Artyom found himself in another dream-like state, but he recognized the familiar signs of the tunnels. He felt free and no longer helpless like the previous encounters; however, he was not alone. When he brought his upper body off the ground, the young man saw a woman in a black-red dress sitting on the ground crying with her back faced against him. Whoever this stranger was, she needed someone to comfort her.

Before he had any thoughts of getting off the ground, there were the sounds of footsteps coming from behind his back. A tall shadow fell over him before the person walked beside him and squatted beside him. For some odd reason, Artyom felt familiar around this man. When the stranger turned his head around to see him, the young man was shocked to find out who he was.

The man who encouraged him to leave his station was squatting before him with a smile. "Hello, Artyom." He began. "How have you've been?"

The stalker sat up with awe. "Hunter, what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to check up on you." The Ranger replied as he took off his helmet, revealing his short brown hair. "How is everything going?"

"I-I failed," Artyom replied, looking down on the ground. "I was supposed to get your message to Polis, but I could never get through."

A chuckle escaped from the older man. "I know you've tried."

"How? Back home, my station is still under attack."

He placed his hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, they're safe. Sukhoi and the others are doing well. I'm proud of you."

"For what? I let you down."

"Don't be so hard on yourself. There was nothing you could have done." Hunter sat down beside him. "I know you were reluctant to leave, especially with him trying to coddle you. I don't blame him."

"Why are you here?" Artyom wondered.

"Have you ever wondered who gave you those weapons?"

He was filled with surprise. "You were the one who gave them. Where can I find you?"

Hunter's smile disappeared. "I'm sorry, but you can't. The only reason you're seeing me here is that I've been given permission and enough time to help you."

Fear filled the young man. "You're dead."

"Yes." Then he handed his helmet over to him before slipping his body armor off his uniform. "Here, you'll need it more than me."

"Why are you doing this?"

Hunter paused for a moment as honest eyes looked into Artyom's soul. "In the future, you will be given a great task that might be beyond your capabilities." He answered. "I want you to be prepared when it does come."

"What would that be?" Artyom wondered, curious why his dead friend was doing this for him.

"I don't know, but it's dangerous." He replied. "I have to leave you now."

He looked up at his hero as they both stood up to confront each other with the truth. "Hunter, please…"

Then he was met with a hug as he held him close. "You know I can't stay."

"Will we meet again?"

The Ranger released his hold on him and placed a tight grip on his shoulder. "I do not know, but before I leave you must remember this. Everything depends on you and you alone. Make your mother proud." As the young man remained speechless, Hunter turned his back on him and walked towards the crying woman ahead of him. "My dear, allow me to take you away from this dreary place."

On the other side of the tunnel, there was a bright light waiting for Hunter and the strange woman. They walked towards it as Artyom tried to reach out for it. "Hunter…" He tried to take a step forward, but he never had a chance.

When the stalker woke up, he looked around to find himself back where he was knocked out. He sat up but found the familiar equipment that Hunter used. His helmet, night vision goggles, and even the famous Ranger armor they were renowned to have. This was Hunter's last gift for him before he left to where that strange light led to. Knowing that nobody was going to recognize this armor, Artyom took the opportunity to change out of the Sierra Madre Security armor for the Polis Ranger armor. Unlike the former, the latter felt lighter and had more pockets for his ammunition. After he finished changing into Hunter's armor, the stalker turned his attention towards his party.

Pavel, Veronica, Angelique, and Cass were present and lying on the ground, but there was something wrong. Where were the others? The ghoul, the silent woman, and the super mutant were present when he walked into the Sierra Madre, but now they were gone. "What happened to them?" Artyom wondered to himself.

Angelique's Pip-Boy sparked to life when he heard Father Elijah's voice. "Hello. Is anybody awake?" He called out. "Answer me, damn it!" The old man swore to himself. "I should have had the super mutant reject put collars on them just in case."

Since the woman wearing the device was knocked out, he walked over to her arm and spoke. "Don't worry, the others are okay," Artyom replied. "Something knocked us out."

"Good. Then I think you should be in awe where you are. The power is fluctuating, then that means you're inside. Welcome to the Sierra Madre, in all its glory."

