Hayden's POV
"All right gang, prepare to jump!" I shouted over the noise of the plane engine. The rear cargo door opened slowly to reveal a blur of city lights. I glimpsed at my GPS attached to my arm. The target building was 1km away.
I looked at each of my crew members in turn. My second in command, Heather Oswaldson, was checking her armour and equipment in a corner. Her raven hair was tied into a tight braid down her back and her combat suit fit her athletic figure snugly. Her brother Dagur didn't look anything like her. His carrot-orange short hair and his crazed smile were an example. The only similarity were their green eyes. The last member of my team was Camilla, but everyone knows her as Camicazi. The name already says enough about her. Her frizzy blonde hair was tied into a high ponytail and although she was quite short, I could see her lean muscles through her armour.
This was my team. Strike. I picked that name after the dragon class of my favorite dragon, the Night Fury. You can call me a nerd, but I think it has a nice ring to it. Anyway, the point is that they are the best agents of the DEA and I trust them with my life.
100m.
"Line up!" I ordered. We all stood next to each other facing the big opening of the military transport aircraft. We would soon be above the building. "OK go, go, go!"
One after the other we all jumped. For the first few seconds I began plummeting to the ground. I didn't feel scared or panicked. I loved heights. The moment of freedom didn't last long before I had to flick my night visor over my eyes. I quickly located the skyscraper and realized I was a bit off course. I pressed a button that was next to my GPS and I was jerked upwards. And the next moment, I felt weightless. I have to say, the flight suit is one of my best inventions yet. Looking back I saw that the wings looked stable, so I started gliding towards the building. Flying parallel to the roof, I dropped my feet down and ran a few steps to maintain my balance. A few meters away, Heather and Cami landed. Dagur also managed to land, but lost his balance and face planted into the cement.
Without wasting any time, my team and I stepped to the ledge. We all switched our electromagnetic gloves and boots and steeled ourselves to step off the roof. Our cool gloves and boots were designed to have an extremely strong magnetism that is attracted to metal. So we literally swung ourselves off the roof and scaled the side of the building, trusting our lives in some puny gloves and shoes. Awesome.
The way down was excruciatingly slow as one wrong move could potentially lead to our deaths. But after a few storeys Cami tapped on my shoulder and pointed at the window we were facing. I nudged Heather and she took out a small device out of her suit and stuck it unto the window. She pressed a button and a long thin metal rod with a sharp tip sprung out of the gadget and it cut a perfect circle around itself into the glass. I gently pressed against the glass and the circle came loose. I placed it on the floor inside and I crawled through the hole. I let out a small sigh of relief when my feet touched the ground and I swept my hair out of my sweaty face.
I looked around the room while I waited for the others to crawl in. It was an office since there were a bunch of desks and file cabinets. But I knew all of this was a disguise. The cabinets and drawers were probably filled with a ton of illegal stuff. Drugs, weapons, you name it.
I saw a flicker of moment in the corner of my eye and I whirled around to face the window. The others saw it too and we all simultaneously drew out our pistols. I was about to lower my gun when a figure dropped down the side of the building. Did I just witness a suicide? No. Now I could see that there was a rope trailing down. Another two bodies dropped down and this time I saw the tell-tale blonde hair of one of them.
Chaos. Yes, I'm sure chaos will ensue but that's not what I meant. Chaos is the best team of agents of the AI, the Archipelago Intelligence. The problem of one country having two different agencies with different goals and morals is that there is always a fight. Like now. Whenever my team gets an assignment, the AI seems to know about it too. I've had way too many encounters with them than I'd liked.
"They're here," I grumbled. "They also want the case."
"Why did they then go lower?" Heather asked.
"Oops," Cami said quietly. "This isn't actually the correct storey... But we only have to go down 10 storeys!"
We all groaned in unison.
"Allright gang, let's go get that case before those bastards do," I said and we dashed for the door. Dagur checked the corridor and signaled that it was all clear. We found the staircase and started our long and tedious journey downwards. We were lucky we didn't have to go up.
