Chapter 10: Worrisome Foe

Bolded parts are flashbacks from a previous chapter. If you wish to skip them feel free. You won't miss out.

"Speaking"

"Flashback"

"Mr. Mayor, we need to talk." said Atlas as his attitude did indeed turn very serious. He had taken a seat in front of him and stared into the eyes of the Mayor, who was now a little surprised by his change of attitude. Ruby was just sitting back while trying to keep her posture down in order to not break anything. "Why can't I be just a little bit smaller for a change. I am sick of always having to mind where I tread because of my size…" she thought to herself.

"My word. What is wrong Rogue Driftor of the Commonwealth? I had heard that you cleared out that damned super mutant settlement, and we here at Diamond City, greatly appreciate what both you and the Draconic Jewel did. We owe you greatly, and wish to repay your deeds at some point in the future. So please tell me, what has happened my friends." his tone was always so complementary and optimistic. It was slowly beginning to kill Atlas on the inside. Both he and Ruby acted with much surprise at the labels the mayor bestowed upon them.

"Rogue Driftor of the Commonwealth? He decided to call me that? How weird… First he calls me the Wanderer of the Commonwealth, then the Tamer of deathclaws. He must do this during his free time. He probably will be thinking of many more things to call us. Others have to be annoyed by this, it can't be just me… right?" he thought to himself. Simultaneously, Ruby was having a thought as well, questioning his label for them both.

"Draconic Jewel…? I don't know about that… I-I know my name is based on a jewel and that I look a lot less scary than most deathclaws b-but he didn't have to go that far. Idiot…" she thought to herself. She couldn't resist giving out her casual drako blush from the compliment given to her. Atlas caught onto it unlike the mayor, as he had been around her just long enough to notice that kind of thing. He chuckled a bit on the inside but headed back into his serious tone.

"Relax Ruby. Don't go and feint on me. Mr. Mayor, this is some rather alarming news for the both of us to say the least. I'll start from the beginning. When we had finished clearing up that super mutant settlement…"

"After some scavenging and dealing with health problems, we set out to head back to Diamond City. Being the pack rat I am, I wanted to scavenge on the way back but I didn't want to worry Ruby anymore. So I decided on a single building. That shouldn't be too much…"

As they walked Atlas decided to go ahead and check at least one more building before they fully head back to Diamond city because he just really wanted to waste as much time as possible before going back. Deep down though he knew that's where Ruby wanted to be for now. "Hey Ruby, Is it okay if I check this building right here for any more foods or drinks?" he stopped his pace and pointed towards the building to his left. "Of course you can. Just as long as you stay safe," she replied. She became a lot more concerned about Atlas the more they go about their days. "I will." he waved her off as he ran towards the entrance of the ruined building and began his inspections.

He continued to lay out the scene for the Mayor as the Mayor sat forward and leaned on his desk, listening closely at all his details that were put in the scene. He was rather curious as to what could have been so dangerous and yet, so close to their walls. Last thing he needs is word getting spread and it ends up in a panic.

Rummaging through the various desks and shelves that now lay in dusty and ashy hells, he found some things he didn't really expect. He found 10mm bullets as well as some tiny cans of purified water. They had been there for so long. "Well, this is good I suppose. Not as much as we need but it will last." he was sort of disappointed with his findings but it was better than nothing at all. He headed up the stairs to search some more. Searching for more containers he grew tired of finding useless items. He heard something shuffle behind him and he immediately turned around with his pistol drawn. A man with a big scraggly beard, metal fist and combat armor as well as the sported duster. His face still bearing a scar. The man raised his hands up and stopped moving. "Woah Woah now Atlas, is that any way to treat an old friend?"

"Who the fuck are you?! How do you know my name?" he questioned rather surprised that he knew him. It really bothered him that he states to be an old friend since if he was he wouldn't even remember. He decided to keep it trained on his head just in case. The man laughed at him, his laugh was odd. It reminded him of a really deranged man. The way he carried himself wasn't very pleasing either. "Come on Atlas don't be like that pal. You have to remember me. Ain't no way in hell you have amnesia. We have known each other for such a long time. I only just saw you at Diamond. I would tell you my real name but you probably wouldn't remember it. Since you did Atlas I think it's only fair that I name myself, Ares. The god of war and bloodshed." he smirked rather evilly as Atlas ground his teeth. "You trying to hint at something? Fuck you asshole how the fuck do you know me?!" he further interrogated. It was really getting to Atlas at this point.

"I was always a very cautious person, even though I now have a giant deathclaw watching my back. When I heard something behind me of course I reacted pistol drawn. This guy claims to have known me from before… before the bombs fell." He seemed to look away from Mayor Brooks, as he never revealed he was alive before the bombs fell.

