Hello there readers. I'm really sorry that it took me such a long time to get this chapter out (three weeks if I'm right). I've been extremely busy with school and everything, and after Tastychainsaw's feelings about the last chapter, I wanted to make this one better quality. So, Anyways, on to the story!

October 23rd, 2283, 2:04 AM

W's head exploded violently from the explosive round, spraying poor Yutaka with bits of bone and grey matter. W's headless corpse released Yutaka and stumbled back jerkingly several feet before it finally collapsed to the ground in a bloody mess Yutaka stared blankly at the broken Minami, opening her to say something but fell forward and quickly drifted off into a state of unconsciousness instead. The multiple concussive blows to the head Yutaka received from W and the shock of W's head exploding above her own proved too much for the small girl to handle.

Minami didn't notice Yutaka collapse; she was instead watching Kuroi made her way over to Minami. "He brought you back also?" Minami said, more stating an obvious fact then asking a question.

Nanako gave a small as she kneeled down next to Minami. "So...what did you do to piss him off so badly?" The blonde-haired woman asked before she grasped the handle of Vampire's Edge and pulled the blade out of its master's hand. With a small sigh, Kuroi placed the blade down next to Minami before looking back at her.

The mint-green haired woman gave a small wince and made no other sound beyond a sharp intake of breath as the katana was pulled out of her hand. She lifted her hand and looked at the hole where the katana had pierced. W had almost split her hand in half when he jammed Vampire's Edge into her hand. "Nothing that concerns you." Minami said rather tersely as she tried to get up. But the dizziness from blood loss over took her and she fell back into the remains of the broken table.

"Well, considering that I was brought back from death also, I think it kinda does concern me." Nanako snapped back as she stood up and crossed her arms over her chest.

Minami watched Kuroi with a careful eye as the blonde woman stood up. She still didn't trust her once-friend and it was doubtful that anyone ever would trust Kuroi again, not after the shit she did all those years ago. After several seconds of silence, Minami sighed and she opened her mouth to say something when a three-round burst of suppressed automatic fire passed right in front of Nanako's face.

The Ex-Colonel quickly grabbed her custom 14mm pistol and pointed it at the source of the weapons fire: A young man with dirty blonde hair standing in the archway of the sloping tunnel that fed into Meresti Station. The man was wielding a scoped, silenced R91 Assault Rifle, which was firmly trained on Nanako's blonde head. The classic clothing of a trader or a scavenger clothed the young man's body. A pair of oval glasses covered his opal-green eyes. "That was only a warning shot. Now, Step away from Minami-nee-san. I do not wish to hurt you if you did not do this." The young man said coldly as he watched Kuroi careful.

Kuroi smirked as she looked at the boy. Her finger was ready to pull the trigger and blow this kid away but was stopped when she heard Minami whisper, "Don't, he's harmless. Just back away slowly." Nanako glanced at Minami out of the corner of her gaze but kept her focus on the young man. Sighing, she holstered her weapon inside her trench coat before took several steps back from Minami. "Kail, get over here." Minami said as she looked over her right shoulder back at Kail. But the table behind her and the jagged piece of wood that pierced her right shoulder blocked out most of her view of the boy.

Kail kept his assault rifle trained on Kuroi's head as he slowly made his way over to Minami. Quickly, he placed his rifle into a holster sewed into the back of his jacket and crouched down next to the crippled woman. "Are you doing okay?" Kail asked rhetorically as he briefly examined Minami's body. He was definitely surprised that she hadn't passed out from blood loss yet from the all too obvious injury to her right arm.

"I'm fine, don't worry about it." Minami murmured as she looked back at the worried boy. Dizziness was slowly beginning to affect as blood loss and the smell of blood was starting to affect her. It had been a few days since she had last fed. "Go check on Yutaka. The man that attacked us put her through quite a bit."

