FSE

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An early morning sunrise was beautiful no matter which way you went, a lone rising sun moving its swift rays over the dying night of the wasteland remained just as serene as it had ever been. A brief moment of picturesque clarity, a sole instant of the wind dying off to turn completely silent before the warmth and majesty of the one remaining life-giver of this world. The world may have been almost eradicated, but life still grew. And with that life would still continue, even for those who did not want to initially. A fierce clash of blades came as two shadows stood opposite of each other. One hulking and monstrous of at least seven feet tall, the other lithe and saurian with a long tail at around 5'10''. The night had not yet been cast off of them, and it only took but a few minutes for the sun to catch up on their outlines. But they could not rest for one moment as the larger form shouted: "YER GOIN' DOWN LI'L LIZARD!" The beast swung forth at the small opponent, a huge fist the size of a car window come slamming down hard across the cracked earth as the shadow backed off. The glinting light of a dull blade, flat as a loaf of bread came swinging out towards the monstrous wrist whacking it bluntly below the knuckle. "OWWW! Hhhhh...that the best you GOT?!" "Come closer and find out," said the shadowed blade-wielder. As the sun started to rise up on them, they could be seen more clearly in the form of a large brutish green-skinned humanoid, mutated to absurd strength almost like resembling that of an orc. His hands had been wrapped promptly in chains, tight across the knuckle wearing only a thick set of crushed steel upon his body, as well as some kneepads over the footless shorts. He charged with a whopping haymaker, swinging powerfully enough to send even a stop sign flying off with an audible swoosh, but the shadow underneath him had ducked sternly before striking upwards. The sun glinted off his dull sword, a club made of steel basically rendered to a fine pointless tone as his eyes glowed green by the sun's rays cast off from his blade. The raptor's leather armour kept close to his body, as he felt his blade connect with the monster's chin, cracking it backwards before a delayed hammerfist came slamming down on his left shoulder and jostled him badly, sending him down on one knee. He did not utter a single word as he gritted his teeth, the mutant-skinned creature roaring as he came back swinging fierce. The raptor dodged the first two punches, straight jabs large enough to push a car off the roadtrack before the third one went slamming into the dirt before him. It gave him time to leap up and go straight for the eyes as he hopped on top of the monster's wrist, leaping upwards to come crashing down on his head. But his opponent could see what he was up to and promptly brought up his other fist to block him hard in mid-air, the raptor grappling onto the other wrist and kicking back off of it in a somersault before landing on both feet, blade scraping across the ground for a small cloud of dust. "Nice try," mocked the mutant, "you ain' fast enough fer me!" "I don't have to be," said the raptor bluntly, "I just have to think faster." "Well think FAST!"

In the moment he said this, the beast swung both arms hard in a lariat-style throw, spinning only once to gain momentum before crushing his hammerfist down upon where his foe had been. His fist however did not stay on the ground, instead it simply recoiled by sheer force before he spun back the opposite direction and gave a vicious backhand hard enough to bitchslap an entire truck off the road. But the raptor had seen the heavy swing already in motion, and ducked down low enough to almost press his belly against the dirt before leaping up and slamming his metal club into the heavy gut of the beast. An orcish choke of surprise came from him as he felt the sudden thrust, plunging hard but never piercing as he winced at the odd feeling. Eventually he felt too winded to keep fighting and slowly put down his arms softly, pushing the raptor away rather awkwardly. "You-...y-you-guh...th-tha-ooooof...t-time out, time out I give, I give!" "ALRIGHT THAS' ENOUGH!" A familiar raspy-voice of authority came shrieking in on the raptor as stepped back carefully, the commander coming down to the training area to investigate his new recruits. Delgado gave a radiant gleam even in darkness slightly, not enough to show him in the hills but certainly enough to show his grinning chin as he looked up over the brutish hulk currently hunched over. "You alrigh' there?" "Y-yeah," murmured the mutant, "jus'...uunnnngh...hit me righ' on thuh belly button." "Heh, hey, no worries, we all got our weak points, that just means you gotta cover it up a little when we're out on the field. I think we got enough fer tonight or...well, today anyways so let's call it off." "Okay." "Fine by me," said FG. "Sorry about that pal." "Naaah naaah is cool, you got me, didn' think you'd make my stomach go all li-HRRK!" "Alright alright!" said Jerry. "Get yerself down to medical and fix yerself up, the last thing I wanna do is clean up some mutant vomit all over the damn training area, you know how hard it is to clean scorched earth? Seriously, we got no bleach fer that shit." "Hhhhuuuu huuu huuu...alrigh' boss, I'll just, sorry." "Great fight there Garl," said FG sportsmanlike, "that block you gave me was pretty damn good." "Ehhh...thanks...you too." Garl gently walked off the training area's circuit as Delgado turned towards his new recruit, the raptor shrugging softly with an apologetic smirk meekly upon his face which confused his senior. "What?" "Whaddaya mean what, you knocked down a super mutant, that's pretty good!" "Oh...was it?" "Well yeah! I mean he might be new but he's still a mutant those dudes are pretty tough!" "I guess...not very fast though." "He'll learn, he's got passion fer it. Not like you." "What do you mean?" "Yer training's good I'll give ya that, got some good style on ya that ain't nuthin' I ever seen, where'd you learn that anyway?" "A guy trained me years back, proper swordfighting stuff." "Well he sure taught you good but you not got any spirit, where's yer PASSION!? Your fury, your moxie, you can't just swing left and right blocking like a robot, you got to have some SOUL in you! Be a guy, not some...goof like this." "Heh...sorry...sorta...I just lost it along the way I think, I'm not normally like this." "Well you better get it back or else I'll hafta knock it back up in ye! Yanno I see in you the making of a real warrior but you can't be nuthin' but a real dump without some real energy inside of ya. You need a reason fer fightin'." "I lost that too, I just do what I have to do." "...that ain't no way to live Jim." "Well there really is no way to live, is there?" "As yer commanding officer I order you to get some passion, now is that better? If I order you to get some then will you? Fight fer me, maybe fer Diana at least to keep this place going?" "...yeah...I guess that's not too bad a reason, alright then." "Right, okay, now you think yer up fer another round maybe while Garl's out recovering?" "Uhhhh sure okay but...there ain't no one else here." "There sure is Jim. Me."

The ghoul swung out his reinforced shovel with a smiling grin, which to say for his face was most certainly a wide grin almost Cheshire Cat-like in his rudimentary gaze to his pupil. Delgado drawed his shovel up against FG like it was a blade, the sharpened steel tip glinting wickedly in the morning rays of dawn. The raptor looked a little nervous but drew his blade up to him, ready to fight always as he watched his armoured jumpsuit, covering most of the unsightly flesh and worn burnt radiation of the senior knight. "Now let's see you fight fer real, fight me like I wanna kill that little girl of yers." "...not the best words you could have picked." "Why? You angry?" "...not yet so don't push it." "Well then GET angry or else I'll kill you,HRRRAAAH!" His shriek was certainly vile to hear, a feral scream as he swung the flat of his shovel down hard upon FG's face, before the raptor dodged left and drew up his club up against it. It was a training weapon, more or less considering it was far less lethal than his scissors and about the same length. But it was definitely quite sturdy, giving him much more confidence in blocking a swinging strike from the ghoulish knight as the shovel came from his left, guarding before he rushed forwards. Jerry saw James start to move in and twisted his wrist to bring the shovel handle up, deflecting FG's thrust towards him and aligning it to scrape past his left shoulder. The raptor was surprised by this, but even more was he surprised by the sudden elbow strike from the shovel-wielding hand right on his snout, knocking him back as he pulled back his dull club. The ghoul kept up his momentum however and swung back the shovel hard from left to right, the raptor deflecting with a glancing edge to make the sharper tip scar itself across his weapon, letting Jerry swing fully wide open. But the ghoul did not lose his balance, simply stomping forwards with a heavy thrusting jab of his left fist as James dodged left, smacking the club down upon his fist making him grunt with pain. But not as much pain as he felt when the raptor's left elbow facing towards Jerry suddenly slammed out smacking the sharp bony ridge where his nose had once been. It blurred his sight a little, but he stopped himself from staggering as he planted the shovel hard into the ground for self-support, right before hurling up a thick cloud of dust to temporarily blind FG. The raptor, surprisingly, did not expect such a dirty tactic from his new commanding officer and struggled to clear his vision, hearing the ghoul hiss with victorious breath which forced him to duck low hard to the ground. Jerry swung at nothing, his shovel whooshing across the air without a trace as the raptor punched hard upwards against the armoured jumpsuit. It wasn't the best idea despite instinct telling him, the crunch of bare scaled knuckle upon thin armour not giving either more than just a dull throb.