"Wait what!? My word Atlas did you just say before the bombs? Before the great nuclear war that made everything the way it is are you serious? You would be over 200 years old! You don't look a day over 20!" The poor man was so surprised his jaw practically fell out of place. It's an appropriate reaction however. Meanwhile, Ruby continued to listen carefully just in case she has to interject or add in a forgotten detail.

"I was in a vault. Vault 111. The bombs dropped, and I made it to the vault. We were all put into these Cryo chambers… they made sure that we would never wake until a better time when the world was able to be rebuilt. I mean, that would have to be the intention right? Anyway…" he looked back up into his eyes and clasped his hands together, leaning his face into them to cover up part of his face.

"Something must have happened to the Cryo chambers, because when I woke up, two hundred plus years later, everyone was dead and only two pods didn't have two dead people in them. Mine… and what I assume to be my 'old friend'. I hate to say it but I also have some memory loss. I can't remember a lot of things in life. I couldn't even remember my name. I'm trying to get them back. If I don't, I guess that will be okay. They won't really help in this world anyway…" The Mayor leaned back into his office chair, exhaling rather loudly from all the information he is taking in.

"Two people over 200 years old, and both wandering around the Commonwealth. Good lord. If one of them managed to get a deathclaw, I can't help but wonder what this 'Ares' has at his disposal." Franklin Brooks was always having such a positive attitude. His whole demeanor was beginning to change to one of a more intriguing nature, but one of worry as well.

"I can't seem to remember who he was. My amnesia prevents me of that. But he looks a lot older than me. So he had to have come out of the vault before I did because I surely don't look 30 or 40 like he did. He seems to know a lot about me however." He added. The guilt of not being able to take care of this situation was beginning to set in.

"Me and him exchanged a lot of words. I ended it off with the fact that neither of us are the same anymore, and I don't even know who we used to be. So I tried to get out of there… and I called for Ruby."

After making sure the stairs were behind him, he quickly turned and rushed down them to get out to Ruby. He was now beginning to worry for not only his safety but for hers as well. "Oh shit. Shit shit shit! Ruby! Where are you?!" he shouted out as he neared the front doors. Fear, anger, and desperation were in his voice, shaking as he ran out. As the sun hit his eyes he looked frantically for his companion. He grew worried when she wasn't in sight but heard loud accompanying steps so in turn, he began to calm down. She came into view from around a corner. "Atlas! What's wrong little one are you okay?! I heard you from blocks away you sounded like you were in trouble!" she asked worryingly as she came to a stop close to him.

"That's because we are. Some guy in there is claiming to know me before the bombs fell. We came from the same vault and everything. I don't trust him at all he gives me a bad feeling. He told me to call him Ares. Fuck the storytelling let's just get out of here. Carry me." he had lots of fear and worry as he ordered her without even thinking. This man that came out of nowhere had set off his whole demeanor. Ruby herself was worried as well so she didn't hesitate to grab him. As soon as she stepped forward with the massive momentum that she built up, something hit her in the back of the leg that caused her to fall, sending Atlas tumbling way in front of her as she roared in pain. Dust was lifting up into the air by the masses. She whined a bit as she laid flat on her belly, with a hand slowly reaching into Atlas' direction. He, however, wasn't in reach.

"She found me and I wasn't really processing everything too well. Once I cleared up a bit, she grabbed a hold of me and got ready to take off. As soon as she took her first step, she was shot right in the leg by something that completely paralyzed it for a few minutes. He said it was some kind of dart with some paralysis coating. He exaggerated the effects on it a bit too much though, seeing as we are both here now. Her momentum sent me flying like a ragdoll away from arms reach of her. She was probably gonna take off really hard and fast all one if I went that far ahead. She couldn't really go anywhere with the leg and her massive size holding her down." He finally looked up at Brooks and Brooks briefly looked over to Ruby, who was running it almost like a movie on playback.

Atlas turned back and looked at her as well. She nodded in agreement to his last statement. "It's true. I was just trying to get us out of there as fast as we could. So I tried to build it up a bit in order to take off better. In turn, he got thrown with whiplash and I got stopped in my tracks by a very patient marksmen. It was Ares. His marksmanship skills are like Atlas and his. No way he knew I would take off at that point. He could have guessed wrong but no… he knew exactly when I would take off." Once she finished up, she continued to keep her eyes away from the two, not wanting to show the shame and the sorrow.

"I had not realized it until now but… you my dear are pretty beaten up. Once we are done here, I am sending you both to Alicia." before he could press on any further, Atlas raised a hand to silence him.

