Author's Notes: Frick, I spoil you guys sooooo much! D Jeeze Louise... Two new chapters in one week :T YOU BETTER BE GRATEFUL! -fist shake-

All that aside, this chapter is pretty much the beginning of the quest "Wasteland Survival Guide" that you can get from Moira!

Aimee needs caps for her little journey to Three Dog- therefore she's going on stupid suicide missions for the sake of research! YAY!

I'm sure Charon agrees that it's a little strange, as well... lol.

So without further ado, here is Chapter 14! Don't forget to leave a review, or Charon getting pounced on by Raider's will have all been for not D:!

Happy reading, happy writing!

~Konfessionist out!~

Aimee grumbled childishly to herself as she poked through the pockets of a dead raider, not finding much at all. There wasn't anything she could do with an empty Jet inhaler, 5mm ammo, and a frayed piece of surgical tubing.

Yup. The Super Duper Mart was really looking up…

In order to make the trip to Galaxy News Radio, she'd need better equipment- and she wasn't exactly drowning in shiny caps. She spent them stocking up on meds she needed, but she was paranoid if she didn't have a reliable stash.

Aimee needed better armor.

Aimee needed more Stimpaks.

Aimee needed to upgrade her arsenal, and get ammo for the guns she already had.

She wished Samuel could run off of random junk she found like a Rock-It Launcher could, because she was out of shells. Elaine did the job just fine but the poor 10mm SMG was screaming bloody murder for a tune up, and her jamming became a lot more frequent and convenient for the hostiles Aimee was faced with.

Of course, she could have asked Charon for shells- but he was better with a combat shotgun then she was, and that was the only gun he liked using.

"Here," Charon spoke quietly in the darkness as he tossed her a bottle of Buffout, a few caps, and a syringe or two of Med-X. "Found all this in the boy's bathroom."

"Great!" She exclaimed as she picked through it, finally picking up the Buffout. "What should I do with this?" And looked up at him.

"What do you mean, mistress?"

"I don't like using Buffout!"

"Then sell it for caps." He replied obviously with a shake of his head, combat shotgun on his shoulder and his eyes glimmered in the low light of the grocery store.

"I think I saw the pharmacy around the corner, behind the counter." Aimee spoke as she began stuffing their loot into her pack. "We just need to get that medicine for Moira and we can get the hell out of here!"

"What is the point of this Wasteland Survival Guide, anyways?" Charon asked in a low tone, looking out from the bathroom hallway to make sure the grocery store floor was absent of movement.

"I dunno," She shrugged and got up from the floor. "Moira said it would help people! For the first chapter we have to-" Her arm rose up so she could fiddle with her Pip-Boy. "Scavenge the Super Duper Mart for medical supplies and food, go to Minefield's playground and get a land mine, and obtain a high level of radiation poisoning."

He cocked his brow. What the hell kind of Wasteland "Survival" Guide is this, anyways?

Aimee walked past him with her pack slung over her shoulder and Elaine in her hand at her side.

This damn thing is gonna get the kid killed.

But that was what he was for.

So he followed her, watching as she leapt over the counter and he simply slid over to land onto his feet and watch her crouch in front of the pharmacy door, searching through her pockets.

"Pharmacy key- to the rescue! " She hummed to herself as the door opened a crack and she got up, making her way in. "Uh, Char-bear? I think you should look at this!" She called from inside.

With a sigh and a few private grumbles, he shuffled in and stopped next to her, looking to the chamber an idle Protectron rested in. A terminal was on the counter next to it, along with several other things.

"Oh yeah! I call mini nuke!" Aimee squealed excitedly as she ran over to the small bomb on the counter, picking it up to almost drop it and catch it at the last possible second.

Charon grabbed it from her, putting it into his own bag.

"Awww-" She whined, jutting out her bottom lip.

"I don't feel safe when there is a mini nuke in your possession." He replied bluntly and looked back to the Protectron.

I've got a bad feeling about this…

"Grab anything useful or tradable, lunch boxes and cherry bombs especially." Aimee cut his instincts as she shoved several Stimpaks, Jet inhalers, and some Med-X into her pack from the First Aid box tacked to the wall. "I'll poke around that terminal and see if I can get the bot up and working."

Charon nodded and began rampaging through the room, looking through metal box after metal box for things to Aimee's description but didn't find much. In the sea of empty whiskey bottles, he found a lead pipe, scrap metal, and Rad-Away on the shelves. He also found several boxes of 10mm ammo.

