FourtyTwo

GEARS: Silent Line - The Silver Bullet (Silverwind Blade & KingKonrad)

Max looked to Cat as he watched Silver run for the sea, shrugging.
"What I say? It's just got an appeal to it..." Max added, taking his own BDU shirt off and wringing out the moisture, sitting down by Cat, for a moment panicking as he checked his pocket. His Pebble was in there! Shit....well, it wasn't ruined, but that he should have thought of first, the lion thought to himself. Not a great move had he have ruined that....thankfully, the casing on it was pretty solid, as he checked it over, deciding not to go into the sea, aware he'd already gotten himself soaked already. Lying back on the sand, he looked across to Cat, chuckling.

"This is the life. Gotta enjoy the downtime whenever we get it! Gotta say Cat...good to have you with us. Honestly, back last time, I really did think....well, you're still here, and still showing them how we do things." Max mused, sighing as he looked back up, soaking up the sun's rays, and taking in a moment to enjoy it all. The feline seemed a natural fit here, almost more at ease than he had been before in any other unit, aware he had the creativity and flair to work under a man like Silverwind. There were some horrible bits to it too, of course. Stuff he was pushing back in his mind.

Max hadn't served anywhere near as long as Silver, but he had seen his fair share of pretty horrible, awful things in war. He was pretty sure it had affected him in some ways, the playful and spontanious side of him keeping him going somewhat, given back on the job, he had a rebellious, cold and strange detachment. Not like Anna of course- she was just a cold-blooded cat, his felt more like it was more the servitude he had, the decisions he made, and what came out of that. Being positive at least kept his spirits aloft at least, hey. And as for family, well, not much there had changed either. They were doing the same old, unchanged. Helen was thinking about a career in local government, actually- but other than that, they were the poster children that his Mum and Dad had dreamed of. And yet here Max was, enjoying this downtime. Somehow, it all felt a little more real to him. And despite that slight nagging in his head saying he should, he wouldn't want to have it any other way.

Burning Rubber Three (Bee and kingkonrad)

Max handed it over, letting her put it in, before taking it back, chuckling.
"Thanks! I mean trust me, that wasn't a setup or something, haha....how you feeling after that?" Max asked, sighing as he leaned against his own car, himself now recovering from the sheer amount of adrenaline that had run through him, the chatty Brit just taking in this moment in its entirety. This didn't feel real, racing on the streets of LA, and running from cops. Why there was so many cops out, Max didn't know, but for $1000 lost, this had been a hell of a rush for this race here.

---

Part Two: The Dutch Connection

Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Sitting in the driver's seat of the dutch-plated blue VW Passat, Mark Torridon looked like he was at home, natural as he watched on at the phone on the dash, the agent not working alone today. Wearing a black puffy jacket, a kevlar vest and a pair of jeans, he looked more criminal than cop, more like was selling drugs from a car like this than actually going after a network.

The morning rain poured down in the Dutch capital on an unusually cold morning, and even so, the very slight smell of weed cafes could be smelt from here in the Bijlmer district. He looked across to his right to Athena, knowing their re-introduction had already been covered at Schipol a couple hours ago.

"Any second now. If our friends in LA follow through, we're gonna be green. Should be around here, if our guy's right. Shit, Amsterdam's like fucking Miami....with shittier weather and more canals. Hey, nice as it is to be working again Athena, sorry I can't give you the high life all the time, eh?" Mark said, looking then to his phone, and almost exactly on time, the phone buzzed. Mark leaned over, hitting the recieve button, and putting on the speaker. The man on the other end was another Interpol agent, a man implanted in the LAPD who had been part of this little operation, someone Mark knew a little about, but never in person.

