"Gawd, I missed this!" Wolf huskily groaned as Rachel slowly slid up her body only to flop onto her belly beside her panting lover.

"Me too," Rachel whispered, left hand supporting her head as she watched Wolf come down from her orgasm.

I'm so fucking lucky to have her and Lee and Evie. I'll never lose them again, she thought as Wolf opened her eyes and smiled languidly.

"Don't look so satisfied with yerself," Wolf mock scowled and slapped a hand on Rachel's taut ass.

The brief, stinging pain was enough to coax a throaty growl from Rachel as she fixed a smoldering gaze on the now grinning woman, "Don't start. We have to get up. You said you wanted to leave in the morning and the sun should be coming over the mountain in an hour or so."

Wolf groaned and pulled their blanket from its place beside their bedroll so that it left only a small portion of her head uncovered. Rachel laughed as Wolf began to emit cute little snores in what had to be record time.

I have no one to blame but myself. I forgot how hard it was to get Wolf out of bed after waking her early with surprise morning sex.

Rachel rose, not bothering with dressing at all, and made her way onto the deck. The sounds of Evie tinkering from the bow were clearly audible and the portable lamp she used for working provided enough illumination for Rachel to see well enough to make her way into the bunkroom. She procured a washcloth and a rough bar of soap from the small storage space just to the left of the hatchway. A few seconds later found her on the foredeck. Evie had her railway rifle almost completely disassembled as she tinkered with its Compression Sphere. Rachel had no idea how the device worked or even what the genius mechanist was doing to it. The pale Ranger did know that a larger version of the mysterious sphere was what powered The McAdams so its power, when added to the already fearsome weapon, was not something to scoff at.

"Hey, Evie. I'm gonna take a quick bath."

Evie turned to her with a smile, "Yeah, I just bet you're all sticky now."

Rachel shook her head and scowled, "Do you always have to listen in?"

"Well, excuse me," Evie scowled but then grinned slyly, "Hmmm, I don't think I was the one that ravished my watch-partner while eavedroppin'?"

"Did Lee tell you that?" Rachel stuck her tongue out and shook her head. "Don't even answer that. You'll just say something sarcastic. Were you always this saucy?"

"Maybe," Evie winked her artificial eye before she turned back to her work.

Rachel suppressed a shudder as she walked down the gangplank. She was getting used to Evie's mechanical eye but it continued to unnerve her. A quick soak in the icy waters of the lake was followed by languid soaping on the shore. There was something incredibly relaxing about bathing outdoors just before sunrise for her. It was as though she could feel herself opening up to embrace the day.

I'm never telling Lee that. He'll be calling me sunflower in Spanish before I know it.

Quiet chuckles escaped Rachel as she walked until the water was chest-high before ducking under. She knew the water was cold, both Evie and Wolf had turned an odd shade of blue after only a few minutes, but the Ranger could barely feel it. She would have worried if not for the fact that Lee also barely seemed to notice the frosty nature of the water. With nothing to do for the next while, Rachel indulged herself by lazily floating on her back across the lake.

It was while Rachel drifted that the hellish red light of a flare-trap shot into the sky.

Training, despite an extended period of disuse, kicked in as Rachel immediately began swimming back to shore with powerful strokes. Barely fifteen seconds had passed but, with the eerie distortion caused by being underwater, the sounds of Evie working frantically in the engine room were clearly audible as Rachel neared the ship. She scooped up her bathing implements and bounded up the gangplank in one tremendous leap. Wolf was already standing in front of the quartet of armor lockers just to the left of the bridge entryway as she frantically donned her combat gear. Rachel patted her on the shoulder before going to her own locker.

It had been so long since she had worn real combat armor that, for a brief moment, the Ranger feared she had forgotten how to wear it. Those fears went unrealized as she found that, after slipping on her camo pants and T-shirt, the armor almost seemed to fit itself of its own accord. A strange sensation, a combination of quicksilver and electricity, ignited its way through her as she tightened her black headband.

"Any sign of Lee?" Wolf asked as she slapped a magazine into her SMG from the small alcove on the right side of the hatchway.

"Not yet," Rachel answered as she moved to her own weapons locker.

