Betrayed...but by who

[Lady Jenn]

"Well I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't mind seeing Tam with his top off," Rochelle said with a laugh. "But I think Fizz and Tyler are a bit more professional than that. Maybe we should go over and say hello. Just so we can be friendly," she said with a cheeky grin as she saw Turk raise an eyebrow.

[Animegurl5]

"Might as well get off on the right foot if we are going to be working with these guys." Skylar shrugged, still fighting to hold back her laughter. "Rochelle, I think you should be the first to welcome our new eye candy." She ended up having to fight harder to keep her laughter undercontrol.

[Lady Jenn]

They walked up to where Tam, Tom and Morrison were stood talking as the other troops unloaded their kit so the plane could return to its base. They had evidently brought plenty of extra weapons to make sure the others had plenty of equipment.

"Rochelle, Turk, Skylar, meet-" Tom started saying before Rochelle put a hand up to stop him.

"Corporal O'Reilly," she said, curtsying to Tam who blushed slightly but bowed. "Your reputation proceeds you, my brother has fought beside you though. Nicky Burnside, he's in the 101st Airborne."

"I remeber him," Tam said with a laugh. "Mostly cos he's one of the few non-Irishmen I've ever met who's managed to drink me under the table." He kissed both the girl's hands before shaking Turk's. "Me and Tyler have a bit of history so when he asked for my aid I couldn't really say no."

[Animegurl5]

"I can honestly say that I will never understand the relationship between Irishmen and their drinks." Sky smiled with a slight shrug before turning her eyes towards Morrison. "Oh hey. When did you wake up?" She asked with a mischievous smile.

[Lady Jenn]

"Tom radioed me to say something was about to happen that I'd want to be awake for," Morrison said with a laugh. "I have a bit of previous with Tam too, well his team anyway. Last mission I was part of before our fateful mission was a joint operation between his Marines and our SEAL team."

[Animegurl5]

"I feel like the only person here who doesn't know anybody." Skylar comically hung her head, eyes closing as a small pout invaded her features. "Oh hey wait... I read up on that mission in my free time before getting reqruited for our assignment. That was him?"

[Lady Jenn]

"It was indeed," Morrison said. "A few of the guys we lost in the bombing got quite chummy with Tam's team so the minute Tyler mentioned what had happened to us Tam pretty much said he was coming even if he had to defy direct orders to do so."

"As much fun as this reunion is," Tom said, almost seeming embarrassed to interrupt, "I think its time we brief everyone about who and what we're facing, assuming you guys have nothing better to do."

[Animegurl5]

"Yes, away to Tom's not so secret Batcave for debriefing because that is exactly what we want to do." She shot him a mocking smile before shrugging again. "Yeah sure. I'm in."

[Lady Jenn]

"Well this is where you get to find out who Rajkovic really is," Tom said to Skylar . "I assume you'd rather have some idea who you're facing rather than just have him as a rather sinister souning name." As they headed towards the large low building which was the central HQ of the base he found himself holding her hand without even thinking about it.

[Animegurl5]

Skylar shrugged. "Yeah, that's cool I guess." She stated, her tone holding disinterest but her eyes displaying curiosity. Those same eyes shot down to her hand as a smile krept across her face. She hooked her fingers around reflexively, not daring to let the hand go.

[Lady Jenn]

"If we make it out of this alive I'm taking you on a proper date," Morrison said with a slightly embarrassed smile."Assuming you wouldn't say no to that." As they entered the main briefing room they saw it was already packed with people, most of whom they didn't recognise but Petra signalled them, pointing to the seats she had saved for them near the top of the table at the centre of the room. Izzy and Fizz were on the other side of the table speaking to one of the Marines from Tam's unit and Tyler and Yuchi were looking at Yuchi's laptop, trying to organise something for the others.

[Animegurl5]

"So long as there isn't a gun pointed at my head, a date sounds lovely." Sky smiled, hugging closer to Morrison's arm. "And by the way. The statement is when we get out alive, not if we get out alive." She whispered in his ear as they entered the very full debriefing room. "Man, the bat cave got crowded." She mumbled, looking around and catching Petra signalling them over. Skylar dragged Morrison behind her as she pushed people out of her way. "Hey Pet. Seems like forever since our last real conversation." She laughed sitting down in an open seat with a sigh.

[Lady Jenn]

"Sorry about that," she said with a laugh. "At least we got out of this in one piece. Good to see you're back on your feet Tam," she said, flashing a smile at him. "That's Fizz's brother," she said, nodding to the Marine the two Irish girls were stood talking to. "Their jobs mean the siblings don't get to see each other a whole lot, but I don't think they wanted to see each other again like this."

"Excuse me," Tyler called out. "I know there are all sorts of reunions going on right now but me, Yuchi and Petra have a briefing to deliver. First of all, I need to be absolutely sure about one thing, how many of you know the events of the Balkans conflict?" Almost every hand in the room shot up. "Well, admittedly some of you were in action in the Balkans at one point or other. What most of you might not know is the origins of Firebrand lie in the Balkans, or to be precise in the region of Kosovo. What I am about to show you is the face of the real head of Firebrand, meet Miroslav Rajkovic," he said, pressing a button and revealing a mugshot of a heavily scarred, grim-faced middle-aged man. "Everyone following so far? If you have questions I advise you ask now cos its about to get very history heavy."

[Animegurl5]

Skylar remained silent with her hand down as Tyler asked who knew of this Balkans conflict. It had been something that the public wasn't given much infomation on, and plus it had been before she joined the military for training. However, when the mugshot was pulled she raised three fingers in the air. Her thumb, her index and her middle finger stood straight up for a full moment before she asked her question. "Ya, I have question. What the hell happened to his face?"

