Floating. That's what Handong felt like, floating in the thin desert air like a feather as she slowly drifted down to earth. She had lost sight of her co-pilot in the chaos that ensued after their Phantom went down.

Her descent didn't take very long as she had bailed out at low altitude. Within the span of two minutes, she hit the desert sand, landing a couple hundred yards away from the Phantom, which somehow made a belly landing in a sand dune. Overhead, she made out the silhouette of a pair of F-5Es, circling overhead, as if to confirm her position.

She was confident that rescue would be coming within the hour, since they were still in range of friendly aircraft, aka the rest of Outlaw squadron. Someone must have already radioed Commander Vashtal to send over a rescue chopper. But there was still the possibility of rebel soldiers attempting to reach the crash site before rescue arrived. 

Drawing her pistol, she racked the slide back, ensuring there was a round in its chamber before she slowly made her way over to the crumpled remains of the Phantom. The recon pod was ripped off in the crash and her first thought was to get the film canisters out. 

She approached the half-buried pod in the sand, reaching down and pulling her knife from its scabbard on her thigh. She pried open the panels, shooting the knife a glare after as its tip bent after opening all two panels, then tossed the now-useless knife aside, reaching into the recon pod after and ripping out both the film canisters, silently wishing that the cameras had memory cards instead as the proof on film of the destruction she and Taehyun wreaked on the enemy air base would now be wiped out by the heat.

There we go. She stuffed the canisters in the pockets of her flight suit, then turned back towards the Phantom, her pistol raised.

-

Something moved out of the corner of her eye and she shot at it out of reflex. Immediately, Taehyun slowly stepped forwards, both hands raised slightly. Handong heaved a sigh of relief as she lowered her pistol, switching the safety on before sliding the gun back into its holster

"What was that I told you about not shooting friendly pilots." He cocked an eyebrow, before breaking into a chuckle, only for her to respond with a scoff.

"And you should know not to make any sudden movements. I could have frigging killed you right here."

Taehyun shrugged before climbing into the rear cockpit, rummaging around before emerging a few moments later, a walkie talkie in hand as he fiddled with the dials, trying to get on to the radio frequency the squadron used.

"Hey can any of you bastards hear us?"

"Yo buddy, still alive?" Hanbin's voice replied back, distorted by static as Taehyun then climbed on top of the Phantom's spine, intending to get better reception.

"Alive and well. You S.O.Bs called for rescue yet?" 

"Hang tight. I've already called it in. The chopper should be there within the hour."

-

"You know, you never told me why you ended up here. And why you're known as the anarchist." Handong glanced over at her co-pilot, her hands fiddling around with her pistol, her fingers running all over it to ensure dust and sand hadn't built up in the weapon. Taehyun watched with a detached curiosity as he reached into his suit pocket, pulling out a cigarette, then lighting it as he inhaled deeply.

"Me?" Another chuckle.  "See, I am of the opinion that wars like the one we're in now are often started cause the idiots in charge are too busy pandering to the ignorants on both sides of the political spectrum. And they'll do whatever it takes to pull the wool over the peoples' eyes. Like starting wars. There's also those who'd rather settle on using bullets rather than the negotiating table. And that's how I got thrown in here. By accidentally shouting about it and one of the officers decided to throw me in the brig."

Muffled explosions boomed in the distance, punctuated by the screaming sounds of jets making high speed passes overhead. The raid was already under way and to the two pilots, it seemed like the other mercenaries seemed to be doing well minus one plane.

Handong racked the slide of her pistol back, then released it with a loud click. "Talking like that back in the PLAAF is guaranteed to have the MPs take you away and make you 'disappear'. You got me thinking of why I ran."

"Do share."

It was Handong's turn to draw in a deep breath before speaking.

"As any patriotic member of the People's Liberation Army, Air Force or Navy, I signed up for this so I could defend China's air space and borders. Not get sent to intervene in some backwater country's civil war so the victors can sell us resources we already have in the northern provinces. Yet here we are, getting involved in another country's civil war."

A sly grin crossed Taehyun's lips, Handong's words further proving his point. 

"Ironic eh? But such is life for vultures like us. See, corrupt governments and marred lands are not worth protecting any more in this day and age. There's one only thing worth fighting for now."

That being?"

"Survival. Do whatever it takes to survive."

-

The sun had started to set as the thumping drone of helicopter blades interrupted the conversation. An unarmed helicopter, bearing the markings of the Asranian Royal Air Force slowly hovered into position over the two pilots, kicking up a gust of sand-filled wind as it touched down, both Handong and Taehyun slowly making their way over.