Delgado simply smiled laughing as he kicked James back with a harsh boot to the face, but the raptor had expected it and put up his hand to protect himself as he was kicked up onto his back. Rolling to one side by reflex, he swung up the club ready to meet against shovel as Jerry swung it thrice. Once left, second right, and third to come crashing down by the flat of the blade with both hands upon the handle. The raptor's weapon was strong enough to guard against it, blocking it on the downswing easily despite the gravitational force threatening his legs to buckle. Forcing the club harder against the point between handle and shoveltip, he rolled it to one side then the other as if parrying the whole weapon off, scraping Jerry's shovel down to the floor. The moment Jerry went down as his weapon got pulled down by gravity, the raptor bootkicked him hard in the face with claws to boot, scraping across the mostly-bare skull as the ghoul went falling on his side. "NNNNGH! Not...BAD!" Digging the shovel hard into the dirt to use like a cane, he stood up fast before striking the ground once more to send dust up and flying, but the raptor dodged much faster than before at the sight of it and covered his face. Jerry had hoped he would do this, leaping fast towards him so James would not hear his feet pounding across the cracked dirt as he came shrieking down with a skullsplitting swing of the shovel. James opened his eyes just before seeing the ghoul come down, as he rolled desperately to the side in anticipation as the flat of the shoveltip smacked down with a clang upon the dead earth. Seeing Jerry temporarily weak from the failed strike, he leapt towards his back and slammed his club hard upon the back of the shoulders, sending the ghoul down with a shriek as he fumbled over his feet. Delgado turned up onto his back, striking out with the shovel and cracking James across the face to keep him back, but the raptor launched on top of him and forced the club sideways against his throat, threatening to choke out his superior to yield. The ghoul simply hissed with vicious raw teeth, necrotic hands grappling up at the raptor's eyes to force him off before he grabbed at his shovel nearby. With a mighty swing of the handle, the raptor was forced to block the incoming weapon from his left with left arm upright, fiercely stinging from the impact of wood against synthetic flesh. But it was enough for Jerry to take advantage of his weakened grip as he grabbed at the club with his other hand and tore it off his throat, bunching his knees up and kicking both boots into the raptor's leather-armoured gut. A mighty heave of pushed air from his lungs sent him down on top, a deadened weight briefly upon the ghoul who forced him off with a bodyroll. With a socking punch to the eye, the knuckle scraped against his head as he grunted hard at the fierce walloping, from necrotic bare hands right down to the bone. The ghoul smacked left, right, and finally came down with both hands in a vicious hammerfist that FG just barely managed to block using both wrists crossed over each other. Shoving his hands hard against Jerry's face, he forced him back up to stumble backwards before he launched himself into a charging headbutt straight at Delgado's chest, letting his head take most of the impact upon the armoured jumpsuit.

It was enough to knock down Jerry once more, straight on his back as James piled over on top of him once more as he clawed threateningly across Jerry's skull exposed halfway, scraping past the jaw. But the ghoul allowed the first hit to come down focusing more on the second slash he soon blocked, slamming his right arm up against James' left hand before punching him straight in the face, crumpling the snout slightly causing a burst of blood to pour out his nostrils. Struggling to cover up the throbbing snout, his eyes watered with tears before Jerry grabbed both arms, rolling him in one direction straight over to the side before planting him squarely on top of the raptor. Both of his hands now grasped around James' throat, locking both the raptor's hands inbetween the ghoulish arms to prevent him from fighting back, but not squeezing just yet as he panted: "Hhhh...HHHhhhh...you...give up yet?" "Ffffhhh...hhhh...not...yet." James brought up his hands amidst panting wheezing breaths, burning bright with hot flames nearing towards Delgado's face. He knew how close it had to be before it started to get uncomfortable, even with the ghoul's deadened nerves making him somewhat more oblivious to pain than humans would. The sight of burning flames within the raptor's palms straight ahead of him turned him nervous as FG said: "Go ahead...choke me...I dare you." "Heh...you gettin' off to this?" "No...you?" "Hhhehehehehe...so what happens if I choke ya?" "Then I'm gonna burn your throat out like a 70-year-old smoker, and you've got both hands occupied. I don't even need to squeeze you, I just have to touch you." "What if I bite?" "That's never bothered me before." "...alright. Call it a draw this time...but next time, learn some passion fer pete's sake." "I'll try...sir." The two slowly got up from the dirt and brushed themselves off, smiling to each other with a deep sigh of relief from a hard battle fought. Withholding their weapons safely they headed back towards the main area of the Beech, a somewhat busy village by James' standards, but what would be considered a veritable hive of activity to someone of the wasteland. As the crack of dawn slowly neared, James started to hear the sounds of the people, starting up their morning business. Weaponsmiths tinkered and toyed with new materials, remnants of days past to become something strange and unique. The general store flipped its sign to open for things to be sold and also bought from travellers passing through, as well as locals who had went exploring nearby for any useful scrap materials. Children were playing in the dirt making up silly games with cross-squares, mutated cattle were being tended to making the same lowly sounds he had heard from long ago. Even though the people looked different, it felt as if he were back on a ranch in some medieval world long ago. Humans, ghouls and the rare supermutant, hulking green-skinned beasts, all coalesced within the small village. The remains of former schools and post offices now became something different. Something more useful. A school still remained to teach children the ways of the wasteland, and while the lessons were most certainly different, they were nevertheless important. James learnt plenty of it second-hand through Diana, whom he now became legal guardian of for the sake of ease. They also kept their weapons upon them at all times with James now reobtaining his scissors for himself.

The cattle ranch, which contained the mutant two-headed cows known as Brahmin, was located west of the doctor's office out on a field formally known as "the Dutch pen" owing to the word Dutch appearing on a sign nearby. Not that anyone knew what that even meant or even what a Dutch was but it made it easy as a point of reference for. James headed up to the ranch as part of his duties, tending to the cattle like old times remembering most of his tutelage still concerning animal husbandry. It was still incredibly weird for him to this day, even moreso now that two pairs of eyes stared at him from each cow. They were friendly to say the least and the mutation had not destroyed their gentle disposition either way so he had nothing to fear. What he was fearful of however were the Bighorners in another pen further out, large mutated sheep with curled horns and demonic faces primarily used for fresh meat. They had their uses for tracking herbs out on the wastes, but for the most part they had been domesticated to the point of completely docile, despite their hellish appearance of having red skull-shaped heads, the flesh neatly unformed from the snout to the top of the head. A mild morning heat upon the steel-walled village, with wooden fence around the cattle all being penned in separate regions as people came to and fro, workers and buyers and contributors of produce. The raptor simply toiled, cleaning the land, tending the soil with crops nearby consisting mainly of maize and cabbage thanks to fertilisation from the cattle. It was grunt work, but it soothed him easily, made him busy enough to stop thinking for once. He carefully began spreading manure around most of the crops, scraping a hoe across as Diana swung her legs upon the fence near him. "So what they teach you today?" asked James. "Nah much," said Diana shrugging, "jus' stuff about history of thuh Midwest Brotherhood an' stuff, usual." "Yeah? Tell me about it, you teach me instead." "Um..." "Come on, I'm bored." "Alrigh', so...there wuz this group called the Brotherhood of Steel, an-" "Woah woah hold up you only JUST mentioned this two months ago." "Shudduuuup I'm gettin' to it...so there wuz this BIG group of the Brotherhood, like they were a core faction out someplace way out west, an' they were like this military group, like they used to come from the United States Military, I dunno whut that is-" "Wait, what?! ...seriously, you're joking." "Nah-uh, that whut they told me!" "The US Military, REALLY!?" "YEAH! Whosat?!" "Jus-...never mind, is this military still around?" "Nope, that's why the Brotherhood got made cuz US Military got all wipeds out. So anyways, they really wanted to hog all this machinery an' science an' books an' technology all fer themselves, bu' they didn' want any outsiders knowing shit about it, like people not part of 'em." "Oh good," said James sarcastically, "racism again, that's new." "But there wuz people that didn' wanna keep all that stuff, like they wanted to share it with people, an' they disagreed an' got cast out off towards this place here. Went on these airships an' got banished out fer not bein' like one of 'em, the core faction, an' then they crashed out here an' built up sumplace fer themselves. That's why we got the Midwestern Brotherhood."

