Some Things Never Change

by The Great Wizzard

Courier Six has had enough. His companions have abandoned him, assassins hunt him wherever he travels, and despite everything he has done for the Mojave and it's people he has received no thanks and was even demonized for his actions. Alone in the Big Empty while trying to drown his worries in alcohol and chems, Six abandons his world only to find himself stuck in another.

3. 3 Gotcha!

Chapter 3: Gotcha!

-"Alright people, ETA is under two minutes. I want a last second comms check before Frost gets on all of our asses because we managed to screw up a simple job like this."-

-"Alpha 2, checking in."-

-"Alpha 3. No problems here."-

-"Alpha 4, comms still haven't gone down since the last time we checked five minutes ago."-

-"Alpha 4… can we not do this today?"-

-"Hey, I'm just following your lead Fred."-

-"SON OF A- you know what, fine. If anything goes wrong it'll be your ass being served to The Major, not mine."-

"Uhhh… is everything alright over there or should I just wait a bit longer until y'all have things settled here in a bit?"

-"Who the fu... who is… what? Who the fuck are you and how did you get on to this channel?"-

"Uhhh… I'm Private Boone and uhh… I was just kinda scrolling through my little doohickey here when all of a sudden I just heard a bunch of screaming while looking for a radio signal to help pass the time."

-"Son of a bitch."-

-"Leave it to someone who can't even keep our comms private to lead up be given the job of hunting down the biggest terrorist to grace Remnant since 21 showed up"-

"Heh, ain't that the truth? Why is it that all of the idiots seem to be put on top of things when all they seem to do is throw shit down on top of everyone else?"

-"Finally! Someone else gets what I'm talking about!"-

-"Careful, who knows if Frost is listening in on us too."-

"Forget Frost, what about the major you guys keep talking about? I'd take Frost over him any day of the week."

-"Are you just going to keep talking or are you going to stop fucking around so we can all do our jobs in peace?"-

"Uhh… maybe? Let me look at that note I have here with me. Just… just give me a moment. I know I left it around here somewhere..."

-"I like this guy."-

-"He's an idiot."-

-"He has to be smarter than you if he can manage to connect his scroll to our channel, even if it was an accident. "-

-"She's right. You took fifteen minutes to get it working."-

-"W-what does that have to do with anything?"-

-"And another ten to realize your mic wasn't connected to your headpiece."-

-"... I hate you. All of you."-

"Aww, thanks. Anyways, I'll take it that you're the guys that are being sent to take care of the little, uhh… 'problem' we got going on over here?"

-"I am not at liberty to discuss sensitive issues with you, so-"-

-"Would you happen to be referring to the massacre on Third Street on the west side of the Faunus District?"-

"Bingo. I suppose that would make you guys the specialists that we called in to take care of this 'Grimm Wanderer' guy. Guess I'll just go ahead and give you guys an update on the current situation now so you don't waste once you finally get here."

-"That won't be necessary. We were already briefed by Specialist Frost before departing and anything else that might have happened can be explained to us by your commander."-

"Uhh… I kinda think that'll be a problem."

-"What do you mean that will be a problem? Why on Remnant would that ever be an issue?"-

"Well for starters, they're dead. Got their whole head blown clean off while trying to scout the inside of the first floor of the abandoned repair shop the Grimm Wanderer is holed up in. Hell, that's the whole reason why we called you guys in the first place. Seeing someone's head painting the walls in a thin red paste really makes you think long and hard about what you should and shouldn't do if you want to have an open casket funeral."

-"That's why we're the experts and you're not, so if you would please stop-"-

-"Wait, what happened to your commander?"-

-"Oh come on! Stop interrupting me, we got things to do and places to be!"-

-"Yeah, like checking our comms for the eight time in one hour."-

-"Boone, ignore Fred. We need to know what happened. Keep talking."-

-"Oh not you too…"-

"Right… well, there isn't much to say. One second they're standing there saying the coast is clear and the next thing we know we hear a gunshot go off and a whole lot of bloody icicles are sent flying our way."

-"The Grimm Wanderer killed him in one shot? Impossible. I've never heard of a Semblance that was capable of ignoring aura."-

"Yeah well, if you want to see the impossible happen before you just have Alpha 1 play a game of peekaboo and see if that will finally shut him up."