"I think I almost got it!" Aimee replied from her position in front of the terminal, her nimble fingers clacking away at the heavy keys and she gave a heavy sigh. "No, not yet… Damnit…"

He continued his search to the back of the pharmacy and found several bottles of Nuka-Cola, along with Nuka-Cola Quantum.

Quantum reminded him of cotton candy; pure sugar in a form that would attract the crowd.

Of course, kids liked shiny things, right?

"What's that!" Aimee shrieked as she grabbed a bottle from him, examining the glowing blue liquid and he heaved a short sigh.

Kids weren't the only ones who liked shiny things…

"Loading personality… Protocol: 2396-BX- Pharmacy Helper."

The two looked up to see the Protectron stumbling out of its repair chamber, slowly grinding its torso this way and that to observe its surroundings.

"That's right. Aimee's got the magic touch!" She bragged, wiggling her fingers at Charon and he gave a small snort. "If only they could get that stick out of your ass…"

"The stick out of my ass?" He echoed as the Protectron stumbled towards them, and he immediately grabbed for his shotgun.

"Char-bear, it's a Protectron. Relax, for once! Jeeze Louise…" Aimee mumbled, running her fingers through her hair.

"I don't have a good feeling, mistress." He explained, refusing to lower his weapon.

"You always feel that way!" She replied in an irritated tone.

"It's because I am cautious."

"And I'm not?"

"You sometimes grow impatient and run head-first into the heat of danger."

"Do not!"

"Mistress, you do indeed."

"Daily agenda loading: ERROR!"

"Oh, shut up you walking rust bucket!" Aimee cried, kicking it in the leg.

"Identified: Angry shopper." It turned to look at her.

"Er- what?" She arched an eyebrow, looking to Charon. The robot did so as well.

"Security breach, detected. Identified: Hostile threat. Use of deadly force will begin- now."

With a short sigh of annoyance, he cocked his shotgun and aimed to shoot when Aimee jumped in the way. He immediately lowered his weapon.

"Mistress?"

She flashed a slim key card to the robot.

"Employee I.D. recognized: Lawrence Browning- Pharmacist. Have a nice day, Mr. Browning."

Aimee grinned, turning to look back at him. "I found it on top of the terminal. Thought it would be useful if we woke up the Protectron." She explained, looking back to the robot that slowly began to stumble to the door.

"We're back! Could somebody- wait… Hold on a second! Somethin' ain't right here! Valentine, Frag, Charlie- scout."

"What was that?" Aimee asked with a cautious expression, looking to Charon with her brow furrowed.

"The intercom. More raiders," He quickly went to the door and shut it, pressing his back to it.

I knew this group was too small- too easy to take down… This must be the other half of the group…

"Charon, what are we going to do?" She whispered, going towards him. "Samuel's drier then the Wasteland, Elaine could crap out any minute and I don't have any other weapons!"

"Here." He handed her the boxes of ammo he found. "For Elaine," He was used to referring to her weapons by their names- she'd throw a hissy fit if he didn't. "And here." Then handed her the lead pipe he found.

"Char-bear, you're awesome!" Aimee exclaimed gratefully, examining the pipe. "I think I'll call it… Larry. No! It doesn't look like a Larry…"

"Mistress, I apologize, but now isn't the time to be picking out a name for your new weapon." He reminded her in a low tone.

"Right- sorry! You can help me pick one out later!" She smiled.

"Uh- sure." Coming down to a crouch, Aimee followed suit and he quietly opened the door and slowly walked out, eyes scanning around to make sure no one caught their presence. He made his way to the robot waiting by the counter and peered up over, quickly ducking when a woman with bright green spikes for hair walked by.

"How many do you think there are?" She asked, loading up Elaine with ammo.

The man on the intercom is one- and he mentioned three others.

"Four, maybe more." He replied plainly and looked up to the robot.

"Do you think we can use it as a distraction?"

Charon looked back to her, raising a brow. "Use what, mistress?"

"The robot, of course!" Aimee smiled, making her way to it and tapped it on the leg. "Uhm, excuse me?"

"What do you require, miss?"

"Do you see that woman with the green hair?" She pointed at her slightly over the counter. "I saw her stealing boxes of food. Her friends were doing the same!"

"Identified: Shoplifter. Necessary force will now be issued." And turning away from Aimee, walked from the counter to a nearby entryway and walked out to the main floor of the store.

