale bastard. If there is even the slightest chance that he will be there we are going to take it."_ 

_"It has been a trying couple of hours,"_ he said with a wave of dismissal, _"Thor and I will work out our operational plan, for now restock your equipment, Hermes see to any injuries, and you all get a bite to eat. I have a feeling it is going to be a long night."_

Hermes see to Spectre as she is the only one wounded. The rest of you can interact as much or as little as you want, just be ready, the meeting is in about 5 hours, so you are sure the breifing will be soon. I want you to explore what your characters are thinking about the shift in focus of the mission. What is your reaction to the death of Cuebal if you were up to this point unaware of it happening? Osiris, I really want you to focus on your reaction to the news that you may be confronting your father in a couple of hours.


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## Anilar (Aug 12, 2011)

_"Nervous?"_ Buck answered to Hermes question, _"For what comes as close as a valkyrie gets to a routine recon mission, it have gone spetacular wrong. And we might not be the priority, but we are somebodys priority."_ Rounding a corner, Poet suddenly appeared from a building approaching the car quickly. Stopping Poet entered the car, and gave the order to move out. By a stroke of luck, before turning a corner, Buck spotted a ACS foot patrol enter the street, not minding the van that sped around the corner.
_
"That damn russian..... I can't even get a bead on his locator. We are going to have to assume the worst. We will make a report to Odin and see how he wants to proceed. This whole damn mission has gone Fubar!" _ Poet said, before Buck could make a comment on Fenris. Buck was a bit conflicted, thou the man was the best recon specialist he had ever worked with, there was something that about the man that made it hard to work with him. So he didn't quite felt the grief he believed he would if any other of the team went missing.

Driving along, Buck found a road out of the area that was lightly travelled and more importantly didn't have a check point, so they could avoid any troubles. And many turns and checks for followers later, the three of them arrived at the alternate safe house, far away from every objective they had, Buck knew he wasn't the only one worrying for the state of the mission. Parking the vehicle on the garage, Buck went into the house to meet the others.

A couple of new faces had appeared, they were introduced by Odin as Big Al and Breaker, along with what had gone down with the other part of the team and Cueballs death. And the end of Ruiz and what the team would do next. Crash the party of the cartel and ACS. Buck couldn't keep a smile of his face, he loved to crash parties, expecially if they didn't quite go to plan.

As buck wen't to restock and ammunition and marbles, there was still a smile on his face. For an outsider that knew he had been informed of the death of Cueball, they would mistake his smile for someone who was glad the aggressive man had died. But to those who knew him, and looked careful, would see the sorrow in the smile, it was a smile of remembrance. A man relieving in his mind the fun and good times he had have with a departed friend, how many enemies had Cueball and Buck not killed together. Buck was going to miss the aggressive and direct manner of Cueball, and his skill as a soldier, Big Al and Breaker would have some huge boots to fill out.

Taking one of his tools out, Buck etched into his marbles the name of Cueball and Fenris, in honour of the two missing soldiers of the Valkyries.


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## Karak The Unfaithful (Feb 13, 2011)

_"That damn russian..... I can't even get a bead on his locator. We are going to have to assume the worst. We will make a report to Odin and see how he wants to proceed. This whole damn mission has gone Fubar!" _

Hermes wasn't worried, the whole mission had turned tits up and they had a man missing. However, he wasn't worried. Hermes had some precious time to think with Buck drove for the location of the safe house. The "safe house" in question was just was low, two-story brick building, it didn't feel very safe.

When everyone finally made it down to the basement, Odin decided it was finally time to get everyone's facts straight.

_
"Big Al, Breaker, good to see you made it.._"

Two new editions to the team, Hermes could see nothing wrong with that as long as they weren't total pratts.

_"...heavy heart I inform you of the death of Cueball..._"

Goddamn it, Hermes thought, one man down and they'd barely even started.

_"...Michael Hale, Top Internal security Officer for the ACS, has called a meeting with the Escobar crime family..."_

An interesting move by the ACS, it felt a little desperate. Perhaps the team had managed to scare ACS command if nothing else? or maybe they needed something to counter the Valkyrie squads.

_"...Hermes see to any injuries, and you all get a bite to eat. I have a feeling it is going to be a long night."_

So, not everyone ahd come out untouched. Of course, there was a man dead but he couldn't help him anymore, no body could. After the meeting was over Hermes rose from his seat and said:

*"Does anyone have any serious injuries?"*


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## Santaire (Feb 13, 2011)

Loki climbed into the van as Osiris flicked on the ignition. “Let’s go,” he whispered.

The van bumped as it drove over a corpse or 2 then Odin was there, ordering Spectre to vacate the driver’s seat. He did so and Loki stepped to one side of the van, throwing open the side door to let Thor and Spectre in. Looking over the Captain’s shoulder he could see a flaming figure curled up on the floor. The flames died out and there was nothing but a charred corpse. With barely a second glance he shut the door on Ruiz’s charred form.

The son of a bitch deserved it. Cueball had been a good friend.

That business concluded he sat back. Odin turned his head to Loki as he was driving and said “Tap into their surveillance system Lieutenant, I don't want this van on any still shots or video feeds. We have already drawn far too much attention to ourselves. Make sure that there are no records of our presence.”

Loki nodded and pulled up his visual screen. Using the internet connection between the van and the safe house, he would have to get rid of that he idly noted, he delved into the camera system in the house. He deleted the reels showing the events in the safe house so that there would be no memory of their presence then, as an afterthought, simply wiped the entire system. Too many teams had used that safe house to risk the knowledge of their appearances and habits falling into ACS hands. It would absolutely ruin their ability to carry out stealth mission in ACS territory.

They pulled up outside the new safe house after a few minutes and he left the van cautiously, hand gripping the hilt of his pistol.

Satisfied that there were no ACS or Cartel troops lying in waiting he holstered it and turned to watch the rest of the team leave the van. he then walked with them into the safe house, while he was walking he took a single look backwards and saw the skyline of Chicago framed against the darkness of the sky. It was magnificent, a glory quite belaying the careless cruelty of the ACS.

With a sad smile Loki turned my head back to the safe house doorway through which the rest had already entered. He took a seat in the room that served as a conference centre and waited as Odin stepped up to address them.

"Take your seats Gents," he ordered, "Big Al, Breaker, good to see you made it. More extensive introductions are going to have to wait. First I need to say that it is with a heavy heart I inform you of the death of Cueball. He was shot at point blank range in the head by a cartel soldier. To that end we have a problem. According to some information gleaned from a Rudolpho Ruiz, who I am pleased to say is no longer going to be a problem," He found Spectre and Thor, a nod of recognition thrust in their direction. Loki nodded himself. "But what we learned is troubling. It appears that the ACS has started reaching out to the cartels. For what purpose none of us can speculate. It seems that Michael Hale, Top Internal security Officer for the ACS, has called a meeting with the Escobar crime family. We can only assume that he has had contacts with the other Cartels. I have been in contact with General Bentley and despite the fact that the Chem plant is still a priority; he wants us to investigate this growing relationship further. We are going to crash this meeting that is scheduled for tonight, perhaps we can forestall the ACS and the Cartels from making a strong alliance, but at the very least there may be important folks at this meeting. I don't know about you," his gaze fell on the senior members of his team, lingering on Osiris who was sitting to Loki’s right, "but I want another crack at that Hale bastard. If there is even the slightest chance that he will be there we are going to take it." 

"It has been a trying couple of hours," he said with a wave of dismissal, "Thor and I will work out our operational plan, for now restock your equipment, Hermes see to any injuries, and you all get a bite to eat. I have a feeling it is going to be a long night."

Loki nodded agreement at that last pronouncement.

He walked through the safe house and, as if the hand of fate had decided to intervene, he ended up in the only room in the building containing a snooker table. Walking over to it Loki saw that the only ball resting on it was the white cue ball. He lifted it with a sad smile and slipped it into one pocket. He then turned and began to make his way to where the food was stocked.


----------



## Romero's Own (Apr 10, 2012)

The journey passed quickly as Alexander and Andrew shared stories and caught up on the years they had missed of each other’s lives. Before they had been sent to different sleeper teams the brothers had rarely left each other’s side and it was hard for both of them to get used to a life without the other. But none of that mattered now. They were together and would remain that way for the foreseeable future. After many uneventful hours, apart from the tense moment when they had to go through an ACS checkpoint, the SUV finally came into view of the windy city, Chicago.

The sheer majesty of the city took Alexander's breath away as he gazed in wonder at the towers and offices that made up the iconic Chicago skyline. But there was no time for sightseeing. The SUV soon pulled up next to a small, two story brick house in the Grey Hills community outside of Chicago proper. Alexander grabbed his guns and climbed out. He made his way quickly inside and was taken down to the basement, where a conference room/command centre had been set up. Alexander smiled at everyone but soon realized that there was a sense of loss and sadness emanating from the other team members. And so he stopped smiling and watched as someone who he recognized as Odin stepped forward and addressed them all.

"Take your seats Gents," he orders," Big Al, Breaker, good to see you made it" Alexander smiled but again was put off by the negative atmosphere. "More extensive introductions are going to have to wait. First I need to say that it is with a heavy heart I inform you of the death of Cueball. "That would defiantly explain the negative feel from everyone.”He was shot at point blank range in the head by a cartel soldier. To that end we have a problem. According to some information gleaned from a Rudolpho Ruiz, who I am pleased to say is no longer going to be a problem," He looks to the people Alexander recognize as Spectre and Thor, a nod of recognition thrust in their direction," but what we learned is troubling. It appears that the ACS has started reaching out to the cartels. For what purpose none of us can speculate. It seems that Michael Hale, Top Internal security Officer for the ACS, has called a meeting with the Escobar crime family. We can only assume that he has had contacts with the other Cartels. I have been in contact with General Bentley and despite the fact that the Chem plant is still a priority; he wants us to investigate this growing relationship further. We are going to crash this meeting, which is scheduled for tonight, perhaps we can forestall the ACS and the Cartels from making a strong alliance, but at the very least there may be important folks at this meeting. I don't know about you," his gaze falling on the senior members of his team, lingering a bit on Osiris, "but I want another crack at that Hale bastard. If there is even the slightest chance that he will be there we are going to take it."

"It has been a trying couple of hours," he said with a wave of dismissal, "Thor and I will work out our operational plan, for now restock your equipment, Hermes see to any injuries and you all get a bite to eat. I have a feeling it is going to be a long night."

Alexander nodded in agreement. He hated long journeys and he was ravenous. He set off quickly and soon found his way to what appeared to be some kind of kitchen. He grabbed some supplies and started cooking up some soup form various vegetables he had found. He worked quickly and soon he had produced a large pot of steaming, green soup. He smiled before taking a bowl for himself and settling down to eat. He rested his prized guns by his side as he tucked into the soup. It was surprisingly good for something he had thrown together quickly and he was satisfied that the other team members would like it as well. And so, whenever another team member entered in their search for food, Alexander offered them some soup in the hope of getting friendlier with his new team-mates.


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## deathbringer (Feb 19, 2009)

(kudos to midge and ramo for their awesome amount of help and leniency with this post  

His eyes locked upon the motionless figure of Cueball covered in cotton even as he heard howling shrill screams, enough to chill the bone, the sound of a man tortured to the brink of insanity. Then suddenly as the screams reached their echoing crescendo, their was silence, the mind snapping from the body. 

Then footsteps yet he never broke gaze with the body upon the ground. He was weary, tired and worried, the urge to run his hands across the lines on his forehead barely restrained by the simmering rage

"Sir."

She stood to attention inches away from him, the model soldier, a near perfect record, a skill set that eclipsed many, someone he had secretly thought would never fail him, his furtive assumption suddenly pissed to the wind. She had failed him, she'd shown she was weak.

That scared him, on a fundamental level he was happy to die, but now.... now if he died, what would happen, who would take his place, who would become Forsythe's enforcer, do the jobs she had shown she could not do. The fear was blown away by the rage and he snapped, letting the hate flow, the simmering loathing for all life, for everyone and everything feeding his own anger

"Stand at fucking ease, captain, pushing your tits out like a twat isn't going to make me any happier"

His eyes fell upon a charred mass of smouldering sinew, fragments of melted bone, causing him to raise and eyebrow, perhaps she did have the cruelty. No, she had shown she did not, did not have that innate hardness, the ability to ignore any innate sense of morality and do what was needed.

What if.... he had expected her to take his place, her record, her professionalism, her very demeanour luring him into a false sense of security, a lull assuring him she could step up. He felt worry burn in his eyes, the slightest current of fear in his gaze, before the hate flowed again, hate for her failure, hate for his own stupidity to trust, hate for her weakness.

He was snarling, voice raising

"What the fuck was that in there, did you think if you asked him nicely he was going to tell you everything"

She was unflappable, the model soldier, back straight, words clipped and respectful

"I'm pretty certain that he would have rather died than told me anything sir. Torture is not my strong point sir, you are far more accomplished at it than anyone else I know. Besides I thought that if I got too into it, I might have taken it too far."

He was an animal, powered by emotion, his voice suddenly sarcastic as he spat back

"Obviously not, the loss of his fucking bollucks seemed to effect him quite strongly, he was rather more forth coming without them"

He took a step forward then turned away, a hand thrown out in frustration
"I gave you a chance Spectre. I hope you know you fucked it"

He was going to walk away yet her words goaded him further, an emotionless void of duty and diligence

"I am well aware I didn't perform to your expectations Thor, that much is obvious."

He was flowing now, his voice cold, undercurrents of anger flowing through ever syllable

"Right now it's Major, Captain and damn fucking right you didn't. What if I hadn't been here, what if one of our lives hung in the balance, and the game didn't fit to your strong suit. What then?"

Again the impassive response, the good soldiers answer, not what he was looking for, her emotionless features only goading him more

"I would do my best Major, if anyone of the teams lives depended on it, regardless on whether it fit my strong suit or not."

He snarled throwing a frustrated hand into the air

"well by the looks of that bullshit, I'm going to be in for a long fucking wait if your at the end of the knife and I'm in trouble."

The anger was fading, his eyes studying the form of Ruiz, the charred embers, a hope, perhaps a chance, maybe there was something within her and let out a low snarl

"Get out of my sight, and if you bottle like that again, I dont care what hoops I have to jump through, I'll have you babysitting new recruits back in the frozen hellhole before I have you in this squad."

his words were icy cold, pushing her further

"This squad is for the best, remember that Captain."

She broke, a sudden flair of anger, of emotion, a snap back at him, barely held in check, the same look like when she had almost fought him, that wild animalistic fury, rising from underneath years of training, years of noble service.


"Then I would turn the recruits into the best soldiers in the NAFI just to spite you major. Either way you get me or the people I train. Also I'm one of the best marksman in NAFI, you'll be hard pressed to find a suitable replacement Major."

Arrogance with a touch of hate, sent his eyes glittering, his top lip twitching in half sneer, half smile his voice suddenly icy, cold, the conversation over.

She had failed but there was something there, buried oh so deep

"Don't challenge me, you saw what happened to the last person who did. Dismissed Captain"


He was staring at Ruiz his mouth breaking into a wide smile, at least the dick had suffered in the end and he let out a shout refusing to let her see the pleasure
"Captain"
Her footsteps faltered and he continued

"did he suffer?"

"He better have sir, or I'm going to have to go to hell to ensure that he did."

the smile widened
"Good work, captain"

The footsteps were moving away again

"Thank you Major."

He was left with the corpse, strange, it had already become a corpse, not a comrade, the memories remained, somehow already he was anesthetized, the shell upon the floor no longer Cueball, the pain he felt located within the memories. He reached into his top pocket, the final task, his and his alone, a click of his thumb and a flick of his wrist and it was gone in a flash of oxidization. 

He lingered for a moment, before turning and walking towards the open door of the van, he didn't pause, didn't look back even as the embers of his comrade spat and fizzled.
__________________________________________________ 

"Thor and I will work out our operational plan, for now restock your equipment, Hermes see to any injuries, and you all get a bite to eat. I have a feeling it is going to be a long night."

Even as the others fled the briefing room for beds and food Odin turned and strode through a doorway, beckoning Thor to follow, leading him into a study, the smell of leather, the feel of olden times at odds with the harsh silver of the filing cabinets and the glittering equipment upon the desk.

Even as the Colonel sank into a chair with a low sigh, gesturing to the chair upon the other side, mouth twitching into a smile as Thor perched himself on the filing cabinet at the side of the room.


They had been together too long, Odin's innate commanding officer manners so at edge with Thor's repetitive unpredictability. The awkwardness felt right, like it should be that way between the CO and his faithful hound. A resigned shake of his head, even as he pulled two round cigar tubes, offering one. Thor never took the cigar except upon special celebrations, tonight at least, he had nothing to celebrate. Odin barely registered the refusal even as he popped the other one open. An after mission ritual, yet a ritual for when his nerves were frayed, something to take the edge off his mind, to allow him to relax.

The speed with which he did it an indication of the troubles gnawing at his mind. A second furrow in a lower draw brought a bottle of Jack Daniel's and two small glasses to the table. Filling both and proffering one, taking them wordlessly. A single glance before they tossed the liquid down their throats, glasses hitting the table at the same moment. Forsythes hand reaching the bottle first. A second measure taken at a more relaxed pace as they savored the soothing warmth filling their stomachs, a single sip as they met each others gaze, Forsythe's voice breaking the silence as he peered over the top of his glass, "I didn't think we would lose one so early."

It felt right to begin here, to mourn before you discussed business, to embrace the brotherhood between them, the one moment in their lives when they could truly be men, not soldiers, the years cutting down the walls of rank between them. 

"I knew going into it I was going to lose men on this one. But not like that, not so soon, not before we even made it to our goal."

Thor's voice was hard, emotionless, a practical assessment

"It's the risk we take by putting our best in one team"

A gulp of whiskey dulled the pain spreading in his heart

"you fuck enough families, someone is going to try fuck you right back"

The colonel gave a small nod, voice vehement

"The fucking cartels are a plague."

A low growl of ascent met the statement even as he hoisted himself upon the filing cabinet, leaning back gently against the wall, his muscles suddenly beginning to relax, the tension oozing away.

Frustrated fingers ran through the colonels greying locks and exasperated sigh and a shake of his head, words seeming to come unexpectedly piercing the sigh "I am getting too old for this shit."

Thor's head snapped up to meet Odin full in the face for the first time his voice tinged with concern

"you having second thoughts?"


"No, Augustin, never"

The colonel's voice was filled with conviction and Thor's voice was scathing

"not about the war, the only way we're getting out is in a pine box, we both know that"

He paused eyes narrowing as they fixed upon the colonel

"i mean about hitting the acs first, you know if we distabilize the acs, the cartel rats will ooze in through the cracks"

He paused giving a low smile

"or is that what you want, spread the fuckers out"

The colonel's face split into a wide grin, that soured even as he shook his head,

" Unfortunately the council disagrees."
" the council can suck my..." but the colonel overrode him

"They have placed this meeting at top priority. Though I think it is their fear that rules their decision. They are afraid of an ACS cartel alliance. It is clouding their judgement. It has long been Bentley's plan to force the cartels to overreach, to take on to much territory as they are the true military threat."

He gave a small smile

"But politicians think in policitical terms old friend and our orders stand."

He smiled, a wicked gleam in his eye

"they have a point, older friend." the final words sharp and sarcastic, prompting a smile from Forsythe in turn "Cartel numbers with acs orginization, is not a thing to be sniffed at"


"That was the point that Bentley made that shut me up in the end." 

The colonel gave a reminiscent smile and Thor matched it a wide grin
"i didn't think the old man had it in him."

"He seemed to think that I was being short-sighted, "he muttered, voice punctuated by the slightest hint of a chuckle, "I have to say that he was right. So I think it is best if we do as much damage as we can, with the opportunity we have. Despite the fact that the council wants this covert, I have no intentions of it going down that way. We are going to assess the leadership in attendance and if the price is right we are going to kill as many of those motherfuckers as we can."

A steely gleam entered his gaze hand seeming to clench for a weapon, determination oozing from every pore. Even as Thor nodded, eyes narrowing as the cogs of his brain began to whir and scheme, eyes fixing upon the table like a chessplayer surveying the board.

"If we do this right Odin, we can end cartel ACS relationships in one move,"

His eyes narrowed once more, voice distant

"and if we're lucky take hale into the bargain"

"I agree," the colonel took in the gaze, a teasing prompt "did you have something in mind?"

"i attend the meeting as ruiz, i turn up alone, a show of good faith, i speak in spanish, i put on the act,"

he paused pointing at forsythe though his eyes never left the table, his scheme seemingly outlayed in its shining polish

"loki will have to recon the fuck out of the escobar family if we do this. If I'm going to have to bullshit hale i want to know their dog's mother's middle name"

He stood up beginning to pace

"we let them go the meeting goes well, you tail them in cartel vehicles with cartel weapons, reach the biggest checkpoint you can find and go to town, blow the shit out of it and anyone in it, i mean fireworks we put on a show the likes of which they've never seen"

He paused

"then i'll step out of a car and give a two fingered salute to the security camera"
"they wont be dealing after that"

"What about the other cartel representatives? and Hale?"

The plan was rolling through his mind, gathering speed like a cascading avalance

"we take them out too, we make them think escobar has declared war on the world by the time the cartels have stopped scrapping we'll be gone"

" I like it"

"plus fighting between the acs and the cartels perfect time to strike the plants"

Forsythe was rolling now, planning and orginization, strategy and timing input into the framework

"Indeed. As you leave the meeting, Buck will pick you up, you are going to need his demo skills, Big Al and Breaker, will drive the second vehicle that meets you. I will keep the rest of the team with me, we will take care of the rest."

The flaw hit him like a brick and he snapped it back
"What if hale shows up? He'll know my face as well as I know his"

"Its a gamble to be sure, but one that I think is worth it. If he recognizes you, give the word, we will lock down the building, nothing will leave alive."

Thor wasn't convinced and he met the colonel's gaze
"I want some form of disguise, see what hermes can cook up."

The boy had surprising skills that was for sure. He paused staring at Forsythe

"We good?"

The colonel nodded, eyes still scheming though his features seemed set

"Its as good a plan as any. See what Hermes can come up with in way of disguising your features, perhaps he can do a good enough job that Hale won't recognize you even if he does show."

Thor shrugged, moving for the first time to sit across from the Colonel, no protesting as his glass was instantly refilled

"The new runts, who, what, where?"
Ben Egloff says:
Odin seemed resigned and irritated in equal measure

" Bentley sent them on. He thought we could use a few extra guns. Their CO's from the Sleepers speak highly of them, apparently they are former SAS...."

Thor raised an eyebrow, SAS was nothing to be sniffed at

"I wasn't too sure about introducing them at this critical moment I can tell you that."
A bark like laugh and a gulp of his drink, 

"we don't know how they operate, or how they will get on with the team. But hey, thems the breaks. Not the first time we have worked with fresh fish."

"And especially now" Thor's hand surreptitiously gripped the tags in his pocket even as he fought to keep his features emotionless

Odin nodded the sentiment shared in their gaze, the emotion fading from Yhor's fiery eyes fingers hardening as he turned truly to busines, the slightest hint of concern in his eyes 

"I'll have to show them whose boss but that will have to wait til later"

Not enough time and he looked up at Odin, fearful words bubbling unbidden

What will happen if i die, will spectre take my place?"
He was ducking his eyes, the real source of his concern suddenly written
on his face even though his features remained motionless

Odin held his gaze, staring at the top of his forehead for what seemed like a year, holding him down cowed by his steely eyes, a hint of warning in his voice

"Yes and no my old friend. We she become second in command of this team, more than likely. But she would not be my successor as Valkyrie Commander. Major Donovan would fill that role. Next to you he has the longest and most distinguished service record. Why do you ask?"


He nodded and swallowed staring into his drink, his voice suddenly reminiscent

"There is a reason we work. The leaders of the acs and the cartel's, they wake up in cold sweats thinking about what your planning. You keep them awake at night, but their men, they check their closet for me. If a man is having doubts or fears, you coerce him reassure him, one look at you tells him he can go into battle, one look at me tells him it'll be worse if he doesn't"

"True, get the point Augustin."

A second long swallow, the Colonel's voice barely piercing his thoughts

"You can't do what I do in your position, you can't cut a guys balls off and then give the next guy a big hug and tell him it will be alright. It doesn't work."

He pummeled his own palm, a loud frustrated slap punctuating his words

"I gave Spectre a chance today, a chance to prove she had the stones, to replace me, to torture someone she hated and loathed, who she had dreamed of revenge on for years and she bottled it"

He emptied the glass in a long swallow, the glass slamming against the table with dull finality

"Which means if one of us dies, we've got a weak link. That scares me Odin, that fucking terrifies me,"

The colonel looked tired, the weight of his age and the tireless task suddenly evident on his shoulders. 

"This war is drawing to an end Augustin, one way or the other. True there are few that could replace you, if you insist I suppose that there are few that could replace me. But think on this, if we win this war? If we come out victorious, do you really want someone to? Spectre has her skills, they are different than yours." 

His voice was suddenly hard and cold, a hint of a threat in his voice and Thor felt his temper rise to the challenge, the animal within growling in protest

" There are no weak links on this team. They wouldn't be here if I thought them so. Is that understood?" 

"I know her skillset as well as you, you may pick them and Bently ship them but its me as much as you that moulds them, so dont you fucking..."

His hand reached out, the look in his friends eyes stopping him dead as he met those wise eyes, his thoughts written in the lines of his face. It had been a battle between his own fears and the loyalty bedded deep in his nature and the loyalty had crushed it, dictated his actions, but the vehemence, the anger in his tone.

No it had not been such a crushing victory, somewhere within Odin had thought the same thing, thought of a life without Thor by his side.

The desperate look in his eye, stopped him dead, the wild eyed sorrow told him Forsythe had found no answer. He found it difficult to speak, his voice catching in his throat, suddenly quiet

"It's really the endgame isn't it"

The colonel nodded, his mouth opening to find words that never came, the cigar shoved roughly into his mouth, smoke wreathing his head.Wordlessly Thor lent across the table to slowly pour the colonel the drink before standing and striding towards the door. Even as he reached it, the colonel's voice rang out

"I don't know what the future holds Augustin. But as we have always done we will continue on, in the best manner we can."

Thor looked back, a sharp, stoic nod before the door closed behind him.


----------



## flash43 (Apr 14, 2012)

Like so many times in his life Andrew dissapeared into the shadows. He watched with intrest as the others moved around and left the room. He heard voices echoing in from a study nearby but he knew beeter than to listen in on his superior's. And so Andrew moved. He moved quickly, from shadow to shadow until he reached the doors that, from the smell coming from the, led to food. He stepped through and moved quickly down the corridor. 

As he guessed the corridor led him to a room that was made out as a kitchen. And unsuprising to Andrew, who had grown up alongside the giant, Alexander was busy at work on the stove. Alexander turned and saw Andrew. He waved and Andrew aaved back. As Alexander took a bowl of soup for himself so too did Andrew. He took up a spoon, rinsed it clean at the tap and started to eat. He was suprisingly hungry and, like most of his brother's food, the soup was was hearty and good. He quickly finished up and washed clean the bowl before sitting down beside his brother and being reminded if the days that they had spent together in their childhood and their time in the SAS. H allowed himslef a smile as he talked with his brother and for once allowed allowed himslef to really open up.


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## Anilar (Aug 12, 2011)

As Buck was finishing restocking his kit, his nose caught the trace of smell that said hot soup in the kitchen. Which reminded him that he should get something to eat before the next stage of events were going to happen. When Odin and Thor was putting there heads together for themselves during a mission, action and blowing stuff up usually was the next thing that happened. And it would be good for the team, after the events that had happened, they were all soldiers even the team doc Hermes, they all needed to blow of some steam.

Walking towards the kitchen, the smell of soup becoming stronger Buck remembered what he himself had experienced at the checkpoint earlier that day. Keying in his comm he contacted Spectre, Loki and Hermes.
_
"Sorry to disturbs guys, but before we suddenly find ourselves deep inside chicago again, Hermes and I wen't through a checkpoint during our recon mission. One of the officers was apparently called charlie, and I believe it rang some bells in Hermes mind. Was wondering if it meant anything to you guys, or the information net. There was also taken pictures of us and the van, and was thinking those should be removed from the net. But as Odin and Thor is making devious plans, I guess its your call Spectre if it should be brought up to the bosses. Oh and I think there is hot soup in the kitchen."_

As Buck entered the kitchen, he listened to the responses of his teammates, grapping a bowl of great hot soup, he looked at the two new additions to the team. And with a big smile he addressed them.
_
"Im sorry for the gloomy mood at the short briefing before, we have not had the best start today. Im called Buck, I smile, I repair stuff, I modifiy stuff, I create stuff and I blow stuff up. I know you guys are good at something, or you wouldn't be here, but what are you good at."_


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## Jackinator (Nov 18, 2008)

I turned away from Loki, I'd already known, I'd pulled all the files on my father the day I'd finished training, I wanted to know everything, even if I hadn't been aware of what he'd been doing when I was young, I was aware now. I stayed silent, as I pulled up beside the Colonel, he motioned for me to move over and I did so, letting him take the wheel.

I took the opportunity to check my weapons. I held the SMG on my lap, flipping open the exhaust port cover and checking for jams before shutting down the power core of the device. The pistol I left powered up and I leaned into the back to visually check the rocket launcher I had stashed there. It looked fine and I would check it when we stopped, as it was I was ready.

Odin stopped and Spectre and Thor jumped in, the van sped off almost as soon as their feet cleared the ground, Loki pulling the door shut after them.

"Tap into their surveillance system Lieutenant, I don't want this van on any still shots or video feeds. We have already drawn far too much attention to ourselves. Make sure that there are no records of our presence." 

I stayed silent, the SMG strapped into place across my chest and my pistol in my hands, held across my lap. The van rumbled and rocked through the streets, we were heading into hell, and we all knew it.


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## Lord Ramo (Apr 12, 2009)

"Stand at fucking ease, captain, pushing your tits out like a twat isn't going to make me any happier" Spectre did as she was ordered by the Major, arms moving behind her back as she awaited the verbal and hateful tirade that would be sent her way momentarily. 

Thor, stared at Ruiz’s corpse for a moment, one eyebrow raised as if to marvel at her work, before it was replaced by hate and what Spectre thought for a moment was fear, but dismissed that thought out of hand.

He was snarling, voice raising as he began to direct his anger towards her.

"What the fuck was that in there, did you think if you asked him nicely he was going to tell you everything"

Spectre stayed still, back straight. She kept her tone even, respectful to the major and his position.* "I'm pretty certain that he would have rather died than told me anything sir. Torture is not my strong point sir, you are far more accomplished at it than anyone else I know. Besides I thought that if I got too into it, I might have taken it too far."*

"Obviously not, the loss of his fucking bollucks seemed to effect him quite strongly, he was rather more forth coming without them"

He did not understand how much Ruiz had hated her. He had not seen the hate that was similar to his own written across Ruiz’s face the entire time they fought and she tortured him. Maybe he was right, if she had gotten into it more than Ruiz eventually would have talked, though it would take much longer for her to get a response out of him than Thor did, and she wouldn’t have had the patience to let him live that long. 

