((OOC:  Sorry about the lateness - crammage all this week.  Special apologies to Chiro and KB, I thought I would be able to stay up... sorry guys.  Btw, check my blog if you like - I'm going to be gone this weekend.  Okay, HERE I GO!))<br/><br/>Back in the proper sewers of Kazmer, Halvorson lightly chewed a tuft of dead skin on the inside of his cheek as he swept his flashlight ahead of him.  The way back to the truck was hard to remember after all that had happened, but he'd allowed Baz to walk beside him on point.  The little rat's echolocation was useful in these spaces.<br/><br/>Still... he had no idea what to think now of his friend.  Not long ago, he'd admitted to killing hundreds of his old comrades by accident.  He'd revealed that he was far older than Halvorson could ever have expected.  And now he was blurring the line between the Resistance and the far more ineffective S.E.M.<br/><br/>The skin tuft was tasting like blood.  He stopped chewing it and spat the taste off to a side, casting a glance behind him at Karogen with the old man, Mad Adam with Feign, and the medic.  That old man... Halvorson knew exactly who he was.  In Karogen's arms, the two of them became an unbelievably valuable package.  They were also the most vulnerable.  He'd had Karogen take up residence directly behind him and Baz.  Then came Mad, her sixth sense useful in picking up anything from either ahead or behind.  And then the medic, taking up the rear, the bruise on his chest now swollen and purple.  He limped, panting like a dog in the noonday sun.<br/><br/>The heat... if Halvorson had known basic thermodynamics, then he wouldn't have believed that the heat was seeping down into the sewers from the streets above, like some sort of poison gas.  Kazmer was as close to being an oasis as possible.  If one left the eastern city bounds and walked for an hour, one would find oneself wading into the sands of the Calor Desert.  Beyond that, there was vast nothingness, sand upon sand, for miles and miles.  Once in a while, a tiny township would spring up.  If it was this bad, shaded in the sewers and still well inside the city, Halvorson didn't want to think what it could be like in the Calor.<br/><br/>He wiped sweat from his brow and muttered to Baz, "Hey, fella... no chance of a cigar right now?"  Probably a bad idea, given the heat and the fact that they still weren't home free, but he needed to reorient his perception of things.  Forging solid ground with Baz was his first choice.<br/><br/>And behind them, the medic suddenly disappeared, dragged near-silently into a side tube, too quickly to register on any of the humans' hearing.  Mad Adam could feel the sudden terror of the young man wash into her.<br/><br/>-----<br/><br/>Jania's offer seemed like a poor bluff to the wolf facing her down.  "Dearie, I'm a soldier.  It's not my job to ask why, just to follow orders.  Besides, I like it on top.  Ever eat a human, hon?  Delicious creatures."  He grinned with one corner of his mouth, then raised his blade in challenge.  "Well, it was worth a shot.  Let's boogie."<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">WHAM!</span><br/><br/>Before any of the twelve soldiers could make a move, the body of a dead lupine smashed onto the pavement, having fallen from far above.<br/><br/>"What the fuck?!" shouted the leader, distracted.  This was Jania's shot.  She couldn't kid herself - Kazmer soldiers had fought and taken down berserkers and taurs in the past; it was part of their training.  She had to seize this moment of distraction and waste these guys - if she wanted to meet the owner of the hole in the dead wolf's chest.<br/><br/>-----<br/><br/>Floors and floors above the fracas to come, the wounded soldier behind the chimney stack had seen his fellow meet his end.  He'd heard the subtle whistles of their target's weapon - the first had been nearly drowned out by the clang of metal as it pierced a pipe and his body armor.  The pain was yet to arrive from that wound, but already his functional hand was clamped over the hole, feeling the blood start to soak into his uniform.<br/><br/>The other whistle had sent a spray of red out of his fellow's back.  Then... click.  Now he knew, if he wanted to have any chance at snagging this bitch, that he had to move before she reloaded, if she had any ammo left.  His enhanced hearing had already discerned where she was - it wasn't too hard, given the direction of the shots from before.  Without his radio, it was down to him.<br/><br/>His left hand still clutched his scimitar.  