Spoilers: Takes place pre-series and before my other pre-series stories, Dedication and Consecration, but it is not necessary to read them to understand this one.

A/N: The idea for this came about from a story by Celticgal1041, who has generously allowed me to quote the part of hers which inspired mine. The quote made me wonder what kinds of stories Magnum told Robin Masters, and whether or not the man rejected any of the ideas for sounding too implausible to be in the book he wanted to write.

.

ooooooo

"Nah," [T.C.] countered. "Coulda had 'em hover and lower a basket. White Knight always travels in style."

Rick barked out a breathless laugh. "You sure you want to give Robin more ideas for this heroic idiot?"

~~~~~ Celticgal1041, "Coping Strategies" (Chapter 9).

ooooooo

Chapter One: Flight of Fancy

_ Dam, _, 20—*

Thomas hated this plan.

The problem with hating the plan was that he was the one who had come up with it in the first place.

It had come to him in a flight of fancy during a strategy session, and he'd made the mistake of jokingly mentioning it to one of the brass. Unfortunately, the man happened to think it was the best idea to infiltrate a place that was nigh on impenetrable, and since he was the highest ranking officer on site, Magnum had been stuck figuring out how to make it work. He'd tried to change their minds, convince them just how crazy the idea was, but to no avail.

At the time he'd made the suggestion, he'd not given any thought towards what would be needed to actually accomplish it, but suddenly he'd had to. The window to complete the mission was relatively short, and beyond a specific kind of harness and rope, he had no idea what else was required.

Thankfully, they'd had enough time to get someone qualified on base to teach him what he needed to know to get the job done. He learned what to do, but he still had doubts his plan would actually work.

There were simply too many unknowns that weren't easily accounted for. Would the rail he would be attaching his rig to hold up under the strain he was going to be putting it under? Would the modified gun he'd been given to anchor his descent work? Would the projectile be able to penetrate the concrete and hold on long enough?

And now, after hours and hours of preparation, here he was on top of a dam in _, hoping a flight of fancy wouldn't become a long fall to his death.

On high alert and hiding in a stand of trees and bushes close to his target, Thomas scanned the area before him with just his eyes before going over the same area once again with a small pair of binoculars. No cameras were visible, though that didn't mean there weren't any. Only two guards were on duty in a small booth. They'd relieved the previous duo over an hour ago, and were already looking bored to tears and were reading instead of keeping an eye out for intruders.

It seemed intel was correct about his target; they really weren't very worried about infiltration from above, despite the maintenance access road that stretched across the top of the structure. However, given his surroundings, it really wasn't feasible to infiltrate from above – unless you had a crazy idea like his.

Thomas waited until the sun had barely dipped behind the mountain, which left him just enough light to accomplish his mission while also hopefully keeping him from easily being seen as he made his way across.

Wearing grey camo in order to blend into his surroundings, he slowly crept past the guard booth, having to pause mid-stride for several heart-pounding moments when one of the men shifted in his seat and looked up before resuming reading his book. After passing the guard station, Thomas looked back and was relieved to see the guards had yet to notice his existence, which was a very good thing. He could only pray his luck would continue. The farther he went across the dam, the more likely he would be spotted and either captured or killed, though the stunt he was about to pull could just as easily kill him. Either way, he was committed to doing his best to get the job done.

At the midway point, he stopped and pulled out his binoculars, using them to check if the guards he'd bypassed had noticed his presence. From what he could tell, they hadn't, but he couldn't be absolutely certain he hadn't been detected by some other means. The fact that no one was rushing towards him with gun in hand was a good sign, but his situation could change at any moment, and he hoped it wouldn't when he enacted the next phase of his idiotic, dangerous plan. Mentally, he cursed himself out for even daring to joke about something as important as a mission where lives depended on a successful outcome.

Magnum carefully set up the rigging as quickly and as quietly as possible, often glancing around to make sure his six was still secure. When he was finished, he checked and double-checked the rigging and other equipment to make sure everything was exactly as it was supposed to be. Once that was done, he took several deep cleansing breaths before standing up, adjusting his goggles, and climbing over the guard rail. He then pulled out his modified gun with its special grip, and double checked it was ready. He'd done HALO jumps* from much higher altitudes, but Magnum couldn't help feeling more apprehensive than what was usual for him during a mission. After one last deep breath and a final check of his surroundings, Thomas jumped.

The rush of the air roaring past him, the feeling of free falling, and the burst of adrenaline as a result were very familiar to him, yet he knew he couldn't let those things interfere with his concentration. There had been no time to test his plan, and he'd had to rely on the description of others who had taken the plunge in the past to describe to him the point at which he needed to act. When he felt that first instance of tension in the rope, he readied the Batman-inspired gun he'd been provided. With the ground rushing towards him at a speed that would make anyone beyond nervous, Thomas aimed and fired.