"Hey. It's your guy in Cali."
"Yeah? Enjoying the sun?"
"Mostly- it's getting colder though out here. Anyway, the guy in the BMW. We got him. Arrested on a lot of bad, but he talked quickly when it was gonna get worse for him. Punk was out racing, guy was easy as hell to track, so we just sprang it on him. You were right about that- dude with a car like that was gonna flash it around." The voice on the other end spoke, Mark chuckling.
"Of course I'm right. And what did our mutual friend have to say?"
"Yeah, there's a place in Amsterdam. I'll send you the co-ordinates. Should be what you're out there looking for." The voice called, as Mark nodded, chuckling.
"Good. This place is a shithole, sooner the better. Thanks." Mark replied, picking up the phone, pinging in the location that had come across, the drive not too far from here.
"Happy hunting." The voice called out, an impersonal remark, given Mark's identity wasn't really one for an Interpol to disclose in any format, given how grey he was and unknown. A good double agent had that ability about him- nobody actually knew who the fuck he worked for, bar a few people above his paygrade in Interpol itself.

Cutting the phone, Mark looked across to Athena, opening the glovebox and checking his own P226, the solid gun-metal black Swiss-engineered 9mm pistol loaded and cocked, as he slid it into the driver side door store. The Scot started the VW's engine, pulling out of the parking spot on the side of the road, and quickly putting hammer to throttle.
"Right, so if we're lucky, this place is gonna be empty. Kick the door in, hopefully nobody's in, take whatever intel we can get our hands on, and get out. Fancy, I know. But if we get this, we're gonna have a serious bit of leverage." Mark started, turning a corner, keeping it slow now on the residential streets, canals passing by as they drove through the Dutch capital.

"So, the Syndicate's got a pretty serious drugs running operation out of this guy's flat. Something actually to do with Sobotka, funny to mention. There's a laptop in particular we're looking for- basically it's their transit. We get that, we might have an idea of who this dealer's network looks like...and more importantly, who his boss is. Then we can do some serious bloody damage." Mark added, aware Athena had some idea of the brief, but wanted to give a brief reminder, something before they went into the lion's den. This shouldn't be too intense an op, Mark reminded himself, but anything could happen in a place like this. Anything could be on the other side of the door, after all.

GEARS: Silent Line - The Silver Bullet (Silverwind Blade & KingKonrad)

Max chuckled as he swam back ashore, completely soaking wet and completely lacking regret at all. While perhaps it was a little juvenile, stupid even, Max just relished the opportunity from time to time- given how serious some of the shit they went into was, he always remembered to live a little between operations. He'd realised in his time, even however short it was with Silver and the team that being miserable and constantly on edge was just gonna rail him out, almost something Anna reminded him of his past self. S ometimes, he just had to embrace that part of his quirky nature, and hell, take the opportunities he got.

Looking across to Silver and Cat, he shrugged, looking about at the gulls and back over at the waves he'd just swam out of.
"Sorry for that...just what can I say, the abyss was calling! Been way, way too long since I did something as stupid as that....well, apart from stay in the RSDF, I guess!" Max said, chuckling as he sighed, putting hand above his eyes to look off into the horizon, using his other paw to brush his long, sopping wet golden hair back over his shoulders. Some of his longer hairs were braided at the ends, a style he'd gone for now he was in Silver's good books. Max certainly wasn't the most elegant of lions, but he certainly had a charm to him, a warmth and a pride that came with one, that and his commitment to doing risky, stupid things.

Still though, he had to admit, hanging about with Cat and Silver was always a pleasure- the former someone he'd gotten to know more throughout much of the last op, a girl he had a lot of respect for. Her resilience, and yet her warmth was something respected, almost reminding him of Hopper but a lot more potent, in a way.
"Yeah, as you were saying earlier I guess. Pretty pheonominal. Nothing like the sea to take away the fate of our world, right?"

Burning Rubber Three (Bee and kingkonrad)

Max did follow Kaitlyn, following her out and knowing full well he'd forfeited his race. Well, nobody was gonna get that fucking paper if they carried on that way, they weren't gonna make bank. The sheer amount of cops coming by meant they'd be totally exposed at the finish line- not by design, but by happenstance after what had happened.

Pulling into the construction site, Max followed through into the warehousing block under construction, seeing Kaitlyn's gravel trail kick up as he kept close to her. Going past, Max quickly darted through, picking a line almost to say "this way", as he found a badly-rutted road that went into an underground park of some sort. Driving in, Max pulled the car up, the darkness only illuminated by the headlights of his car, as he pulled in, tail lights on to show to Kaitlyn where he had come up to.

