The wind swept through a desolate battlefield, through the charred remains of buildings.
It breezed across a wall, crumbled and stained with blood.
It breezed past the remaining few tents before it sunk away into the depths of a chasm
that divided several Squirrels from their enemy, and their friend.
The task ahead would put all their lives at risk.

"So we're all clear on the matter then?" asked Dusk, though he only expected one answer

"So let me get this straight, after this desperate battle to evacuate the
area and stall the Tediz we are now expected to go headfirst into the enemy stronghold?" said Nutt.

Dusk nodded to the bionic Squirrel, Nutt had been modified
with machine parts by the Tediz who had held him captive

"You of all Squirrels should understand best what danger Copperleaf is in, this will be a deep insurgency mission"

"Alright, but I better get payed double for this" muttered Nutt

Dusk cocked his Sturm-21, "Let's gear up" and the team stepped
out of the sunlight into the dark of an aircraft cabin.

Groggily he arose out of the darkness and groaned

"Great seasons, those Tediz sure thump one rather hard" his head raged
inside, he held onto it and tried to shake of the dizziness.
The Squirrel brushed the dust off his shoulders and stood up, he was trapped
in a bleak prison cell that was dimly lit by a small bulb that hung from above

"Come now this is an outrage, why one would think I was an animal caged up like his" he sat
down dejectedly, an unexpected reply came out of the darkness.

"Please, enough with ze noise"

Startled upright he called back "Who's there, speak up!"

No reply could be heard from the dark, he shivered, "sir, are you with the S.H.C.?"

"Ahh but I am no Squirrel, comrade" came the voice low and guttural, a figure
stepped into light, the Squirrel gasped. Set atop the powerful, lithe body was the
scarred face of his enemy. It's claws were crude and sharp, it's grin revealed
a set of white fangs that glimmered eerily and it's eyes, it's eyes were sharp and focused like hawk eyes.

"And who are you?" said the Tediz, a paw extended to the astounded figure of Sir Copperleaf!

"So you see Squirrel those verdamned Sneekers caught me before I could assassinate our great leader and threw me in here" explained the Tediz, he and Sir Copperleaf sat in the circle of light

"Jolly good show and all that, but where exactly is here?" Sir Copperleaf gestured around "Perhaps you'll get a second chance when the lads arrive" but the Tediz only shook his head

They will not reach us here in time, there is problem see", he motioned being hung then walked over to the prison cell bars "come, veh must go now". A claw flicked out and the Tediz jiggled it about in the lock, the gate swung smoothly open.

"Clever trick" said Sir Copperleaf and exited the room, he entered a dull hallway lined with prison cells

"Welcome, to Slatebrick jail" whispered the Tediz. Sir Copperleaf shivered,
before it had been captured Slatebrick was the maximum security prison
for the criminally minded, even his Majesty had spent time in here (that's
a different story though) but more recently it had been a stronghold for
the S.H.C. though the might of Von Kripplesac's army had been sorely underestimated.
The Tediz put a claw to his lips and pointed up to the second floor walkway,
a single guard stood as if in slumber, this was in fact what the Grunt had
been doing for the last few minutes of his life before Sir Copperleaf's new
acquaintance broke it's neck

"Good night brother" he said as he laid down his victim, Sir Copperleaf stepped
over and withdrew keys from the body

"Where next?"

"Would you just look at them all" repeated Nutt in disbelief.
Dusk surveyed from a vantage point atop the wooded cliff,
an expansive Tediz camp stretched out for a mile all around,
trenches had been dug and bunkers where under construction
but mostly there was tents. Amidst it all lay the remains of a walled
village that had served as a previous stronghold for the S.H.C.,
also the homes for many as well.

"We'll move in under cover of darkness, Sir Copperleaf is most likely to be held in the old prison" said Dusk now that he'd regrouped with the others

"Prison? Looked more like a fortress to me" said Nutt, his infrared eye swept over the troupe "Just wait till the Sarge hears about how many Tediz there are though...."

"Prison, fort, what does it matter? Maple can get into anything, right?" asked Fir, Maple shuffled about with a look of disconcert

"I'm not to sure, will we have prints?" said Maple. Dusk sighed and turned to face in the direction his enemy lay.

"I expect you all to be prepped and ready by sundown, Maple an ally is in enemy hands, so blueprints or no blueprints we've got to do this understood?"

"Yes sir" said Maple

"I knew this was a bad idea the day I signed up" muttered Nutt,
nobody could console Dusk when it seemed the Tediz had an upper hand,
they went about silently as night approached.

