Sorry for the long hiatus guys, been a busy time between chapters. I'll update when life isn't slamming me into the dirt.

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Thanks!

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Nix couldn't quite remember if she did this because she owed Shane or because Shane would owe her.

Maybe it was because he was fun to work with and against, or because he was a good lay.

It could also be that she'd been a pain to him before, they had exchanged gunfire once or twice.

The true purpose was obvious, because deep down she cared about him, but she'd vehemently deny it.

Thoughts of that idea made the usually easygoing woman blush. Luckily no one would see it however.

When she finally got that accursed helmet off she sighed, gingerly checking behind his ears and under his eyes. Thankfully, he didn't have the indicators of a skull fracture.

Nix was also in the NCR Army once as a medic. And while she had problems with authority, especially the woefully incompetent, she was excellent at her job.

She always carried an aid bag, no matter where she went, no dishonorable discharge could stop her from still being useful medically.

She swept his body for blood quickly, looking at her hands and finding none. She checked every major arterial spot alongside those fat bleeders that turned years long lifespans to seconds.

Neck, axillary, arms, inguinal, his legs.

No blood.

"Thank fuck." She hissed.

She tilted his head back and opened his mouth, listening and feeling for his breaths.

"Patent." She said to herself.

Regardless, if he was awake for what came next, she had no doubt he'd kill her.

She withdrew an NPA, a long plastic tube that would work as Shane's new airway. It was an insurance policy at this point. To maintain his path to breath.

Coating it generously with lubricant, she pig nosed the Ranger and shoved it down, securing the edges of its entrance with tape.

He did not move, he was really out cold.

She finished the rest of her assessment and got to work on evacuating her new casualty.

Shane was a man who planned she'd come to know, he liked to be prepared rather than lucky.

Even if he had luck in spades.

She sat him ups using her knees as leverage to keep him sitting before she got a deep squat and stood.

"God dammit Shane! Eat a fucking salad." She grimaced as she manipulated his unconscious form to drag him.

The Huntress cursed and laid him down as gently as she could.

She left him supine as she jogged back into the canyon to retrieve the man's pack and rifle knowing there'd be hell to pay if she didn't.

It'd be a long way back home, so she grit her teeth, clipped his harness to her armor with a Dragon strap and began to walk.

-The Next Day.*

Shane awoke, and grimaced as the searing pain racked his head.

"What the hell?" He growled sitting up.

Wait.

Where the hell was he?

Where the hell was his armor?

He jolted, panicked, he was in a bed, an IV was in his arm and his chest and arms were buckled down.

"Easy there cowboy, it's just me." She said.

Nix leaned against the doorframe, disappointment etched into her face.

"What happened?" Shane asked.

"Bullet skipped against your helmet. Any further to the left and ironically it would've hit the same spot." She explained.

"You dragged me here?"

"Sadly yes, but this ass doesn't happen on its own. I needed the leg day anyway." She shrugged.

His eyes widened, his brows raised in surprise, she found it somewhat amusing to see the usually stoic man so dumbfounded.

"Well thanks Nix... I owe you one." He said simply.

"No shit."

"Now if you could tell me why I'm handcuffed."

"It's because I'm not letting you go save the girl."

What?

"Come again?" He grit his teeth.

She crossed her arms and worked to replace the IV bag with a new one.

"Shane I've known you a long time. Two years ago you'd of drawn on those morons before they could blink."

He said nothing.

"But you're slower now, sluggish. You took a bullet before you even got your shit together." She admonished as she set the drip on the bag.

He still stayed silent.

"Shane do you really think you can-"

"You better not suggest I retire." He warned.

"Or you'll what?" She hissed.

Green eyes blazed against the cold grey, neither relenting.

Shane shut his eyes and sighed.

"You really think I don't know that I'm nowhere near my prime? You honestly think I don't flex my hands and feel how stiff they've gotten?" He whispered.

"You and I both know if you stopped right now you could retire in luxury." She said.

"I can't do that Nix... there's still... there's still good I can do." He sighed.

The rage in her eyes disappeared.

"You can still do good Shane, you're a damn good hunter an even better troop. You could be a ranger instructor a mentor at the lodge." She suggested.

"To hell with that." He growled.

She threw her hands up and scoffed.

"You're a stubborn man, and I feel for you right now. But I'm not cutting you loose. I'm gonna get the girl, I'm the best chance she has right now." She declared.

"No I said I'd save her! This job is mine!"

"You're in no shape to save a kitten from a tree. You don't need the caps."

"It isn't about the goddamn caps." He growled.

"Then what is it then? Your ego needs a boost? Does the high and mighty need to maintain his reputation?" She crossed her arms.

"That isn't what this is about."

"Then what the fuck is it about Shane? You tell me. Because from where I'm standing it just looks like her life is being used to sate your reputation." She spat.

It was silent, she expected rage, she expect shouting.

