Magruder wiped the sweat from his brow. The mid-afternoon sun was hotter than usual today.

"Ech! What is that smell?" exclaimed Jackson, trying not to vomit from the nauseating odor.

"Everything. That's why no one in their right mind would want to live here." grumbled Magruder. No one except the forgotten and heretics. This was a far cry from New Luna City with its pristine streets and white marble buildings. They were in one of the oldest parts of the city, and even with the sun just path its zenith it was still no brighter than twilight.

Agent John Magruder and Agent Kelly Jackson. They've been partners for almost two years now, since Kelly Jackson was just out of the Cartel Academy. This isn't one of their most dangerous assignments, bu so far has been one of the most uninteresting.

"He should've been here by now." Jackson stated. Their contact was supposed to meet them here fifteen minutes ago. This is a bad sign, Jackson reminds herself.

"We'll wait another five minutes, then if he still hasn't shown up we'll report in." sighs Magruder.

"I don't like waiting out here in the open. We should move inside." Jackson complains. Even if it is a little hole-in-the-wall of a bar. "I know the contact said to wait out front, but we should've told him inside."

"What are you worried about? Everyone around here can plainly see we're Cartel. They won't mess with us." implies Magruder.

"I know, I know. I just have this bad feeling." worries Jackson.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Three shots ring out and ricochet off the wall behind them. Driven by instinct, the two agents dive to the pavement with their punisher handguns appearing in their hands. Jackson is the first to spot the shooter heading towards a narrow alleyway. She's able to get off a shot before he rounds the corner, hitting their assailant in the leg. Good thing for laser sights, thinks Jackson.

"C'mon John!" Jackson yells back at here partner as she leaps to here feet and breaks into a run. The command was unnecessary, Magruder was right along side her.

Thier attacker had turned the corner just ahead. Wrecklessly they ran around the corner, trusting their body armor to protect them from any shots. Fortunately, their attacker did not stop to wait in ambush. Magruder spotted a storm drain grate partially open at the end of the alley. Seeing as how this was a dead end alley, the storm drain seemed the only logical direction for their attacker to have taken. Cautiously the descended into the dank sewer tunnel. Jackson took out here mini-light and attached it to her handgun. Magruder did the same. They were at the start of one of the old sewer tunnels beneath luna city. The tunnel was large enough to stand erect in, although there were occasionaly pipes protruding from the ceiling.

They heard splashing footsteps ahead of them in the darkness. Both agents broke into a run towards the sound, Magruder still trying to wipe the sweat out of his eyes. The heat wasn't as bad down here, but the stench of decay was much worse.

Out of the darkness ahead of them echoed a blood chilling scream, then ... silence. Both agents checked their stride and continued on more warily than before. They found the body of their assailant lying at the intersection of another tunnel, his ribcage had been exploded outward. The sight was too much for Jackson. Her two previous meals would not stay down any longer. While his partner was wretching the last of the contents of her stomach into a corner, Magruder checked the pockets of the corpse. In one he found a small scrap of paper, on which was scrawled Magruders ident number for his personal communicator.

"This was our contact." sighed Magruder.

"How can you be sure?" questioned Jackson.

"This." He handed her the scrap of paper.

She quickly realized that only one of their contacts would've been given this information. But why did he attack us? Could it have been a setup from the beginning? These questions would remain unanswered for now.

Magruder rolled the body over and what he found caused a look of great concern to appear on his face. "No burn marks, or powder residue" he examined, "it looks as if something punched right through his body. That's bad news, very bad news. The only thing I know of that has the strength to do this kind of damage..."

"...is a Razide." finished Jackson. "And you're correct when you said its bad news. We had better get out of here now!"

Back on the street, Jackson was explaining the last time she encountered a Razide. "It was back before I joined the Cartel. I was a helo pilot in the CAF on Mars. The Legion was assaulting one of our firebases on the McCraig Line. My helo was loaded with a squad of heavy infantry. They were assigned to drop behind the enemy and lay in fire. What we saw back there changed all of us. There was a nepharite and three Razides around it. They were acting like body guards. I dropped the squad about a click away, but somehow one of those bastards must've still seen us. A hit to the engine conveiniently knocked my bird out of the sky."

"You're sure it was a Razide?" asked Bates.

"Yes chief. That's the only thing with the strength to do that kind of damage." stated Magruder. "Kelly recognized it also. Said she saw what they could do, during her CAF days."

"Hmm... This is bad news." Bates mumbled. Jackson smirked at the response. Magruder has been idolizing the chief even before she was assigned to be his partner. "I have a meeting with the Capitol board of directors tonight. I'll see what they have to say about this. For now, go home and get some rest. I have this feeling that tomorrow is going to be a long day for you two. Dismissed"

Agent Kelly Jackson and Agent John Magruder silently left the chief's office. While waiting for an elevator, Kelly opened the coversation. "John, what do you think they're going to say? I mean, what do you think they are going to do about this?"

Magruder thought for a moment. "If they take it seriously, which I'm sure the Inquisitors will, they'll most likely send a team in to acquire more information. If they send along an inquisitor though, it means it's a search and destroy mission."

Exiting the elevators, Magruder asked "How about dinner tonight? You must be hungry after today. We can go over to the lounge."

Jackson shot Magruder a dirty look. "I am a little hungry. Fortunately that incident today didn't ruin my appetite, completely." Together they entered the lounge and found a dimly lit booth to occupy.

After dinner, Kelly inquired "I wonder if they'll want us on the team. We are the ones who found it."

"I wouldn't worry about it. Bates will assemble a good team." John said, sipping his coffee. "I'm sure we'll find out tomorrow who is on the team."

0600 hours, Magruder is awakened by and incoming call on the Vidcom. "Agent Magruder! Magruder! This is Chief Director Bates. Report to my office at 0700!" Slowly he crawls out of bed and stumbles to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. "One hour, huh? That doesn't leave much time for breakfast." he mumbles quietly to himself.

One hour later, Magruder and Jackson entered the chief's office. "Good, your here. Let's go." Bates said as he led them through the other door of his office and into the briefing room. Inside, waited 3 other agents, an Inquisitor and a guy in a dark brown trench coat.

Bates introduced them, "Agent Magruder, Agent Jackson, this is Agent Thompson, Agent Miles, Agent Pendleton, Inquisitor Nichols and Lance Masterson. Masterson is an explosives technician."

"You mean a mercenary." Jackson said in obvious disgust.

"Knock it off, Jackson." Magruder chided.

"I prefer the term Freelance Operative." Masterson stated, glowering smugly at Jackson.

"If you would take your seats, please!" Chief Bates growled.

"Ok. Here's the plan. This team has been assigned to collect more information about the possible buildup of Dark Legion forces underneath the Old City." Bates presses a button on his console. A holographic image appears just above the conference table. "This is where the first encounter took place yesterday." Magruder recognizes the section of sewer as the one the found the body in. The view shifts to a different section of sewer. "A second report of possible contact was reported here." The display zooms out so both locations can be seen. "We think the main concentration, if any, of dark legion forces would be here." a chamber, approximately centered between the two spots glows brightly. "Agents, your job is to protect the inquisitor, while she collects the information. Masterson, you're function on this mission is to demolish any dark legion facilities you find." Bates glances at each team member. "You are not, by any means to engage the legion if you are outnumbered. That's the job of the Brotherhood." Magruder glances at the inquisitor, but her expressionless face remains unchanged. "Understood?"

"Understood!" the team chimes in unison.