Each of the weapons that she had used prior to her abduction had been meticulously maintained and even modified in the, some would say illogical, hopes that she would need it one day. The assault rifle now had a scope attached to it as well as a barrel modified for greater accuracy and reduced recoil. There were even a number of precision-tooled silencers that Evie had built for the weapon. Rachel quickly screwed one on with what she knew was a small smile on her face. Her N99 went on her hip, as usual, but she left the missile launcher, double-barrel shotgun and grenades behind. They didn't know if their location had truly been compromised, if some animal had just triggered a flare, or if they could silence any potential trespassers covertly. Using the loudest weapons at their disposal was an almost guaranteed way to get noticed.

The newest weapon at her disposal was a prototype that Evie had been working on. It looked basically like a short-shafted warhammer with an extremely large head. Despite its cumbersome look, the weapon was deceptively light for its weapon type. The secret to that was also what coated the boat. Apparently, the Wanderer had come up with a technique, which sounded like some kind of witchcraft to Rachel for all that she understood it, to change the electron state of a liquid alloy he had created. Storm-steel, as he had taken to calling it, was even lighter than titanium but stronger and even more heat resistant. No one had been able to build him a device to realize his dream until little Evie had woken with a mission and did the impossible. The successful creation of a batch of the miracle alloy had led to the Compression Sphere and then the McAdams herself. Evie, in the meantime, had also tinkered with using it to improve their weaponry. Lee was the only one that didn't have a combat knife of storm-steel but each of his women knew how sentimental he could be. Rachel had been given the cream of the crop though. The shaft of her newest weapon could telescope until it was the length of a proper warhammer and, with the press of a button, the detachable knob at its base would flood the shaft with liquid storm-steel and then change it to solid-state. Even with her prodigous strength, Rachel didn't think there was a chance of warping the shaft or shattering the head.

I can't wait to try it out, she thought with a bloodthirsty grin.

The tall Ranger turned to stare down into the golden-brown eyes of her lover and quadleader. Wolf raised the lip of her combat helmet and pursed her lips slightly. Rachel smiled and leaned forward to plant a gentle kiss on those full lips.

"I'm good. I'm ready," Rachel whispered and gave her another peck before pulling back.

Wolf nodded, her features settling into one of command, as she began to give orders, "Go find Lee. Render assistance as necessary but get back here as soon as you can. We'll get the ship ready to fly. Pop smoke if you can't make it back to us and we'll come get you. Got it?"

"Got it, Boss," Rachel gave her a cheeky smile and Wolf just grinned.

"No need," Lee's voice from the foredeck hatchway had them both spinning in that direction.

Lee stood there, looking as calm as ever, while clutching the collar of a muddy, battered Teng.

Perversely, Rachel found herself disappointed at not having the excuse to use her new warhammer.

Wolf stared out into the increasingly heavy fog as Teng emptied a canteen of water. She turned back when he started to choke and cough. He wiped his mouth and looked at her through severely bruised, bloodshot eyes that were healing even as she watched. For a brief moment, a surge of hot anger at the man for endangering her family flared within her. The quadleader took a single, deep breath and tried to let that all go. It was water under the bridge, as her mother had often said, and it was best not to dwell.

"So, why are you back?" Wolf asked without preamble as she set her 12-gauge across her knees.

Teng took his own deep breath and closed his eyes as a suppressed look of anguish marred his features. Wolf resisted the urge to place a consoling hand on his shoulder and waited for the man to compose himself. When he opened his eyes to fix her with a steady gaze, she knew that he had been successful.

"I... enjoy the company of men," Teng seemed at a loss for words as he looked at her as though waiting for a grenade to go off.

"Yes, so do I, on occasion; your point?"

Teng barked laughter before quickly clamping down on it, "You look like the old blood, I thought maybe you were-"

"A homophobe?"

"I don't know that word."

Now it was Wolf's turn to smile sheepishly, "Neither did I when I lived here. It means those that're afraid of people that are attracted to the same gender."

Teng shook his head, "They seem more angry than afraid."

Wolf growled, not unlike her namesake, "Irrational fear ken quickly turn ta anger with the right outlet."

Damnit. There I go again with that damn hillbilly speak.

Teng looked away and nodded, "Yeah. Yeah, I suppose yer right."

"Now, what's that have to do with why you're here?"

"In my village, wanting to be with the same sex is punishable by death. I found someone in a neighboring village and we were happy for awhile. I got captured one day when I was going to meet him."

Wolf did reach out this time to place a steadying hand on Teng's shoulders as tears began to slide down his face.

