The girl was right that Clarence should be expecting trouble. And he was; after all, he had followed a mysterious trail of destruction to her place of captivity, which she had since informed him was probably caused by a righteous supermutant of higher than average human intelligence. But it was one that had declined Talia's company for the sake of its reputation. On reflection, this should have been the sign that he was not as prepared as he ought to have been.

He'd really dropped himself in it this time, but it was what it was. Couldn't rightly duck out now. After all, his original brief was to take reasonable measures to ensure she remained alive and in once piece. Problem was, what counted as reasonable measures now she was hellbent on not only staying in this bad omen of a town, but heading straight for the mutants' lair on a rescue mission? But she would not be talked out of it. I'm going, so you can keep doing your job and help me out, or wait for me to come back, it's up to you. And then she left. Stubborn as a bighorner. Something steely about her though. Couldn't help but like it. So here he was, staking out a pre-war police station occupied by supermutants in the middle of the night. At least they had the cover of darkness and, to his relief, the girl seemed fond of a stealthy approach.

"Why so nervous, Mr. Protector?" she goaded. "You can take out supermutants easy. You got one for me and my dad near the city, remember?"

He did remember. Simpler times before she turned out to be the Enclave's most wanted. "Dealing with the odd roaming mutant is one thing. Going into their base is quite another. And don't call me that. My name will do just fine."

"If you were my friend, sure, but I met you as what..? My shadow? It's all a bit weird if you ask me."

"Well, take it up with your man-" but she was on the move again. Good thing he was used to all this travelling.

"Shadows are meant to keep up!" she hissed back to him. Good thing he knew Burke was good for the caps.

Nonetheless, she listened to his suggestions and they agreed to quietly make their way to the back of the building, where the cells would likely be located. Old fire regulations meant there would be multiple external doors, one of which should bring them close to the cells. Much less trouble than walking in the front. So long as the mutants hadn't blocked it up and the kids were being held in the cells, it could be a smooth in and out job.

She skulked exceptionally well and was an effective shot with her silenced 10mm. He'd rarely seen anyone willing to get so close to the mutants, though she had no choice if she wanted to kill them quietly. Brutes needed a larger calibre to be sure of a clean kill, but it was possible to do it with the right approach. Learn something every day.

"It's a mercy really… they shouldn't be trapped like this. They don't even know who they were." She seemed to be thinking out loud and he chose to leave questions until later. A door was in sight.

It turned out not even to be locked. It had just seized up and the mutants had never used it. He was surprised they did what Talia said, taking people to a lab to infect them with a virus, since this was the kind of dense behaviour he was used to. A bit of force got them inside and they both breathed a sigh of relief to find they were right next to the cells. Peering out from behind bars was a young girl in red overalls.

Clarence provided the lockpicks and Talia provided the assistance, and they had the girl out within a minute. She was shaking like a leaf, from fright or cold he couldn't say. Probably both. The room was draughty, damp, and of course only supermutants roamed its halls. But they'd come prepared. He wrapped a coat around her shoulders and handed her a weapon they'd brought along, then covered the hallway so they could exit behind him. But Talia wasn't moving.

"Oh dear. Miss Farley, you've got that look again."

"There's one more."

He looked to Red for confirmation. The girl nodded through a pained expression, meek voice taut with worry. "It's Shorty. But like I said, he's probably already dead… no one comes back from the kitchen…"

Clarence had seen more than enough gore bags, heard supermutants ate people, but he never knew they had a system, a holding pen… a kitchen.

Talia directed a pointed look at the girl. "Would you want him to assume that if it was you down there?" She turned to Clarence. "I'm going to find him. Come with me or wait on the hill, it's up to you."

Clarence sighed. He couldn't bring this child deeper into the hideout. Wouldn't want her to see what was left of her friend. The vaultie was his job. He turned to Red. "Out this door, follow the bodies past the fence and to the hill." Then he hurried after Talia. Foolhardy. Good thing his wife was a forgiving woman.