The sound of a helicopter could be heard, as well as other police cars, but they were a long way away, and out of sight. Clambering out of the car, Max exhaled, shaking his head.
"Fuck!" He called out, cursing more to oblivion than anything else, looking across to Kaitlyn as he leaned on the roof, getting used to the lack of light in here.
"That was insane, Kaitlyn. Fun race, till the cops showed up. Jesus Christ, first time in America, nearly first time in the fucking clink. They must be out for some serious blood today." He added, shutting the door, the sirens still present, but not getting closer, thankfully at least.
"So, now what? Fate's thrown us into the basement of a warehouse in LA. I mean aside from the cops....it was fun racing with ya, Kaitlyn. Mind if I get your number, while I'm out here if I hear anything more?"

GEARS: Silent Line - The Silver Bullet (Silverwind Blade & KingKonrad)

"Coolio. That thing there might be our procured one. Has a....yeah, that's a QR on it for us." Max said, checking his Pebble's reciever, looking across to the open-topped tactical buggy, more a jeep but a nice little vehicle to have as a get-around.
Stepping into the open-top military jeep, Max sighed as he looked into the back, seeing Silver and Cat clamber in, the lion aware he was the chauffeur for this little run. Seeing his equipment get carried away on a trolly, including his GEAR, he gave a smirk as he turned the key and started the jeep's engine, giving it a tap of revs, grinning.
"Sights it is then. Hang onto your hats. We're not too far from the ocean at all, actually...man, now I fucking wish I had a surfboard!" Max called out, chuckling as he put it into gear, squealing the tyres as he pulled away. Whilst considerate at the gate, on the open road he was anything but, going a positive number over the speed limit, only a little however.

The coastline here seemed fairly beautiful, the red sandstone rock contrasting against the golden-yellow sand, the cliffs in front of where Max had parked fairly stunning. Clambering out, Max cut the engine and looked out, whistling. The ocean, the cliffs, everything here. Shit, he only wished he wasn't here for business.
"Shit, I forgot how pretty this country was. The Red Bluffs....not exactly tourist season though? This place is too busy fighting people here, I guess. What do you think?" Max said, the mediterrenian-warmth of summer and the impressive sight of the ocean something Max was glad to see again, and perhaps it was a new sight to Cat and Silver. The sunlight on the horizon was pretty impressive, as Max headed down the rocky top of the hill, realising very quickly there was no real way down to the water, as he stood back from the very edge. The drop must have been a good 10m vertically, onto an overhang that went straight into very deep, ocean water. There was another way around, it seemed more of a scramble down, but Max, given that this was R&R, couldn't help himself. Even in his fatigues, the lion felt something very, very stupid brewing. It was the fact he was comfortabel wtih Silver at this point that even allowed the thought into his mind, as he looked back to the fox, shrugging.
"Two ways down. Uhh....yeah, don't mind if I go express!" And with that, the lion burst from a standing stop forwards into half a sprint, before leaping off the cliff, legs first plumetting straight into the azure-like water, wooping the way down.

If there were prizes for doing stupid shit, Max won them every time, as he surfaced, yelling up as he brushed the salt water oout of his eyes, chuckling as he looked up.
"Holy shit, it's way colder than I remember!" He yelled back up to them, as he began to swim back to the beach, getting absolutely sloshed by the waves as he made it back into shore, having a laugh while he still could here in this seaside.

Juggernauts (BigPapaBelial and kingkonrad) IC

Ross nodded, as did Natalie and Andrew. With that, they fell out and headed out to get loaded up, Ross nodding to Carl.
"He certainly did. Makes all this worthwhile, you know.."

