"Yeah, turns out those blasted vaults ended up being complete failures. Apparently almost everyone in them ended up dead or worse. Heh, heard one was turned into a damned ghoul city out west. Sure glad we stayed out here..."

-Journal excerpt found on skeletal remains.

Grog didn't like the fact that a smallish human thought that he could beat him. Being a surprisingly intelligent behemoth, he figured a challenge as outrageous as this meant there was some sort of trick involved. Of course, his suspicions vanished beneath blind rage when the human called him a "fatty", but it's still worth noting that Grog could have seen through Hits' deception. The behemoth roared, causing all present to cover their ears, and it charged towards the human.

The Big Town residents atop the house covered their eyes to avoid seeing the brave (or stupid) mans death but the expected crunch of Hits being crushed never came. What did happen was chaos.

A bright flash of light blinded everyone. The slavers, who were already retreating to the ridge they had come over, stumbled haphazardly toward the general direction they were originally heading. The mutants growled in frustration and rubbed at their eyes. They had expected blood and guts, not blasted light! Grog had swung his fire hydrant hammer at Hits when the light exploded in his face. He, too, was completely blinded. Then he felt something on his arm.

"RAAAAGH, WHA?" it cried as it swatted it's arm where it felt the disturbance. Apparently it had missed, because the sensation had leapt to his other hand and was continuing up the opposite arm! Grog roared and flailed his arms wildly.

The Big Town residents (since they had closed their eyes) saw the whole thing when they opened them, unblinded.

When the great hammer had swung down upon Hits, the man had thrown some sort of device that exploded in brilliant light, and dodged out of the way. Rolling to the left of the descending hammer, he felt the earth around him vibrate with the sheer force of the monstrous weapons impact with the stony earth. Dust and debris flew up from under the hammer with a collossal crash. He hopped up right away and nimbly jumped atop the fire hydrant running up the torn pipe with alacritous balance. When the beast attempted to swat him down with its other hand, he simply spun away from the beasts elbow joint, and then leapt back onto the hand when it was in range. Hits focused, reached to his belt, and pulled off three grenades and threw them into the air next to the behemoths face as he dived off, not having time to activate the explosives. Midair, he deftly whipped out a single 10mm pistol and aimed.

And shot.

Grog didn't know what hit him.

Serah and the Big Town residents saw Hits fire in midair three times, hitting each one of the grenades. With each successive hit, another large chunk of the behemoths head was blown off in a cherry-red explosion. The concussive explosions were just close enough to affect him too, and he was blasted even faster toward the ground. He had time to see the damage he wrought before he hit the ground on his back, dizzying and disorienting him. He heard a loud "thump" nearby and could hear the echoing sounds of the super mutants and the slavers voices suddenly shouting and shots being fired. He smiled weakly and blacked out, the explosions and impact with the ground taking its toll.

*FLASH*

"It's all a simple matter of time" the shadow said. "And if it were more complicated, I'm sure that we would find a logical solution to the problem. With the very same results."

"Don't forget that there is a time to be cautious about stuff like this" said another shadow, this one with a deeper voice, "we don't have any time to spare for catastrophic mistakes. We must move slowly."

The first shadow shrugged. "True enough I suppose. But enough about how cautious or not we must be." The first shadow turned and picked something up, presenting it to the second.

"I," it said with emphasis, "have got some serious results here. No doubt that you will like this alot."

The second shadow accepted the object and shuffled through it. Then it gasped.

"The ionization portion is ready?" it hissed, with a trace of excitement and anxiety in its voice.

You could almost hear the first shadow smiling. "Yes."

"Then we have got ourselves the means to an end."

Both shadows turned toward Hits and approached him.

*FLASH*

"Hyper. It is a word to suggest acceleration? There aren't many pre-war dictionaries left unburnt nowadays, but I'm pretty sure the word means something that is more."

"Well we need a name to present to the board of directors. Besides, this little project of ours deserves a title. Hyper sounds...pretty cool actually. Let's put that in."