Talia really hated supermutants. Since Vault 87 and Fawkes, they were more than big scary monsters, unfortunate victims of radiation. Someone had done this to them. They shouldn't be. But now they were doing it to others in the pursuit of propagation, survival. She didn't know how Fawkes, having retained his intelligence and a sense of self after transformation, hadn't blown his own brains out. Maybe time really was a great healer. He'd been imprisoned long enough to come to terms with it. Or maybe he couldn't remember just enough of his old life to allow him his sanity. He was necessarily someone new whether he liked it or not, and he had chosen to act in a way he could not have done before.

Realising Clarence was at her back, she continued through the peeling hallways of the old police station in search of a way down to the basement. Her skin crawled at the thought of being held captive here by these creatures. Losing herself to their virus. Shorty would have no chance of reasoning with their diminished minds. She was his only hope, and he wouldn't even know. If he was as demoralised as the rest of the town kids, he might have already given up.

"Clarence," she stopped with a whisper, beckoning Burke's contractor closer. "I need a favour if they get me and take my gun before I can use it, okay? Don't let them take me. You a good shot?"

"Excuse me?"

"I'll do the same for you."

"..."

Fucksake, he was just frowning like a total idiot. "Come on, just if I can't get one off myself. They can eat me bullets and all if they want, but I'm not going with them." But he still seemed absolutely perplexed by her request. "Urgh, Burke would do it! Do you even know him?"

Finally he responded. "Miss… I'm sure it won't come to that."

"Fuck if it won't. We're on our own here. I'm serious. Ugh, geez, fine, if you want something doing, do it yours- shit-" She bundled them back around the corner as two mutants emerged from the other end of the hallway.

They held their breath for a few slow seconds. It didn't sound like they'd been seen. Clarence gestured they should enter the room to their left and Talia nodded. Inside, there was another doorway that would put them behind the mutants, and the idea hit both of them simultaneously. It wasn't difficult to sneak up on a pair of supermutants. Their conversation was loud enough to hide even a casual approach, and that was if it hadn't already erupted into the booming, frustrated argument of two struggling brains that constantly misunderstood one another.

Talia and Clarence moved quickly down the hall, unable to move let alone hide the huge bodies. But they weren't planning on sticking around long. They just needed the door to the basement. In the basement would be the kid. Dead or alive, but at least they would know. At least Talia would be able to say someone tried to help him. Unless there was no trace of him. Did the mutants really eat people? She'd seen the scattered bones. She wouldn't know she'd even found Shorty if that was all that was left. She suppressed a shiver and glanced at Clarence. He hadn't bolted yet. But if this place started to look like the lunch room at Vault 87 she'd be surprised if he still thought she was worth the risk.

It barely mattered. She was here with or without him. It bolstered her resolve to feel a friendly presence close by, but she was focussed on the task she'd set herself. She couldn't rely on this stranger. She had to be capable of pulling this off alone. She'd got herself away from the Enclave, she could get in and out of this ruin. It didn't matter that he said Burke had sent him. He might have found her nothing but a pile of ash by an Enclave firing squad for all the good he had done. She was good enough at surviving on her own, and was it any surprise? She might have been incinerated along with Jonas if she wasn't. It didn't matter that she'd told the kids they were on their own out here. Shorty hadn't heard that. If she bought it down here right now, what difference would it make to anyone?

One more corridor, one more body.

She was dead. Lost to Vault 87. Buried in the mountain. Who even knew that wasn't true?

Through another room.

Who even cared?

Down another corridor, but it was barricaded.

It only mattered that she pulled this off, because she could. Because she would.

A hand grasped her arm. Clarence was hissing in her ear. "Stay still. You're going around in circles, and all these bodies are going to give us trouble in a minute."

"Well, where do you think the basement is? Place is so fucked up it's a maze."

"I know... we shouldn't get lost. We should go back to the door and work it out, or go check on the girl. Eh, she may be right you know. It doesn't always pan out like you want, I'm afraid."

Talia shot him a stony look. "I'm going to try this way," she whispered, jerking her arm free. She was going to pull this off because she was the only one who would.

To his credit Clarence remained at her back. He must have been expecting a pretty nice payday to still be here. She pressed on. The mutants had smashed walls through entirely, made only holes in others, and built junk blockades in the halls, but the building ought to have a staircase to the basement. Or maybe they could just smash through the floor and drop in.

