"Got it. Green, can you look through these? I'll need a moment to get a secure line to the Director going."
"Roger. Hold for a sec, brush."
"Copy."

Red looked uneasy.
"Why'd the Director want to keep tabs on this one?"
White gazed out of the server room window, looking over container-laden warehouse interior.
"Something's up with whatever we're locating. Way too high security presence for a shipping depot."

"...yyep, this about matches what we were expecting. High value, secure container-- whoof, rating five-- three of 'em. Contents info says 'classified'. Midway through transit."

...

"The Director wants us to steal all three."
"What?! Fuck no," White spat. He quickly resteeled his demeanour; "That's a huge shift in objective. We're not prepared."
"I'm not a fan of it either. Sec..."

The field team exchanged glances.

"It's an order."
"Grand."
"...Details, then. I need info on those containers."
"Sixxan, type.. nines. Single door."
"Awful. We can do one. Quadruple base pay."
Red and Blue looked to eachother, a little shocked.

...
"The Director will do triple hazard."
White gave a smirk to his team. "Paid immediately."
...
"...deal."
Red gave silent cheer. Blue returned a rare half-smile.
"Alright - you sound like you recognise these containers, White?"
"All-mechanical. Door's got five lockouts - all need to be broken at the exact same time, or the whole thing's deadlocked."
"Sounds... y'know, tough."
"I've cracked exactly one before. Team of seven. Silent op. A monster of a drill rig. Myself and three other technicians were there just for it alone.
"I thought you were an enforcer."
"It's all hardware."
"Right, but we don't exactly have this sort of kit on-hand. Maybe one of the north teams, but that's not an easy call-in."
"Well, there's a louder way in. Five point charges" "What!--" "will do the trick."
Red stifled a laugh. Blue brought a hand to their face in a look of exasperation.
"'Aven't you been told to stop bringing those?"
"He has. Four times. It's a risk of if you're caught with them--"
"And I've considered it every time. I'm the most experienced operative on the team. I believe they're a net positive to have."
"Besides, I won't get caught."
"...fine. Okay. We're sending container locations to Blue's kit. Take your pick, brush, and we'll try put together a plan. We're officially running this one ad-hoc."

Laserfire whizzed by. A single kinetic reply made privsec dive for cover. Three figures barrelled around a corner. It smells like ozone.

"A fine fucking mess this is," a lithe blue dragon spat, less deadpan than usual. A larger, white-furred drake shot out a lock and shouldered open a door.
"Running missions adhoc is never clean," he replied, letting the other two through under covering fire. "Keep moving."

"Up two floors for roof access, brush, left out the door," guided Yellow over comms. "There's a way down onto the loading bay roof, and a truck close by you can use to get to ground level."
"Copy, palette."

The field team ascended. White breached another door. Red dropped a smoke grenade down the stairwell, trading it for time. The trio made their way across flat rooftop, footfalls masked by wailing alarms, silhouettes vague against inky night.

"Keep by the left fence. Lotta vehicles, should be good cover to get back to entry," Green radioed in, "you remember which bit of fence you cut, right?"
"Yeah," came a reply, over clattering steps down steel stairs. "Just a little uphill, behind those sheds." One after another, they dropped to a sheet-metal awning, slid onto a truck-trailer, and clambered down onto rough concrete. Shouting echoed out from the roof.

More radio chatter. "Ssssummin' on the drone, looks like trucks. More privsec? Why..? Don't hang around, brush."

The group sprinted along the perimeter, ducking behind a parked van to avoid a flashlight from above.
"You still got it, Red?"
"Yeah, whatever it is."
The light went out under some distant barked order. Brush pressed ahead under the regained cover of darkness, the three of them darting across empty concrete toward a row of sheet-metal prefab sheds at the far end of the lot.

A door slammed open back at the main building, privsec pouring out. A floodlight cut through the night, breaking whatever stealth the team had left. White heard a familiar crackling buzz. Within barely a moment, he'd readied a chaff grenade and slammed it at the ground between him and what he'd correctly identified as a charging plasma rifle. White took aim with his revolver. Fine copper shreds filled the air as shots rung out. The floodlight exploded in a shower of sparks, while a bolt of plasma fizzled, discharged by airborne conductor. White followed his squad into cover.

"Why'd they want this, anyway?! Some fuckin'-- what, jewellery?" Red checked the charge of their sidearm's battery. Laserfire started up.
"It's important enough for the dear Director to put us on the bloody spot, despite the risk." Blue hotswapped shield batteries. He'd taken a few laserbolts in there, and he'll probably be taking a few more on the way out.
"I'll enjoy the hazard pay." White fed new cartridges into his trusty six, and fired one back at where privsec had set up. The hail of lasers died down for a moment. Works a charm.