"So...these people are NOT racist?" "Nope, not here! They wanna share stuff with people so they let in outsiders cuz they needed to boost their numbers. Out here on the wastes, ghouls, mutants, tribal peoples, they all git to come here long as you wanna join in an' help." "Huh, that's neat...well good to know we landed ourselves with the right people." "Ah huh...you gonna stay here?" "I'm thinking about it, I got a nice life here honestly, it's not much but it's away from everyone I know and least here I won't be bothering anyone...maybe get some dignity back." "Dignity? Yer shovellin' shit." He pondered this briefly before replying: "Well at least I'm working, and helping people." "Why you gotta shovel shit on them plants anyway?" "Because it's fertiliser, plants need it because all the nutrients you don't use that you shit out from your body, gets taken up by the ground and absorbed into it. That way they get all nice and strong and we eat this food from them" "So...shit gets fed to plants to make them grow? And we get food from that?" "Yep, it's the wonderful circle of life. They didn't teach you this?" "Not yet." "Great, well you just skipped a grade so good on ya, anyways...what else they teach you?" "Well...we gots a hierarchy, I know whut that means." "And what is it?" "It's an order of ranks in the Brotherhood of Steel." "Right, they made me a squire so I'm pretty low on the rank. You remember the rest?" "Um... And you are...well you haven't joined yet have you?" "I dunno," shrugged Diana, "not sure whut I could do really." "Honestly, unless you're fighting there's really no reason to be with them." "Whut about Sally, she don' fight." "Oh yeah good point, guess you could become a scribe like her." "I dunno...just wanna hope we git help soon." "I hope so too, they said they were gonna hear back from the elder and they sent out our request." "That wuz like three months ago!" "Well grown-ups are very slow and stupid." "So why they the ones that git to do everythin'?" "Pfft, beats me, I'm not even human...ehhhhh that'll do, alright lemme just put this away and we go get something to eat." Putting away his tool and collecting his earnings for the day, the raptor headed off towards the local diner to grab some small vittles for himself and Diana, an open shack with a basic fryer simply roasted hot by the sun itself magnified. The bag of bottlecaps rustled exactly like money would, only he found it to be much more strange to be carrying such unilateral trash in order to pay for things. But he accepted it and simply paid for an iguana-on-a-stick, whilst Diana got a can of beans for herself. The iguana was strange but tasted good when roasted, same with the beans as they both enjoyed their breakfast meal before heading up back to their living quarters. A single room as part of a small building on the west side of town, a converted apartment block made from the remains of the post office this town had once. The former offices made excellent living rooms despite some inventive plumbing needed, and luckily somebody had been clever enough to keep water running to the town throughout the use of nearby reservoir lines. James and Diana's room was not sumptuous in grandeur, but it was home for them. Two beds on the floor relatively clean, a small fridge that while didn't work was able to keep the cold in keeping things fresh, as well as a personal lavatory in the form of a closet with a hole in a seat.

The view from the window was good, barred up mostly but there were some parts here and there he could see of the village itself, and despite the fact they had to get water by walking downstairs and up the street, it could be way worse. James certainly appreciated it despite having lived in far less squalid conditions, whilst Diana only felt guilty for having this much standard of living all by herself. Regardless, they made their living due, and all they could do was bide their time. Knowing that there was little else to be done on their end. James however decided to be part of the Brotherhood of Steel if only to allow access to their communications, asking and reporting on various occasions he went out scouting for them. The raptor wanted to earn some brownie points just to see if they could speed up the process towards liberating the slave camp, but that seemed far-fetched still for the future. Regardless of his needs he still came to be a warrior amongst them, scouting to other areas picking up food and supplies amidst terrible beasts, and usually end up with something to take back with him. All in all, he was a promising recruit, and eventually after a long day's work with the sun still high, Diana pulled out a small gift for James from her backpack. The raptor smirked upon realising after a few seconds what it was as she hefted the white baseball up in the air, catching it deftly outside the far end of the Dutch Pen. "Heeeeey you kept it!" "Hehe...dunno why I did but..." "Is it really the same one?" "Sure is! Kept it in my pocket since back then." "You played with anyone yet?" "...not...really." She softly thumbed at the ball rather nervously, the raptor looking at her oddly. "Why not?" "I...I dunno 'bout the other kids, they...they're kinda loud...an' noisy an'...all over the place." "That's what kids do though." "Not any kids I ever met." "...right, well no matter, I'll teach you still. Grab that handle over there." He pointed towards a spare handle that was used for small shovels resting up by the door, the girl grabbing it as she hurled the ball at FG who caught it after it rolled onto the ground by a few feet. He had her back up a little bit just to give some space between them, feeling it was right enough a distance as he steadily began to slap the ball into his fist, giving his best American accent. "Alrigh' now li'l lady, lessee how you can handle this un." "Why you talkin' like that?!" "Cuz this is an American game, American as stars an' stripes an' whutever else they got so you gots to learn. Ah throw thuh ball at you, then you-" "Okay don' talk like that no more it's gettin' annoying!" "Sorry sorry, basically I throw, you swing and hit the ball as far as you can. If I can catch it, you lose. If I can't catch it, you win." "That's it?!" "Yep. You also got to hit the ball, but if you miss hitting it three times, you also lose." "Huh...well alrigh' then." "Ready?!"

She nodded as he did his best throw, or rather best he could without being too strong at hurtling it towards the girl's face watching it fly slowly across through the air. Diana was unused to swinging a bat so strongly, and overshot herself a little too early causing her to spin a little, completely missing the ball. "STEEEEEERIKE ONE!" "HUH?!" "Strike one out of three, that's two more chances now hurl the ball back at me." "Whut I get outta this?!" "What you mean?" "Well, if ah win, whut do ah get?!" "...oh right, you need a prize huh? ...tell you what, you win, you get half my sugar bombs." "Seriously?! Aw you dead now." "Hahahaha, glad I got you all eager for it." She tossed the ball back to him as he picked it up off from the ground brushing the dirt off before readying himself for the pitch. He never played baseball much, but he knew how it was played as he swung it near her body off-center, hoping she'd crack it good. His wish came true in the form of a surprising shot, a beautiful smack of wood against leather as the ball went coursing through the air, higher and higher it lobbed up through the windy desert current. Then it slowly began to dip right towards the end of the plantation, straight into one of the still-intact windows of an old farmshack with a crinkling smash. "Agh, d-dammit!" "SNRKhehee!" The sudden snort from his left made him look over to Diana, who immediately tried to suppress her smirk but failed to do so quick enough. The raptor smirked back, breaking out into a small giggle that she followed up with. "Uh oh, old man Jenkins ain't gonna like it." "There ain' no old man there." "Not anymore, you just clonked him on the head." "SNRRRKhehehaha!" "HHHahaha! ...still want those sugar bombs?" "Uhhhh...we got no ball." "I can go get it, I'll apologise to old man Jenkins." "Um, kay?" He headed up towards the house diligently in a hustled run, jogging up the dead lawn before seeing the baseball lying on the floor of the front room. It wasn't a large house, in fact only three rooms on the first floor with an upper area for beds, small wooden corridors rotted through with corrosion. He grabbed the baseball before suddenly hearing a chittering click menacingly from the corner of the room. A brown shadow lunged towards his face, forcing his hands up as he struggled to fight it off snarling: "AGH, FUCK, GETOFF!" With furious swiftness he flung the beast off, feeling an odd velvet texture to its chitinous body as he pushed it out the window, shattering the rest of it. In the light of the sun, it was a smooth brown cockroach the size of a housecat, hissing menacingly as it scuttled back towards the house to attack the raptor once more. Trying to run back out the front door, the beast cornered him as he kicked it hard in the face, knocking it on its back. "GET, THE FUCK, AWAY!"

