A/N: Almost to thirty chapters! *Dies of excite!*

The ramshackle park was dead ahead, even more dilapidated by the wear and tear of time. Through his binoculars Dan watched a tall, stick-skinny woman with bright purple dual Mohawks tighten a leather belt around her bicep. She picked a syringe of what Dan assumed was Psycho from the floor of the unsightly conglomeration of wood and haphazard nails she called a home and began inserting the dirty needle slowly into her skin. She pushed the plunger and Dan watched, sickened, as her eyes rolled back in her head, only the whites showing as she rode the waves of her high.

"I can't tell whether to kill her now or wait for AIDs to do the job for us. Disgusting." Dan said, crinkling his nose in disgust.

"So just one woman and a pack of dogs. Seems too good to be true." Veronica stated as she folded her arms and tilted her head in thought.

"Yeah, I do agree it sounds too easy." Dan acknowledged.

"You have eyes on the situation though?" Kazdin asked from the ground.

The camp rested only a few feet away from a decent sized rock formation upon which knelt Dan and Veronica. If the raider junkie was aware of the rising column of smoke emanating from the center of camp, she didn't show it. Violet seemed too busy shooting herself up into a stupor to care about an encampment of ragtag soldiers.

"Yes, one raider and a pack of dogs. Is it worth the risk? I think there could be more beyond that trailer park." Dan said before adding, "We don't have a visual beyond that park and the station beside it. For some reason there are no visible buildings beyond that. There was one big building that kind of shimmered into view from out of nowhere, but it disappeared after a few seconds."

"Don't worry you'll get used to it. Random objects appear and disappear around here constantly." Kazdin said with a shrug.

"Frankly," Dan muttered, "I'm more annoyed with the fact that I can see absolutely nothing further than fifty feet away, even through these binocs. No buildings, trees, rock faces…" He took his eyes away from the field glasses he held.

"Also, I have noticed several temporal rips in the universe," Veronica chimed in, "I swear that one day I saw a huge boulder that had a humungous hole in it through which I could see into the grey ends of the space/time continuum."

"That's not the worst I've seen." Boone interjected from his place near Kazdin.

He had his combat knife unsheathed, peeling a mutfruit. He offered a piece to Kaz who politely declined.

"What's worse than a temporal anomaly that lets you see through a boulder?" Veronica asked.

"I was on guard duty in Novac one day when I saw a raider trying to rush the town. Naturally I shot him. The bullet hit between the eyes and his head was destroyed, completely turned to mush as he hit the ground. But then… to my horror…" Boone choked up against the haunting memory.

"It's alright. It's alright man! You don't have to do this to yourself!" Veronica stated tensely.

"No!" Boone almost shouted dramatically, "I need to say this! To get it off my chest!"

Boone paused once more before collecting himself enough to continue.

"A few seconds after I took his head off, he stood up! He brushed himself off and said 'whew, I thought I was dead for sure.' Guys… his head, his brains… even his eyeballs were frozen in time. Even his blood was floating in midair where his head once was. I… I had never seen anything so horrific… so grotesque as that."

Dan and Veronica could say nothing. There were no words. Kaz wrapped her arms around Boone who shook mournfully at the vile images his mind had resurfaced.

"Take Eagle with you," Kaz instructed, "I'll let her know and she will meet you here. You can never be sure who else will be on our way. We will pack up camp and leave when you three return."

"Okay Kaz. We won't be long." Veronica promised.

Eagle approached Dan and Veronica shyly a few minutes later. She offered a subtle wave as a greeting. She was again fully clothed in her stealth armor, including her black helmet with its dark grey visor.

"Hello Eagle. It's nice to finally be working with you." Veronica greeted cheerfully.

The helmeted woman cocked her head for a moment before stretching a hand toward Veronica, who shook it warmly. She made the same gesture to Dan who also shook her hand, albeit more tentatively than Veronica had.

"Eagle likes to help. I will snipe purple-haired lady, you and Danny should kill her dogs. I will watch other buildings too to see any bad people if they come to us."

Eagle handed something small, heavy and boxy to Veronica and Dan. Both examined the mystery box before giving up and looking to Eagle for instruction.

"Push red button." Eagle explained patiently.

They did so and it came to life with the sound of static.

"Change little dial to three." Eagle instructed.

The static stopped when they did so.

"Now you clip to your belt and put the ear bud in your ear." Eagle explained.

They performed the command without trouble. Eagle slipped a tiny microphone with a black metal clip into the duo's hands. Upon their looks of curiosity Eagle explained.

"Take clip and push it in so it opens…" Eagle demonstrated with Dan's model, "then place behind your back molar and clip in place."

The movements were unpracticed and rather clunky, but before long both Dan and Veronica had the molar microphones clipped to their teeth correctly.

"Now," Eagle spoke in a nigh-imperceptible whisper, "you can hear me clear with no problems?"

"This is amazing. I can hear you in conversational tones although you are whispering." Dan said excitedly. Eagle giggled.

"Yes. With the microphones they work with vibrations, not noise. So you can hear even if Eagle talk quiet."

"So you can hear me now?" Dan said in the smallest, quietest whisper he could manage.

