Marcus stood silent as he watched his friend, the tribal proclaimed ''Chosen One'' and NCR ranger, line up the shot on an Enclave officer, part of a three man patrol, with his Gauss rifle in the darkness. They had anticipated this patrol nearly seven hours ago upon observing previous patrols and had parked the Highwayman, obtained by Marcus's friend before he had met the Nightkin in Broken Hills, and waited for the patrol.
Since the destruction of the Enclave oil rig and NCR raid on Navarro six months ago the Enclave had been effectively routed from their hiding holes and pushed into the open. The Chosen One or Jake to his few friends, Marcus, John Cassidy, and Jake's loyal robotic dog K-9, rescued from the sinister Enclave doctor Dr. Schreber had been systematically hunting down the remnants of the already crushed organization. A group had been spotted retreating from Navarro to the east via Vertibird's but the NCR had to much on their plate to chase them, not to mention they wouldn't have had enough firepower to bring down all of those birds. Scouts had counted at least a hundred of the two propped devils that had been previously used to kidnap Jake's fellow villagers which he promptly rescued.
Jake pulled the trigger of the Gauss rifle, causing it to blow-back in recoil, which was easily absorbed by his combat armor's shoulderpads. The officer fell quickly, a chunk of his head missing. This left the officer's squad without leadership, allowing them to be efficiently mowed down by Jake and his Gauss rifle. Marcus watched through his own rifle's scope, Cassidy sat with a bottle of whiskey, and K-9 congratulated his master each time he hit his target. After the officer and the two other footsoldiers, the patrol had been decimated entirely.
"Enclave b-b-bastards!" Cassidy exclaimed drunkenly towards Jake.
K-9 barked happily. "I agree with the drunk one. It's good to be able to tear through that Enclave power armor with these steel chompers they gave me." The dog said, spite much detectable in his robotic voice.
Cassidy, who was still disturbed at having a talking dog with them in their party, nodded slowly in agreement. "Hey, w-wait! Who the fuckin' hell you calling d-d-drunk." He slurred angrily at the dog.
"I meant no disrespect, master's companion." K-9 started. "I am simply telling the truth. I shall defer to standard dialogue when you are heavily under the influence." The dog said, wagging his tail happily as Jake scratched his ears.
Cassidy muttered something about "The damned dog being smarter then him" and took a drag from the bottle of whiskey before heading towards the Highwayman to call it a night.
K-9 turned back to Jake after Cassidy left. "I like him, master. He is fun to mess with. I offer my apologies but I'm afraid I must call it a night to recharge my lesser systems. Goodnight, master and master's Nightkin friend." K-9 said before also departing for the Highwayman, leaving Marcus and Jake alone as they were both wide awake.
Marcus decided now was the time to tell Jakey of his intentions. "Jake, my friend, I am afraid it is time for me to move on soon." The Nightkin let Jake react before continuing. "I want to look for other of my brethren, to guide them to civilized life. To stop terrorizing the wastes. To keep them alive." He explained.
Jake nodded slowly as Marcus explained it to him. "I understand, Marcus. If you need anything just say the word." The ranger said, patting Marcus on one of his huge shoulders. "It's been an honor." He added.
Marcus smiled. "The same to you, friend. And all I need is a ride to the California-Oregon border. From there I'll head through the old Oregon backwoods and then onto the Rockies. I hope to end up in Nevada or Arizona. I'll take my rifle, as much food and ammo as I can carry, and whatever else I may need." The Nightkin explained to Jake.
Jake smiled slightly. "Come on, lets go loot 'n scoot those bodies. Make sure none of their friends finds any evidence anywhere obvious." He said, standing up with his Gauss rifle.
Marcus nodded and stood himself up, with the help of his anti-material, fifty caliber homemade rifle. He had made it a month after the destruction of the oil rig six months ago, in a rundown garage's workbench. Himself and Jake had been wandering alone, having left Cass and K-9 in Shady Sands to help with repairs from a major Unity attack. Marcus and Jake, however, went with three other rangers to hunt and destroy the retreating Unity forces.
Flashback, thirty miles outside of Shady Sands.
"Do you think we'll find 'em, sir?" Ranger Parker, a young greenhorn from the Den, asked Jake. After the destruction of the Enclave's main base of operation was destroyed he had been promoted to Veteran Ranger Jake Olsen, even though he had only been serving for the prior six months, the NCR was willing to make an exception for him.
Jake nodded. "They're traveling with trained Deathclaws, Super Mutant footsoldiers, and sloppy humans. The only reason they hit us so fucking hard at Sands was because they had miniguns in close quarters combat. They stand no chance against us rangers." He reassured.
"Oohrah." A ranger, Heinrich, behind them supplied.
Marcus had been stared at intensively for the first part of the trip until he sniped off one of those floating plants that were a bitch to kill at five hundred yards with his beat down hunting rifle. That got the two rangers who were green as hell (Parker and the other, Heinrich) to stop staring. The third, named Charez, hadn't minded Marcus at all, since he himself had served with two different Super Mutants during his first tour-of-duty. Marcus didn't mind, though. He knew he was different, not by his choice of course, but he knew it. It wasn't that much of a peculiar reaction considering what his kind tried to do to everyone in the wastes nearly sixty years ago.
Jake motioned for everyone to hold position. They were about thirty two miles out of Shady Sands, in the remains of a dense forest, the trees stood but were mostly dead. No green in the area except for the rookie Ranger Olsen and Heinrich. Two humans appeared, one in chains and rags while the other wore heavy metal armor. The one with armor was holding an assault rifle to chains and rag's head. "You will leave now, or all shall face the wraith of the Unity." The man holding the hostage said. Jake stared straight into the man's eyes.
"You, my friend, honestly think I won't hurt this ''hostage'' to get to you?" Jake asked in response. He stepped forward and spat at the man's feet. "That's what I think of your hostile Unity. I'll kill you, kill you again, and then find a way to bring you back to put another slug through your worthless head! I destroyed the Enclave! I destroyed raider squad after raider squad! I've killed fire geckos that would spit you out dead and burnt in five seconds!" He threateningly yelled at the armored man, distracting him long enough for Chavez, who had enough common sense to understand what Jake was doing, to pull his pistol and fire into the Unity member's head. Jake dived for the captive and quickly pulled him behind cover as fire erupted from Unity soldiers in cover. This was going to be fun.