At the very front of the Cornerian lines an atmospheric gunship touched down just long enough to unload the soldiers it had been carrying along with Bill and Katt. Fox leapt down from his perch by the open deployment door and absorbed the impact of the landing in his knees. Behind him the last few commandos hit the ground and the gunship flew off over the city, drawing a half-hearted burst of fire from the Brotherhood lines across the ruined city square. Fox raised a pair of binoculars and peered out at the desolate no man's land that separated the two forces, instinctively ducking as a Brotherhood artillery shell exploded nearby. The former city square was now empty and filled with rubble and debris of all shapes and sizes, with the occasional cluster of razor wire or a ruined hover car, and while he couldn't see them there were without a doubt Brotherhood soldiers entrenched in the ruined buildings on the far side.

"Brotherhood snipers are going to have the area pretty well staked out, and even if we were to get past them we don't know how many soldiers they have over there, any ideas?"

Krystal produced a map from a pocket in the camo's she was wearing.

"According to these there should be a series of underground tunnels underneath here that the Brotherhood might not know about."

"The sewers?"

"Yeah."

"That'll do."

Krystal pointed to a manhole cover not far from where they were standing.

"That's the one we want."

"All right marines we're moving out."

One of the commandos pried the cover from its resting place and dropped into the dark tunnel below followed one by one by his comrades. Fox stifled his nose against the smell and slid down the ladder, dropping into the darkness.

The vulpine mercenary landed knee deep in very dirty looking water. Fox moved and moments later Krystal landed in the spot he had just vacated. As the blue-furred vixen moved aside to allow the next volunteer to come down Fox's eyes began to adjust to the dim lighting as he surveyed his new surroundings. The tunnel was lit by dim service lights hanging on the walls that looked as if the would be hard pressed to illuminate an area half the size of this one and some of the commandos had turned on the flashlights that had been built into the muzzles of their assault weapons. The walls were crusted with grime and some kind of heavy green fungus and were marred by the occasional graffiti, though the reason why anyone would've ever have been down here to write it was beyond him. The last of the commando dropped down into the tunnel and someone up on the street returned the manhole cover to its place. Krystal consulted the map and pointed in the direction they needed to go. With Fox and Krystal in the lead the small group of Cornerian volunteers began to wade through the sewage-filled water in the direction that should take them underneath the Brotherhood lines. As they passed a point where their tunnel intersected another one Fox caught a glimpse of a group of some kind of rat-like creature scurrying for shelter as the bright beams of light swept the tunnel and wondered just how often this place had been maintained before the war. As they rounded a corner Fox heard a mechanical whirring and the commando behind called out a warning.

"Don't move, be very still!"

Fox caught sight of the offending object; it was some kind of cylindrical pod on a small tripod and was studded with small lenses and what appeared to be sensors. The pod swiveled towards him and Fox froze and tried to hold, as still as possible as the lens lit up. The pod continued to rotate and search for the source of the motion for at least twenty seconds before closing down again. As the probe went dormant the commando behind Fox removed some kind of ball shaped device from a pocket on his uniform and flung it at the probe, it clung to the sensor pod and an electrical current surged over the probe, Fox let out his breath.

"If anyone was watching it'll look like it malfunctioned."

"What was that thing, some kind of sentry drone?"

"Looks like it, the Brothe's must've left it here."

"Seems like a pretty ineffective way to protect this tunnel."

"Maybe they don't know it leads all the way to our territory, or maybe it's all they can spare."

Bill looked at the dormant device and then at the roof of the tunnel.

"If the Brotherhood put this thing here than we must be close to their territory."

Fox struggled to keep his balance as a thundering rattling sound filled the tunnel, shaking the maintenance lights and creating miniature waves in the dirty water, as the ceiling seemed to shake to the point where it would collapse. Just as Fox thought his teeth would be shaken from his skull the sound and shaking began to recede and a commando spoke up.

"Damn, that sounded like a whole frickin battalion rolling over our heads."

"It probably was."

Fox pulled a small fiber optic probe no thicker than a twig from his equipment belt and waded over to a small storm drain. He connected the long, snake-like probe to a small handheld display screen and cautiously fed it through the grating and turned the probe in several directions while watching what the probe saw on the screen. He could see a war torn street with Brotherhood troops swarming about it. A platoon of Brotherhood soldiers ran down the sidewalk at a brisk pace, a pair of medics sat eating MRE's on the curb, and rapidly fading into the distance Fox could see the backside of one of the lumbering APCs that had shaken the tunnel so badly just moments before. He withdrew the probe, and replaced it and the display screen on his belt.

"We're here alright but we might wanna find a better place to get topside."

Wolf O'Donnell removed the equipment belt from the dead Brotherhood soldier and fastened it around the waste of his newly procured uniform. He tossed the soldier's body into a nearby dumpster and walked out of the alley, reflecting on the soldier's stupidity. The bastard had been confident enough in the area's security to go into a back alley to urinate, and had paid the price. Wolf walked past a pair of medics sitting on the curb and waited for a group of APCs to pass by before crossing the street. If he was lucky no one would pay him much attention and he could find a way to get across the lines to the Cornerian controlled section of the city and maybe kill a few more Brothe's while he was at it. As he passed a squat fenced in bunker that had once been a shelter for civilians a series of screams and shouts drew his attention. A group of at least thirty black-clad Brotherhood soldiers were wrestling a larger group of hapless Cornerian citizens into a pair of waiting APCs. He would've liked to help them but had no wish to get himself killed doing something stupid and merely noted the strange winged dagger insignia that was emblazoned on the right arm sleeve of each soldiers uniform. Wolf pulled the canteen from his belt as he walked down another back alley and took a few gulps of cold water, maybe he could find some kind of map or schematic of the area that would help him find a way across the no man's land. As he passed a manhole cover it suddenly popped open and a pair of hands grabbed his boots, yanking his feet out from under him. Wolf tried to kick his feet free as a green clad figure burst out of the manhole cover, tackling him and trying to draw a combat knife across his throat. Wolf wrenched the blade away from his throat and grabbed soldier's arm while hooking his foot around the soldier's leg then spun and threw him to the ground. As the soldier tried to get up Wolf recognized the uniform as some kind Cornerian special forces… wait Cornerian then why were they…

"Ahh shit, the uniform."

A second figure leapt up from the manhole cover with a weapon in hand just as Wolf drew the sidearm from his stolen equipment belt. Wolf brought his gun arm up and toward his new attacker just as the soldier brought his own weapon to bear and they both found themselves staring down the barrel of their opponent's weapon. The two combatants stood there with their weapons trained on each other's faces, neither one firing, neither one moving. Wolf stared into his opponents face, but wait it couldn't be.

The first commando leapt out onto the street after catching the lone Brotherhood soldier off guard. Fox leapt up a moment latter with a pistol drawn to find the commando on the ground. The vulpine mercenary brought the muzzle of his silenced pistol up and trained it at point blank on the Brotherhood soldier's face. Fox finally got a good look at his opponents face and his eyes went wide, his opponent obviously shared his disbelief.

"Wolf? What the hell are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you the same question."

Slowly, warily the two mercenaries lowered their weapons but didn't take their gaze off each other. As the rest of the team climbed out of the small hole in the ground and the manhole cover was put back in place Fox spoke again.

"If you make any noise or do anything stupid than we're all going to get killed and unless you've suddenly joined the Brotherhood, which I doubt than you'll be just as dead, any questions?"

"Yeah, what took you guys so long, I mean we're on the same side right?"

"I think so."

Everyone winced and instinctively ducked as a pair of Banshees flew by overhead.

"Come on, we should get moving."