THE WALKER RANCH

Sreven jumpe ut of bed and made his way up to the practice room he knew he had to work hard to be in top pysical shape. moving quickly he practiced his karate moving faster with each second sill he seem to flow he didn't knowtice when pepole see to stop and watch how he moved pickinbg up a wooden pole he moved with it as if being attacked my an unseen attacker, spinning it and kicking out into the air finally he jumpkicked landing on his feet he looked around at the faces. Mving out teh room he quickly washed and dressed heading down to teh kitchen where he found Brian all ready witing . Poring a cup of coffee he drank it and sat waiting his wand still strapped to his leg. "so whare the catracombs like inside , how much room to move is there?" he asked trying to brack the icy barrior that seem to have formed between him and brian.

"Not nearly enough," he sighed, concerned. "That's always why they try to direct us down there. " He drew a scroll out of one of the kitchen cabinets and handed him a map. "Go check them out for yourself, but don't go far. We've had men die down there because they got so lost. Use your medallion if you get lost and we'll try to find you. It's the top place we want to avoid having to be tonight because the space is so small. The ceilings are very low, and the tunnels are narrow. Most of the time I have to stoop to get through them, much less fight. "

Steven took the map and looked at it " A tricky place to defend " he said not taking his eyes from the map " I won't get lost , well hope not " now he looked at Brian "listen about last night, i was being... ok i was being a jurk , I guess because this is the first time i have been away from my kid since my attack" he quickly said "I don't know if Robert told you but he was taken by this same organisation too , it took me months just to get him back to being anything like my boy again, Robert and Kate hepled a lot, like i guess they do with others " he folded the map and slipped it into his pocket "right now i'll recon out those catacombs"

"I know,' Brian said gently. "I do understand. I've seen it before, unfortunately. Too often. As long as you can pull yourself together for tonight. That's what I have to care about first," he said. "Remember, be careful in those catacombs."

steven smiled and nodded "yes sir" he said grining as he left now feeling like is self agian he ehaded down to the catacombs taking out the map he walked till he reatched where Brian had said it became low , the light wasn't good but the temprary lightling gave enouph to see by. he saw skulls embedded in the walls and bones used as markers his eyes now acustomed to the semi dark took in every detail he could in so he'd know his way around soon he came to the place he would be at later that night he looked out onto the street for now it was a tipical street houses each side and a square being filled with things for pepole to do "Humm will be busy" he said to himself "for a small square" It was then he saw a stall ablit to topple on some people a rop had snapped and it was toppling over running out he grabbed the rope pulling with all his streagth he held it and slowly pulled it upright. several of the locals grabbed the rope and helped pull it back up ting a new rope to it and tying it off again . Al the pepole thanked him smiling he moved back to the corner where he had emerged from then when every one was busy again he dove back into the catacombs "Humm freindly bunch" soon he found his way back to teh house and out slighty dirty

"So--you didn't get lost. That's a plus," Brian laughed. 'How far did you get, or do you know?" He waas curious. He was feeling that an auror like Steven didn't get lost easily, and especially not someone like him with a map. "Keep the map. You'll need it for tonight," he told him. "Did you get breakfast? You really should eat. I want every man well fed today."

steven chuckled " I took a look at the square we'lll be at , not big and will be busy , not a good thing " he said taking some toast from a tray and ate it "mum good toast, any way its gong to be hard but do able though i'd watch the bid tenet to the left of the main entrance I noticed its over a suewer line they might use it as an escape route" he took out the map and placed his toast on one corner "here , here and hear are all amusments theres a food stall here , he pointed to teh top corner of teh square, I took a look this morning just incase things changed from your plans they have a large tent has been put up right at the entrance to the catombs, hiding it so we won't see anything" he hoped this was a good move on his part and would help the mission.

"I saw that too, when i was out. I'm on my way to redo the map. We're going to have to scout it out several times today. They'll be moving things all day to try to throw us off. So the map will keep changing, and may continue to change all night. Bastards," he sighed. "Thanks for the intel. I'll move the map for now, but we're going to keep checking it."

steven nodded and finished his toast watchng it roll up "I'll do that some of the locals tok t me when I helped out, a rpoe broke on a large stalland would have crshed several locals I kinda helped stop it so now they see me as a good luck charm or somthing, they asked me to help, though it best to get this intell back first , it'd be good to have a man on the ground " he said watching his face "would make things easier i'd get messages back to you on what the final layout is" he picked up another peice of taost and ate "and where the weak spots are, don't wrry i use to do this in the rangers and Auror's too" he sat down eating his toast.

"Fine by me,' Brian said, "They won't know you. Some of us who have done this for several years are more recognizable. We have to be much more careful. Especially me. You wanna go work the races and bring back what you know, that's fine. Go see what you can learn from them once you have enough to eat. See if you can get into those tents just when it gets dark enough to seal those metal lids to the sewers and the tunnels. That will buy us time. I presume you know the spell for that. Right?"