"But-" Kail was about to protest the order but was cut off by stern look from Minami. After a moment, Kail gave a small nod before standing up and reaching inside one of the dozens of pockets that covered his jacket. Pulling out 3 stimpacks, he turned and handed them to Nanako and said, "Make sure to take out that piece of wood first before injecting these into her. The stims won't heal Minami-nee-san completely if you don't."

"I know how to use a stims!" Kuroi growled harshly before taking the stimpacks from Kail.

Kail blinked at the sudden harshness but gave a small nod nonetheless before quickly made his way over to Yutaka. Kuroi briefly watched the boy before turning her attention back to Minami. Without a single word, she walked back over to Minami, crouched down next to her, took a hold of the wooden spike sticking out of Minami's shoulder, and with a small grunt, pulled the spike out of the mint-green haired woman's shoulder. Minami let a loud yelp causing Kail to glance over briefly before going back to examining Yutaka to make sure the dark pink haired girl was alright. "You could've warned me first!" Minami hissed under her breath as she glared at Kuroi.

"Aw, where's the fun in that?" The Ex-Colonel asked with a wide grin before throwing the wooden spike down the sloping tunnel. "Now let's get these stims in you before you bleed out." Kuroi said with an uncharacteristically friendly smile. Suddenly, she jammed the three stimpacks into Minami's thigh and injected the medicine they contained into Minami's circulatory system. Nanako blinked and her mouth fell open as she watched as the destroyed muscle tone in Minami's right shoulder rebuild itself and wound heal itself. Her gaze shifted to where Minami's right arm had once been, noticing the wound suddenly heal over in the same fashion as the hole in Minami's shoulder. "What the hell are those things?" Kuroi asked as she looked over at Kail.

"They are a special concoction I keep up with just a bit ago." Kail said as he carried Yutaka over and set her down on the table immediately behind Minami. "Basically, it uses the same injection system as stimpacks and Med-X. You can think of it as something of a hyperdized version of stimpacks. You can have you guts blown completely out and those things will you right up like nothing ever happened." He explained with a proud smile as he looked at the astonished Nanako. "But, the bad thing is it takes a long time to produce one and I've had the time to complete three prototypes and I've only just recently completed a full version."

"Wow..." Was all the blond woman said as she looked back at Minami. Suddenly, the sound of heavy footsteps and a female voice scolding whoever was making the heavy footsteps. Quickly, Nanako whipped out her 14mm pistol and aimed it at the source of the sounds. Suddenly, three figures walked out of the shadows of the sloping tunnel, one of which was significantly taller than the other two. Kuroi's eyes widened as she recognized all three of the people.

Like a Woman's Scorn

"So, what do you think, M-san?" Konata asked as she stepped around a waist-high-compared to the blunette it was about mid-stomach-wall of sandbags. M was checking out the corpse of a man in combat with a recent bullet wound in the exact center of his forehead. Kagami headed down a side tunnel towards an off branching tunnel to check if there was anyone else.

"Well, Miss Konata." M said as he stood up from his crouching position next to the corpse and stretched his back. "Whoeva done t'is had to be one helluva a shot an' quick on ta draw also. Ta dead guy woulda seen ta otha guy first, givin' ta otha guy not long to draw, aim, an' shoot." M said as he scratched his before the two of them began to head down the side tunnel after Kagami.

"How long do you think the person had to do all that?" Konata asked curiously as she looked up at the much taller man.

M murmured something inaudible to the blunette girl as he scratched his chin again. "I'da give him...five, ten seconds max. Give or take a few secs dependin' if ta guy had 'is gun out. Meanin' he was usin' a pistol of some sort." M said as they met up with Kagami, who was crouching down next to the body of woman whose head had been blown completely off, in the off branching tunnel.

Konata gave a small nod as Kagami grabbed her plasma rifle and stood up. "Well, whoever did this could still be here and hurt Kail-kun. So let's get going." The lilac-haired tsundere grumbled tiredly as she looked at the two of them. Both M and Konata gave a nod in agreement with Kagami, though M didn't seem to care much for Kail's safety. Quickly, they moved over to a slightly ajar metal door. M took point, pushed open the door with his Super Sledge and quickly stepped out into the sloping tunnel with his weapon at the ready in case there was an ambush waiting for them.