He took a step forward then turned away, a hand thrown out in frustration

"I gave you a chance Spectre. I hope you know you fucked it"

*"I am well aware I didn't perform to your expectations Thor, that much is obvious."* She said evenly back. He was expecting her to be like him. A void like him that only cared for one person. She was not like him, she did not have the same skill set he had, not the same morality.

"Right now it's Major, Captain and damn fucking right you didn't. What if I hadn't been here, what if one of our lives hung in the balance, and the game didn't fit to your strong suit. What then?"

She wanted to reach out and hit the Major, he knew that she would give her all if one of the teams lives hung in the balance. She kept her tone and body language neutral, not wishing to give Thor any satisfaction in seeing her getting worked up.

*"I would do my best Major, if anyone of the teams lives depended on it, regardless on whether it fit my strong suit or not."
*
He snarled throwing a frustrated hand into the air

"Well by the looks of that bullshit, I'm going to be in for a long fucking wait if your at the end of the knife and I'm in trouble."

She stayed quiet as he turned his eyes back on Ruiz for a moment, nothing more than a charred corpse. He finally let out a snarl at her.

"Get out of my sight, and if you bottle like that again, I dont care what hoops I have to jump through, I'll have you babysitting new recruits back in the frozen hellhole before I have you in this squad."

"This squad is for the best, remember that Captain."

Spectre felt herself being pushed over the edge, finally letting her anger get the better of her. She had fought Ruiz injured, nearly being killed in the process, then went against her emotions to leave the bloody bastard alive so that Thor could have his fun and get his damnable answers out of him, even though every part of her had screamed to kill him. Now that she had done so he was pushing her further and further.
*
"Then I would turn the recruits into the best soldiers in the NAFI just to spite you major. Either way you get me or the people I train. Also I'm one of the best marksman in NAFI, you'll be hard pressed to find a suitable replacement Major."* She snarled at him, eyes wild like they had been when she had contemplated fighting him. It may have sounded arrogant, hateful but she meant every word. If she was shipped back home, then she would ensure that the recruits she trained would have control over their emotions, and would make them into the best soldiers she could to rub in the Majors face.

"Don't challenge me, you saw what happened to the last person who did. Dismissed Captain" He said icily to her. She turned away saluting the Major and started to walk away towards where the others were gathered. The Major didn’t move for a moment, staring back at the body of Ruiz before calling out "Captain."

She stopped walking and turned to regard him before he continued. "Did he suffer?"

Spectre felt the anger flare again. Thor had made sure that he had suffered when he tortured him, that was until she realized he was talking about his death. The Major hadn’t watched her kill him, had only seen the end result. 

*"He better have sir, or I'm going to have to go to hell to ensure that he did."* She responded, every word she meant. If the bastard hadn’t suffered as much as she had for living, knowing that Granite had been taken from her then she would ensure he payed for it in hell.

"Good work, captain"

Simple praise, thats all she would get. She turned and carried on walking towards the van, *"Thank you Major."* She said as she climbed into the awaiting van, noticing Odin, Loki and Osiris but no Cueball. A sickening feeling hit her stomach as she realized what had happened, that’s why Thor had taken so long to get back and torture Ruiz. Cueball was dead.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She listened during the briefing though did not say anything. It was good that they had already got the replacements for Cueball and Fenris, the bloody Russian going AWOL somewhere. Once they were dismissed she turned to Hermes who was to take care of the wounded. *“I have a couple of minor injuries Hermes, my hand and leg.”* She said to him, letting her other wounds heal naturally.

The scar on her face from Ruiz would remind her of the fight everytime she saw her reflection in a mirror, and wanted to keep it that way. He patched her up quickly and she moved away, letting out a curt *“Thank you.”* As she did so. She needed to have some food, her energy low after the fight. That and a damned shower to wash the dried blood off of her. 

Her comm opened up as she was keyed into a convocation by Buck, informing her that he and Hermes might have been Id’d. "Sorry to disturbs guys, but before we suddenly find ourselves deep inside chicago again, Hermes and I wen't through a checkpoint during our recon mission. One of the officers was apparently called charlie, and I believe it rang some bells in Hermes mind. Was wondering if it meant anything to you guys, or the information net. There was also taken pictures of us and the van, and was thinking those should be removed from the net. But as Odin and Thor is making devious plans, I guess its your call Spectre if it should be brought up to the bosses. Oh and I think there is hot soup in the kitchen."

She snarled before returning communication,_* “The name Charlie means bloody nothing to me, though the pictures could pose a big fucking problem. Get on the net now, scour it, I want those pictures of the van and you removed immediately or the whole squad could be put into jeopardy. I will inform Odin of what has happened.”*_

Changing direction towards Odin’s office she moved quickly without running. There was a good chance that Thor would be with Odin, and she didn’t particularly want to see him at the moment. As it was he was leaving as she arrived, she simply nodding her head to him and saying quietly_* “Major.”*_ Before he headed past her and towards his rooms.

She moved to the door, which was still open, and could see that Odin was in his chair, leaning back in it as he stared up at the ceiling with his feet rested on his desk. She was dimly aware that he had fought, and may also be tired like she was but cleared her throat before speaking up, *"Sir, is this a bad time?"*

Odin didn’t move when she spoke, but simply replied to her, "No, not at all, come in Spectre, have a seat.” The only movement he made was to indicate a chair across from the desk from him for her to sit in. Spectre nodded, even though the Colonel wasn’t looking at her yet and moved silently into the room, taking the seat shown by the Colonel. As soon as she was seated the Colonel, puffing silently on a cigar brought his feet to the ground and turned an expectant look upon her. 

Spectre cleared her throat again before she started, weariness creeping into her voice. *"Sir we may have a small issue. Buck and Hermes say that they were checked for id in the van, and the van had pictures taken of it. I have told them to remove those pictures from the net."* She said, sitting upright in her chair as she spoke.

"Fair enough," Odin replied, obviously fine with the appropriate action that Spectre had taken, before continuing, his gaze deepening, as if it was piercing some thin mist"You didn't come down here just to tell me that.... What is bothering you Holly?"

Spectre stayed silent for a moment before speaking up talking quickly, *"I should have supported Osiris and helped get to Cueball, I failed the team in more ways than one today Sir, as I'm sure the major has already informed you of."* She should have known that her comrades were in more danger than it had first appeared, she should have moved her part of the squad through the building quicker than she had. If she did then Cueball could still be alive and with them.

Odin sat there, staring at her for a while before grabbing bold of a glass and pulling a bottle of Jack Daniel’s whiskey from a draw in his desk, filling the glass before sliding the bottle over to Spectre, and indicating a glass for her to use. "Tell me, how is it that you failed?"

Spectre looked confused for a second, surely she already told him how she had failed. She was sure that the Major would have told him how poor a job she had done on torturing Ruiz as well, but answered the question regardless.

*"If I had moved faster, not wasted so much time getting to the garage then it could have saved Cueball. I let my own personal feelings get in the way and almost executed Ruiz before Thor had gotten to us. I then didn't perform to expectations and was too afraid that if I got into torturing Ruiz, then I would kill him."*

She poured herself a glass of the whiskey, taking a quick sip of it. She could feel the warmth of the alcohol spreading down her throat as she drank, the familiar taste welcome, and a pleasant feeling as she awaited him to reply. 

"Holly, sometimes soldier's die. It is the life we have chosen. Nothing you could have done would have saved Cueball. I was closest to him when he was shot, by your logic it is more my fault than yours. How about we blame the sack of shit that shot him and keep our self-loathing to a minimum." Spectre would have flinched at the harshness of his words if he had not had a fatherly smile on his face, as if he was trying to soothe her. Spectre went to interrupt the Colonel, she wasn’t trying to blame him at all, and she was well aware that soldiers died. She had lost too many soldiers and friends under her command. However he held up a hand and continued.

"I understand what you did. If you had killed Ruiz, then he would have been just as dead then as he is now. We would have been none the wiser and we have continued on with our mission. Your restraint, provided us will valuable information. You are not Augustin Holly, and I don't want you to try to become him."

Holly looked up at Odin, trying desperately to keep her emotions in check. She knew she wasn’t the Major, but unlike the Major who could use his emotions to benefit NAFI and terrify their enemies, Spectre had almost lost control of her emotions. She was a professional soldier, and was widely regarded as being cold since her friends and then Granite had died. *"I thought I would feel more satisfaction from the kill sir. I felt very little though, just pain at what that bastard had done."* She confessed finally, not thinking of anything to say in return to the comments already made by the Colonel.

"That is exactly what you should have felt." Odin said with a sigh, "Vengence is always cold Holly. Never forget that. It will never fill the hole, the sense of loss will not go away."

Holly nodded at his words, though she felt no better from them. The Colonel was trying to help but she couldn’t help but feel cheated by the lack of satisfaction she was feeling after the buzz of watching the bastard burn had faded away, and took another sip of her drink. _*“Thanks for your time Sir, I should leave you to your planning."*_

"Thor is taking care of things. Sit." The words coming out commanding, obviously not a request. Spectre with a confused look on her face nevertheless obliged the Colonel, retaking her seat. "I will not have you walking away from this experience thinking that you have performed poorly." The Colonel said, letting the words sink in for a moment before continuing. "I know Augustin's thoughts on the matter, I agree with some, but not with most." She stayed quiet and still, she wasn’t stupid she knew what the Major thought about her, worthless in his eyes. "I will not have you second guessing yourself Captain. So if you have something to deal with, take a drink, deal with it, and lets move on." He continued.

Holly thought for a moment before pouring more of the Jack Daniels into her glass and taking another sip._* “As you wish sir, though I cannot help but second guess myself, my emotions nearly compromised any intelligence we could have gathered."*_

The Colonel pinched the bridge of his nose, furiously puffing away on his almost spent cigar before speaking, "Captain why do you think I chose you for this team?"

Holly looked confused for a moment, she had been a replacement necessary to fill a gap in the team, as had Granite. However she was more than that, she hadn’t been chosen merely as a replacement but because of how she performed and what she did.
*
"Sir, I was chosen for your squad as I am one of the best of the best. I'm not going to list the reasons why I was chosen as I don't know them all and they will just make me sound like an arrogant bitch."* She said warily. She wasn’t sure what Odin wanted to hear from her, probably wanted her to quit whining and get on with her job, something she could do. She had managed to bury her emotions for years, and she could do it again, she was sure of it.

"That is a bunch of shit. Everyone on this team is an excellent marksman, dedicated soldier, and warriors without equal. You were chosen and then promoted, because you think. You operate with your head and not your heart. You weigh the options, make a logical decision, and you do it well." The Colonel said, dismissing what she had said. "That is not failure Holly. it is placing the good of the team before your own personal vendetta."

Spectre stayed quiet, knowing that Odin wasn’t finished and to interrupt him would not help. She had only managed to keep a clear head as she had never had the opportunity to catch up to Ruiz, her emotions had been buried, but seeing him had changed all of that. 

"Don't let Thor's expectations of you, change your view point. There is a reason you two are in the positions you are in. Between the two of you, I get the best from both possible viewpoints. Remember that." Odin leant forward, leaning on his elbows on his desk, his hands steppled in front of him. He stared at her for a long time before she finally replied. 

Though part of her felt that if he wanted to get the best possible viewpoint from her as well as from Thor, then he would include her more in the planning stages, she felt relief flood through her that he didn’t think exactly like the Major did about her, and that she hadn’t failed the team, the point she had hated the when Thor had been berating her. *“Thank you sir, I am glad that you don't share the view point of the major, he made me feel like I had let the team down for not being like him."* 

Her voice choked a bit as she continued the thought of Granite finding its way to the surface once more, _*"I'm just relieved that I finally got revenge for Granite, he should be the one standing here not me, he noticed the grenade Ruiz threw.”*_

"We all must live with the ghosts of the past," Odin says, nodding in understand of what Spectre was feeling, "But it is how we move forward that defines us Holly. Stay the course, be who you have always been and I will never fault you for it." He leant back once more, content with the convosation before raising an eyebrow. “Anything else Captain?”

She drained the last of the Jack Daniels in her glass before shaking her head, _*“No thank you sir, I am grateful for the talk Sir, its good to get some stuff off of my chest seeing how I can't open up to anyone else.”*_ She stood before Odin replied, smiling at her, “Go get something to eat Captain, my briefing is in one hour.”

She nodded,* “Yes sir, thanks for the drink sir.”* Before turning and moving from the room. Once she was in the corridor she steadied herself for a second, wiping away a single tear at the thought of granite. Once she was sure that no one would notice she moved quickly through the building, firstly taking a quick shower to get all of the dirt and blood off of her, before redressing in clean black body suit and her armour.

Checking her weapons were all clean, and washing her own blood and that of Ruiz’s off of her Kurki blade she headed for the kitchen. Inside were Buck and the two SAS replacements Big Al and Breaker. Spectre took some of the soup that the newest members had offered, nodding her thanks at them before moving to a corner, eating the soup quickly and staying quiet the entire time.


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

*Update #9*

All: You all find some comfort in sharing a small meal together, Big Al winning some instant friends with his excellent, if quickly prepared meal. The loss of Cueball is something that still weighs on the team's collective mind, but the addition of the raucous Scottish giant and his pensive and thoughtful brother, have gone a long way to help alleviate the tension. Introductions and easy laughter starting to roll through the small kitchen, lead by Big Al and the always positive Buck. 

Loki your work removing images of vans coming and going from the safe house, as well as wiping the part of the ACS network that contained images of Buck and Hermes' van was successful, the security in the CED sections of their net laughable to one of your skills. Hermes you have seen to Spectre's injuries and you have all prepared as best you can for the briefing that is to come.

The briefing itself, short and sweet, a plan that will eradicate any chance of an ACS Cartel alliance, if not spark an all out conflict. Odin's hope is to spark tension and conflict between the ruling Cartel families as well. A bold plan, but one well within the prodigious skills of the Nightstalkers. Three hours later finds you all in position, waiting, watching, and praying the plan goes without a hitch. 

Big Al (Romero's Own) & Breaker (Flash43): Your assignment is to support Thor and Buck in assaulting the selected checkpoint after the meeting has concluded. Parked in one of the cartel SUV's that you retrieved from the other safe house, just to the west of the warehouse where the meeting is to be held, you have the smallest of views of the other SUV as it pulls into the parking lot, Buck behind the wheel, Thor in the passenger seat. As the SUV comes to a halt, Thor jumps out and enters the wearhouse, his disguise making him look completely different, but you know that it is him all the same. Now that the meeting has begun you have nothing to do but wait. Nervous tension settles over the two of you, your desire to prove yourselves worthy of the spot on this legendary team foremost in your mind as you once again check your weapons, waiting for the signal to fall in behind Buck's SUV. 

Hermes (Karak the Unfaithful): You are assigned to Odin's strike team, your position is to cover the back door of the complex. To your left you can see Osiris moving quietly behind some crates as he covers the west entrance to the warehouse. To your right you can just make out Loki, the Cyber-tech melting into the darkness as he covers the east side. From where you are you cannot see it, but you hear several vehicles enter to the parking lot, finally the signal that Thor has arrived, three quick taps on the radio. The meeting has begun and all you have left to do is wait for the signal to attack. Nervous energy courses through your limbs, as you check your weapons. Your thoughts flit to using your abilities to change Thor's features, enlarging cheek bones and brows, causing a beard to sprout out and grow. It was a quick job, but you feel it up to the task of disguise the Major. Waiting, seconds click slowly away....

Loki (Santaire) Tapped into the small cameras that reside in the cell phones and computers of the occupants inside the warehouse, you have a pretty good view of the layout of the single large room. There are three representatives of each of the other 4 Cartel families, some you recognize from past intel, but no one of any real importance. You wince as you watch three men, wearing long trench coats, enter the room from the front of the warehouse, but then the signal goes blank, a jammer apparently in place. You were unable to get a good look at the ACS representatives, but you pass on the intel over encrypted radio communication to the rest of your team. Not able to see what is going on in the warehouse any longer, you turn your attention to the door on the Eastside of the warehouse. You are just barely able to glimpse the SUV carrying Thor and Buck as it pulls into the lot and you hear the footsteps on the gravel as a single set of feet rush into the building and your locator signal for Thor goes dark. You have nothing else to do but wait, cover the door you have been assigned, and wait for a signal from Odin who is hidden somewhere, covering the front door. 

Osiris (Jackinator)Checking your weapons, your gaze occasionally flits to the right and left, checking on Loki and Hermes. The plan is simple, let the meeting take place, allow Thor and his strike team to leave, then kill everyone and everything inside the warehouse. Patting your trusty rocket launcher, you relish in the nervous energy. In the back of your mind however, you dwell on the possibility that your father, one of the most hated men in the ACS, might be at this meeting. Your thoughts are interrupted as vehicles start showing up in the parking lot and you move a bit further back into the shadows created by the crates that you have hidden in. You see Thor's SUV arrive, you watch as he hurries into the building. Now all you have to do is sit and wait for the signal from Odin to attack, your thoughts occupied with thoughts of your father and the outcome of the assault should he arrive. 

Spectre (Lord Ramo): Odin has put you on the highground, hoping to take advantage of your superior marksmanship. Crouching down, taking care to keep your shadow from falling over the skylight that you have positioned yourself by, you watch as the representatives from the other four Cartel Families arrive, so you are not surprised by Loki's report. Peeking all around you you can make out the rest of the team lying in wait, taking note of their positions in the event that you need to lay down covering fire. You watch with baited breath as three representatives from the ACS, their dress and skin color pointing them out, enter into the warehouse, cautious of the Cartel Soldiers present. As the meeting begins, you watch as Thor introduces himself after entering on his own, but his words are too quiet to make out from your vantage point. All you can do is sit by, hoping that everything goes to plan and if not, taking as many targets down as quickly as you can. 

Buck (Anilar) & Thor (Deathbringer) : You two sit in your purloined SUV for quite some time, watching the roadway that leads into the warehouse complex where the meeting is scheduled. Secluded in a dark alley, unlit by street lamps, you are able to watch as several SUVs that look like the one you sit in drive by you and pull into the parking lot of the warehouse. Thor, you look up into the mirror behind the sun visor, inspecting Hermes' work. Your brow ridge is now more pronounced, your cheek bones are less angular, fuller in frame, and most importantly you have three weeks growth of beard covering your chin and jaw line, merging with a goatee that frames the shape of your mouth. Unconsciously you scratch at the facial hair an itch prompting the phantom pain at the memory of your transformation causing your jaw to twitch. Finally you feel that it is time to make your appearance. Buck you drive the SUV up to the front of the Warehouse, drop Thor off, and find a good place to park in the lot where you can still see the door. You notice, much to your liking that all the other vehicles are empty, their driver's having been part of the entourage each of the representatives were allowed to bring in the building itself. You take that as an encouraging sign. Buck all you have to do is wait until Thor returns and starts the next phase of the operation. 

Thor (deathbringer): We will work out what happens in the warehouse over MSN.


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## Anilar (Aug 12, 2011)

Buck could feel the spirit of the Valkyries had been lifted somewhat. The hot soup providing new energy for those that had some. The new mission parameters giving everybody a purpose, alleviating the stress and boredom of just waiting, partly by giving everybody something else to think about, than the death and disappearance of several squad members.

Buck spend sometime getting reacquainted with a old M16A2 assault rifle, not uncommon among the cartel forces. His own weapons would clearly indicate NAFI involvement, which would defeat the purpose of laying blame on the cartels. Also adding a beretta handgun to his arsenal of weapons, Buck felt he was ready for this mission. Then he went through the supplies of explosives, finding anything old fashioned, dynamite sticks and old type plastic explosives. Creating a dozen or so remote controlled packages, that quickly could be placed on vehicles or other things that needed to be blasted with an explosion.

Packing the vehicle, so the explosives was hidden from plain sight and for anyone looking into the car from the front windows, which was would most likely happen if they were to encounter some ACS patrols. Buck did not bother to hiding the weapons so much, they were are after all a couple of cartel members invited to talks with the ACS leadership.

But it seemed that Buck didn't need to hide his stuff that well, the drive towards the waiting point before the warehouse was peaceful. Passing a few patrols on the way, that didn't bother with the SUV driving past them. Thor and Buck being quiet the whole trip, Thor busy studying his tablet, with what Buck assumed was intel on Thor's cover.

Finding a dark alley connected to the main road towards the warehouse, Buck parked the vehicle, so Thor and he could follow the traffic to the warehouse, untill everyone was ready and the meeting was to begin.
Buck watched Thor study his tablet in silence for a few minutes, Buck guessing this time would be as good as anyone to get clarification on a few questions he had to the mission.
_
"Whats the plan Thor when we arrive, do you want me to place explosives on the enemy vehicles if possible, in case we need to make a get away?"_

Thor still looking at his tablet reading, his tone a matter of fact almost casual
_
"There will be no quick get away, if something goes wrong, I will be taken or killed. You follow your orders, lock the building down, no one..." _

Buck noticing Thor twitch one eye glaring up at him _"..and I mean no one leaves alive"_

Buck looking out on the road a SUV pass them by, not noticing them.

_ "I see you and Odin believe that the chaos between the ACS and the Cartels that your death can bring is more important than your life. Im inclined to disagree, guess thats why im not the boss"_ A quirky smile on Bucks lips. _"Explosives on the building then, and if there is some sewer tunnels, some nice explosive marbles to close them off if necessary. You want a marble to tail you inside Thor?"_

Thor putting the tablet away in the glove compartment, looked up with eyes that are half irritated half tired.

_"You can shove marbles up Hale's arse for all i care, but if one gets spotted I swear to every deity that may or may not exist I will make you regret the day your parents condom broke"_

Thor threw himself back in his seat closing his eyes.

_"I've been fighting this war for longer than I can remember, I've seen men that make us both combined look like girls skipping through a meadow. They died for what they believed in, wouldn't you?"_

_"I would sir."_ Buck answered a little sliver of sadness in his voice. _"And im sad to think that you would need to ask that question. I grew up in ACS territory, and was rescued by a squad much like ours. Its just that I know you have done more good for the civilian people in any territory with a knife, than I could ever do with a endless supply of explosives, that is why I know our cause will suffer if you were to die, others will try and walk your shoes, and some will succeed to some degree, but you and Odin are the heart and soul of the valkyries. Im just the friendly pad on the shoulder guy."_
Turning his head to watch Thor.
_"And back to mission, im still trying to remember last time when one of my marbles was spotted before they were meant to be spotted, and on the subject of me regretting my parents broken condem, that have happened several time during drills, so nothing new there." _

Thor made a odd sound, the sound that Buck could only assume would be restrained laughter from a man not used to laugh or smile.
_
"Nothing gets you down does it Buck. I must be fucking loosing it"_

Buck seeing Thor shaking his head before he continued
_
"Your a good man, but good men don't make good soldiers. Good men won't shoot the child with a gun in his hands, good men, won't leave the woman drowning in the water"_

Thor's eyes glazing over, Buck recognising the look Thor got when he was backflashing, and as usual there was no regret painted in his face.

_"I have and I would again. My knife works for hate... its motives might coincide with good, but that is not what drives it into flesh"_

Thor looked back up, his eyes and face returning to the usual now its business time.
_
"Do what you think is right, if you want to marble the cars, marble the cars, you want to put one in with me, put one in with me. Just know, the price"_

Buck watching Thor make the threat of a hand drawn across his throat, no mistaking his intent, if Buck made a mistake.

Another SUV passing by out on the street, Buck not fooling himself on the seriousness of Thor's threat, his mind going to his wife and children.
_
"Just promis me one thing Sir. Nomatter how im killed, tell my wife and kids I made you laugh." _

Thor hissed something, just loud enough to be heard but impossible to say who's ears it was intended to be for.

_"And if i die, don't let odin try to avenge me"_

With a shake of his head Thor seemed to be back in the world, wondering if he was aware of what he had just said, his leering smile hiding his emotions.

_"your crowning achievement huh?"_

With a big smile on his face, the way everyone would recognise Buck.

_"Orders from the highest place sir."_ Looking at his watch, Buck asked into the air. _"So Thor when is it time for us to start the show."_

_"We'll give it 5, if nothing goes wrong, we tail the acs to the nearest check point and go to town. You've got the lead then, newbies and me, you point we shoot. Your the demolition expert, but I want it spectacular."_

Thor answered.

_"Ill make it say boom Thor, and it will big and huge and very Cartel like. If I make it too fancy they will know it wasn't cartel business."_

Buck knowing his allready prepared explosive would do the trick.

_"Good, just make sure there is a video camera left, we're putting on a show, no good if no one sees it"_

Thor repeating the order Odin had given earlier during the briefing.
_
"What I wouldn't give for a old fashioned RPG launcher. It would work wonders in this scenario."_ 

Buck nodded to himself, evident that his head is busy planning various possibilites.

Thor continued.
_
"Check the cars when we arrive, who knows what surprises they have in there"_

Buck still nodding.

_"Check the cars, if surprising ill change the surprise around on our opposition. You just give the order when you wan't to move out Thor."_

_"I'm tired of waiting lets go"_

Thor clasped a hand on bucks shoulder, his hand moving away shortly after.

_"Good hunting"_
_
"You too sir"_ 

Buck answered as he started the car up, pulling slowly out on the street. Setting course towards the nearby warehouse of the meeting.

As they arrived Buck counted eight other vehicles on the parking lot outside the warehouse. Buck parked so he could quickly pull the car up, so he and Thor could make a quick escape if needed. As Thor walked towards the entrance to the warehouse, Buck released one of his marbles. It was programmed for maximum disorientation, smoke, loud bang and powerful flash. Buck quickly gave it a bit of dark paint, without compromising its electronics that made it possible for Buck to move it around. He let it climp high up the warehouse, and found a open window he let it climb inside. As it slid inside Buck got another idea, contacting Loki silently.

_"Loki I have moved a marble inside the warehouse, my frequency to it is 65,2 im sure you can piggyride it to see what it and I see too."_

Buck made sure the marble stayed to shadows, away from loose objects and light sources. While he tracked where Thor went and where the meeting took place, ready to drop and intervene if it seemed necessary, If nothing else it would provide a distraction if Thor should be compromised. Without proving a threat to Spectre on the roof, thou he still let her know that the marble was in there, and what he had programmed it for.

All the while he controlled the marble, Buck also looked to the other parked vehicles. They were all empty, which told Buck the other Cartel and ACS people were more concerned of what would happen inside that out here. Without noise Buck planted various configurations of explosive on all eight vehicles, he also planted them different places. Some underneath the vehicles, some inside the vehicles, the ones he could enter without setting of any alarms, his bomb tools making for decent lockpicks on uncomplicated locks.

If any of the explosives would be found and compared, none of them looked the same or used the same timer, so even thou they openly would suspect one bomberman. There paranoia should still keep them from truly believe that, and the type of explosives should make them believe that cartel families was after them. Maybe trying to sweeten the deal with the ACS.

Buck didn't see anything indicating that sewers or other tunnels would run beneath the warehouse, so he let the other of his marbles stay with him. As he was finishing his work, Buck started to analyze the warehouse for structural weaknesses to exploit if needed, but mostly he followed his marble inside the building looking for any signs of problems during the meeting.


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## Romero's Own (Apr 10, 2012)

Alexander hated small spaces. And the seat he was squeezed into in the S.U.V was far too small for his huge frame. To make matters worse Alexander's trusted miniguns, which he lovingly called Emma and Elliot, where in the boot, not at his side. He always got twitchy when his guns weren’t within easy reach. The tiny view he could get wasn’t helping either. He cursed his luck as the other car car drew up and Alexander watched Thor sprint towards the building. The disguise was good and Al didn’t recognize Thor as he made his way into the building. Alexander knew that now that the meeting had begunt here was nothing to do but wait. And he hated waiting. He began to drum his fingers on the dashboards, the drumming of his fingers loud in the silence. His Scottish heritage shone through as he began to mummer as his fingers drummed a beat.

“O Flower of Scotland, When will we see. Your like again,That fought and died for,Your wee bit Hill and Glen, And stood against him, Proud Edward's Army”

He allowed himself a smile as he spoke the line that had been born from the football and rugby matches of old.

“Bastards”

He then continued to finish the verse.

“And sent him homeward, Tae think again.”

Alexander smiled broadly. He knew that no matter where he went and who he met, Caledonia was everything he’d ever have. And then he sung again.


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## flash43 (Apr 14, 2012)

Andrew sat in the drivers seat, and shifted uncomfortably, his eyes flicked to the movement of Thor, running up to the building on their right. He checked over his weapons for the third time; checking his shotgun's solid shot magazine was properly loaded, and placed it back in the foot well, ensuring the safety was on as he did so. He reached down to 'Delphi' his rifle, stuck into a holster on his right lower leg. He took off the site, and checked its focus. suddenly Al began to sing their proud national anthem under his breath, joining in himself on "That fought and died for". Relishing 'Bastards!' just as much as his brother, who was squeezed painfully into the front passenger seat. as they rounded off the verse, both smiling inanely, Breaker began to check over his Bo staff, ensuring the power cells were correctly installed and set to the right level. His brother had continued singing, the second verse being rounded off in a mock operatic tone. 
Andrew laughed and said; "Time for the Scots to show these Yankees what we've got eh brother!?" with that he locked his Bo staff back in its holster, like his assault rifle's, it was attached to his leg, but this time on the side of the thigh. It was a special design, holding the staff at each end, but leaving the center free. the holster had a fabric lined, leather tube at each end, the lower of which moved down, hen Andrew grabbed his staff and pushed it down, freeing it from the upper tube and allowing him to then pull it up and out of the lower tube. He was proud of it as he had designed it himself.


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## Jackinator (Nov 18, 2008)

The SUV rumbled into the warehouse, disturbing my thoughts. I cursed myself internally, these reflective moments were becoming more and more frequent and if I wasn't careful I was going to come out of one to discover a barrel resting against my forehead. I reached out and patted the barrel of my rocket launcher, it's weight and solidity was reassuring, as well as the imminent destruction it's bulky shadow promised. I had laid out three grenades on the crate next to me, they were all the old fashioned fragmentation type, ring pull and antique, but utterly lethal.

There was an antique MP5K next to them, with two magazines. It wouldn't last long, the weapon was vicious at close quarters, but with such a short barrel became an irrelevance at any range past that. As Thor made his way inside I watched Buck move around the other vehicles, planting explosives, I'd already spotted and rigged the key points of the building myself, if something went wrong I was going to bring it down on their filthy heads.

And that's where I made another mistake, would he be here? If I had the shot could I pull the trigger, shit, could I blow the building if I knew he was here. I knew what he'd done, I knew he deserved to die, had to die if our ultimate mission was to succeed. I just didn't know if I could do it, he was my father, I hated him, but I loved him too.

