murkmercmercenarymercymurkmercmercenarymercymurkmercmercenarymercymurkmercmercenarymercymurkmercmercenarymercy The sewers beneath the city were black and blue. Frigid, putrid, the normally balmy waters around Dubai seemed to stagnate in the pipes. Human refuse clung to his limbs and made swimming difficult. His body ached from disuse and it was all he could do to keep from gagging into his oxygen tank. Certainly not where anyone would want to spend their afternoon but, apart from the beaches, this was the only way into the city that didn't need air support. Curtis thought to himself as he pushed himself through the ever narrowing pipes, a practice he'd picked up years ago as a way to keep the Echoes at bay. "Damn. Damn damn damnity damn damn. Sixty years beneath the badge and this is where we end up. Helluva vacation, guys. Hell, Dad was retired by this age and they gave him enough to buy a place in Florida! He got surf and sun. and where are we? Up to our eyes in commie shit! God bless him, I'm glad the old bastard passed before all this happened." Curtis narrowly dodged a disposed condom as he mused to himself. "Who am I to call anyone old, eh?" Curtis smiled behind his oxygen mask. "Sixty, no, seventy years! Was it seventy? We'll have to check when I get back to the ship. First things first though, gut this Bitch-Lord of the Dunes and get out alive. Seems simple enough, eh boys?" Curtis eventually came to dead end, the pipes too narrow to continue through. "Ah, I must be near the residential center." After a bit of searching, Curtis lifted himself unto a lip of concrete no doubt used by sanitation workers and the like. Removing his tank and wetsuit, careful not to get any of the pipe's contents on his uniform beneath, Curtis stashed both behind a nearby ladder before ascending it into the city proper via a small manhole. Quietly clattering the metal lid aside, Curtis surveyed the alleyway carefully. No soldiers, no outposts, nothing to denote a threat of the NUA even making it this far. "Sandy must be pretty sure of herself if she thin-" Curtis hushed as he turned to see two figures further down the alley. Even with his improved sight he could only make out their silhouettes, a fact he cursed himself for beneath his breath as he rose himself slowly from the manhole. "Goddamnit, I used to be able to see a gnat's pecker at two hundred yards. I'll have to talk to the Docs about that later. Damn." Skulking through the alleyway, Curtis was careful not to the let the cane hanging at his waist knack against the concrete as he lifted it from it's loop. As he neared the two figures, they slowly came into focus at a hundred yards. "Definitely need to talk to the Docs..." Two women, both armed in their own way but the pistol-toting blonde was the obvious aggressor. Curtis sighed to himself knowing this mission was about to get a lot longer. "Sorry boys, you know I'm a sucker for a damsel in distress." Curtis arched his back and obscured his revolver behind his hip, appearing no more than a feeble old man wandering the streets. With several strong blows, Curtis's cane echoed down the alley, the force of such causing cracks in the concrete it came in contact with and denoting his arrival. "S'cuse me miss, you wouldn't happen to know where the closest police station is, would you? There's a hag with a shiny popgun I'd like to report."