"Yep, and I know you can't see my lips because of my helmet but I'm not even moving them. I am not talking, I am saying in a voice no person can hear." Eagle explained proudly.

"That's incredible! I couldn't speak without moving my lips." Veronica whispered.

"Eagle has practiced every day for years and years to get good at talking with no talking." Eagle again whispered without speaking.

"The microphones aren't very comfortable." Dan said. Eagle giggled again.

"You get used to it. Danny no worry. Won't be wearing it for a long time." Eagle assured him.

"Now," Eagle continued her explanations even as she wiggled a finger at them and began walking in the direction of the RV park, "When I use stealth boy III, you not see me. I become see-through and you can't tell where I am. It is important we talk all the time with microphones so we know where everyone is. But do not speak up. Whispers only, as quiet as you can. Okay?"

"Alright, you're the boss right now." Dan said. Veronica nodded her agreement.

"You listen to Eagle?" she reiterated seriously as her faceless visor fell upon both faces.

"Of course, Eagle. We are your soldiers now." Veronica said.

"Okay then. Eagle will cloak right here. I will move to gas station and lay on the ground. You and Veronica should move slow around back and wait at back opening until I fire at raider. Then you and you go kill mean dogs."

"Can do." Dan said. Veronica nodded once, her game face firmly planted.

Without another word either audible or inaudible, Eagle activated her wrist mounted Stealth boy Mark III. Dan and Veronica gasped when Eagle disappeared completely before their eyes.

Veronica waved a hand outward to see if Eagle was still there, but she felt nothing. Veronica looked at Dan, shrugged and activated her power fist as Dan checked the magazine of his repeating assault rifle.

BBBBBB

Twenty minutes later all three commandos were accounted for. Dan radioed in as quietly as he was able that he and Veronica were ready. The radio clicked and Eagle's response was plain as day from several yards away.

"Roger." Was her simple, one-word reply.

Dan and Veronica waited nervously for the shot to sound but they heard nothing for several minutes. Just as Dan was contemplating radioing Eagle to ask if she was going to fire, the thunderous explosion of Eagle's Dragonov sounded, closer than they thought. Violet hit the ground from her perch atop the wooden shelter which rested upon one of the largest RVs in the area. She was missing her head, dead before she ever heard the deafening report.

The dogs barked angrily as Eagle radioed in.

"Now." Was all she said.

Dan barely heard it as his ears were ringing from the blast. Veronica had heard it, however, and patted Dan's shoulder. Veronica led the charge on the confused hounds, punching three before being forced to dodge a fourth.

Dan was standing several feet away from the martial artist firing round after round at the incoming bloodthirsty hoard. Veronica more than held her own, even managing to rescue Dan from an attack from behind by rolling toward him and hitting a massive uppercut to the dog's snout, snapping its neck.

As seven dogs lay dead at the feet of Dan and Veronica, a feral howl sounded from the front of the tiny RV Park.

There, exiting the shell of a large camper was the largest, leanest specimen of canine Veronica had ever seen. She was the alpha bitch and she showed it.

Her heavy head led to a lean but powerful body, missing patches of brown fur as if suffering from mange. Her dark eyes were bloodshot, her nose seeping mucous and her sharp teeth glistening with silvery spittle. Her long fat tongue slavered for their flesh.

"Pack leader. She'll charge us. Fire until she's close, then I'll fight her." Veronica whispered. Dan acknowledged and launched a preemptive strike on the beast, peppering the ground and her body with four shots before the big dog began her charge. Five more shots were all he could muster before the bitch got close.

She jumped at Dan, but Veronica intercepted, grabbing the dog by the midsection and picking her up before throwing her to the ground. She landed on her feet and immediately charged Veronica as soon as her pads felt dirt beneath them.

Veronica blocked a bite intended for her throat with the steel of her power fist. Dan saw and moved forward and jammed the butt of his rifle into the dog's temple once… twice… three times before she finally unlatched.

When she turned to Dan, the move spelled her doom as Veronica leapt upon the pack leader's back and pinned her to the ground eliciting a pained whine from the animal.

Veronica blocked back feelings of sadness and regret before smashing the pneumatic steel gauntlet into the dog's head. It took five shots, three to the top of the head, one to the eye sockets and the last to the middle of the snout, before the rabid animal fell limp and died.

Dan was immediately to his feet and helping Veronica to hers after the animal had breathed her last.

"God, I wish I didn't have to do that." Veronica said, regret dripping from every word.

"It's okay, that raider trained that dog to kill and she would have killed us if we didn't…" Dan stopped abruptly at the word which resounded in his ear, repeated several times.

"S.O.S…"

A/N: I am trying to diversify the characters I am including in these chapters and trying not to focus primarily on the big three every time. Next chapter we are gonna have a big battle, focus on Stella in some way (I think I want to pair her with Eagle somehow even if it's just a long get to know you conversation or something simple like that), and I will end the chapter in Jacobstown. All the while I will be doing my best not to make it three hours long. So, Chapter thirty coming up and I am going to make it an important one in Kazdin's journey to unite people. Wish me luck everyone. Goodnight from your friendly neighborhood FalloutGuy.