She didn't expect calm.

"You've seen the brand on my arm. You know damn well why I want to save her. I've lived through what she is right now, I spent the first half of my life that way."

For the first time since Nix had known him, Shane looked vulnerable.

"I need to do this, I prayed someone would come save me back then. If I can be that person for someone saying those same prayers, then I'll be living a life worth the freedom I fought for." He said, baritone laved with conviction.

Nix eyed him carefully, she knew bit and pieces about him, but never something as in depth.

She knew the meaning of his brand, and it made her heart ache at the revelation but still, her resolved remained.

"Your restraints are on a timer as soon as I leave. Once it runs out you'll be free to go and I'll be halfway to where she's at. Go home Shane, this isn't any of your concern anymore." Nix finalized.

He moved to protest but she silenced him with a kiss.

The Ranger went rigid but did not resist.

"This is for your own good." She whispered, "Me at one hundred percent is the best shot she has, not you, not now."

He clicked his tongue and she turned and she withdrew a syringe. She inserted it into his IV line and depressed the plunger.

Almost immediately, he began to fade away.

"Sweet dreams."

His eyes fluttered shut, and Nix sighed as she put the syringe into a biohazard container.

She didn't think having Shane over in her home for the first time would entail doping him up. She imagined something far more intimate instead of the medical emergency.

Luckily, she'd taken her prior profession as a medic very seriously, and her medical bay reflected that.

She left him unconscious, the cocktail of sedatives would keep him under and speed up his recovery at the same time. By the time he'd awaken, she might actually already have liberated the girl.

Wordlessly she shut the door to the room, and went to collect her gear.

An Auto-Doc had ruled out surgery after a full body scan, he had some souvenirs that he'd keep for the rest of his life.

The machine had found that Shane had several life threatening injuries from the scar tissue that remained. His right shoulder and thigh had bits of shrapnel in it, and a bullet was lodged through his chest and nearly out the back.

His armor had stalled its velocity, but hadn't stopped it from penetrating. If it was two inches to the left it would've pierced his aorta.

Maybe some divine power believed Shane had work to do as well, he should've been dead.

Nix was very grateful that despite all his obvious efforts to the contrary, he'd survived.

The woman was, after all, quite fond of the handsome idiot.

She grabbed her duffel bag, having packed it after getting Shane inside. It's contents were everything she needed and more for this endeavor.

She did a last glance at Shane's vitals, checked her gear one final time, and then ascended the ladder that exited her home.

It was a pre-war bunker, US military. From what the maps told her when she moved in, it was located on what was training land for the Nevada National Guard.

It was a mess when she'd first showed up, but luckily it was both isolated enough that she rarely had visitors, and close enough to civilization that she never went hungry.

The walk was uneventful, Stefan Hurst was even more so.

Her informant had told her she'd find him at the Casa Madrid in Westside. No surprise for a man wanted by the NCR to hide where troopers never roamed.

Pretty Sarah was an old friend, an old friend that had kept a decent eye out for anything the Huntress would find interesting.

As she entered the crumbling building, Nix grinned at the sight of Pretty Sarah.

"Nikki!" She smirked, embracing Nix.

"Hey battle how you been?" The Huntress greeted, embracing her friend.

"Not bad for a crispy, food is on the table." She jested with a low chuckle.

Nix didn't find it funny, the burn scars were everywhere.

"Are you sure you're alright? I can check you out-"

"Doc I'm fine, it's been awhile. But I know this is business not pleasure." Pretty Sarah sighed, giving Nix a soft look, "Besides I've got more strange on the market, so I've got more customers. I'm doing good for myself."

"I know... but if I hadn't gotten out I could've watched your back." Nix looked down at her boots.

"You did what you had to, just like you're about to now. He's upstairs, down the hall to your left." She said.

Nix only nodded, then hugged her friend again.

"I'll be back through here to see you again, promise." She whispered.

"Go kick some ass Doc Nikki." Her friend said smiling.

She strolled to his room and rolled her eyes as she heard the telltale giggle of an overacting working girl.

Nix was elated to ruin his night.

The door gave with a swift kick, the crack accented with a startled yelp.

The rodent looking man was half nude and when he moved for his pistol, Nix was faster.

"Ah ah..." She tutted.

He froze, and raised his hands, there went the only thing holding his trousers which pooled at his feet.

Nix stifled a laugh and gestured for him to sit.

Her eyes flicked to the girl giving her a good once over, she wasn't a threat, just a busty redhead.

"You've got a type Stefan, I'd of never have guessed." She joked, "Get the fuck outta here."

The girl was out the door, wordlessly collecting her skimpy garments.

"Who the hell are you?" He growled.

"You should've hired a dominatrix Hurst, you've been a naughty naughty boy... chems, guns, people... your merchandise is rather sinful." She teased, the pistol still leveled.

"So you uh... you know about dat?" She could see the beads of sweat form at the sight of her predatory smile.