-"Hey!"-

-"Are we sure we don't have another opening on the team? I really think we could use this guy for something if only to keep Fred here on his toes."-

"Oh, he's Fred? Thank you for telling me that, it'll save me some trouble later when I file a complaint on Alpha 1's horrible attitude for a guy just following his orders."

-"What the hell guys? Use the damn codenames!"-

"Dude… there's not much of a point using code names when you just number everyone off like you did. Not unless you're the kind of person that needs to use their fingers to count that is."

-"He's right."-

-"Told you the codenames were a stupid idea, Fred."-

-"N-No they're not!"-

-"They are when you don't even bother doing anything more creative than counting to four."-

"The lady's got a point, Fred. Codenames hardly matter when you do them like that. If you started at something like Alpha Six so that way anyone listening in thought there were at least five more of you guys somewhere, then that would be a little more impressive. As it is right now it is really painful listening to this."

-"Hah hah, I can't believe it! You're getting told off by one of the grunts!"-

-"Hah hah."-

-"...heh."-

-"Will you idiots stop laughing? Come on! We're supposed to be professionals!"-

"I think I see why this guy you're supposed to handle was able to roam around for as long as he has now if your leader here is everything he says he is..."

-"Don't worry Boone, just because he's an idiot doesn't mean he lacks this skills to make him our leader."-

-"That's why we're a team. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses."-

-"That's right big guy. You're the brawn, I'm the brass, she's the brains, and our glorious leader is the bait."-

-"Oh fuck this. I'm going silent until we arrive.-

"So long sucker, you will not be missed."

-"Stole the words right out of my mouth."-

"-So Boone…"-

"Private Boone, ma'am. We do need to at least stay somewhat professional, right?"

-"Oh, we SO have to get this guy as a reserve or something. There is no way someone that can talk as much shit as him can suck at fighting."-

"Thanks for the offer, I might have to take you up on that once all of this is over. Maybe we can do a little bit of *ahem* private 'training' afterwards too if you're up for it"

-"Save the flirting for later you two, we have a job to do right now. Is there anything else you can tell us that we need to know, Private?"-

"Yeah, we managed to flush the Grimm Wanderer out of the first floor and on to the second one after firing a few potshots at him once he managed to kill Sam- err, I mean our commander. We would have taken him down then and there if it wasn't for all the gasoline we saw while readying another volley. While we were all really wanting to kill the bastard for what he did to us, setting half of the city on fire while doing so ain't something we want to explain to Frost or anyone else who might have a few things to say about us doing that. I'd really recommend that you guys take the stairs up to the second floor and flush him out since there is no rooftop access to the building… at least, not unless you feel like tearing a hole through the roof and risk going up in a ball of smoke and fire."

-"Understood. We should be arriving there momentarily, so once we get there be sure to issue the order to clear the streets so no possible sympathizers can cause any problems for us."-

"Actually, I can't really do that since I took a hit earlier. I've uhh… kinda been waiting for the medics to check up on me so I don't bleed out this whole time."

-"Oh."-

"Yeah, I couldn't stop every single bullet he fired at me and one of them tore through my leg. That's the whole reason i've been playing around with the radio before finding you guys, actually."

-"Why are you still here talking to us instead of going somewhere to get yourself to a doctor?"-

"I did the moment I got the go-ahead once we heard that back-up was arriving. Had to limp my sorry ass over a half mile only to be placed on a gurney and I've been waiting for help ever since."

-"Damn. And I thought my leader was the only one that sucked..."-

"You and me both. Oh and before I forget, I don't think you have to worry about any stragglers messing things up. Last I saw, the others were rounding people up before anyone else got any wise ideas after we lost half of our patrol. You also might want to brace yourselves when you finally see what the Grimm Wanderer did to us. It wasn't pretty. Now if you excuse me, I think I just heard one of the field medics walk by my room and I'd rather not let anyone else have to hear what I have to say to that son of a bitch for making me wait so long."

-"Good luck Boone. I hope we can meet you in person once all of this is over."-

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about it. I think we'll be seeing each other soon enough regardless of how things go from here on out."