"Okay.." The sound of a computer keys being tapped. "Next?"

"Ionization. It's a big part of the project."

"Alright, and he's an android right? I think I've heard of that somewhere. They are human robots?"

"Well, first of all, I can't think of anything for the abbreviation for that. H.I.A..? It'd sound wierd. Second, we started out with human and gave him robot parts, no, no forgive me. The equipment we used is far too advanced to be insulted with the word robot."

"..."

"What?"

"You take this naming stuff very seriously, don't you?"

Hits awoke to the sound of gunshots. He groaned and tried to raise his hands and rub the soreness out of his neck but he felt his hands pinned down. Groggily, he looked up and saw Red and some other dude crouching behind rotten boards and sandbags.

"Whats up?" Hits asked his voice hoarse and dry.

Red glanced at him before getting up and firing her pistol over their barricade. Hits heard shouting on the other side and several return-fire bullets buried themselves into the sandbags next to him. Hits rolled his eyes. Amateurs.

The other guy looked at him fiercely though, his eyes glowing with awe and appreciation.

"Hey, good to see you're awake. You really screwed up that behemoth man, damn. I'm Flash, nice tah meetcha."

Flash held out his hand.

Hits shrugged and asked Flash to take the bunch of fallen sandbags off his arms.

"Haha, oops. Lemme take care of that for you."

As Flash moved the sandbags, he explained to Hits what had happened after he passed out. The regular super mutants, after seeing their behemoth downed, got pissed and charged the humans, slaver and Big Towner alike. The Big Towners had gotten off the roof of the house they were on and had taken cover, but not before brave Shorty ran out into the middle of the warzone and dragged the unconscious Hits back to safety. The slavers also split, but to the other side of the street, taking cover behind a bunch of fallen telephone posts and crumbling ruins.

After the panicked rush, everybody had turned around and started firing at everything that moved. The supermutants were stupid enough to stand out in the open (Hits felt sorry he missed it) and were torn to shreds by the bullets coming from both sides. And then of course, a woman from the slavers side had yelled out a command to attack the Big Town residents (probably Elytta, thought Hits sourly). He had been out for about five minutes.

"Yeah, man. You recovered pretty quickly from three fucking grenades. You some kind of mutant yourself?" Flash asked with a smile.

"Oh yes," Hits said with plenty of sarcasm, "I am a super mutant in disguise and I am really here to eat your brains." Flash gave a half-hearted grin and threw himself to the ground as he noticed the slavers about to fire a concentrated volley. Hits sighed and tried to shake the pins-and-needles out of his hands.

"Thats ghouls you dork. Super mutants eat all of you." Flash grunted as he slowly picked himself up, just barely dodging the deadly discharge.

"Whatever, I'm through with this shit. Tell me where everyones positions are so I can figure out a way outta this mess."

"Well, Shorty and Pappy are right to our left, but I've had them hiding so that they can pop out and do a sort of sneak-attack. Timebomb, he's one of our buddies, you haven't met him yet. He got shot and is right next to Red." Flash pointed and Hits leaned over to see a young man breathing shallowly with blood all over him. Timebomb noticed him looking and gave him a small smile and a thumbs up. Hits smiled back. These kids had some kind of spirit.

Flash paused. "We have a girl in a position away from here, she can't do anything.

"Nothing at all."

Flash looked harshly at him. "Nothing."

"Dusty?"

"Uh, oh yeah, he's on the roof sniping with his hunting rifle. Too bad he can't shoot for shit. Otherwise the damn slavers would be super-dead."

Hits looked up and saw Dusty lying prone at a marvelous sniping position. Judging the distances and cover, he should have been able to hit all the slavers from where he was, and they couldn't hit him back. Hits sighed again. Too bad he couldn't shoot for shit.

Hits pulled out his pistols and saw that he was out of ammo, and he looked around for his bag. He found one lying by Timebombs leg just as Red crouched and fired (mmmm, nice ass Red) but he couldn't find the other one, with his ammo.

"Did Shorty grab my other bag?" Hits asked Flash.

