A.R.I.A.

I lean forward. I know we are only going to start off with a quarter power. I hope we can expand on how fast these suits can handle.

The engines vibration is satisfying. I let a smile fill my face, as I am sure the other girls are doing as we brace for takeoff routines that Priscilla had installed into the suits for us to sync data with. I nod and the visor comes down, I suppose this is so the sun doesnt effect the ocular readings we would recieve.

"Open the hanger doors." Priscilla says to the staffing that run this huge facility. "Stand on the platform ladies, its a good twenty miles to the surface, so be sure to be in control of your flight paths." She adds.

"Roger!" We all reply.

It is time we all get ready to take off. We approach the circle. The girls all stand in four points, myself being in the middle of them. The doors to the launching bay close as we get ready. The possible radioactive residue from this launch has to be recorded to understand better on how to improve our nuclear technologies. It seems to me the visit of nuclear ideas has been embedded in humanity since the mid nineteen thirties.

I look up to the sky and can see a tiny dot of blue in the distance. I know that is where to fly. I feel the wings adjust as I start to rev the engines a bit. They sound as pretty as a four-fifty-four four barrel engine. Betty thrives on the sound the engine makes.

"Initiating HUD Countdowns." I say.

"Initiating HUD Countdowns." All the squad says in sync after me.

I crouch, stretching my back out and then jump into the air, letting the throttle open up. I feel a push of force come from each of the wings. It's a complicated system for a human, however it's integrated like their nerves would be. The feeling of pushing and the amount of strain to maintain a balance is surprising.

The others catch up relatively quickly. Our intercom connects. Comms are online and that means we can jetty out.

"Let's try 30% capacity." I say as I crank my throttle to a third power.

"Right on your six!" Rosie announces.

"Coming up." Betty says with static still in her signal.

All of us flying in formation, pierce the horizon line and into the air. The skies are bright blue and clear for the most part. The humidity is a fair thirty percent out here. The heat is at a nice ninety-seven degrees farenheight.

The moisture density seems to be allowing our fuel cells to have a longer lasting time. I relay this information, via wireless satellite uplinking. I feel as if perhaps, we were designed to be perfect. If that was true, I wonder how it is possible they captured Lisa seemingly so easily. I feel the coolant in my piping burn.

Our engines and processors like to heat in response to certain emotions, or over cool parts, if experiencing other simulations. I access my files and analyze our flight path. I engage my automatic flight trajectory so I can focus on our teams plan.

"Betty, Your gonna blow the wall off with the Electromagnetic pulse gloves." I say.

"OK." She responds.

"We have three stations around our L.Z." Celia Chirps. "I'll fire the radar jammer before we land."

"Exactly." I sigh. "Sometimes I wonder if you guys need my lead at all." I laugh.

"Well, you are the one who makes sure we get out every time." Betty pipes her opinion into the topic.

"Well, thanks, but Lisa is out there because of my lack in that case." I huff.

They can't imagine, the pressure that comes with being the lead. My processor has to be able to guide all of them. I didn't realize until we lost Lisa, that I had to always be flawless.

I must be hard like a diamond. Have depth, reflection and even show the beauty amongst it all. I am the diamond in the squad, so it's up to me.

"Girls, I just picked up Lisa's transponder." Betty says. "How far for the base co ordinances approximately Mona?" She asks.

"We can begin the approach in fifteen miles." I say.

"Lisa's signal is nearby the location, based on that." Betty says, her voice stiff.

Our communicators start to have moments of static. My scanners activate and immediately change the Squads frequency to an open airway for us to use short range.

"We won't have comms with headquarters here out. They have communication jammers, I've adjusted us to shortwave radio forms." I inform the others.

"Thanks." Celia says. "Picking up distress transponder for Lisa as well now. Confirmation, likelihood of being within Russian custody: 98.7 percent." She adds.

"Thanks." I confirm the added Intel.

The satellite uplink seems to be offline. I would assume this is a part of their form of communications jamming technology. Espionage became a Russian specialty in 2146. We have seen many evolutions of technology arise since then. The world has had its chances to evolve, but they instead turned to their technology, rather than their own rationales.

I scan below us. I can't tell if it's because of the fog, or if the infantry units are inside. I turn on infrared based thermal vision within the optical visors, letting me see the bodies and their positions. There are hundreds of heat signatures present.

"Update: current status deduction; this encampment is a supply basis for other installments within Russian borders." I say to the team.

"Roger!" They all reply at once.

Lisa's distress signal hits my frequencies as we get to making our descent to their installment. I think we may want to handle this with cloaking. That would mean less Russian casualties and we may be even able to recover Lisa. I only hope they have not tried to dismantle her.

I see a heavily bushed area for us. I relay the marker I use from my own HUD, activating a short range transfer, similar to the eldest form of it, the Bluetooth signal. I angle myself to land feet first and deactivate the thrusters of my suit.

The girls behind me follow suit, one by one disengaging their engines to land with me. I hit the ground, a rumbling can be heard as the others follow rapidly. I only hope the Russians make the conclusion that it was thunder.

"Engage your cloaking devices." I command.

I follow even my own command by engaging the stealth unit, cloaking each of us and our suits. Celia and Betty take their point. Celia to the left of me, Betty to the right. They get their weapons in their hands at the ready, simultaneously to myself.

Rosie lands as quiet as can be. Her specialty was to be light weight and agile. I suppose with the suit, she would still be lighter than all of us others. The was built for rapid fetch based operations. Sometimes stealth and speed is what we need.

"Rosie, I want you to do a vantage point scout." I say.

"Roger." She replies instantaneously as her signal moves towards the encampment.

"We need to try to save Lisa as well." Celia says.

"Agreed." I nod. "However, we need to bring her our of the comms block, or disable it for us to get the suit dropped for Lisa." I add.

"This is going to be a long day." Betty sighs.

"Why?" We hear Rosie over the short wave.

"Because, why are we in an area with so many infantry, with nuclear powered suits?" Betty asks.

"Flight." I say.

"Well, I got a cool new stealth tazer." Rosie giggles on the short wave.

"Whaa?" I reply. "They must've added features to accent us as well." I self explain.

It makes sense, perhaps the mission is not to just take out objectives here. We need to radio in Lisa's suit for a payload delivery, if she is really here, not just parts.

"Hey, Celia, you are going to have fun." Rosie says through our short wave.

"Oh?" Celia says back through the short wave.

"Hmm." I listen to them, processing the banter.

"We have an engineering factory on site." Rosie says.

"So, we need to try to recover some technology." Celia says.

"Okay. Anything else we should note Rosie?" I ask.

"We have a dilemma with Lisa." She replies.

What could this mean? I try not to let my logic get too ahead of the real situation. I have to listen to the rest of this.

"And what is that?" I inquire.

"It seems they have her plugged into a computer, based on the Electromagnetic scanner." Rosie says.

"So, Intel may have been leaked." I reply.

"Precisely." Rosie says.

This throws a missile at us, as we are the only ones that know each others strengths and weaknesses. We can only hope that Lisa is in fact, not hacked. This, this changes everything.