The door was quite old and rusty but still strong, however, the Tediz had fitted it with a new lock.

"Hand me ze keys Squirrel" commanded the Tediz but Sir Copperleaf held them back

"Now just a second here, my name is Winchester, Sir Copperleaf to you, not Squirrel!" he snapped "How would you like it if I just called you Tediz all the time?" but Tediz merely shrugged

"Yo do have a name?" Sir Copperleaf relinquished the keys and the Tediz turned back to the door

"My name? I forget, I am Lr52" he paused to motion a sniper

"So you don't have real names?" questioned Sir Copperleaf, the key snapped off in the lock and Lr52 turned to face Sir Copperleaf, a distant look in his eyes

"Come, veh must go now, Herr Copperleaf".

An iron grate was set in the floor and the sound of water came from beneath.
Lr52 ripped it from the ground, he and Sir Copperleaf lowered themselves into the hole

"Veh shall move through ze sewers, hold onto my belt Herr Copperleaf, if you get lost you could vander for many days"

"I take it you've been this way before?" said Sir Copperleaf, his nose twitched at the rank aroma

"Ya, follow, I know how to escape ze prison" answered Lr52 and the pair sloshed off through the darkness.

It was over before the Tediz could say fallatundah,
Dusk and Fir had successfully dispatched all but one Grunt.
This last stood fearlessly, defiant even though Nutt held it to dagger point.

"That was fun, what should I do with this one Dusk?" his red eye pivoted
independently to wards Dusk whilst he kept the other set upon his victim.
Dusk's eyes where vengeful, Fir cut in

"We can't just kill him cold blooded!" he blurted out

"He's probably right sir" nodded Nutt although his mechanical grip
tightened upon the poor Grunt, the dangerous glimmer in Dusk's eyes faded and he sighed

"Very well, have Maple tie it up, where is she anyway?"

"Right here!" the Squirrel dropped lightly down next to the Tediz which startled him

"Aww, don't worry, I'll make sure you're wrapped up nice and cosy"

Nutt muttered something but grimaced from the sly punch that Fir gave him.

"Report Maple" said Dusk, Maple retrieved a bundle of papers from her satchel

"You where right, Sir Copperleaf is being held inside that prison but that's not all, take a look at this!" she handed them over to Dusk. The team looked at the letter, there eye's wide at what they saw.

A shiver ran down Sir Copperleaf's back and sent ripples
through the murky water which he was now waist deep in,
Lr52 stopped once they'd reached the end of the shaft.

"What now old chum?" whispered the Squirrel,
a rough paw guided his over to the wall in which rested a metal bracket

"Climb Squirrel, climb" urged Lr52 anxiously, they began
to ascend the ladder holding tightly onto it's cold and slippery rungs,
up ahead Sir Copperleaf could discern slit's of light.
They pushed aside a stone slab and climbed out, momentarily
blinded by the sudden change of light Sir Copperleaf stumbled about with paws outstretched.
He came across what felt like a chair and the occupant came to view

"Vat is zis? A Squirrel!? Guards, seize him!" shouted the Weasel,
but even his guards had been momentarily frozen by surprise

"I say"- but Sir Copperleaf never had the chance to say before he
was jerked back into the hole, Lr52 had used the momentary lapse
to pull him back to safety. They splashed into sewage water
and Sir Copperleaf was left to splutter at what he'd just seen

"Down Herr Copperleaf!" Lr52 pushed the dumbfounded Squirrel underwater
just as bullets ricocheted down, he heard yet another splash and turned to see a grenade.
Lr52 motioned furiously to Sir Copperleaf.

Above the Tediz leaped back as the grenade exploded and
a shower of water erupted out of the hole. A malicious grin hovered
upon the chair along with it's malicious occupant, Von Kripplespac!

"How are we going to get in Dusk?" asked Fir.
The group crouched in what used to be the prison moat, now a mere trickle.
Dusk suddenly felt very small again as he stared up at it's massive stone walls

"Dusk? Dusk?" a reassuring paw came to rest on his shoulder "Hey, we'll barge through the front doors again, just like old times eh?" said Nutt with a reckless grin but Dusk held him back and pointed to an archway in the moat wall, water trickled out of it's dark portal.

