Betrayed...but by who

[Animegurl5]

"You had better be." Sky pouted, crossing her arms across her chest. However, at the mention of Rochelle's name Sky poked her head up, her posture changing drastically. "Yeah I remember... She was a good sparring partner, had some serious skill when it came to close hand to hand. And that is alot coming from me... Don't tell her I said that, by the way. Deffinately, I want to go see her." She added, almost as an after thought.

[Lady Jenn]

"What happened to her?" Petra asked, concern clear on her face as she watched Tom and the Raven soldier still talking.

"They got cut off from the main commando force," Morrison replied. "They made it back but within sight of Tom and the others one of the guards got a lucky shot off, caught her dangerously close to her spinal cord. Sounds like she was unconscious before she even hit the floor. Dirk there is here because the commander of Raven Squad is by her side in sickbay, he and Rochelle were...well, doubt I need to give you the details."

[Animegurl5]

"She is lucky it didn't sever her spinal chord... But I take it that she isn't out of the woods yet? Being that close to the spinal chord... It had to have nicked something major depending on how high or low the shot landed." Sky recited as she stared off into space, resting her chin on her palm. "Ah well. No use worry over it while we still have work to do. That chick is strong, I'm sure she will pull through and recover well." She added, sitting up with a sniff. Sky wasn't sure if she meant the words to be reassuring to the others or as a wish for herself.

[Lady Jenn]

"I hope so," Morrison said, gripping her hand. He wouldn't admit it but he was more worried about Skylar than Rochelle. At that moment Tal reopened the room, a large file full of papers in his hands, heading over to where Yuchi was sat working on his laptop. "looks like we might be here a while, I forgot to go get myself a coffee first," Morrison said with a laugh, trying to lighten the mood a little.

[Animegurl5]

"Great..." Sky growled, sighing with exasperation as she burried her face in her arms. "Damn son of a bitch blows up a helicopter full of my comrades and won't sit still long enough for me to put a bullet between his eyes. Face me like a man you damn coward." She mumbled to herself, growling into the fabric covering her arm.

[Lady Jenn]

"We'll get him," Petra replied. "He can't run forever, I think he's pissed off too many of us to get out of this alive at this point." Her attention was suddenly caught by what appeared on the screen. The logo they had seen in the base was on one side of the screen, but on the other was a dark-haired, fearsome-looking young woman. "Is it just me or was she at that party at Snake's house?" she asked. "I'm sure I've seen her before."

[Animegurl5]

Sky looked up, scanning the face. "Yeah... I can't quite place her though. We weren't at the party all that long before we left with Yuchi and Izzy." She added, narrowing her eyes in concentration. "Eeeh, I give up... Somebody just tell me."

[Lady Jenn]

"If you're ready," Tal said, talking loudly to interrupt the conversations around the room. "You're probably wondering who this beautiful young woman is and what she has to do with her Firebrand buddies or indeed our mysterious logo from the base. Well, they're connected, Petra recognised it to a point, I recognised it instantly. But first I need to give you a history lesson. Tell me what you guys know about the Manhattan Project."

[Animegurl5]

"Manhattan Project? I personally haven't any experience with it, but before this whole thing went down... I overheard it in a conversation between two of my superiors." Sky said aloud, taking her eyes off the picture to glance at Tom for an answer.

[Lady Jenn]

"Manhattan Project was what created the atomic bomb," Rick said. "Sorry, I had a great uncle who worked on it, he used to talk about his work a lot. I'm amazed the CIA never came after him for giving away official secrets. What does that have to do with Firebrand though?"

"The official story of Manhattan leaves out a piece of information even the President was never told about," Yuchi replied. "There was another team on the project designing another weapon. If you know where to look you'll find reference to something called 'The Midas Bomb'."

"Sounds like something out of a crappy 50s b-movie," Rick said with a laugh before a glare from Tom silenced him. "What is it?"

"It's what was in that room above the war room...or we have good reason to believe was anyway," Tal continued. "Midas bombs were never designed to explode. They release gamma radiation, insane levels of it. It won't kill you instantly but anyone for about a mile around is going to get a dose that, with enough exposure, will prove fatal. The perfect terrorist weapon, by the time the target dies the terrorist is long gone and it's near impossible to trace them."

[Animegurl5]

"Pretty convenient. So why wasn't the president told about it? Shouldn't something like that have been reported immediately upon completion in order to modify it for military use?" Sky asked, changing her posture to one slightly more alert and attentive.

[Lady Jenn]

"Because the Midas bomb was written off as a useful weapon," Tal replied. "It cost too much and was too fiddly to activate without staying in its proximity and risking it killing the guy who delivered the weapon. As far as the CIA are concerned the two prototypes were destroyed shortly after Nagasaki and all the paperwork about them was burnt."

"So how do Firebrand have a working Midas in their posession?" Tom asked.