"We will go see Alicia but right now, you need to hear the rest of this." He was reluctant at first but eventually settled back and nodded. "Great. Now back to it…"

Staring back into his hands, he looked back on the old events. "I tried to get up, but my head and stomach felt like I had just been thrashed around in circles for a while. Ares walked over and must have called in backup, because a bunch of soldiers, wearing the armor you see on me now, came up out of nowhere. They were called Spectres, and I'm pretty sure Ares is a higher up in this private merc group of his. He started beating me with this… I don't know power fist I guess. It was awful."

With Ares cackling like a maniac and Atlas getting beat with some form of the power fist, Ruby began to get angrier as her growl began to get serious volume. Especially since she now felt the presence of others. Indeed there were others. Ares' so-called "Spectres" have arrived. They all sported the exact same outfit as him except that they wore helmets that were all black and it completely covered their face. It was futuristic as all hell. From the looks, it seems to have a respirator system on it that can filter out harmful chemicals and the lenses they peer out of maybe resourceful as well. They had their loaded assault rifles with all sorts of mods trained on both Atlas and Ruby as they secured the area.

Atlas was fading in and out of consciousness as he took the beating. The power fist had done massive damage to his chest and stomach. He swears some of his ribs are cracked. Maybe even broken. He can hear all sorts of chatter but can't seem to focus to understand it. He looked over to his right as he laid there and among the many combat boot covered feet, he could stare into the eyes of the angry but heart-wrenching Ruby, both feeling so helpless to the situation. Ruby roared out in pain when another shot had gone into her arm when she reached it out just a little bit too much. The roar rumbled his brain and made the Spectres jumpy. Atlas seemed to regain some control as his arm out of sheer instinct grabbed his pistol that was unattended after the fall and shot it right at the helmet of one of the poor bastards. Blood spurt out of the hole left by the powerful pistol and the silencer worked well as some had barely noticed since they were busy talking but they all turned when a louder shot was fired. For some reason, Atlas couldn't press the trigger again. Ares seemed to shout as he dropped his pistol and laid his head back. The thunderstruck pain was now emanating from his chest. The last thing he heard before everything turned black was one loud, thunderous roar that appeared to also be yelling… "no".

"You… you were shot? You look well for someone who had a big rifle bullet pass close to his heart." Atlas nodded as he kept recalling the moments.

"When he laid flat on the ground like that, I thought everything was over…. I lost it. Despite the pain and poison coursing through my veins, I felt something to claw out of me. It never took control but I listened to what my instincts were telling me. I killed two of them. The rest had retreated. All that I was left with were the faded eyes of my one companion…" she had entered in once again. It had touched the mayor's heart to hear her do such a thing for a friend.

"Justice. You are a strong one Ruby. No doubt about it. No need to fret any longer on it though my dear, he stands before you now in the armor of his enemies. A sign that he will take them down as one of their own. Retribution!" he got a little too excited at the end there so he cleared his throat and apologized.

Ruby swore she heard that phrase from somewhere, but she couldn't put a finger on it. "No matter" she said to herself. She thanked him for the compliment and tried to reassure him that she was fine, just still a bit shaken up from the whole thing.

"It's okay if you are still shook up about it. It's understandable. You almost lost a close friend. Any other normal person would react the way you did. Those vile spectre soldiers aren't people, they are cold blooded animals simply following that deranged man. We here at diamond will do what we can to protect you and anyone else from those spectres so long as you are in our border. We are gaining more and more security forces each day so I will try to double the patrols for not only clearing out baddies but for supply searches too. Thank you both for coming to me about this. You already trust me enough to lay something like that on me. We are gonna be great friends us three. No doubt."

Atlas was kinda surprised at that but he accepted it anyway. "So, to sum everything up, I got shot, used a stimpack, and now here we are. I was on the brink of death, that is certain. Ares is here with his group of spectres and he wants me because of the past I can't remember."

Ruby seemed to just nod. She really didn't want to talk about it any longer. Their roles seemed to have switched for the time being. "I understand, and we will do everything we can to make sure those spectres don't bother anyone. This is indeed a worrisome foe... Now, enough rambling. You two need to get to Alicia right now. Go on, I'll have you escorted there. Thank you for having this discussion with me." He shook Atlas's hand and slowly began pushing them out of the office so they won't wait any longer. He just wanted to make sure they were all right.

"T-thanks Mayor!" Ruby said before being waved off and his door then shut. Her and Atlas looked at each other and Atlas just shrugged a bit before hopping on the elevator. She went ahead and took her casual scenic route as always.

"Where is Alicia and where is this escort he said we would ha- oh…" as he reached the bottom, a man in very rugged and worn, yet, heavily armored diamond security outfit was waiting right next to ruby. He stepped off the elevator and headed to them. This guy must be his number one guard or something. He looks battle experienced and tanky compared to other guards. He thought to himself.

"Mr. Atlas, Ms. Ruby, follow me please. I have been ordered to take you to med bay. Please do not stray off." his voice was deep and courageous, the way it hit the ears was such a cool thing to hear.

