K is for King of the Mountain

It was a well-known fact that firefighting had a toxic masculinity issue. It wasn't bad at air attack bases because of the hard work that all of the female aircraft had done, and that is one of the major reasons that Dynamite had chosen to work at Piston Peak, but when it came to the fire line it wasn't uncommon for men to let their opinion of her be known through catcalls and insults. It didn't matter that at most training exercises she was the highest rank vehicle in the room, she always would have at least one vehicle that would insist on mansplaining about why her years of expertise didn't matter.

"It looks like you disagree with me." Dynamite leveled an unimpressed look at a digger that was giving her a particularly sour look.

"Because it is a bad plan." The vehicle didn't hide his disdain as he shot back.

"And how would you improve it then." She tapped the map thoughtfully, knowing that often the best way to ensure her dominance over a crew was to give the nastiest members enough rope and room to hang themselves.

"I wouldn't stay so tethered to the trails when there is clearly a straighter path up the mountain." The cocky firefighter waved a tire towards a ravine that led most of the way up the mountain.

"Hm." Dynamite looked over the plan and could clearly see issues with his suggested plans.

"Oh really, you think you could do a better job identifying a bushwhacking path up the mountain."

"Yes, yes I do." Then the ATV glanced over at the other vehicles in the group, some of which, including Avalanche, were fairly heavy equipment. "But I suspect that following the existing path will get our crew up to the top the fastest."

"You heard the pretty lady." The self-absorbed jerk gave a barking laugh. "Looks like we have an ATV who is scared of getting her undercarriage dirty."

"Bite me." Dynamite spat back finally allowing the full force of her anger to bubble out. "If you really think so little of my skills, I suggest a wager."

"I am listening."

"I propose a race between the two of us. The first vehicle to make it to the top of the mountain will show that they have the skill and knowledge to successfully to be the team lead."

"What about the rest of the team?" Her opponent motioned towards the other firefighting vehicles assigned to their training group.

"The rest of the team will take the existing trail to the top of the mountain." Dynamite nodded towards Avalanche. "My lieutenant will be responsible for making sure that everyone from that group makes it to the top safely, which will allow the two of us to put our speed and skill to the text."

"Alright…" The grin on her opponent's face was practically predatory. "If you are that interested in eating my dust, who am I to argue with a lady."

"Avalanche will give us a count down?" Dynamite asked without breaking eye contact with the vehicle she was dueling with.

The dozer gave her an amused smile as he took a deep breath and spoke with his full volume. "ON YOUR MARK. READY, SET, GO!"

"We are racing now!?" Jerk-face sputtered as he tried to get his engine in gear.

"Of course!" Dynamite shouted back without missing a beat. "Firefighters don't sit around and argue when there is a task to be done. We get our engine in gear and get the job done instead."

It didn't take long for Dynamite to pull far enough ahead of her competitor for the sound of his engine to fade away. Once she had gained her lead, she planted her tires on nearby scree slope and started her climb towards the summit. It was a steep and difficult ascent. It was also one she would never do with a team in tow. The scree was so unstable that the lead vehicle would knock rocks down on any vehicle who followed them, and the slope was to high that heavy vehicles would be at a high risk of tipping over if they tried to scale it.

Luckily, Dynamite had the perfect build for this particular task and her thick rubber tires made quick work of the terrain. In under 45 minutes, she had successfully covered the 5 miles and the roughly 5,000-foot gain in elevation to reach the summit. With the successful completion of her mission, Dynamite logged her location with her GPS system and settled in for a wait.

Avalanche didn't make her wait too long. Only an hour after she reached the summit, she heard the sound of engines pushing themselves to their limit and Avalanche's voice coaxing them to put in one final push towards to top. Blackout was the first vehicle to come into view, followed by Drip who was carrying the small cooler that Dynamite had assigned him to carry earlier in the day. The rest of the vehicles staggered in, and if they were surprised to see Dynamite already at the summit, they were clearly all too tired to make a comment. The last vehicle to make it to the top was Avalanche who was practically pushing the group's slowest members of the group into the overlook.

"Hello everyone, congratulations for making it safely to the top." Dynamite gave her best customer service smile. "I know that was a hike that pushed many of you to your limits, which is why I brought snacks for us to enjoy while we wait."

She gave Drip a quick bob to let him know it was time to break out the treats in the cooler. As the various vehicles wolfed down their candy bars and fruit snacks, Dynamite sauntered over to Avalanche. If she was going to keep control of this crew during the weeklong training exercise, it was important for her to signal that the dozer was her right tire man.

"So, how did the team hold up?"