"Because the Project had been infiltrated," Tal replied, changing the image on the screen to a black and white image of a heavily scarred middle aged man. "Massimo Venturelli, his brother was an Italian immigrant who worked for the CIA. By chance they were twins, Massimo was in the US for two days during which time a copy of the Midas blueprints went missing. Venturelli worked for the same crime family Rajkovic's old Mafia pal was the heir to. Three guesses who the current head of that crime family and recently announced fiancee of Snake's kid brother is?" he asked, bringing the girl's picture up.

[Animegurl5]

"It's still something that could have stayed on the record... Something to look for in the future when technology has become advanced enough for us to make it work properly." Sky mumbled under her breath, eyes going up to the screen. "Well atleast the guy has good taste... She is actually kind of pretty." She laughed to herself, processing all of the information she had recieved.

[Lady Jenn]

"So what?" Rick asked. "They've used the bomb-"

"That's the problem," Tal said, interrupting him. "We didn't know they even had one 12 hours ago, we can't risk assuming the bomb in that base is the only one they have."

"Plus we think we know their next target," Yuchi said. "One that's potentially far more devastating than a strike on the UN, especially because few people realise the meeting is occuring."

[Animegurl5]

"Well I'm going to take a guess and say that their next target is a meeting between some really important people?" Sky shrugged, still clueless. "U.S. President? Vice President.... Everyone to do with the White Houes? World Leaders? Mix of both? Oh for the love of God, just spit it out already. I want to know whose ass I'm going to have to save." She sniffed in annoyance.

[Lady Jenn]

"The CIA, MI6 or quite possibly both will probably kill us when they realise we discovered this," Tal said with a laugh. "But there's a secret meeting of world leaders in two days time, it's not even been hinted at to the world press. Its occuring on an island in the Arctic circle called Svalbard. If they could irradiate everyone in that room you can only imagine the chaos it would cause."

[Animegurl5]

"Assassination at a secret meeting in the Arctic... That would cause a bunch of panic. However, that's the problem with secret meetings. Nobody knows that you are going to be there so if something happens, the world falls into panic... Nobody is supposed to no about it, so security won't be as tight as it probably should. Easier to break into... Secrecy gets you killed." Sky spoke as she sat back in her chair, relaxing as much as she possibly could.

[Lady Jenn]

"Plus we have to assume they still have infiltrators within...certainly the CIA and MI6, we can't be sure the others haven't been either," Tom said. "They'd only need a mole in one of them to know the meeting was occuring and a perfect way to deliver the bomb. Yuchi showed me before you arrived that there were plans for it to be delivered in a suitcase, people wouldn't realise it until it was too late."

[Animegurl5]

"Sucks majoryly for them... So what are we going to do about it. It's not like we can just waltz in there and say 'Hey everyone. There a special kind of bomb no one has ever heard about... Somebody wants to use it to kill you'.... Can we?" She countered, thinking of all of the ways that situation would play out, and none of them pleasant.

[Lady Jenn]

"Not while being absolutely sure the plan will work," Tom replied. "If we're going to do this we're going to have to do this as an undercover mission. We need to indetify and take out whoever's carrying that bomb before they get a chance to trigger it, which means we need people who can take out targets easily. Rochelle is in no state to do it and....I'm not sure I want to be asking Izzy to do it right now, I'm not sure she's ready to go out in the field until she's recovered."

[Animegurl5]

Without hesitation Sky raised her hand up into the air. "I'll do it." She stated calmly and clearly, refusing to look at Morrison. "While I may not have as much experience as Rochelle or Izzy, I am still fully capable of following out such a mission."

[Lady Jenn]

"Someone should go with her," Morrison said before falling silent, blushing as he realised it sounded like he didn't trust her ability.

"You're right," Tom said, seemingly sensing how uncomfortable he felt. "If Rajkovic is smart he won't send one assassin alone, he'll have a back-up plan. We don't need a full commando unit, just enough to deal with any eventuality."

[Animegurl5]

She sighed, understanding Morrison's concern. "Well I hope you didn't think you were going." Sky raised an eyebrow at him. "You have some pretty nasty scrapes that need to heal as well." She added, then looking to Tom. "Who did you have in mind?"

[Lady Jenn]

"Morrison and Petra are the only other two options," Tal replied. "I'm sorry Tom," he said, seeing the annoyed look he got, "but its true. Of our five best agents three are in this room, one is fighting for her life in sickbay and the other is in no emotional state for the battlefield right now. We don't have a whole lot of options."

"What about Moira?" Morrison asked. "Our Irish double agent from Firebrand, or even Tyler. As far as I know they're both alive and ready to roll."

"Well, since Skylar is going to have to go on this mission she should get to choose," Tom said.

[Animegurl5]

"I'll take Petra. I don't know any one else, and I already know I can trust my life to her." She smiled at Petra expectantly. "You know you want to." She prodded with a slight laugh.