The two kept their backs to the counter, Aimee winking smugly to Charon as the noises of a small battle were heard from the other side. Sounds of yelling and blazing guns infiltrated the otherwise silent air.

"What now?" He asked.

"We try and sneak out. If worse comes to worse, we'll shoot a few bastards." She grinned, when a loud explosion caused her to crane her neck and look over the counter, a smoking leg from the Protectron landed in her lap and caused her to shriek out with surprise.

"What was that?" A man called, and footsteps could be heard coming their way.

Aimee immediately clamped her hand over her mouth, using the other to shove the heavy robotic appendage off her.

It took the raider all about two seconds to find their hiding spot, switchblade in hand and a bloodthirsty grin on his face.

"This day just keeps getting better and better!" He cackled, yanking his goggles down over his eyes and ran at them with his blade.

Charon's leg came sweeping out, knocking the raider to his back and he stomped a boot down on his scrawny neck, shotgun pressed to his temple.

"You just brought a knife to a gun fight." He stated with a narrow-eyed gaze, and let his gun do the rest.

Aimee crawled over and pushed Charon's foot away, emptying pockets and taking anything useful. He swiftly kicked the switchblade to her, and she picked it up to flick it open.

"Poor condition, but salvageable. I can get parts from Moira." She responded as she put it away. "So that's one- how many more do we need to take care of?"

Charon glanced around the large store at the bent cans and milk bottles cluttering the floor, the item shelves in disarray, planks linking bridges between them… But there was no one walking around.

"There's no one there…" Aimee stated as she slowly stood up, putting her pack on her back. "Do you think they ran away?"

Raiders ran away when they started a fight they knew they couldn't finish. But no- the air was too tense… They were here alright. Just hiding.

"No. They didn't." Charon responded quietly as he slid across the counter with his shotgun scouting the area. He motioned to Aimee to follow him.

"It's go time!" A woman shrieked from above, and the ghoul looked up just in time to see two figures jump onto him from one of the shelves, pinning him down to the floor as if he were an animal. He helplessly watched as his shotgun slid away from his reach.

Shit! He seethed, pushing one off to have a third one run over and help keep him subdued. Shit… Wait- where's Aimee?

The familiar click of his shotgun being cocked caused the three raiders to freeze, turning their faces up to look at her. Charon looked up as well to see a menacing look turning a pair of steely grey eyes hard and shiny in the dim light, thin brows created creases of anger on a small forehead and the edges of full lips were turned down into a frown.

It was Aimee- and she was holding his combat shotgun.

"Get off my Char-bear. Now." She demanded in a harsh voice, the heavy kickback of the shotgun not even making her flinch or stumble back as she pressed down on the trigger.

The spray of the shell imbedded itself into the side of the female raider with the green hair sitting on Charon's back, causing her to slam into the nearby shelves and crumple to the floor.

Aimee cocked the weapon again as Charon brought his leg up and stomped down onto the face of the raider holding his legs, breaking his nose and the man stumbled back, coming to his hands and knees on the floor to cradle his bloody nose in his hand. Another kick to the side sent him rolling across the floor.

Bumping the third raider away with her shoulder, Aimee pressed the shotgun to his chest and just as her finger collided down onto the trigger, he swat the weapon away, and the shells blew through the air with a loud noise.

"Charon!" She cried as the raider punched her in the gut and she dropped the shotgun. Another fist came flying into her face, sending her into a dizzying fall to the ground.

Charon's dry lips pressed together as he grabbed for the raider and shoved him to the shelf, pinning him there by his shoulder and doled out his own punch. His exposed knuckles collided with the raider's jaw, and blood splattered across the shelves with the whip of the man's head upon impact. But he punched again, and again, until the raider collapsed against the shelving from the assault and Charon grabbed for a fistful of the man's black mohawk, knee coming up to his face to do more damage.

Once he was finished, he turned back to see Aimee already up and looking through the pockets of the raiders they took down previously.

"Are you alright mistress?"

She looked up at him, the side of her porcelain face laced with a dark red impression from the force of the punch. If it didn't hurt now- it certainly would later.

"I'm fine," She replied with a small smile, looking back to the body she was looting when it suddenly moved with a groan. "GAH! He's still alive!" And switchblade flicked out, she stabbed it into the raider's neck, letting the bloody gurgling cease before she continued with her searching.