Avalanche took a thoughtful bite of his chocolate bar before speaking. Even though Dynamite kept her eyes on the dozer she could feel the other vehicles in the group shift uncomfortably. "I WAS IMPRESSED. THERE IS ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT, BUT EVERYONE WAS WILLING TO PUT THEIR BLADES TO THE TASK AND THEY DID A FAIRLY GOOD JOB OF STAYING TOGETHER AS A GROUP. I THINK WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A GREAT WEEK OF DRILLS."

"Excellent." Dynamite took a moment to pivot and give her best smile to the team. "I look forward to working with all of you. It is going to be a week of hard work, but after seeing your performance on this hike I have no doubt that you are all more than up to the task."

"Captain, what is the next task on our schedule?" Drip asked, clearly trying to be as good of an example to the rest of the vehicles on the team.

"We have a geocaching challenge, but before we can start on that we have to wait for the entire team to finish the hike." Dynamite didn't hold back giving a faint sigh. "With luck, we will not need to wait long because we have four geocaches to hit before dinner, but we might as well take advantage of the break and rest as we wait."

The wait lasted far longer that Dynamite would have hoped, but Blackout, Avalanche, and Drip used the time wisely to get to know the other vehicles assigned to the training group. It wasn't long until they were swapping stories and starting to tidy up the edges of the lookout. Under the careful nudging of her team, the crew managed to stave off the worst of the boredom. Still, 2 hours was a long time for any firefighter to stay in one place when they knew there was still work to be done.

Dynamite was getting close to her limit and was about to jump on the radio and organize a search party when an exhausted looking vehicle rolled through the undergrowth and into the lookout parking lot. At first the vehicle looked triumphant…but that look quickly faded when they realized that every single other member of the team had successfully made it to the top before him.

"Ah, you finally made it." Dynamite gave her opponent a smile that didn't meet her eyes. "We had been waiting long enough that I was starting to wonder if we were going to have to send out a search party. Avalanche, please get everyone to move out. We still have those geocaching locations to hit, but if we get moving now we should be able to squeeze them all in before dark."

"UNDERSTOOD." Avalanche replied with a bit too much enthusiasm. "ALRIGHT EVERYONE, BREAK TIME OVER. LET'S GET READY TO MOVE!"

There were some groans, but no one argued which let Dynamite knew that her point had been made. She smiled, until she turned and saw the dagger like stare that her challenger was sending her way between ragged breaths. It took a conscious effort not to say something mouthy, so she instead smiled.

"Oh, I have to ask. What route did you choose to get around that waterfall?" Her words caught the Jerk-face off guard enough to make him splutter, and it was that moment that Dynamite knew she had won the war. That went it was time to put all her energy into being the team leader. "Pinecone you are in charge of navigating us to our first GPS location. Once we to that location I expect someone who is not assigned to the Piston Peak Air Attack Team to navigate us to the next geocache so enjoy your break while it lasts."

With that the group headed back down the mountain. With Pinecone in the lead, Avalanche in the rear, and Dynamite flitting throughout the group to get to know the men and women she assigned to put through their paces. By the time they reached the first geocache she had convinced the youngest member of the team to take on the challenge of finding the next location.

As the group moved across the landscape to their location, Dynamite detached herself from the group, hit a ridge and made a call over the long-distance repeaters. "PPF 51, PPF 51, PPF 51, this is PPF 22."

There was a pause on the radio waves and Dynamite thought she was going to have to make the calls a few more time before she successfully caught Cabbie's attention, but she heard the crack of an incoming transition. "PPF 22, PPF 22, this is P51."

"Cabbie, I need your help."

"Overstay, your welcome already?" Dynamite could hear the yawn in the old plane's voice, but the fact he had answered her so quickly let her know he hadn't been completely asleep when she had called.

"Of course not." Dynamite snorted in reply, relaxing into the conversation. "I am just getting started buttering them up. Which brings me to why I am calling you."

"I am all ears."

"I need you to call in a pizza order for me about 7:30ish for a 9 pm delivery at the training base."

"Hm." The plane hummed softly to himself. "Ah, I think I have located a shop that will deliver to your location. Just your team or are you blowing half a month's pay on this."

Dynamite winced slightly at Cabbie's words knowing that an order that large would cost her a tire and an axle, but she also knew that pizza diplomacy would by her good will just as this punishing hike would purchase her respect.

"I am blowing a half month's pay, but I suspect that it will be more than worth it." Cabbie gave a harsh chuckle at Dynamite's words, but he didn't argue with her. While the plane was always willing to give advice when asked, unless it put lives at risk, he kept his tails out of other vehicles' command decisions.

Pizza ordered Dynamite allowed herself to watch the team under her command navigating the mountains below her and she couldn't help but feel a swelling of pride. It didn't matter what the other firefighters thought about their personal skill set…Dynamite was queen of this particular mountain and she was more than willing to put in the work to make sure that no one would dare dethrone her.