The camp they had set up before coming to retrieve Mallory was exactly where they had left it, proving the tunnels were still a well-kept secret. Canard reached into a large pack as the other three sat down wherever the concrete looked mostly dry.

"Dude, I'm beat," Nosedive lamented, pulling a boot off to rub his foot. "My shoes have no tread to be damned."

Canard, pulling out a large canister of water, unlatched the wide cap and took a swig. "Once we gather everyone, I have a base with supplies we can use to prepare." After his drink he handed the canister to Wildwing.

"Where are we heading next?" Wildwing asked, also taking a drink from the canister.

"Mallory was the farthest out. Tomorrow we'll be retrieving Duke and Tanya."

"Who're they?" Nosedive asked. Wildwing handed the canister of water to Mallory.

"Duke L'Orange—"

Mallory coughed on her water. "The mob leader?" she spat, handing the canister to Nosedive as she continued to cough. "You can't be serious, sir."

Canard sighed, sitting down on a concrete block that had become dislodged from the floor. "He's been helping the military out a lot, actually. The Brotherhood of the Blade has essentially dissolved since the Invasion. Most are either caught, fending for themselves like anyone else lucky enough to not be imprisoned, or using their skills to fight alongside us." Mallory looked ready to say something else, but Canard added: "Look, I was pretty wary at first, too. But the duck's legit: I have multiple sources confirming the missions he's helped on, and he's since been pardoned. Ducks can change, McMallard."

"From what I recall they usually only change for the worse, sir."

Canard and Mallory were tensely silent as they stared at one another. Canard finally answered with, "Lieutenant, unless you have someone else that isn't military in mind, I suggest you stop questioning my decisions." The words were simple but the tone was icy.

Mallory continued to remain silent as the two ducks had their staring battle. With her knees bent up, she rested her arms on top of them and finally averted her gaze. "Yes, sir," was all she responded with.

"So is Tanya his mob lover or something?" Nosedive quickly changed the subject, drinking from the water canister.

Canard sighed. "Tanya Vanderflock is the lead scientist and engineer at Metro-Guard Industries. I was lucky enough to come across her during a scouting mission to determine the kind of computer system the Saurians use. She'll be the one making sure Dragaunus' system is taken offline."

"She works for the government?" Wildwing asked, recognizing the name of the company.

"Military, mostly. She's been helping to design combat vehicles that are easier to maneuver against the Hunter Drones."

"How are we going to get to her unnoticed?" Mallory asked, apparently shaking off whatever tension they had built up moments ago.

"She has a team that works below her and, supposedly, she's been known to hole herself up for days at a time when she's got a new project she's working on. She plans to use that to buy herself a few days."

"Is that everyone?" Nosedive asked, folding his arms and leaning against the side wall of the large tunnel.

"No, there'll be one more to retrieve the day after: Check Hardwing."

"Who's he?"

Canard smiled. "A duck that makes hunter drones look like baby chicks."

Nosedive whistled. "That's a big duck."

"He's about as strong as a dozen of them, too."

"And how does the Mask fit into all this?" Mallory asked, her eyes drifting to the satchel attached to Canard's belt.

He followed her gaze. "The Saurian Lords were once defeated with it; I plan to make sure it happens again."

His response was purposely vague, enough so that Mallory did not press for more information. Wildwing felt his frustrations rise, realizing that there were some unresolved issues between his friend and the redhead.

Whatever it was, they needed to get over it and fast. They wouldn't survive long on this mission otherwise.

The group ended up resting for half an hour or so, each absorbed in their own thoughts. Canard handed out some blankets and meal packets before taking his seat again. He pulled out a small electrical lantern and turned it on, illuminating their surroundings a bit better.

Mallory hadn't brought any supplies with her, most likely to lessen suspicion. She had placed Canard's meal packet and blanket down where she had originally sat, opting to keep watch at the mouth of the intersecting tunnels.

Nosedive, apparently realizing that the atmosphere was lacking, took it upon himself to fill the silence with random stories. Wildwing nodded every once in a while or chimed in a brief response, but eventually even Nosedive began to bore himself to sleep.

Canard was peering over his hologram map again, his attention never swaying. Wildwing smiled and shook his head.

"How long has it been?" Wildwing quietly asked.

Canard glanced up. "What?"