---

Four heavily armed Hunters leaped out of the car that drove up to the barricaded section of the city. These were the only people that had been given the privilege, or perhaps punishment, of dealing with the threat plaguing the city that had finally resurfaced. To most, they were simply veterans who had served the army long enough to earn the title of 'Hunters' as a testament to all the fights and missions they had been through. For those that knew exactly what these four had would have made sure to avoid one of the more unruly squads of Hunters that Mantle had at its disposal. Simply known as The 117, they had only just come under Specialist Frosts command and for their first real mission in weeks they were here attempting to subdue one of the most elusive threats their kingdom has faced.

Their leader was the first one to depart from their vehicle, clutching a rifle firmly in his hands as he did so. He was a man that wore the scowl on his face far better than the helmet that failed to cover it. Whatever had been bothering him would have made him look no better than a common thug if it hadn't been for the sleek white uniform that he and his teammates were wearing.

Following him were two women, the first one that followed him wore an all white bodysuit that covered everything her regular uniform didn't and was carrying a sniper rifle almost as large as her. Her apparel wasn't practical for the desert city she was posted in, but a mix of stubborn refusal to change and familiarity that the outfit brought made the heat of wearing it tolerable.

The woman next to her carried only a pistol and hooked dagger and had a much more relaxed look to her as opposed to the tense sniper beside her. The two could not have looked any more different from each other if they tried, one being the spitting image of a coldhearted sniper and the other smiling like mad as she twirled her knife paying no head to her partner's cold glare.

The last member of the group that trailed behind them was a towering brute of a man who held a hammer that was almost as tall as their leader and looked heavy enough to crush him in a single swing. He was at least a foot taller than the teammates he looked down on and studied the scene that they had all walked out to see the carnage that was right in front of them.

Eleven bodies were laid before them, each one wearing a bloodstained uniform that looked not unlike their. Every one of them looked like they had been torn apart by a wild animal from the large gashes and missing body parts each one of the corpses possessed. The giant of the group grimaced at the sight at the condition of his countrymen while the others looked on with little more than passive indifference at both the bodies and scattered limbs beside them.

The sniper was the first one that dared to say anything about the bodies before them, carefully taking note of how excessively mangled the bodies were. "Looks like Boone wasn't kidding about what our target did here, Alpha 1. This really-"

"Oh, I thought you said the codenames were a stupid idea Linda?" Their leader, Fred, interrupted as he spoke for the first time since being belittled by his team.

"Are we really going to be doing this now Fred?" Linda asked him, clearly annoyed that he chose now of all times to speak his mind.

"I don't know, are we?" He teased. It was obvious to anyone watching that he was trying to pick a fight with the sniper. It was most obvious to her, but even so she felt obligated to teach him a lesson about entering a battle of wits unarmed.

Before the argument between the two could continue, both of them felt a large hand grasp their shoulders tight enough to hold them still without hurting them but with a clear lack of effort that told them that could change at a moment's notice. Even with their aura protecting them, neither wanted to risk annoying a man who could crush a Beowolf's skull with his bare hands.

"Stop arguing. We have a job to do." Came a low, deep voice from the giant man behind them.

"John's right. As much as I would like to see you kick his ass, we have more important things to do right now. Maybe once all of this is over we can get a few of the new recruits to take bets on how badly you beat him." Said the last member of the team as she finally decided to break her silence to remind her partners of how childish they were behaving. Just because she was chiding them didn't mean she was above trying to escalate their current argument.

"Stop egging them on Kelly. One fight at a time, remember?" John said as he fixed his stare on her.

With all of their arguments ended for the time being and the few protests that the group had been discouraged after seeing how tightly John was gripping his hammer, everyone in The 117 was free to notice a panicked looking soldier sprinting towards them. He looked young and full of fear, but much more so than most other recruits that they were used to seeing. It was clear from his trembling arms and frenzied eyes that he had seen something that few other soldiers did. Considering the mangled bodies that they had been greeted with upon exiting their transport, it was easy to tell why the man running up to them looked so distraught.

"Thank the Brothers you guys are here! You guys must be the backup that was called in to save our asses." He said between heavy breaths as he recovered from both his earlier sprint and whatever was gnawing at his mind.

"We were already briefed by one of your people who were sent away for medical treatment. We'll bag this sick son of a bitch in no time." Fred said as he and the rest of his team continued past the hapless soldier who approached them.