Kitting up, the Juggernauts in their end of the hangar were imposing, Ross and Jenny getting balaclavas on, as well as their respective LMGs- Ross with a Mk48 Minimi and M32, as he usually took, and Jenny now using a MG3 and an AA-12, to improve her rapid fire and blam potential. Way they saw it, Ross was more about blowings shit up and more targeted fire, while Jenny had an LMG that sprayed fire like a fucking chainsaw. A fairly decent arnament, the two thought, armoured up once more and back into the fire.
"Carl, how you feeling?" Ross asked, Victor and Natalie coming over, grabbing the rest of their kit, the giants looking like fucking something out of a fantasy novel with how enormous their armour and weaponry was. Honestly, it felt terrifying to be in their presence, but then again, it was just how they rolled.
"Don't mind us. Good to be working with you again, Knight." Natalie said, Ross chuckling.
"You too, Bear."

Looking across, Nolan and Andrew whistled, taking it in. They had a bit of a different remit for this, as they saw the Juggs assemble.
"Those crazy motherfuckers have more firepower than a company's worth of men. No shit, it's like bringing a pike. Guess we're gonna do something pretty insane too." The New Zealander added, pulling out a DSR-50 from a reinforced weapons case, a German-made bullpup anti-materiel rifle. Silencing a .50 cal seemed almost stupid, but then again, it killed some of the worst of the noise and made it more difficult to differenciate in a snowy hellhole where the round had come from. He also took an MP5SD6 from the same case, the silenced sub-machine gun having a foldable metal stock rather than its usual. Unlikely he'd need it, but a tool nonetheless, alongside a USP.45 pistol as a sidearm. He equipped the rest of his bits, aware that their sniper op was a bit different.

"First time for everything, I suppose. Thermal drysuits and rebreathers, with ghillie suits in the packs. This is the weirdest fucking thing we've ever done, chief. I've driven one of those SDVs like, once. Then going up into the hills, sniping, covering an infiltrator and sniping off AA defences. We do seem to get ourselves into some fun, Nolan." Andrew said, chuckling as he 'HK slapped the MP5, the SMG only equipped with iron sights to improve lightness.

Burning Rubber Three (Bee and kingkonrad)

Max followed her down, his lack of aero compensated for by the sheer aggression he was applying to his Skyline through the corners, the Michelin shoes that the Japanese car sat on screaming for reprieve through the corners, even in spite of the overwhelming grip the car wanted to try and keep. The G-Forces felt like he was pushing the car on the very limit of what it could do, the Brit in total focus to keep in control. But man, was this fun. Right where he wanted to be.

Foot down, Max followed Kaitlyn through the corner and past the 350Z, which had taken a crap route. It felt strange, the girl he'd talked to and led to Magnus was now kicking his ass. Damn, now this was an irony. But hey, he was way too in the moment, and having too much of a ball to even care. The cops could still be very vaguely heard, but Max's only priority right now was to get back in front. Coming back onto the right through the junction, Max tailed closer, coming up and around after getting a nicer exit, barely getting in front before braking hard for a heavy left-hander, coming right up onto the beachfront. It was a long sprint out of here, as he drited through, cursing as he realised he'd gone way too deep, leaving Kaitlyn far, far too much room. It was inevitable what would happen next, getting back behind her and keeping foot to floor.

That moment of fuck-up had taken up his mind, but not enough to realise that in the darkened skies over Long Beach, there were an absolute shit-ton of cops now amassing, and from every street, it seemed like they were pouring out. Something big was going down. And...yeah, that was a helicopter. Well, fuck. Max wanted to say now he had only one priority, but he didn't, knowing he was going to lose, and was gonna have to try and not get arrested. There was the option of pulling over and hoping he got it lenient. But that was gonna be the end of this project car, and any future opportunities to come back. To option two it was, and that was no matter what, keep foot to floor. He knew he wasn't gonna win. But he wasn't gonna get arrested, not today. He only hoped Kaitlyn might have a similar idea...

GEARS: Silent Line - The Silver Bullet (Silverwind Blade & KingKonrad)

Faraenal was a place Max and Anna had been a while away from, a stopover while supporting peacekeeping and recovering work in the region, a scrubland and warm, mediteranian-like clime that had suffered its unfair share of natural disasters. It was phenominal how well it had recovered after the hurricane a few years ago, coming barely a couple of years after a nasty earthquake had hit prior to that- wrecking much of the coast. Efforts from many nations had helped recover Faraenal, the people resilient and willing to recover the country through its industrious and resistant core. Perhaps it was what made the small deployment here easier, Max thought- hey, at least the people weren't complete dicks. While it was a nation locked into war, it had perservered through it, and was a very under-the-radar place to visit for its attractive little towns, its beauty often conflicted with the fact the media had depicted it as in ruin.

