FourtyTwo

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

Anna chuckled, looking across to the Colonel as she turned, looking at her wing before back to the vulpine in command, clearly a little more opened up by the whole thing.
"Maybe not too soon....this thing's an absolute nightmare to pilot. I might make it look easy but what can I say, if I wasn't a jaguar I'd be a falcon, maybe. But hey, I'm sure they'll sort you all out soon enough." Anna commented, chuckling as Max in turn chuckled, shaking his head.
"And I'd be a jellyfish but here we are. Not a bad way of making an entrance. Now this is a bit of kit I need to procure. Not for operations, but just...you know, because." Max commented, Anna pffing in response, shrugging as she chuckled to herself, looking on.

"So how about the three of you then? Were you having a calm time before I came and interrupted?" Anna asked, Max nodding, Anna sighing a little as Max laughed in response, patting her shoulder as she looked up, sighing.
"Absolutely. We were doing absolutely nothing....then you flew by. Literally." Max added, chuckling, Anna shrugging as she looked back to Silverwind and Cat, sighing a little about Max. She was a little too serious sometimes, even if right now she was a little euphoric about how this thing worked.

"Yeah, I have that effect. Anyway, the system all works. Allows me to carry the usual, Colonel. So consider me good to go." She said, nonchalantly taking the topic back to their operations, an effect perhaps Max didn't really appreciate as he himself walked around her, then back at the cliffs, sighing.
"Shit, you really never stop, do you? Silver, as I said, there's your person who can infiltrate anything, but R&R is way too difficult for her..." Max mused, Anna shrugging as she widened her stance, flicking her wings out again. Ah, so she was going just as fast as she arrived, Max realised. Scooping her helmet back over her head, she chuckled back to Max, giving a menacing grin.

"Yep...and on that note...I will leave you to what do you do best then, Max!" She called out, the jets starting up with a gentle whine again as the sand kicked up, Anna running down the beach as she slowly cranked up the volume, before turning it up to pull her away, the wingpack acting effectively as a jetpack, and pulling her over the waves, before she cranked up the volume literally and metaphorically. Max's mouth was ajaw, watching as she casually went from a slow hover into a fast flight, climbing in speed and acceleration at a rate that must have been simply searing to watch from the shore. Max had to admit, as much as Anna pissed him off, she had a talent for these things. Turning to the Colonel, Max shrugged, sighing. With Cat and Silver, he felt more at home enjoying the rest of R&R, and while he understood her intentions, and just how phenominal she could be, especially now, making easy what probably no Arvaran had done, it was dealing with her quirk that could easily irk some.

"She's bloody difficult, Silver. But you know what they say. Best assets are the ones that are your most difficult, or in Anna's case...well, she has her way."

Burning Rubber Three (Bee and kingkonrad)

Mark gave a nod, knowing while she didn't see it, he fully agreed.
"High risk, high reward. We got more than we bargained for. But this should be something. Few more miles, and we're there." Mark replied, looking in the back for a split second, whistling at the stash. Shit, why bother moving a flat out when you could have Serbians do it for you. Damn, now that wasn't bad. The transnational syndicate wasn't exactly a homogenous whole, the Serbs were just one part of it- a part that handled their operations here, but like anything, there was always a chain. Just like a company, gangs had hierarchy, people pulling strings. Mark had done a lot of good work in the last few years- killing the various heads. But like a hydra, it always seemed to have another one. It was only a matter of time before they found something that went up the chain, and gave

Pulling into the airport, they headed for the cargo route in, pulling up to the security gate that was there for lorries and various airside vehicles- a more direct route than going any other way. An airport was not a place for a gang to enter, given how tight these days airport security was. That worked nicely for lockups, given it gave any pursuer a hell of a lot more to think about. They were going through once Mark waved his pass, and back on the throttle on the airside, going around the back of the large international airport, aircraft taking off seemingly from all directions on the various runways at Schipol.

Driving into the unmarked hangar, a fair drive from the gate, Mark took in the complete absence of anything here, nothing really to observe. It wasn't exactly enormous, enough for maybe a smaller private jet, but there was nothing to indicate anyone had been here recently. Perfect for them, then. Driving into a small garage in the corner of the hangar after driving inside, Mark could finally take a breather as he hopped out, looking across to Athena pulling in.
"Well, that wasn't a piece of piss. We just probably made some headlines in the news. But we're not dead, so that is a positive." Mark added, looking across the barren garage, a few bags scattered around from when they'd set up spare weapons, as well as a few other bits and pieces they needed. Getting to the back of his car, he carefully opened the boot, as best as he could given the back was smashed in, and started pulling out a couple of laptops, carefully carrying them across to a desk.
"Let's see what we can get then, hey?"