"Come on people, we already know what to expect so let's get in and get this over with already!" He shouted as the soldier that ran up to him tried to follow behind them.

"I didn't even tell you what the hell this guy is capable of!"

"You don't need to. Your comms officer has already told us everything we need to know on the way here." Linda said as she studied the boarded up building intently before stepping away from her teammates.

"But we don't have-"

"I'll set up on one of the rooftops on the other side of the street. If any of you are able to break a hole through the windows and can give me a line of sight on our target, then I'll try to drop him the first chance I get. Otherwise, I'll wait until one of you are able to tag him with hard light dust or if you manage to flush him back out into the streets to see if I can't drop him then." She continued as she broke away from her team towards the opposite side of the street.

"I was just about to suggest that." Fred said, before adding, "And make sure that you don't kill our target. The Major wants him brought in alive and Frost made it very clear what would happen if any accidents, 'unfortunate' or not, were to lead to his death. I think I speak for all of us when I say that I don't want to be the one to explain exactly how and why we managed to mess up bringing in a single person alive."

"A single person that can make an entire army look like a bunch of idiots." Kelly added, earning a scowl from both Fred and John.

"Most of them are only new recruits. They haven't fought Grimm, let alone another person before." John said in defense of his fellow countrymen, one of which continued to listen to them in fascination at how relaxed they were.

"I-If you guys really think you can kill him then I suppose that must be why you were called in to take down the Grimm Wanderer, but I really think you should hear what our leader has to say about-"

"Didn't you already hear us? We already got briefed by one of your guys who got taken away to the medics when your commander was killed. Now stand back already before we end up using you as bait." Fred growled, interrupting the soldier once again.

"What do you mean? They're waiting for you over there!" He exclaimed, his cry going ignored once again as the others continued onwards.

"We will be fine. You won't be if you don't back off." John said, his naturally deep voice and imposing stature proving to be intimidating enough to have the soldier finally back away from him and his team and rush back to whatever he had been doing earlier.

*sigh* "This is why I want to retire once the year is over. Not only is this city turning out to be nothing more than a meat grinder, but the higher ups keep on sending the new recruits here before they even finish their basic training. It's like someone is trying to get us all killed." Fred complained as he peered inside of the shattered door in front of him. He had his weapon drawn and ready to fire just in case their target had something special planned or was waiting nearby while John and Kelly stood behind him.

Seeing nothing out of the ordinary beyond the the shattered remains of the door a few feet in front of him, he quickly took a step inside the abandoned building and scanned his surroundings for any signs of traps or their target. Feeling satisfied upon seeing nothing suspicious lying amongst the dusty tools and gas cans, he motioned for his teammates to follow behind him.

"Damn, this must be where their commander was killed." Kelly said as she broke off from the group towards something she had been staring at ever since she entered the building.

"Yeah, must be. Let's check this floor for any traps first before we move towards the next floor. Who knows what this guy could have been doing in the time it took us to get here." Fred said as he proceeded to scan the scattered remnants that the old repair shop's owners left behind.

"Hey Fred! Kelly found something." John shouted as he focused his attention on Kelly who was kneeling on the ground and inspecting something that laid just out of their sight.

"Let me guess, is it another severed limb?" Fred asked with a clear hint of annoyance as he made his way over towards her.

"No, it's blood. A lot of it." She said, inspecting the massive section of bloodstained stone in front of her.

"Guess we know where our late commander was killed now, not that that helps us out any." Fred said as he saw just how much blood had been spilled.

"I don't think this blood is from the commander." She said as she raised a blood soaked needle in front of her leader and John.

"Unless they somehow were able to fool last week's drug tests, I think these are both from the Grimm Wanderer." Kelly said as she picked up one of the needles in her hand and attempted to read the ruined label on it to no avail.

"Wait, what?"

"Frost briefed us about how this guy is using experimental drugs to replicate certain semblances, remember? If this is what he was using to inject them, then he probably was hurt far worse than any of the guys outside thought if he was bleeding this badly. If these are all supposed to activate some sort of healing semblance or recover his aura, then I think our Grimm Wanderer was a lot closer to death then we thought." Kelly answered.