Flash looked confused, then called over to Shorty.

"Shorty! You grab Hits' other pack dude?"

A forlorn call from behind some bushes.

"No."

Flash turned back to Hits and shrugged. The he called to Shorty and Pappy to do their "sneak-attack" which failed utterly.

Hits swore. But then he got another idea. He cracked his neck and tried to relax himself, then turned to Red.

"Why is it every beautiful day I begin to have is interrupted?" Hits asked the girl in the red jumpsuit.

The glass bottle on the shelf next to him exploded.

Red looked back at him, an incredulous expression on her face.

Hits frowned.

"I mean, I start out my day with a pleasant walk right? Wake up…and take a stroll, hunt a little yah know what I mean?" he asked her, looking annoyed.

The wooden plank next to him dissolved into splinters with a loud crack.

He looked at the remains with a bored expression and sighed. Red looked at it fearfully.

"They're getting closer Hits," she said, a slight tremor evident in her voice.

"Hey!" yelled Flash, "What the hell are we supposed to do? I can't peg these bastards from here with just a pistol!" he exclaimed angrily, and the yelped as a bullet buried itself into the sandbag behind him. "Damnit Hits! You were supposed to help us, not get us all killed!" he screamed. He poked his head up again, squeezed off two rounds and then ducked back behind cover.

"Don't freak out man, I'm on it." Hits yelled back. He understood Flash's sudden animosity, the slavers seemed to be concentrating on him now.

Then he turned around to continue his conversation.

"So I'm walking around right? The morning was not too hot, not too cold, just perfect."

He paused when another volley of bullets passed over.

"And then I see your town. What the hell was I thinking coming here? This is what I was thinking: Hey, a town! Maybe there are some hot girls! The Wasteland doesn't have many of those."

He paused again at the sound of a scream from the slavers and gave a thumbs up to the surprised Dusty, who managed to hit someone. Hits flipped a lock of his long black hair out of his eyes.

"So I walk into town and…well, I guess you know the story from there." He finished as Red looked up at him, annoyed he was still talking.

"Aren't you supposed to be killing them?!" she suddenly exploded. "Yes, I'm sorry we brought you into this mess, but you know we need your help."

She pleaded with him as her hands kept working on the wounded Timebomb. Hits frowned again.

"Fine, but you owe me." He said with a disgruntled air.

"We'll give you anything we want, that we have of course." She said turning back to heal Timebomb. "I'm holding you to that!" Hits said as his mood lightened up. Red and Bittercup were very attractive, he hoped Red would keep her word.

Cause I need to get laid, he thought.

He reached into his pack and pulled out three frag grenades, thought better of it, and put them back. He looked around. He was in the ruins of some old building and Red was crouching next to him. Currently, she was staunching the flowing blood from Timebombs abdomen. She said he was going to live, but Timebomb didn't look so good. To his left, Shorty and Pappy were doing the same as Flash. Otherwise known as being completely useless. Bittercup was safe and sound in a building away from combat, being a hindrance to the Bigtown dwellers survival. If she was out here, everyone would have to watch out for her, better she stay away.

He glanced outside again. He took it all in. The slavers locations were scattered about the random shacks in the vicinity.

One was stupid enough to be standing out in the open and firing. Or maybe he wasn't so stupid considering how shoddy the Big Town residents aiming were.

This is pointless, he thought.

"Flash! Pappy! Kimba! Shorty! Dusty! Cease fire!" he commanded.

They all looked at him with surprise and rebellion, but obeyed under his serious glare.

"Red" he said to her, "Once these guys are dead, you and Bittercup owe me some serious screwing." He said and grinned at her shocked and blushing features. He loved surprising people.

"Do you give up?" came a call from the other side of the battlefield. "Yeah!" Hits responded. "We'll give one of us up if you leave."

Everyone looked at him in disbelief. He couldn't be thinking about giving one of them up! "What are you doing?!" Red hissed at him looking pissed. Flash slowly lowered his pistol muzzle toward Hits. "If you're thinking about giving one of us up, then you've made a big mistake man." Flash whispered.