He turned around and headed off at a marching type pace with his rifle ready. Ruby looked at him rather confused by his demeanor but Atlas just shrugged and nudged her to move behind him, which she did. He decided to follow behind the both of them as he started looking into the eyes of all the men and women, who had their eyes locked right on him as well. It really started to freak him out. At this point, he just wants to be invisible as to avoid the attention. He just decided to look down at his pip boy which was now turned on to tell him what his status was and how he was doing. Sure enough though, he found something really bad, as it should not be there...

BREAK

At an old but fortified building, raiders were locked in a battle with tangos they could hardly see, nevermind hit. The ferocious Raider leader demanded for his forces to win, but his own men were dropping like flies.

"What the fuck is going on!? Why are you dogs not winning this fight!? What have I trained you for!? Fight! Bathe in their innards you worthless pieces of Brahman shit!" He continued to courageously shoot his assault rifle at the targets that seemed placed behind cover. More and more of his men kept falling and he kept getting angrier. He began to yell and almost roar out as he laid down suppressing fire. A figure from behind his was slowly coming into view. When his gun went click, this marked the end of this Raider gang leader.

"You don't really keep track of your ammo do you? Useless fuckwit!" A familiar voice shot out from behind the raider leader. Before he could even turn around, two hands latched onto his head and twisted it with a loud *crack* following behind. The person revealed was none other than the scraggly bearded warmongering "Ares". Soon enough, the bullets stopped flying, as all of the raiders have how fallen victim to what is now shown to be the Spectres.

All of the spectres sprinted over to Ares and saluted him as he knelt down and examined the body he had just killed. "Sir!" they all said in unison. One stepped forward, presumably his second command of the group he launched out with.

"Sir! All hostile raiders have been accounted for. What is our next move?" Ares had put his hand up for his soldiers to stand at ease. "Thank you Sanders. Our next move you say? First off, grab anything valuable that you can find. Strip this place clean all the way down to the last fucking molecule. Then, we are going to torch this place. No evidence, and no new settlement. This place is fortified enough to be used by either side. So torch it. Once all that is done we will go ahead and pursue the fort. That needs to be our base of operations while we try to do something about boston. Any questions?" He stood up and looked at his soldiers who all looked amongst each other and shook their heads no.

"Good. Get on with it, we ain't got all day now." The spectres gave off one final salute and another "Yes sir!" in unison before taking off and doing what he had told him to do. Scraping and scavenging shouldn't be too long but it also wasn't gonna be done quick either. He looked at around at the fortified raider settlement and started to get all sorts of ideas on how he wanted the fort to look when he goes to capture it. It used to belong to the minutemen a long time ago and now it's just sitting… waiting for it to be snatched.

BREAK

After some little treks and detours, they eventually made it over to the infirmary. They were a little worried as to how Alicia would act to the patients she was getting. What if she were to refuse service to them? Maybe she would end up a little to freaked out to help? All they could do was pray that she would help their corresponding partner, as neither really cared if they themselves got treated. Typical of them both.

The escort opened up the door and motioned for them to enter. Ruby had no idea how she was going to get in however. She was so much larger than the door hole. The escort seemed to not care all that much as he turned around and headed off back to his post, which seemed to have rub her the wrong way. It was just another man who followed orders to a tee and did not try to find ways to atleast help out along the way. He is paid to do what he is told, like a dog… or an enclave soldier.

Atlas started getting frustrated as well. He had no idea as to why they didn't figure out a solution to this before they came by. "How the hell are we supposed to get you in there? You aren't skipping out on this dammit, I'll just go talk to her and figure it out. You better stay right there Ruby." He gave her a quick glance to show he meant it and she nodded, even though she wished to object. He went ahead and went inside. Inside was actually rather nice looking compared to the outside, as it kinda resembled a poor man's shack.

"Hello? Doctor Alicia? We need some medical attention and we were sent by the mayor. Hello?" Atlas felt like he was talking to himself for a short bit until he heard a door close and footsteps approached him. A quite tall and beautiful woman with long brown hair stepped out as she began putting her hair up into a ponytail.

"Ahh so you are the Atlas I heard so much about. I want to thank you for helping us out as much as you did. You may not have known it, but your efforts in clearing out some places around here have already started affecting my office. I have been getting more necessities like bandages and alcohol, rad-away, anything that helps us a bunch."

She smiled so greatly as she talked with him. She went ahead and explained to him what she was told about her two patients and Atlas went ahead and filled in any grey areas. Much to her surprise, she didn't really believe what she was hearing. Something was much different about her now that he began to describe Ruby to her. She started getting kinda giddy at the thought of treating us.