"Hold on a moment. Are you saying that the guy who ran in guns blazing into the middle of our barracks while we were guarding some bigshot, the same guy that came out without a single scratch on him is because he was too drugged up for anyone to hurt him? Doesn't that mean our Grimm Wanderer nearly had his ass handed to him by a couple of recruits on patrol before running in here?" Fred asked, the disbelief in his voice obvious but not without some doubt behind it.

"Frost said whatever he was using was strong, strong enough to reattach severed limbs. If our target can do that, then what's the worst that a few bullets could do to him? I know I wouldn't be afraid of anything if I could do that." John said, giving his own explanation to his leader's question.

"That still doesn't explain how the guy somehow became Vacuo's most wanted man!" Fred said, completely disregarding his own complaints about the competency of most of Mantle's troops moments earlier.

"He can ignore bullets, tear people apart with a hatchet, and is out of his mind after taking too many drugs." John said bluntly, silencing whatever counterargument Fred had ready for him as he thought how all three of those would make someone an unstoppable serial killer.

"That... actually makes a lot of sense." Kelly said as she too thought about what the usually quiet member of the team said.

"Wait, if that's the case then why the hell hasn't he just shot up and started another rampage?" Fred said as he started considering what his team's current theory behind the Grimm Wanderer's power meant.

-"They're drugs, right? Anything that has to be injected in your body through a needle can't be healthy for you. Not when you're using it to push your body past it's limits like our target has."- Linda said, adding her own thoughts into the discussion over their comms.

"Linda, I think you're onto something. This guy practically vanished from Vacuo half a day ago. He must have been experiencing some sort of side-effect from all the shit he has been injecting himself with." Fred said, before frowning at the next thought to cross his mind. "But why hasn't he gone on another rampage if he has already recovered?"

"Maybe he hasn't?" John suggested, believing his team to have a better answer that he did.

A brief silence of no such answers being voiced passed before The 117's leader attempted to rally his team once more.

"Well, if that's the case then let's not give this son of a bitch time to recover. I can't seem to find any traps that he left behind, although it does look like he tried moving a few things around to fortify this floor before abandoning it." Fred said as he looked back at several objects that looked like they had been moved recently. "He might have set something up on the next floor, so keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. Linda, are you in position yet?"

"Yes."

"Good. John, you take point once we reach the second floor. Kelly, you watch our flanks and I'll cover our rear. We'll inspect every room before moving on to make sure this bastard doesn't ambush us." Fred said as he motioned for his team to follow behind him once more.

"Wouldn't it be faster if we split up and search for him?" Kelly asked, the annoyance at having to follow so closely behind her obvious to everyone.

"It would be a lot faster to find him, just as it would be a lot easier for him to pick us off one by one. Also..."

*Smack*

"HEY!"

"Don't go off on your own again. I'd rather not die in some horrible way like those guys outside of here did." Fred said as he pulled back his hand after whacking Kelly in the back of the head. He shuddered for a moment as the image of that one corpse with an axe firmly lodged it's crotch came to mind.

"Oh, so you finally admit you are afraid of something for once?" Kelly teased as she rubbed the back of her head.

"I'm not afraid, I just don't any of us getting killed because of a stupid little mistake." Fred said with enough uncertainty that even he couldn't take himself seriously. Even so, the point he made still stood.

"Understood. I'll-"

*CLOMP* *CLOMP* *Clomp* *Clomp* *Clomp* *Clomp* *Clomp*

"Don't move. He's right above us." Fred said as he motioned for his team to keep quiet.

-"AAARRRGGGHHH… dammit. It'll only be a matter of time until one of these guys gets smart and tries poking their head in here again. I need more time to get everything ready for these guys. I'm so lucky none of them tried coming in here yet. Still need to to get everything ready."- Came a muffled voice from above them once the sounds of something heavy moving around upstairs fell silent..

"And he doesn't know that we're here yet." Kelly whispered to her teammates.

"Doesn't anyone find it suspicious that he started-" *kzzzzzzt* Linda had been about to warn her team of something, but her warning was cut short when she lost her connection to the rest of her team.

"Linda? Say that again, whatever you were saying was cut off." Fred said as he tried changing the strength of his earpiece despite his earlier ineptitude.