I put it out of my mind, it wouldn't come to that, I wouldn't have to make that choice. I just had to sit tight and wait for Odins signal. I eye left and right, picking Hermes and Loki out of the shadows, they both look ready and I pick up the submachine gun and step back, further into the shadows.


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## deathbringer (Feb 19, 2009)

Spectre offered him words he didn't hear, his attention lingering within the room with Odin, the words they had spoken, the commitments he had made, the weight of their consequence a deep weight upon his shoulder. His life was in his hands, his own blood dripping through his fingers, for the first time he was having doubts about his team, about the resolution and ability of those around him and he was throwing himself onto the fire.

2 he barely knew, a girl with no balls and a weak stomach and a man with an irritating grin and a kind heart his safety net from grasping hungry flames. Flames he could not be allowed to linger in, if Hale got his hands on Thor, Thor knew he would know pain, Thor knew it would be a battle amongst wills, in bodily strength he could tear Hale limb from limb, but in mind, they were one and the same, ruthless, hateful devoid of compassion or love.

Perhaps Hale was even more ruthless, deceit and treachery allowing him to cross lines Thor could not even see. 

Death would be a mercy over life in such clutches.

He went to Loki first, the cyber tech hunched over his equipment muttering and hissing as he tapped with feverish intensity. He watched him, embracing the rythmic clicking of keys, the oneness within the silence. He did not understand the cybertech, the two living in different worlds, Loki's very existence as foreign as the scroll of zero's and ones flashing across the screen an endless waterfall of data that he could not begin to comprehend.

He felt his eyebrow raised even as he shock his head to rid himself of the hypnotic clicking, to stir himself from the scrawling numbers before his eyes.

Fuck it... Loki could keep clicking, he'd keep stabbing.

It was seconds before he realised the frantic fingers had come to a halt, a moment of pause or a natural stopping point giving Thor his moment to speak.

"I want everything you can find on the Escobar family, past, present and future and I want it an hour ago.... capiche?"

He did not wait to see if Loki acknowledged his order, he expected, Loki rarely failed to deliver.
__________________________________________________________
Close to the van he checked his gear, hands running over foreign features, the feel of his distended brow of wild untamed hair upon his chin, unnerving, as if he had been maimed. His eyes found the floor with a furrowed brown even as a hand clasped him on the shoulder, his impulse reaction stalled as he felt it rest there longer than a simple friendly gesture. The pressure of the fingers were familiar, a quick turn of his head took Odin into full profile. His stance, his eyes, a simple twist at the corner of his lips conveying everything that need to be said, the bond of friendship, the confidence of two soldiers, the hope they would live to clasp shoulders again

"Good hunting old friend. We will have your back if things get sticky."

An eyebrow raised as he looked at the Colonel and his voice half laughed even as he dropped his voice to a mutter, the words of Odin and Odin alone

"If things get" the word caused his own lips to twitch, his voice rye

"sticky, are you prepared to do what needs to be done"
He met his friends gaze
"you know you can't let hale take me"

Steel, softened by a hint of emotion gleamed in Odin's eyes, resigning himself to a simple jerking nod, the motion forced by duty through pain. It was met by granite, emotionless and impregnable 

"good, make spectre do it."

Odin features twitched once more in a small knowing smile, even as Thor's grin grew sadistically in an impish leer

"what... i want it to be clean"
_____________________________________________________
"Whats the plan Thor when we arrive, do you want me to place explosives on the enemy vehicles if possible, in case we need to make a get away?"

Buck's voice split the silence, breaking his attention from the tablet Loki, he had given him, the information solid and vital to his survival. Cars had passed him, whole groups of cartel foot soldiers surrounding their charges, the ease with which they strode through the doors making his eyebrow raise.

Hale's security was that lax, or so sophisticated it could be that unobtrusive?

"There will be no quick get away, if something goes wrong, I will be taken or killed. You follow your orders, lock the building down, no one..." 

One eye flickered up to glare at the smiling face across from him "..and I mean no one leaves alive"

The smile never wavered even as he looked back out the window eyes narrowing as the fixed upon the doorway, his mind already readying for a mental joust with Hale, some task, some trick...

"I see you and Odin believe that the chaos between the ACS and the Cartels that your death can bring is more important than your life. Im inclined to disagree, guess thats why im not the boss" 

Did the fucker ever stop smiling? Did he take anything seriously, or did something in his head make him see the best in this fucked up shit hole of a country. Thor stared resolutely out the window even as the cheery voice perked up once more

"Explosives on the building then, and if there is some sewer tunnels, some nice explosive marbles to close them off if necessary. You want a marble to tail you inside Thor?"

The voice was grating, insistent and eager, dragging his attention away from the information before him, like a willful puppy tugging at a shirt. Slowly he stored the tablet away in the glove compartment, the features before him leaving him half irritated, half tired.

"You can shove marbles up Hale's arse for all i care, but if one gets spotted I swear to every deity that may or may not exist I will make you regret the day your parents condom broke"

Thor threw himself back in his seat closing his eyes. Was his life important too him... compared to this, compared to the endgame, to the last stages of a war he had been fighting since he had been a boy.

"I've been fighting this war for longer than I can remember, I've seen men that make us both combined look like girls skipping through a meadow. They died for what they believed in, wouldn't you?"

"I would sir."

For the first time he seemed sad, something other than mindless optimism in his voice, a slither of dissapointment in the gruff tones

"And im sad to think that you would need to ask that question. I grew up in ACS territory, and was rescued by a squad much like ours. Its just that I know you have done more good for the civilian people in any territory with a knife, than I could ever do with a endless supply of explosives, that is why I know our cause will suffer if you were to die, others will try and walk your shoes, and some will succeed to some degree, but you and Odin are the heart and soul of the valkyries. Im just the friendly pad on the shoulder guy."

Thor opened his mouth to speak but Buck over rode him, the words seeming to spill out

"And back to mission, im still trying to remember last time when one of my marbles was spotted before they were meant to be spotted, and on the subject of me regretting my parents broken condem, that have happened several time during drills, so nothing new there." 

Thor felt himself laugh, an odd exasperated chuckle escaping from between his lips

"Nothing gets you down does it Buck. I must be fucking loosing it"

He shook his head even as he looked at him in earnest, the reasons for his distrust of Buck spilling over his lips, though there was no anger in his voice just tiredness, he was weary of fighting, weary of hating...

"Your a good man, but good men don't make good soldiers. Good men won't shoot the child with a gun in his hands, good men, won't leave the woman drowning in the water"

He could see the child, no more than 12 or 13 a rifle too big for him in trembling fingers , desperately swinging around to face the behemoth, caked in blood that had burst into the room. A quick evaluation suggested he couldn't have controlled the recoil let alone pull the trigger. He never got a chance before his brain were spattered across the floor. The woman.... oh fuck... oh sweet mother her face as it dissapeared under the surface the bubbles of her scream choked from her throat, as he held it down and forced it deeper. Her hands scratching at his as she struggled, her tears adding to the icy depths of her own demise.

"I have and I would again. My knife works for hate... its motives might coincide with good, but that is not what drives it into flesh"

Thor looked back up, his eyes and face returning from the past to the hear and now, to business, to his commands, to his orders. It didn't really matter.... he would probably die today, his eyes caught a glimpse of features he barely recognised, yet still the numbness settled over him.

"Do what you think is right, if you want to marble the cars, marble the cars, you want to put one in with me, put one in with me. Just know, the price"

Buck's eyes narrowed, perhaps not truly comprehending the threat as he drew his finger across his throat. It wasn't his own life he was risking, it was Thor's, and people that endangered Thor ended up... well perhaps it was a threat too, if Buck fucked up and Thor survived, it wouldn't take a Loki to guess how many strips Thor would take from his merry hide.

"Just promise me one thing Sir. No matter how im killed, tell my wife and kids I made you laugh." 

Words crept unbidden, fears that never surfaced washed ashore on the tides of his own mortality

"And if i die, don't let odin try to avenge me"

With a shake of his head Thor was back in the world, turning to Buck with a casual smile

"your crowning achievement huh?"

the smile grew yet it did not annoy him, it comforted him.

"Orders from the highest place sir. So Thor when is it time for us to start the show?"

He checked the clock on the dash board, eyes moving to the parking lot

"We'll give it 5, if nothing goes wrong, we tail the acs to the nearest check point and go to town. You've got the lead then, newbies and me, you point we shoot. Your the demolition expert, but I want it spectacular."

Buck's smile took on its own leering quality, the destructive half of him coming to the fore.

"Ill make it say boom Thor, and it will big and huge and very Cartel like. If I make it too fancy they will know it wasn't cartel business."

Thor's eyes were still upon the parking lot, his voice distracted as he settled his own mind for the part he was about to play, for his stage.

"Good, just make sure there is a video camera left, we're putting on a show, no good if no one sees it"

"What I wouldn't give for a old fashioned RPG launcher. It would work wonders in this scenario." 

Thor shrugged still staring out the window, even as his mind settled and he felt confidence flow, a flood of endorphin's pushing him forward. He could do this.

"Check the cars when we arrive, who knows what surprises they have in there"

"Check the cars, if surprising ill change the surprise around on our opposition. You just give the order when you wan't to move out Thor."

He rode the high, the possibility of his own survival embraced the confidence his knowledge his ability his strength gave him ,clicking his fingers as he snarled

"I'm tired of waiting lets go"

Thor clasped a hand on Buck's shoulder, a gesture he immediately regretted even as he pulled his hand away.

"Good hunting" he growled

"You too sir" 
___________________________________________________

The vehicles were empty, the night still the engines of the cars lifeless, no shadows moving in their interior Thor moved like a cat, watching every door every corner, every flickering shadow as he strode amongst the cars.

It appeared each party had chosen to make their appearance with their full entourage, either for protection or like a peacock to show their feathers. He sped up the pace, a hint of eagerness in his stride, self belief flowing through his veins, they were being lax, the cartel's each of them, lured by Hale, intrigued by his openhanded gesture... perhaps they knew more than he.

Perhaps he was walking into a trap.

At the doorway he paused, hand reaching for the weaponry strapped to his thigh, pausing for a second, finger gently stroking his chin suppressing the urge to kick the door open and burst inside. A deep breath and he embraced the role, his stride, lengthening, shoulders relaxed with an arrogant slouch as his features scrunched into a haughty sneer.

Even as he slid the door shut he found himself at the rear of a semi circle of 5 tables each equidistant from a 6th at their head. Each of the 5 was flanked by muscle, weaponry slung across rippling backs, tatoos stretched across bulging biceps yet it was the figure head of each table that jumped out to him... famous names kin or the kin of kin sat around this table.... a sign of the importance placed upon this meet. They had been right to crash it... this sort of thing could not stand.

He strode forward, body seeming to ooze across the floor with a languid deadly face, eyes darting to see Gutierrez sat next to Mendoza, to Reyes, to... his heart skipped a beat.

To Castelan, blood of his blood lingered inches from his, spawn of those that had shot down his mother in cold blood, hunted his father... destroyed the life that he could have lived and set him upon this path.

The epicenter of his hatred, the source of his rage sat before him. He could draw his pistol before any could think of reaching for theirs, have the Castelan's dead before any reached theirs, have the Mendoza's dead, as their weapons came to bear.... be amongst the Reyes even as their bullets pierced his flesh

Rage, vengeance, the words of his father, the hate he had poured into his soul, the longing to exterminate and eradicate, to cleanse the world of the filth that sat before him. He was like a drowning man to an outstretched hand, a starving man to food every fiber of his being fighting against his natural impulse.

This was bigger than him.... even as he paused on the threshold.... they would be dead... Odin would see to that. The stride returned yet they eyes within those foreign features burned with unmistakable malice. The head table caught his eyes, an empty chair flanked by two large figures, suited, weaponry concealed, features still and emotionless, though he could feel their eyes upon him.

He took his seat even as a low hiss met his ears, the scathing tones of Pablo Alvarez, cousin to the head of the Gutierrez family, an insult for his Escobar border brother, a token of their bloody history, ground won and lost on either side... every inch seeped in blood.

"Typical Escobar arrogance"

The low hiss made Thor smile, even as he seated himself alone at his table relaxed, relieved that none had penetrated his ruse, their eyes only for the empty table at their head, punctuated by low hisses to the guards at their side.

Seconds turned to minutes, minutes dragging on yet no one arrived, the test of their conviction becoming an insult, restless movement suddenly punctuated by a thump as Carminda, favored daughter of the Reyes family slammed her hand on her table. The insult burning deep in her beautiful eyes, unwise to keep the daughter of a father waiting, let alone with such tempestuous emotions.

"Enough, I am tired of waiting," her accent thick, her temper flaring. "Get to the point or I am leaving!"

Their was a flurry of nods and a grumbling grunt of ascent, figures starting to stand and Thor let out a loud yawn, feet suddenly up upon the table with a loud thud as he stretched settling deeper in his chair, the challenge clear, the heads turning towards him causing the suits at the front to shift eyes alert and wary.

A harsh curse as Pablo stood, chair skittering away as he made for the door, his progress halted by the slam of another door which sent hands skittering to their weapons. The sudden edgy silence punctuated by Thor's mocking laughter. Flushed figures returned to their tables even as they took in the figure of a thin man, dark black suit in stark contrast to the pale almost translucent quality of his skin.

A nasal grating voice rose over the clip of his shoes, a slight simper in his tone

"Ladies and gentlemen. I apologize for the delay." 

A cellphone in his hand slipped into his pocket and Thor's eyes skittered round the room searching for the camera, where the fuck was Hale, where were his eyes... where

"But I had urgent business that required my attention."

Thor let out a snarl

"More important than the heads of 4 of the biggest families. Hale's cock must taste good huh"

A guffaw from the Gutierrez to his right, a low grunt from the Castelan table... Demario, his second cousin turning his derision into scathing insight

"Bullshit. You wanted to make us wait, get us at each others throats, making it easier for you to control the negotations." 

A dismissive wave to the two at his back

"Sit. Let this swine say his piece."

He seemed unrattled yet Thor felt the man's eyes narrow, the slightest glance in his direction and he felt himself sit up straighter in his seat, the motion peaking his interest, a plan of action forming on instinct in his mind

"I am Gabriel Enright, Administrative associate to Mr. Hale." 

He paused letting the suspense build

"I have been sent to make you an offer."

Thor pushed on, insistant his voice loud and sneering nagging at the man before him

"A secretary, Hale's sent a fucking secretary" his words followed by a nagging grunt from Pablo

"This is insulting. We were promised a meeting with Hale himself."

Carminda's voice was shrill filled with irate passion "I refuse to meet with trash. You have no authority to offer us anything. A desk clerk, The Reyes family will not suffer this slight."

"Sweet mother, if muscle a and muscle b didnt have such shiny shoes, I'd drain your fucking corpse"

He pushed on, his voice becoming the rallying point for the cartels, though the Mendoza's insistant silence caused his to glance Estafan Mendoza, the grandson of the head, his lips pursed his features calm, yet his eyes burned with vivid intensity. 

The ACS rep was glaring at him, the muscle at his flanks suddenly fixing upon him with true intensity and Thor felt a hint of triumph allowing himself to unleash a learing smile as Enright continued his voice a little harassed as he implored the other cartels

"Please, I assure you, that I speak with the full authority of Mr. Hale and his division of the ACS."

Eyes darkening he rounded on Thor

"Mr. Ruiz, I would caution you not to test my patience. The arrangement that Mr. Hale proposes is one that is mutually beneficial."

The smile widened, eyes locking with Enright, the stare down broken as a flick of Thor's wrist brought a long knife into his hand and he begun to trim idly at his finger nails prompting the smallest confident smile from the body guard nearest too him.

I'll kill him first the cocky little prick... the anger flashed through him yet his demeanour never wavored an idle flick of his wrist as he grunted

"well unless your going to bring me coffee we may as well hear the offer"

Demario echoed him

"Get to it then. Makes us an offer, so I can tell you to shove it up your ass."

Silence descended and Enright continued

"We find ourselves, and by that I mean the American Confederate States, locked in a stalemate with a resistance movement that will not seem to die. I know that your business has also been effected by the cockroaches of the North American Freedom Initiative."

A flurry of nods around the tables, and Thor listened intently, his own nod the least interested, his knife still whittling slowly at his nails.

"Despite the current administration of this government, and its assertation that we are close to rooting out the malcontents, we are in fact no closer to that objective. The policies of the current regime hamstringing our efforts."

A malicious smile will flit over his thin face, his words tinged with deceitful pleasure

"Mr. Hale has decided that it is time for him to act, without the permission of the President. To eliminate the resistance once and for all and to make some business partners in the process."

Estefan spoke for the first time, his voice dismissive

"Pah, NAFI, their efforts are pointless. Men and drugs can be replaced, why should I recommend to my Grandfather that we work alongside self-righteous scum like you."

Enright was regaining confidence "Because we want to pay you, a lot of money to do so."

The words hung through the air, all eyes fixed upon Enright

" What we propose, is you and your families, providing us with 200 foot soldiers a piece, fully armed and ready to fight. Alongside the organized military branch of the ACS, that will be too many soldiers for the NAFI to handle."

Carminda stared at him, open scorn in her smile, before she starts to laugh, a high crystaline sound that is infectious. "Why should we do that. NAFI threatens your existence more than ours. How do we know that you are not just trying to deplete our manpower?'

Thor's own mouth opened, the true danger of this situation stirring in his mind yet he stopped himself, mouth closing, as he stared into his lap.... the true menace of Hale suddenly outlayed before him. The man was brilliant, as brilliant as Odin and as ruthless as Thor....

With the facts outlayed before him he could see the path he would choose as clear as day... yet to think of it... that was true genius.

Take the men, destroy Nafi.... fill them with those drugs.... return them to the Cartel's and destroy them from the inside... the weakened Cartel's numbers depleted would be swept before the organised might of ACS army.

It was beautiful...

Scornful laughter surround him, the proposal ridiculous, yet the low voice of the Gutierrez silencing the crowd

"What would we get in return?"

Enright smiled, the smile of a snake as it pointed to the apple, a smile that chilled his soul

"$500 million dollars and the rights to peddle your merchandise, in regulated quantity of course, within ACS territory."

Their was silence... stunned silence... broken by Thor's sly smirk

"you said soldiers could always be replaced"

He turned, pushing forward, desperate to gain conformation of Hale's plan, a hint that there was not further devious brilliance within that man's mind

"do the remaining soldiers come back to us once nafi are done or do you take them"

"Keen ensight Rudolfo," Enright will say, his eyes boring deep into him, a twitch at the corner of his eye the only betrayal of the anger burning through his heart.

The other reps, the luster of greed falling from their expressions, turning to Enright keenly interested in his answer. 

"Mr. Hale is willing to negotiate those terms. But as of now, yes they would be returned to your control."

The barest hint of reluctance in his tone, he doesn't want them to go back ... he pushed on certain he must be mistaken

"And would they be subject to any of your...." he let the word linger "products," 

"while they fight with you?"

Enright pushed onwards his answer making Thor's eyes narrow

"No, that has been expressly forbidden by Mr. Hale."

He must be wrong, Hale wanted to keep them, but why, the ACS were far better than any cartel rifraf, even trained and organised... to keep them from the drugs.... an army of a thousand... uncontrolled... but why?

"That is the offer in its entirety." Enright concluded, 

"I am to give you 4 days time to supply your answer to Mr. Hale. Jordan if you please."


The guard he was going to murder slid a case from the table and placed a chunky mobile phone on each table

"You need only press and hold the number 1. That will connect you directly to Mr. Hale. Unless there is anything further, I leave you to your decision.""

He seemed eager to leave... rattled, his sentence barely finished before they moved towards the door, leaving the bowed heads of the cartel representatives in hissed consultation. 

Without a sound Thor slipped from the room and back towards the car at a brisk walk, fueled by the single question

Why?

Odin would know, but there was no time... no point risking their operation... especially considering its importance for a second opinion when they had the opportunity to crush it once and for all.

Focus... focus.

Sliding into his seat he snatched a com bead from Buck and pressed it into his ear, hand grasping under his chair, hand sliding over his rifle for his shotgun.

With a savage frustrated snarl he racked it back as he opened the com link to Odin

"Now"


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

*Update #10*

_Odin's eyes narrowed as Thor entered the warehouse, his hushed conversation with Spectre still foremost in his mind. As much as he loathed to admit it, things could all go to shit very quickly, especially if Hale himself was present for the meeting. His mind, rushing at a speed well beyond the capability of even the Valkyries at his side were capable of, his sub-conscious mind running all the possible permutations of the scenario ahead of him, feeding his conscious with the information faster than thought. Odin, shook his head, trying to clear the chaff, the unwanted and useless crap. Despite having lived with the augmentations to his body for nearing three decades, they made him uncomfortable. Removed him from the humanity that he fought for. A thought that troubles, yet heartens him on a daily basis. 

Stealing a glance around, taking in the positions of his men as they wait, Odin quickly disguises a winning smile, an ounce of pride in these soldiers who have been like children to a widower and childless man leaking through his normally stoic expression. If they only knew his thoughts, his true feelings for them. He would go to hell and back for each and every person under his command. He had proven so with his blood, sweat, and tears. Despite his orders to Spectre, despite Thor's wishes, he would see the world burn before he would see those orders carried out. He would burn Chicago to the fucking ground. 

A shake of his head and a grimace from Loki, told Odin his eyes into the warehouse were out. He needed to know if Hale was in attendance. He did not know whether he would be relieved or disappointed if Hale didn't show. The man was a snake, a devilish predator, that one did not engage lightly. Odin had lost too many men at the end of that man's gun to underestimate him. One day, hopefully soon, Odin would stare down into that bastard's dead glassy eyes, but at the moment, his prize would be different. In one foul swoop he would deal a blow to the leadership of four of the major cartels. They would fold in on each other, any alliance with the ACS forgotten in their rage and all consuming thoughts of betrayal.

Thor was leaving, hot on the heels of one of Hale's sniveling rats. The time had come.... the time was now. The first stroke of the end game, though not in the place he had expected to find it, was about to fall. Drawing his pistol, his weapon gauntlet flaring to life. Odin, master of the Valkyries, stood as the ACS vehicle left the lot, two black cartel SUVs containing his troops tailing them, a look of rigtheous fury on his face. Opening a com bead to his troops, his avenging warriors, he hissed, "Kill them. Kill them all."_

*** 

Buck(Anilar): Your explosives laid, your drone inside the building you have nothing to do but return to your car and wait, and it is a wait that seems to last for an age. Finally, the passenger side door of the SUV flies open, and the disguised Thor quickly hops in. He points at the ebony sedan leaving the lot and you throw the car into gear, pulling out of the lot behind it as he growls into the com, "Now." You know your role, getting in at a good distance behind the sedan, you watch as a second SUV enters your view in the rear view mirror. Breaker and Big Al are on their mark. Follow the sedan until Thor gives the word. 

Big Al(Romero's Own): You and Breaker, sit in the SUV for what seems like forever, simply biding your time until you get the signal from Thor to move out. Finally, Thor rushes out of the building and jumps into the SUV Buck is driving, just as a jet black sedan pulls out of the parking lot. After giving just a bit of space between him and the sedan, Buck rolls out of the lot, quickly getting into a position to tail the sedan to your next target. Since you are in the passenger seat, with the best view, make sure to give Breaker the heads up. You smile as he pulls your vehicle out on to the street, the action is about to start. You can feel it. 

Breaker(flash43): You and Big Al, sit in the SUV for what seems like forever, simply biding your time until you get the signal from Thor to move out. Finally, Thor rushes out of the building and jumps into the SUV Buck is driving, just as a jet black sedan pulls out of the parking lot. After giving just a bit of space between him and the sedan, Buck rolls out of the lot, quickly getting into a position to tail the sedan to your next target. Your brother has a better view of the proceedings, even though you are still able to see what is going on, you missed the sedan pull out of the lot. Taking your brother's signal, you get the vehicle moving as you are in the driver seat, falling in behind Thor's SUV. Big Al's enthusiasm is mounting, you can feel it in the air. You too are beginning to itch with anticipation at the skirmish that lies ahead. 

Osiris(Jackinator), Spectre(Lord Ramo), Loki(Santaire), Hermes(Karak), & Poet(Angel of Blood): The meeting is over. Thor has left the building, his voice, harsh and growling echos over the radio. The static hiss bare has a chance to abate before Odin, his demeanor terrifying, like some statuesque god of war, stands from where he was concealed, his hushed hissing commands filling you with both unease and joy. His words, "Kill them. Kill them all." Send lighting through your bodies. You leap to obey, weapons coming to the ready in the blink of an eye. 

Spectre(Lord Ramo): You are the first to fire. Your shot already lined up, you barely breath as your scope settles on the forehead of the Cartel representative at the table right next to the one that Thor just vacated. The back of his head explodes in a mist of red and chunks of grey tissue. Sending the entire assembly, who were up until now just yelling at one another, dashing for cover. You are able to claim the life of another body guard before the scurrying wretches disappear from your lines of sight. You hear gunfire erupt from the rear of the building. Members of the cartel family that were seated on the opposite side of the warehouse, from Thor, apparently are trying to make a quick get away. Skirting the skylight, you move to the edge of the building. A fire fight has broken out between these Cartel scum and Hermes. Reacting quickly he takes one out with several well placed shots, but the second body guard has rushed forward, engaging him in close combat with a large machete. You watch as Hermes, quickly overpowers the man, taking him out. He is unaware of the Cartel representative, a bear of a man, bearing down on him as his concentration is else where. You raise your rifle, scope finding the back of the man's head in a practiced fluid motion, before your finger depresses the trigger, the supersonic round ending his life. Over the com, you hear Osiris, "Everybody get out of the building, get out of the way." Spining you see him, shouldering his rocket launcher. You jump down, your enhanced body cushioning most of the blow as you roll with the landing, ending up at Karak's side just as the his of Osiris' rocket screams through the night.

Hermes(Karak): As soon as Odin finishes speaking, you hear a shot ring out, quickly followed by a second. Spectre has started things off, raining death from above. You hear the shouts of confusion in the warehouse, right before the back door of the warhouse explodes outward, falling of the hinges, obviously the victim of a swift kick. Raising your shotgun you fire, several times in rapid succession, taking out the lead man. Before you are able to fire again, a second man rushes in, the whistle of his blade, a large machete, sends you reeling backwards in an effort to get out of the way. You pivot, catching the blade on the stock of your weapon, before lancing out with a punishing kick to the outside of the man's knee, your movements just too fast for him to follow. A heavy blow to the back of his head with the butt of your shotgun ensures that he will not rise again. You hear the rush of footsteps, already knowing that in your moment of distraction, the third man, the largest of the three, will be on you before you can stop him. You start to turn to try and beat him to the punch when a shot rings out, a fine misting spray of blood spatters against your face as your assailant slumps and with a heavy thud hits the ground. You look up to see Spectre, the end of her rifle still smoking. Over the com, you hear Osiris, "Everybody get out of the building, get out of the way." You hear a grunt, as Spectre lands on the ground near you, followed by the unmistakable hiss of a fired rocket. 

Poet(Angel of Blood): Gunfire erupts inside the building, the echoing boom of a high powered rifle flowing over the building down from the roof where Spectre sits in ambush. It is quickly answered yelling voices and the rattle of furniture being thrown about inside. You burst from cover just behind Odin, who allows you to pass him, as you rush the front door. Just as you make it to the portal, it bursts open and a thin older hispanic man hurries toward you, in his hand a large calibre pistol that he raises in your direction as he sees you. He hasn't a hope, your reaction speed infinitely faster than his, you put him down with a quick double tap to the head with your assault rifle. You are surprised when his body doesn't fall and even more surprised when the dead weight of the man you just killed lands on top of you. Rolling with the impact of the man's corpse, you are able to keep from being intangled in limp arms and legs of the man's body, but you are not quick enough to get in front of the second man, apparently the first's body guard by his dress, and you duck and throw yourself to the side as he launches a volley of unaimed shots in your direction. He is on a direct route for one of the waiting vehicles and will escape with word of NAFI's involvement if you do not stop him. Rushing forward, you are just able to catch up or place accurate shots on him, preventing him from getting into the vehicle. You barely register Osiris' warning, but the explosion behind you returns your attention to the building, a now smoldering ruin. 

Loki(Santaire): You see Poet, who had been hidden near the front of the building with Odin, rush toward the front door to the warehouse, assault rifle in his hands. With the departure of the ACS delegation, your cybersenses coming rushing back to you. Cellphones, Buck's drone, the reflection of radio waves around the inside of the building lay it all out for you, identifying a trio of persons just inside the east door that was your station. Rushing forward, sword in one hand, SMG in the other, you drive the blade of your weapon straight through the wall of the warehouse, your momentum carrying it into and through one of the individuals on the other side. You spin out of the way, leaving our blade quivering in the wall, as an explosion of gunfire erupts, bullets ripping through the wall were you had just been. Kicking open the door and diving through it, you spin to your right, weapon raised. You see that your blade struck true, as it protruded from the chest of Carminda Mendez, who you recognize from the research you had done for Thor. Your attention is drawn by the sudden clap of thunder, the discharge of a cartel soldier's weapon a thousand times louder than your own, amplified by the enclosed space. The bullet wings you, searing pain flaring across the bicep and into the shoulder before it exits through your back. It feels as though the wind has been stolen from your lungs, but not something that you are unfamiliar with. Rasing your own weapon, finish off the two soldiers that now confront you. As the second of the two soldiers falls to the ground you hear Osiris over the com, "Everybody get out of the building, get the hell out of the way." Running through the door, grabbing your blade on the way out with your uninjured arm, you dive behind the cover you were previously concealed in. 

[you three did not post for the last update. I am not really worried about it as there was not much for you to post on anyway. Ramo add in the bit we talked about on MSN. Feel free guys to post up something for last update, but I really think that dealing with this one is slightly more important.]

Osiris(Jackinator): Gunfire erupts all around you, the lighter hiss of NAFI weaponry a stark contrast to the heavy thump of the archaic weapons weilded by the Cartel soldiers. As the fighting continues you see no one exit the westside door. Though you are itching to get into the fight, your duty and dedication to your orders keeps you rooted, like a statue to the spot. You see a blur of movement in one of the windows on your side of the building, the ring of gun fire, and the eerie ping as bullets ricochet off the barrels and crates around you. Looking toward the back of the building you see nothing. Neither Hermes or Spectre are visible to you. You look to the front, just in time to see Poet in hot pursuit of a Cartel soldier that is sprinting towards the parked vehicles. You make a decision.... its time to blow this place. Over the com you bark, "Everybody get out of the building, get out of the way." Knowing that your team will do so, you shoulder your rocket launcher and fire into the window where you saw movement, the hissing projectile finding its mark with the ring of shattered glass. 

Osiris(Jackinator), Spectre(Lord Ramo), Hermes(Karak), Loki(Santaire) & Poet(Angel of Blood): Osiris is well skilled in his craft. Despite the enormity of the blast, the building caves in on itself, the smaller charges Osiris rigged doing their work to control the devastation. You take up positions once more, awaiting orders from Odin, scanning the debris for any Cartel soldiers who may have survived however unlikely. 