We arrived at our correct level and we slowly walked down the corridor with our pistols raised. The sound of voices drifted towards us which seemed to be coming from a door to our right. I pressed my ear to the door to hear the voices more clearly.
"Viggo wants it shipped tonight," said a man with a deep voice.
"Tonight? I was actually looking forward to watching the football game!" Another man said.
"Well, he said it had to be tonight."
"But he didn't say when tonight. We can quickly watch the game and then we'll take care of it."
"Allright. But we better put the case in the safe. Better not leave it in the storage room."
I quickly took out blueprints of the building out of my pocket and located the storage room. It was on the other side of the building. Signaling the others, we continued silently down the corridor. It didn't take long until we found the correct door. I expected it to be locked but when I pressed down on the handle, it easily opened. I scanned the room and found no guards or any alarms. Just piles of boxes and junk.
But in the middle of the mess of it all, resting on a box, was a silver case. I knew it was the one we were looking for because of the initials DB engraved on the top. I could almost taste victory as I walked over, but as I reached out for the case someone appeared out of nowhere and snatched it up. I caught a flash of striking blue before she stepped back.
Yes, she. Astrid Hofferson, leader of Chaos and general pain in the ass. Is always there in the most inconvenient times and is a complete know-it-all.
Another figure stepped forward behind her. I present to you Shaun Jorgenson, short and stocky whose only contribution to the team is punching people. My team and I call him Snotlout. You'd understand if you saw his face.
The only members of Chaos I respected were the twins, Tristan and Raquel Thorston or Ruff and Tuff as they like to be called. They both have the same devilish grin and come up with all kinds of mischief. It's a bummer that they're not in the DEA.
Astrid's beta, Finn Ingerman, is the brains of the team. He wasn't here now because he's actually not a field agent. He's probably somewhere hunched behind a computer.
How do I know their names, you ask? Well, that's exactly the problem. We've met them on missions so often now that we're on a first name basis now. At least they don't know my real name.
Well I suppose it's my fault for not knowing they were already here. I should've guessed when the door was unlocked and there were no guards. This day just kept getting better and better.
"Hofferson" I said.
"Fury," she replied. I could tell she was irked by the fact that she still didn't know my real name. That made me feel slightly better.
"We were here first. Hand over the case," I said and held out my hand although I knew it was futile.
"Fat cha-"
She was cut off by the sound of footsteps and we all dived behind the pile of boxes. The door opened and two men stepped inside. Both of them were huge. Why are thugs always such huge guys?
"The door is open and the guards are gone! THE CASE IS GONE TOO!" Shouted the man with a black mustache. "Search the room Savage, they're probably still in here."
They drew out their rifles and started coming closer. I looked over to where Astrid's team was hiding a second ago but they were gone. I frantically looked around and spotted a back exit. Signaling my crew to follow me, I walked hunched towards the door. We almost reached the door when Dagur accidentally bumped into a high pile of boxes. The tower toppled into another pile, leaving us completely exposed.
"Run!" I shouted and I sprinted to the door. Bullets were whizzing past me as I yanked the door open and stumbled out. The others crashed through behind me and Cami slammed the door shut. The corridor went to the right, left and straight ahead.
"Cami and Heather, you go left. Dagur you go right. Try to ambush Chaos from the sides. I'll go straight," I ordered.
They all nodded without questioning me and I set off down the corridor. After only a few paces an alarm started blaring all around me. I picked up my pace as I knew that more men would be coming after us soon. At the end of the hallway I saw a boot turning right, so I followed it. I rounded the corner and saw that it was Astrid I was chasing. The rest of her team was nowhere to be seen. But she had the case and that was all that mattered.
She turned left but the corridor resulted in a dead end. I smirked as I slowly walked over to her.
"Where are your friends when you need them, Hofferson? You're all alone this time," I said with a grin.
"You know I can take you on alone, right?" She quipped. She shuffled her feet into a fighting stance and balled her free hand into a fist. Before she could lift it though, I lunged and tried to grab the case. She managed to dodge me and kicked me in the shin. I have to admit, she's strong.