"Do you know what happened to the others?"

"Who? Those people you consider friends?" Elijah replied. "The casino might have moved them." He added.

"How? Are there any people living here?"

"No, of course not." The old man said in disbelief. "The security must have discovered foreign traces - radiation to be precise."

"I'll wake the others."

"Very good, because I believe I'll need to explain this to all of you."

Artyom was quick, to begin with, Angelique as he shook her awake. "Get up, do you hear?" He began. "Angelique, wake up."

A slight moan from the woman reacted at his response. As she opened her eyes, the courier looked up at him. "What happened to me?"

"You were knocked out."

She looked at the others but appeared confused at their number. "Where is everyone else?"

"I don't know, but help me wake Pavel and Cass up." He replied. "Father Elijah isn't finished with us."

Without a word, the young man made his way over to the caravanner and nudged her shoulders with his hand. Awakened from her slumber, the woman rubbed her forehead before her gaze was set upon him. "Artyom, is that you?" She wondered. "You look different and where did you get the armor?"

That was very difficult to explain. "I'll tell you in private, but we need to get going." He paused for a moment. "We're still needed."

She began by waking up the Brotherhood Scribe. "Ugh, I wish there would be a warning next time."

The last to return to the world of reality was the communist, who was disappointed with the interruption. "Damn it!" Pavel swore to himself. "I was having a wonderful dream at a brothel in the Theatre. Now I won't have a chance at that."

"Pavel, you can get laid after we get out of the Sierra Madre," Angelique commented. "Welcome back to the land of the living."

Elijah's voice returned and grabbed their attention. "Good, all of you are awake. If we're going to open the vault, all of you must try and bring the casino out of its slumber. This needs to happen, some areas of the Sierra Madre are impossible to access without the building coming to life."

"What does he mean by that?" Pavel asked.

"Explore the casino, you should find it. That is all."

Cass breathed out a sigh at their situation. "Great, we're going to get ourselves killed in this mess." Then she took a step forward - away from the door, but froze at the mere beep that came from her bomb collar. As she took a step back, she quietly grumbled to herself. "There are some speakers around, does anybody want to start destroying them?"

Angelique took the lead and began to organize the group. "It must be the security, the very same that knocked us out." She theorized. "Cass stay with me. I'm going to check out the terminal behind the desk and check it out. Maybe we might have something to help. Artyom, Pavel, Veronica, check out the casino and find the power from there."

"Destroy the speakers when we come across them?" Artyom wondered.

"Of course."

"Why am I joining them? I could probably hack that terminal faster than you could say brahmin." The scribe wondered.

"No." The courier replied. "These guys don't have a goddamn clue how to use a terminal, much less hacking them. They'll need your expertise."

Veronica crossed her arms. "Looks like I'm picking up the slack."

When the party began to split in two, Pavel looked around and noticed a ghostly figure standing atop of the stairs, staring at him. The communist expressed his discomfort when it turned away and left them. "Damn, that's creepy as fuck." Then he turned his attention towards the section of the casino before him. "Looks like the power should be on the other side of those doors." He said as he leads the way with Artyom and Veronica after him.

When they arrived at the front of the doors, he stopped Artyom and Veronica from stepping through the doors into the casino. "Pavel, what's wrong?"

He glanced over his shoulder, getting a good look at the stalker. "Why do you look like a Polis Ranger?"

The blood on the young man's face froze. He knew he had to answer one way or another. "I found it."

"Found it?" Pavel wasn't convinced. "You don't find armor like that lying around. Where did you get it?"

Despite his questions, the scribe spoke. "Look, I hate to interrupt your questionnaire and all that jazz, but Cass and Angelique want their collars to be off."

Silence came before the communist reached his hand out and unlocked the door. "Ladna, opening up." After the soldier slipped through the doors, he raised his silenced sub-machine gun and turned on his head light. "It's dark in here."

Artyom noted the decorative section of the building with fancy rugs, elaborate pillar designs, and the golden lining shown on the walls. Too bad the bombs fell before people could actually admire such artwork.