Thor(deathbringer), Buck(Anilar), Big Al(Romero), & Breaker(flash43): Your most fervent hopes are realized as the sedan pulls into a large checkpoint, staffed by close to 24 ACS Soldiers and 16 Officers of the CED. Thor, looking over your shoulder as you approach, you just make out the tell tale flicker of flames in the direction from which you came. It is now or never..... You give the order to attack, cautioning your troops to stay out of camera range so they won't give away the ruse, even as you kick your own door open. 

Thor(deathbringer): Fast as lightning, you pump for shotgun slugs into the engine block of the sedan, puncturing the radiator, sending a hissing cloud of steam billowing out of the disabled vehicle. Your gun fire, draws the attention of every ACS soldier and officer there and with a smile you go about dealing death to the shocked and surprised opposition. As you approach, guns blazing, you see the back door of the sedan begin to open, the thin ratlike features of Gabriel Enright beginning to emerge. With a feral grin, you launch a savage kick into the door as his head crosses the threshold of the opening, eliciting a satisfying crunch and a squeal of pain. You are able to kill Enright, his two body guards, 3 soldiers, and 4 Officers of the CED. Have fun with this , get some good description going. Bring Thor to life for the first time in a true firefight. You can tell that your troops are taking care of the majority of the resistance at the checkpoint, so feel free to take your time with Enright and his cronies if you choose. 

Buck(Anilar): As Thor issues the order to attack, you jump out of the car with him, careful to keep the vehicle between you and the camera on the end of the guard building. You bring your heavy mine launcher to bear, launching several explosive charges in the direction of several parked humvees from where a group of soldiers is running to try and intercept Thor. Stowing your grenade launcher you go to town with the more archaic weaponry you took from the Cartel SUV, the M16 barks in your hand in a most satisfying manner. The initial explosion of the humvees kills 6 soldiers and with the M16 in hand you are able to kill 3 more soldiers and 4 CED Officers. 

Big Al(Romero): You watch in a bit of awe as Thor launches himself out of the passenger seat of the lead SUV, completely fearless, dropping several enemies and disabling the sedan you had been following in the blink of an eye. You fold your massive frame out of the SUV that you were riding in and not wasting any time, you get yourself rigged up with your miniguns. Making sure to stay far back in the shadows, so as not to be recognized or pictured on the camera feed Thor and Buck have chosen to leave in operation, donning your weapons takes a couple of seconds, the weapons finding their secure points with the practiced ease of one that has done this very thing thousands of times. You look to the west of the checkpoint and you see ACS reinforcements swarming out of a low-lying building, obviously a barraks, this will be like shooting fish in a barrel. Your guns spit death and the opposition drops like flies. You are able to kill 8 soldiers and 4 more CED Officers. 

Breaker(flash43): You are the last onto the battlefield so to speak, following your brother out of the SUV, throwing it into park even as you are stepping out of the vehicle. You take care to stay back in the shadows, out of the field of vision of the camera that Thor and Buck have chosen to keep running to capture the assault and frame the Escobar Cartel for the attack. You can't help but smile as you watch the efficiency and speed that Buck and Thor go about their work. These soldiers are truly the best of the best and here you are working among them. The chatter of your brother's miniguns draws your attention to the barracks and the far west side of the guard building. You add your fire power to Big Al's and with careful well placed shots you drop the 4 remaining soldiers. You hear the slam of a car door and look to the far side of the guard house to see 6 CED Officers jumping out of a large SUV. Unfortunately for them the thin metal of the vehicle's exterior is provides scant protection against the high velocity rounds of your assault rifle. 

[Well there you have it gents, one completely successful ambush. Remember guys that Thor is the only one who should be getting up close and personal with the enemy. Anyone else captured on camera will spoil the ruse and bring the attention onto NAFI, not to mention Thor's attention on the blunderer, so be careful with what and how you post. I will be watching.]

Thor(deathbringer): The enemy is dead. At this point it is up to you what you do with the checkpoint itself. Remember that you only have a couple of minutes before ACS reinforcements arrive. Issue your orders at the end of your post. They will effect the next update for the guys with you.


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## Romero's Own (Apr 10, 2012)

“Time for the Scots to show these Yankee’s what we’ve got eh brother?”

Andrews voice pulled Alexander back from his day dream and he turned to face his bother.

“Damn straight. The Yanks aren’t going to know what hit them.”

Alexander smiled at his little brother but movement caught his eye. He turned to peer intently out of the window in time to see a man, a ACS personnel beyond a shadow of a doubt. His training meant he knew how to recognize the enemy. The man jumped into a black sedan as Alexander filled his brother in, knowing he had a better view than Andrew.

“We’ve got an ACS in a black sedan. Wait, here comes Thor.”

As he watched Thor sprint from the building and got in the other SUV parked nearby he felt his anticipation growing. 

“Thor is back in with Buck. The sedan’s pulling away.”

As he watched eagerly Buck’s SUV pulled out and set off after the jet black sedan.

“Let’s roll little brother”

With Alexander’s signal Andrew started the car and it rolled forward. With a rev of the engine they pulled out of the parking lot and set off after the other two cars. Alexander smiled as the car pulled out on to the street. The action was about to start, he could feel it. Even as they drove along the voice of Odin came in over the comms.

“Kill them, kill them all”

Alexander smiled at his brother.

“With pleasure boss”

Alexander’s most fervent hopes were realized when the sedan you had been tailing came to a stop outside a large checkpoint. The voice of Thor echoed inside the car.

“Stay out of camera range. But kill them all”

Alexander smiled and undid his seatbelt even as he watched Thor kick his own door open. He paused to watch in awe as Thor launched himself out of the passenger seat fearlessly and disabled the sedan they had been following in a blink of the eye. He really was an impressive soldier to fight alongside and it was an honour to call him a teammate. But this was no time for that, this was the time for Emma and Elliot to do the talking. 
Alexander folded his massive frame out of the SUV silently, the enemy was to focused o Thor to notice the other car, soon have to change that. Even as he thought that he noticed the lone ACS guard standing nearby. As he took a step the guard turned and opened his mouth to shout out. But no noise ever came out. For in a flash Alexander rose his hands and his kinetic blaster roared into life. The man’s body went flying through the air before crashing into a wall some 20 feet away from where he had originally stood. Almost instantly bullets began flying towards the brothers SUV and Alexander 
moved quickly to the boot for a bit of cover. 

Throwing open the boot door Alexander paused before grabbing his miniguns. Reaching inside the boot Alexander dipped his fingers in the pot of blue paint and slowly drew the ancient Pictish markings that he put on before every battle. Taking great care, even as the bullets flew, Alexander drew on the traditional marks of the Picts. After finishing he turned to his brother who was beside him.

“How do I look?”

Without waiting for a reply Alexander smiled and picked up his two miniguns. Taking a deep breath Alexander stepped out from behind the boot and walked into the gunfire. Triggering his force shield the bullets bounced harmlessly from the energy shield the size of a large ballistic shield, leaving Alexander unscathed. In seconds he took in the scene before him. 

To the west of the checkpoint swarms of ACS soldiers are pouring out from a low building presumably a barracks. Making sure he was still in the shadows and out of any camera view Alexander’s miniguns slowly began to whir into life. When the whir was deafening Alexander dropped the shield and let all hell loose.

The roar of bullets fills the air as the twin guns spit out hundreds of rounds in seconds. The men fall in droves as Alexander swung round the guns to cut down the enemy. You smile wickedly as you see 6 soldiers just drop dead in seconds. Moving your fire round another soldier feels your guns. Targeting a group of CED officers you see 4 drop dead and another ACS soldier. You hear the gun of your brother firing as well and before you know it all the reinforcements lie dead upon the ground. You release the trigger and the miniguns slowly whir to a stop, their barrels smoking. You turn to your brother, smiling.

“Well that was fun”


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## flash43 (Apr 14, 2012)

_“Damn straight.”_ Said Big Al in a bad American accent, _“The Yanks aren’t going to know what hit them!”_ Al smiled madly at breaker, suddenly Al’s head flicked round like it was spring loaded. Breaker couldn’t see what was happening from the driver’s seat but his brother filled him in;
_“We got an ACS in a black sedan. Wait, here comes Thor.”_ There was a pause _“Thor is back in with Buck. The sedan’s pulling away.”_
Breaker could see how eager his elder brother was. Mentally, Andrew was the more mature, but he couldn’t deny he was psyched for the inevitable combat. 

Buck and Thor’s SUV pulled away as Al said _“Let’s roll little brother.”_

“Aye!” Grinned Breaker.

He started the engine and gently double-declutched it into first, making the engine rev slightly as the freewheeled the first meter. He applied a small amount of pressure to the accelerator, holding the SUV four car lengths from Buck. If Buck had to stop suddenly, Breaker didn’t want to be in his boot! Andrew had earned some renown in the SAS as being an expert driver.

“I wonder how ‘over the top’ we’ll be allowed to go? I’ll try not to lose count of my kills this time; I wager I get more than you by the end of the mission!” said Breaker with mirth. As if he had read his mind, the measured voice of Odin came over the comm;

_“Kill them, kill them all.”_

Alexander smiled at his younger brother and spoke over the comms;

_“With pleasure boss!”_

Ahead their quarry came to a halt at a large checkpoint. Then Thor’s voice came over the comm;

_“Stay out of camera range. But kill them all!”_

As Alexander undid his seatbelt and opened the door, Breaker slowed down and turned towards the far pavement, blocking the other side of the road diagonally. Andrew glanced across at Thor and Buck downing ACS, it was about 30 on 2, in all his time at the top of the SAS fighting personnel, this was another level, he smiled as he looked on. A spray of bullets slammed into the bulletproof windshield making small spider-web cracks as ACS troops began to emerge from a building ahead of the west facing car. Alexander had jumped out before the car had stopped and run round behind it. Quickly Breaker opened his door and got out using its armour for cover. He looked towards the rear corner of the car, where suddenly his brother’s head appeared, smeared with ancient, blue Pictish markings.

_“How do I look?”_

“Like a mental bastard!” smiled Andrew.

He wound down the window of the open door and drew his rifle out of its holster, flicking of the safety and setting the fire rate to ‘single’. Three ACS had made it to a low brick wall, levelling ‘Delphi’ he put a round in each one’s head. He saw his brother open fire with his mini-guns, mowing down soldiers. Something caught Breaker’s eye, a glint from the furthest right second floor window of a half shelled out building. Swiftly he aimed through his scope at the window, flicking it to telescopic. A sniper-rifle barrel was sticking out of the window; it was likely aiming at his brother! Andrew couldn’t see the operator of the weapon, but from the angle of the gun and the building wall, he knew where the sniper was. It had all happened in a split second.

Breaker fired. The rifle fell from the window, the ACS using it followed it, (presumably having been spun round by the bullet impact) tumbling backwards from the window.

Andrew levelled his rifle sights on the last ACS, when suddenly he was knocked down by a diagonal spray of bullets. He lowered his rifle and looked across to his brother, who grinned at him;

_“Well that was fun!”_

Breaker swapped the magazine for a full one, despite the fact it was only down four rounds. He made a mental note to break that habit.

Suddenly a car door slammed behind him to his left. He spun round in a crouching position; a six-seat, grey SUV had pulled up, diagonally positioned to block the entire road. The man on the driver’s side was opening his door. Breaker saw the man’s CED uniform and fired three rounds at the man as he raised his rifle, putting two in the door and then the last through the glass into the man’s forehead. Another CED, who was completely bald, was getting into cover behind the bonnet of the grey SUV and was bringing a pistol to aim at Andrew. Quickly Andrew fired a few rounds at the pistol man, making him duck down, then Andrew moved round his SUVs front, keeping low as fire from the newly arrived CED officers flew past him. He flicked his rifle to ‘full automatic’ and pushed the telescopic sight off the tactical rail to a side position so he could use the iron sights; the CED SUV was quite close.

Changing his grip on his rifle to left handed, he leaned round the open boot of his SUV and fired on the bald CED officer. His five rounds were rewarded with a burst of blood from the bald man’s head as he fell backwards. From the back doors four more officers had appeared, two on each side. The two nearest to Breaker had an old UZI each. One spotted him and let off a burst of fire as breaker rolled his body back round the corner of his SUV, but most of the UZI rounds pattered harmlessly of the SUVs armour. Breaker looked through his SUVs back side window and saw that one of the officers had foolishly decided to advance. The two officers on the other side of the CED SUV had now moved up to the bonnet of their SUV, clutching their AK 47s. Breaker leaned round the back enough to aim at the CEDs aiming over their bonnet and fired a burst killing them both, he was still turning round the boot of his SUV, and was aiming at the closer UZI man and downed him, he was still shocked at his fellow officers demise. Breaker kept up sustained fire from the first UZI armed officer onto the second who was taking cover behind the open rear door. Breaker’s liberal spray of death tore through the door and the cowering officer leapt up and backwards with a yelp, falling down dead.

Andrew reloaded his (this time more reasonably depleted) magazine and moved over to check the CED SUV cautiously circling the vehicle before running back to his own and calling out to his brother;

_“How many did you kill Al!? I got 10, and one was sniper with bead on you!”_

Breaker kissed the side of his prized gun and whispered in his thick Scottish accent; “Havnea failed me yet lass!” He looked over to Thor and Buck, they were nearly done, dispatching the last few ACS and CED with style and precision, he proud to be fighting along side them. But he dare not join in or be caught on the camera, or fire for fear of hitting Thor in the spinning mêlée.

With that Breaker flicked his rifle back to ‘single’ and pulled his scope back onto the tactical rail, and settled down onto one knee, scanning around with his enhanced vision for any threats. He hoped they would get new orders soon.

OCC; if any of my descriptions of other characters are wrong or disallowed I’ll change them!


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## Anilar (Aug 12, 2011)

Drumming on the steering wheel of the SUV mumbling a old funk classic, Buck was waiting for Thor's return, which seem to take way too long. But he knew if something was going wrong, Thor would make everybody aware of that, no one would be able to take him down silently.

Finally something happened, what could only be a ACS repressentative leaving the building with his bodyguards entering the Ebony sedan. As it pulled away from the parking lot, Buck started up his own ready to trail the sedan even before Thor burst out of the warehouse, sprinting over and jumping in on the passenger seat. Allready pulling out before Thor had given the order to move out.

Buck kept his distance to the sedan, even letting it get a few turns on him, Buck using the remote signal he had on the planted bomb, to know where it drove. And it was a surprising route either, the Sedan following a rather direct route into the heart of the city, where the city's government facilities was situated. So it was no surprise to Buck that they after a little while found themself facing a large checkpoint, probably reinforced from the earlier ruckus in the city he and Thor had been a part of.

Buck quickly covered the distance between them and checkpoint, as he pulled the car up at attack range, Thor bolted out of the SUV to engage the Sedan, quickly disableing it and killing off its inhabitants. It didn't take Buck a second to follow Thor out of the car, but unlike Thor that burst into bloody melee, Buck stayed in the cover of his SUV, making sure the surveillance cameras would not get a clear picture of him.

With a smirk on his lips, Buck aimed his grenade launcher at the humvee that was furthest away, the soldiers around that vehicle just beginning to move towards the fight.
"Ease" Buck ordered into the comm, a short command to let everybody know something would be exploding, everybody trained to open there mouth without a second thought, changing there breathing to quick rapid breaths. All to prevent damage to there lungs from the shockwaves. As Buck let a grenade fly a smirk on his lips, allready lining up his next shot. The humvee that was closests to where Thor was fighting. Blowing that up would distract the soldiers from dealing with Thor, and Buck had to blow it up before the blast and flying vehicle parts might pose a danger to Thor. As the first vehicle went up in a bright yellow and orange fireball turning it into a oversized fragmentation grenade, Buck counted subconsciously three distince screams from the area, as he once again said ease into the comm and another grenade was let loose to do its destructive work.
A soldier exiting the humvee was thrown several feet away by the blast, his body landing in a mangled heap of blood and bone.

Buck quickly continued to the third humvee, ease and pulling the trigger again, the grenade landing under the vehicle, the explosion lifting the humvee up a foot or two, before landing again with a crash, splitting the car in two across the middle. The fourth humvee fared little better as Buck's grenade got lodged in the reinforced windshield. The following explosion tearing the top of the humvee, converting the vehicle into a burnt out convertible. A quick look Buck counted six dead or heavily wounded soldiers from his explosion as he shifted weapon to his M16A2 assault rifle, he saw the new additions to the team was fully engaged in the melee, the telltale whirr of chainguns telling there own destructive tale of death and destruction, on the barracks or guardhouse where reinforcements had been located.

Buck quickly engaged ACS soldiers and CED officers, that was trying to get a bead on him, Buck realising that shots was beginning to find there way towards him and the SUV, the sound of bullets hitting the vehicle making Buck duck down and scampering around to the back of the vehicle. Leaning out Buck engaged the opposition, firing controlled aimed burst, Buck quickly dispatched a couple of soldiers that had almost circled in on him, thought there movements hidden by the background fire of Bucks explosions. Keeping the pressure up, Buck kept aiming and firing on any enemy that he got in his sights. Putting up to half a dozen shots in each enemy, to make sure they were dead, Buck did not have the presicion and confidence in kill shots that the likes of spectre had. The fight was over within a minute, but it felt much longer, as Buck quickly made status he had emptied 3 and a half 30 round magazine, killing 7 enemies, it should be sufficiently grizzly to look like the handiwork of cartel soldiers.

Buck stayed at the SUV, while he watched Thor finishing his gruesome handiwork. Reloading his grenade launcher in the meantime, Buck quickly radioed a good work to the two scottish brothers. There was nothing else left to do, than await Thor finishing up and deliver the next set of orders.


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## Lord Ramo (Apr 12, 2009)

Spectre listened quietly during the briefing. It was risky sending in Thor, she was certain that he would be recognised by Hale if he attended or not, but if they could take him out then it would be worth it. Spectre would be in an overwatch position, able to help Thor out in a pinch with her sniping abilities. Finally she would be able to get in a bit more target practice on the Cartel bastards.

She stayed silent as the vehicle drove to the drop off point, leaping out the second it slowed and darting into the shadows. There seemed to be no enemy presence, so she quickly ascended the building, moving up the building with a rappel rope so that she would be in position in time. She got to the top, pulling the rope up behind her before securing it with her gear. 

She sat on down, sitting on top of a giant fan, one leg resting across it the other on the ground as she nonchalantly checked her assault rifle was modified to her satisfaction to provide the sniping cover that she would be providing Thor and the others. As she checked it over, fitting her custom scope on the top rail so that she could see her targets clearly.

As she watched the cartels and went through her final checks a private channel opened up to her, a command channel. “Spectre, you read?” Odin voice, hushed as he didn’t want to give his position, or hers away came over the com. 

“Sir, I read you. I am in position and ready to provide support.” She quickly sent over, whispering into her mic, expecting to be asked for a update on her readiness. 

She got up from her position, moving past a skylight which she avoided carefully so she wouldn’t be spotted and looked through her scope, watching as the target vehicle pulled up and Thor got out.

Her comm. Crackled as Odin’s voice came back over, "If things go poorly, Thor cannot be taken captive....." Spectre, putting a hand to her ear transmitter to ensure she had heard him correctly, "You do everything you can to assist in his evac. If that becomes impossible, I trust you know what to do. Take the shot captain." His voice unyielding.

Spectre paused for a moment before responding, hand moving back down to steady her rifle. "Yes sir, I understand and it will be done."

"Very good." Odin said before cutting communications. Spectre watched from her position as the meeting began, not seeing Hale there, and assumed he must have sent a representative. Once it was over Thor left quickly, moving into his vehicle before Odin’s voice came over, “Kill them, kill them all.”

Immediately Spectre had a shot lined up, one of the representatives. She squeezed her trigger slowly, as she exhaled as well, the rifle recoil controlled as her first shot slammed into the man’s forehead, blowing out at the back. 

Immediately the entire meeting burst into uproar as makeshift cover was thrown around, representative’s being thrown behind by their guards who quickly moved out of sight as well. However one was too slow and Spectre’s second shot went through his throat and slammed into a wall. 

She stood, moving away from her last position, skirting the skylight so she wouldn’t be spotted as she heard a shotgun blast go off. Looking down at the backdoor she saw Hermes blasting the first before engaging the next guard in hand to hand. Spectre watched as a third man, another representative came up behind him, ready to deliver the killing blow. Realizing that Hermes would not have enough time, Spectre quickly, but calmly raised her gun and fired, blowing the back of his head out and spraying blood over Hermes.

She lowered her rifle and held it across her midsection as she nodded at him, before she heard over the radio, “Everybody get out of the building, get out of the way!” She spun on the spot to see him, a rocket launcher in his hand aimed at the building she was standing on. “Son of a bitch.” Spectre snarled as she turned and leapt off of the roof, allowing her enhanced body and rolling at the end of the fall to take the impact. 

She stood to see the building collapse on itself as Hermes moved out the way as well. She quickly keyed her comm. To Osiris, Hermes, and Loki. “Secure the site, take positions.” With that she knelt down, scanning the rubble and around it for any moving targets. “Awaiting orders sir.” She patched through to Odin.


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## deathbringer (Feb 19, 2009)

He was on a plateau, the adrenaline rush meeting bitter frustration, the shotgun clasped in his hands like a cats bare claws , potent, ready to be unleashed. Buck seemed so casual, one hand on the wheel, his distances perfect, effortlessly measured as he casually eased them round another corner, his every moment languid and flowing. 

He could feel his body twitching, a loud thump as he kicked out at the back of the footwell in savage frustration. He longed to begin now, the anticipation coming in short snorting gasps as he inhaled and exhaled rapidly, keeping his heart pumping, the blood surging through his veins and he snarled

“Stay out of camera range. But kill them all”

The blaze of lights, the long stretched shadows of temporary box like buildings, the shuffling movements of corpses half alert half asleep as they kicked at stones, weapons held lazily under the crook of one arm and he gave a little gurgle of delight as he felt Buck accelerate, the vehicle leaping forward with a rumbling snarl.

Faces stayed fixed upon the dirt at their feet unaware of the deadly beast caged within the vehicle, soon to be unleashed. He felt Buck hit the brakes even as he kicked his door open the car still hurtling forward even as he pulled himself up body covered by the car as he braced the shotgun between roof and shoulder.

The recoil of the shotgun almost tore his arm off , pounds of muscle and reinforced strength saving the limb even as slugs tore into the idling vehicle and he let out a grunt of exertion as he fired again and again, the guard at the head of the vehicle blasted away even as he heard a satisfying hiss as the sedan's radiator burst open with a billowing cloud of steam. Lithely Thor leapt away from the car, shotgun clattering to the ground as he slid seemlessly into a backward roll,rising, hands sliding alongside his thighs, stun baton and vibro blade appearing in his hands.

Faces were turning too him, weapons rising and he saw smiles appear on faces as he walked slowly towards them, a flurry of gaping maws turning upon him, death even he could not subvert.

He saw triumph in their eyes even as their heads exploded, bodies buckled under savage impacts as rifles opened up behind him and he raised his arms high as he walked slowly through a forest of collapsing corpses as others dived away, mocking lips turning into cries of horror as they struggled to find cover under the blazing lights of the check point

Heads swiveled, purest response sending their eyes into the shadows, the terror of the unknown blinding them to Thor, his limbs now a blur of motion, a predator rampaging across the planes.

Too late they realised the true danger, forlorn limbs raising weapons struggling to get a bead upon the behemoth was amongst them.

Time seemed to slow as he reached them, the desperate longing coming to a thrilling climax, every single stroke, every single kill, every single agonised tear he drew a moment to savor, a moment to relish.

Thor's blade took the first between screaming lips, the vibrations tearing a great slit in his cheek, the soldier's maw becoming a flapping wreck of skin, useless fat and flesh through which he drove the stun baton, the base of the soldiers neck exploding with shattered bone and crackling nerves, the body twitching and writhing spasmodically as it crumpled to the ground.

His left shoulder drove upwards into an exposed throat, the rifle clattering to the ground as desperate groping hands clutched desperately at the crushed trachea, lungs panting uselessly as he crumpled to his knees, the gurgling panting sobs of the suffocating spurring him onto drive his knee hard into another's groin. The soldier buckled, stomach caving body dropping to meet the stun baton driving upwards into his features. His jaw shattered, neck snapping back even as his nose caved inwards, the once handsome face suddenly a blood howling mass, the agonized scream silenced into a rasping gurgle as his knife drove through his throat.

A gun was raising, pointed at his midsection and Thor kicked out, the weapon turning skywards even as the officer pulled the trigger, eyes widening as the weapon pinwheeled in his hands the recoil pulling it up, a stray round taking him beneath the jaw and bursting through the top of his head, the corpse toppling backward sending a second solider stumbling, his color suddenly seized in Thor's iron grip as he was flung into the busted car, face disappearing into the billowing steam, a shrill scream as the hot vapor scorched his face and he stumbled backward reeling blindly eyes opening to fix upon thor with wide eyed horror.

Tenderly Thor touched the stun batton to his moist face and the young terrified face spasmed as current ran through his body agony flaring through his features before the light died in his eyes. 

The car door was opening and Thor moved towards it, the top of a balding head ducking out before the tip of a rat like knows. A savage kick resulted in a squeal of anguish even as the bullet proof glass splintered before inches away from his left arm.

"Motherfucker" he cursed even as he twisted, the vibro blade pinwheeling through the air as movement caught the corner of his eyes a satisfying thud and a howl of anguish as the blade lodged deep into an eye socket and the officer crumpled pistol raised uselessly before a single glassy eye.

A door snapped into his midriff and he stumbled back even as a pistol emerged a bulkly suited figure sliding round the door, only to meet Thors hand chopping down on his exposed wrist, the hand opening, the pistol clattering away even as the hidden hand flashed, a blade glittering as it scythed through the night air and Thor grunted even as he twisted away from the backhanded strike.

The major's fingers closed around the empty wrist and he slammed it down against the car door, feeling the bones of the forearm shatter, a grunt of pain replaced by a snarl of anguish the door snapping off its hinges under a furious kick to reveal the bodyguard in full profile.

Big and bulky, muscles rippled beneath the elegant suit, a long curving blade held across his body to cover the arm that hung limp at his side. He began to take a step forward even as Thor exploded towards him, the sheer ferocity of the Major's onslaught catching him halfway between advance and retreat, his balance suddenly off as Thor ducked below the knife stun baton cracking into his supporting leg, the limb crumpling sending the bodyguard to the floor knife held uselessly above him, and Thor dove upon it, his body weight driving the knife downwards deep into the bodyguards chest.

Blood flowed over his lips, the knife lodged in his ribs like a distorted mushroom 

"hey bitch" came a loud cocky voice from behind him and Thor rolled away turning to face the mouth of a pistol clasped in a meaty hand.

The cocky little prick was leering at him, demeanor oozing lazy grace even as he tossed the pistol away raising his hands at Thor 

"Bring it on bitch"

With a casual raise of his eyebrow Thor threw away the stun baton. A small shake of his head and a flick of his wrist and he drew his pistol and shot him in the crotch, a second casual catching a fleeing cartel officer in the back of the skull even as he advanced upon the rising bodyguard who looked up at him with agonized defiance

"Coward... fucking coward"

Thor did not smile, his eyes were ice

"This is war... not the fucking movies. "

Even as the confidence drained from his features, his ego sapped by the sudden weight of his own mortality, Thor placed a round between his eyes.

His squad was waiting amongst the corpses, holding for his instructions even as he strode towards the smouldering sedan a casual hand waving at Buck even as he swung the door open

"... blow this shit to hell"

Savagely he grabbed a dazed Enright by the collor and dragged him before the nearest security camera. A savage kick sent his stirring form in to crumpling heap even as he stared directly into the camera. 

If only he could make sure Hale was watching, make Hale know what he was facing... that his plans were going to shit right before his eyes.... even as he stomped savagely upon Enright's prone form, he felt the phone in his pocket. With a smile he fished it out and held down the number 1....


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## Jackinator (Nov 18, 2008)

I couldn't help but feel relieved, my father wasn't present. I didn't have to make that choice, but I couldn't put it off forever, at some point I would have to face it, face him. I put it out of my mind, and then everything began to happen at once.

Odin's message came through and the team moved into action seamlessly. I raised my gun, squeezing the trigger gently and unleashing a spray of automatic fire into the group of cartel soldiers. Some go down and I take the opportunity to glance around, unable to see my teammates though I spot one of the soldiers fleeing for the vehicles. There's too many of them for us to contain and I make my decision quickly, “Everybody get out of the building, get out of the way!”

I knew they would get clear in seconds and so I let my smg fall, catching on the sling and swinging behind my back as I turned, pulling the rocket launcher onto my shoulder and turning full circle so I was once more facing the building.

I saw a dim flash of movement through glass, clicked a switch and pulled the trigger. The was a roar of air, surprisingly quiet considering the destruction I knew it would unleash. The rocket soared majestically, almost gliding through the air and through the window with the frosted crash of shattered glass.

There was a singe, perfect moment of pregnant silence, then the building went up in a fire ball, the blast blowing out the windows and making the whole building shudder. I clicked the other explosives and they ran around the base of the building, a great cloud of dust billowing out and upwards, obscuring the construction from sight as it collapsed downwards.

As the smoke and dust cleared, all that remained was rubble...


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## Santaire (Feb 13, 2011)

Loki sat at a table alone, watching as the rest of the team laughed and enjoyed themselves, but the memory of Cueball’s death hung over the scene. Loki was working with his vid-screen, tapping frantically just to keep his mind off that shot, the shot that ended the life of a friend. The calculating part of his mind stood back from his emotions and analysed them. Curious, very curious. Valkyrie teams were no strangers to death and yet so rarely did one of their own die that if it happened, they were so shocked that it was extremely difficult to get over it.

“Night Stalker’s, time to move,” came Odin’s voice over the com. Loki flicked a tablet off the table and tossed it to Thor without even turning his head. Thor caught it and they left the room.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Standing outside the building Loki tapped into the cameras incorporated into the cell phones and laptops of the men in the building. Seeing the cartel representatives he gave a faint, evil smile. Then the three ACS representatives, men in long dark trench coats, entered the room and he winced as the screen went dark, a jammer evidently in place. “Three ACS, twelve Cartel,” he murmured, relaying the information to the rest of the team.

He shut down the vid screen and heard Thor move into the building where his locator went silent, blocked by the same jammer concealing the interior of the building from Loki’s screens. The sudden blankness where Thor’s locator had been was unnerving. Not because he feared for the major’s safety, but because he liked to be able to keep an eye on the major at all times. Thor was a hardnosed son of a bitch whose only delight was in death. Not knowing his location was, well, quite possibly the only thing in the world that scared the Cyber-tech.

He settled behind cover, weapons in holsters with his hands hovering near their grips...

------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Kill them, kill them all!”