[Lady Jenn]

"He's ex-military from one of the nastiest conflicts of the last twenty years," Petra replied. "Plus name just about every major organised crime family in Western Europe and he had dealings with them. Someone like that makes a lot of enemies. That's the result of a few...failed assassination attempts."

"He may have had plastic surgery since that photo was taken though," Tyler continued. "This was the last known sighting of Rajkovic before his little cameo at the safe house. He was about to board a ferry to make his way to America, but because we believed Rajkovic dead and he was travelling under a false passport at the time no-one made the link."

[Animegurl5]

"Kind of reminds me of an old cartoon... That weird one where all the animals had these elemental powers? Well that damn character wouldn't die. What I want to know is where the hell that guy trained to be so... Hulk like." She said, then turned to Morrison with her voice low. "And when can I leave so I can go train like that."  She would give anything to have as much skill and sheer power as these people have told her that he had.

[Lady Jenn]

"We're not sure where he trained," Tyler replied. "Records of him prior to him joining the Serbian military are at best sketchy, at worst non-existant. What we do know is he signed up for the military shortly before Croatia declared independence. He must have done something right though because by the time the Kosovo war starts Rajkovic commands his own military unit alongside our old friend Snake. That's when it gets...interesting, unfortunately not in a good way."

[Animegurl5]

"Obviously he did do something right... That's amazing." Sky said, her voice low. She listened as Tyler continued, but her expression dropped as he mentioned Snake. "Interesting how? Like a friendship is born type interesting or are we talking something on a larger scale?"

[Lady Jenn]

"Rajkovic's political views are...how can I put this politely?" Tyler said, pausing for a moment. "He's an extreme far-right, ultra-nationalist. He became convinced Milosevic was willingly handing Yugoslavia over to their enemies so he decided Milosevic had to be dealt with. Problem was a Serbian couldn't do it, Slobodan was popular, a Serbian assassin would be seen as nothing better than a traitor. At the time though they were fighting Muslims, if the people thought the Kosovans killed their president it would make anti-NATO feelings even stronger. This, I'm afraid, is where Turk comes in. He was a young Kosovan Albanian teenager, he was perfect for the assassination plan. What they didn't know was that there was a double agent in their unit, just about the last person they expected."

[Animegurl5]

"Ooh, that does sound quite interesting." Skylar sat back in her seat, resting one arm over her stomach and using that as a support for the other arm which she rested against her face. The side of her index finger brushing up against her lips, which parted so that she nibble on her knuckle.

[Lady Jenn]

"The FSB had an agent hiding among Rajkovic's unit," Petra said, a wry smile crossing her face. "When I discovered their plans I contacted my handler and warned them there was an assassination attempt being planned. Problem was Milosevic couldn't afford to attack a military commander who held such sway over the Serbian forces, he couldn't risk attacking for the same reasons Miroslav couldn't risk sending a Serbian to kill him. So he made a plea for NATO to intervene, who assembled a strike force together with the Russians. Tyler and Tom were among the joint strike force they assembled, and I was to pick a convenient moment to leave the squad and make my way to the allies. But it appears someone heard who wanted Rajokvic alive. Two men dressed as FSB agents arrived during the night before the attack, and by the next morning...well, whoever the strike team killed it wasn't Snake or Rajkovic. They were both, as we've since found out, long gone."

[Animegurl5]

"So our lovely friends here had stunt doubles? Man, somebody really did want them alive, otherwise they wouldn't have stunt doubles at the ready... It takes forever to find look alikes that are willing to do something like that." Sky said as she raised an eyebrow.

[Lady Jenn]

"For the next year or so Rajkovic slowly make their way across Europe, using fake passports to avoid anyone recognising them. Eventually they ran into someone with a similar opinion of the world as they had. Marko Amauri," he said, clicking a button so that an image of a quite handsome looking raven-haired young Italian man appeared. "Heir to one of the biggest crime families in all of Italy. Or he was, but...Marko had a policy of committing crimes that even his mob boss father couldn't stomach so he was forced into exile. When he and Rajkovic crossed paths they found they both had reasons to hate society so the seeds of Firebrand were formed, with Snake, Rajkovic and Amauri its original members. Just about the nastiest set of criminals you could come across."

[Animegurl5]

"If I didn't know any better I would be asking why nobody noticed, but they came to America... The Balkans Conflict wasn't something that the public had common knowlege on so when Snake and Rajkovic came to America nobody recognized their faces. As for Amauri, well he has the possibility of diplomatic imunity, therefore local authorities can't get involved. It's the perfect set up." A smile crossed her features like a wild fire. "It's all a big game, and no offense but it looks like we are loosing pretty bad. Since they've been here, they not only have gained an army under the government nose, but they own the government. They have them eating out of the palms of their greedy hands. So what's the plan for a check mate?"

[Lady Jenn]

"Its not taht simple," Petra said. "When Tyler told you Amauri was the former heir he didn't just mean he'd been exiled. Amauri was killed during a police raid on a suspected prostitution ring. That may have been our last chance to realise Miroslav was still alive until we noticed Firebrand indulging in a few...unusual financial transactions to an account of a man who apparentely didn't exist, until we realised that Rajkovic was living under the alias of one of his favourite action movie characters, how no-one noticed this till recently is anyone's guess."

"We can't risk an all out attack on Firebrand," Tyler said. "Even with the marines on our side we have nowhere near enough men to fight. But we've discovered something interesting in the files Morrison's sister brought with her."