The couple watched the Red Giant as he shifted back and forth for a moment before signaling to them that the coast was clear. Slowly, the three of them headed up the tunnel-this time Konata and Kagami with M only a few steps behind them in case they were attack from behind-towards Meresti Station. Konata and Kagami moved rather stealthily up the tunnel, but because of his massive size and possibly weight, M made a rather loud crunch with the gravel with every step. "Can you be any quieter?" Kagami hissed quietly back at M.

"Hey! You try bein' seven feet tall, four hundred pounds of solid kickass, an' stealthy all at ta same time!" M said as quietly as he possibly could, which wasn't all that quiet at all.

When they got to the end of the tunnel and entered Meresti Station, the three of them noticed four things: One, the place was littered with dead bodies, all killed in the same manner as the first two bodies. Two, Kail was examining a small girl with dark pink hair that looked like Konata's cousin Yutaka, who was lying on top of a long wooden table. Three, the long-since-dead Nanako Kuroi was standing next to the shattered remains of a table with a 14mm pistol aimed at the trio. And lastly, a woman with a mint green hair wearing a tanned duster was attempting to stand up before Kail quickly moved to her side to help her.

"Kuroi?" Both Konata and Kagami exclaimed at the sight of their dead foe as their mouths fell open and their eyes went wide. Quickly, the couple raised their weapons and pointed them at the blonde Colonel.

"Koko?" M asked with a raised eyebrow as he looked at his ex-girlfriend. He was the only one out of the trio who DIDN'T know that Nanako had died close to 6 years ago.

Konata glanced back at M curiously at the name used for Nanako before she turned her attention back to the situation at hand. "Hiiragi? M?" Kuroi said as her aim faltered slightly at the sight of her ex-boyfriend.

"It's Izumi now. What the fuck are you doing alive, you crazy bitch?" Kagami hissed angrily as she flicked off the safety on her plasma rifle. She was going to make sure that Kuroi stayed dead this time. Neither Kuroi nor M heard what Kagami as the two stared intently at each other. Well, Nanako was more glaring with ever increasing anger at M than just plainly staring at him.

After several moments of intense silence, Nanako suddenly yelled, "I'll fucking kill you, you mother-fucking asshole!" She threw aside her 14mm pistol before lunging at the giant man.

"Oh, fuck." M murmured before he pushed Konata and Kagami roughly aside so that they wouldn't get caught in the middle of the obviously coming fight. Normally, if Nanako had tried to tackle M-which she had tried innumerable times during the 4 or so years the two were together-M wouldn't have so much budge an inch and he would've thrown her aside like a ragdoll. But, because of the fact he was standing on an unstable surface-AKA the loose gravel that lined the bottom of the tunnel that lead up into Meresti Station-Kuroi was able to set M off and send both down the sloping tunnel.

Konata and Kagami were both slightly dazed after M pushed them out of the way but quickly got back on their feet and pointed their weapons down into the sloping tunnel. The pitch blackness of the tunnel hid the fight between M and Nanako but the sounds of the fight, Kuroi's random insults, and M's even more random retorts could be heard echoing up from the tunnel. "What are you guys doing here?" They heard Kail ask from somewhere behind them. Konata and Kagami looked behind them to see Kail help the mint-green haired woman sit down on top of the table that Yutaka was lying on top of. The woman looked to be purposely trying to look away from Konata and Kagami.

"Kail, was Kuroi the one that did this?" Kagami asked rather harshly as she walked over to stand in front of the opal-eyed young man.

"That blonde woman that went after M?" Kail said, slightly shocked at the sudden harshness in Kagami's voice. "I don't think so, though you'd have to ask Minami-nee-san if you want to know who did this."

