Adam checked the straps. The shoulder and waist ones were securely tightened. Then he checked the braces that secured the air tank to his arm and put on the mask and goggles. Finally, he made sure the pressurized air tank for the rivet driving tool was attached.

The tool and its tank had been secured by his side. The tank was under his left side and the rivet driver on the right. The weight of them would only slow the jetpack down if he went at low speeds, so it was good that Adam expected to push the engines hard. They did throw the balance off, forcing him to further adjust the steering.

A large hook was on the front of the tool, modified so it would be embedded deeply when the rivet driver was used. This was a part of the plan.

Once all the checks were done, Adam hit the ignition button. Then he spoke into the radio headset that had been placed into his mask, to allow communication while in the air.

"Role check. Adam, ready for launch. Over."

"Tom, taking a break to clip my toenails and wash my hair. Over."

"Brittney ready. Quit being a pansy, Tom, or we'll shave your head. Let's get our asses into the sky already. Over."

"Lucas ready. Take this seriously, Tom. You wanted to be here. Over."

"Fine, fine. I was just kidding. Thanks for including me, boss. Over."

"Central here. The trucks are ready, and the chains are elevated onto the towers. Distraction sites, status check."

From there, twelve other people spoke in turn. Most were doing fine while one was having electrical issues with their control board. Adam wasn't especially concerned if one went down, but if multiple stopped, then it would leave those in the air as the targets. Thinking about the Drathan targeting him if the distraction failed really didn't concern him either, but it would make everything more difficult.

It took a few more minutes of idling before both Tom and the struggling distraction site were ready.

"All checks, ready," said Adam. "Central, count down the distraction. Once it begins, we'll get in the air. Stay safe, everyone."

The coordination then began. They had waited until it was twilight. The sky was mostly set and only a hazy gray light showed in the western sky. It wouldn't be long until the darkness overtook them.

Generators with powerful spotlights had been set up all around the region. Alchemical fuel would keep them running longer than gasoline would have by itself. The lights wouldn't reach far enough to show any incoming flying beasts, nor were they powerful enough for the jetpack pilots to see the bottom of the floating base. The Rift Menu displays were set up to magnify the edges of the Drathan base to notify them of enemies.

The pilots had head lamps that they could activate, although they weren't strong enough to see far in front of them, so they still needed some light in the sky. The spotlights were mostly there to let the pilots know from the air where the significant locations were on the ground.

Adam might not look like it to those on standby from his launch location, but he was nervous about this operation. There were plenty of points that could fail. Lots could go wrong while they only had minimal redundancy.

On the flip side, riding a jetpack to fight against dragon riders to conquer a floating island was the coolest thing he had done yet since the [System] arrived. A fact Brittney hadn't stopped talking about over the last few days. She couldn't be more excited about it.

"Countdown to distraction. Begin in 10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1…godspeed!"

Hissing and sizzling sounds followed thin streaks of smoke as fireworks shot into the air at 12 different locations. They weren't directly where the pilots would be traveling, so there was less chance of getting hit. Not that pre-[System] fireworks could hurt either the jetpacks or the pilots.

Colors bloomed in the sky, accompanied by the typical explosion booms. The sound was muted by the protection gear Adam had on, but the fireworks were still hard to miss.

"Jetpacks, launch at will."

Adam throttled his engines. The turbines inside spun as the heat behind him increased. Not waiting to hover or gradually increase in speed, Adam put his feet on the ground, bent down, then kicked himself into the air.

The jetpack picked up speed quickly. Adam heard the air whiz by more than he felt it, with the leather wingsuit protecting his skin. Honestly, he would have liked to feel the movement on his skin more than just the sense of gravity in his head.

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The four pilots were all spread out over miles, so he didn't hear or see his friends. He would focus on his part and trust his team to accomplish theirs.

Looking towards his targeted area, Adam sped upwards and forwards. The jetpacks didn't leave as much smoke as the fireworks, and Adam kept his head lamp off as long as he could see from the firework bursts around him.

"This is bulwark 3. We have movement," came a voice from the radio.

"Number of enemies?" asked the operator from Central.

"Bulwark 3. Fifteen emerging."

"Bulwark 5. We see about two dozen."

"Bulwark 8. We have about twenty from this side too, with more coming. The dragons seem hesitant every time fireworks go off. Can't see the riders' expressions."

"Central. Did they notice our flyers?"

"Negative," said the comms from Bulwark 8. "They seem confused and unsure whether they should descend."

"Central. Snipers are authorized to shoot if they come in range."

While he vaguely listened to the radio chatter, Adam flew forward at a fast speed. The base was estimated at 800 feet in the air. It would take only a short moment to get there.