Burning Rubber Three (Bee and kingkonrad)

Mark watched as she took the vehicle out, either by lethally or non-lethally making that driver think twice, the windscreen shattering with a shot from her 9mm as Mark kept focussed on the road ahead, weaving through more morning traffic as the car's roll felt like it was throwing itself around when weaving in traffic, the weight of the Range Rover certainly something the Scot felt when driving this thing at high speed. Hands gripped tight, he made sure to keep control, aware he didn't want to cause a RTC, or a road traffic collision. Keep it straight and narrow, and get the hell out- Athena had helped them to do that, which had put room between them and their pursuers. Pulling off the main road, a junction for the motorway was coming up as Mark turned onto it, dropping his pace back a little to let Athena catch up properly, but not slow enough to lose any pursuers. Sooner they got to Schipol, the better.

Out onto the wide-open motorway, Mark was now chuckling that they'd actually not ended up dead right there.
"Looks like we got out of that one, Ath! How you holding up?" Mark asked, putting it straight into the furhest lane left and keeping foot to floor, hovering at a nice 90 with a bit of wind noise now coming in from the shattered rear window. Letting Athena speak her peace, he watched for the signage, following the route back to Amsterdam's airport, aware they had a hangar to get back to where they could unload the materials.

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

Max chuckled, watching as Silverwind came back up the beach, sitting down as he lay out himself too.
"Yeah, nothing like the sea! Let's enjoy it while we can...I hope we get another, but if things go well, I have a funny feeling we might not..." The lion commented, yawning as like Silver and Cat, he was just enjoying this peace and calm that compared to going out there and operating. The calm of the waves coming in, and the occasional call of birds while lying on the soft sand was good enough for him.

It would only last a couple more hours Max mused to himself, time to get away and get some proper rest in. Just as Max put his head back, shutting his eyes, he heard something ambient on the horizon, something that instantly caught his ear.
"Hang on...the fuck is that noise?" Max commented, the sound of a quiet whine getting nosier and nosier- the lion already half wondering what the hell it was. It was high in pitch, but still quiet, enough to catch his particularly sensitive hearing, as he turned and saw just what it was. Almost as if on cue, Max sat up, his jaw open, watching on as the black silouette darted past the sun, dropping altitude over the sea and travelling at a rapid rate. That was what she had meant by a quiet afternoon in....of course.

Anna had to admit, finding them hadn't been that hard but hell, it'd been the journey, not the destination that had mattered for her. After all, when you're using a jet-powered wingpack and you're about to do some infiltration using a piece of experimental equipment, nothing like a dry run to calm your nerves, right? She thought to herself it was probably better this way she didn't tell them- well, apart from dropping in just now. Her natural flair and control let her almost get on level with the sea with the wingpack, barely on the throttle before hitting the brakes, not even needing her parachute here to stop herself. The amount of thrust she had at her disposal made it easy by being able to flare out the wingpack, almost like how a VTOL would pull in to land, a clean and gentle flare to stop and land with the jets helping to basically slow her decent down.

Landing on the beach with a gentle stomp, the jaguar pulled her tinted helmet off her head and cut the jets, the wings folding back in as she laughed like a schoolgirl, almost running around in front and definitely on a high that Max could only tell was rare for the team's infiltrator. Anna may have been loaded up with an operational loadout, but there was no doubt for Max that she was having fun while doing so.
"Oh my.....this thing is just crazy!" Anna yelped, Max standing up as he could only admire it, chuckling equally in response. She certainly had an experience with that thing- given the fact she'd basically landed precisely in front of them, no parachute needed to Max's eyes was insane- and he had no idea how much that might have messed with Cat and Silver.

"Bloody hell...okay, that was cool. But you know you could have just come with us to the beach in the jeep if you really wanted to come, right?" Max cooly replied, winking to Silver and Cat as he did, Anna sighing as she still was catching her breath, almost consumed by what this thing could do. Vertical take-off and landing, plus covering ground like a minature jet fighter was just lucid to her, and Max couldn't say he wasn't pulling her strings a bit as the jaguar sighed, uncertain just how to reply.
"Yeah, but this is way, way cooler."
"If you say so..."

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

Gonna throw a curveball in next post! I feel a bit screwy doing this, but hey, it's the perk of writing for characters with a little prior setup!

Burning Rubber Three (Bee and kingkonrad)

Mark kept foot to floor, cursing.
"Well, that lasted long. Okay. We're gonna try and lead them towards the canals, break our line of sight. They must have had reinforcements after we iced their friends. Keep your foot down." Mark replied, clutching the wheel tighter as he threw the Range Rover's gear up, speeding through a red light and weaving through traffic, seeing the two Mercedes-Benz S-Classes already following. Shit, this was a real mob, and they had friends in town. Going towards the city centre, he knew it was a longer way to the airport, but they had to break this tail.

Racing through the streets, Mark heard the sound of a pistol crack, the next shattering his rear window as he ducked his head down, braking hard and skidding left, into a narrow street, barely dodging a couple of cars, coming quickly into another canal-side residential area, bikes and other pedestrians diving out of the way as he beeped his horn. The bridge next up along the road was gonna be serious, as Mark kept his throttle down, aware he'd get a lot of air- and probably yeet into a crowd if he kept it pinned. Instead, he took it conservatively, the Range clambering over the sharp bridge and giving him an opportunity to let Athena follow on him.