His unit had been given firearms already; since the humans were raiding armories, the Lady wanted them to have no advantages.  But he was a stronger shooter with his right hand, and now he had no use of that.<br/><br/>No time left to think.  His quarry was getting more dangerous as time passed.  He whipped up his blade and barreled out from behind the chimney stack, zigzagging towards the roof-access shed across the gravel.  Partway through his dash to the chimney, he'd seen no way to easily get to the top of the shed, but that did not matter.  Ten feet was an easy distance for a fur to leap.  He wouldn't make it all the way, not with his armor or his injury, but he'd been trained... "clear your landing zone first; swipe left, swipe right."  He knew she was up there... thing was now whether or not to see if she really was a she.  Though his fellow was dead, he still had to prove him wrong.<br/><br/>-----<br/><br/>"Shark told you to head to Clent Station?" one of the men facing Dreamer asked, incredulous.  "From here?  That makes no sense."<br/><br/>"Wait... who the fuck did you kill?" asked the leader.<br/><br/>"Hey, Yuri... check out the hole in this guy's arm," said a third, pointing at the wound.  He<span style="font-style: italic">had</span>seen the giveaway gleam of unnatural silver between the torn edges of flesh.  The other three squinted, not moving closer as they looked.  None of them seemed to have paid any attention to Kitten, or to the sleeping bag in the back seat of the wagon.<br/><br/>"What the..." said the leader.<br/><br/>None of this sounded good to Maeve.  She slowly slid her hands over Feldana's little ears, preparing to shield her from the sound of gunshots.  Sherra could feel the former noble's body tense beside her.<br/><br/>-----<br/><br/>The apartment building that the Resistance had put the remaining S.E.M. members into had been largely quiet since the First Sergeant, Emiko, Jenten, and Marice had left to see Iln.  The old tiger-fur, unversed in the rank insignia of the Resistance, had approached a private with his question.  The young man shrugged and answered, fiddling with the spring on his switchblade.  "I don't know.  Last I heard, we're supposed to protect you, on orders from the Commander.  I guess you'd have to ask him."  He looked away, unwilling to answer anything more.<br/><br/>The old tiger could see Iln from the apartment building's window, as well as the small group gathered around her - Emiko, Jenten, Marice, Raice, Heretic, Janus, and Fenson.  None of the Resistance men in the building would offer much more help than the private just had.<br/><br/>-----<br/><br/>"Hungry?" Fenson asked Iln.  "Why would it make her hungry?"<br/><br/>As Jenten, Marice, and Raice rushed over to Emiko, Janus turned to look at Heretic again.  He found the fox munching on some corn, and for some reason found that to be very funny.  Maybe it was the adrenaline let-down, maybe it was the lack of sleep, maybe it was the strain of the war... but Arnold Janus couldn't help himself.  He started giggling uncontrollably.  Fenson eyed his friend, one eyebrow raised, wondering what was up.<br/><br/>-----<br/><br/>Sundry Avenue eventually merged into the Desert Vein, and Chiro would find that highway oddly empty.  Traffic was as light as it could ever have been - with Kazmer in lockdown, commerce into and out of the desert was cut off, and other than transient traffic within the city, there was no reason for the road to be used at the moment.  It led the way east, the heat making waves of shimmering air rise off the asphalt as, in the distance, he could see the sands of the Calor.  This was the quietest part of the city at present - the Resistance had no objectives other than the airport, which was across the Jawn and further north, but the fight was not here yet.<br/><br/>Whatever strength that kept Chiro's muscles pumping now had the building heat to contend with.  But with Mag far behind, certain to stay on his trail, he had more than enough reason to just keep going.  East... what was making him go east?<br/><br/>-----<br/><br/>Presently, a timid occupant of the building Arget had just exited poked her head out of the door.  She was a primly-dressed female anthro-cat, her short bob of blond hair bouncing as she gently walked on high heels towards him, clearing her throat.  "Um... are you all right?" she asked in a light voice, eyeing the shattered window.  Her navy blue suit sucked in the dry heat and she fanned herself with a hand.