"All I could think about was getting back to Drew, you know? Just to have his arms around me and I could feel safe. And what do I find when I get back?" Now Teng's voice deepened until it was a hoarse croak. "They fucking hung him and strung him up like a piece of meat. His own village. People that grew up with him. Those fucks just killed him." Teng covered his eyes with his left hand as he bowed his head. "I still had family in my home village. They told me what happened. Some bitch wanted Drew and started followin' him. She ratted us out, sold me out to slavers, and watched him twist. I got her though." Teng clutched his left fist in his right hand so hard he quivered, "That fucking cunt went to her ancestors screaming."

Wolf squeezed the freshly enraged man's shoulder firmly, "Focus, Teng."

"Right. Okay." Teng took a noisy breath before continuing, "The Clans hire a mercenary group, Peacekeepers, to capture or kill fugitives. I need transport out of the region and you're my best bet. Can you help me?"

Wolf removed her hand and put her game face on just as the primary piston fired with a ship-shaking boom. The Ranger was impressed that Teng only slightly flinched.

"Okay, Teng, do you have any way you can pay for this ride?"

"Yes," Teng nodded slowly as he leaned forward, "I thought of that. There's this band of marauders that appeared about eight years ago. They can afford the best equipment and have a seemingly endless supply of ammo. They say the chief has a personal vault with half a million caps in it."

Wolf whistled quietly and shook her head, "That's a lot of caps. Are you sure the rumor is true?"

Teng shrugged, "The marauders are there. I've been to their base before. I also know the leader is paranoid as they come. There has to be a reason for that."

Wolf chuckled as she watched Teng glance out of the hatchway and into the fog, "Relax, Teng. We'll take you with us after we hit that marauder base."

Teng breathed a sigh of relief but still seemed worried as he ran a hand along his close-cropped hair, "Shouldn't we be hurrying then? They can't be that far behind me."

Wolf laughed outright, reaching out to squeeze Teng's shoulders again, "Trust me when I say that, with those two out there, we have nothing to worry about."

Kristoff, known throughout the Free Clans as Kristoff the Tiger, blew into his hands to try to get some feeling back into them. The heavy fog that had risen around them was icy cold, appropriate for this time of year, but Kristoff had stupidly forgotten his heavy gloves at the Peacekeeper Outpost in Nehe. The fingerless gloves he wore were thin and gave him a better grip on his sidearm but he thought his fingertips might freeze off in this fog.

"Fuck me, Kris!" His number two grumbled as he slipped on a slick piece of mud and nearly went over the side of the trail they were following. It looked like it was ascending into a relatively wide patch of land a hundred feet in front of them. "Why, in all the hundreds of Chinese Hells, are we out here chasing after that boy-lover? You know that cunt deserved what she got!"

Kris stopped and turned to fix Lì Bao in place with the golden-eyed glare that had given him his name. He was taller by nearly a foot than his subordinate but the short man met his eyes impassively. They had been through a lot together and Lì Bao knew when he pushed too far. Instead of dressing his second down, Kris smirked as he looked down the front of the black brahmin leather longcoat that Lì Bao wore. The man was always so protective of looking the part of a professional Peacekeeper.

"You got some mud on your coat," Kris informed him before turning back to continue the journey with a grin.

"Wha-?!" Lì Bao spluttered and then was reduced to a string of furious Mandarin as he tried to wipe it off as best he could.

"Sir, with all due respect, does Lì Bao have a point?" The smoky voice belong to the sole woman on their six-person squad and, of course, she was fresh out of training.

"Despite all that bullshit they teach you at Academy, newbie, we're still pretty much a band of mercs. We call ourselves 'Peacekeepers' to help make the case that we're impartial arbitrators or whatever the fuck. They pay us enough money and we hunt and bring back who they tell us. It doesn't matter how fucked up it is or how much we want to let them go. He did kill that bitch in cold blood." There was a moment of heavy silence that Kristoff had to break, " And just why the fuck are you guys wearing your helmets?"

Standard Peacekeeper gear was a set of reinforced leather armor, soft-soled boots, longcoat with hood, and a combat helmet complete with tinted visor. Experienced Peacekeepers almost never wore their helmets though. The more poor and remote villages in any Clan's territory already viewed them with dread and more than a little supernatural terror. It made it much easier to get information out of the, literally, clannish people when they could see a human face. Peacekeepers fresh out of the Academy always wore their helmets as though, if they kept it on, their status couldn't be suddenly taken away. Kristoff, as much as he hated to admit it, had been the same way and knew exactly the reason why.