"Minami?" Konata questioned before looking at the mint-green haired woman just as she looked up at Konata. "But...how...why...deathclaws...arm...ripped apart..." The blunette stuttered as her mouth fell open at the sight of her once-dead friend. The memory of Minami becoming a feast for over a dozen Deathclaws came rushing into the front of her mind.

"I'll explain everything later. I've lost too much blood and need to get to a doctor before I lose anymore." Minami said in her normal monotone voice as she looked at Konata and Kagami.

Kagami looked back down the tunnel that M and Kuroi had went down and noticed that the sounds of fighting couldn't be heard anymore. "Who did this, Minami? Kuroi?"

The Family's Leader shook her head before she said, "No, a man that called himself 'W' did this, single-handedly. He just came in here, killed everyone, and would've killed me and Yutaka if Kuroi didn't save us." She nodded over to where W's body had fallen before adding, "That's him over there if you want to question him."

Kagami sighed before she quickly moved over to the dead man and began to look through his trench coat for some form of ID. "Kuroi seriously saved you?" Konata asked with puzzled look on her face.

"I'm just as surprised as you are, but she did. From what I've figured, she was brought back by the same man who brou-" Minami was interrupted by the sound of a sawed-off shotgun being fired twice.

Everyone looked over at the sloping tunnel to see Kuroi walk out of the shadows, panting heavily, with a smoking sawed-off shotgun clutched in her right hand. Her trench coat was tore in several places and her left arm hung limply at her side. Small cuts and bruises etched her face and her waist-length blonde hair was pulled out of its regular ponytail. "Fuck...he's hard to put down...once he gets going." She said shallowly as he walked over and leaned against the table Minami was sitting on.

"You...killed him?" Konata asked as her mouth fell open. Just yesterday, Konata and Kagami had witnessed M rip dozens of raiders apart with basically his bare hands and here, Kuroi had just killed the giant man. Kagami was quickly back on her feet with her plasma rifle aimed once again at Kuroi.

"Pfft...hahahahahahaha!" Kuroi suddenly burst into laughter at the blunette's astonishment. It took her several moments for her stop laughing before she finally notice how serious everyone was looking. "No! You obviously haven't been around M long enough to enough it's nearly impossible to kill him. I've seen him get shot, stabbed, slashed, burned, irradiated, blown up, mini-nuked, blasted, zapped, electrocuted, lit on fire, poisoned, deprived of oxygen, shot out of a cannon, smashed, and impaled. Most of which I did to him myself." She said with a light chuckle at the memories.

"An' t'at is ta reason why me motto in life is, 'neva give crazy bitches guns!'" M's booming voice yelled as the giant man stumbled out of the dark tunnel. M was obviously in much better shape than Kuroi was from the fight, though his head was bent oddly to one side and his undershirt riddled with dozens of small holes.

"So, I'm a bitch now?" Kuroi asked darkly as she flipped open the sawed-off shotgun and popped in two more shells.

"Fuck yeah ya are! You broke me neck an' shot me!" M yelled as he pointed to his neck. Placing his hands on his chin and on top of his head and giving his head a small twist, he snapped his head back into position. "Yeah, t'at feels a hell of a lot better." He murmured lightly after shaking his head.

Nanako gritted her teeth tightly as she glared at the red-skinned bald man. "You know what. Fuck you, M!" Kuroi yelled as she pointed the sawed-off shotgun at M's head. As she was about to pull the trigger, the barrel of an energy weapon was pressed against the back of her head. Behind, Kagami had her plasma rifle pressed against the back Kuroi's head with her finger ready to pull the trigger.

"Put down the gun." Kagami hissed sharply as she pressed the gun harder against the Ex-Colonel's head. Nanako glanced back at Kagami out of the corner of her eyes before raising her hands slowly. Her finger's released the handle of the gun, causing it to fall to the ground with a light clatter. Suddenly, Kuroi twist around, knocked the weapon out of Kagami with open palm strike, and kicked Kagami in the gut. The lilac-haired woman let out a small grunt as she was sent flying back by the blow to the gut.