"The fuck-- hey, s'this getting hot?" Red stepped away from the wall they were leaning against.
"What? It is!"
"Clear comms. One of the shipping ledgers we got says 'fuel cells', shed three. Forty of them. Get outta there, brush."
"Shit."
White fired another well-aimed deterrant, this time at some privsec trying to flank. They scurried back. "Exfil's close, but someone's gonna have to cover. I can--"
"Sure. I'm a harder target. Get moving, big guy." White shot an annoyed glance. Red rebuked with that cheeky smirk. They took position, firing off a series of rapid lasershots. White and Blue broke uphill for the fence.

The bark of another kinetic round pierced the air. "We're out, Red, move!"
"Mad thermals on that shed." A crackling sound again.
"Gotcha! On my w--" The sound of a plasma rifle cut through, halfway between the crack of a whip and broken high-voltage cables. Interference muddied comms as Red hit the ground.
"Red's hit! Vitals OK, shields broke."
"Oh, fuck."
"Blue, cover. I'm getting them." "Copy, but--" "White, that thing's gonna blow any sec," "Green, call." "Oh fuck," "it's not safe," "They're down!" "ow," "It's too dangerous!-- shit," "Drop, brush!" "hit the deck!"


The night sky turned orange with flame as fuel cells erupted, tearing storage sheds apart and launching burning debris high.




Static cleared from comms long before White's ears stopped ringing.

"Fuck me, that even rocked the van."
"Brush, respond."

The storage sheds weren't there any more. Only fire. Nearby bits of forest were alight.

"Come in."

They'd been lucky to survive that. The steep incline before the perimeter fence gave way to flatter earth. It was just enough cover.

"Getting vitals data again."
"Blue, White, come in."

Small fragments of debris fluttered amidst rushes of hot air from the blaze, dancing like embers. It was almost beautiful.

"Looks alright, all considered..."

Blue unsteadily rose to his feet. "...ggh... copy..."

White followed, steadier. "...alive. Red?"

"...no data. Which is" "Red..." "Fuck. Fuck!" "weird, actually, there should've been at least a few packets of--" "Green. Drone." "It's still up?.."

Something stirred within the inferno.

"What the fuck? Brush, you seeing that?"

Something growled within the flames, deep, bellowing. A rumble in your chest.

"Palette, were there any other explosives in there?" White took a step back.
"Negative, White."

Something huge reared its head from amongst the blaze. A fiery dragon, like something of legend. It's not a dragon in the same way as Blue, White, or Yellow are. It's animalistic. It's damned massive. It's got wings.

"Was-- was that why we stole that thing?!"

The towering creature spread its wings. Fire dripped from it and ignited the ground. Those trucks finally arrived - one immediately got torched with a thick jet of fire.

The beast roared.

"Exfil, team! Get out!"
Blue stared ahead. "What the fuck..."
A white-furred paw on his shoulder. "Blue."
"...right."

They ran.

◢◤◢◤ 🔥 ◥◣◥◣

"Come in, Dandelion."

"Hell of a time to call, Burdock."

"I can see what went down from here. Is Swatch safe?"

"...no. We lost-- we lost one. We're on our way back."

"I'm... sorry."

"Return to Recon South soon. I have important information."

Red woke up somewhere else.

They just blew up, right? Shot in the back with a heavy plasma rifle. Fucking snipers. Shields took it and broke, but the impact still hurt like hell. Straight to the ground, could barely move. Then that fuel store went sky-high, because, of course, they never teach privsec how to fucking aim.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

And their back still hurts. Not as much as it should.

...where the fuck are they? Blossom trees. Weird-coloured grass - too blue. And, uh, it's all floating. Chunks of earth suspended. Bridges between some of them. Endless sky void. Clouds.

Oh.

Yeah, they're dead. Super dead. Like, vaporised-in-an-instant dead, courtesy of what must have been at least forty brand-name hydr/ox fuel cells rupturing in concert. Bet not many people have been killed that quickly. Gone in an instant.

Red stands up. They see something in the distance, some far-off glint. Something shiny - radiant, even - atop a small white plinth. They look the opposite direction. Islands are catching fire, and it's getting closer. That's.. probably not good.

Wind rushes. A huge, fiery dragon dives past, like something of legend. It's not a dragon in the same way Red is. It's animalistic. It's damned massive. It's got wings.

"Fucking hell," the clearly-not-a-proper-dragon mumbles to themself under their breath, shaking off the shock.

The giant burning creature swoops around again, crashing into an island, knocking it close enough to jump to. It seems unharmed, rising to a hover off to the side. Red makes eye contact. It looks expectant. The moved island leads a little closer to that shiny thing. There's.. sorta a path.

Well, it's that or the encroaching flames. Red swallows their fear, breaks into a sprint, and leaps across.