The flight back was uneventful. Taehyun had dozed off while Handong stared out the window, watching the rapidly-setting sun. The soldiers in the seats next to them had managed to destroy what was left of their fighter before the helicopter had taken off.

The next couple hours after they landed went by in a flash. The film was handed over and quickly processed. The bounties for the day were quickly paid. Debriefing went on. And on. 

And somehow Handong found herself playing cards again with the Outlaws over dinner. Hanbin was the one dealing the cards this time. And of course besides her, there was four others, again. 

"Where's Junhoe?" She had asked, looking up from her hand. All five cards happened to be an ace-of-hearts, king, queen, jack and ten-of-hearts. A royal flush, it was called. She glanced at the others, hiding her smirk, almost chuckling at the sight of Mino passed out, slumping back in his chair.

"Him?" Hanbin didn't even look up as he took a bite out of his ration, then winced at the taste before forcing himself to swallow it. "The hotshot's in solitary again."

"What for?" 

"Desertion. Again. They tried to shoot him as soon as he landed but the bastard lived again." And Taehyun laughed as if on cue, handing over a wad of damp notes to Hanbin. Taehyun knew Handong would somewhow game everyone out of their cash as she did last week and he played it smart by not joining the game.

"If I had 1000 dollars each time Mr. Hotshot tries to run, I'd have bought out my contract by now."

"Think it was either Hanbin or those two mercs from America who tried to shoot him down first." Chanwoo had a pair of aces and 3 random cards in his hand, confident he would beat the Chinese pilot this time.

-

"And I win again." Handong placed her cards on the table, drawing a collective groan from Hanbin and Chanwoo as they got outplayed again for the third time that night. She had decided to fold after, letting Chanwoo deal the cards again between him and Hanbin.

"So. You guys never told me what you all were in here for." She took a swig from the can in her hand, downing its contents before tossing it aside. Hanbin glanced over, before turning his attention back to his cards. 

"Me? You know me as the hacker. I got caught digging into some things I shouldn't have looked at. Real sensitive information aparently. Then of course I got caught since I used one of the base's computers to do so." He threw his cards down at the same time as Chanwoo, then pumped his fist, seeing as his poker hand was a much higher rank than Chanwoo's. Chanwoo had decided that enough was enough and folded, walking off to his bunk while grumbling about his luck. 

"Taehyun's probably told you his story. As for Junhoe, well he got tricked by a rival of his into signing up with the Asranian Foreign Legion. Just like that Shin Kazama dude."

"At least that Kazama guy was smart enough to bust his to pay off his contract. While that er Chanwoo. Aha. Tossed in with us after he tried to scam the base commander." Taehyun butted in with a laugh, taking a seat next to Hanbin as he downed a swig of water that tasted like there was salt in it. 

"As for Mino.." Hanbin continued, his expression darkening slightly. "Despite his ish-ness, he's actually a good guy. He's from the Korean Air Force, unlike the rest of us who are freelancer pilots. But he mixed with the wrong people. He was best buddies with some rich kid, whose old man was some high ranking triad member. Don't remember what happened exactly but rich kid ended up framing Mino for murder. And the poor bugger didn't want to deal with the ensuing mess, seeing as how that kid had cops, judges and even lawyers under his payroll. And so he thought it would be easier to run. Then he got thrown in the penal unit cause Commander Vashtal somehow got wind of his wanted status back in Korea and didn't look deep enough into it."

Handong was silent for a bit, a sense of empathy overcoming her as she took in Hanbin and Taehyun's words. She drew in a breath as well before speaking.

"Taehyun knows why I ran from the PLAAF. And I am sure he's spilled the beans to you guys. But I didn't tell him the full story." To which Taehyun raised an eyebrow as Handong reached into the pocket of her flight suit, pulling out a data drive, tossing it over to Hanbin who then caught it in his palms.

"And this is?" He glanced down at the drive, then at the Chinese pilot.

"This contains some information that's even more sensitive than whatever you saw that got you thrown in here. There's plans for a top secret PLAAF project in this thing. I stole this the night before I ran. This very project is the other reason I decided to desert. The security protocols on these drives make them automatically encrypt themselves after removal from their terminal. And you're gonna help me decrypt this."

"But what reason do you have for trusting me with this?" Hanbin enquired, examining the data drive before passing it to a now curious Taehyun who then passed it back.

"One, I know you're not gonna simply blab about it over an open channel or to anyone in earshot. Two. The fact that you're the hacker means you're probably the only one who can figure out how to decrypt this. Three, I'm the only person on this base who can help you make heads or tails of the information on the drive." And to emphasise her point, she slid over half of her earnings from the previous game over to Hanbin, whose lips parted in a sly grin.

"Well. You have a deal then."