"Oh my, I just can't even wait! I'll be able to learn so much from you two. I could learn more about Deathclaw anatomy and why she chose to hang around you by seeing if it has to do with your genes or if you have some kind of natural attraction to you. This'll be so fun!" she just kept giggling as Atlas tried to calm her down a bit. He was so weirded out by her sudden fascination but… he is one to talk.

"She is outside be she can't exactly get in. Your door seems to be a lot smaller than most. Albeit, the mayor doesn't really have a door, just a big archway, and the other door ways she needs to go through are kinda destroyed… yeah. Just remember, I was shot and need to be checked, and she has a bunch of wounds from her battle against the spectres."

They both walked out and when Alicia laid eyes on Ruby, her jaw dropped to the floor. It was real, every bit of it. "Hello Ms. Alicia, I am Ruby. Nice to meet you. I promise I mean you no harm." It took her a bit but sure enough, she let out a little squeal of hers as she excitedly ran around Ruby, checking out all her details. She checked so much so that she was even looking at individual scales on her body. She was taking everything into account from head to toe, and Ruby was getting rather worried as to what was going on. She looked to Atlas for help but he just shrugged and mouthed the words "I don't know" to her.

"This is amazing! Wow! You gotta come visit me whenever you can so I can learn more about you. I have heard of talking deathclaws before but the people who talked about them said they could pretty much only talk like a kid would. You are fully fluent and it even sounds like you have vocal cords! Amazing! Please come talk to me more often. I'll make sure that this place gets bigger just for you! No sweat! The Mayor will love that idea anyway. Hell he just might fund it." Ruby couldn't help but giggle at her for being so interested in her. It made her blush a bit. She never thought her species could be saw as anything but scary, horrifying monsters but she continues to be proved wrong the more she travels with Atlas.

"I will just treat you first so you aren't waiting out here with those gashes that I saw. Looks like they have only been watered cleaned or you may have used your tongue. Either way we need to go and clean them up. I know you probably won't want any bandages but you are getting some anyway. No its, ands, or buts." She went ahead inside to grab her materials.

"Sorry Ruby, but I'm gonna have to agree with her. You can get rid of the bandages after a day or two. For now you will just have to stick with it. Trust me, you'll feel better." He went up to her and she lowered her head down a tiny bit. He pet the sides of her head and the top as well. She elicited some kind of purr of some sorts. He didn't seem to question it, as she is an animal after all.

Alicia came back out with her necessary supplies and placed them near Ruby. She then looked over at Atlas with a real serious face. "Atlas I need you to go inside and lay down on the bed in there. I'm pretty sure that we are gonna have some complications with you." Ruby lifted her head back up and began to grow worried at what she meant.

Atlas was going to interject but she just motioned up inside, mouthing the words "not here" while pointing at Ruby, which she didn't catch as she was focused on Atlas. He just followed orders from the doc and did what she said. Walking into the clean and vault feely building, he took off all of his armor, put down his weapons next to his bag, and just stuck with his combat pants and boots. He could clearly see that there was a spot where he had been shot. So he laid down on the soft bedding that had something over it to protect the actual bedding from what can only be assumed as blood.

"Don't worry about him, he is in good hands. I'll take care of you real quick and I'll get to work on him so you don't worry yourself too much. I know your pain tolerance is up do I'll just get on with the alcohol pouring. Please don't remove these bandages." She went ahead and started working on patching up her leg, as well as any other abrasions that she may have saw on the lower body. The venom that entered her body was completely neutralized by now, but the impact point could get seriously infected from such big darts with nasty needles on the end.

She knelt down upon being ordered to, and Alicia began to work on the wounds on her chest and arms from what can only be presumed as pieces of concrete and bullets that were getting hurled down range at her. She thought she managed to block them all when she had the concrete up but she supposes that in the moment she just didn't feel it. "No bullets are left in these? Your body must have something in you that can break down and dematerialize bullets! That or it shoves out any foreign things after a good bit. Which is probably why you never see any walking around with any sharp objects just kinda stuck in them. So cool! I should run some experiments… well, nevermind. Another time maybe. Now let me bandage all the rest. I need your hand too. That was another spot you got hit at correct?"

"Yes. I was hit by those darts in the hand and leg. I don't know how exactly it got through the skin of my hand, it's pretty strong I'd like to presume." She showed her the hand and she got right onto it. Ruby didn't like the fact that her body was covered with white bandages that were now getting covered in blood, it just wasn't something she liked since people might look and think someone wasted supplies on something like her.