Even as Loki was moving, drawing his sword a section of his mind was examining the pure hatred in Odin’s tone. The unemotional part of him feared that Odin was becoming overemotional while the part of him that was still human understood that Odin had lived his entire life fighting and with the chance of that fight coming to an end he had the right to feel hatred of the foe. Indeed he might as well have had a duty to feel hatred.

With the departure of the ACS delegation with their jammer Loki’s cyber-senses became opened to the interior of the building. He scanned the laptops and cell phones but all were in cases or in pockets. He shut down his link to them and instead used his EM senses. Cell phones, Buck's drone and the reflection of radio waves mapped out the building for him, painting three targets moving towards the east door. Sprinting forward he drove the sword’s blade through the wall, clean through one of the figures. Kicking the door open he came through to see his sword blade protruding from the chest of Carminda Mendez whom he recognized from when he briefed Thor on likely cartel representatives. He heard the roar of a weapon, a thousand times louder than it had any right to be.

The bullet winged him, unbelievable pain searing his bicep and shoulder before it erupted in a welter of blood from his back. The sudden flare of air, feeling like a hammer blow to the sternum had the air whooshing out of his lungs. But it was not unfamiliar. Loki dropped; dodging the second bullet he had known was coming from the other cartel member. The bullet had loosened his grip on his SMG and he let it fall, un-holstering the pistol as he fell. His first shot slammed into the foremost enforcer’s chin, driving up beneath his jaw and erupting through the top of his skull. Loki hit the floor and trained his aim on the second enforcer. The man looked down with disbelief on his face and Loki snarled. “Die you fucker!”

His first shot punched through the man’s chest, as did the second and the third took him between the eyes. The first two destroyed his heart and the one between the eyes pulverised the man’s brain and spattered blood, brains and shards of bone behind him.

"Everybody get out of the building, get the hell out of the way."

Osiris’ voice came through the vox as Loki climbed upright, wincing as he put his weigh on his injured arm. He spun through the door and tore his sword free of the wall, hearing Carminda Mendez fall to the ground. He gave a grim smile as he sprinted away, diving over cover and rolling to a crouch, slamming his back against the barrels. It was only then that he realised that it was exactly the same cover as the one he had crouched behind at the beginning of the night of bloodshed.

He heard the rocket and saw the flames as the building exploded...


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

*Poet*

POSTED FOR ANGEL OF BLOOD:

Angel of Blood	09-30-12 09:55 AM
________________________________________
Poet crouched low, leaning against the low wall he was using for cover. Thor had been in the meeting for some time, it would likely be coming to an end soon. Even though he had meticulously checked all of his weapons and equipment beforehand, he ran through them all again. He checked the palladium cores of his assault rifle, shotgun and pistols, all of which were at full operating capacity. With a thought he charged up his fusion blasters installed within the palms of his bionic hands, they made a low thrumming noise and emitted a soft glow of light, before powering down again. Lastly he cycled through the various weapons integrated within his arm, darts, pistol, flamethrower and compact missile. Satisfied he leant back against the wall, waiting patiently to spring into action.

Finally Thor exited the building, hot on the heels of the other attendees. Once they had driven out of sight, Odin gave a short but brutal order. "Kill them. Kill them all."

Without missing a beat, Poet vaulted the wall, assault rifle at the ready. He sprinted towards the building, his enhanced adrenal gland pumping adrenalin rapidly through his body, propelling him towards the building at an alarming speed. He distinctly heard the report of Spectres rifle as she methodically took out targets from the rooftop. Just as he reached the door a wiry Hispanic man burst through. He saw the oncoming Valkyrie sergeant and instantly raised the heavy pistol clutched in his bony hand, the man had clearly bought some black market upgrades to improve his reaction speeds, they were impressive, his pistol was already half way up mere split seconds after he had come through the door. It still wasn't nearly fast enough. Poet fired two quick rounds into his forehead without breaking his stride.

Surprisingly though the man didn't crumple to the ground as he expected, but crashed into him. He carried the body expertly to the ground, quickly rolling free of the entanglement only to see a second man sprinting towards one of the waiting vehicles. He couldn't be allowed to escape and carry word of what was happening here to his employers. He fired a stream of rounds wildly begin him as he ran, Poet rolling nimbly to his right to avoid them. His assault rifle was hanging down on its sling, having fallen from his grip when the corpse had crashed into him. He didn't even bother reaching for it. Faster than the eye could see he brought his hand up, kinetic blaster charged with a high pitched report and quickly fired at the retreating man, a pulse of light hitting him square in the back and threw him into the car he was so desperately trying to reach, his neck breaking as he crashed into its side.

He was about to turn back to the building when he briefly heard a quick blurt over the comms from Osiris, then heard a loud band followed by and even larger one as the building behind him collapsed in a powerful explosion. He looked towards Osiris, seeing him lower the smoking rocket launcher and flicked a casual salute in his direction, "Nice" he remarked over the comms. After a quick check of the area to make sure there were no survivors, he made his way over to Spectre and bumped knuckles with the captain. "Nice shooting" he grinned, "Wonder how Thor and the chuckle brothers are getting along."


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

*Hermes*

POSTED FOR KARAK THE UNFAITHFUL:

Karak The Unfaithful	10-01-12 11:41 AM
________________________________________
It appears my post disappeared when the site crashed, so here it is again:


One man had been killed so far, Hermes was surprised more hadn't departed this world too. Sure, they were elite troops: the best of the best but even powerful genetic enhances and augmentations wouldn't help them against a bullet to the head. But, the confidence of the team was armour plated, it had been tested with the death of Cueball but had come out strong. Hermes knew the team would succeed, he would bet his life on it.

Spectre kicked things off, sending their adversaries in confusion and chaos. but only a moment later did the warehouse door collapse outwards, out of the dust a man armed with a machete came running at Hermes. He raised his shotgun, fired several times and the man did nothing more.

The phrase "never bring a knife to a gun fight" entered his head.

But a second man, also armed with a terrible machete made into arms length of Hermes and made a desperate, but strong swing for him, he dodged the blow. Hermes moved at a speed the man could only dream of, he caught the blade with his shotgun and delivered a swift kick to the knee. His assailant doubled over in pain and Hermes brought the butt of the shotgun onto the man's neck, breaking it.

Hermes sensed the presence of a man behind him, then heard his footsteps he would have to be quick. Hermes turned, ready to counter any blow, deliver a blow of fire his shotgun as quickly as possible.

But as he turned he had only a second to see the man's face before it was reduced to a fine red mist. Hermes turned to the direction of the shot and saw spectre standing there, the rifle still smoking.

"everyone get out of the building! get out of the way!"

As the comm screamed Hermes saw spectre jump to the ground near him, he quickly joined her.

He heard the death-scream of a rocket, as it roared through the dark of night.


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

*Update #11*

Big Al(Romero's Own) & Breaker(flash43): You have little to do save watch to perimeter as Buck rushes to carry out the Major's orders. Tracking off in opposite directions of each other, making sure to stay out of camera range, you go about the grizzly task of making sure all of your enemies are dead. Breaker as you search through, you hear the cries of a wounded man and as you approach he begins to plead for his life. His guts are half falling out, having taken several rounds from your brother's miniguns, and you can tell that he is going to die soon but that he is in intense pain. You know that you cannot leave him alive. What do you do? Do you quickly silence him, putting him out of his misery? Or do you just walk away, leaving the ACS soldier to his pain and torment? This will be a rather telling insight into your character so make your desicion based on what you think Breaker would do. Big Al, as you make your way around your side of the perimeter, your patrol brings you very close to an alley that leads across to another main street that runs between the barraks and the building next to it. You can see not too far off that Buck is laying his explosives, the demolition expert plying his craft with swift practiced precision. In the moment of lapsed attention you are ambused from behind by, a body flying out of the alley behind you just as you walked past it thinking it clear. You feel the sharp stabbing pain in your side, a burning fire of your nerves in torment as a slender knife slides into your side, fortunately deflecting off of your fused ribcage. Turning you see an ACS soldier that apparently snuck out of a side exit of the barraks. You are in to close to really bring your miniguns to bear and this soldier fights like a maddened animal. You are going to need to finish him off in close combat, but make sure that you address the cumberance of your miniguns while dealing with this fight and don't make it too easy. 

Buck(Anilar): You scuttle around, making sure to keep out of view of the camera, planting explosives in all of the vehicles that are at the checkpoint before moving onto the barraks. You enter the building, planting explosive charges at strategic locations, weapons ready incase you meet resistance, which is exactly what you find. As you come to a door about halfway down the main hallway you check the knob but find it locked, leaving it unchecked as you continue moving through the building planting your charges. You finish your task, this building rigged to go up like a powder keg, and as you are hurrying down the main hallway to exit, you barely register a small click as you pass by the door, and some instinct screams at you to hit the deck. Throwing yourself to the floor just as several large holes explode outward from the wall that seperates the locked room from the hallway, drywall dust and debris floating down out of the air to cover you. Through one of the holes you see an ACS soldier, neverous and sweating, a large shotgun in his hand as he reloads the magazine tube with fresh rounds. Deal with this threat and get out of the building. Reinforcements cant be far behind. 

Thor(deathbringer): All else arounds you disappears as the phone chirps, dialing a number that should connect you directly to your most capable enemy. With a small click the line connects, "Good evening Mr. Ruiz," the voice on the other end of the phone, a quite dangerous purr. "You really should not have done what you did.... You have made and enemy the likes of which you have never known." You can't help but smile, obviously Hale is watching you even now. [we will work out the conversation over MSN bud]

Big Al(Romero's Own), Breaker(flash43),Buck(Anilar), & Thor(deathbringer): You all deal with your various problems and regroup at the SUV's just as Thor hangs up the cellphone. You have little time for conversation however as Odin's voice cuts across the comms, "Alright Nightstalkers. It is now or never, while ACS forces are busy dealing with the carnage we have already caused, I think that now is just as good a time as any for us to hit the Chem plant. Thor, Loki is sending you the cooridnates of an abandoned building, its location supplied by Poet, we are on our way there to make sure that it is clear. Rendezvous there. From there we will spearhead our assault." Thor, gather those men with you, and make for the rendezvous point. About three blocks from the rendezvous point, Thor will order that you ditch the vehicles you are in and approach on foot. You will find the rest of the team waiting for you.

Osiris(Jackinator), Spectre(Lord Ramo), Loki(Santaire), Hermes(Karak), & Poet(Angel of Blood): As you close down the perimeter of the ruined building you can hear the sounds of sirens and approaching ACS vechilces. It seems like you have poked the bear enough to cause it to stir and by the looks of the lights twinkling on the across the city and the noice of the approaching vechilces, a small army is enroute to intercept you. Odin materalizes out of the shadows that bathed the front of the building and begins to issue rapid orders. "Poet, Specter, get the cars, we are leaving now. Osiris, I want you to cause as much confusion as you can for the approaching ACS forces. Buck planted explosives in all of the Cartel vehicles and I know that he had at least a single drone floating around here somewhere. I want them timed to go off in 30 seconds. That is about when the welcoming party will show up. Loki, Poet provided me with the location of the abandoned building he and the advance team located. I want specs and location sent to Thor's team immediately. I know that it is risky but I want you to tap into one of the few satellites the ACS still operate and get me high res photos of the area. I want to know if there are any surprises waiting for us. Hermes, go with Loki in Spectre's vehicle and patch his ass up as we roll, you are with Spectre. Osiris with me." As you all move toward your vehicles, carrying out the tasks that your commander has given you, you hear him on the comms, "Alright Nightstalkers. It is now or never, while ACS forces are busy dealing with the carnage we have already caused, I think that now is just as good a time as any for us to hit the Chem plant. Thor, Loki is sending you the cooridnates of an abandoned building, its location supplied by Poet, we are on our way there to make sure that it is clear. Rendezvous there. From there we will spearhead our assault." Thor, gather those men with you, and make for the rendezvous point."

[Karak and Santaire you will both need to deal with Loki's treatment in your posts, whether you two speak or not is up to you. It may be easier to carry on in silence as for Hermes the wound is rather substantial and needs treatment and Loki you have your own tasks to attend to while trying to push past the pain of the rather severe injury. Hermes you are able to stop the bleeding and close the wound, but you know that it will need further treatment after you are out of combat situation, Loki it still aches but you have near full functionality of the wounded arm. Loki you are able to send the information to Thor that Odin requested and you are able to tap into the satellite as requested but only with normal resolution, even with your formidable skills you are unable to access thermal or infrared imaging. From what you can tell the area is clear so relay that information to Odin. Jackinator, you are able to activate the explosives and smoke drone as requested, though patching into Buck's drone is all but impossible. You don't have that augmentation and your normal equipment cant quite get a patch on it. Ramo and Angel of Blood, your driving skills are put to the test avoiding ACS patrols and keeping inconspicuous as you travel to the location Odin has selected so make your posts appropriately.] 

Osiris(Jackinator), Spectre(Lord Ramo), Loki(Santaire), Hermes(Karak), & Poet(Angel of Blood): As you arrive in the area, Odin orders that you ditch the Cartel SUV's that you had been using. Taking your equipment with you, you approach the building on foot. As you enter, cautiously into the lowest floor of the building, you find a group of 3 CED Officers walking around. They are completely startled by your arrival. Odin immediately rushes forward, snapping the neck of the lead Officer with practiced efficiancy. Poet and Spectre, you had entered the building at Odin's side, deal with the other two as quickly and quitely as you can. The rest of the building is clear and soon enough you hear the approach of several people on foot and seconds later you are joined by Thor and the remainder of the team. 

[I know that this update has a rather abrupt end, but It sets that stage for the next update that starts the path to completing one of the teams primary objectives, the destruction of the Chemical Processing Plant. Any questions or concerns get with me.]


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

*Big Al*

POSTED FOR ROMERO'S OWN:
Romero's Own	10-02-12 01:07 PM
________________________________________
Alexander walked slowly, taking big strides as he patrolled the building. He still had his miniguns up and ready, it was always good to be prepared. Alexander pushed past some old wooden boards into a narrow alley. By turning sideways and breathing in Alexander managed to make his way through and out onto a main street that ran between the barracks and another building. Alexander stepped out into a wider shaded alley and paused as he saw the figure of Buck in the distance. 

Alexander had heard about the demolitions expert but had never seen him work and he was impressed as he watched the man’s fingers moving expertly over his explosives with swift practiced precision. It was during that moment of lapsed concentration that Alexander’s world exploded with pain. 

A burning fire roared at Alexander’s side. He gritted his teeth and looked down towards the source of pain. A slender knife was impaled through his side. He could feel the tip of the blade pressing against his fused ribcage and he thanked God for his enhancements. But then rage took over.

Alexander looked up into the crazed face of an ACS soldiers Alexander roared with anger. He swung round his miniguns but the soldier closed the gap in a second. Barrelling into the Alexander with his shoulder down he knocked the Scottish giant back. 

Alexander shook his head to clear his blurry vision before dropping his miniguns to the floor and charging forward. Swinging a lethal upper cut towards the man’s head Alexander hesitated with surprise as the man weaved aside and returned with a punch of his own. The man’s fist made contact with Alexander’s jaw and he could taste blood in his mouth.

But Alexander’s training had removed the words retreat and surrender from his vocabulary. With a lightning quick movement for such a big man Alexander brought his fist up towards the mans gut. Not surprised as the man caught his hand and moved it aside Alexander reacted quickly and swung a punch at chest height. 

The man had no time to react and the metal fist of the Scottish giant connected with the man’s ribs. The loud crack told Alexander the damage his punch had done and he quickly followed it up with a knee to the face as the man doubled over in pain. The blow landed hard and blood splattered across the Scot’s uniform. Alexander was about to punch again but the soldier moved first. 

Swinging his knife in a deadly arc it connected with Alexander’s arm. Through battered, half closed eyes the ACS soldier could only look in disbelief as the blade bounced harmlessly off the giants arm. He went to stab again, this time at the Scots chest, but his knife never made it.

Catching the man’s wrist in a grip of steel with a simple twist the bone shattered and a scream of pain erupted from the ACS soldier’s mouth. As the soldier fell to his knees Alexander released his grip and instead moved his hand so it rested on the man’s head. He spoke two words.

“Bad move”

With that the man’s head exploded into a cloud of red mist as Alexander’s kinetic blasters fired. The Scottish giant wiped his hands of the blood and turned away from the headless corpse. Picking up his prized miniguns Alexander paused for a second as he wrenched the knife from his side, moving his hand to staunch the blood flow and slinging his miniguns over his shoulders.

Alexander met with the rest of the group just as Thor hung up his phone and lowered it to his side. Alexander moved to one of the SUV’s and rested against it as he used some ripped cloth to form a makeshift bandage to stop the blood flow. He sensed his brother standing behind him and spoke without turning.

“It will last, at least until I can get to Hermes”

Alexander finished up just as Odin’s voice cut in over the comms.

"Alright Nightstalkers. It is now or never, while ACS forces are busy dealing with the carnage we have already caused, I think that now is just as good a time as any for us to hit the Chem plant. Thor, Loki is sending you the coordinates of an abandoned building, its location supplied by Poet, we are on our way there to make sure that it is clear. Rendezvous there. From there we will spearhead our assault."

Alexander nodded; he knew the objective of his mission and was glad that he and Andrew had arrived in time to help the assault. Alexander moved quickly to the SUV as Andrew climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine. 

Throwing his guns into the boot Alexander climbed into the passenger seat as the pulled away. With their car following close behind that of Thor the pair of Scots had little to do as they drove along. 

About four blocks along Thor signalled for them to ditch the cars and Alexander winced slightly as he climbed out of the car, pain from his wound piercing his thoughts. Looking briefly at the blood soaked bandage he hoped the medic was nearby.


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## Anilar (Aug 12, 2011)

On Thor's orders Buck quickly grapped a bag from the Van, filled with 20 one pound high explosive bricks. All able to stick to surfaces, and make a mess of most structures. Allready Buck was calculating where to place his explosive charges, all prepared in advance with a small remote detonators, that could be brought to explode at various intervals, by his remote control. Technology was a marvelous thing, Buck thought to himself as his enhanced vision spotted several weak spots on the part of the bearing structures of the building.

Buck realised that he would get the most desired effect, from the inside running over to the building, jumping through a broken window to avoid the cameras covering the building. Inside Buck's vision immediately discovered dozens of structural weaknesses and building maintenance neglect. It was a rather old building, and it had not been well built from the beginning, and the decades of substandard maintenance was telling. Buck lit up in a big smile as he sweeped the room, his submachine gun ready if there should be enemies. 

Moving through the building, placing explosives various places, even places that to more ordinary explosive experts would seem stupid, Buck was confident the building would crash in on it self, when he pressed the button on his remote. Quickly coding into each detonator when to explode compared to the other explosives. 

A couple of doors was locked, and a bathroom side door was blocked from debris from the battle. But Buck felt confident he was alone, nothing smelled or sounded out of place. But it did change his explosive plans slightly, so as he placed the 16th charge keeping the last four for later use, Buck backtracked his explosive placements changing a few of the codings on the detonators. Then a click, and before Buck could even think he reacted, throwing himself flat on the floor rolling away from the door, as a loud boom and several holes appeared in the door, wooden splinters flying every where, Buck could feel a few of the shotgun bucks, that had just been fired hitting his combat armour, but none making contact with his skin.

Cursing to himself for not clearing the room, Buck was allready up and moving before the splinters from the blasts had fallen to the ground. The sound of reloading and a glimpse had told Buck, that the soldier to be extremely scared, desperate and he had expended all his shots in the first barrage. But the Soldier was still disciplined enough to reload his gun in a position of cover. Buck had drawn his revolver, as he had moved to a standing position, and a flurry of inaccurate shots to make sure the soldier wouldn't pop his head out, as Buck ran for the nearest window. Jumping through in a regular headdive, like he would jump into a swimming pool, glass flying everywhere, Buck could feel a few cuts to his hands and face. As Buck landed and rolled up in a seating position, he had pulled out his remote for the explosives and pressed the button. One second, two second, three second, Buck could here the soldier inside starting to move, then the dull thuds of the detonators sounded, immediately followed by the louder but not immensely loud thuds of the explosives, as they made short work on the bearing walls and columns of the building. Then the building started to carve in on itself, the Ceiling falling down. The soldier inside screaming as he was crushed in the building.

12 Seconds later the building was a piece of flat ruble, the dust allready beginning to settle. Buck stood up, turned around to watch his fellow soldiers, hoping the display had been suitable cinematic, and that they hadn't noticed his mistake. Walking over the ruble, Buck reloading his gun he started to whistle a old ridicously once upon a time youtube song about cool men walking away from explosions.


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## Lord Ramo (Apr 12, 2009)

Spectre kept a watchful eye on the perimeter with her rifle scanning back and forth for targets. They only had moments before the ACS was on top of them, and as such they needed to be as quick and as thorough as possible. As if on cue Spectre looked up as she could hear the wailing of sirens, and the roar of vehicle engines. It was only a matter of time now. She smiled as she could see lights in the distance moving towards them. By her count they had roused at least a small army to this area. How delightful that when the ACS got here all they would find would be death. She turned as Odin materalized out of the shadows that bathed the front of the building and begins to issue rapid orders. 

"Poet, Specter, get the cars, we are leaving now. Osiris, I want you to cause as much confusion as you can for the approaching ACS forces. Buck planted explosives in all of the Cartel vehicles and I know that he had at least a single drone floating around here somewhere. I want them timed to go off in 30 seconds. That is about when the welcoming party will show up. Loki, Poet provided me with the location of the abandoned building he and the advance team located. I want specs and location sent to Thor's team immediately. I know that it is risky but I want you to tap into one of the few satellites the ACS still operate and get me high res photos of the area. I want to know if there are any surprises waiting for us. Hermes, go with Loki in Spectre's vehicle and patch his ass up as we roll, you are with Spectre. Osiris with me." 

Spectre moved without a word, as soon as her orders were given. She quickly got into the vehicle to hear Odin's voice crackle again as it came over the comm channel. "Alright Nightstalkers. It is now or never, while ACS forces are busy dealing with the carnage we have already caused, I think that now is just as good a time as any for us to hit the Chem plant. Thor, Loki is sending you the cooridnates of an abandoned building, its location supplied by Poet, we are on our way there to make sure that it is clear. Rendezvous there. From there we will spearhead our assault."

The second that Loki and Hermes got into her vehicle Spectre floored it, the vehicle moving away rapidly to avoid the ACS. Even though she had to get there as quickly as possible, she also had to keep a low profile so that any ACS wouldn't find them suspicious or worthy to investigate. She used the side streets a lot and back alleyways to get them close to the building without being spotted.

As they neared Odin's voice told them to ditch the cartel vehicles and procede on foot, easy enough. Spectre pulled over ditching the vehicle in a ditch before getting out, assault rifle ready to take out anyone. The group moved quickly, staking up outside the building before entering the ground floor cautiously. As they did so Spectre second in behind Odin saw 3 CED officers patrolling. They turned, almost jumping back in surprise as half a squad appear out of nowhere. Odin immediately rushed forward, snapping the neck of the lead Officer with practiced efficiancy. Spectre wrenched her Kukri from its sheath, hurling it into the second one, knocking him off of his feet. Immediately she started forward, covering the distance quickly as the man struggled to rise. She put a boot on his chest, wrenching her blade free of his shoulder before bringing it down into his head, pushing until it had come out of the back. She pulled it free once more to see that Poet had taken care of the other one.


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## deathbringer (Feb 19, 2009)

"Good evening Mr. Ruiz,"

The voice seemed to ooze through the phone, like thick treacle tinged with deadly malice. Adrenaline pumped, a melee of hormones sweeping through his system at the confrontation, to finally face a sadistic purpose the matched his own, to hear the voice of a viper coiling.

"You really should not have done what you did.... You have made and enemy the likes of which you have never known."

Thor fought the urge to smile, his mind almost giddy as he listened to the voice, to the rolling undercurrents of ruthless rage,barely contained like a rabid dog straining at the leash.

Without a word he stamped on Enright's ribs, a hard stomp that made his ribs crack and the aide gave a little groan even as he clutched at the wound

Hale's voice was disinterested, the hint of superiority enough to make Thor's hackles rise, if only... if only Hale knew who he was truly speaking with, rather than some piece of cartel shit. Nonetheless it confirmed something he already knew, Hale thought the cartels were a tool, something savage to be used til it met his ends... but what did he think of his superiors... of his equals... did he believe he had eqauls?

"You think that torturing my aid means anything to me? Tell Mr. Enright that I have no further need of his services."

Casually he raised the pistol in his right hand, an easy pull of the trigger silencing the aides wheezing gasps leaving only silence in its wake, blood weaving through the cracks in the road on a trailing bath between mountains of cranial matter.

He held the silence let it stretch, Hale's breathing sharp and rapid on the other end of the line. Then he let out a low hiss

"You know your plan is fucked dont you"

Hale's voice was filled with contempt

"I suppose you expect me to pontificate like the villians of old then?" 

The sneering voice paused followed by a dismissive curse like a backhanded slap

" You simply lack the capacity to understand my plans you simpleton. This opportunity may be denied to me... then again it may not." 

The voice was threatening, Hale bearing his fangs

"Only time will tell."

The contempt was getting too him... irritating nagging at the back of Thor... constant dismissal something he was neither used to, nor able to tolerate and he began to whisper... his voice a chant like a prophet of old

"There are three pieces of cake in this once great land. 60 percent belongs to the cartels lawless, infighting savages that scrap like dogs for crumbs without realizing what they truly have. 30% belongs to the acs, organized rigid and regimental but it's a small piece filled with people with very big stomachs. 10% belongs to irritants flies in the ointments, they annoy the 60 % and take big chunks out of the 30% but really in the end they are only 10%"

He thought Hale was going to speak but he overrode him, his pace quickening

"So you lure in the 60% with the chance to get another 10 % and we would of... together we could wipe them out to the last child, but in turn you take something from the 60%... something that currently means they cannot be touched... their numbers.... you take that and make it your own... give them structure weapons"

His voice turned dark

"then we ask for the promised payment, the men to be returned... but you've got your own army... your own private expendable little force... your not gonna give that up are you hale... not without a fight"

There was no contempt in Hale's voice, no condemnation, a slight moment of reevaluation even as gave a low sinister growl

"No, I suppose that I am not."

His voice took on a more business like tone, like a closer in the final stages of a merger, back against the wall, mind working to find an end that would benefit him.

"So Mr. Ruiz, where does that leave us? Once more at each others throats, fighting over spoiled territory? Ignoring the threat of the gnat that keeps biting at our exposed underbelly?"

Thor pushed the advantage pressing onwards... thinking on his feet , trying to pull more from Hale, a reaction... some form of advantage

"oh no mr hale...it leaves me sitting pretty... because i quite like pontificating... and your so deep in the shit you might have to turn to that gnat and beg it to pull you from the fires that are about to strip the skin from your flesh"

"Colorful," Hale hissed wryly," but I think inaccurate. The stalemate that exists between the ACS and the Cartels will continue to exist and thanks to you, the families will be so engrossed in their own infighting, that I will become a non-entity. Perhaps I should just sit back and wait. Let you wretched insects kill each other off, weaken ourselves to the point where I can simply take over once your infrastructure is gone."

He paused again, like a father addressing a child

"One thing that I have learned about sheep Mr. Ruiz is that the want nothing more to be led."

Thor snapped back

"just depends where the dog is in their midst... and you picked on the wrong pack of wolves. 4 families have lost loved ones on your soil, under your protection.... under your instruction... none of us knew the others would be there...where will the anger lie mr hale... at one family whose son died to give them the message... or at the man that set up the meeting ...."

he paused allowing the crisis to sink in

"and may well have murdered their kin"

his voice was gleeful

"they will unite and come for you like rabid dogs... they will tear down your house and rip out your throat"

Hale was like lightening... the slightest pause all his mind needed and his voice was nonchalant

"True..... but once I send them the video footage of you attacking our checkpoint along with a video of you leaving the warehouse unscathed moments before the attack, I think that with the right cajoling, the right prompting, the families might just be enticed to believe my version of events.

The voice became lecturing once more and Thor felt his anger rise... Hale was good, a better schemer than Thor... perhaps as good as Forsythe... a malevolent mind that seemed to curl between problems with admirable ease.

"There is advantage to be found in every situation Mr. Ruiz and you will find that I am adept at turning that advantage to serve my needs"

He had been thwarted in the battle of wits and so he threw his cards on the table... a last ditch gamble

"my name is thor, mr hale.... 

His arm raised, the pistol in his hand aimed straight at the camera... the stunned silence broken by the tremendous roar as the buildings exploded behind him.

Even as flames erupted into the sky, a great flash of white slicing through the darkness, rubble spraying across the compound, he pulled the trigger and the camera exploded sending Hale into darkness.

"but it was nice to meet you"

He thought he heard Hale begin to speak, even as he cut the line and turned casually tossing the phone into the seering inferno behind him, kneeling to check through Enright's pockets, their depths uncovering Enright's wallet, a few bucks and pictures carelessly discarded , the only thing of interest an unmarked key card. In the depths of his breast pocket a small ring of keys. One oddly shaped, yet still undeniably a key.

Curiosity burned and he moved to the car, snatching blade and baton from the ground as he went On the backseat the bulky shape of Enright's briefcase, soaked through yet nonetheless he found dossiers on the cartels words smudged and smeared even as he tossed them onto the floor.

Under the seat however he found a tablet, a primitive version of the one that had held Loki's information on Ruiz, the matt black disturbed by a single bullet hole. Nonetheless he stored it in his pocket along with the wallet and keys sliding from the car to face the three around him, eyes narrowing as they fixed on the blue face of one of his comrades.

His mouth opened, even as Odin's voice cut across him

"Alright Nightstalkers. It is now or never, while ACS forces are busy dealing with the carnage we have already caused, I think that now is just as good a time as any for us to hit the Chem plant. Thor, Loki is sending you the cooridnates of an abandoned building, its location supplied by Poet, we are on our way there to make sure that it is clear. Rendezvous there. From there we will spearhead our assault."

Three stood around him yet his eyes never left the blue ones face even as he began strolling towards the SUV

"Buck you drive" he paused by the passenger side door turning to the blue face

"Oh and braveheart... when i say go fucking incognito I dont mean paint your face blue so you show up in the dark and every twat can recognize you. Sergeant who gives a fuck might have let you piss around but your in the big leagues now."

He gave a dangerous snarl

"Division might count you a nightstalker when your names on the roster, the others might count you once you've spilled blood or your bloods been spilled alongside them but I've got my own set criteria... and you've just failed criteria number 1, dont be an asshole, asshole."

He met the gaze hard and confrontational... his intent clear, refusing to break the gaze

"Now wipe that shit off and get in the fucking car."


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## Jackinator (Nov 18, 2008)

It wasn't too much of a challenge to patch into the explosives under each car and the smoke drone, but I didn't possess anything capable of controlling the tiny machine, setting a countdown was relatively simple, there was already one built into the software I simply had to set the time and then hit the metaphorical red button.

Odin continued with his orders, before calling back to me. "Osiris, with me."

I nodded sharply "sir."