She spotted a hole in the wall at ground level and pointed it out to Clarence. Without waiting for a response she dropped to her stomach and peered through, beckoning behind her as she wriggled to the other side. This room was blocked off, it must be why they'd done a loop without finding the stairs. The room had a door on one side and a large hole in the wall on the other. She stalked toward the hole, peeking as far as she could down the corridor without sticking her neck out.

Clarence's protests fell on deaf ears as he watched her boots disappear from view. The girl obviously had some decent training and more guts than he'd seen in most, but she was too eager. Something desperate about it. Desperate to find this kid even, he worried, if it killed her. Well, no use fretting now. She had nearly painted the floor with his brains when they met. Couldn't say he wasn't warned.

Clarence had just yanked his coat free of the crawl gap when Talia bowled into him, sweeping him to the other side of the room. "Time to go," was all the explanation he got before two mutants angrily announced their presence through the opening.

"I quite agree," he concurred, following right on her heels. The door stuck as Talia attempted to open it, but before he could help she'd smashed the latch out of the frame with a well placed boot. Didn't know why he offered. He covered their back with little trouble; the mutants were having a hard time fitting through the hole since they seemed undecided on who should go first. That was more like it. Might have laughed had Talia not informed him there were more in the hallway.

"Can you handle them?" he called, "I can take these two while they're squabbling."

"Molotovs," she instructed, and he handed off the satchel he'd carried in before taking cover further back in the room. He heard the smashing of glass behind him as Talia threw a few of the incendiary weapons they'd improvised from the stores in Big Town, followed by her own rapid rifle fire. Definitely not a quiet mission anymore.

After a few more shots of his own he felt her pat his shoulder. Coast must be clear. "Just in time- there's more than the first two-" he shifted to allow her some cover from the heavy desk he was crouched behind and continued firing.

"No time, we gotta go."

He glanced her way to see her setting another rag alight before lobbing the bottle at the hole in the wall. She scooted back to the doorway with another in hand before he had a chance to question.

"Come on!" she urged, firing after the projectile, covering him briefly to allow him to join her.

Along with the enormous bodies draped over the hole, the fire started by the molotov cocktail formed an adequate barrier for now. In the corridor the situation was similar, except more mutants were headed their way.

"We gotta go this way," Talia said, backing down the hall. Only way they could go. Having an automatic and larger calibre at her disposal, Clarence let her provide most of their cover to the rear, while he tried to simultaneously keep an eye out for anything coming up the way they were headed. "Reloading! There's too many!"

He covered her while she changed magazines. The fire was giving the mutants trouble, slowing them down. Easy shot. He downed three himself with as many bullets. "You're doing good, we're okay," he said as calmly as he worked. But each body fell a little closer. They needed to put some distance between them.

"No, there's too many," Talia repeated, letting off a few rounds before stopping to prep another molotov. Girl was panicking.

"Christ, you'll burn the place down!"

"Then I'll do it if I have to!" She threw another bottle down the hall and stood firing into the building smoke.

"I'd prefer that we're not in it!" he noted, but she was a woman possessed. She was actually advancing back on the mutants. He drew beside her and fired while reigning her in. Mercifully her feet followed his lead and they withdrew in this manner for several yards. He checked over his shoulder regularly. "There's a corner, I'll check it."

He kept his head low and hurried to the end of the hall. "Miss Farely! It's clear!" He glanced back to check she was coming. The hallway was becoming an inferno, and his unassuming Villain of the Wastes could not tear herself away. He ran to her, shocked by the heat already pouring off of the scene. "There's nothing coming through that, come on." He yanked her by the arm and she relented just as something exploded. They both dived to the ground.

"Grenade?" The urgency of the present had returned to her eyes, but he frowned in doubt.

"No… The place has some power rigged up for the lights, but the building's crumbling. The surviving electrics have caught, is my guess. This fire isn't going to fizzle out. We really have to go."

They fled the already intolerable heat, rounding the corner into darkness. The organised mess ushered them down a singular path for a while until a familiar orange glow greeted them from the next hall. Things were getting inconvenient.

"What? How is there fire here?" Talia hissed.

"Must have spread along the cabling. It could be anywhere, we need a window or something right now."