Miraculously, Magnum timed everything just right and the gun not only fired but its grappling hook projectile did what it was supposed to do by penetrating the concrete below him and keeping the recoil from the rope from carrying him back upwards. Thankful for the special handgrip which kept him from letting go of the gun when the rope tried to force him back up towards where he started from, Thomas let out a relieved breath of air and closed his eyes for a brief moment.

When he opened them again, he pressed a button on the side of the gun, which started slowly pulling him towards the ground. Once he reached a safe distance from the ground, he anchored the gun to his rigging and started to release himself from the rope which had perfectly served its purposed. As he did so, he kept an eye on his surroundings in order to make sure he had not been discovered after the stunt he had just pulled.

Once both of his feet were safely on the ground, and his gear was secured, Magnum pulled his regular weapon, took the safety off, and—

"DING! DING! DING!"

Brought back to the present by the annoying sound his friend had just made, Thomas asked, "What was that for?"

"That was my B.S. detector going off," Robin said.

"B.S. detector?" Magnum said, beginning to feel annoyed by the journalist sitting across the table from him. Robin Masters had asked them to relay what they could of past missions in order to get some more inspiration for a series of books he was thinking of writing. Granted, he'd had to leave out classified details, but everything he had said was the truth as he was able to tell it.

Robin chuckled. "Yeah. It goes off when someone is putting forth a bunch of B.S."

"But it's not. I've told you everything exactly as it happened. Well…everything not classified as it happened."

"So you're telling me"—Robin sat forward and stared at him—"that you bungee jumped off of some dam in some country* and then used a grappling hook that would make James Bond drool to help you make it the rest of the way down to the ground."

Magnum shrugged his shoulders and nodded as he said, "That's what happened."

"Oh come on!" Masters said, still looking incredulous. "You can't be serious! Rick man, this is some sort of joke you came up with, isn't it?"

Rick grinned and lifted his hands in surrender, but Magnum could see signs of annoyance on the man's face. "That was a little before my time, man."

"T.C.?"

T.C. shrugged. "Mine too."

"Nuzo, then. Was that really what happened?" Robin asked.

Nuzo scratched the back of his neck and then rubbed his hand over his shaved head before resting it on the table before him. "I didn't actually see him jump, but I was there when the higher ups chose that method to have him infiltrate the site. Besides, I don't need any proof he bungee jumped to complete a mission. He's my brother, and his word is good enough for me."

Magnum nudged Nuzo's shoulder and smiled as he held out his fist, which the older man immediately bumped with his own before grinning. It never ceased to amaze him just how much faith his brother had in him. Thomas was further bolstered by Rick and T.C.'s swift agreement with Nuzo's words. The two men hadn't known him as long, but it was obvious they trusted him and his word.

Robin sat back in his seat and muttered, "Well, I'll be damned."

Thomas was about to roll his eyes at the lame pun he'd heard, when he twigged to the fact Robin had no clue what he'd just accidentally said. The idea struck him funny and he started laughing out loud.

As his friends tried to make him tell them why he was laughing, Magnum realized he hadn't this good a laugh since he'd been deployed to Iraq. He was a little disappointed in Robin Masters for not believing his story, but in return for the gift of a good laugh, he was willing to tell the man another one. Thomas was looking forward to Robin finding out bungee jumping off of a dam wasn't the craziest thing he has ever done for a mission.

ooooooo

Story Notes:

"_ Dam, _, 20—" – The blanks regarding date and locations are on purpose. They are to stress the information Thomas is unable to share with Robin Masters due the classified nature of the mission.

HALO jump – One of two methods of high-altitude military parachuting. HALO stands for high altitude-low opening, and is a technique where the parachutist opens the parachute at a low altitude after free-falling for a period of time. (Definition from Wikipedia)

"bungee jumped off of some dam in some country" – The stunt Magnum pulls off was inspired by the opening sequence of the movie Goldeneye (1995) with Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. The real life dam is called Contra Dam (also known as Verzasca Dam or Locarno Dam), and is located in Ticinio, Switzerland. It is 720 feet (220 meters) high, but it is not the highest commercial bungee jump possible today.

ooooooo

The end.

ooooooo

.

A/N: I keep going back and forth as to whether or not this is a one shot or a multi-chapter story. For now, I'm marking it complete, but you never know what ideas might come to me in the future.

Many thanks to Celticgal1041 for proofing. Any remaining mistakes are my fault.

Thanks for reading!

*Please do not repost or use this or any of my other works on another site or app without my knowledge or consent. This site and Archive of Our Own (AO3) are the only two sites (as AZGirl on both) where my fiction should be posted. Thank you!