I didn't know what had happened in the warehouse, and it grated, who would bring together so many members of the cartels, and so deep in ACS territory. I couldn't think of anyone so daring, or perhaps I didn't want to think of who could do it, cause that would have meant he was in the building. I felt somewhat relieved that he was gone, and though I fought to deny it, a little sorrowful. I clutched to that explanation with all the desperation and determination of a drowning man, the very thought of my father had been hanging over my head even more than usual these last months, a shadow I could never quite escape, though it felt a little lighter now.

----------------------

It wasn't long until we arrived, Odin Poet and Spectre entering first to silently and efficiently end the CED officers inside. It wasn't long until Thor and the rest arrived, presaged by their boots rapping on the hard surface of the floor. The rest of the building was swiftly proved empty and we spread out in a holding formation, keeping an eye on windows and doors, waiting for the colonel to tell us the next move.


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## Santaire (Feb 13, 2011)

As Hermes worked with his tools Loki winced occasionally, feeling the sting as syringes were inserted and flesh tugged. The human, emotional side of him felt like snapping at Hermes for not being more careful considering the pain he was in already but the logical – well, machine – part of him knew that it was his own damn fault after all, having refused a pain-killer. 

But he needed his mind sharp to do what he had been tasked to do. He sent the co-ordinates to Thor and when Hermes was finished devoted his full attention to hacking into an imaging satellite positioned above them. He managed it with little difficulty, the most dangerous part being the open broadcast required to get a fix on its location. He cursed silently soon after he got access to the satellite, angry at himself for not having anticipated that different levels would require different pass-codes. He was currently on basic imaging and had switched to a scrambled, tight-beam broadcast and could not afford to turn it back to open for fear of doing what in the technological world was essentially lighting up a smoke flair.

But he did the best he could with what he had and discovered that the outside area was clear of hostiles. He said as much to Odin who grunted an affirmative.
_____________________________________

The deaths were quick and clean, as was fitting. The three CED officers dying within seconds of each other as Odin, Spectre and Poet did their grizzly work. Loki stepped over the bodies and settled down on his haunches before opening up his vid-screen and scanning the surrounding area. He knew Thor and his team were there before the others could even hear their footsteps and when they entered he closed the vid-screen, stood and leant against a nearby workbench to listen to Odin’s next orders.


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

*Update #12*

Hermes(Karak) & Big Al(Romero's Own): Big Al as soon as Hermes sees your injury he will approach you, his nimble hands peeling away the bandage you hastily applied. In no time, Heremes you are able to heal the wound and Big Al, though it is still a little tender, no vestigages of the wound remain. 

All: Congregated around Odin on the second floor of the house, you all have a good view of the side of the Chemical plant out of the large bay window on the east side of the house. A rather pregnant silence permeates the room, as you all look upon the objective that brought you to this God forsaken town in the first place. Any other team, any other soldier's less experienced, would look upon the fortified bastion that the Chem Plant has turned out to be and given up before they began. But you, the Nightstalkers merely see another wall, another gun emplacment, and another hardened bunker. Despite the overwhelming odds against you, there is an air of excitement and purpose in the room around you. 

Looking to your right and left you see that your comrades all have determination and perserverance plastered on their faces. It is with great anticipation that the silence finally breaks as Odin seems to shake himself free of the moment and turns to you all motioning you all to take a knee around him. He himself kneels and takes out a datapad, one that you have not seen before. Its technology seems to be a bit more advanced than you have seen before and you all can't help but notice the look of pride on Loki's face as the Colonel flips the device on and simply says,"Let's see it Loki."

The device humms for a moment before a three-dimensional holographic representation of the Chemical Plant, about an eight its actual size, springs to life over the device and the room is bathed in green light. Thor, concerned that the light will draw unwanted attention, you quickly move to the window and draw the tattered curtain across the large window, blocking anything that may be seen from the street from view. 

[What does your character feel as they stare out the window at the Chem Plant? You know that it is going to be a tough job, but what does your character feel about the Nightstalker's chances of success? As Odin starts his presentation what do you think of this new method of mapping that seems to have Loki so pleased with himself? 

Loki, this is indeed a technology that you have been working on for years, one that you and several other NAFI scientists have managed to get into working order just before you left for Chicago. Using stolen blueprints and specs that you have managed to pull from cyber-space you are resonably confident that the hologram now being used by Odin to display the Plant are as accurate as you can make them.]

"Alright boys and girls," he grunts gesturing at the display hovering in the air before his eyes, "This is it. We are going to assault the place on two fronts. I will be taking my team over the wall right across the street from this dump. It is where, according to Poet, that fucking Russian went over the wall and I'll be damned if there isn't a lapse in the surveillance coverage right here." 

He taps a few buttons on the pad and a the views switch slowly as he continues to speak, "Thor, you and your team are going to enter in through an attached sewer system." The display shifts from the area of the wall Odin spoke of to the street on the south side of the plant. It rolls through the sewer access grate on placed out of the way in an alley, into the sewer system itself. " You will move about 800 feet down this main drain, to a maintenance alcove, to the right." Everything that Odin says is displayed in the holograph, walking you through what you are going to see. " At the end of the alcove, you are going to blow through the wall at the end, that should put you into the understructure of the Plant." 

The display changes once more, passing through the wall, into what looks like a boiler room of some sort. Odin turns his gaze to Buck, "I don't want showy, give me surgical. If you perforate this series of generators," The display rotates to a top view, showing several blocky objects on the north wall of the room you are supposed to enter, "the you will alarms will trip because of power failure and they will be ontop of you with in minutes."

He taps a few more buttons and the display zooms out to show the entire sub-level and a mapped route through it to a room near the center of the massive complex. "This is the main power generation room. This is your objective." He nods to you Thor, making sure you are clear. "You hit here, my team will be going for the main mixing room." 

"This is going to be touch and go folks. I will issue further orders as objectives are complete." He sigs, "Buck, Big Al, Poet, and Loki you are with Thor. Spectre, Osiris, Hermes, and Breaker you are with me." Taking you all in once more, pride radiating in his gaze he will say, "See you on the otherside. Move out."

Spectre (Lord Ramo), Osiris (Jackinator), Hermes (Karak), & Breaker (flash43): You follow Odin's imposing figure out of the house, armed and ready for anything that you could possibly run into. Spectre, you toss a grapple up the wall as Osiris and Breaker watch the approaching street routes for patrols. None come and within a matter of minutes all five of you are over the wall and following its perimeter, ducking from shadow to shadow like the ghosts you are, following Odin deeper into the facility. 

[Karak and flash43- I would love for you to deal with the last update in your post for this one. If you have any issues please get with me.]

Thor (deathbringer), Buck (Anilar), Big Al (Romero's Own), Loki (Santaire), & Poet (Angel of Blood): Like your fellows, following Odin's order, you are out of the house and moving down the street, ghosting through the darkness, weapons ready for any surprises you may encounter. Fortunately, none present themselves. You find the sewers access door just as anticipated, but it is locked with a heavy padlock. The laser cutter in Buck's gauntlets however make quick work of that and in no time you are entering the sewers. Thor you are about to step forward to head down the tunnel in the lead of your squad, when Loki throws out a hand to stop you, bringing you to an abrupt halt the rest of the squad coming to a stop behind you. 

[Santaire and deathbringer, I will be getting with you both via PM or MSN to let you know what is going on here. I would like your take on how the interaction would go before I reveal to the rest of the group what is going on. Angel of Blood, if you would post your response for the last update with this one I would appreciate it.]


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## Karak The Unfaithful (Feb 13, 2011)

(in reply to both previous updates)

"Hermes, go with Loki in Spectre's vehicle and patch his ass up as we roll"

Treating wounds while under fire? treating wounds while in a moving vehicle? it was all the same to Hermes these days, because as long as someone, somewhere had been shot he'd be needed.

They made for the vehicles, cartel SUVs, Hermes turned to Loki, time to see how bad his wound was.

The wound was bad, Loki's arm was bleeding quite badly, every movement would have sent a judder of pain through his body, Hermes knew this wound would leave Loki's arm near-useless for a while yet. A quick look through X-ray showed the bone had been fractured, if the bullet had been a little closer Hermes would be dealing with a broken bone too.

"Ok Loki, there is a lot of bleeding and a fractured bone, on the whole the wound is quite severe

Hermes then pushed down on the wound with his left hand, and opened up the medicae gauntlet with his right. releasing the left hand momentarily to take hold of a syringe connected to a thin tube, which was in turn connected to his asclepius gland.

"The big problem is the bleeding, I'm going to need to stop that"

With his left hand planted firmly on the wound, Hermes injected Loki with a dose of asclepius, with that and enough pressure the bleeding should stop.

"your arm is going to be inactive for a while, you could probably get some motion into it but don't try and fire a gun or punch anyone in the face"

Hermes then reached into his belt pocket and took out some bandages, quickly made it into a sling and handed it to Loki.