"All done! I shall go take care of Atlas now. I think you should get something to eat and drink. It's been quite the day for you two. I'll send a message out to Haines to bring you something nice and meaty. He has plenty of Brahmin meat from all the cattle we have. As for the drink well we have a well over by the bleachers. There is a big tub sitting there with a bucket in it. Feel free to get as much as you want. If there is anything the Jewel of the Commonwealth has good it's food and water. If you and Atlas continue doing what you do, you'll be heroes around here. More places will open up for people to scavenge and make a home out of, and the world gets a little more safer." She left it off at that and went inside. Ruby decided she was probably right and went to go get water. Thankfully, it didn't look like anyone was around. She couldn't stop thinking about how she and Atlas really did help people out and now all she wants to do is continue. Not for the fame or title but just for the fact that they helped someone.

Atlas was still laying down, having his mind wander about. He had been staring at the vast amount of machines that surrounded him but eventually just started to think about the future for him. He snapped out of it when he heard a door close and saw Alicia enter. "Hey Doc, everything went well out there right?" Alicia walked over to an area with a bunch of cabinets and shelves filled with supplies. She put on a different pair of gloves and a mask, just in case. His wound was probably gonna be a lot worse than hers.

"Everything went well Atlas. No need to worry about her. I can tell just from looking at her that she has been through a lot worse than this. Some might say she survived hell just to find another level of it. At least she found you to accompany her." her tone was warm when she finished off. It made him feel nice and confident that she will do much better here. He just worries of all the things she had to endure.

"Now then, let's have a look at your chest here. I have a bad feeling that you have been running around with it still in your body. It has been confirmed that you used a stimpack, as the scar is already starting to fade, but it was never told if the bullet went all the way through. We need to make sure." She turned him over really quick just to test her suspicions, and sure enough, there was no exit wound from his back. No scar or nothing. She put this little blanket of sorts over him and pulled out what looked like a huge handheld camera. It looked a lot more upgraded and recently made compared to the ones he found scattered from the old world. "Close your eyes." She ordered. He complied without any hesitation.

She began to click the button and he could hear the machine begin to whir and make all sorts of noise. The ones he was laying next to began to make noises too and he was rather interested in how all this worked. He hasn't been to an actual doctor before and even if he did before it wouldn't be the same. Plus he can't exactly remember so…

"Okay, you can open your eyes now. I will pull up the pictures and see if I have to get the bullet out or not. Hopefully I won't have to." She took off the little blanket thing she had put on him and walked over to her terminal with all the data. He sat up and began to look around. He hopes she doesn't have to do some kind of surgery on him. He didn't feel any lingering pain after it settled. He swore he would be able to at least feel something stinging if it was still in there.

"What? That doesn't make any sense…" she said rather quietly to herself as she looked at her notes and the pictures that she took. Atlas began to grow rather worried as to what is going on. "Oh shit, what is wrong with me now. Am I a synth too and I just didn't know it?" he thought to himself growing more and more worried as he thought about the worst case scenario.

"Everything okay Doc?" He stood up and walked over to Alicia and saw her looking at his x-rays as well as the notes on her terminal.

"Notice something strange about the x-ray Atlas? Anything catching your eye?" She handed him the x-ray and continued to look at her notes as he scanned it. He was confused as to why she asked such a question, because everything seemed to be in order compared to the chart she is using to contrast the two.

"Well there is no bullet. That's good. I can't really see what's the problem here doc." Alicia got up and faced him. She seemed pretty serious judging her demeanor and facial expressions.

"That is the problem here Atlas. There was no exit wound on your back. A wound may heal fast due to stimpaks but you can always find a trace of where the healing process started. There was no break of the skin, no scar, no nothing. The bullet… it dissolved in your body or was thrown out of the wound by your body. It could have had convulsions where your muscles contract to try and push it out. I have never heard of this from a human and you are indeed human. No signs of anything synth in you, and I've looked at their newer models. They can't hide their tech." She was fumbling her fingers around in a nervous little fit. She herself couldn't even believe it.

His eyes went wide as he tried to take in her observations. "W-what the fuck? How is that possible? A human body can't do that can it? Ruby can do that because she is a genetically engineered animal. I am NOT genetically engineered. I know I came out of that vault and I know I lived before the bombs dropped. Those are obvious. So how in the hell is it possible that my body did such a thing?!" He slammed the pictures on her desk and began to pace around the room.

"It could have been some kind of limiter that has been awakened from your near death experience. Who knows what else I can find out about you. You should let me experiment on you too! I can find out so much more about you if you just let me cut you open." She said this with a weird and scary smile and he laughed at her nervously as he backed away a little bit.

"Heh heh yeah no. You will not be cutting open me or Ruby any time soon. It's not one of my favorite pass times I'm afraid. If anything comes up again I'll let you know doc. This has been, quite the odd discovery. I thank you for taking care of me and Ruby." He swiftly put all of his stuff back on, holstered his pistol and swung his rifle behind him. He then grabbed his bag that had his caps in it. "How much for all of this?" he genuinely asked as he fumbled around trying to get an exact estimate. He had quite the bit of caps on him. Kinda annoyed him at times because he could hear the clinking of the metal. He reduced this by putting a bunch of soft cloths in between to reduce noise.