Hits just smiled.

"Yo!" he cried out again, "you want one of us or not?"

He didn't hear anything after that, but he knew they were thinking about it. "It's a pretty good deal considering!" Hits yelled again, "or we could just kill each other. Come on, we give you someone, then you go home happy."

Silence again, then, "Deal! Send your person out, unarmed!"

Hits looked at Flash, whose hands holding the pistol were visibly shaking. "Calm down Flash" Hits said, "All of you will be fine." He then stood up, dropped his pistol and pack, and walked out the door.

Elytta was dissapointed that her gang couldn't just kill Hits and take Red and his weapons stash, but she had seen the man kill a freaking behemoth. She frowned and told herself that they might need him. She wasn't scared of going up against the guy.

Hits strolled up to them like it was nobodies business and smiled. "Guys, what the hell? I was in the building you could've killed me."

Andy gave a half-hearted shrug. "Elytta said she didn't give a fuck if y-OW!" he cried when Rachel stepped on his foot.

She smiled at Hits as Andy hopped around swearing. "What he was about to say was that it was a dangerous situation and that we had to return fire, or die. We didn't have much choice."

Hits raised a brow in doubt. He knew Elytta wanted him dead.

"Whatever, I've got a new idea."

The slavers gave him their full attention, even Elytta.

"How about...we pack up and leave?"

They all looked stunned, then Elytta pulled a pistol and aimed it at Hits' face. "Why do you think we should do that?"

"Because slaving is wrong, and I don't care how many caps Red is worth. She's a good person who doesn't deserve it."

Elytta smiled. "Well, I DO care how many caps she's worth and I will kill you and get her, and sell her to Paradise Falls where she's likely to be raped by evil mercenaries day in and day out until she dies."

The slavers looked at her in horror.

She continued. "And when she had children from all those rapings, they will probably rape them too, especially if their female. Because you know what? These wasteland losers out here aren't fit to be called human like us. We have power, they don't.

Hits didn't say a thing.

"So we will exercise it. We will kill, and murder and rape and steal until this whole world burns down again. But you know what? We'll be having aot of fun before it happens."

Her speech had stunned her other party members. Sure they were in the business, but they had never seen or even heard about the things Elytta was talking about. In fact, Rachel thought, I haven't said an unkind word to a slave.

Jimmy glowered, he was furious. Andy shuddered at the images that came to mind from Elyttas words. All the others had no experience in the purely evil world Elytta talked about. All they did was capture slaves, and send them away. They had no idea of the suffering they went through.

Elytta watched Hits. "What do you say to that big man? And what do you say to the fact that you can't stop me either? Because you're about to die."

Jimmy began to pull out his pistol now was his chance. To his surprise, the others looked like they were going for their arms as well.

But he barely had his hand on the butt of his gun before they all heard a horrible ripping sound.

Streaks of blood flew out from Elytta's back and splattered everywhere, including the slavers. They cried out in suprise and looked at their leader. Soon to be former leader.

A single hand was protruding out of Elytta's back, and in that clenched fist was Elytta's still beating heart. Shards of cracked bone and spinal cord also found their way out of her back, protruding at odd angles away from the force that moved them: Hits' arm. Blood pooled at her feet, and the pool grew larger as rivers of blood ran down her back like a waterfall from hell.

The slavers looked on in horror.

"You meant those words, didn't you?" Hits snarled into Elytta's shocked features, his arm caught in Elytta's torso all the way to his bicep. "I couldn't believe someone as evil as you existed." Elytta's pistol fell out of her limp fingers. She was too slow to use it against him.

"It felt good to kill you." He grunted and ripped his arm out of her chest, resulting in a wet, sucking slap accompanied by the crunching of her bones being further distorted. She didn't even scream. He still held her fading heart.

"Die." He said simply.

He shoved her heart into her open mouth, wide in disbelief. She fell to the ground, an arm sized hole in her chest and her heart still beating between her teeth.