Out from the corner of his eye, the stalker noticed movement ahead of Pavel, but he recognized that form before. A glowing blue man strode past the pillars, not recognizing their arrival. However, Pavel was quick to aim his gun at him. "I may be a communist and shouldn't believe in superstition, but is that a fucking ghost?"

The young man shook his head. "No, it's the casino's security. Avoid their line of sight, but try to find some blue device. It shouldn't be hard to find. If they're around then it's close."

Both Russians took safety behind the pillars as they watched the blue hologram, resembling an armored man, walking away. Yet, the lack of presence of the third member of the group was not hiding amongst them. "Veronica where are you?" Pavel asked in a low voice.

"Why are we whispering?" The girl pondered.

"I don't know, do they have any hearing?"

"They're holograms," Veronica answered. "They're only limited by line of sight. I just changed its patrol pattern so one of you guys start finding those device things if you can."

"Let's go Artyom!" He yelled out, sprinting out from the safety of the pillar and running towards the area where the hologram used to be.

Artyom chased after him, only to find him going up the staircase to his left. However, the hologram was making its way back. He quickly ran up the stairs, only to find the communist looking down below with his sub-machine gun pointing at a small blue device.

"Is that the thing you're talking about?" He asked.

The stalker made his way over to the edge of the railing, only to find the hologram device hidden away above the pillars, but close enough to be reached. "Yeah. Shoot it, they'll usually disappear afterward."

Pavel immediately popped the device with a single shot before walking away from him. "Artyom, I'm going to secure the rooms on this level. You try and lurk above those things if there are any more."

"Understood, I'll try."

"No worries, if you fall you'll land on some broken machine."

The Red made his way over the bar as he continued onward. However, Veronica called after them. "Hey guys, is it safe to move forward?"

Before he could respond, Artyom noticed another blue security impersonation of a man walk out from a far corner on the right. It was a slow walk, but it was a walk nonetheless. One of the projections keeping it alive must be from there. "No, not yet." He answered.

"There should be another one on your end. I'm changing their patrol patterns right now." The scribe stated.

After she finished talking, the hologram walked further away from its original arrival. Good, maybe the projector was around the corner. Artyom climbed over the railing and slowly crept forward with his hands out. With each step, he balanced his weight with his hands trying to counterbalance one another.

By the time he reached the other side, the hologram was now patrolling a section of ground in front of a counter protected by steel bars. It hadn't noticed him struggling to balance himself, but that was preferable than getting shot. He looked to his right and saw the blue projector laying on the ground waiting for someone like him to destroy it. Artyom raised his silenced weapon and tapped the trigger. With one shot, the projector shattered apart.

Past the broken projector, the young man noted the door waiting for him. What was inside?

Dropping down from the top of the pillars, Artyom made his way over to the door if there was anything more to protect. When he turned the knob, it was a surprise to find the entire room was a simple closet. His full attention noticed the box attached to the wall on his right. A worn out electrical symbol was obvious even for a fool. He grabbed the lever beside the machine and slammed it down, only to feel the entire building come to life.

Lights came to life, more holograms appeared, but not in the form of security guards. Off in the distance, Artyom heard Pavel's voice shouting in the distance. "Opa, we're live. I was getting tired of getting shot by those things."

When he turned his head out of the closet, he was surprised. There was the same hologram of a woman from before. She was stood there, staring at him for the longest time. However, it flickered for a moment, blinking in and out of existence. The most bizarre moment that ever occurred was that it stopped flickering, but the appearance was different. Instead, of a woman, it was that of a man.

Artyom froze, horrified by what he saw. Hunter's form was now immortalized in hologram form as it saluted its hands towards him. The young man didn't know what to do about this, but the hologram flickered once more and returned back into that of the woman. Soon she walked around the corner, leaving the young man wondering if there was some kind of rational explanation. However, the thoughts about the Sierra Madre being truly haunted made him worry and it churned its stomach.

Father Elijah's voice spoke through the building's speakers. "Good, the systems are back and running online. With security down, it now has the service holograms running. Perhaps you may find something you might like. Once you're done exploring, meet up with the others. You will have to contend with your… friends."

Author's Note: I'm going to try to split off the unnecessary content into new entries just so they don't congest this fic. It might have been a reason why my reviewer responses dropped so quickly.