The plane halting was the moment Max could unclip, the lion looking across to Silverwind and giving him a nod.
"I'm game for that. Anna, you coming?" The lion asked, Anna shrugging as she looked up to the other feline, not really up for going out, on account of her combat gear.
"In this? You think I'd fit in?" Anna said, Max chuckling as he knew he just had to pull an absolute bastard of a line out for that one.
"Yeah, okay, maybe not. I mean, it does make you look kinda kinky." To which Max got a slap, Anna swearing as the lion barely even gave a shit and laughed, the jaguar sighing in response as the lion yawned, stretching a little as he walked down the ramp, looking across to Silverwind.

"I'm gonna head out to get some rays. Grab some sights at the cliffs over on the shore. Silver, Cat, you in? "

Burning Rubber Three (Bee and kingkonrad)

Max watched on as Kaitlyn pulled by, a bit of traffic slowing the entire group down, the modified 350Z finding a neat route through as Max followed through, taking a slightly different line to Kaitlyn as he shifted back up again, back on the throttle, turbo at full pelt. Pulling out from the traffic, he planted the Skyline's throttle, the old-school R33 neither as aero-focussed. Kaitlyn's machine was clearly just more powerful, and far quicker in the corners, a fact that was now true even on the relatively straight freeway, but Max did have the slipstream here and could at least use that to put himself away from the rest of the pack. It was a hell of a feeling, the speedo climbing as the Skyline's engine clambered to speed, a cruising speed that oddly felt very comfortable in a car like this. Even for its age, it didn't feel like it was coming apart, like it was made to do these sorts of runs, Max sticking close to Kaitlyn, who was getting closer to the lead car. All he could hope for was he could push past when they got into Long Beach.

The highway's empty scene made it easy to put foot to floor, but the cops weren't falling all too far back. This wasn't right. Normally, cops just disappeared. Going 120, 130 and they were gone- but here, it felt like one set of lights had dropped back, and another come into sight. Shit. They definitely didn't know the route...they certainly were cracking the whip tonight, and that wasn't something Max wanted to particuarly feel the wrath of. Coming to a junction, Max kept it tight behind Kaitlyn, the miles clocking down.

GEARS: Silent Line - The Silver Bullet (Silverwind Blade & KingKonrad)

Anna chuckled, sighing as she nodded towards Max, knowing full well what she just said wasn't a million miles away, the sight of Silverwind's sleepy deneamour humourous to the sight as she sighed, looking back across to Cat, the jaguar nodding in agreement.
"Oh yeah, we've got trust. We understand each other, in some chaotic way. Even those two!" Anna philosophised, chuckling as she looked back to Max, who was now beginning to snore, at an increasing noise. It wasn't enough to echo in the cargo bay over the droning engines, but in an isolated environment it certainly would.

"Even him. We might not always see eye to eye, but I think we somehow work for each other. Even each other out as two weirdos. We come from different worlds...he never knew real trouble when he was young but he's fearless and knows how to get things done. Only person he found in challenging that was me. In return, he makes me a bit more tolerable." She added, shrugging, as she looked back towards the Highland Cow's listening and warm embrace, someone that made her feel more real than android. Perhaps Anna hated it, really wanted to reject it at all times, but she had to admit, someone like Cat was impossible to just put into numbers and quantify. She had a Arvaran-ness about her, a person worth caring for, and Anna had very few that she felt like that. Beyond a professional courtesy to stop her team-mates getting killed, she had something more proper here- tangible, perhaps. Like she could be more open here.

"Anyway, I can do three in the morning. These eyes don't sleep...and I've done worse." Anna added, chuckling as she flicked her Pebble back into life, bringing the holographic display back into life, checking over a few bits of her data link to Cat and the display inside the vehicle. The professional was still there, for now at least.