"But they're all boarded up!" She ran to the nearest window to confirm what they already knew, but they were sealed in. Supermutants and their hammers.

"Unless you've got a crowbar, we'll have to backtrack and get through some of that barricade. There was another way to an exit I think." He extended an arm for her to grab while coughing into his other sleeve. Smoke was beginning to accumulate. Had to move fast.

He helped her over one of the hallway barricades ahead of him, checking their rear as he followed. Clear. Hadn't yet met anything that didn't hate fire. When he landed on the other side Talia was crouched by a door.

"The basement!" she called over a rising backdrop of crumbling infrastructure. Then she disappeared into the stairwell.

"Don't you-!" But he was shouting at thin air. Before long it would be thick with smoke. If they were lucky, this hallway would still be clear when they came back up. He pulled his scarf over his face and hurried after her.

At the bottom of the stairwell he found her already clambering around a dead mutant, reloading her shotgun. She looked up at him, a hollow smile juxtaposing the deep set pits of obsidian in her pupils. Vaulties always were either the weakest or wildest migrants to the wasteland. "This thing is fucking awesome. You got one?"

Clarence pulled back the hammer on his revolver. "Forty-four is all the stopping power I've ever needed, Miss. Now, I insist we hurry. We'll cook down here regardless of the chef if we dither."

"Yeah, yeah, mustn't 'dither'. Mustn't tarry! Is that what that means? Can you get the door?"

Talia was poised to storm the next room but Clarence pushed her aside. Not about to let her run straight into a supermutant's sledgehammer on the other side. Being in this building was already a stretch. "I know the saying is 'ladies first', but I'm going to be rude on this occasion. Ready when you are." Surprisingly she quietly accepted his decision and he nodded for her to open the door before sweeping through.

Nothing there. Nothing but heat. They'd had it if the fire was down here already. "But no smoke," he muttered. He pushed further in. "And no mutants," he added once he was satisfied they were alone. There weren't many places one of those brutes could hide. "We're clear!"

"No Shorty," Talia called glumly from the other wing of the u-shaped room.

A kid could be hiding, so Clarence loudly announced himself and urged Shorty to come out. Not hopeful. He was looking at the source of the heat. The kitchen housed what looked like an old central hot air stove for the building. Supermutants didn't cook, nor could he see them desiring a hot bath. And there wasn't a whole lot of firewood lying around to burn. Bones, however… All manner of human bones were scattered around the room, most looking to have fallen in front of the grill.

He retched into his handkerchief. Could be the smoke. It was seeping in through the vents. "Miss Farley! We have to get out of here now!"

"But Shorty!"

"He's not here! Come, now!"

She appeared at the archway into his half of the room. "Are you sure? Have you looked?" She began opening all the cupboards, shouting for the lost boy between racking coughs.

"Yes. Look, maybe he got out. We'll find out outside." He paced back to the stairs. Smoke under the door. No going back the way they'd come.

He ran back to find Talia stood over a pile of skulls that had been crammed inside one of the cupboards. Guess the stove wasn't up to the job.

The stove. It was an old system. Basic, smoky. The basement must have ventilation. Regulations. He looked up to the smoke collecting above them. Something was causing it to flow. A draught. He followed it desperately all the way to a back room. Would you look at that. No one was cashing in their chips today. A small window flapped feebly against its weathered frame, beckoning him into the fresh night air, albeit through a perilously tight portal.

"Miss Farley! We have a way out!" He returned to grab her, repeating his words as best he could lest she couldn't hear. Hell of a background noise from upstairs. He had no idea if the ceiling would hold, how fiercely the fire was raging above.

Talia was on her knees holding one of the skulls in an outstretched arm. "But how would I know if this was him? I have to know if he's here!" She swapped the skull for another. "What if this was him? How would I know? I have to find him. I came to get him out, I have to find him!"

Clarence tugged on her arm but she was a dead weight. Fixating. No time. He crouched to her level seeking some clearer air before grasping her with both hands. She was staring intently at a third skull. "Come on, Hamlet. These were stashed away long ago. I'm sure he got out." He heaved the both of them to their feet. She fought. She screamed. The skull clattered to the ground and she flung herself against his arm toward the pile for another, as if discovering the identity of just one of these poor sods would change anything. No way to die.