Konata quickly brought up her Gauss rifle but could see M was already ending the problem. "Hey, what the-" Kuroi began to say as she felt a hand her on the side of her neck give a small squeeze. A split second later, her green eyes rolled into the back of her head and she collapsed to the ground in an unconscious heap.

"T'at problem solved. T'ough a bit anti-climatic." M said with a smirk and a shrug as he stepped over Nanako and walked over to Kagami. He grabbed the front of her shirt and pulled her back to her feet. "Ya okay, Miss Kagami?" M asked with a small smile. Kagami gave a small nod before she went and retrieved her plasma rifle.

She glanced over at the unconscious Nanako and frowned deeply as she glared at the woman. Kagami moved over to Kuroi with her plasma rifle raised in a way that made it seem she was about to bash in Kuroi's skull. Before she could commit the deed, something stopped her in mid-swing. Looking back, the lilac-haired woman saw M grabbing a hold of the Plasma rifle's barrel. "Ya do t'at and ya're no better t'an Koko." He said with a small smile before releasing the gun and moving around Kagami. Kagami watched M with a dark glare as the giant man grabbed the sawed off shotgun and placed it inside his duster then turned his attention to Nanako and threw the unconscious woman over his right shoulder.

Konata was, meanwhile, watching as Kail bandaged up Minami's leg, which was fucked up seven ways to Sunday, no thanks to W. "So, do you have any idea why this 'W' person did thing, Minami?" The blunette asked curiously as Kail finished and stood up, stretching his back slightly. She was still curious as to why Minami had come back from the dead, especially after the death she had received.

"I have no idea. He was probably just some hired gun or something." Minami lied in her normal flat, monotone voice. She knew the exact reason for why W had attacked her and Yutaka. She glanced at Kail out of the corner of her gaze, noticing the young man pick up Vampire's Edge and placed it back into its sheath.

"A highly 'rained hired gun by ta look it." M said as he and Kagami joined the three of them. Konata looked up at the giant man, noticing that Kuroi was thrown rather carelessly over one of his shoulders.

Minami looked at M with raised eyebrow, somewhat surprised about his blood red skin. During her time with the Enclave, she had heard stories and reports about Enclave outposts and patrols being attacked by a massive man with blood red skin. There had even been rumors that the Brotherhood of Steel had been facing attacks by the same man or whatever the being was. "Who are you?" She asked rather plainly.

"Ta name is Megalord vi Bronstar Knight but'cha can call me M." M said with a wide smile as he extended his right hand out to Minami.

"Minami Iwasaki." The mint-green haired woman murmured as she took a hold of M's hand and shook it.

M blinked when Minami said her name. "Iwasaki? I 'member Koko mentionin' someone by t'at name a few times." He said as he patted Nanako's ass, causing the unconscious woman to admit a small moan.

"Kuroi...talked about me?" Minami asked, slightly astonished that Nanako had even mentioned her to this giant. "Wait, how do you even know her?"

"Went out for a while durin' the 'eventies. Shortly afta ya left the Enclave I think." M said with a small smile as he looked at Nanako. His head rolled back as old memories began to creep into his head. "Man, t'ose were good times."

Konata and Kagami both raised an eyebrow at the reminiscing giant. "Riiiiight." Kagami murmured, finding it very hard to believe spending time psychotic Enclave officer could be considered good. "Are you going to be okay to walk, Minami?" Konata asked as she looked at the mint-green haired woman.

"Yes, I should be just fine." Minami said as he attempted to stand up. Kail opened his mouth to protest but Minami just raised her hand, silencing the boy instantly, though M was put off as he pushed Minami back onto the table. "Hey, what ar-" Minami didn't even finish her sentence as she felt M squeeze the side of her neck. Suddenly, everything went dark as she passed into a state of unconsciousness.