"Once the bleeding has been dealt with, put your arm in that. If you suddenly feel dizzy later on or the wound opens up or anything come and see me, don't try and fix it yourself because you're bound to cock it up"

~~~~~~​
"a little bleeding my large friend, but nothing I can't handle" Hermes said, as he finished working on Big Al's wounds.

Of course 'a little bleeding' was actually quite a lot of bleeding. Big Al had already soaked through one set of bandages before he arrived, but at least there was no major damage to the organs or bones.

After his work was done Hermes made his way to the rest of the squad, where Loki (who seemed to be doing fine) had begun conducting his presentation.

Loki began to outline the finer points of the chemical plant, the bastion they would soon have to take and hold. It would be a tall order. But saying that, this team had faced up to these challenges before, they were hand picked for these type of challenges, hand picked.

"This is going to be touch and go folks. I will issue further orders as objectives are complete." He sigs, "Buck, Big Al, Poet, and Loki you are with Thor. Spectre, Osiris, Hermes, and Breaker you are with me." Taking you all in once more, pride radiating in his gaze he will say, "See you on the otherside. Move out."

Odin. Their leader, to others a hero, but to the ordinary people of the country, an unknown. The team is top secret, no one would ever know their names, despite the difference they had made. But, Hermes thought, its still worth it.

he chuckled to himself, and said:

"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more"


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## Anilar (Aug 12, 2011)

Buck stood there with all the other nightstalkers, looking out the window at the freaking huge prewar industrial chemical plant, that taunted them all with its high walls, gun emplacements and hardened bunkers. It had been turned into a fortress, that was soon to meet a nightmare. Buck couldn't help smile like he always smiled, when he knew that he and the nightstalkers was about to go on a mission that would truly test there skill and abilities. And the smile was a little bit bigger as the mission would truly but pressure on the ACS.
Not that there chances was great, but it was still an old plant, not built to withstand a infiltration team with a lot of firepower and explosives. All they needed to do was getting inside and Buck could do a whole lot of damage to it. What was important was to cripple it entirely forever, but Buck was confident they would get inside, and that was all he needed. Completing the mission ofcourse the greater goal.

Suddenly the room was bathing in green light, Buck turned around quickly ready to jump for cover, but what he saw simply made him stare and go woaw. The room was lit in a huge holographic projection showing the entire plant, floor plan and all. Buck quickly gathered his wits and helped Thor close the curtains over the windows, making sure they would stay undetected. Odin started to lay out his plan of attack, splitting the teams in two as almost usual. Once again Buck was teamed with Thor, going for the main power room. As the mission objectives and infiltration routes was laid out, Buck walked through the hologram, spotting structural weaknesses support structures, just in case the plan would go to hell, and all he could do was damage or covering blasts if they would need to escape under fire.

It wasn't long after before the teams moved out into the darkness, all ready for the worst, weapons ready. Following Thor to the sewer access, the team first obstacle was the heavy padlock, which Buck quickly removed with his inbuilt lascutter. The team quickly poured inside, moving toward the access tunnels into the sewers proper, but before Thor could take point he was stopped by Loki, Buck at the rear could not see what made Loki cautious.


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## Romero's Own (Apr 10, 2012)

Alexander sensed someone approaching and looked up into a face he recognized. For a second his eyes moved to the ugly scar just visible behind Hermes’ ear but quickly looked away. The medic’s skilled fingers quickly stripped away the simple bandage Alexander had applied to the wound in his side. Alexander risked a look down and instantly regretted it, the cloth he had used as a bandage was soaked and the wound was still bleeding. The voice of Hermes, an American accent that Alexander had still not got used to hearing all the time, cut through his pain.

"A little bleeding my large friend, but nothing I can't handle"

Alexander managed a smile and hoped the medic was right, it might not be fatal but it sure as hell hurt. The medic finished up and moved away, following the rest of the group. The Scottish giant rose to his feet as well and after taking a few seconds to compose himself and get used to the pain in his side he hefted his dual miniguns and headed off after the rest of the team.

Joining the group gathered around Odin on the second floor of the house, Alexander had a good view of the side of the Chemical plant that Alexander knew to be their target out of the large bay window on the east side of the house. Alexander fell silent as he laid eyes upon the objective that had brought him to this forsaken town so far from home. 

Yet despite the overwhelming odds and immense defences Alexander sensed a feeling of excitement and apprehension in the room. He allowed himself a smile; he was rolling with the big boys now. Even in Scotland people heard of the ‘Nightstalkers’, warriors without peers, a team without equal. To fight alongside them was an honour.

Looking to his right and left Alexander saw determination on his new comrades faces. It was with great anticipation that the silence finally breaks as Odin seemed to shake himself free of the moment and turned to the team. He motioned them all to kneel around him. He himself kneeled and took out a datapad. Its technology seemed advanced and Alexander was intrigued to find out more. Looking across at ‘Loki’ the team techy Alexander noticed a look of pride on his noble face. 

The device hummed for a moment before a three-dimensional holographic representation of the Chemical Plant, about an eight its actual size, sprung into life over the device and the room was bathed in green light. Alexander saw Thor quickly rise and move to the window, pulling a tattered curtain across the block the light attracting unwanted attention. Alexander turned back to watching the hologram, he knew the boys at Hereford had been working on something similar but it was impressive to see that Loki had managed to create one with few resources.

"Alright boys and girls," 

Grunted Odin as he gestured at the display that hovered in the air before their eyes, 

"This is it. We are going to assault the place on two fronts. I will be taking my team over the wall right across the street from this dump. It is where, according to Poet, that fucking Russian went over the wall and I'll be damned if there isn't a lapse in the surveillance coverage right here." 

He tapped a few buttons on the pad and the view changed slowly as he continued to speak, 

"Thor, you and your team are going to enter in through an attached sewer system."

The display shifted from the area of the wall Odin had spoken of to the street on the south side of the plant. It rolled through the sewer access grate placed out of the way in an alley, into the sewer system itself. 

"You will move about 800 feet down this main drain, to a maintenance alcove, to the right."

Everything that Odin said was displayed in the holograph, walking Alexander through what he was going to see. 

"At the end of the alcove, you are going to blow through the wall at the end, that should put you into the understructure of the Plant." 

The display changed again. It passed through the wall, into what looked like a boiler room of some sort. Odin turned his gaze to Buck, 

"I don't want showy, give me surgical. If you perforate this series of generators," 

The display rotated to a top view that showed several blocky objects on the north wall of the room Alexander and the rest were supposed to enter, 

"then the alarms will trip because of power failure and they will be on top of you within minutes."

He tapped a few more buttons and the display zoomed out so that it showed the entire sub-level and a mapped route through it to a room near the centre of the massive complex. 

"This is the main power generation room. This is your objective."

He nodded to Thor, making sure he was clear. Alexander made sure he remembered the route.

"You hit here, my team will be going for the main mixing room." 

"This is going to be touch and go folks. I will issue further orders as objectives are complete. Buck, Big Al, Poet, and Loki you are with Thor. Spectre, Osiris, Hermes, and Breaker you are with me." 

Odin stopped talking, taking in the team before him, pride radiated in his gaze as he spoke, 

"See you on the other side. Move out."

Alexander paused as the other moved out. He made his way across the room and pulled Andrew into a hug. He smiled as he pulled away.

“See you soon little guy”

Alexander then turned, he moved quickly out of the house and moved down the street, ghosting through the darkness, his miniguns raised and ready for any surprise encounters. Fortunately, none presented themselves.

The group found the sewers access door just as anticipated, but it was locked with a heavy padlock. The laser cutter in Buck’s gauntlets however made quick work of that and in no time Alexander dropped down into the sewers. 

Thor moved to lead the squad down the tunnel but Loki threw out a hand to stop him. Alexander was brought to an abrupt halt as the rest of the squat halted.


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## Lord Ramo (Apr 12, 2009)

Spectre didn't even have to look up as Thor and his squad came into the factory. Spectre continued to check to see if the building was clear before the whole squad congregated on Odin. 

It was time for them to attack the power plant, the whole objective before the cartel had decided to get involved. However that was the best distraction possible, it had given them information and allowed them to stop a deal between the two enemies of the Nafi.

Spectre removed her helmet and quickly placed it on a table as she took a seat quickly. She watched impassively as Odin pulled up a holomap, courtesy of Loki and began to describe the planned attack, as well as splitting the team in two once more, Odin leading one and Thor leading the other. Spectre was glad that she didn't have to go trapezing through a sewer system, especially seeing how she would be confide really to her shotgun in the close environments, her assault rifle impractical.

She looked around to see the entire team arrayed, looking at the map. They all seemed pretty determined, good. They would need to be to see this attack through, there could be no room for errors this time.

It irked her that the Russian who had penetrated the defence where she and Odin's team would enter had dissapeared without a trace. If they hadn't have had a pressing objective to fulfill then Spectre would have asked if she could poke around a bit and have a look. It would help if they knew what had actually happened to him, whether he had been killed or just went AWOL.

She waited as the team split before placing her helmet back on, taking her position in the team as they readied to move out. The team moved quickly and quietly to the wall, Spectre readying her grappling hook again. Whilst the others scanned the streets to make sure that no enemies were coming up or down the streets. Spectre quickly scaled the wall, dropping down on the other side as she waited for the rest of the team to catch up before they moved deeper into the facility.


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## deathbringer (Feb 19, 2009)

The atmosphere seemed strained like elastic, almost at breaking point, the monolithic size of the fortress before them a nagging reminder of how far they had to go, of how much they must overcome. He had killed, lied, stained his hands in the blood of his enemies, and still they were only on the first step of their first task.

He drew the curtain reluctantly even as they settled down to the briefing, stalled by a desire to keep on looking, to keep on gazing at the bloated beast before him, a beast they would enter and fuck til it died.

Quite aptly, his team would be entering up the fucking shitter, through the sewers and into the main generators below, an attempt to do enough damage to bring the beast too its knees and ensure it could never rise again.

His team, he couldn't remember how long it had been since he had gone on a mission with Odin, since he had been second in command on an actual mission, since they had run side by side, working in tandem competition leading them to seamless ruthless destruction.

They had been younger then, had fewer grey hairs, laughed more, killed more, worried less, maybe he had worried less, he knew now Odin had always worried.

He scanned the diagrams without comment, without thought, a casual eye over the route they were due to travel, a note that it seemed relatively unobstructed, a rare weakness in something that appeared almost impregnable.

It seemed too good to be true, which it usually was, he'd deal with it, as he always did, head on and hard.
____________________________________________________
There was a flurry of activity around them, men grabbing weapons checking clips and mags weaving easily around the two men that stood at their heart, the Colonel tall clad for battle, the barrel like form of Thor before him as they clasped shoulders with grim smiles, Thor speaking first even as both men opened to speak

"Once again we got to war apart, it has been too long since we fought side by side, Illinois I think."

Odin picked lazily at the day old stubble that grew like a small for there

"Aye, been too long."

Flames seemed to burn in his eyes an angry fervor bubbling beneath the surface as he spoke again

"It won't be long Augustin. Before you and I will make them pay for everything they have done. We will bring them to their knees, standing side by side."

Thor let his face stretch into the tiniest of leering grins

"Just like the old days, you always seemed to get the clean way in then too"

Odin gave a low chuckle voice stretched with false indignation, "my skin is much to delicate in my old age to deal with such places." 

Thor's laugh became a low growl fixing upon the still blue features of one of the SAS soldiers, his fingers flexing, stretching and coiling, an undulating ripple as he felt his anger rising.

Thor was not ignored, not for long and he gave a low growl

"well one of our number seems to have thicker skin than you or I, caked in blue fucking paint. Make sure he knows if it's still their when i come back it'll be getting a red fucking highlight"

Odin raised an eyebrow, 

"I will speak to him Augustin. He is keeping with his own traditions. Something in me envies him for that. But it is lacking in practicality

Thor snapped back, his anger barely restrained, voice rising slightly as he stepped closer to Odin, bullish face looking into the calm eyes

"I don't give a fuck if he's braveheart's bitch, he's a nightstalker by name and this is his brotherhood. He's ignored my words on it, if he ignores yours, I will not be so light handed"

"Peace Augustin,"Odin hissed voice calm, hand raised to placate him

"I will deal with it and if he is too dense to take my suggestion... Well, I have entrusted discipline of this unit to you for too long to strip the responsibility of it now. Deal with it as you see fit."

Thor felt the anger flow from him, like a tide released from behind a damn rushing away to leave it bubbling and splashing in the depths of his soul.

He raised a hand the slightest hint of a smile in the gruff tones of his voice

"god speed sir"

"You too. See you on the other side."

With a final sharp nod Thor turned too his team, his face twitching as it fixed upon the still resolutely blue face of the Scot, a terse snap in his voice as he moved into the street

"Right, lets go splash about in the shit"

They moved like celestial daemons, unseen and unheard, whispers upon the wind, faces darkened, any gleam tarnished, though they saw no one, the sewage cover seeming ever more beyond belief, yet he saw nothing, heard nothing.

Even as he descended into the depths, splashing into the waters of the sewer, he smelt everything he had expected to smell, yet nothing unusual, nothing to raise his suspicions that this was anymore than perfect.

Even as he took a step he felt an arm cross him, the instinctive reaction held in check as he felt who it was, the cyber techs arm thrust out in a desperate attempt to halt him and he took a step back, fists unclenching as he spoke.

He could not understand the desperate halt, the sewer to every sense vacant and his tone was light half amused by exasperation, His words at odds with his tone like the playful bark of a rabid dog.

"Remove your arm or i'll remove it for you..."


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## Jackinator (Nov 18, 2008)

(OOC: Apologies for the late post and it's poor quality, I underestimated just how much stuff would coincide this week :/)

That feeling continued to buoy me up, and even seeing the scale and security of the chemical plant couldn't affect it. It was irrelevant anyway, I was here with the Nightstalkers, the single greatest concentration of skill in the world. I almost pitied the ACS guards.

The briefing was fairly straigthforward, the hologram rotating through the views of the base, making it clear what everyone had to do. The Colonel seemed worried, but confident and the pride in his voice was obvious and inspiring. I nodded, a small smile betraying my contentment, I was ready for anything. I doubted there was anything that could phase me right now.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There were no patrols in the streets, unsurprisingly. The ACS had worked hard to keep the true nature of this facility a secret and frequent external patrols would only give away its importance. The grapple went over the wall with a faint clink and in only a few moments the team was scaling and over, I followed swiftly, landing catlike within the perimeter wall.


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

Poet was moving as soon as Odin gave the command, running over to one of the SUVs, Spectre quickly jumping into the other, the sound of distant sirens growing closer. He sped forwards, slowing down briefly yet without stopping as Osiris and Odin clambered into his car, Loki and Hermes obviously having joined Spectre. 

He joined onto the road and drove as quickly as possible away from the building. Exactly half a minute later the whole place went up in flames, likely taking out a good deal of the inbound ACS and giving the rest more than enough to worry about. He winked at Osiris through the rear view mirror with a grin, "Nice work". Easing the throttle down as joined the rest of the traffic, he used years of covert driver training to remain free of suspicion or alarm, taking a slow and deliberate winding route to their RV location.

"Pull over here Poet, we'll walk the rest of the way" Odin ordered, Poet simply nodding in acknowledgement as Odin relayed the same orders to Spectre. 

Pulling in, he reached for a kit bag and slung it over one shoulder, rifle rear slung. Giving the SUV a quick final once over to make sure they hadn't left anything, he turned and fell in step with the commander. As the two of them and Spectre entered the building, they almost bumped right into three CED officers on patrol. Without missing a beat Poet threw his kit bag at one of them, who instinctively caught it, the man dropped it as fast as he had caught it, reaching for his weapon, but by then it was far too late. Having closed the gap before the bag even hit the ground, Poet punched the man in chest, his bionic arm hitting with the force of a sledgehammer. With several broken ribs and in all probability a collapsed lung, the man could do nothing but fall forwards. Poet caught him almost gently, in the same movement burying his knife into the CED officers heart. 

He gently lowered the man to the ground noticing the others had suffered similar fates. 'How enormously unlucky' he thought, one moment they were on patrol, likely bored out their minds, the next three Valkyrie operatives, a colonel, captain and sergeant no less were in front of them. To say they had been screwed was a hilarious understatement. All three of them dead in less ten seconds.

———————————————————————————————————————————

He stated out across the chemical plant in silence along with the rest of the team. All of them stood there unmoving, lost in their own thoughts. He wondered if Fenris was in there somewhere. Poet hadn't seen the damned russian since they had scouted the area. All contact with him had been lost when he had entered the facility. 

Odin broke the silence first, turning away from the window and taking a knee, motioning for them all to do the same. A hologram diagram of the plant opened up in front of them, Poet raised his eyebrows at the sight, impressed with the level of tech on display. Odin quickly, but efficiently outlined their mission and objectives. He was to go with Buck, Loki and Big Al, with Thor taking charge of their team. 

Quickly moving out, Poet took point, scanning all the forward arcs with his rifle, suppressor attached, no chances were going to be taken from now on. When they reached the sewer entrance he found it locked, nothing that Buck wouldn't be able to handle though. Motioning for Big Al to cover their rear and Loki one flank as he took the other. Within moments Buck was though, Thor throwing himself into the sewer first, almost eagerly Poet thought curiously. They had barely entered the sewer network before Loki threw out a hand to stop Thor from moving any further.

"Remove your arm or i'll remove it for you..." Thor growled with a hint of amusement. Poet looked over at Buck with an equally amused expression. 

"What's the problem Loki?" He asked quietly and more diplomatically than their leader.


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

*Update #13*

Spectre (Lord Ramo), Osiris (Jackinator), Hermes (Karak) & Breaker(flash43): Moving low and quiet, you flit from shadow to shadow, moving in the cover provided by a rather dense grouping of buildings that are crammed together spreading out in a grid pattern from the main wall that you went over. From the plans you all remember these buildings were labelled as miscellaneous storage sheds, vehicle maintenance bays, and facility maintenance work rooms. From what you remember the map is accurate, a square of buildings 3 two story steel construction all purpose warehouses that all face a central vehicle fleet parking area. All of the lights in all of the buildings save three, two on the north side, furthest from you, closest to the chem plant proper, and a single one to your left, its garage doors open, the sound of tools ratcheting and working in the interior bay clearly audible as you pass. You peer around, looking for security cameras, an are able to see that there is one on each corner of each roof top, and you have little choice but to sneak by in the cover of darkness, hoping that whoever is monitorin those systems is doing a lax job. You take some comfort in the fact that these cameras would have had you all in view for a good span of seconds already so far and no alarm has been raised as of yet. Odin holds up a hand to stop the group. It is obvious that you are going to have to go by this occupied building to get make your way towards the main plant, and from the voices coming form inside, you can tell there are several people inside. Odin flashes battle sign to all of you (this is a series of hand gestures meant to convey meaningful information silently, as I am sure you all know. Since I don't want to try and describe those signs and then force you all to learn what they mean, I will issue the orders as spoken with the understanding that you all know that it is in Battle Sign)"Hermes, Spectre, 2 men, just inside, disable don't kill. Osiris, Backdoor, one more, same orders. Breaker, with me, we go upstairs, clear second level" With merely a nod to acknowledge his orders, you move in silent as ghosts.

Osiris (Jackinator): As you flow around the side of the building, you creep up to the backdoor which is propped open against the heat you can feel coming from the inside. As you slowly move your view so you can see more of the room, you see that it is indeed a vehicle maintenance bay, a single room that runs the length of the building its dimensions mirroring those of the bay on the front side of the room. In the center of the room you see a set of feet sticking out from underneath a heavily beat up old pickup truck, the man working underneath is singing along to some sort of music, far too loudly. You pulled the easy straw, the man tuned into his work and a set of headphones. Remember your orders, disable and secure. Deal with the mechanic.

Spectre (Lord Ramo) & Hermes(Karak): As you approach, stacked up for a tactical entry, Spectre in the lead, you burst quickly into the room, taking the two men in the large maintenance bay by surprise. There is no vehicle in here, but it looks like on of the men, a mechanic by his overalls and grease stained hands is working on some sort of small pump engine, he falls backwards of the stool he was perched on, falling to the floor, thankfully away from the large shelf of parts and fasteners. The other man, is undoubtedly Plant security, he wears a comfortable looking set of BDU style clothing, a worn baseball cap on his head with some sort of logo on it, but it is the full duty rig, complete with side arm that draws your attention. He is facing away from you as you enter and turns his attention immediately to his friend, laughing as he goes to help pull the man to his feet. It is only after the downed man, speechlessly points in your direction that he turns. Despite his amiable nature with his friend, as soon as he sees you his demeanor changes immediately, on hand flying to the radio receiver on his left shoulder, the other hand to the sidearm at his right side. Remember your orders, disable, don't kill. Deal with these two quickly an efficiently. [I will be available via PM and over MSN or Facebook chat for you guys if you need help with anything as far as working out your coordinated attack. Karak remember that your Medicae Gauntlet can produce a variety of tranquilizers and sedatives. I think it would be best for you two to decide which player is going to take on which opponent, then you can get with me to further the small fight scene.]

Spectre (Lord Ramo), Osiris (Jackinator), Hermes (Karak) & Breaker(flash43): Shortly after going up, Odin and Breaker come back down the stairs. Odin reports that all is clear up there. After stowing the now (hopefully) unconscious occupants of the maintenance building, bound and gagged, in a storage closet, Odin motions that it is time to move on. Stalking back out into the shadows, you move quickly towards the wall on the other side of the compound, pressing against it as you follow the back wall of the chem plant, the narrow alley way between the two structures only wide enough for single file, Odin in the front, Spectre on the rear guard. You find the access door, old and rusted right where the intel said it would be, and moving passed it a little, Odin gives Osiris room to work. Osiris you find a rusted combination lock, one that is quickly and quietly drilled out with your craftsman's gauntlet. However as you go to pull the door open, you feel the slightest tug near the top of the door, causing Osiris to draw a swift breath hands steadying the old metal door before it could open any further. [Jack i will get with you regarding the problem here for what you do will determine the outcome for the team at this juncture.]

Thor (deathbringer), Buck (Anilar), Big Al (Romero's Own), Loki (Santaire), & Poet (Angel of Blood): As instructed, Loki goes about dealing with the problem of the laser protection grid that runs the length of the tunnel. It takes him close to 10 minutes his hands moving in mid air as if he was typing on a keyboard that only he could see, and though the rest of you have all seen him do it, it is still something that is quite amazing to watch. His hands finally stop moving, his eyes stop flashing to and fro, and he jumps up from the crouching position that he was in a sudden motion that startles you all after so many minutes of inactivity. He lunges toward one of the walls and from the tip of his index finger snaps a metal spike, that he jams unceremoniously into a small hole in the wall that most of you hadn't even noticed. A smile creeps across his face as he stands there for a few seconds, then he laughs mostly to himself as he opens his eyes. As he joins the group, picking up the rest of his equipment, there is an audible hum, to you as Valkyrie soldiers anyway, as it sounds like a system is powering down all around you. Loki looks at you Thor and simple reports that you are all good to go. [Santaire, this one is a freebie and this time I have solved the problem for you without fear of repercussion based on your choices. I will send you a PM with what will need to be included in your post next time.]

As you all move down the main tunnel, thankfully on a catwalk that rests right above the effluvia that runs through the tunnel, you find that the way is unencumbered. There are no cameras, no additional traps or obstacles, and something about it just isn't sitting right to you. The hairs on the back of you neck stand up and you get the feeling that you are not alone. Despite this sensation, you reach the maintenance alcove just as was indicated in the briefing materials. The team ducks in but immediately hears the ringing of booted feet on the metal catwalks. It seems your sensation of proximity was not wrong in this instance. 

Thor holds up a hand for the group to stop, his ears trained to the side trying desperately to garner more information form the sporadic sounds coming from ahead. Without another moments hesitation he flashed orders to you in Battlesign, silent directions coming through the gloom. "Buck set the charges- Poet with me." After a slight pause, "Keep in radio contact, detonate on my signal." Nodding he and poet ghost off into the darkness beyond.

Buck(Anilar), Big Al(Romero's Own), & Loki (Santaire): Buck you immediately head toward the wall that was indicated on the schematics and find that it is pilled up with construction debris. Big Al moves forward to help you shift things out of your way, while Loki covers the hallway that Thor and Poet disappeared down. Buck begin to plant your charges (remember that you are shooting for a surgical breech so keep that in mind when describing the tools and compounds you use.) Big Al you stand by, weapons ready for when Buck breeches the wall, your firepower obviously left behind to clear the team's entry into the basement area should it be necessary. 

Thor (deathbringer) & Poet (Angel of Blood): You silently slide down the main sewer tunnel, Thor in the lead, and as you traverse over the next 200 feet, silent as befits your team's name, you are surprised to find that the noise from a head has gone absolutely silent. Save the slight scrathing of what sounds like miniscule claws on concrete. A few seconds go by before you hear a faint voice echo from around set of drainage pipes. "Major Castelan," A deep base voice says precedeing the appearance of a man from the shadows, his nearly coal black skin melting out from behind his chosen cover, his hands held up in a non-threatening manner. The man, who you recognize without being able to put a name to the face, wears Valkyrie issued gear, all black, his eyes covered over with blue lensed goggles, an assault rifle strapped to his back, the insignia on his collar marking him a captain. "Captain Patterson, Grimnir, of the Dark Knights," He says holding a hand out in greeting, "We were activated as your reinforcements Major. General Bentley thought you could use all the help you could get." As he finishes speaking four other Valkyrie soldiers melt out of the darkness around him, hidden up until know even from your observant eye. Smiling, the anticipation the Nightstalker's felt not a half hour ago during the briefing, obviously infecting these members of the Dark Knights, Grimnir looks at you and simply asks, "Your orders Major?"

Fenris(Komanko): The past 24 hours for you have been a test of our skills like you haven't seen in sometime. From the moment that you went over the wall, to the present you have been exploring this compound, unseen for the most part, and you have found that there are several disturbing bits of information that need to be passed onto the team as soon as possible. Despite the ease of your infiltration, you have been foiled almost at every turn by CED and surprisingly ACS military troops as you have attempted to Exfil and despite your persistence that it should, your radio comms cant seem to penetrate the outer wall of the plant facility, their patrols increasing in frequency such that you have no clear widow of escape even with your chameleonic abilities. The first several hours inside the plant you spent familiarizing yourself with its layout. Despite the massive grounds, the plant facility itself is only about four stories, with the main mixing and pumping rooms housed in the basement and sub-basement of the structure. You found much to your delight that the initial intel the team had received about this place was indeed correct, so even though you are anxious to hear from the rest of the Nightstalkers you can take comfort in the fact that they are entering with good intel. Over the course of your time here, you had to kill two security patrolmen, both of their bodies hidden away in deep boiler room in one of the sub-basements, but what really was the crowning jewel of the experience was the fact that you managed to steal a security access keycard from a lab technician working in the sub-basement. What struck you as odd about this piece of hardware was that it corresponded to nothing that you had seen in the facility as of yet, it a proximity card, and not a swipe card like the rest of the door access systems. It took you another ten hours, to figure out what door this key unlocked and the discovery you made there is the information that you are so desperate to pass onto Odin. Once again you try your comms, a simple "Fenris to Odin," the words loud in your own ears as you speak them even at a whisper. 

[So as you can see Komanko has rejoined us, once more stepping into the role of Fenris. Komanko we can speak more about what you have witnessed over MSN over the next couple of days. 

flash43- I have included you in this update only as a formality. If you post for this update you can once again take control of Breaker. If not I will be relegation Breaker to NPC status with all the possibilities that opens up. Let me know what your plan is as far as posting for him.]


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## komanko (May 16, 2010)

OOC: Good to be back.

Time passed slowly, yet, what was time? Eternal. It held little meaning to him. His death was certain, only the date and time weren’t set yet. As such he did not feel any need to hurry. He was careful, might have been overly careful, who was he to tell, nothing but a mere tool he was. Still, though time meant little it still mattered in the general scale of things, he had to gather as much information as possible before the rest of the Nightstalkers arrive even though he did not manage any radio contact with them since his entry to the compound. His last message was short but carried with it exactly the information that was needed, "Odin from Fenris, infiltration commencing, entering objective." He said it in his rigid voice. Since then, silence, only silence accompanied him, no radio contact was heard.

The entry itself was simple, not too difficult, two dead, none of import, both hidden in some unknown cellar, probably never to be found, their loved ones will mourn yet time will wash away their pain, pain makes us stronger, nothing ever motivated human kind more than the prospect and suggestion of pain. He allowed himself a bitter smile as the thought passed his mind. Another body, another candle blown, when the end comes only the strongest will stand against the coming darkness, each of their life candles will shine a hundred times stronger than those who were weak enough to be extinguished now. Still, all of this mattered little. Guards dead, nobody to stop him, he had some time to breach the defenses and enter the compound undetected, it would be some time until a team would come looking for some missing guards.

The hallways stretched on, every twist and turn looking the same as the previous, to any untrained mind it would've seemed like walking in circles yet Fenris knew better, Pyoter could see the slight differences, he could taste the air, each turn had a different taste, some reeked with a putrid stench, other smelled of chemicals, while others still carried no smell at all except that of the human beast. Even though he traversed the halls easily he was not alone, the occasional patrol passed, their pattern soon revealing itself to Fenris, he learned to anticipate their coming, understanding their timing after a few encounters. He was one with shadow, they could not see him yet they weren’t stupid, some of them were trained, not just petty guards... They could feel something was amiss, yet they could not put their hand on it. Some turned their heads staring at Fenris though never seeing him, others doubled back as if forgetting something in a desperate attempt to scare him out. They felt something was off... They truly did... For that, he admired them. After all, death is one's most ardent admirer...

He pressed on, each meeting unfolding in the same way, a look back, a turn around, a sigh, a small chat... Pressing on. Nothing to see. His contact lens were removed, his eyes shining in their pitch black color, like oil they flowed, thick, to meet his stare was to be ensnared in madness and death, like looking into a bottomless void, inhuman they told him... They might've been right. He kept following the guards, trailing behind them or above them, at some points even below them, he never lost sight, he always kept on. His prey was waiting, luring him to the nest, to his reward.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Trooper Jack was patrolling the walkways again, such heights did nothing but strike fear into him, feeling his guts churning at the mere prospect of going higher up the walkways. He always got the worst duties, cleaning, cooking, god damn near mountain climbing at this heights. If that was not enough he was quickly developing a terrible case of vertigo. With nobody but himself and the railing to hold on he clung to the railing like it was his dearest most trusted friend, he would never let it go...
He kept going up, he could see the distant forms of other guards patrolling the ground below, the stairs were coming to an end, soon enough he would reach the most terrible of all things, the damn bridge which connected to two sides of the room. It was a narrow bridge which hung above the ground, it was made of steel, each step on it like a bullet coming out the barrel, each step a roar against the deathly silence, two railings encased the small piece of metal. Again, he had to clung on to his dear life with the help of these railings. His assault rifle, which was loosely strapped to him and held in his left hand until now was swung back, it now lay against his back, the both of his hands grabbing the iron corroding railing instead. Step by step he moved on.
Step, step, the sound of metal hammering his eardrums like a battlefleet. Step, step, looking down he saw the great distance from which he will fall if he stumbled. Step, step, he saw the other side of the tiny bridged, even though it hung meters in the air it still seemed like an isle of safety compared to that. Step, step, in each step he cursed himself for ever signing with the ACS in the first place. Step, step, a shadow... A slight tug... Sweat... Fear... Air... 
Floor.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Fenris watched from below as the guard patrolled the walkway and bridge above, it proved to be the quickest way to the other side of the room, the safest way. With catlike reflexes he leapet up the stairs, each leap carrying him several steps higher yet making no sound at all when he landed, he was quickly gaining on the guard, his acute senses feeling his fear and confusion, his muscles tense as each step carried him closer to his prey. 

The guard began walking the bridge. Fenris followed from below, leaping from a rust covered iron railing he grabbed the metal bars underneath the bridge at swung himself after the guard like a monkey, each passing was timed with the guards footsteps, he made no sound as he slowly gained on his unwary victim. Swinging himself he gained some momentum and then swung himself upwards, carefully landing on the metal tiles like a jaguar in the jungle. He quickly jumped up on the railing and began walking on it, making no sound as he passed on the smoother bit of metal, his feet did not force the metal of the bridge downwards in large thuds. A small miscalculation brought him to near discovery. As the guard kept walking Fenris' shadow spread across the metal bridge, he failed to notice the lamp behind him, an amateur mistake, one which would cost him a life, though not his own...

He jumped off the railing towards the guard grabbing him from behind by his own weapon's belt which was strapped to his back as he held both railings, it was clear from his scent that he feared heights. Pulling the weapon's belt stronger he halted the guard and made any effort to struggle out fruitless, slowly he pulled the guard to him. He shall be a sign, for friend and foe. A quick push and the guard was bent across the railing, all air removed from his lungs as his body crashed into the metal rail. A rope. The guard's weapon's belt was tightly wrapped around his neck. The sound of metal against metal, the assault rifle secured between the railing and the bridge so it wouldn’t detach. A push. The man flipped, bones stretching, tearing, snapping... The guard, his neck snapped lay like a hunk of meat from a rack in the slaughterhouse, his body slowly growing stiff, the life seeping away from his lungs. 
Breath in... Breath out... Breath in... Breath out... Breath in... Nothing to breath out...
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Fenris kept moving onwards, exploring the facility, it seemed that at least their intel was correct, most of what he remembered seeing in the schematic was exactly in its place, he was making his way down from the fourth floor, nothing of interest on the roof, just another corpse, slowly growing stiff in the harsh cold wind... One less lookout to be concerned about. His blades were still unblooded. He began making his way downwards, passing by the hanging guard, muttering an hello as he passed by, you should not ignore the dead...
It was time to patrol the basement, a maze of pipes, air ducts and narrow paths. Patrols were common in these parts, logically were defense was tight something was guarded, but why focus most of the defense in this part, what was so important about the subbasement? Good question, one which he intended answering. 
Pyoter kept moving, he did not know what he was searching for but the maze lent him purpose, even if it was only the exploration of his surroundings and their mapping. He passed several rooms none of which held any interest to him. He kept walking onwards, he felt as if he was familiar with the paths themselves, like he traveled them many many times. It was dark, only small lamps on the side of the crumbling concrete walls gave out a dim light. Suddenly an irregular movement, none should be coming from that direction, he heard and felt before seeing, he was about to turn a corner, he had no time to stop or go anywhere else.

Bloody work it shall be, close quarter. He turned and bumped into two guards, a terrified look was on their face as they saw they very devil in front of them, scarred and pale with black eyes which shone with murderous glee or was it madness? The guard was trained, even well trained, still, it was not enough. Like a gust of wind Fenris's fist shot at the closest of the guards. All air drained from the guards lungs before he could speak or scream, another quicker than the eye move and an elbow connected with the guards face. The sound of cracking bone was heard and the guard spun around himself and fell to the ground, confused and stunned.

Before Fenris could turn to face the other guard a blow rocked his body and he was sent reeling backwards. The taste of blood filled his mouth, a split lip, the metallic taste of blood, invigorating, sweet... His tongue shot out and took in the blood from the wound, more blood quickly flowed out yet he did not care, he turned to the guard who was moving backwards with fright from this inhuman monstrocity. Fenris could see his blood on the man's assault rifle where he hit him in the face. He spat out blood, the combined blood and mucus landing on the stunned guard below. The guard cocked his weapon, he aimed at Fenris, he never did change the safety swith to single or auto, it meant that fenris had plenty of time before the guard would fire at him.

A knife flashed, the shrilling of metal cutting air, the thud of steel against flesh, the cry of pain. The guard dropped on one knee as the knife burried itself in his left leg, cutting through muscle and tendons. Before the guard could make another move Fenris's knee connected with his face, teeth spattered on the floor, a clenched fist hit the guard's temple, knocking him out cold.

Fenris stood up, dropping the guard back to the floor, he still had to deal with the stunned guard, looking back he cursed, he saw the guard slowly crawling away nearly making it past the corner already. Several quick strides quickly brought him to the crawling guard, with cold as the grave hands he grabbed the guard by the throat, pulling him up with inhuman strength. The man struggeled to breath as he was lifted from the ground. With brute force the scout slammed the guard against the wall once, twice, thrice... The guard passed out yet Fenris kept going, crushing bone, destroying it with his relentless assault against the wall. Even if the man survived he would never ever walk again, his spinal cord was shattered. Openning a nearby door he hurled the guards body inside. He turned his attention to the unconcious guard he left, blood was dripping from his mouth between broken and missing teeth, his shirt was slowly soaking with it. With merciless apathy he stepped on the guards neck, crushing his windpipe emotionlessly...

Another body was hurled into what Fenris now saw was a boiler room, two more lives were added to the depthless pit of death, two more candles extinguished. He knew that the day would come when only a few candles will remain lit, he knew that those will be the stongest of them all, shining so bright that they might banish the darkness that engulfed them, but until than... He will play his part, the extinguisher flame, bringer of the cold... The memory of their death already left his mind as he stepped out of the room. They were nothing but the dust of past.

Keeping his pace quick Fenris passed more and more rooms until he reached some room of interest, a noise was coming out, human noise, the sound of struggle and strain. Silent as the grave he opened the door, a single soul was revealed, it was struggling to fix some machinery and to reconnect some pipes that seem to have burst or just gone out of their correct placement. It cursed, it seemed that it was a creature which was capable of basic understanding of machinery and thought. More than he could say for the now dead guards. 

The man wore black working trousers with a white robe, a classical scientist look, as if to approve of his remark he spotted a card dangling from the man's trousers, a name was written on it, Dr. M. Smith. It seemed like a keycard, something very valuable to Fenris. 

Death stirred, yet he knew that it was not the man's time yet. He will only grant him soothing sleep today. Words erupted from Fenris' mouth, they were cold as if the grave itself opened up and spoke, emotionless, merciless, cruel... "The card, it will be taken, do not look at me, to stare is to die." The man was soiling himself with fear. Disgusting creatures, not even having the ability to defend themselves, he would need to be reminded next time when it came to killing unarmed personnel, they weren’t worth the air they breathed, none should've been spared. A quick pounce brought Pyoter's palm to the back of the scientist's head, momentum carried him forward and smashed the man’s forehead into one of the pipes, a concussion probably, brain damage, maybe even amnesia, it wasn’t a light hit, yet he did him a favor, none wanted to remember moments of shame, none wanted to remember death. The man fell, unconscious yet still breathing. Fenris took the card and like a shadow he melted into the surroundings. He saw the markings on the card, he understood its purpose, now a door had to be found.

It could be in the higher sections, there were no places to build secret entries, the only option was underground, the subbasements, might even be lower, they did not know if there was a underground complex here, the satellite couldnt penetrate that deep. Yes, it was the only option, the door had to be here.

Fenris moved silently through the underground, he stalked the subbasement studying it, inside and outside, after he passed each and every room five times, might've been even more he finally found the door, a slit in the wall lit up as he passed by, it seemed that the card was proximity based, it led to the secret's downfall. Gaining access Fenris strode inside yet what he found there was beyond his wildest guesses, something so important that it had to be delivered to odin immidiatly, so grand it was that even Fenris did not manage to stay even and emotionless after it's discovery... Pricless information that was. His heart skipped a bit as he stepped out of the hidden doorway.

"Fenris to Odin." Simple words with the promise of grand meanings.


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## Romero's Own (Apr 10, 2012)

Alexander watched as, as he had been instructed, the techie, Loki went about dealing with the problem of the laser protection grid that ran the length of the tunnel. Alexander sighed a breath of relief. He had had no idea about the laser protection grid and without Thor he would have walked through it, triggering god knows what. Whatever it was, it would have hurt.

Alexander watched in silent amazement as the techs hands moved in mid-air as if he was typing on a keyboard that only he could se. Alexander knew that the boys back in Scotland had been working on a similar interface but it was impressive to see it in action. If he gained nothing else from this mission at least he would be able to give the SAS some tips about the tech. 

Loki’s hands finally stop moving, his eyes stopped flashing to and fro, and he jumped up from the crouching position that he was in in such a sudden motion that caused Alexander to jump, his hands gripping the handles on his twin miniguns. The moments of inactivity had made Alexander forget he was in a hostile area surround by enemies.

Loki lunged toward one of the walls and with a small flick a metal spike extended from his index finger. He jammed the spike unceremoniously into a small hole in the wall that Alexander had not even noticed till then. A smile crept across the techs face as he stood for a few seconds, eyes shut. Loki laughed aloud as he opened his eyes. 

Loki turned to re-join the group, picking up the rest of his equipment. There is an hum just on the edge of Alexander’s hearing and it sounded like a system was powering down all around him. Loki turned to Thor and simply reported that they were all good to go. 

As Alexander moved along the main tunnel, on a catwalk that rested right above the effluvia that ran through the tunnel, he found that the way was unencumbered. There were no cameras, no additional traps or obstacles, and something about it just didn’t seem right. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up on end and he got the feeling that the team were not alone. Despite this sensation the team reached the maintenance alcove just as was indicated in the briefing materials. The team stepped in and Alexander found he had to painfully duck inside, the low roof constricting his large frame. All seemed alight but as soon as Alexander ducked in he immediately heard the ringing of booted feet on the metal catwalks. So his sense of danger was right.

Thor held up a hand for the group to halt, his ears trained to the side trying desperately to garner more information form the sporadic sounds coming from ahead. Without another moment’s hesitation he flashed orders to the group in the sign language that Alexander had come to call Battlesign, silent directions coming 
through the gloom. 

