Moonlight shined through the grate in the top of the sewer, bouncing off of the curved surface of the walls and creating a gleam of white lighting over the one area the grate sat over. M.C. sat up against the sewer wall, staring through the grate, as Ashken began to pace through the tunnel, strategizing his ideas for the mission at hand. M.C. gazed through the grate at the moon, bedazzled by it’s beauty and silent charisma. The silver-ivory plate filled her heart with wonder and amazement, then snapped back into reality by the shake of Ashken.

“What’s your problem?” he said as he adjusted his communicator.

M.C. snapped back after a moment of gazing at the moon again, “Huh? Oh, nothing... It’s just...it’s a full moon tonight. You see it?” she said, pointing at it with a smile on her face.

Ashken stepped next to her and captured it as well, “Yeah, I see it...” he said as he wrapped his arm around M.C.’s waist.

She giggled at him and tried to step away, but he pulled her back over to him and hugged her. She then rubbed his back, underneath his assault rifle, as the two of them stood in the moonlight, holding each other. She placed her head on his collarbone as she whispered to him.

“I wish we could do this all the time...” she said into his ear.

“Yeah...It’s romantic...except,” he said as he caressed her waist, stroking down until he reached the top of her pistol holster.

She giggled as the two of them looked down at it and remembered what they should be doing. But, her smile quickly faded to neutral again.

“Yeah...,” she said, now looking at him.

“But,” he reassured, “Whenever you feel like staring at the moon through a grate again,  I can just bring you back into the sewer...How about after the Super Bowl?”

M.C. burst into laughter as she stepped back and punched Ashken in the chest, then slung forward her G36-C and removed the clip to examine the rounds. After she determined her clip was full, she put it back in and pulled back the cocking mechanism, screwed on the silencer, and slung it back as she did the same with her sidearm.

“You’re supposed to do that before you get to the insertion point, ya’ know,” Ashken said as he watched her perform her act.

“I know, I’m double checking...” she replied.
“M.C.: always one step ahead of me,” he chuckled as he began to walk forward through the sewer.

“You better be careful, or else I’m gonna be the leader of my own anti-terrorist squad,” she jeered as she followed behind him.

The two of them walked the rest of the way in silence as they came to the end of the sewer system. Ashken slung his AUG onto his back and began to climb up through the man hole when a voice came through his communicator.

“Cobra E: How’s it going so far? Over.” said the other end.

“It’s all sunny down here... In the dark...Over.” Ashken replied aggravated.

“Cobra C:How’s your area going? Over.” the other end replied.

“If it’s not to much to ask, we might need a couple more units to keep the insertion point clear of tangos. We might have to use it as an alternative extraction point. Over.” M.C. advised.

“Copy, Cobra C: Sending two units to extraction point to cover your flanking insertion point. Over and out.”


Ashken reached the top of the manhole and lifted up the cover, pushing it to the side as it grinded over pitch black asphalt. He looked around the alley which it had let him out at and held out his pistol in case he saw any tangos. On the left side of the alley there was a screen door which had been left open, leaving the main door exposed. He pulled himself up and slung his weapon forward, then hurried over to the end of the alley, making sure there was no one in his flank.

“All clear,” he said into his communicator, “C’mon up, I’ll hold this position.”

“Roger,” M.C. replied as she began to make her way up the man hole.

She popped up after a moment went by and pulled herself out of the manhole, slinging forward her weapon as well. Ashken pushed the cover back over the sewer and walked over to the door. He slowly tried opening it, but it was locked.

“Show me your magic,” Ashken said to M.C. as he backed away from the door.

M.C. crouched in front of the door with her lock picking set rolled out, and began to unlock the door. After awhile of her tinkering with the knob, The door gave a loud click, the knob gave way, and the door slowly squeaked open. M.C. got up and put her stuff away as Ashken slowly headed inside. He looked around what seemed to be a living room of a crack den. He walked forward and found a lamp on a table. He then turned it off and continued the rest of the way in darkness until he came to a corner and pushed his night goggles over this face.

“Using your goggles?” he asked.

“Yep,” M.C. replied as she slowly walked beside him.

Ashken continued down a hallway that led away from the crack den which he found a staircase at the end. M.C. was close behind him until she suddenly stopped walking. Ashken looked back as he stood on the stair case, and seeing that she wasn’t moving, he immediately began eyeballing the area for targets.

“You hear something?” he asked.

“Yes...two men, Iraqi...they’re heading down the steps...how many stories does this go?” she asked.

“I’d say about five...” Ashken answered.

“Then they’re at about the third, we should be careful,” she said as she walked past Ashken and began her way up the stairs.

Just as she said, she found two Iraqi men having a conversation and heading down the steps once they reached the second floor. One man held a pistol and the other, an assault rifle. She told Ashken the scenario and waited for a response.

“Fire when ready...” Ashken said to her.

M.C. used the stair rail as cover as she aimed at the head of the Iraqi with the assault rifle. Luckily for her, the two men stopped walking forward, as though the had come to some sort of disagreement in their dialogue. She smiled as she fired at the man watched him instantly fall to the ground in a slump. The man next to him crouched over his body and began screaming something foreign until M.C. fired at his temple, killing him instantly. She continued up the stairs, stepping over the bodies, as she slung her weapon and pulled out what looked like a can.

“What the hell is that?” Ashken asked.

“Incinerary grenade; just came in yesterday,” she said as she peeked through the crack of the door in front of her.

She saw a group of men sitting in front of a large television on a long couch. Around the room were Iraqi men standing in random spots getting their share of whatever was being shown on the television. Every man in the room had a weapon, wether it was concealed or not, that M.C. could see. Next to the T.V. was a hallway that obviously led to a bedroom, where there was light radiating out of.

“There are tangos galore in this next room. Our target must be in there.”

She grabbed the pin on the grenade and looked up at Ashken.

“You ready?” she said.

He kissed her on the cheek. She quickly pulled out the pin while Ashken opened the door. Swiftly, she tossed the grenade as close to the seated men as she could, and Ashken immediately closed the door back. M.C. slung her weapon forward and checked her rounds while Ashken held his ear up to the door and listened as he heard the loud bang of the grenade going off and the addition of shrill, agonized screams following the subsiding of the grenade running it’s course.

“Ready? Clear!” he called out as he and M.C. rushed into the room.

The force of the grenade had tossed the seated Iraqis against the T.V. and caused it to fall on top of their bodies as they slowly burned under it’s weight. One of the few men who was standing was now running around the room in a scorching flame as Ashken quickly stepped in and dispatched all who survived the blast. Once they had rendered the room to be clear of tangos, M.C. followed Ashken slowly down the hallway as they crept, then stopped him once they appeared in front of a door.

“Wait,” M.C. said, “He’s not in there...”

“What are you talking about?” he asked.

“He’s not in there...” she looked down and noticed that there was light seeping out from under the door.

Suddenly, the door swung open and revealed their target wielding a shotgun, holding it at Ashken’s chest. M.C. watched as Ashken began to pull the trigger, but was surprised by the scream coming from the next room, causing him to flinch and miss the man. M.C. frantically began to aim at the man, but it was too late. Once she had lined the sight up to the man’s head, he had already pulled the trigger and Ashken’s body was blown against the wall and against the ground in a slump, lifeless. M.C. gave a brutal scream, so loud the man jumped, as she kept the sights on the man’s forehead and pulled the trigger...