She raised a hand and made a "stop" gesture with her hand. "Don't worry about it Atlas. You and Ruby have given us the opportunity to launch more recon missions so that we can get more goods. Consider it a personal favor and thank you from me. Make sure you and Ruby come visit me again. I have many other things I want to examine. Oh! If anything else… weird happens, make sure you come to me first. I don't want anyone else to get credit for these amazing discoveries."

He chuckled and scratched his head nervously as he just settled in putting his stuff back into his bag. "Well, I thank you as well then. I appreciate it. If anything out of the ordinary happens I'll make sure to come let you know. You would be the first, besides Ruby, can't really get anything past her. Thank you for everything Alicia! I'll see you again but not too soon now, you hear?" He waved her off as he exited the building. She had a heartwarming smile plastered on her face before she buried herself right back into her notes and research.

He stretched out as he let the evening sun bask down onto his face. He let the warmth wrap all around him like a warm blanket. He began to look around and realized that not only was Ruby not around, but he forgot if he even asked her where she was or not. He decided to just head over to side of town that had a well, as he was rather parched from the journey they had today. Walking onward all he could ponder on was what in the world is up with his body. How did it reject a bullet by either dissolving it or pushing it out? He was human, there was almost no doubt about it. Just what else could he be though… surely he doesn't have any secret powers like a comic book hero.

"Nah, that would be outrageous. GRRR I need to stop thinking about it. It's all okay now, just get over it. I gotta find Ruby, but I'm so damn thirsty." He made his way to the big well pump and sure enough he spotted a big lizard sitting down on her haunches with a bucket in her hands.

"Speak of the devil" Atlas said to himself with a sarcastic sounding tone. In reality however, he was very glad to see her with all those pearly white bandages covering up those wounds from the battle. He hated that her body scarred, as it shows just the kind of hell she has been through, and sure enough this recent battle was probably gonna be inscribed onto her body.

He rushed over to her side and she had failed to notice him and only picked up on his scent when he got close. She stopped drinking from the bucket and wiped her face. "Boy am I glad to see you Ruby. Are you alright? Nobody gave you any problems right? Did the doc take good care of you?" She sat the bucket down and giggled at the man, asking too many questions.

"Calm down little one, I am fine. I should be asking you the same thing. Did everything turn out okay for you? If something bad happened I need you to tell me…" Atlas walked over to her and pat her head as she leaned down to him. Good thing she was a shorter deathclaw and that he was a taller human. The perfect tag team I tell ya.

"Oh come on, there is nothing to worry about Ruby. There is one thing that I have to tell you about but I'll save that for when we go to bed. We still have some hours left to relax before it even gets dark. I'm just glad you are alright and getting yourself a drink. I assume you ate as well? Or did I need to go get you something. It won't take long."

She poked him in the side gently with her sharp claw. He jumped a bit and hissed from it surprising him a bit. "No no dearest it's fine. Alicia was kind enough to send a man named Mr. Haines to bring me some Brahmin meat he had. It sure was tasty, and quite filling. It was real nice of them to allow me to do all this. They tell me it was something to do with our cleansing of the local area. It made me so happy Atlas. Really." She got back up onto her feet and looked around at the city as well as up into the sky.

"Well you did mention that you just want to help people. It's your ultimate goal to help out from New California to New Vegas, D.C. to boston, and hell, we could visit some places in Virginia too. It is one hell of a journey. I just hope I can be around for the whole thing. You can practically live forever with all the things you were exposed to. Me, well… I'm just a plain old human. I could make it to sixty but at that point I would be a burden wouldn't I?" He looked up at the same sky she peered at. She felt hurt to hear such a thing. Her gemstone eyes darted right onto his, which were still peering up at the sky.

"Why would you think that way? You are never a burden to me Atlas. Not now and not until the end of time." Atlas couldn't help but chuckle. It flattered him on how much she cared but he just doesn't think that would hold true, despite the massive trust and bond the two share. "You say that now, but just wait. I could end up being unbearable someone down the line and you'll have to get rid of me. I hope that day never comes, but all I wish to do with my existence is to make sure your dream comes true. I'll do everything I can to fulfill it. I can guarantee you that." He then looked into her eyes with his emerald eyes shining away.

She didn't even know what to say, she was so angry that he would make himself out to be unbearable but at the same time, she felt so happy that he would help her with his entire being. One thing she did have to take in was the fact that in a sense, he was right. She can live for a very long time, and he might not even make it to sixty years old due to how the world is and how humans are. He hasn't evolved to live in such conditions, he just simply adapted to it in his own manner.