The moment he kicked it right on its back, the last thing the cockroach ever saw was the huge swing of unvarnished wood cracking upon its head, splitting the thorax with a gooey splurge leaking out of its membranes. Diana stared up at FG who looked bemused at first, but quickly took the joke one step further. "Well uh...old man Jenkins not gonna care anymore." "Nope," said Diana, "he dead." "Well he was old, he was gonna die anyway." "Heheheheee, you woke him up an' he got allll mad." "Yeaaaaaah well, he smells like a cockroach." "He IS a cockroach." "SHH don't say that, he's very sensitive about it!" "Hhheehehehahahahaa, yer stupid!" "Shut up, you're stupid, stupid-head!" "I ain't stupid, YOU'RE stupid, you threw the ball!" "Well least I know how to HIT one!" "I hit it way over the horizon an' you didn' catch it now pay up them sugar bombs mister!" "Pfft...I bet you can't hit it again." "Sure I can, I'll make it hit right over the wall, all yer sugar bombs if I hit this next one!" "Done!" Heading back towards the self-made diamond field, the raptor readied himself to make a larger swing, Diana holding her new bat of wooden fence like a pro more confidently. Cockroach goo dripped off the end slightly, but she didn't care, watching for the white ball to come hurling at her face. The raptor wanted her to hit it, making a tender forced throw that sent it arcing lightly towards her face, giving her plenty of time to smack it hard. She sent it flying with one good KRAKK, the ball flying over the raptor's head and off towards another house off in the distance. He could barely see where the ball had landed, but another breaking sound could be heard by impact and he knew this house was not vacant, judging by the sound of someone freaking out in the distance. "SHIT, RUN!" The two ran off hastily before anyone would find out, hoping that no damage had been made and just claiming without knowledge of any incident. Not that it mattered anyway for James still handed over the rest of his Sugar Bombs as was the deal, with Diana gladly keeping them for herself, as well as their little secret. The cockroach in the shed was evidence, and soon James got told off by the farmer who employed him for not reporting it earlier. But the baseball would never be solved, of that they were certain.

The next day he went for a check-up with Sally Sobchak, the scribe examining his body that mostly remained unchanged but was still mandatory each month for both him and Diana. Diana had hers previously after trusting the doctor more certainly, who also was more able to give a full medical examination on her for safekeeping. The raptor however was more clean than expected, much to Sobchak's surprise. "Well you're still fighting fit dino boy!" "Heh, thanks Sally." "Think you're even fitter now from all that farmwork you did, I was half-expecting you to pick up some disease from all that." "It keeps my mind busy, that's what's most important." "You sure you're not feeling anything from all that work near bighorners?" "They're not THAT bad...least once you get used to the way they smell." "Hmhmhm...Jerry says he worries about you being less passionate in your training. Are you alright?" "I'm good just...keeping busy, I still play with Diana and still living with her." "You take your showers often?" "Once every few days, both of us to make sure." "Right, good...I'm just really glad we have running water, I could not believe how much I missed it after coming here, can you believe my hair was even WORSE than the way it is?" "Really? I don't see it." "No?! Look!" She pulled him close to take a look at her frizzed hair, the raptor not seeing anything different as she asked him: "You can see the split ends?" "Sorry, I...don't even have hair so I don't know what you mean." "Seriously?!" "Look, really you look fine to me, stop worrying about your hair you look pretty." "...you really think so?" asked Sobchak gingerly. "Yeah I mean, not many can still look like that out here, wasteland and everything." "Awwww thanks! You know that if you have any problems you can talk to me right? I mean I am trained for dealing with both physical and mental wellbeing so don't be afraid!" "I know, just...need to keep myself busy, not think about so much. I'm really worried about getting to this camp and freeing people, frankly." "I know, we talked about this last check-up." "I just want some answer back from these elders, it's been three months, what's so busy that they can't just give me a yes or no answer and send some people in?" "I have no idea, honestly we haven't heard from the elder since-...they're busy." "...what?" asked FG. "Nothing!" "No, you said you haven't heard from them since...when?"

Sally turned nervous as she bit her lip tightly, hands scrunching up. "Okay I REALLY shouldn't have said anything so please just forget that, just Steel business, nothing new!" "Why, you sworn to secrecy?" "N-no!" she stammered. "I-...jus-...maybe!?" "You're a scribe, you're not high enough for any secrets unless you saw something." "Oh I definitely never saw anything I just...there are rumours but I'm not going to perpetuate any rumours because Jerry's heard them too and he stressed me not to tell anyone about it! Just because we haven't heard from the elder in at least three months DOESN'T mean anything, okay!? I don't want people panicking and he told me because he trusts me, so PLEASE don't say anything." "Wait...three months?" "Well yeah I mean, they're busy with things, miscommunications and stuff, maybe they're understaffed, I dunno! Just please promise you won't say anything." "Okay okay, just...I guess bureaucracy can happen anyplace...still sounds kinda weird, all this medieval stuff for titles yet you make it sound like this is some kind of office workplace, what with all these reports and miscommunications and stuff." "Well frankly the whole hierarchy is sorta weird anyway." "Yeah...where does the elder live anyway?" "No idea," said Sally, "they're at an undisclosed location that only paladins know about, once you get to a high enough rank then you can learn about it." "So that means that Jeffries knows where he is and answers to the elder." "Well there's still commanders and such, Paladin Commander for one then Paladin Lord then General and then Elder. Actually he just came past here about a month before you arrived, Paladin Commander Crow." "Crow?" "He said they were on a mission to find some great salvation they heard about in old archives, top priority, said it was going to clean the wasteland of filth and bring forth a new age of peace." "Wow really? That's...not confidential?" "Oh no they said so, they told me and didn't stress anything about it." "Who's they?" "They're um...what was it they're called, the...triumvirate something? I dunno, three higher-ups, well two of them really that outrank the paladin, who come from one of the big strongholds way up north." "There's other places like us too?" "Only in name, lot of us are real fractured and like families descending from one after the other, they're more like towns than anything that just share one ideology but not really...friends if that makes sense. A community I guess. We tend not to trade much anymore unless it's a real emergency that threatens all of us or we have something good in return...apparently it used to be really nice back a hundred years ago, all one big happy family just getting on by...then things change, we all split up...I mean Beech wasn't even our original home, we used to live in Momence a few years ago." "Wait really?" asked James. "What happened?" "Oh...the nightstalkers came..."

A crestfallen look upon her face suddenly showed her true age by about five years, wrinkles revealed upon a deep glimmer of sadness. "They burrowed underneath and...we don't know where they'd come from but we...we lost a lot of people that week and had to leave fast as possible. But then we got up here instead and merged with another group who...well, they lost a lot of people too, commander included so we thought it'd be best to pair up." "Yeah...I remember those things when me and Diana went through." "I can't believe both of you survived it." "Neither did Jeffries, called bullshit but how else you think we got here from south? Did anyone object by the way, to Paladin Jeffries taking over?" "Not really," replied Sally, "they were so scared without anyone to lead them that the moment Jeffries took control they followed willingly." "Right...is there even anyone up in Chicago anymore? I mean I assumed the big boss would have some fancy office in what remains of it up there." "No...not that I know of, maybe some monsters or mutants but none of our factions at least." "Man...you guys are really scraping by on the skin of your teeth huh?" "Totally...I mean all we've got are each other so...just do what you can to keep going right? Together." "Yeah," said FG, "together...just...together. Okay then uh, see you next month?" "Sure! Take care now and uh...promise alright?" "My lips are sealed, I've already forgotten." He smirked as he left, walking back to his living quarters as Diana kept herself in school being taught. She was too focused on waiting to hear a message back for any mischief, which gladdened James to think that he had nothing to worry concerning her brief upbringing in his own care. He barely had a chance to talk to Paladin Jeffries but when he did there were simple short words. The leader of this small faction was very strictly not one for social talk, except with Jerry who seemed to be trusted as second-in-command. One day, upon returning from a successful hunting of large geckos across the southern ridge with scaled meat in tow, he found there had been new visitors coming to the town. Bringing out a backpack specially-obtained for the delivering of meat, the blood contained within by strong materials to not cause drippage, he headed towards the main larder store in the junior high school's kitchen noticing the bustling of people new. The place was unusually active, almost every recruit had been making their way out towards the training ground as Delgado commanded them through. "COME ON MOVE IT MOVE IT, I DON' WANT NO GOOFING OFF IN FRONT OF THE NEW GUESTS!" "What's going on?!" asked FG. "MOVE ALONG! Go see fer yerself and keep in single file, soldier!" "Y-yes sir!" Not even questioning such an order at him, the raptor followed along amidst the mixed various men, women, ghouls and mutants that made up the small Beech division. The entire garrison stood waiting upon the hot sands of the training area waiting for orders, stern to attention in mixed colours ranging from brown leather armour to faded crumpled steel. Definitely not the real makings of an army but it was better than nothing. From the junior high school building not more than a few minutes' walk away, came five shadows slowly trudging up heavily across the sand dunes.