"Buck set the charges- Poet with me."

And then, after a slight pause. 

"Keep in radio contact, detonate on my signal."

Nodding he and Poet disappear off into the darkness of the tunnel.

Buck immediately headed toward the wall that had been indicated on the schematics and as Alexander fell into step behind him he found that it was piled up with construction debris. Alexander smiled, moving forward to help shift things out of your way, placing his twin miniguns down upon the floor, while Loki covered the hallway that Thor and Poet had disappeared down. 

Alexander gripped a heavy steel girder and with a grunt of effort, the muscles in his powerful arms straining and the veins in his neck becoming prominent he lifted the girder from the floor, moving it aside and dropping it down on the floor. He pulled away debris, rocks and wood, forging a path for Buck and his precious explosives.

After he had cleared the way Buck began to plant his charges, the demolitions expert setting to work. Alexander knew little of explosives and so the charges and compound the man used meant nothing to him. And so he returned to what he did no. He hefted his twin miniguns and levelled the barrels at the wall where Buck planned to breach. His thumbs rubbed the triggers in anticipation as he prepared to lay down a hail of gunfire the instant the wall was breached.


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## deathbringer (Feb 19, 2009)

He stood behind Loki as he worked, the cyber tech's eyes closed, fingers dancing in mid air, as he pulled and tugged at things he could not see. It was not the first time and would certainly not be the last God willing, yet still he could barely restrain the urge to clip the cyber tech round the head to snap him out of the madness.

He made do with a low growl, tongue flicking over his teeth, a low rumble emerging as he restrained his impatience, his whole body seeming to tremble with suppressed activity, like a dog on a chain.

The sudden motion of the cyber tech made some start, but Thor held himself still, unwilling to show weakness, to show how close he had been to flinching and reaching for his pistol, the true extent of his nervous energy.

A snapping noise before the tech jabbed at a hole in the wall with a triumphant thrust, like a fencer on the winning stroke, rewarded with a low hum as some system he had not seen powered down and the cyber tech smiled, giving him the all clear to move on.

He pushed on, doubling the pace to make up for the lost time, footsteps hurried yet still muffled as they pushed along the sewer floor, eyes scanning quickly across walls that seemed derelict, defenseless, the whole experience almost surreal, a creeping sensation of wrongness, like a foul stench on a cool breeze as they reached the alcove without difficulty.

No sooner had they reached, the sound of feet on metal made them shrink into the shadows, pistol and vibro knife appearing in Thor's hands as he strained his ears at the sound of voices above, the footsteps on the railings out of sync, indicitive of minimum of 3 maximum of 7 people in the distance. Hands emerging into the light he signed furiously

Buck set the charges- Poet with me." 

He paused calculating the risk, 7 of the acs against 2 of the Nightstalkers seemed good enough odds, better protect the charges than run off on a goosechase that might not be real.

Plus Loki was set up for defense and Big Al, well if he had to spend anymore time in his presence he might knock the teeth out of that blue face

"Keep in radio contact, detonate on my signal."


With a nod to poet he ghosted off into the distance, following the low sounds that suddenly stopped and he slowed his pace, ears straining as he pressed onwards.

A movement in the darkness deep in the shadows and the pistol and blade came up as a face loomed from the darkness, coal black skin split by shining white teeth, hands held high as he stepped into the light, addressing Thor by name and rank

"Major Castellan"

The face was distantly familiar, the gear he bor unmistakably Valkyrie yet the weapons never lowered the snarl never wavered.

"Captain Patterson, Grimnir, of the Dark Knights," 

The man held out a hand only to withdraw it as Thor raised the pistol to aim straight between his eyes. The name was familiar, matched the face, matched the signature on the intel they were working off

"We were activated as your reinforcements Major. General Bentley thought you could use all the help you could get."

Four further valkyries slid from the darkness, the movement his first sign they were there, the revelation making him grunt in irritation... was he getting old... they could have killed him, not many people could do that.

The pistol never wavered, his voice sharp and business like

"Hands up... code 346... or I blow your fucking brains out"

The eyes seemed to smile even as they rolled, bored, by the scenario he had repeated a thousand time

The hands never wavered"Alpha priority 439."

Bentley's code, highest clearance, never good enough for Thor, not now he knew the man

He let his demeanour soften, at odds to the steely gleam that burned in his eyes his weapons still up

"The first words you and I ever spoke to eachother... "
the words hinted by a smile "old friend"
He'd met he git once, meeting at hq, spoke to him in the breakroom after, heard things about him from Odin though, all of them deadly.

The smile blazed again, bright and sparkling in the darkness"this coffee tastes like shit."

The pistol dropped and Thor snapped "It's your fault you made it," holstering the pistol as he extended a hand

Patterson gave a grim laugh, allowing has hand to be enveloped and rung without a trace of discomfort

"True enough Major, never really had the knack for it."

"Better at shooting the coffee cups from enemies hands so I hear Captain. I'd like to see it for myself"

Patting his rifle his voice low and determined "Show me where." 

Thor nodded a jerk of his head to the other 4 "and the rest?"

" My people, " he will say waving a hand, "Isis, Thumper, Jumper, and Dixie." 

Isis was curvaceous, enjoyably so, the seductive contours of her body at odds to the standoffish nature of her gaze, the hard stare reminding him of Loki with tits and he almost felt the urge to laugh. 

He'd have to introduce them, might loosen him up a little.

Dixie was a big bastard, something Thor would love to kick round the ring for an hour or so, the mine launcher in his arms cradled like a deadly baby, he towered above the pair of chinese lads that interested Thor the most. He gave a low grunt eyes fixed on the pair, on the weapons, they bore, he thought he knew what they were but he wanted to check

"specialties?"

"Thumper and Jumper are Soldiers, close-combat specialists. Isis is my genuis girl, Cyber-tech, seen her do things with computers that I didn't think were possible, she is responsible for most of the intel we have on this place. Dixie, he is big, dumb, thick-skulled, and obstinant. But he is an artist with explosives."

His voice sounded like Thor's, so similar except his ran with thinly veiled fondness, a fatherly love for his team, their objections a mild chuckle or grunted appeal.

He nodded absent mindedly eyes fixing on Thumper and Jumper, like the head of the pride eying up two young challengers

Their nods were respectful, heads suddenly together to whisper too eachother and Thor turned to Poet, standing quietly at his side

"That's Poet, he's useless but he gets the job done. Hence why he's coming with me to kill you noisy motherfuckers"

Nobody objected, yet all 4 threw a look at the big man, who shifted sheepishly, eyes on the floor

"thank fuck your as dark as your fucking name or I would have blown your head off and asked questions later"

Patterson seemed unphased, another beaming smile as he grunted

"Understood Major." yet Thor ignored him

"Now we're breaching the substructure to reach the main generator room. Is there a way we can get overwatch on our way in, I'd prefer to fight corpses than guards"

He gave a little nod to the rifle

"and if your eye is as good as your rep, thats what i'll get"

A small, spider like, drone, scuttle off the wall, across the floor, crawling up to Grimnir's shoulder as the man scratched his chin

"Give me a ten minute start. There is a series of maintenance catwalks, and guard walks that overlook the generator room, not to mention an open ceiling. As long as the intel is right, and Isis hasn't failed me yet, I can make it up there, prior to your breech."
s
"You have 5 minutes to confirm your in postion,and 6 before I breach. Make it count."

Unphased the captain literally disappeared before his eyes the smile the last thing to fade as he melted into the shadows.

Sneaky cunt, nightstalker material if Thor had ever seen one, like Fenris with a smile instead of an accent. He hadn't heard from him since the ambush, Poet said he was in here somewhere.

Bastard was as slippery as an eel, who knew what his motives were. A crook of his finger and he began to walk down the tunnel, a splash from Dixie as he begun moving and Thor stopped, turning and throwing an arm across his massive chest, eyes boring into the big brutish face, 

"Your with the fucking nightstalkers now, so you bring your A*** game, OK? I've heard Patterson's a ruthless cunt when it comes to his team, but I swear to god you make a noise like that on my watch and I'll fuck you over so hard your mother will feel it"

The big man nodded in respect a dull grunt of "Yes Sir" as they filed silently back down the tunnel.


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

Poet briefly watched Loki work his magic, still somehow amazed after all is years of service at the skills the cyber-techs like Loki utilised. Drawing his eyes away from the complex yet entrancing movements of the tech wizards hands he moved further back down the line to cover the rear as they waited, wolfing down a snack bar in the meantime, his enchanted metabolism starting to burn through it almost immediately.

Almost ten deathly silent minutes later, Loki suddenly jumped up from his crouch, the sudden movement startled him so much that he almost powered up both of his kinetic blasters and half his weapons gauntlet. 

"Fuck me Loki, give us a warning next time" He whispered down at him over their internal comms, barely audible to even Big Al next to Poet "Nearly blew half this tunnel apart"

With the obstacle removed, the team double timed it down into the sewers, speeding silently across the catwalks. Poet couldn't help but notice the distinct lack of security down here, no motion sensory, cameras, booby traps, nothing. Did the ACS assume the laser grid would be more than enough? 

Even as the though crossed his mind, they heard the telltale sound of boots ringing across the catwalk somewhere ahead of them, Thor instantly motioning for them to stop, then after a few moments pause he quickly signed for them to split off, Buck to place charges. Gesturing for Poet to follow his lead, he then tore off into the darkness after the footsteps, Poet quickly following.

They'd covered barely 200 feet however when the sounds ahead abruptly stopped. The two Nightstalkers held firm and listened in, trying to discern why and how the sounds had suddenly vanished. After a few seconds pause a deep voice spoke out ahead as a shadow detached itself from the wall.

"Major Castelan" The figure said, hands raised placatingly, rifle slung across his back, not that is stopped Poet from aiming his own rifle squarely at the mans throat, Thors pistol likewise remained fixed on the man ahead. 

The man looked vaguely familiar though, and wore the uniform and insignia of a Valkyrie captain. Unfazed by the weapons still levelled at him, he held out a hand to Thor.

"Captain Patterson, Grimnir, of the Dark Knights. We were activated as your reinforcements Major. General Bentley thought you could use all the help you could get."

As he spoke, four more shadows revealed themselves around the pair. Poet instantly switched his aim, his rifle at a big son of a bitch holding onto a massive launcher. He powered up the kinetic blaster in his left hand and raised it to one of two asian looking operatives.

Being outnumbered and outgunned didn't phase him in the slightest, what did phase him was the fact that they were Dark Knights, with the patches to prove it, his old outfit before the Nightstalkers, a fucking good unit at that. He noticed Thor lower his aim having verified the captain at last and clearly knowing him from a previous life. He let out a pent up breath and a sigh of relief as he lowered his own rifle and powered down his gauntlet, this wouldn't have gone down well at all if the verification didn't check out.

Grimnir introduced the rest of his team, Dixie being the big guy, Thumper and Jumper the asians. Poet barely paid them any notice though, his attention having been stolen away as soon as the captain introduced Isis. He couldn't believe he hadn't noticed her straight away, perhaps because she was as ever concentrating on her wrist gauntlet, concentrating on some tech shit the cyber operative always seem to do. 

They'd worked and lived together for years when he was a Dark Knight, fighting alongside each other the whole way, along with many a long night of poker discussing philosophies and other topics, along with other activities he wouldn't be sharing with anyone any time soon.

His attention snapped briefly back to the captain and major as Thor introduced him "That's Poet, he's useless but he gets the job done. Hence why he's coming with me to kill you noisy motherfuckers"

He shrugged at the intro noncommittally.

As Thor dived back into conversation with the captain, Poet moved from his side towards Isis. So deep in her work as always, she hadn't even noticed him alongside Thor when they faced off or even when he was introduced. 

Stopping next to her and nonchalantly leaning against a wall, he casually remarked "You know I've always found guys like my guy Loki make much better cyber techs than woman do"

She paused, her fingers halting in mid-air, an elegant eyebrow arched as she turned to face Poet with a snort. He watched as a strange light in the back of her eyes dimmed and went out, before she stood looking at him properly, hand on hip, 

"Shoulda guessed you would have crawled out for a stint like this." Her deep south accent having not changed on bit from how he remembered it, half way between a drawl and a purr.

He sniffed and looked around the sewer casually "Well you know, I've always been a sucker for a nice decor and good scenery" Keeping his tone and expression deadpan for as long as possible before breaking into a wide grin.

She broke into a grin as well, laying a hand on his shoulder, "Well, you sure now how to show a girl a good time. How you doing sugar?"

He shrugged off her hand and pulled her into a warm embrace, before letting her go and holding her shoulders as he looked her up and down, giving an over exaggerated appraisal, her strawberry blonde hair and green eyes as memorable as her accent.

"Been keeping busy, never could keep still. You don't look a day older since I last saw you, what was it almost a decade ago? Whats the secret?"

She punched him, a hard chuck on the shoulder, "Don't you start." 

Her eyes flicked to look over his shoulder, her gaze locked on Thor.

"So that's him then? Right bastard from what I have heard," she says quietly. "But I suppose with what we have going on here," she says, gesturing to the surroundings, "we may need a bastard to do what needs done."

Poet couldn't help but hear the trace of pessimism in her tone, but dismissed it for now, looking over at Thor himself.

"That he is, looks like we both ended up in the company of rock stars. Don't worry though, behind the scenes he's really quite cuddly" When he looked back Isis was flexing her fingers idly, no not idly, hopelessly perhaps? "What's up? you seem…..well...not yourself?"

"It's this mission.... I don't know," she replied, her body letting of a brief shake. "It's just after so long, so many years in this unending fight, I can't believe we are at this point" she paused, then added "I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop."

His expression softened as he nodded emphatically "I hear that. It could all begin with this mission, the real downfall. Guess I'm so accustomed to the fighting, the attrition, the loss, no real end game in sight, until now. If we succeed here, we'll be on the road to causing the downfall of these bastards."

It was then his turn to pause, letting the silence hang in the air for a moment before shaking his head.

"Look at you. Only back together for two minutes and you got me going all deep and thoughtful again" 

A smile appeared on her face again, only a ghost of one this time, but a smile nonetheless "Well at least you have time to think. I haven't had a spare moment for almost eight months. This place, this dreary shit hole has been my life."

He frowned at the disparity in her tone, saddened to see his once so cheerful comrade and friends morale brought so low, the ghost of a smile on her once ever smiling and desirable face looked forced, as if she wasn't used to the action any more. Noticing Grimnir depart and the others preparing to move, he laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Listen we'll talk about this later, over a hard drink and a game of Texas hold em, okay?"

A genuine smile this time brightened her features at his words.

"Now your talkin' hun. Between you and me, the new guys on the team suck at poker. It isn't even fun to take their money any more. And as for Dix," she jutted her chin in the giant's direction, "you'd think with the size of him he would be able to hold his liquor." 

She threw her hands up in exasperation, "they stick me out in the middle of nowhere, this cesspool, my only assignment in 8 months, and they don't even toss me a decent man in the mix."

He turned to follow Thor, Isis matching his step "So where we at? Do we have eyes inside?"

He grinned genially at her smile, now more genuine, actually reaching her eyes. As she inquired about an inside man, he rolled his eyes.

"Who the fuck knows on that one. Just yesterday I came to scout this place with our scout, sneaky fucking Russian but good at what he does. Then the guy just vanishes in here, no word, no signal, nothing. Fucking modern day Houdini"

"I was wondering... No radio traffic from him?"

"Not a whisper, could be dead for all we know, or worse" 

She nodded knowingly, "I wouldn't count him out yet. I couldn't tell without actually being in, but it seems that they have specialised RF dampeners. Don't cut ACS signals or data lines, but if it is an unrecognised signal it cuts it at the perimeter, in or out."

"That is what I was working on when I was so callously interrupted," she says with an elbow to your ribs.


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## Santaire (Feb 13, 2011)

Loki felt a seemingly sentient presence resisting him as he tried to breach the system barriers of the laser defence system. He filed away details of it for later study for he had never seen such a thing in ACS tech. Despite its resistance, Loki managed to breach the system barriers in forty-five seconds. After that it was simple to dismantle the tampering alarms and warning systems, followed by shutting down the power distribution grid that powered the laser grid. Irritatingly, the strange presence seemed to follow him, readjusting power flow parameters and sensor sensitivities to thwart Loki’s initial attempt to shut down the net.

Every time he changed something the semi-sentient program readjusted to compensate for whatever damage he did.

Getting bored Loki reached into the sub-routines and base code of his opponent itself before, and not without a small smirk of satisfaction, he set it into a continuous feedback loop where it constantly damaged and repaired a part of the system which was inconsequential to the laser grid. From there it was a simple matter to shut down everything powering the net, finally ruining the whole system with a localised EMP deployed through his finger spike. After deploying it he stood still with his eyes closed and laughed softly to himself. He was still laughing as he rejoined his squad.

He looked Thor in the eyes and spoke four words. “Good to go sir.” Then they began to move on, Loki listening with a smile to the low humming that finally faded as the system powered down fully. They were walking on a catwalk and there were no cameras and no additional traps or obstacles but something was wrong, something felt wrong. They ducked into the alcove where the charges were to be set and a moment later heard the clanging of boots on metal. So, their instincts had been right

Thor held up a hand to stop the team and seemed to strain to hear more, to gain more knowledge from the sporadic sounds that carried to his ears. It took a few moments of hesitation but finally he used Battlesign to convey his orders; Loki and Big Al were to clear the basement after Buck blew it open.

Loki covered the hall Thor and Poet had dashed up, all the while wondering how the ACS had managed to create a semi-sentient program...


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## Anilar (Aug 12, 2011)

Buck was watching as Loki did his magic, not that he could actually see what he was doing, it was clear that he was deep in a world that Buck couldn't hope to navigate in, just confirming what Buck had always believed since he joined the Nafi as a soldier. The Cybertechs was the most important members of the teams, no matter how sneaky deadly bastard someone could be, there was intel and systems that just didn't care about that. And it was clear that Loki was a bit challenged by this system, as it took a little while for him to shut down the laser detection grid. A sudden jump from Loki indicating he was finished, almost everybody flinched in there own way. Buck thought he saw Thor tensing up indicating that he was quite ready to unleash all kinds of hell and mayhem on whatever was threatening him or his team. But it went by so quick, Buck just thought it was his own imagination playing a trick. Buck had a in times past a tendency to make a short nervous laugh, when he was getting jumpy, but that had long since been drilled out of him, noise got people killed during stealth missions. But still a nervous smile ran over his face, as he raised his gun prepared for anything a bit too erratic. But nothing happened apart from Loki turning off the rest of the security systems with his freaky tech finger, a low deep hum sounding through the tunnels.

As the team moved forward on catwalks as silent as possible, some with more skill than others. Buck made a mental note that if he survived this, he needed a few more lessons from some of the stealth specialists. Even thou silent walking on loose metal catwalks with heavy weaponry and a pack full of explosives was something they weren't experts in. Buck had this feeling that there missing russian scout would still have been a ghost even thou he had carried Buck's equipment. But something was just not right, Buck felt he was being watched, even thou he knew Loki had shut down every security measure present. As the team reached the maintenance alcove, ringing of booted feet sounded above them, as a patrol moved somewhere above them on metal catwalks, not caring for stealth. It alleviated some of Buck's nervousness.

Thor shifted to battlesign, indicating that he an Poet would handle the patrol, Buck was ordered to prepare a breach in the wall. Together with Big Al, Buck moved to the indicated wall as Poet and Thor disappeared, Loki taking up position to defend the area. Big Al helped clearing detritus away from the wall, so Buck could get to it, quickly scanning and feeling over the wall, to spot its weakest points.
Buck reached into his backback, pulling forth one of his specially prepared wallbreach charges, which took less than 30 seconds to deploy. The central 2 pound brick was stuck to the wall, with a special glue that was explosive too. A thin ceramic cover outside the explosive brick enough to force the blast to go into the wall. 8 smaller 1 pound bricks was dangling from the centre brick, bound to each other and the center brick by explosive cords. The 8 bricks was placed in a pattern three on a line above and below the center brick and one to each side of the brick, in a rectangular 8 pointed spider web of explosives. To Buck it was a little piece of art, that would blow a nice doorway in the wall, and the team would only have to stay about 6 feet away. And best of all, the collapsing rubble would make more noise than the explosion itself. Buck stepped back to safety distance preparing his gun, signing to the others that charge was ready and they should be prepared. Making the small almost soundless click on the comm, to Thor that would indicate that orders had been followed, which in this case meant that Buck and the others was ready to breach and enter, awaiting the go order from Thor.


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## Lord Ramo (Apr 12, 2009)

The team moved absolutely quietly as they stealthed their way through the facility. It was a difficult mission, the slightest thing went wrong and they would be in the hornets’ nest. There would be teams of ACS forces on them in moments, and there was no way that the team wanted that. They were quiet though, they were the best of the best. Spectre following Odin’s lead and sticking to the shadows as they passed through outlying buildings towards the main objective.

The facility had maintenance sheds and outlying buildings, each presenting a challenge to the NAFI team. Movement was a lot slower than Spectre would have liked but the squad was being meticulous. There could be no mistakes; there would be no second chances. As they came up on maintenance shed Odin held up a hand, signalling for the team to stop. Spectre froze in her position, wondering whether there was a patrol or camera that they had either been spotted by or were waiting to pass.

However with some quick hand signals from Odin it became apparent, few men in the sheds and he signalled to Spectre and Hermes to enter the shed and disable the occupants. Silently Spectre moved forward, Hermes behind her as they stacked up on the door. Whilst she would have preferred to be able to use her gun she knew stealth was the most important thing at the moment, and as such they had to stay completely quiet, she would most likely have plenty of opportunity later to fire off rounds at the ACS.

Quickly she burst into the room, spotting one armed man, unaware with his back to her and a non combatant in a chair, falling over backwards as she burst in Hermes a second behind. Spectre saw the guard turn, her hand instantly pulling her knife from her sheath as he reached for his radio on his shoulder and his gun. Throwing the knife she stuck it into the radio, her aim perfect as the man twisted back in shock. Hermes already rushed by her as he charged down the man with the gun, Spectre going for the non combatant before he could yell or raise an alarm.

The man raised his arms in defence as she reached him, using her momentum to throw a punch at his face. Even though he had his arms in the way Spectre’s other hand was moving, plowing into his stomach with as much force as she could muster. He folded forward, hands moving to clutch his stomach before she drove her knee into his face and he slipped into unconsciousness. She looked over to see Hermes had defeated his opponent, taking the weapon from him and policing it before the two of them were tied and gagged and thrown in a storage cupboard, both unconscious.

After they had been secured the Colonel entered and motioned for the team to follow him back out into the dark, Spectre taking rear security for the group as they moved onwards, stacking up on an old door which Osiris got ready to pick the lock for.


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## Jackinator (Nov 18, 2008)

The mechanic went down without a fight as I used his ankle to pull him from beneath the vehicle and clamped a hand over his mouth and nose, and another over his windpipe, he struggled feebly, arms flailing, body writhing beneath me. It was useless, and in less than a minute the man went limp as his oxygen starved brain finally gave up the fight and allowed him to lapse into unconsciousness. It wasn't long before Odin and Breaker returned, coming down the stairs to see our task completed with the same efficiency and professionalism he had come to expect.

We had bound and gagged the three men in short order and, finding a storage closet in the corner, heaved them into the small space, hopefully they wouldn't be discovered and their absence wouldn't be remarked upon for a while. We moved out of the building quickly and silently, ghosting through the shadows and with satisfaction discovered that the intel was indeed accurate, the access door was exactly where it was supposed to be. It was aging, rusting and looked almost unused, I examined it for a fraction of a second before a small extended from the forefinger of my augmetic gauntlet. I started it up with a tiny whine, painfully loud to our even slightly augmented senses, but easily drowned out by the noise of the plant in the background.

It was the work of a moment to get through the ancient lock, but before I put any pressure on the door I fiddled with my other gauntlet before spraying a fine mist of oil onto the hinges. The very look of them screamed squeak and a rarely heard sound could easily attract unwanted attention, I took a moment to rub it in, working it in between the metal. Satisfied I gently began to pull the door outwards before my fingertips picked up a slight catch on the door that shouldn't be there, wired? I sucked my breath in swiftly and stopped pulling, halting the doors movement with a slight pressure. I looked at the colonel warningly, whispering to him, "door wired."


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

*Update #14*

Osiris (Jackinator): Taking a quick glance at Odin he motions that you should continue, trusting you to ply your trade with the same skill you have done many times before over many years. once more turning your attention to the cause of concern you find that there are several things going on with the door all at the same time. Firstly, you see that there is a crude anti-personnel explosive connected to a small wire. If you had opened the door all the way without hesitation, you would have fragged yourself and half your crew with high velocity shrapnel and napalm. It is a simple trap, without refinement, primitive even for the ACS. sneaking a look with a few of your reflectors on your gauntlet you find that there is a secondary charge, concussive, that is far more sophisticated. It seems that your opposition was trying to lull you into a false sense of security with the first charge, obviously they weren't planning on dealing with NAFI's best. It takes you a few minutes to figure out the way the charge is wired its components at first seeming to be tied together in a haphazard manner. You whistle inwardly at the complexity of the back-up explosive, its construction rivalling something that you or buck could come up with. Your efforts are further hindered by the fact that it is difficult to get a good view of the secondary charge, but you are finally able to get it deactivated, allowing you to snip the small line that leads to the anti-personnel mine. A final sweep with an EM detector reveals a proximity sensor obviously designed to detect motion across the hallway that lies beyond the portal. Unfortunately this sort of thing is not really your forte, wishing that Loki were on hand, you do your best to work a feedback loop into the sensor, before deactivating it. You think that you have disarmed the obstacles to the best of your ability and turning you give Odin the all clear a full 6 minutes later. 

Spectre (Lord Ramo): You have little to do but to scan the surrounding area as Osiris works on gaining the team entry. Taking a moment you order Hermes to ghost down to the north corner of the building, mirrored orders for Breaker. You want to make sure that no one stumbles upon you without advanced notice. Your eyes are constantly turned upwards to the top of the wall that lies at your back and toward the windows that peer like empty eye sockets from the buildings around you. Odin seems quite content with the orders you have issued, nodding at your intiative, but his impatience to be past the obstacle before your part of the team is clear in his stance and expression. You start to get the feeling that you are being watched, some sixth sense tickling the hairs on the back of your neck and it is with great relief that you hear Osiris give the all clear, a relief heightend by Hermes' and Breaker's report upon their return that there were no signs of enemy troops. 

Spectre (Lord Ramo) & Osiris (Jackinator): Odin motions Spectre into the portal first, giving her a full 10 second lead to scout the small maintenance corridor attached to the exterior entrance, Osiris following closely behind. You travel down the hallway, pleased to find that so far all of the intel on this place has been top knotch so far. You know that 200 feet ahead of you is a maintenance junction, that also contains a security checkpoint with a single guard. You also know that that guard controls the only method of opening the double blast door that leads from the maintenance hallways, directly into the core of the processing and mixing chambers. It is going to take a fair amount of stealth to get passed this guard and open the door, preventing you from needing to take the long way around to the mixing chambers. You each count in your head the number of feet left, 200.... 175.... 150.... 125... you are almost 100 feet out from one of the lynchpin objectives of your team when the radio flares to life, Fenris' voice filling your earbud with his thickly accented voice, "Fenris to Odin." Odin's smile is evident in the gloom, he motions Osiris and Spectre ahead, stopping to converse with the scout, motioning for Hermes and Breaker to remain with him. He flashes battle sign as he speaks, his orders clear: Dispose of the guard, secure the control room. Obviously the information being passed between Commander and wayward scout is not important at the moment to your objective so you push it from your mind. 

Steps quieting, you ghost, all but unseen, completely unheard, until you see the guard at his post, a chest high U shaped desk, cameras flashing between various shots of the maintenance tunnels. He sits, his attention turned to a computer monitor, the click of keyboard keys enough to muffle your approach. [Jack and Ramo. I don't care who strikes first, someone disable the guard, Odin's orders to terminate him were clear. Regardless of who makes the kill, you are silent, your objective is achieved without hitch and Spectre will take a small silver tube from the breast pocket of her tac rig, pouring some of the same acid Thor used on Cueball on the dead guard, his corpse, clothing and equipment melting away to a small pile of sticky sludge. On a side note, you guys were hella lucky on the percentage dice rolls I rolled for all of your encounters..... I wish my dice rolled that way for me all the time, in a manner that was beneficial to me!]

Thor (deathbringer), Buck (Anilar), Poet (Angel of Blood), Loki(Santaire), & Big Al(Romero's Own): Buck, Big Al, and Loki you are surprised as you hear faint voices coming back toward you down the hallway where Thor and Poet had disappeared mere moments before. As you see figures come into view, a larger group than you were expecting, you stand down from alert as you see that Thor in fact leads this group. He smartly motions you back to your tasks, questions about the other group of people, who are clearly another Valkyrie team, forestalled in his desire to get on with things. A few minutes tick by, the group waiting in schooled silence, Thor seemingly waiting for some sign or signal to begin. Though the time seems to stretch forever, only about 3 and a half minutes go by before you all hear and unfamiliar voice on the comms, "Major, I am in position. Two hostiles neutralized. The room is full of people major, 8 security personnel, 8 to 10 scientists, and two in business suits." Thor wastes no time turning to Buck ordering him to fire the breeching charges at the same time he tells the new voice over the comms to fire at the security personnel at will. By some wierd coincidence, just as the charges blow you hear another voice crackle across the comms, like it is coming from the very bowels of this facility, "Fenris to Odin." You barely have time to register the fact that the scout is seemingly alive and well as the charges flare and the wall crumbles. Thor, leading the team, is the first to through the breach followed closely by Big Al and the new behemoth of a man, the rest coming through as they may. 

The room is huge in its layout, as you knew it would be, and the explosion of the wall catches the ACS personnel on the otherside by surprise, their forms frozen in the midst of tasks as Valkyries rush in through the access tunnel. You hear the tell-tale his of a surpressed weapon fire twice and as many Security Guards fall to heaps. This seems to signal a panic, the scientists start to run for the exits, three in all, the security forces begin to draw their weapons.

Thor barks orders at Loki and one of the newly arrived Valkyries, a woman, for them to intercept the scientists and technicians, preferably taking them alive. To Buck and the new arrival he barks for them to start placing charges around the generator room. To Poet and two of the new arrivals, twins, he sends them after the remainder of the security forces before turning his attention to the men in suits. You are not worried about the sound of fighting, as part of your job is to draw security forces toward you to make Odin's part of the teams job easier. 

Poet (Angel of Blood): As you rush forward, you see that the twins are streaking alongside you, though one pulls a bit ahead of the other as you crash into the group of guards near the north exit of the room. Another one of the guards falls as the silenced rifle reports, dropping to the ground just as Thumper or Jumper, you can't tell which leaps upon the first of the guards, a sword materializing from nowhere. To your surprise the guard blocks this with the stock of his rifle, which is quickly kicked away by the twin. You attention is suddenly focused on the three guards that have raised weapons against you, a variety of handguns, but they are all armed with batons and combat knives. Kill all three, though you take a knife wound along your right cheekbone that you are unable to avoid so divided is your attention between the three.

Loki (Santaire): You and the woman rush forward, to try and corale all the mechanics and scientists which appear to all be heading for the south exit. You put on a burst of speed, out pacing your companion and your quary by a good bit. standing before the door you block their way, pull the pin on a stun grenade, and lob it into their midst. You companion recognizes what is going on and shields her eyes and ears at the last minute. From there it is easy enough to secure all of the dazed men and women and even spare a moment to make introductions with your new compatriot. 

Buck (Anilar): Making hasty introductions with the brute, who mumbles the name Dixie, you lead him to the back end of the room where all the generators are that power the majority of this complex. Though Dixie seems a bit dim witted you soon find as you begin placing charges around the generators and support structures for the complex that he is a genius when it comes to explosives. His meaty hands flash nimbly around wiring, detonators, and charges. Thought you can't help but cast an anxious eye toward where your companions are fighting, you know that your duty is simple though the most pivotal, bring an end to this complex. 

Thor (deathbringer): The two men in suits eyes both lock on you, their muscles bulge against the confines of their finely crafted suits, and there is a hint of something as if there is some glimmer of recognition and something puts your hackles on edge immediately. The pall of anticipation breaks when one of them says the name, "Ruiz" his eyebrows arching in surpirse. The other's hand shoots to his jacket pocket and the silvery flash of a cell phone is visible as he removes it. The pieces fall into place.... these must be men that work directly for Hale. It seems logical that an encounter with an enemy force so near this pivotal site for the ACS would draw a check up on operations from the man. You rush forward to stop the phone call just as the first man draws his pistol from inside his coat. [DB this is going to be a hell of a fight as they both are incredibly skilled and incredibly motivated. You are enough distraction to keep them both away from radios or phones, but this fight will last longer than this update for you. We will need to converse on MSN to work it out.]

Big Al (Romero's Own): You watch as the team leaps forward, Loki moving after the techs and scientists, Buck and the brute from the new arrivals moving off to place their charges and Poet and Thor rushing to meet the security forces that have grouped against them. You start to feel that you should drop the mini guns and rush into help them in the combat when southern exit door to the room bangs open and no less than 10 more ACS men come running into the room. 6 are true soldiers, military rifles springing to shoulders as the enter, 4 are Security forces handguns in hand. For once you are glad that you held back from the initial rush. You grin as your miniguns begin to spin. You are able to take out all 10, though the noise is pretty loud, there is little else to do. You cannot afford to let the team get pinned into this room. 

Fenris (Komanko): As Odin answers, you are thankful that your transmission have finally come through. You begin to relay the fact that you have found that the ACS is working on an airborne delivery system for their control narcotics. As if that wasn't bad enough, you have found that the concentration is much stronger, based on the notes in the secure basement, than the stuff that they are pumping into the water here. Among the projects in the top secret area are also plans and a prototype of a long range dispersal rocket. ACS is working on a way to reach out and control populations further out than their own territories, perhaps even at a distance that could put Vahalla in jeopardy. [Komanko get with me on MSN at some point and we will work out the conversation and what Odin's orders will be for you.]


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## Romero's Own (Apr 10, 2012)

Alexander raised his miniguns as heard faint voices coming back towards him down the hallway where Thor and Poet disappeared mere moments before. Alexander could pick up figures moving through the shadows, a larger group than he was expecting, and he didn't lower his weapons till he saw that Thor led the group. Thor smartly motioned the group back to their tasks. Thor left no time for any questions directed towards the strangers, who after Alexander could see them, looked like another Valkyrie team. 

Alexander looked across, and seeing that he no longer needed to clear the path, wiped the sweat from his face with the back of his hand. He glanced at his hand and saw it was smeared with blue. He cursed under his breath and dropped his twin miniguns before pulling out a cloth and wiping his face clean of the running dye and sweat. He quickly pulled out the small pot of paint that never left his pocket. He closed his eyes as he lost himself in the patterns he drew upon his face. He finished and looked across at Thor who was seemingly waiting for some sign or signal to begin. Alexander tucked the paint and cloth back into his pockets.

Suddenly the comms burst into life and Alexander heard a voice.

"Major, I am in position. Two hostiles neutralized. The room is full of people major, 8 
security personnel, 8 to 10 scientists, and two in business suits." 

Thor wasted no time turning to Buck, ordering him to fire the breaching charges. At the same time he told the new voice over the comms to fire at the security personnel at will. 

Just as Buck moved to detonate the charges Alexander heard another voice he didn't recognize crackle across the comms,

"Fenris to Odin." 

Alexander just had time to take in the shocked faces of his companions to this news that meant nothing to him before the charges flared and the wall crumbled to the ground. Thor leapt forward, leading his men into the breach. Alexander quickly moved to follow him, clenching his miniguns tightly. He sensed a presence beside him and, glancing over he saw a man as big as himself. The two giants shared a silent greeting as they charged through the breach in the wall.


The room they entered was huge in its layout. The explosion of the wall had obviously caught the ACS personnel on the other side by surprise; their forms frozen in the midst of tasks as Thor led his soldiers out of the access tunnel. Alexander heard the sound of a suppressed weapon fire twice watched as Security Guards fall to the floor. This seemed to signal a panic, the scientists started to run for the exits, three in all, as the security forces present begin to draw their weapons.

Alexander flipped a table on its side and fell down behind it as bullets began to fly. He heard Thor bark orders at Loki and one of the newly arrived Valkyries, a woman by the looks of it, telling them to intercept the scientists and technicians, preferably taking them alive. To Buck and the giant new arrival he barked for them to start placing charges around the generator room, Alexander had not placed the giant of a man as a demolitions expert but then everyone has hidden talents. To Poet and two of the new arrivals, twins , he sent them after the remainder of the security forces before he turned his own attention to the men in suits. Alexander knew the plan, draw the security to make it easier for Odin and his team, and he didn't have a problem with killing anyone that stood in his way. 

Realizing no orders had been directed at him, Alexander held back. He watched as the rest of the team leapt forward, Loki moving after the techs and scientists, Buck and the brute from the new arrivals moving off to place their charges and Poet and Thor rushing to meet the security forces that have grouped against them.

Alexander was about to lay down his miniguns and charge into the melee when a door to the room slammed open and no less than 10 more ACS men come running into the room. Alexander smiled as he took in the new arrivals. Six of them were obvious soldiers, military rifles springing to shoulders as they entered. The other four were Security forces, handguns in hand.

For once Alexander was happy to have held back from combat. The twin minigun barrels begin to spin and before the ten ACS could react the deafening roar of the two bullet-hoses drowned out all other noise as a hail of bullets sliced into the soldiers and security officers. Blood sprayed over the door and when Alexander stopped firing and the barrels came to a stop once more not a single man was left standing. Confident that he had succeeded in stopping the others being outflanked Alexander turned to the main combat, ready to deliver a rain of death on any unfortunate to get his attention.


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## Anilar (Aug 12, 2011)

Once again all proved why they were soldiers, and not just soldiers but the best. Going from quiet stealth motions undetected, to the surprise that Thor had found new friends, to frantic chaos of full on combat together with orders to keep civilians alive and placing explosives. And all without blinking twice, thou Buck could feel the adrenaline and his pulse rising, as he broke through the hole in the wall, that his charges had just blown. In a matter of seconds Thor had directed all under his charge to there respective objectives.

Buck followed his orders immediately, moving towards the generators firing a few shots with his handgun on the group of soldiers, thou he didn't hit any. But it was enough to distract them a little bit, before they were engaged in hand to hand combat. Buck finally could introduce himself to the brute of a man, who apparently was the other teams demolition expert. Dixie. To Buck he seemed a little dim witted, as he mumbled Dixie as a response. But Buck reasoned he must have hidden talents, as someone truly stupid would not be on one of Nafi's elite teams. And Buck's suspicion, was quickly confirmed, when they in the noise of battle, and roaring miniguns, started to place there charges.

Dixie moved quickly among the generators, his huge hands nimbly placing charges, working with the detenators and wirings. His long arms making it easier for him to reach places on the generator, that Buck would have to climb to reach. So in order all the generators was being armed with explosives, so they could be blown by either Buck or Dixie. Depending on who would get the order. 

During the operation, Buck had activated one of his marbles, just so he could use its camera to follow the battle. So he saw Loki sprint across the room, and stunning the scientists and workers. He saw Poet and the twins of the other team fight the guards. The grizzly work of Big Al and his miniguns doing complete overkill on a group of reinforcement. And he saw Thor get challenged by the men in suits, there training making them able to keep up with Thors ruthless fighting style. Probably because they were almost just as ruthless, even as Buck placed more charges, he moved his marble closer to the fight, between Thor and the Suits. With a little luck he could maybe get his marble on one of the suits, punching skins with its tiny legs could maybe distract one of the suits long enough for Thor to get the upper hands. And in the unlikely case Thor lost, someone had to stop the suits, and a big bang could do just that.


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## Santaire (Feb 13, 2011)

Loki's hand went to his pistol grip as he heard unfamiliar voices coming from the corridor Poet and Thor had disappeared down mere moments before. A group came into view, far larger than he had been expecting and he drew the pistol from its holster.

Thor came into view leading the group and Loki holstered his pistol again, relaxing slightly. The major motioned Loki, Buck and Big Al back to our tasks. He raised his SMG, covering the wall where Buck was laying his charges. A few minutes went by, silence filled the tunnels as the Valkyries waited on Thor's order to blow the wall and move in. Loki took the time to work out what team the newcomers were part of. It was more difficult than usual, for their commanding officer was absent and he would have given Loki a much better idea of which team it was.

He settled on the Dark Knights.

Then he watched the team operatives. The Chinese twins looked like soldiers, CQB experts. The big guy was a demolitions expert, the mine launcher he cradled like a baby made that obvious. The final one was a woman, a Cyber-Tech like him, constantly tapping on a wrist computer while her other hand made minute gestures in the air, manipulating her holographic screen. Though time had seemed to stretch forever, particularly to Loki's enhanced mind, it was only three and a half minutes before an unfamiliar voice came on the comms. "Major, I am in position. Two hostiles neutralized. The room is full of people major, eight security personnel, eight to ten scientists, and two in business suits."

Thor gave the order and Buck fired the breeching charges. 

"Fenris to Odin."

The words were almost inaudible, spoken at the same time as the charges went off. Loki hardly slowed, pausing only to save it to his memory to study at a later date and to allow himself to speculate on why the Russian had taken so long to make contact. The wall crumbled and Thor led the Valkyries through, catching the ACS personnel stunned and reeling from the exposion. A silenced weapon coughed twice and two Guards fell. Their deaths almost seemed to be a signal that it was okay to panic and the scientists and technicians sprinted for the exits of which there were three. Thor barked an order at Loki and the new Cyber-Tech to halt them.

They pounded after the fleeing scientists, who were all going for the south exit. He put on a burst of speed, outpacing his companion and the scientists. He skidded to a halt before the doorway and stood with arms folded as the scientists charged. His companion gave him a glare that told him to get on with it and almost leisurely he pulled the pin from a stun grenade and tossed it into the midst of the fleeing scientists. He put his hands over his ears to protect his hearing from the grenade and dimmed his lenses to protect his eyes from the flash, though he still had to turn his head to the left.

The grenade went off and Loki moved in to secure the dazed scientists and technicians.

He also took the opportunity to talk with his new companion. He shook hands with her and finally allowed himself to regard her as a woman rather than a soldier. Pretty and curvaceous but with a steely gaze that told of unseen strength. I smiled. "Ethan, codename Loki, Cyber-Tech for the Night Stalkers."


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