"Don't let it get to you girl. Right now it's not that big of a deal, because whether you like it or not, you are stuck with me. We will tackle this problem when it comes." He patted her back just to reassure her before he went behind her to the well. He grabbed another bucket that was laying off to the side and pumped out some fresh water into it.

Ruby continued to look up as her mind wandered. She was so out of it that she had failed to notice that Atlas was going to get some water. "Ahhhh this is refreshing. I'll be damned if this isn't the coolest and most refreshing water we have had in a long time. Those purified waters have that can taste to them. Some got the plastic bottle type to it but THIS… this is great. I never thought i would appreciate the taste of water until a damn apocalypse hit," he said very cheeringly. For once he tried to stay in a good mood, since a whole lot of bad stuff had happened that day.

He finished up his drink and went over to Ruby, tapping her side. "Oi, you okay girl? You aren't still thinking about all those things are you?" She seemed to snap out of it just enough to peer back down at Atlas. "Sorry little one, it's just been a rather eventful day. The sun is coming down, and all I can think about is all the negative things that happened today. I can't shake the feeling of almost losing you. On top of that, you and Alicia have discovered something and refuse to tell me at this instant so I can only assume it's bad. I just need to get over it, but I'm finding that to be harder than just saying so. You will have to forgive me. I am gonna go and take a stroll. I need to clear my head." She turned away and set off towards the market area, not even allowing Atlas to respond in the slightest. All he did was stick his hand out to reach for her, but she was already too far away. He wanted to say something, but the words couldn't leave his mouth. He never really felt this before, but the only way he could explain it was a feeling of massive despair, helplessness, and guilt over something he had no idea would happen. He wanted to help her so bad, but his body refused. This was a little foreign to him.

He decided to just walk over to the bleachers, since they had a nice view of the whole place. He walked up the steps to get a seat in the top row. Once he found a reasonable seat, he swung his rifle off and put it in the seat next to him. Leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, he covered his face into his clasped hands. He had no idea why he couldn't say anything or help her out, but he hopes that she can at least feel better after having some alone time. "It really has been an eventful day…"

Meanwhile, Ruby had climbed up and out of Diamond city, and was now currently on top of a very large building that could actually look into diamond. She tried to calm down and observed the market area with her watchful eye, and from her position it was rather hard to spot her. She also looked around at all the outskirts of Diamond city, and she noticed just how much safer it was becoming for the residents and the guards. She could see the vast amount of patrols and recon teams wandering on the outskirts, and she knew that this opened up new opportunities for everyone.

Something caught her eye as she continued to look around, struggling to clear her head. Inside diamond, at the very back where the giant bleachers begin to branch upward, she saw a man who was leaning forward with his face hidden into his hands. Her excellent eyesight saw the armor he wore, and weapon next to him, and she knew just who it was. The guilt was starting to rise greatly…

"I shouldn't have shot that guy… why did I think that was a smart idea? We were completely surrounded and I thought it would be good to clip one of their guys right there and then? What if they decided to hurt her instead? What then? Why can't I just keep a level head when I'm in these dumb situations… FUCK!" he screamed out as he punched the seat in front of him. His shout was heard all around as it was quite loud, but no one dared to check in on it because there was no screams of pain, no cries for help. Simply an angered and troubled man.

"Get a fucking grip man, I am better than this. I NEED to be better than this. I can't risk anything stupid happening again. I never meant to scare her so bad to the point where she barely wants to be around me now… all because of my own dumb decision. Fuck man… I hope I can make it up to her." He just leaned back in his chair with a sigh, gazing up as the stars began to come out.

She could hear his shout and knew that she was probably the cause of this. She wanted so badly to just go down there and comfort him, apologizing for what she did. At the same time, she feels that they both need to clear their heads. Staying up on the building, she curled up and laid down in order to try and fall asleep. She gave one last final glance at Atlas, with her Ruby eyes sparkling away. "Goodnight Atlas… sleep well little one. I do hope you will forgive me"

It didn't take long for Diamond to calm down, some lights were starting to go off and Ruby found herself fast asleep rather early on compared to most. Atlas however, would be staying up all night, wondering if she is okay. Contemplating what he should do because of his actions. His mind was scrambled. He almost died, his "old friend" from before the bombs is alive and wants to recruit him, he got Ruby hurt, his body is acting weird. "So crazy… everything is just..so crazy..." He stayed this way for hours until his fated exhaustion took its toll, and knocked him unconscious. What a hell of a day…

Hey all, I am once again very sorry for not updating in so long. I have just been so busy with other projects, like "The Fighting Club" by Jun and Takeshi, as well as helping out a friend named ForeverScarred with his story called "You Saved Me". With all of that as well as life stuff I guess I got side tracked. I apologize greatly, and hope you enjoy this recent addition. Love all the support, and Love you all.

-RedRonin