Jerry Delgado and Darryl Jeffries were noticeably out front, the ghoul in his jumpsuit dark as night along with his paladin leader standing tall and proud in resolutely thick steel armour showing only the woman's shaven head. Behind them were three other more intimidating bodies completely covered in thick pure power armour much more strongly-built than anything they had seen. James wondered if they had ripped steel from a tank in order to make such things, huge walking robotic constructs that were very clearly human in their trained gait. One was at least taller than Paladin Jeffries, standing by a good few inches enough to look down with a red marking upon the forehead of its cold steel helmet, almost resembling a metallic insect's face to the raptor. This one had the most powerful-looking armour of them all, and was clearly the leader of these three newcomers with lightweight metal alloys unseen anywhere else in this wasteland. The other on their left from James' point of view, who had a blue paintmark on the forehead, was around the same height as Jeffries at around 6'3'', and wore slightly less impessive armour in terms of material but nevertheless was intimidating enough to call respect. The last, and shortest centering around James' height, was wearing basic metal armour that still remained sturdy enough to look good above the rest, at least for the fact that his armour was not crumpled up or in any way displaced. Pure clean metallic sheen, with a green painting on his forehead. "TEEEN_SHUN!_" The recruits stood firm to Paladin Jeffries' call, looking up boldly towards their new guests who quite clearly must have been superior to all of them, the raptor watching nervously from the corner of his eye. Their voices were muffled, but only due to the helmets' filtering device giving them even less human qualities. One of them he heard was female, and at least one other was a young male. The voice of the deepest most certainly came from the tallest red-painted one, slowly gazing his eye across the recruits before him. No one said anything. The heavy stomp of steel-clad feet was nothing short of fearsome, cracking the earth beneath his feet as he turned his head towards them when he passed. They did not move except for their eyes, but only when the hulking armour passed them, with one young female recruit twitching her stare a little too fast for his liking. He stopped and turned towards the quivering girl, a new recruit with bobweaved yellow hair and the traces of Asian lineage. The man in armour stepped closer towards her as she shook feverish, before simply saying: "...breathe." "H-h-hwha?" "Breathe. You should not be nervous, you are of the Brotherhood of Steel, not some lowly tribal of the wastes. Would you like to learn some advice?" "Y-y-y-...ulp, yes s-sir." "Breathe in. Count to four. Exhale. Now." The woman did as she was asked, shivering a hot breath of air and holding it by four seconds as if her very life depended on it. Then, slowly, she breathed out towards the ground almost as if trying to bow towards the giant man of steel. Suddenly, she felt a lot more calm and composed and gently smiled towards their superior, who nodded firmly beneath the cold dark helmet with wide black lens for eyesockets. "Good. Now...breathe in. Count to four. Exhale once again." "H-hokay............ffffhhhhhh...thank you, sir."

He nodded patiently before walking past once more, striding down the line of recruits in all shapes and sizes, various levels of musculature and skin remaining but all looking very bright, very eager, very willing. James also noticed a very strange weapon upon the large man's back, which from him was saying something. A large metal blade the length of his own scissors, the handle clearly taken from a motorcycle complete with smaller brake handle, and a valve that acted like the handleguard with a hoselength connecting to what appeared to be a motorcycle gas tank remaining firmly strapped to his back. Compared to his other allies having more standard weapons he most certainly stood out with this. The woman having a combat shotgun with drum magazine circular underneath the barrel, and the younger man having a glimmering compact assault rifle that gleamed of steel polymer to a silver sheen. It certainly looked much different to Paladin Jeffries' own jackhammer-style shotgun upon her back. Returning back up the line, the stridant deep voice of the armoured man came fully upon them. "I see new faces here, ones I have not seen since my last visit to this godforsaken village. For those of you unaware, I am Paladin Commander Crow. I am, for all intents and purposes your superior when I am here, and as such you obey only to me as well as my companions of the Trilateral Force. Paladin Swan who you may notice with the blue markings, and Senior Knight Hawk with the green marking. Follow your own superiors still, but whilst me and my companions remain here for the time being, you will also obey our orders. Is that clear?" "YES SIR!" roared the crowd. "Good. Remember, there is always another enemy, that is what we must remember out here upon these wastes. You may not be many compared to the original strength of the Brotherhood, but you are survivors still. Incorrigible...outcast...just as the cockroaches did not die out in the great war so shall you live to do the same, by any means necessary to survive...and to protect those around you for however long we last. You are dismissed." The people slowly disbanded, curious yet all the more fascinated by their stern new superior as the raptor looked up at him. He tempted himself by walking forwards to ask: "Um...sir?" Commander Crow turned and looked down upon the raptor, almost a full foot shorter than him but nonetheless an intriguing creature. "...hmmm...and what are you exactly?" "I'm a velociraptor sir...I'm the only one out here on the wastes." "I see...this village seems to attract all sorts of creatures somehow." "Heh, yeah." "How long have you been with this...place?" "Three months sir. I just wanted to ask you, what is that weapon on your back, because I recognise some parts of it." "Ahhh...you were admiring my Shishkebab." "...that what you call it?" "No, its real name I christened as 'Demise', but tell me...what can you surmise about my weapon from simply looking?" "...I see the handle's from a motorbike, you even kept the brake on it, not sure what the valve is but the gas tank...is that full?" "Yes. The blade itself can be laced with flammable fuel which is fed through the hose through the exhaust ports at the base of the blade. See?"

He allowed James to look at it, wielding it before him as he noticedthe exhaust ports in the form of a cylinder with holes locked around the blade's bottom next to the handle guard. He also could very clearly smell the old traces of gasoline through them. "Hooooly...that's incredible, that's...you can set this thing on fire?" "Indeed, the gas filters through with the use of this valve handle, controlling the level of fuel I need in order for it to combust." "Where did you get the blade from?!" "A lawnmower, before I reinforced it crafting into a fine steel sheen so even when it's not actively burning in flames it can still decapitate someone neatly." "Jesus...that's crazy...but awesome." "Hmhmhm...I am glad that you appreciate my craftmanship." "You really built all that?" "Yes I am something of a...engineer, or at least was once before I started training to be a Paladin Commander." "Well I go for melee weapons too but...not as impressive as yours." "Ahhh yes...your...scissors. I take it those are not made by you." "No...found them really, but they work pretty well." "Very impractical though, seem rather large and unwieldy, has your commanding officer spoken to you about this?" "Yeah but he saw that I was really good with them, like been practicing a long while with these things that it's kind of my only thing I can use really. I mean it's no flaming sword with a gas tank but, hahah..." "Hmhm...I made this weapon with the specific purpose of being used in battle. And as such there is no other use for it." "I dunno, could make a great fire going for a barbecue." "Have you tasted roast meat upon this blade? Gasoline does not give a very good aftertaste." "Ah...that...good point, commander." "Well then, is that all?" "Yes sir." "Very good, what is your name and rank?" "James Campbell, commander, squire but nearly heading up to junior knight." "Hmmm...very well, I hope you keep training your best. Perhaps one day it would be very interesting to see you and me fair in combat as melee practitioners. Too many fools rely on bullets nowadays." "I guess, I mean bullets are good for getting you out of a jam but you run out eventually." "Exactly. Dismissed, Squire Campbell." "Thank you, commander." With a tender bow and nod he left him be to the other superiors as they talked amongst themselves. For the most part the town was bustling with activity a little bit more than usual owing to the recent visit of the superior commanders. While James was busying himself with inventory stocktaking as part of his assigned duties, he tried to get a look at the newcomers whenever he could walking through corridors. Eventually Jerry came walking up to him to relieve him of his duties, as well as being supervisor.

