Three vehicles were driving along a desert highway, two vans, with one truck in the centre. The three vehicles drove at exactly the same speed, in an exact line across the nearly, but not entirely straight road. The only light in the vicinity came from the vehicles themselves, shining a few metres ahead of, and behind each one, as well as the night sky, completely devoid of clouds and filled with stars, not bright enough to give light to the bottom of the road, but at the least a comfort, as without it any place not lit up by the vehicles would be complete darkness. The moon, which unlike the stars, was visible most nights to most people, was absent, but the daybreak wouldn't arise for hours still. 

The two vans to the front and the rear of the truck would be difficult to recognise from someone's description of them, and were impossible to tell apart from one another, as they were made so. They were completely black, no logo, no licence plate, not even minor scratches, or dents, for that matter, could be found on either of the vehicles. The truck however, was more distinct, the tractor at the front was a shade of white, but unmarked by anything else really recognizable, save the yellow licence plate at its front. It was carrying two trailers behind it, each, similarly to the vans, was indistinguishable from the other. Each of the trailers were black and cuboid, though they had rounded edges, using a metal alloy that made them look sleek, and refined. Though nearly invisible in the darkness of the night sky, the trailers also had symbols on them, the same ones, one on each side, and one on the top of each trailer. The symbol was made of two trees, the right flipped upside down, with the roots springing from the bottom of the trees connecting the two, to spell the letter "N" in a dark blue, making it barely contrast from the blackness of the trailers that the symbols were grafted onto. The symbols were placed on the trailers perfectly, and all 6 were the exact same. 

At the front of the truck sat two men, each wearing a grey cap with a symbol on it, the two symbols were the same, but different from the one on the trailers, picturing two shields, their bottoms each pointing towards the other as the lower one was flipped. In the centre was a lightning bolt. The symbol was yellow, golden, almost, and of a different fabric than the cap, seemingly stitched on, no doubt, not by hand, but by a machine. The man on the left had his hands on the steer, controlling the vehicle as smoothly as he could, knowing that even a small sway off course could mean a serious dock in pay. The man wasn't stressed though, he'd done this many times before, more than he could count off the top of his head, and he'd really only swayed two times. The first time was on his second drive like this, because he had gotten cocky from not doing so on his first, and again, a few years after the first incident, when he may have had a little too much to drink the night before. The man still didn't regret that though, that night was one of the best of his life, a good break from the boring every day the man had been living basically ever since he graduated high school, working what seemed to be the same jobs day in, day out, for more than 20 years at this point. He was used to it all, the darkness of the area all around little to no issue for him, though this could not be said of the man to his right, carefully holding on to the radio transmitter that was connected to the vehicle, trying, but most certainly failing to remain calm. Though this was but on the inside for the most part, the way he moved, the occasional sweat drop, and his general sense of anxiety could easily be seen through, by almost anyone, were they to pay attention to him. Not that the younger man was scared, per say, just nervous. "You're holding on to that thing for dear life, man." the man on the left said, leaning his head a little to his right to indicate he was speaking to the rookie, but keeping his eyes on the road. He looked at the young man beside him for a split second, who seemed not to know what to say in response, and he started speaking again, trying to comfort him "You know, I've been doing this same job, for this same company for 8 years now, I've never had to use that thing for some emergency" for a moment, he took one of his hands off the wheel to point at the radio transmitter in the young man's hand, before putting his digits back on the wheel swiftly "You can't be stressing out about these things, that's how you start messing things up. It doesn't hurt to be careful of course, but you're tunnel visioned, you can't just wait for things to go wrong so you can get on the radio quickly, you gotta keep your eyes out, check for stealth vehicles, suspicious cars, the road looking weird, notice the signals before shit starts hitting the fan, and try to prevent it." 

The younger man audibly swallowed "Yeah, you're right" somewhat slowly, he put the transmitter back into its slot, making sure it was locked in securely before retreating his hand, now laying both on his thighs. "I… just really don't want to mess this up." In response to this, the other man exhaled through his nose swiftly, almost like a laugh but not quite "Yeah, I get it, but you don't have to worry, nothing's gonna happen."

The men could hear one another quite clearly despite the rumble of the vehicles' engines, probably because that was the only sound around. That was, until an automated voice sounded through the transmitter "Inters-ection coming up, look-s clear, con-ti-nuing to monit-or" The series of vehicles were about 300 metres away from a split in the road, no signs were present, as the road holograms had been turned off at this time of night, but the men had no need for directions anyway, they had to go straight into the city. Mostly, they had to be wary of the split in case of any attackers, not that that was a likely occurrence, it would just be the best place to set up an ambush in the area. 