"I think I've got an idea, Maple, you think you can scale that wall?" no sooner had he asked than the Squirrel maid was already on her way up

"I'll meet you inside!" she called back, Dusk turned to the other two

"Let's hope that eye came with night vision Nutt, we're going in under"

"Oh I see, we go through the dank underground way whilst Miss pretty features stays high and dry" complained Nutt

"I heard that" Maple's voice sounded through his inbuilt radio, Fir chuckled, the two where quickly silenced by a sharp glance from Dusk.

The boy's held a monotonous silence broken only by drips and
the squelch of mud as they tramped through the dull tunnel,
lit only by the glow from Nutt's cybernetic peripheral.

"Dusk where are we?" asked Fir

"I don't know, where are we?" Dusk whispered to Nutt who stopped to brush his paw along a slimy wall

"Looks like a dead end" Nutt whispered back, a loud crackle made them all jump and clutch onto one another.

"Dusk, I'm inside, where are you guys?" Maple spoke, it was the radio, Nutt rubbed the head he'd just managed to hit off the ceiling and scowled

"We've just popped down to the pub for a drink, where do you think we are?" he remarked.

"Quiet, I can hear someone coming this way" said Fir, he pointed his gun into the dark. the sound of footsteps that reverberated around the tunnel grew rapidly clearer and the trio stood back to back, weapons at the ready.

Lr52 shoved Sir Copperleaf underwater and dived in after.
He pointed at a narrow gap in the side of the wall that had been submerged,
Sir Copperleaf nodded and pulled himself into the gap.
Lr52 heard another splash and glanced back at the grenade,
a foreign sense of panic came over the two and they frantically scrambled
through the narrow gap, they barely managed to slide through before the grenade exploded.

"Search ze fort, zere may be more of zem!" Von Kripplespac snapped at his creations.
Many years of war had taken it's toll upon the Weasel,
the loss of his leg's had left him stranded in his chair and it
had been no small feat to have survived being cast out into the vacuum of space by his nemesis.

"It will all be over soon, ze cursed Squirrels can not withstand ze might of my Tediz army", he looked out at the masses from a barred window "and then we will see ze power of ze duct tape, Conker, heh, heh, heh"

Maple watched the Dictator and trembled.

Gasp! A bedraggled pair broke the surface,
they coughed and spluttered as they helped each other up to the shallows.
Sir Copperleaf looked at the Tediz.
Lr52 Looked back at the Squirrel.
They burst out into laughter, picking themselves up they began to make their way through the tunnels.

"Look, a light at the end of the tunnel", said Sir Copperleaf "after you old pal" they walked around the corner and straight into gunpoint.

"Zis is customary Squirrel greeting?" asked LR52, paws raised

"Silence Tediz scum!" shouted Nutt

"I say chaps, don't you recognize me? Sir Copperleaf brushed aside the guns

"Copperleaf, how'd you escape? Capture a hostage did you?" chuckled Nutt,
he pointed his gun back at Lr52. Lightning swift he disarmed Nutt and had
him pinned at gunpoint, Dusk pointed his gun at Lr52,
unsure of what to do Fir decided just to keep tabs on everyone

"Steady on lads, this guy helped me to escape, easy there now pal" Sir Copperleaf prised the Tediz away from Nutt. Dusk lowered his sights

"Come on now, Nutt's got enough problems without you trying to kill him, err"-

"Lr52" aided Sir Copperleaf. Nutt stood up and rubbed his shoulder.
Lr52 pointed the gun at him and smartly flipped it around to offer it back

"No harm meant comrade" he said, Nutt retrieved the weapon

"I'm sure you didn't..."

Introductions we're quickly made as Sir Copperleaf informed Dusk on all he'd done.
Lr52 was called over

"We've spent enough time in the dark, take us to Von Kripplespac"

A manhole popped open and out crawled a group of muddy soldiers,
they stood up to face Maple, arms crossed and foot tapping.
She twitched her nose at the smell of sewage, Fir grinned foolishly

"You took your time, I've found a good spot to spy on Kripple boy" Maple stood hands on hips as they traipsed past, neatly sidestepping Fir she filed in alongside Dusk

"It was tough trying to find my way around this labyrinth, I'm not sure of the best way out of here" she explained, Dusk merely gestured behind them

"He knows his way around" Maple turned to meet Lr52's sharp eyes and fangs

"Good evening Madam" he nodded, Maple felt the familiar tremble and hurried up front to an eager Fir. They arrived at a fork in the path and Lr52 called them to halt, he muttered something to Dusk

"Alright we need to split up, there's to many of us", Dusk pointed to one corridor "Lr52 and I shall carry on with Maple and the rest of you take that path"

"Where do we rendezvous?" asked Fir

"We'll meet up with you once we've completed our task, now move out" ordered Dusk.