The room was rather dusty with various shelves of miscellaneous supplies used for certain repairs such as steel scrap and stable valves along with sticky tape that could choke an elephant. A lot of strange stuff had been taken up over the years quite clearly, and it was all going to be used at some point. James had even come to this room many times in order to take parts for water mains, or just to repair pipes as one of many other duties he was assigned on doing. Almost everyone knew how to do basic repair tasks to some degree in this village. "Not bad stocktaking there Jim," said the ghoul. "Thank you sir." "You can head off to lunch early if ya want, they got Wastelander Stew serving up today." "Aw man I love that shit! What's the meat today?" "Who knows?! Certainly ain't human that I'll tell ya." "Hehehe...ehhhh that's not funny." "Can't win 'em all." "So what's with these uh Trilateral Force people, they searching for something?" "Yeah," said Jerry, "some sorta great salvation, possibly a G.E.C.K that's what I think." "What's that?" "Garden of Eden Creation Kit. Those things are rare but once you find 'em hooooo...imagine some green grass fer once, an' trees too! I mean I heard about some places using it but don't really hear much else other than...places of paradise." "Really? ...god. I haven't seen a real tree in almost a whole year." "I've seen it even less, musta been fifty years." "Fifty?!" exclaimed FG. "How old ARE you?!" "Ohhh somewhere around two-hundred, I lost count after one-fifty." "...wait, two HUNDRED?!" "Hah, YEAH! What, you-wow you really got no idea what a ghoul is don't you kid? Even after all the months you've been here?!" "I think we've already established that." "Heheh, well let ol' uncle Jerry tell you allll about it." He sat up on a bucket overturned in the stockroom sitting as FG did the same, hearing his "soothing" voice with a rasp perfectly not for storytelling unless some old crone was giving a prophecy. "Once upon a time there was a big ol' nuclear bomb that destroyed half the world, or rather most of it. But some people, they got lucky and died almost immediately. Others, like me, got irradiated up to here an' we just kept on living. Our bodies mostly deteriorate, the parts we're not using anyway, skin, nails, hair...sometimes our brain and when THAT happens welp, that's when you got a feral ghoul...and they're just a sad sad thing to see. But also dangerous, you see a feral ghoul take it down before it takes you. But not me, I'm okay." "Alright that's...good to know." "Seriously I thought somebody woulda told ya by now." "I didn't wanna ask, sounded rude." "Well yer a goof, but at least yer polite about it so take a hike, go on, lunch is gettin' ready." "Thank you sir!" With a polite nod he headed off towards the lunch hall, one of only six people who got off from work early enough to enjoy the richest stew in the beginning of service. A few humans as well as two mutants and one lady ghoul nodded to him, readying up themselves for their own feast as James got his bowl of stew. It was an original mix, mostly from various braised meats from Brahmin, Bighorner and Gecko which he recognised from the scaled bits floating in it. He would have been rather sick at the look of it were it not for the fact it was literally the most delicious thing ever tasted.

Not since Klair's cooking had he tasted such a hot thick meal, slowly stewing in its own juices overnight throughout all hours to a fine tender brown mince, the most heartwarming and near-addictive meal to eat. Always people wanted more, but they also knew that there was a limit and everybody only got one. Supermutants got bigger pieces owing to their size and whilst some people complained, it was out of jealousy more than anything else. As the queue began storming up through the place with James gladly not in it, he finished halfway through his stew sitting at the sturdy lunch tables rusted over from years of disuse, long before the Brotherhood came. But they were clean enough to sit on, and he had no worries for getting tetanus at this point of his journey through the wastes before seeing someone new. A hulking metal-armoured suit standing up beside him with a bowl of stew, green paint on his forehead. "Is this seat taken?" said a young male voice. "...nah you can sit if you want." "Thanks." The newcomer sat beside him readily eating his stew through a well-designed filter on his lips, perforated enough to allow a small opening to be made for his mouth to taste stew from the spoon. "Mmmmph...damn this tastes so good!" "Thanks," said FG, "I caught the gecko myself." "Seriously?! You made this?!" "No I just caught the meat, the cooks down there are the ones making it they do it overnight, really stew it in." "Well this is just...the most amazing thing I ever tasted out here. I mean hell I never even tasted stuff this good back home at our camp!" "Haha, you should tell the cooks that they'll love to hear it." "So uh...what exactly..." "OH, um velociraptor." "No shit! Like a real live dinosaur?!" "Uhhh yes? I know, only one of my kind." "What's your name? OH, um, sorry forgot to introduce, I'm Senior Knight Hawk, pleased to meet you." The two shook hands gladly, claws within steel gauntlet. "I'm Squire James Campbell, nice to meet you too." "Never seen one like you before, not that I'm complaining yer a hell of a lot better to meet than some Yao Guai I mean." "Yow gu-eye?" "Yeah like...mutant bears." "Oh fuck really?! There's mutant bears out there too?!" "Only really around uh...somewhere round west, seriously nasty though, don't wanna mess with 'em, not as bad as deathclaws or cazadors but fuck...what's the worst you ever fought?" "Giant radscorpion...NO wait, um...there were these snakehead-coyote things-" "Nightstalkers?!" "Yeah!" "Haha, damn...nice scissors by the way, you the barber round here?" "Nah I took his sign, he didn't want it." "Really?!" "Nah...I found it somewhere, works for me even." "Hey, whatever works, I mean seeing a dinosaur walkin' around with a pair of scissors ain't exactly the worst an' weirdest I ever seen. It's a wild wasteland out there, lots of weird shit." "Like what?" "Um...maybe saw aliens once?" "You're shitting me." "NO I swear, saw them floating across the sky like a silver disc!" "...you watch too many movies don't you?" "What's a movie?"

James was thrown off by this question and simply shrugged smirking awkwardly, getting back to his stew and finishing up briefly before Hawk finished up his, their placing spoons back with fuller bellies as the knight commented: "Mmmmm...man that was so good, I've just gotta learn that recipe." "Heh, same here...you were serious about the aliens right?" "Well my mo-...um, Paladin Swan told me no such thing could be real but...I dunno...I kinda seen a lot of things that people can't explain." "Like what?" "Well, this one time I saw two bears high-fiving each other." "...you sure they weren't just fighting?" "No seriously...well maybe, I wasn't sure, was maybe far away, I always start seeing weird things but you're the first thing I seen that everybody else notices!" "I hope that's a good thing." "Sure is to me! I mean there's plenty other things I notice here and there but tends to uh...get in the way of my mission so I just tend to ignore it unless it could be useful. I'm always finding odd shit too like lasers, guns that look too weird and shiny to just be laying around someplace. I once found these golden grenades with little crosses on top of them, used 'em on a pair of nightstalkers once and they just BLEW out of the freakin' sky like god just...it even had a little light come out of it like, real holy." "Ahhh huh...that sure is weird I have to say, but yanno I've seen weird stuff too so..." "Hey um...you wanna...I'm not really that superior compared to the others so maybe...you wanna show me round this place?" "Didn't Delgado help you? I mean you two are the same rank." "Nah he got busy, I didn't mind, I'm not really one for making a fuss so, if you're busy I won't be bothering." "I don't mind. Sure I got nothing else to do come on, let's go take a walk around the place." "Sure!" The two headed off from the lunch hall and began exploring the rest of the village, checking out the various rooms that they were allowed through along the main HQ before moving down towards the shooting range. Most of these classrooms were literally just that, either classrooms for learning on various topics or simply storage areas for books and technology. A lot of strange tech James noticed was being piled up everywhere, mostly being used for keeping check on water pipes and heating areas up firmly. It was definitely a better existence than he would have thought out on the wastes. The shooting range was the gymnasium, a large enclosed hall with great acoustics that sent every sound of a gun go piercing through someone's ears, skull-shatteringly strong to help accustom people to it. They had earmuffs thankfully, and desks had been placed up at one end in order to protect gunholders before shooting down the target range towards blankly painted shadows, silhouettes barely noticeable as human. Red points on the heart, clearly painted on many years hence and always replaced by a new board or so to take service in the line of fire.