But in seconds a violent coughing fit silenced her complaints and quelled her struggle. He pinned her arm over his shoulders and dragged the pair of them around to the window. He boosted her up first, following as soon as her boots were clear. It was more of a squeeze for him, but he managed without dislocating anything. Tore his coat up though. Would have to get that repaired before going home. Gave his wife enough to worry about.

He pulled Talia to her feet once more. Had to get clear of the building. The heat and intense light told him it was completely ablaze. He'd seen a few fires in recent years, but he was always surprised at how fast the flames engulfed everything. At least they illuminated the entire perimeter for him. He emptied his revolver into a nearby supermutant and skirted around it, weaving his way back into the gauntlet they had built as the only route in and out of the grounds.

The heat and noise receded as the pair ascended the hill, soon drowned out by their own ragged breaths as they climbed. When the way ahead was dark, Clarence heard a voice and looked up to see a figure approach from the wavering shadows of the hillside. "Red?"

"Oh, you made it! The fire, it was so fast…"

Clarence stopped, allowing Talia to crumple to ground as he did, where they both coughed up a lung.

He waved off the Big Town medic, who turned instead to Talia. "It sounds like you both need oxygen. We have some at Big Town if we can get there. Are you hurt?"

"I couldn't find him," Talia croaked.

"What?"

"Shorty, he wasn't there. Or maybe he was, but- I couldn't tell."

"No-"

Talia lurched at Red, clinging onto her jacket with soot stained fingers."I think they got him. Fuck, I came out here and they got him…"

Red tried to pry Talia's hands off her as she ranted and swore over her failure. Tough to watch. Eventually the kid interrupted, rather politely. "Hey! Hello? What are you talking about? He got up here just before you. Shorty! Come here!"

Clarence turned his head to see another teenager emerge from the rocks. The boy. Talia used Red to pull herself to her feet, not taking her eyes off the boy while wrangling her cough. "This is Shorty?"

"Y-yeah…"

She dropped Red and strode over to the boy. "Shorty, I could fucking kiss you."

The boy froze. "Er… what?"

"Fuck it, I'm going to."

"Whoa- hey-!"

Talia paused as the boy arched away from her grip. "Gimme one reason I shouldn't? You're alive, you magnificent bastard."

Clarence chuckled to himself. Wouldn't mind a welcome like that from the wife when he got home.

Shorty answered brusquely before sounding a little rattled. "Well I don't know you! And, uh, well, I think I got someone else's guts all over me..."

Talia pulled back and inspected him in the firelight. She let him be with a grimace and a pat on the shoulder.

Clarence smiled. Had to admit it was good to be wrong sometimes. He'd written the boy off as soon as he heard. "How did you get out, lad?"

Shorty sidestepped around Talia. "There was a window. The mutie got mad and left when it started getting smoky and noisy. I burnt the rope off my wrists on the stove and climbed out. Red, will this burn be okay? It kills."

Clarence slowly got to his feet. "Great news eh, Miss Farley? We should get back to town as soon as we can, we all need some TLC. Oh- what now?"

"Look."

He followed her gaze back to the police station. The entire facility was ablaze. He couldn't even make out the shape of the building anymore, it was all flames. But dead ahead at the bottom of the hill was movement. Mutants were making their way through the gauntlet. Trying to escape.

"No survivors, Clarence." Talia sat herself down on the hillside and braced her elbows against her legs, lining up the mutants in her scope.

First bullet hit. No disappearing into the night now. Together they piled the bodies along the front gate approach. With each kill the next was easier as the emerging mutants floundered amongst those who came before them. Narrow route in meant narrow route out. At some point Clarence advised that they save their ammunition. Let the flames do the work.

Talia stood to look upon their efforts. For some reason he expected her to laugh, but there was no smile on her lips. She was fixated on the carnage below, coiled like a cornered snake, ready to fight but anticipating the end to their long night. She paced forward and watched until the last screams had died away. Even being as small in stature as Shorty further up the hill, silhouetted against the furious backdrop she looked every bit her dangerous reputation.

"They would've raided the town again," she said quietly.

"You've nothing to justify, Miss. I saw the bones in there."