"You see anything, Miller?" The older man asked, knowing that the driver AI from the vans could sometimes malfunction or not see clearly. The younger man leaned a little to the right, trying to look past the van in front of them as well as he could. "Can't see much, but the coast looks clear, just like the 'chauf said." "Good." The man smiled softly. "See? Nothing's gonna happen." The rookie remained silent, not because he didn't know what to say, he just didn't think saying anything would be fitting, he just sat straight, and focused on his breathing, beginning to slow it down. "I'll put on some music." The man driving started reaching out for the small tablet embedded into the truck's dashboard, but the man beside him spoke up "Are you sure? It's against company policy, isn't it?" The man let out a small chuckle "Yeah, yeah, but I'll just turn it off if someone comes over. They never check the footage unless something actually happened after all." With that, his finger reached the screen, where he pressed a button on the screen, as music started playing, the sound of guitar started playing with an eagle singing over it. "Ahh, a classic. Love this one." The man retracted his hand again, once more placing it firmly onto the steering wheel in front of him. The young man clenched his teeth, not wanting to start an argument, but also nervous because of this clear violation of company rules, so he just stared out the window on his side for a moment, spotting lights moving at the other lane that had now been split off for a while. "Huh, I guess I must've been wrong, and the 'chauf too, there is a car on that road after all." 

The man to his left was a little surprised by this, straightening his posture and looking in front of him confused for a moment before asking "You sure? It'd take a lot for you and the bot to both be wrong." "Yeah, yeah, I'm sure; I can see the lights, wait, but, it's going the same direction we are, but there wasn't anyone…" The man's train of thought finally caught up, as he quickly shifted his head to check the rear view mirror, only to see nothing behind the truck. As fast as he could, the young man almost ripped the radio transmitter out of its compartment, dropping it while doing so but catching the thing again swiftly before it could reach the ground "What's going on, why the rush?" The man to his left asked with a louder and faster tone than during the rest of the trip, but Miller ignored him, pressing a button on the transmitter to turn it on and started speaking with more urgency than he ever had before "What the hell, guys, what's going on?" "What *is* going on?" The older man asked, again, to no response. After a few seconds, the radio transmitter made sound once more, while the driver paused the music, from it, a now much more natural, and deeper voice "This is 03, what are you talking about Escort? I… don't believe I understand." The rookie spoke swiftly "What else could I be talking about! Where the hell is the other van suddenly going?" The man to his left was shocked at this revelation, ignoring the road ahead to look at the man in a worrier astonishment. "What!? The other van's gone?" The voice in the radio remained much calmer, but also replied swiftly "Escort I'm still not sure I understand, there were no plans for the second squadron to split off, where are they currently?" "They split off on the other lane! … why aren't they replying?" 

In the commotion, neither the men in the truck nor the van could hear the sound of approaching, silenced chopper blades above and behind them. A stealth chopper approaching, made of a decently sized cockpit, with a rotor to each side of and one behind it. Even through the dark it could be seen, though its lights were off, it had graffiti paint covering it from nearly head to toe, some of it faintly glowing through the night sky. As it flew over the vehicles over the ground, between the truck and van, though much higher, and still out of sight, one side of it opened up, revealing five figures standing in the chopper, each different from the others, some towering over the others, some much smaller than the average, each of a different look, build, and mentality. In the centre stood a man covered nearly head to toe in leather, a tall scarf covering most of his face, a hat above it, leaving only his bright, white, eyes to be seen, along with the deep grey skin around them. On his hip, a black revolver in its holster. 

Four of the five figures grabbed onto a rope attached to the top of the chopper, causing mechanisms to extend and drop the ropes, only the small figure closest to the vans not dropping one down. "Ready?" The man in the centre asked, not that there was time to back out now. The others all responded in their own way, whether that be with a slightly enthusiastic "yup!" or just an affirming nod. The man didn't care either way, and started sliding down the rope, the gloves he was wearing protecting him from the friction burn. After him, the others followed, sliding or dropping down from the chopper. The man dropped down onto the roof of the van in front of the truck, along with the figure to his immediate right, the one furthest to the right dropping onto the roof as well, but quickly crashing into the driver's seat in the front. 