There were also various booths toting specific gun calibers, ranging from shotgun to pistol to energy-based rifles, the raptor noticing different groups of targets depending on the viscosity of their wood taking stronger shots. James did his best giving his tour on the place but this needed little introduction, the raptor taking up a pair of earmuffs from the door and checking his own Beretta pistol. "Nice range!" said Hawk gladly. "No one else is here though." "They're all on lunch break," said FG, "except the quartermaster, he's always here but I'm not sure where he went, we should wait for him to come back before doing anything." "You uh, know how to shoot?" "I've been practicing for a few years yeah, mostly handle pistols though, I'm not great on any other guns. Once used a rifle and cracked my shoulder." "Damn...yeah you really need to learn how to handle recoil, it's not like some pistol when you can handle most of it in your wrist, you got a whole arm to start thinking of." "You got a nice rifle there." "Thanks! It's an XL70E3 Rifle. I call 'Master Assault' cuz it sounds kinda cool." "I don't really call my gun anything, I have my other weapon for keeps." "Heh, alright then, so...we wait for quartermaster to come by and see who can shoot better." "You have a rifle and I have a handgun." "I don't got a scope on this! Besides I can put it onto single-shot mode for ease okay?" "Alright then." Eventually the quartermaster came round, a predominantly Native American man with thick muscles and a dominating stare beneath black hair that could shatter rocks as red as his cheeks. James knew him to be a quiet man, more an observer than anything else and only ever stepping in when people acted out of turn. He had a way of being such an imposing figure that no one ever acted out while on the shooting range. Pure, unadulterated focus. With his permission, James and Hawk readied their guns and began firing down the range. The raptor wasn't sure how they had managed to convert the gym into a fully-automated shooting range, with tracks along the central court allowing targets to flip up, move and flip down again. But it was certainly quite a technological feat in a place such as this as they fired down on their ranges far from each other. The quartermaster, whose name was Dagenett, kept score for them as they fired off round after round. Hawk had his helmet so he didn't have to wear earmuffs as they fired off down the range. James didn't really want to wear them but it was the rules and nobody told Dagenett what to do other than Junior Paladin Jeffries. Target after target came as he fired down the line, both of them making marks on hitting as many single-shots as possible on at least 20 targets. The raptor was largely aiming for upper chest, with the occasional headshot if he felt lucky enough in his recoil upwards to fire another shot at the next target.

Hawk had to deal with a larger weapon but by and large he was a lot more practiced than FG, with experience guiding him towards the throat rather than the head. Shot after shot rang out in dual unison, the shrieking tears of wood echoing across the former gymnasium as they racked up their points. The raptor only needed to reclip once, whereas Hawk only ran dry once he was finished. The scores were tallied up, and the two smiled to each other as Quartermaster Dagenett looked down on each of them, an intimidating beast of a well-trained physical male. "Campbell your marks are twenty-eight out of forty. Hawk, you got thirty-six." "Wow that's better than usual," said the senior knight politely. "It helps you aimed more towards the head, not going for easy shots like this rookie here." "Hey," said James, "I'm not an expert like he is." "Most people wear armour over their chests you do realise that." "Yeah but people...wear...shit that ain't bulletproof." "Some do, not on their heads." "Well...nngh, I'll learn." "Good. You want another round?" "Nah I'm good," said James, "what about you?" "I'm good too," replied Hawk, "let's grab something to drink, you got any places round here?" "Only the best, lemme show you." Taking the senior knight down to the west side of town, he showed him a bar in the central area of town where both the general store and gunsmith's were within walking distance of each other. The main thoroughfare, which for a town like this was really only 400 yards worth of keeping pace with the rest of the people coming through. It wasn't so much there was a lot of people but rather that the village was so small and tight with its streets due to overreaching metal shack houses that there was not a lot of room to maneuver. Sardines came to mind as FG walked into the saloon. He had never been to a saloon until this town, and for that he was thankful they even had the swinging doors which fit this perfectly. No one wore a cowboy hat unfortunately but it all worked out for being given the long stools up towards the bar, tables and chairs spread out across the open wood floor and even lodgings up on the second floor with stairs at the back. It was the perfect little saloon, with some drink names to match the atmosphere. Gamma Gulp Beer, Roentgen Rum, Absinthe, Rum & Nuka, Wasteland Tequila and good ol' fashioned Whiskey among other assorted beverages. The two sat themselves down at the bar as Hawk gladly ordered up some Roentgen Rum for himself, whilst FG simply asked for a Rum & Nuka needing something soft. The rum that the senior knight asked for looked positively glowing, in fact it most certainly was glowing to some extent as he chugged it down thirstily like a dying man. James softly tasted up his rum, which wasn't glowing but most certainly had some strange quality to it that made his teeth tingle slightly. He got used to that after the fifth week of drinking such stuff as his mind started numbing slightly.

"This place ain' half bad!" said Hawk jovially. "Yeah it's nice," said FG, "I'm really glad they went all-out with the 'Ol' West' motif, yanno." "You uh, not gonna pick something stronger?" "Nah not today, I see you went straight for the big one over there, or is absinthe gonna make you go crazy?" "Hahaha, naaah nah, I swear off absinthe, that stuff's too bad for me. You got a favourite drink?" "Mostly ale, lager stuff, typical for me but I enjoy a bit of rum especially, seem to get a habit for it quite easily. Didn't used to drink that when I used to work in a bar." "Really, you did barwork?" "Yeah just, years ago." "Cool! How come you don't work here in this one?" "Aaaaaah...just feel bit out of practice, plus they got much better people handling the drinks more than me having to relearn all this shit..." He sighed deeply to himself before swiftly perking himself up by asking: "SO! Is Hawk really your name?" "Sure is!" replied the knight. "First or last?" "That's classified unfortunately." "Why?" "Security reasons, I know it's weird but..." "Well, can I ask what the painting's all about?" "What painting?" "The uh...mark on your forehead." "O-OHHH right right um...see we're these three people that were specially chosen by the Elder to carry out the Brotherhood of Steel's force and will, by searching for stuff that might help bring back peace. So we were given special marks that each represent our greatest asset composing the Trilateral Force. Mine represents Courage, because I'm brave apparently." "What, for being just a guy?" "No! Like, stuff I did, real missions an' stuff. Then there's Swan, she has hers representing Wisdom. And Commander Crow, he represents the true force of Power." "Power huh? Like uh, real strength?" "Yeah, that guy can lift like crazy, I mean he squashed like revolutions, rebellions, whole groups of people trying to fight down on our bases up north, I heard he once punched a Deathclaw's head off." "Okay NOW you're shitting me." "NO I'm serious! I mean I heard about it but the way he fights I don't think it could be anything but true." "Okay...so what's Swan done that's real wisdom?" "Well she's the mediator, does a lot of debates and talking, was on certain councils up on the medium stronghold where we had our talks on what to do about stuff. She got a real head for thinking, knows how to really flip people onto her way of thinking." "So a politician then." "I guess? Heh...and I'm just...well I just can't stand people getting hurt so I just...do what I gotta do." "A real hero huh?" "Well...I mean we all gotta do our best out on this wasteland so you...just try to do right by others, right?" "Right. Hopefully you do it right, sometimes you act like a hero and things just don't go the way they should be." "Never happened to me yet," said the Senior Knight. "I've not regretted one thing I ever done in the name for justice." "I'm glad you haven't." James said this with a stern seniority that made him feel aged and malcontent, the knight noticing this and not pressing any further as they kept drinking away. Downing another Rum & Nuka, James had not noticed in the passing of time two things thanks to his focus on the drink. Firstly, another five people had come in all at separate occasions wearing similar clothing. Secondly, his new comrade had finished drinking his fourth glass of Roentgen Rum, looking particularly soused for it as the senior knight focused intently onto the wooden bar trying not to fall off. "Hhheh...you had too much?" "NAAAH!" shouted Hawk. "AHM GOOD! Just need to-IZ THIZ STOOL CREAKING OR IZ IT JUZT MEH?!" "Just you, and uh keep it down alright?" "S-SORRY, sorry-HIC! Hhheehee..." "Wow you really took it hard." "HHhheheheheyyyyeaaaah...ahm good, don' worry ah can git home mysel'." "I sure hope so, I don't wanna get into trouble now that I'm thinking about it." "Then maybe put a gag on him."