It is fun to give them shit though, he thought as he and L.B. shared a wink.

The tallest newbie, easily several inches over six feet, spluttered, "It's our standard gear and, since we're after such a dangerous fugitive..."

Kristoff snorted, "Tell me another one, kid."

"I don't know, Kris," Kristoff was surprised to find his third experienced Peacekeeper, Po McCall, speaking up. He turned to eye the man but found that his hood was up and his features nearly completely obscured. "I heard a lot of rumors from a guy that barely got out of Charleston before the shit hit the fan. They said that Teng and the woman he escaped with tore through all those gladiators like they weren't nothing. Maybe we shouldn't underestimate him."

"I'm not. Hand-to-hand, Teng could probably beat all of us at once, I seen him do something like that when he was fourteen," Kristoff laughed as Lì Bao made a noise behind him. "Don't laugh, L.B. I was scouting the kid for Academy. Even if he didn't take to fieldwork, he could have been a helluva hand-to-hand instructor. Anyway, my point was that the kid knows jackshit about living out in the wild. He'll probably be tired and half-dead from exhaustion. How's that tracking, kid?"

The final newbie on their team, a slender young man named Pãn Fang, had earned Kristoff's respect enough to have his name remembered by putting L.B. on his ass in a sparring match. He was also a damn good scout.

"Fine, sir!" The kid called as he jogged back through the fog. "There's somebody up ahead though."

"Ambush?" The newbies quickly scrambled to check their semi-automatic .38-caliber rifles as L.B. and Po shared a bemused look.

"Not sure, sir. It could be. He's just sitting there on a rock, whittling a piece of wood, like he doesn't have a care in the world."

"How's he outfitted?"

"Heavy combat armor. The old kind they use out east. A brace of throwing spears and a sidearm, heavy-duty, are all that I could see. He's wearing a long camouflaged cloak that covers up a lot."

Kristoff's eyebrows raised and he found himself nodding in approval. The kid had only gone up ahead a few minutes ago and had come back with more information than Kristoff would have thought.

Maybe the assholes in Personnel finally got one right.

"Nice work, Pãn Fang. We'll keep our cards close on this one. L.B., you take Pãn Fang up there and find a spot," Kristoff pointed to a higher trail up the mountainside on their left and the two immediately set out for it. "Po, you stick to the girl like glue. Newbie, you're on my nine. Whatever you do, if the lead starts flying, try not to get in my line-of-fire. I will shoot you. Let's do it."

I'll give the kid one thing, this fucking guy really doesn't seem like he gives a shit.

Kristoff could hear the odd man whistling as he sat on a large, relatively flat stone. It was amazing that the rookie had gotten close enough to make out all that detail because, at fifteen feet, Kristoff still had trouble making out much. It began to lightly drizzle as soon as they came to a stop within ten feet and, despite any rain being seen as a blessing, an uneasy feeling settled in Kristoff's stomach as the man had yet to look up.

"Hello, sir," Kristoff began in a casual greeting that he hoped would put the stranger at ease despite the fact that his hood remained up to conceal his features. "I'm Lieutenant Kristoff from the Outpost at Nehe. We're tracking a murderer that goes by Teng. He's a little over five and a half feet tall, slender, golden-yellow skin, dark brown hair and eyes." Kristoff chuckled self-consciously and scratched his chin, "Yeah, I guess I did just describe about half the population in these mountains. He's got some colorful tattoos. A tiger on the left side of his chest and dragons on his shins. They're really hard to miss."

"Peacekeepers, huh? I don't think you have very far to go now," The man finally spoke and his accent sounded a little strange to Kristoff's ears; as though there were a hidden cadence that only the stranger could detect. "Teng is under our protection now. Soon, he will be gone from your reach."

Three rifles were leveled on the man in an instant and he didn't make a move other than to slowly pull back his hood to reveal a rather young, dark brown face. It was his eyes that chilled Kristoff to the core. They were the eyes of a killer, a savage, and almost seemed to shine with an inner light. Kristoff had tracked many men in his decade long career as a Peacekeeper, some of the most brutal murderers that this mountain had seen, but this was the first time that the look in a man's eyes had threatened to steal all courage from his heart.