The figure that was to the man's immediate left swung a little further, landing next to the truck, and started sprinting at superhuman speeds, keeping up with the truck. From the inside, the rookie looked at both the spectacle in front of him and the supernatural event to his left "What the fuck!?" He let the radio drop and pulled out the pistol he had with him and started pointing it at the person to the truck's left "Be careful with that!" Said the man that was now uncomfortably close to the rookie's armed weapon, whilst still trying his best to remain calm and drive. As the rookie was taking aim, he heard a click next to his face, and saw from the side of his eye the barrel of a pistol. He turned his head a little, and saw from behind him a girl with faint, blue skin, and what was behind her, being able to somehow see through her slightly. The girl smiled at him while holding one gun to his head, and the other to his partner's "Drop it." The girl said, with a wide, innocent smile plastered on her face. The rookie took no time to make a decision, dropping the gun into his partner's lap and immediately raising his hands, the girl then softly tapped the man driving using the gun she held at his head. "And you, stop the car, geezer, and do it quickly please." Reluctantly, the man didn't even answer her, but slowly started slowing the truck down. The rookie however, did not stay quiet "How did you even get in here??" He was both confused and genuinely curious, combined of course, with the fear for his life. "Don't worry about it." The girl casually spoke, before looking towards the front of the truck, checking to see how the others were doing, but noticing the tablet first "Oh hey, I love that song!"

The man previously in the centre looked back at the truck for just a moment, making sure everything was going according to plan. "Looks like Red was right to be confident!" The giant figure of stone and rock next to him said, quite loudly, to make sure his friend could hear him. "I guess so." The man replied, again with more volume behind his voice than usual, before yelling even louder than that over to the other person going for the van. "How's it going, Nord?" The short figure that was now in the driver's seat yelled back up, barely, but just clearly enough being able to hear the men on top, "Well, to be honest I've been having some troubles recently, you know, separation and all that! I don't know if this is the best time to make small talk though!" On top of the van, the larger figure looked back at the covered man, unable to conceal his smile and clearly at the point of laughter, while the man just put his hand against his head for a moment and sighed, though nobody could hear. "I meant the plan, Nord!" The smaller figure at the driver's seat made a somewhat embarrassed face to himself "Right! Right! It's going fine so far, I haven't even had to-" He was cut off by a voice behind him in the van, on the other side of the steel wall and door separating him from those in the back "What the hell is going in there! Open the hell up!" Followed by hard knocking on the wall, by what Nord assumed to be from the same man the voice was coming from, and replied somewhat annoyedly "Oh shut up, ya posh bastard!" He yelled back, but not quite loud enough for the men on top of the van to hear. 

At this point the men on top of the van noticed that they were gaining distance on the truck. The larger figure on the van yelled into the van. "You gotta go a little further, Nord, this won't work if we're too close!" Soon hearing back from the man, "Alright! I'm ready, just give me the signal!" The larger figure looked back to his friend on the van, who was gesturing for him to wait on giving the signal, one hand raised and one finger raised from that hand, simultaneously drawing his gun from its holster with his other hand, and taking it off its safety. Once the truck was far enough away, and had nearly come to a complete halt, the man turned back at the towering figure next to him, and nodded. "Now, Nord!" The large figure yelled towards his friend inside of the vehicle. "Gotcha!" Nord did some final preparations and prayers for a moment, when a punch-shaped dent formed in the wall behind him, that would have definitely caused a concussion if not for his lack in height "Right." He said to himself. "3!" He yelled before pushing the vehicle to ho as hard as he could, "2!" As another dent formed in the wall, he adjusted his arms in preparation "Now!" He yelled before simultaneously jumping out the window as he turned the steering wheel with all his force, causing the van to turn at speeds it was not meant to, quickly flipping it, and making multiple rotations and impacts with the hard road before finally coming to a grinding halt. Nord was crouched on the road, but was helped upright by the towering figure, who had to bend down a lot to reach him. "Thanks." Nord said, then remained silent just like his two compatriots, while going over to the van that was now on its side at a jogging pace. After a few seconds, they got next to the back doors of the car, though not behind it, as the covered man yelled, addressing those inside. "Anyone still awake in there?" To no response, he continuer. "We're going to open the back of this van, if we see someone conscious and with their weapon raised, we will not hesitate to shoot. We are also not alone. If we are to get hurt, this whole damn van is getting blown up, do you understand?" For a short while, that felt a lot longer, there was silence, until a voice, seemingly feminine, but relatively deep, replied "Alright, I understand." The man looked at the giant figure behind him, and gave a quick nod, a signal for him to open the van up. The figure did so, grabbing one of the two doors with his large, stone hand, and looked inside, with his weapon, a large pistol, though a normal one relative to his size, raised. Inside of the van were four people, each covered in silverish grey metal armour with golden details, as well as a black visor in front of the eyes, though it could not be seen through from the other side. Three were laying on the ground, or the wall of the van, but one was crouched and had their hands on the back of their head. "Alright, stand up, keep those hands on your head and we won't have a problem." Said the large man. The only one still conscious obliged, slowly standing up and walking past their unconscious unit, and out of the van, with some difficulty. Once outside, the giant figure put their hands behind their back and cuffed them. "Any major injuries? Anything you saw on the others?" The person in the armour shook their head "No, aside from possible concussions I think our suits took most of the damage. Nothing looks obviously broken or pierced, maybe some blunt force trauma." The man had now walked back in front of her, and nodded his head "Alright, good." He looked back at the leader of the group, who was on the van with him earlier. "I think me and Nord have it from here, we'll tie 'em up and everything." The man didn't reply, simply nodding, then turning around and walking towards the truck, which was now quite far back. 