A voice said this from James' left, sneering in its tone as the raptor looked to see one of several newcomers in the form of a pale-skinned man with a scruffy goatee. He wore a large leather jacket with torn-off sleeves and a red sweater underneath, with bandolier along his front holding several pocketfuls of various items along with a pair of brown pants. The raptor noticed he had a necklace made of teeth hidden within the folds of his sweater, seeing the tips from the man's neck. "Hey sorry, he's just had a few." "Well drop him out an' let us have some peace." "You could say please at least." "Why? I'm not the one being rude." "Not until five seconds ago you weren't." "You wanna push me?" "...I didn't come here for a fight." "Then shut yer damn face lizard." What James saw next he could not have expected. He didn't want to cause trouble, simply sitting down silently as he nursed his glass shot, noticing Hawk move out of the corner of his eye. He didn't realise that Hawk simply swung his way round FG and grabbed the back of the man's head, slamming it hard on the desk before throwing him straight at the bar wall next to the entrance. A voice behind them shouted: "HEY, FUCK'S YOUR PROBLEM!?" "YOU KNOW WHO WE ARE?!" roared Hawk. "YOU DON' DIZHREZPECT THE BROTHERHOOD OF ZHTEEL!" "You wanna take US on?! You know who we are?!" Four people stood up, two men and two women all in the same garb as the man Hawk just threw out as people began clearing the bar. James readied himself for a fight, leather armour creaking as he got up slowly. "We're Vipers, so don't fuck with us!" "I DON' GIVE A FUCK WHO YOU ARE!" roared Hawk blindly. "YOU WANNA BULLY USZ, YOU NOT WELCOME HERE!" "Hawk, relax," said FG, "we can sort this out without any need for-LOOK OUT!" The man who had been thrown suddenly grabbed Hawk by the shoulders and clocked him square on the jaw with a steel fist, strong enough to take the metal chin without breaking knuckle before swinging him out through the saloon doors in a stumbling shove by the shoulders. James ran after him making sure he was alright as the gang followed them, brandishing knives readily in the afternoon sun. The raptor stood up pulling Hawk with him, clearly beyond drunk as he staggered around with fists at the ready. "Drop your weapons now," said FG with stern authority, "and we can all forget this, we all had a little much to drink, and we just wanna relax." "Fuck you!" shouted one Viper. "We came here fer trade an' this is how you treat us?!" "Since when do traders come here without their packs? Where's your carriage?!" "It's somewhere else, you guys took it!" "A real trader wouldn't leave their cargo, they'd go through town selling wares the fuck are you guys?!" "SHUT UP, fuckin' lizard I'll show you!" One of the men, a wiry black human with coarse beard and a large tire iron, came swinging down on FG who simply deflected hard with his larger scissors. The man was fast, much faster than expected as the moment he clashed against the scissors he backed off and dodged round to James' left, swinging hard towards the back of his head. But the raptor noticed his feet shuffle fast and he ducked just in time for the club to sweep above his head. He thrusted out towards the legs, scraping past the knee as the man buckled hard and winced.

The other four meanwhile were all focused upon Hawk, the heavy-armoured troop looking much more dangerous to take down as they all set upon him with sharpened knives. Hawk however did not take any of their shit standing and suddenly focused into action, punching the first one straight in the throat with a steel fist to almost breaking point. The goateed man who attacked him coughed wheezing hard as he doubled over, the next attacker being a tanned woman with mohawk hair on both sides of her head. Her screech of fury signalled the street that a fight was taking place proper, and people began to back off much more steadily to watch the chaos unfold. As the double-mohawked woman came flying with a leaping strike of her sharp blade, the senior knight watched her simply strike off his metallic helmet, seeing her feet land the moment he headbutted her violently with a roar of fury. The sudden slam of cold steel on her bare head sent stars dizzying fast, but not as fast as the double-fisting to her gut that sent vomit up her throat, horking fast and hard before a vicious metal boot. As she buckled over screaming hoarsely, the other woman who was a bald pale Asian, used the opportunity to stab straight at the back of the shins, sinking her knife into the much-softer guards on the back legs. Hawk groaned softly, but followed up with a huge haymaker to behind him that the woman just barely managed to dodge. She almost fell back, and rolled to avoid the heavy stomp of the Brotherhood's boots upon her face before jumping back up to shank him around the waist, trying to find some slip of armour allowing her access in. At the same time, the fourth man who was a smooth-haired pale youth came riding up with his own steel fist at the ready, battering once into the knight's gut with his right before his left came hard upon Hawk's head sending him down onto the floor. His hands slapped thick upon the dust as he felt bodies pile onto him, ready to hold him down and eagerly start trying to stab him violently. But before they could even try, he found a newborn strength within and roared like a furious beast, shuddering from his helmet as he reared up and threw them off of him, grabbing the woman who tried attacking previously. James was being cautious not to let the man with the tire iron fell him, his surprising speed for a human making him reassess his threat before he came swinging with a one-two-three strike of the steel club. James dodged the first two easily, but the third he deflected hard with an upper scrape ducking right of the Viper gangster before slicing down the underside of his arm. Blood dripped from his shredded sleeve as he roared in pain, slicing to the muscle as he felt his grip turn weak.

Switching to his other hand, the tire iron went swinging harder as the pain of his slashed right arm sent him blind with fury. James also suspected there may have been drugs involved judging by his cracked-out eyes, which he shared with the rest of his Viper group. He came running hard towards him, the raptor waiting to see him reach out for a hard swing before ducking low once again and swinging his blades out towards the legs, cracking right across the shins. The blade cut deep into both knees as the man screamed to a falling crumple, head first into the dirt as blood streaked out between both cut-open shins. Seeing him unable to get up anytime soon, he looked over towards Hawk who had gladly disposed of the other four people. The two women had been thrown hard against the bar wall exterior, the mohawk's face crushed in by a fist's impression and the bald woman seizing up from vomiting blood due to her crushed chest. The one with the goatee had his neck snapped completely, his ratty face gleaming in the sunlight with twisted fury and agony. Currently the senior knight was grappling the pale youth, hoisting him up by the steel fist as he pleaded: "I GIVE I GIVE, JUS' DON'T KILL ME!" "YOU NOT GONNA FIGHT?!" "NO I SWEAR!" "Alright...juz' wanna make zhure." Dragging the remaining Viper through the streets, he barked towards the soldiers keeping watch at the gate: "OPEN IT, NOW!" Not even daring to question this hulking menace, they pulled down the portcullis made of steel plates as it slowly went halfway to the sand dust, seeing a shadow from a young human go flinging out like a bird across the dunes. The punk landed hard on the desert, looking back to see both raptor and senior knight who roared at him with: "IF I EVER ZHEE YOU BACK HERE AGAIN AHLL FUCKIN' KILL YOU, GOT IT!?!? NOW GIT!" He ran harshly towards the east with a certain fear he had not experienced in sometime, the portcullis soon raising itself up again to close completely off the borders of Beech once again. James looked up at the knight worried for him, the hot panting breaths from inside the helmet telling a different story. His stagger also had not gone completely as James asked him: "You alright?" "Unh, jur-...need szumthin' good, not keepin' a tab around here." "You're not hurt are you?" "N-nah juszt...need a drink to top me up." "I think you maybe had enough-" "Yer not my bosz you know, yer juszt a shquire. Appreciate thuh help bu' you juszt lemme drink an' we all juszt git alon' fine alrighty? I done killed plenny Yao Guai 'fore I met you or any of 'em you fuckinviperasshole..." "Um...o-okay then, just, maybe we should report something to the commander." "You report it, ahll...juszt keep thuh zene clear, don' wan' anybody meshin' with thuh body...thoshe thingsz." "You sure you'll be alright on your own?" "AHLL BE FINE!" shouted Hawk blearily. "GO-...REPORT SUM SHHHIT AN' LEMME FUCKIN' DRINK ALRIGHTY!? Fuck Creator you aszk too many questionsz ah never ask no questionsz an' ah outrank you, now GIT!" "ALRIGHT ALRIGHT, yes...senior knight Hawk." Feeling strangely berated by his superior and hopeful drinking buddy, the raptor walked off towards the HQ hoping to find one of his own superiors on dealing with this incident, the crowds slowly reassembling as Steel recruits began fencing off the area. But this would turn out to be slightly worse than just a few drinks and a bar fight for him.