Mark pulled the handbrake, the Range's body roll making the lift off-oversteer even more exaggerated off the bridge, then turning once again into a cobbled road, the Mercs unable to catch here due to the crowds, but still in sight. Mark put foot to floor once again, the four-wheel drive screeching as he turned back out onto another main road, diving and ducking through traffic.
"We've nearly lost them, let's keep going!"

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

Ah splendid! Yeah sometimes it's needed- I'll probably go see mine soon (moved to Kent, so in a new part of the world)

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

No worries! Whenever you're ready man!

Burning Rubber Three (Bee and kingkonrad)

Mark ran in, seeing Athena drop another guy at the end of the hall she was in, following cautiously. Tapping her on the shoulder, he moved past, moving into the front room, sweeping it out, before heading into the kitchen, bathroom, and upstairs into the two bedrooms, moving quick and efficient as he let Athena take the rest of the small flat. There wasn't anyone here, and the place had indeed been stripped out- apart from looking like a typical Dutch flat, there was little in the way to suggest anything had been run here, let alone someone lived here. Nothing of serious value was left- a trace amount of drugs, but nowhere near enough to deal properly with. This guy had been running his operation out of here- and that didn't exactly mean dealing here and now. A typical drug dealer these days often had better than just himself, especially this geezer- he'd have people below him doing the dirty, he was more like a glorified accountant. Now with a knife wound and dying on the porch of his own flat, he was gonna die a glorified accountant.

Running back down the stairs, Mark had to make a note to step over the bodies in the flat, the place a fucking bloodbath. This was making the news alright, and it was lucky this leafy neighborhood had most people in work, otherwise. Even then, they would probably have seen the girl and the guy who had killed a bunch of other gangsters, and that was how it looked. No symbols, or look that make them look like law enforcement.
"Got what we needed here. Place is dry. Cars look full of IT equipment though. Since this guy is good as a chocolate teapot, let's fuck right out of here. I'll keep you on the other end of the line." Mark said, looking to the body as he opened the door, letting Athena go first- Mark ever the gentleman before following her out.

Heading for the Range Rover at the front, the Scot clambered in, the keyless left in thankfully- they were just about to leave after all, and the one at the front who had been punted wasn't about to speed off without a fight. Well, they picked the wrong one, Mark mused- and well, now they had their cars. The radio was blaring, grime of course. Fucking hell, it wouldn't be a morning in Amsterdam fighting gangsters with this shite on the radio, Mark thought to himself, as he pushed the Start button, the four cylinder revving into life. Despite being crashed into, this thing could pull away, as he put Athena through on the speaker.
"All good your end? Best bet for us is back at Schiphol, there's a hangar over there we can park up in and get these things on air freight. I imagine someone's gonna want to tear apart whatever's in these cars...already got a laptop and half a dozen notepads here, shit, proper fucking accountancy going on here. Ready when you are."

Burning Rubber Three (Bee and kingkonrad)

Mark nodded, turning the key on the engine, the Passat firing up into life.
"You have been warned, Ath. Ready up. Moment they get a couple on the pavement, I'll punt them into the front car. We won't crash too bad, but be ready to get out and start blasting. Suprise is about the best thing we've got. Use it, focus, and don't fucking stop till there's nobody left standing. Not often I say that. But well...you signed up to this, right?" Mark said, almost a little sarcastic right at the end, knowing full well Athena would reply in turn with that and agree that as brutal as it was, it was a needed thing. None of the people they were about to get involved with were going to be good people- they had murdered someone in pretty much cold blood, and well, it's pretty hard to go back from that. The Scotsman knew that himself.

Pulling out the parking, Mark checked his P226's location, heading down the short stretch of road, seeing two more come out. Pulling the P226, he put his foot to floor in 2nd, the speedo climbing as he took the pistol and with a quickdraw, started firing a couple of rounds through the windscreen, already getting one and then hitting two, turning them into skittles as he braked hard, knowing it was still too late now. They crashed at about 15mph into the back of the Range Rover, the two Serbs thrown onto bonnet and then floor, as Mark opened his door. It was a little rough, but it had worked. The airbags hadn't deployed at this speed, but it was a hell of a knock, and Mark felt his seatbelt tighten quite a bit, though not enough to unclip and get the fuck out.

With a seamless move, Mark put four rounds between the two on the floor, quickly taking them down with a shot to the top of his chest, before using one of the Range Rovers for cover, seeing two of two more Serbs run out. They were caught with their pants down, but Mark knew they had to act. Mark slid from cover, taking one more down, lookign across to Athena.
"Two more, inside the flat! I'll cover!" Mark added, giving a couple of rounds of suppressing fire, letting Athena move and get shots on. Once they had these two fuckers iced, they'd have to make a quick sweep of the flat, check the dead guy, and then get the hell out with the two Range Rovers- now conveniently loaded with intel. There wasn't enough time here to wait. More Serbs could be around the corner, and even if the police responded quick enough, it wouldn't be fast enough to secure the most important stuff- they'd identify the Serbs when they arrived. Besides, Mark and Athena weren't exactly a conventional police operation- they were pretty much deniable, and this would later go down as a gang shooting, Mark knew. This wasn't very much that- this was getting shit done, the old-school way.