As Adam grew close to the underside of the floating base, he switched on his head lamp. It was mostly shadows under the base, so Adam used a Rift display to try to find a solid-looking rock outcropping. Once he found a sturdy looking piece of ground, he headed towards it.

Letting go of the steering control in his right hand, Adam pulled out the rivet driver. The balance was thrown off, so he used his own body movements to try and stabilize. Steering without the controller wasn't perfect. In truth, it was so far from perfect that he grabbed the steering with his left hand after reducing the propulsion.

Inertia took him forward towards the target as his speed slowed to one where he wouldn't crash hard. Then he used [Kinetic Impact] on the end of the rivet driver and on his left hand.

Even though his speed was cut, Adam was still moving quite fast towards the bottom of the floating base. His agility and intelligence were high enough that he was able to time the collision. Right as he was impacting, he thrust out the rivet driver and fired a big rivet into the ground. There was a burst of power from the device, like a much more powerful nail gun. Adam wasn't confident he would have been able to use this before getting his strength stat up. The long rivet embedded into the ground, attaching the large hook to the bottom of the base.

At the same time, Adam used his left hand to absorb the momentum from the jetpack. Unlike when he fell, he couldn't use [Arc Shockwave] because it would have destroyed where the hook was placed. Then Adam opened the spigot of power using [Soul and Body Shaping], pushing off with great force before closing the power again.

He flipped in the air, nearly losing control of the jetpack and definitely losing his sense of up and down. The rivet driver was dropped. Since the air powering tank was still attached to the jetpack, the tool swung around, making it extra difficult for Adam.

The steering control was switched to his right hand, and then Adam grabbed the speed controller with his left. By that time, he was moving at a slower speed straight down as the jetpack spun. Even while he spun and tried to straighten out, he spoke into the radio.

"Adam here. Hook planted and marked. Turn on my tower light. Over."

"Affirmative. Blue tower, light up."

From a distance, Adam saw a flicker of a blue light. He increased his speed and aimed his descent for the light. With the speed he was able to operate these jetpacks, it didn't take him long before he reached it.

Before Adam flew over the light, he dropped the engine propulsion until he was almost hovering. Then he drifted above the light, reached down, and with both hands grabbed the end of the chain. Even with the runes to reduce its weight he still felt a jerk that nearly yanked him out of the sky.

"Damn! The chain is harder to grab than I expected," he swore into the radio.

"No kidding," said Brittney's voice. "Next time I demand a smaller jetpack. It's seriously too large for my arms. I had to use barriers to get the hook in. Still need to grab my chain."

"I guess Lamario should have gone instead of you," teased Tom. "I'm approaching my chain now."

"Keep it professional over the radio," said Lucas. Then with a hint of playfulness he gloated, "I had no trouble with the hook."

"Freaking giant," complained Brittney.

Throughout the whole flight, fireworks continued to be launched all over the region. The Drathan were trying to figure out the purpose of the colorful and noisy explosions while staying above the sniping range. The flying beasts seemed more acclimated to the sounds and light now.

Adam's movements were a lot slower as he held the chain while controlling the jetpack. No matter how hard he gunned the engine, this flight was taking a lot more time, even though they had plotted the flight path for the easiest drop off.

"Bulward 4 here. Hostiles are breaking off their circling and are moving towards green pilot."

"Damn, the beasties spotted me," said Tom. "Let's see what I can do. [What's not There]!"

Adam tried pushing his engines harder, but his speed barely increased. He was almost at his hook when the radio delivered more bad news.

"Bulwark 4. The illusion didn't cover the whole chain. It looked like attack spells are incoming."

"Central. All snipers protect the pilots!"

"Bulwark 5. All the hostiles in range seem to be changing course."

Concern could be heard from the voices on the radio. Adam growled without realizing it, and everyone heard it. He felt anger and a smidgeon of fear trigger his heat, pulsing it through his body. Remembering his previous fight with the Drathan, Adam felt the river triggering. Even though the power was coming to him, there was no way to use that while he was still in the jetpack.

"Adam here. Get the backup plan ready near blue tower! I'll be heading over soon."

"Yes, sir!" said the voice from the blue tower.

Adam really didn't want to go to the backup plan. It was dangerous and didn't compensate for mistakes. Instead, it was a switch from trying to finesse this assault to going straight to violence.

When Adam reached the hook he had planted, he didn't need to slow the jetpack much. The end link of the chain he dragged was linked onto the hook. Before letting go, since Adam was already gunning the engine, he turned himself to face the new blue light that had appeared near the ground.

Then he was rocketing towards the light, ready to fight back.

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