I feinted a punch to her face and kicked her in the stomach. She hunched over in pain but recovered quickly and threw a right hook at my throat. I blocked the blow and we continued trying to have the upper hand in the fight. I yanked the case out of her hand and I turned to flee but she already tackled me. She somehow managed to get the case back again while we were grappling on the floor.
"Fury, we have to leave! More soldiers are coming!" I heard Dagur yell from somewhere close by.
I lost my focus and Astrid took the opportunity to knee me where the sun don't shine. I hunched over and tried to blink away the stars I started seeing. I let out a groan before trying to collect myself. I couldn't waste any more time fighting Astrid so I slowly moved my hand toward the holster without her seeing. Before she realized what I was doing I drew my pistol and pointed it at her.
"I don't have time for this anymore. Give it to me or I'll blow your brains out," I said with a smirk.
She didn't return my smile but scowled at me.
"You wouldn't be able to to," she said but she sounded uncertain.
"I kill people everyday. This is no different," I said and clicked the safety off. I squeezed the trigger a little bit but Astrid didn't budge. She had nerves of steel. Props to her. I guess the next move would be to shoot her. Did I want to? Yes, absolutely. Was I going to? No. I hated her a lot but she was on a mission, like me. If the roles were reversed I wouldn't want her to shoot me.
I heard shouting from all over the building and I used the distraction to hit Astrid's head with the butt end of my gun. She collapsed dazed and I grabbed the case and ran. I heard Cami shouting curse words and I steered towards her voice. I found her locked in combat with one of Viggo's men in a corridor to my right. I lifted my pistol and shot him in the leg. Cami proceeded to kick him in the face.
"Tell Throk to fly the plane to the North side of the building! We don't have time to be inconspicuous!" I said.
"On it!" She said and started talking into her earpiece. A man came running at me out of nowhere and almost knocked me to the ground before Cami punched him in the stomach. I winced when I heard a few cracks.
I heard shouting from behind us and I saw about a dozen men charging towards us, rifles raised. Cami and I sprinted in the opposite direction and we started to hear gunfire all around us. We ran in a zigzag formation to dodge the bullets and tried to fire back. I searched for a room or corridor we could take cover in, but the hallway only went straight ahead.
Cami suddenly stopped and I was about to ask if she was suicidal, when I noticed that it was silent. I turned around and saw Heather and Dagur standing next to the bloodied bodies of the men who just tried to kill us.
"Saved by the Dagur!" Dagur yelled with a wild grin. Heather let out a snort, but she looked pretty smug.
"We better go before more men come," she said.
"The plane's waiting for us outside the window of that office," Cami said and pointed at a door at the end of the corridor. I lead the way and cautiously opened the door. I scanned the room but no one was inside. The plane was hovering outside with the latch open, like promised.
"STOP. RIGHT. THERE!"
I turned around and saw Astrid sprinting towards us, her face twisted with rage.
"That's our cue people. Let's go!" I shouted and shot multiple times at the window until the glass shattered. We took a few steps back before sprinting towards the edge. I jumped as my feet hit the window frame and for a second I felt weightless. Then my feet slammed down on the metal floor of the plane.
I looked back and saw Astrid still standing in the building. The plane was already too far away for her to jump. The look on her face was priceless.
"Better luck next time milady!" I shouted to her with a laugh. She let out an angry yell and I couldn't help but tantalize her by dangling the case from my fingertips.
My laughter was cut short when I heard a groan. I turned to see Cami slowly sliding down the wall clutching her thigh. Blood was trickling down her leg.
"Shit, she's been shot!" I said. "Someone bring the medical aid kit!"
Heather came with the kit and knelt next to Cami. She took out scissors and cut the fabric around the wound away. After examining it she said, "The bullet didn't go in deep so it's not too serious. It didn't do too much damage. She'll be right as rain when it heals."
I sighed with relief and walked away to leave Heather to take care of Cami. I looked at the case and let out another sigh. Every mission is risking the lives of my team. It's really starting to get to me. I hope this case was worth it.