Fir watched them up the hallway, Nutt tapped him on the shoulder

"C'mon kid, we gotta get a move on" grumbled Nutt,
displeased the two followed after Sir Copperleaf who was
all to happy to be leaving the premises.

Three pairs of eyes watched as events unfurled in the prison hall,
up from their vantage point above the stage on an overhead platform.

"It's almost unreal just seeing him there" whispered Maple.
Dusk put an eye to the Widow maker's scope and rested a
finger lightly upon the trigger

"Let's hope we won't be seeing him anywhere else then" he whispered.
The cross-hair was aimed directly at the dictator's heart.
All three held their breath, a drop of sweat ran down the grime on Dusk's brow.
A moment held for eternity before Dusk tightened up,
abruptly the Weasel turned his back to them,
the shot rang out in stark contrast and the Weasel dropped to the floor.

"Veh must go now" said Lr52 as Tediz opened fire upon their position,
the enemy created a blockade around their leader before he was
dragged to safety, more surged forwards in pursuit of Dusk.

"Jump!" he cried, they leaped onto nearby ropes just before
the platform was blown to splinters, a Tediz demolisher cursed loudly.
They ran as they had never run before, they tore down one
corridor after another, alarms sounded and Tediz poured out
of their rooms to chase the trio.
They skidded to a halt and Lr52 kicked a lever that lowered the drawbridge

"Where are ze fools!" he cried, mad snarling could be heard
around the corner, a horn blared and a jeep pulled up next to them

"Need a lift?" Nutt said with a grin.
They swung on board as Tediz came into view,
a bullet whistled by which narrowly missed it's target

"Go, go, go!" said Fir before he returned fire with the mounted machine gun,
the engine revved and tires screeched,
Nutt plowed the jeep past several Tediz sentries,
through several more and finally out into the open.
A missile ripped past and created a destructive blaze

"What on Earth...?" began Sir Copperleaf, he looked back
at the prison to see a Tediz pilot fly it's Steed out of the entrance

"Nutt, we have a problem!" shouted Fir

"Tell me about it", muttered Nutt as a tank rolled into the fore,
it's cannon swiveled about to face the jeep "hold on!" he swerved into a narrow gully and back up the other side.
The tank fired but it's shot missed, the pilot had to veer sharply up to avoid the shell.
The hatch opened and out popped an enraged Tediz who shook a clenched paw at the escaping vehicle

"I think we ditched them" said Maple, she was met with an explosive answer

"Shoot that thing Fir" cried Dusk, Nutt flicked on the radio,
another missile blast sent the jeep into a spin.
Lr52 pushed Fir into the back seat and grabbed the turret

"Stupid Squirrels do not know how to shoot down Tediz plane,
I will show you how veh shoot in my country!" he snarled and fired at the Steed.
Fir lay on Maple's lap

"Hey Maple"- the jeep bounced harshly and he ended up on the floor,
he shook his head and looked about.
Lr52 growled as he shot at the pursuer "I did not come here to die, I will not die!"

"Nutt! Nutt, can you hear me?" shouted Dusk but Nutt only laughed
maniacally "Ha, I don't think Greyfur is going to be to happy to see us all so soon pal!"

"This is it, isn't it" choked Maple

"Not if I have anything to say about it!"

All eye's (even Nutt though he could still keep one on the road) turned to the source of the voice,
Fir stood up and pulled the rocket launcher out from underneath the chair,
the Tediz pilot saw the oncoming missile and only had time to swear
before the cockpit erupted into flame and the Steed crashed down into the street.
It skidded it's own wreckage leaving a trail of carnage

"We're outta here!" said Nutt shifting into gear, the jeep shot forward,
Fir barely had time to throw away the weapon before he was jolted back into Maple's lap.
He looked up at her

"Fir you saved us", said Maple and she kissed him "thank you"

Fir felt himself flush but then took Maple in a passionate embrace and kissed her deeply.

Nutt looked into the rear mirror at the pair

"Give me a break" he muttered and turned the radio up louder,
Sir Copperleaf gave him a light punch in the shoulder

"Jolly good show", he closed his eyes "wake me when we get back to base"

Lr52 slumped down, still breathing heavily and Dusk,
he did something he hadn't had the heart to do in a long time.
His laughter sang out freely against a background of sirens and the jeep drove off into dawn's first rays of light.

THE END