Konata blinked as Minami collapsed onto the table, out like a light bulb. "What did you do to her?" She asked as M threw Minami over his other shoulder.

"T'eres t'is little nerve in yer neck. Hit t'at and you yer out like a light bulb." M said as he tapped the side of his neck, about were the nerve should be. "Kinda like t'at weird fist move t'at Bos 'aught their kids." He added as he made sure both Minami and Nanako were secure on his wide shoulders. "Kail, you take ta little one over t'ere." Kail gave a small nod before moving over to pick up Yutaka. The dirty blonde young man slung Vampire's Edge over one shoulder before he slipped an arm behind Yutaka's shoulders and another under the back of her legs.

"Was it necessary to do that though?" Kagami asked this time as she looked around the bloodied subway station, finally noticing exactly how many people were killed. The man who did this must've been inhuman to have killed everyone here and torture Minami and Yutaka. Though, she couldn't say she cared much of anything for Minami, especially after her little letter stunt, though it was a good thing that Konata didn't believe a word of it.

"Hells yeah it was! It is the duty of a Knight to protect and offer aid to those who need help!" M loudly proclaimed as he puffed out his chest and pounded it once with his right hand. Kuroi just about slipped off his shoulder but he stopped her right in time. "Now let's get the fuck out of here. I'm gettin' hungry." M headed for the slopping tunnel with Kail and Konata not too far behind.

Kagami sighed and shook her head. "I've got a feeling some weird shit is going to happen." She murmured lightly to herself as she followed after her wife and the two men into the darkness.

In W's secret base that is definitely NOT Raven Rock

Kou sighed lightly to herself as she looked at W's unconscious body as it laid in the virtual reality pod. The clone had died just around twenty minutes and W still hadn't woken up yet. Sighing again, she turned her attention back to the book she was reading. Suddenly, the pod's door opened with a burst of air before W gasped loudly. "W?" Kou asked worriedly as her partner stumbled out of the pod, clutching at his chest tightly.

"I'm fine, Kou. I'm fine." W murmured before he punched himself once in the chest and gasped loudly again. He shook his head before turning his attention to the worried looking Kou. "Do remind me not to die again while controlling one of the clones."

Kou moved over to W and put an arm around his shoulder before leading him over to the chair she was sitting in just a moment again. "So, what happened? Did you get the information that you wanted?" She questioned before she went to go get W a bottle of water.

"Is this from the water from the Jefferson Purifier?" W asked cautiously as he took the bottle from Kou. She shook her head in reply. She understood why he was still wry and cautious when things were handed to him. W had spent just over 200 years in almost complete isolation with only smallest interaction with the Enclave. The blunette man sighed before opening the bottle and downing the entire bottle in a few short gulps. Sighing, he leaned back into the chair and closed his eyes. After about a minute of silence, W finally said, "I didn't get a single word out of Minami, though I highly doubt she knew much of anything. The injuries I inflicted on her should be enough to kill the green haired bitch. Kuroi, on the other hand, was the one that killed me." His emerald green eyes opened slowly as he glared at nothing in particular. "I'm going to have to have a small talk with my niece today and with Kagami Izumi tonight. Maybe they know something."

Kou smiled lightly as she sat down on W's lap and began to run her finger lightly through his cobalt blue hair. "Well, that's all fine and good. Though, you should rest before you do anything else." She murmured lightly to her companion before kissing his forehead. "Or would you much rather play?"

Smirking, W looked at Kou as he placed a hand on her cheek. "Hmhmhm...What do you think?" He said with a light chuckle. Slowly, he brought Kou in for a passionate kiss.

Kind of a cliffhanger-ish kind of ending, though I do like to leave things open for interpretation. Not much actually happened this chapter though you do get a bit of an insight of M and Kuroi's relationship. Not much more to say besides that I promise that the next chapter will definitely not take as long as this one to do. Also, the next two chapters will fill in some plot holes, such as how M and Kuroi first met and how Minami and Kail know each other.