As the man approached, he started hearing music, getting louder the closer he got. He'd heard it before, but wasn't sure what its name was, he knew it was… out of tune? It sounded different than usual. Red was leaning against the truck, just looking at him approaching, as the man realised what was going on, he got near the truck's door, and had it confirmed, as he saw, and heard, his partner singing along with the Eagle from the radio, and the hostages. One, a younger lad that was singing somewhat nervously, but the other was singing as if he was at a concert, with no shame, no nerves, and was completely going along with the man's very silly ally. "Goddamnit, Anna." The man said to himself quietly, before knocking on the truck's door, interrupting the trio singing a lyric along the lines of "Last thing I remember!" As they stopped right after, the girl reached over to the dashboard, decreasing the music's volume, before reaching over, moving right through the driver's seat, to open the left door. "Yo, Oscar! Everything gone well?" The man stared at her for a moment before answering. "Aside from this…" He looked at the others in the truck and the dashboard. "…fiasco, yeah. Come on, get out here." The girl put her guns away in her pockets, and then slid over the driver's lap briskly. "Don't worry guys! Just a moment, then you guys can drive right over to the city and you'll be fine!" The man stopped in his tracks, as he was walking towards the back of the trailers already, and looked back. "What? No." Anna looked at him like a disappointed child. "Whaaat? Why not? I mean, they're nice." "Yeah, but remember how we had the cams rigged to make sure the footage wouldn't upload to protect our identities?" For a moment the girl visibly had to think, but then replied. "Yeah! But what does that have to do with it?" "If they get their hands back on this truck, it won't matter if the footage was uploaded or not, Anna." The girl had to think for a moment. "Ohhh, yeah" Then turned back to the men she was with. "Sorry, guys, looks like you'll have to walk." The men kinda sighed at this, disappointedly, and annoyed by the fact they'd have to walk a few miles to get back to the city. 

"Right," The man said, and started walking again, upon which both his cohorts started following closely behind. First, they walked to the back trailer, which had an electronic lock on it, the man pressed on a device in his ear, and after a few seconds, the lock opened up, after which the man opened the van's doors himself.. He stepped inside, and saw four steel crates separated from one another with a decent amount of space between each, around the same distance that a crate itself was, just about as he suspected. "Needle. The source was right." He held a long press on the device in his ear. "Layla, we've got it, you can circle back around now." A very quiet voice responded in his ear, too quiet for anyone but him to hear. "Anna, could you check the other trailer quickly, me and Red'll start getting this out." "Yes, sir!" The girl did a quick, poor, military salute, before heading out of the trailer and starting to walk towards the other. In the meantime, the man and Red started moving one metal crate out of the trailer one at a time, each carrying one side. "Maybe I should exercise with you more often, then we could do two at a time." Red just made an acknowledging sound without really saying anything. After getting one crate out, the pair was getting ready to go back in and take another one out when Anna called out behind her. "Oscar! You might want to come see this!" He was stunned for a moment, but decided to check on what Anna had found anyway. "Would you mind getting some of these out yourself in the meantime?" He asked. Red nodded and went back in as Oscar made his way over to the other trailer. 

"I swear if this is some kind of practical joke, Anna…" "Just come in and you'll see." Oscar opened the door of the trailer, it already having been unlocked because the other was as well, and stepped inside, having to raise his leg quite a bit to do so, but what was inside was not quite what he expected like with the last trailer. Instead of another four metal crates, there wasn't even one to be found inside. Instead, in the middle of the trailer was some kind of tube, with a green light emanating from the glass part of the top. "Do you know what this is, Oscar?" Anna looked at him, confused, but also a bit scared. "It looks… freaky…" Oscar didn't respond, he felt something weird radiating from the tube, something he hadn't felt in a long time, but it was… off. "Stand back." Anna was a little surprised at this "You think this is more dangerous for me than it is for you? Seriously?" The man nodded silently, now standing over the tube. "Alright…" Anna, though somewhat reluctantly, just stepped through the side of the van. Oscar took a good look at the tube and saw what seemed to be the button to open it, on the side, and he pressed it, as expected the tube slid open, the top sliding into the side. Inside, Oscar saw him, white hair, lengthened ears, and in completely white, plain clothes, aside from a black logo on the shirt made of two trees with roots connecting them to form an "N"