"Oh yeah Stefan, I know all about you. But it's your lucky day."

"It is?"

"If you tell me what I wanna know, thing is buddy, I'm not after you. I'm after someone who might've pinged on your radar."

Relief washed over him, and he swept his greasy hair back.

"Okay pussycat I'll cooperate..."

"Good." She chirped.

"You can ugh... you can put that piece away."

"That's about as likely as you getting laid tonight." She grinned.

"What is it you wanna know?" He asked.

Nix sat in the chair adjacent to him, and crossed her legs. The pistol never left the man's head.

"Some time ago a raid was carried out in NCR territory. A slaver party went off with this girl."

Nix held up the photograph of Hannah.

"She's the kind of high value flesh I know men like you would salivate at." Nix spat.

"I've never seen her before."

Nix hissed as if in pain.

"Ouch Stefan, you see here I thought we were gonna be open and honest."

Nix thumbed back the hammer.

"Now I'm gonna have to hurt you." She said simply, taking aim.

"Hold up! Fuck wait!" He cried crying holding his hands up.

The pistol was suppressed, nobody in the brothel would be disturbed by wanton gunfire.

The bullet she fired severed Stefan's pinkie.

"Gah! God dammit! Ah you bitch!" He howled.

Nix was serene as she reclined.

"If you wanna keep fucking lying to me you've got nine more." She hissed.

"I'm not lying! I swear I'm not!" He cried, holding the bleeding stump.

"Where's the girl?" She sighed, irritation evident.

"I don't know where she is... but I got an idea!" He sobbed.

"Enlighten me."

"There's a crew that sounds like them, the kind of dudes that take valuable slave stock. They do requests ya know? Some guy wants an heiress all to himself and they're the ones to do it!" He explained.

"Where?" She asked.

"Legion territory! Utah! Somewhere near the border between Arizona and Utah..." He whimpered.

"See how simple and painless life is when you're honest?" She asked.

He grimaced and scowled at her, blood coated her hands.

Nix stood, dusted herself off and prayed she hadn't just sat in someone's bodily fluids.

As Nix turned to leave she heard a click.

"You fuckin' bitch you shot my finger off!"

He had brandished his revolver, Nix stared it down. He'd thumbed the hammer back and was ready to fire.

She wasn't a fast drawing desperado like Shane was, but she was by no means slow.

Her hand snapped up, and all she felt was a sting as she gripped the frame of the revolver. Her pinkie sat between the hammer and the firing pin.

"I have been very nice tonight but you are pushing your luck." She growled, twisting the gun in his hands until his grip faltered.

Once the revolver was free from his grasp, Nix hefted it.

"Nice piece." She chuckled.

The butt of the pistol connected with his left eye, and it popped like a grape.

He was a whimpering mess when he'd lost his pinkie, he was a screaming wreck now as he covered the ruined eye.

She felt like Shane would've liked that.

As Nix strode out of the brothel, she had an audience lining up the hallway. Whores of all flavors and clients of the same variety all glanced at the source of the screaming.

They didn't expect a 5'3 woman to be sauntering out with enough armament to make a Ranger squad giddy.

She smirked, she felt like a queen as she caused the eyes of some of the women to sparkle.

Maybe someday that'd be the push they needed to escape that life.

She knew all too well what it felt like to need that inspiration, especially in that line of work.

"Utah huh?" She mused.

No small walk.

Pretty Sarah gave her a brisk fist bump and a smile as Nix descended the final step to the second floor.

"You're the best doc, go get 'em."

Nix smiled over her shoulder and flashed a peace sign.

Nothing was in Utah anymore as far as she knew, the White Leg tribe had torched New Canaan. She'd heard Shane had something to do with that.

"Of course he did." She chuckled.

Nix and Shane had started their careers in freelance violence at roughly the same time. And she'd found that when it came to this neck of the woods his name had become household.

Nicole "Nix" Maxwell was another name that graced the pantheon of gunslingers, bounty hunters and mercenaries that Shane fell into.

But her fame had never been like his.

She'd had her fair share of exploits no doubt, but hers was amateur compared to his.

She'd both admired and reviled it, her bruised ego had made it so that she needed to compete with him but that inexplicable side idolized him.

There he was, the living embodiment of everything she wished she could be. That hyper-lethal status she craved like a junkie with a fix.

It was that high standard she held him to that made her so utterly disappointed in him recently.

Three years ago, Hannah would be safe and home by now.

Now? Shane had to step aside, and she had to take the reins.

Nix mused over the irony of this as she walked, she'd always wanted to beat Shane. They'd fought before, sparred occasionally.

But it turned out all along, that the best way to beat him was to wait.

She cared for him greatly, but her pride needed for her to win. She had to be on top, and now, she very much was.

As she covered the first few miles her mind deduced what she'd never thought she'd say.

Shane Walsh was not the best anymore.