You're a Peacekeeper Lieutenant for Christ's sake, get it together, that thought was immediately followed by, Where'd the knife go? When in doubt, go with bravado.

Kristoff chuckled and pushed back the edges of his coat to reveal the grip of the 10mm pistol at his hip, "I'm afraid I'm at a lost, friend. Just who are you exactly to be offering a wanted man protection?"

"Reilly's Rangers, Echo Quad, out of the Capital Wastes."

"You do know that means not a fucking thing out here, right?"

"Doesn't matter. All you need to know, amigo, is that you can't win this. The only reason you made it this far is 'cause I think you're decent sorts. From what Janet was telling Marcus, your outfit does worthy work most of the time."

How long has this bastard been tracking us? Kristoff thought furiously as he tried to school his expression.

"There's no doubt that he murdered an innocent girl. You Rangers give protection to criminals?"

The Ranger shrugged, "I heard enough of the story from the man. Sounded to me like he took justice for himself. Part of our code is to help the helpless and, in this case, he qualifies."

"L.T., let's just do this guy, get Teng, and get paid!" Po snapped from somewhere behind him.

"My man does have a point, Ranger. There's three rifles on you, in case you haven't noticed, and you haven't even touched that iron you have at your hip. So, here's my counteroffer, hand Teng over and we'll let you be on your merry ol' way."

"Whoever said I was alone?"

The sound of rattling equipment filled the area for a moment. Kristoff kept his eyes squarely on the strange man, who now had his hands on his knees as he calmly met the Peacekeeper's gaze, and waited for Po to fill him in.

"L.T., you might want to take a look at this," his second called to him.

Kristoff turned for just the briefest moment to take stock of the situation and could barely believe his eyes. The still forms of the rookie and Lì Bao lay a few feet from the rest of the squad where they had come to rest after rolling down the embankment. There was a figure standing at the top, nearly a dozen feet above their heads and their features were hard to make out even in the thinning fog; what was clear to see was the missile launcher that was currently aimed squarely at the Peacekeeper formation. When Kristoff snapped his head around, he was brought up short by the edge of a combat knife. It was so close that, when he swallowed, the tiniest trickle of blood escaped his throat.

The stranger's eyes, wide and as dark as the pit of Hell, seemed to bore straight through Kristoff, "Has my point been made clear?"

Kristoff wouldn't give the Ranger the satisfaction of seeing him sweat and merely cocked an eyebrow, "You think?"

Nerves of steel, honed by years of deadly encounters, was all that prevented Kristoff from jumping and slitting his own throat when an otherworldly, piercing wail echoed throughout the valley. Birds took flight in all directions but the sound faded quickly.

"That's our ride, Moon!" The stranger removed the knife and sheathed it beneath his cloak so quickly that Kristoff could barely follow it. "No hard feelings, pro-to-pro, Kristoff."

Kristoff turned back to his downed men and found that the other Ranger had disappeared into the fog. To his relief, Pãn Fang and Lì Bao were both stirring. It hurt his professional pride to admit it but he knew when he had been outclassed.

"Can I at least get your name, frien-?" Kristoff trailed off when he found that the Ranger was already walking backward into the fog.

"They call me The Walker," and then he was gone.

It only took a few seconds for Po to come to his side, "Should we go after them?"

Kristoff was about to respond when a shadowy shape, oblong and positively massive, rose above the treeline. That piercing whistle echoed again and Kristoff could only shake his head.

"They tracked us for at least a mile, took out two of ours without a sound, and they've got something that can fucking fly. I didn't like the smell of this job from the start. Now? There's not enough caps in Nehe to make me go after those Rangers."

"Hate to say it, L.T., but I'm relieved you said that. I've fought some hardass killers in my day but the look in that one's eyes?" Po gave a dramatic shudder as they watched the shape rise ever higher.

Kristoff slung an arm across his friend's shoulders, "Let's get those two on their feet and get back home. We're all in one piece and, even if no one believes us right now, I have a feeling we'll hear more about these Rangers before too long. First drink's on me, brother."

"Did I hear that right?" Lì Bao asked groggily as he was helped to his feet by Marcus. "Did you really just offer to buy us booze, Kris, or did that big bitch actually kill me?"

"Ha-fuckin'-ha, dick."