"But they don't… really know what they're doing. They're not meant to be like that."

"Well... then they're better off now, I suppose."

She turned and looked at him a while as though studying his sincerity before subtly nodding. "We should get back to town. I'd like a drink."

Not a bad idea. Hadn't had a job like this in a while. Good thing he knew they'd left a few bottles untouched back in town.

Talia spent the trip back to Big Town in silence. Partly because her throat was sore from the heat and smoke, partly because nobody else was speaking, and partly because she wouldn't have noticed if they were. She could barely remember any of the trip since leaving town with Clarence, and yet the fire was still so vivid. Had it been minutes or hours? She had been firing on supermutants in the hallway, but she could hear those Enclave soldiers President Eden had trapped in burning rooms while aiding her escape.

She wondered as she walked if Dave had got out. Where was he now?

Where was Fawkes? Would he have done this differently?

Clarence helped her along from time to time despite having suffered the same exposure to the fire. The kids were too poorly fed to be of much help. But there they were. So completely alive. Her chest swelled despite the muddy feeling in her lungs, despite the soot coating her clothes and skin along with mutant blood and some kind of dust she'd rather assume was from the rubble. To her side Clarence looked just as worse for wear. She was impressed he'd stuck it out, but then Burke wouldn't pay for anybody not worth their salt. She reached out to grab his sleeve, and he continued to help her along without a word.

When they arrived back to town, Talia informed the kids that the mutants and their base were gone. But if any stragglers had survived they would be pissed, so they ought to prepare for an imminent attack. Red tended to Talia, Clarence and Shorty free of charge in her clinic before all of them grabbed what rest they could.

Mutants could move fast. It was only three hours before they came, in the morning twilight. But their numbers were few, and the town was prepared. Red and Shorty had the motivation to give them hell, and the rest of the kids were still riding the wave of optimism that came with the pair's safe return.

Of course, the sentrybot packed a shit-ton of heat.

"You'll have to get more charge packs for this thing, Red," Talia said as she made sure the half submerged mutant in the moat was really dead. "You get traders come by?"

"Yeah, it's where I get my supplies. Heh, they always seem surprised we're still here. Hey- this was clever, I wish I'd thought of it."

Talia shrugged as they watched the others fish the rope bridge from the murky water. It was the only way in and the mutants had used it time and again. Unfortunately for them, today it 'broke' as they were crossing. The moat was not so deep, but it was boggy enough to mire some of the creatures into a neat kill zone.

"You built everything else. It's a good stronghold. Have to get the bodies out of there though. I'll try pull them out with the power armour before it gets too difficult, that mud's real sticky."

A faraway look overcame Red for a second before she spoke again. "Do you know what day it is? I mean the date?"

Talia looked at her Pip-Boy. She'd checked since getting back outside herself but it hadn't really registered. "Oh shit, it's nearly Christmas. What a fucking festive scene. Why, were you in that place long?"

Red whined under her breath. "No, it's Sticky… it was his birthday last week. He should really be here by now. You know, from Little Lamplight."

Talia cast her mind back to a week ago, a lifetime ago, when she found the caverns with Sarah. There was a commotion, some boy who didn't want to leave, but it was his sixteenth birthday and those were the rules. "Maybe he got to stay?"

"I doubt it. Nobody stays. MacCready would shoot them. And anyway, he promised he'd meet me here. He wouldn't leave me here even if he found something else, I know he wouldn't. But it doesn't take that long to get here…"

Talia considered the possibilities. None of them were particularly good. She looked at her feet and tried to speak softly, though her voice was hard. "Maybe he's just lost."

"Being lost out here is as good as… oh- no- he'll make it. I hope. Maybe tomorrow?"

Talia nodded and let Red pass. Everyone had it rough in the wasteland. Now, it was all just static. Each new tragedy just another blip on the screen. She was starting to understand how Gustavo could have been so flippant about her own story way back when she confided in him about James.

Or maybe she was just too tired to care. "I'm going back to sleep, Clarence." She turned from the first mutant bodies to fall in town for years, if not ever, and dragged her exhausted body toward the bunk room. She caught his subtle nod as she passed, hoping for a dreamless sleep but at least knowing he would be there when she woke up.