"Since we last saw each other."

Canard frowned as he thought. "Drake, we were together on the day it started, weren't we? That was thirteen months, eleven days ago."

"What happened to you? I mean, I know you were in the Academy, but you never came back. Your folks—"

"My parents knew what I had to do," Canard answered almost defensively.

Wildwing shook his head. "I didn't mean—your folks came with us, when we began to evacuate. But they started attacking and the crowd was just chaotic ... I managed to keep Dive with me, but our parents—your parents—we never saw any of them again."

Canard kept eye contact with Wildwing for a moment before looking back at his map. "Everything became chaotic."

Wildwing watched him for a few seconds. "So what did you end up doing?"

The captain looked up again. "Came to the Academy. Like McMallard said, even us students were valuable if we had a few years' experience under our belts. I went with the convoys, others joined the Guardian."

"How did you end up becoming a captain?"

"By surviving."

Wildwing didn't quite know how to respond to that. He watched the tan mallard but eventually turned his attention to his meal packet, opting to pick at its contents and try to get some food in him.

Canard kept his attention to the map he was holding, but occasionally glanced back up at Wildwing. The silence was deafening, except for a few random snores from Nosedive. The captain eventually sighed, however, and placed his portable computer away. "I don't … I honestly don't know how to hold a conversation anymore, Wing. We've been at this game for so long now that I feel like it's all I'll ever know or be good at.

"But, for what it's worth, I'm glad I found you alive."

Wildwing was startled by the sudden onset of conversation, but covered it quickly. He smiled at his friend, shaking his head. "I knew you'd be alive. Takes more than a few thousand drones to bring you down."

Canard rolled his eyes at him but smiled nonetheless. Mallory walked up at that time, stopping their conversation. She grabbed the flask of water and took a few gulps before nodding to the two.

"I'm going to scout both directions before settling in for the night, sir."

Canard nodded to her and she left, grabbing the flashlight before heading down the tunnel and into the darkness.

Wildwing watched her leave and turned back to Canard. "You mentioned the others, but you didn't mention how you knew her."

Canard glanced in the direction she went as he took his own swig of water from the canister. "We were both third years."

Wildwing's eyebrows rose. "That explains a lot. You both seem really competitive with each other."

Canard shrugged. "I don't know about competitive now ... but I guess we used to be. McMallard is a big military name though," his voice lowered to barely a whisper as soon as he said her last name, despite the fact that she had left.

"Yeah, I remember hearing about her dad."

"Dad and four older brothers. Safe to say it didn't take much for her to get accepted into the Academy," Canard added coarsely. "But, no one let her forget it, either. She ended up having to pull her weight and then some from it, too."

"So what's with the tension between you two?"

Canard let out a breathy, bitter sound that couldn't be classified as a laugh or a sigh. "One of her older brothers is the reason I'm captain now."

Wildwing frowned. "She didn't like that he made you captain?"

Canard shook his head. "No, it wasn't a choice, Wing."

Wildwing suddenly remembered Canard's answer to becoming a captain: by surviving.

"What happened?"

Canard shrugged, bringing his knees up so he could rest his arms on them. "Reconnaissance of a Monitor Tower a few months back. Ben and—er, Captain McMallard—and I needed information on how they used the beryllium to power their force fields. Mallory and the rest stayed back as distraction.

"We got what we needed and headed back, but ended up getting caught by air surveillance. The pack of hunter drones that came after us was brutal and McMallard got hit, hard."

Canard paused briefly, shaking his head again as he stared at the lantern between the two mallards. "I got him out of there and back to the rest, but he was bleeding out fast. Mallory was the last one with him. After he … well, when she came back she told me I was captain."

Wildwing watched Canard stare daggers into the ground. He glanced back at where the redhead had disappeared from sight.

"She blames you?"

Canard was silent for a while. "I don't think so. But after her dad and another brother, I imagine there was at least some part of her that had wished it'd have been me, instead."

Wildwing swallowed the piece of food in his mouth heavily, his appetite pretty much gone. He placed his meal packet down on the ground, using a free hand to rub the side of his temple tiredly. "A little over a year ago I was about to graduate university. Nosedive was about to graduate high school, and you were about to start Special Ops training."

Canard looked up at him, smirking despite the situation: "Now we're all just trying to stay alive."