The only reply he got was the continued static from the sniper's end as he tried reconnecting with her. If she could hear him right now, then whatever she was saying was lost to the rest of her team now that static was the only thing that was coming from her. The rest of his team seemed to have the same problem that he did, as they could neither hear nor speak to Linda given the concerned look on their faces.

"Dammit. This is why I wanted to do another comms check." Fred said he shook his head. He thought about chastising his team about his earlier insistence at making sure their comms worked, but thought better of bringing up now and creating any unnecessary distractions.

"Looks like we'll be going without our overwatch, not until she figures out that we aren't receiving her signal." He said before focusing his attention on his giant partner. "John, you take the lead. We'll cover you."

Hearing the go ahead from his leader, John led his team with a slow, deliberate pace as he made his way to the stairs at the back of the room. Before he started his climb up, he noticed several tiny metal cylinders scattered across them that halted his progress. He didn't know what they were, and he was damned if he was going to find out they were some sort of weapon the hard way.

"Did you find something else?" Fred asked as he saw John lean down and carefully pick up one of the small metal objects lying before him.

"Bullets. Small rounds… just the cases?" John said as he eyed the brass hulls below his feet.

"Probably some trash was left behind by whoever owned this place or from our target when he made his way to the next floor. We should assume that our target is still armed if he is able to carelessly throw around stuff like this. Check your corners to make sure he doesn't take your head off like the last guy to try poking his head in here." Fred said as he urged the giant of a man in front of him onwards.

There were more bullet cases littered on the stairs above him, almost enough to act as a poorly concealed means of tripping them up given their number. All it took was a quick sweep of his feet for John to give himself and his team a clear path to follow upstairs.

The room they climbed into was mostly barren, aside from connecting to a lone hallway leading towards the front of the building and a crate covered in a dark, black dust that looked out of place compared to how clean the rest of the room was. Even though the trio could barely make out their surroundings as the only light came from the moonlight leaking through the boarded up windows, barely illuminating anything, John and the others could still clearly see a trail of metal scraps and bullet cases leading down the hallway to a closed door at the end.

The trio quickly filed into the room, scanning it for any potential threats that might have been ready to greet them from somewhere in the dim corners despite knowing that who they were looking for waited at the other end of the hall. With nothing but the powdery crate daring to stand up to their brief show, they trio proceeded to slowly move in formation as they moved towards the hallway and checked each room for their target despite knowing he would be waiting for them at the end of the trail that he left behind.

"Anyone else feel like this is somehow going to blow up in our faces?" Fred mused, still unnerved at how easy everything was currently going.

"Was it the obvious trail or the fact that our target is a mass murdering psychopath that is making you nervous?" Kelly replied.

"Both. This feels way too easy." He answered, not giving in to the obvious attempt to rile him up."

-"Why the hell isn't it working? I should be back on feet ready to go killing again instead of waiting around."- Came a voice from the room from across the hall.

The only person any of them knew it could come from was the Grimm Wanderer coming from the very room the trail of cases led to. Despite wanting to rush in and take him by surprise, Fred held his team back and motioned for them to check the other rooms that the trail had ignored before moving forwards. Whether it was to check for any other entrances they could use to ambush or their growing paranoia, they decided to follow his command regardless. Even if they were fighting only one man, sometimes that was all it took to make a difference in a matter of life and death and none of them wanted to give the Grimm Wanderer any advantages that they couldn't hold over him themselves.

The first room that they checked held nothing more than a few chains idly hanging from hooks mounted on the walls and roof. The rest of the room was completely barren with whatever those chains had once held more than likely disposed of by the building's previous owner or stolen by the locals.

Opposite of the empty room was a storage room filled with a large number of crates that had been recently thrown across the room. A quick glance revealed no traces of the Grimm Wanderer beyond an obvious attempt to ransack the area for anything valuable. The crates that they did find that were already open were filled with nails, power tools, and other objects that were also scattered across the floor. What he could have wanted with a handful of nails or and power tools without the proper Dust to power them was beyond their understanding, but they all remained weary of whatever weapons he possibly used to pry them open.

The room beside that one was an utter mess and there were crates large enough to hide a body scattered similarly to the previous one. None of the ones that looked large enough to hide in showed any signs of being opened, but that did not mean that nothing else had been taken from the room either. Given how lightly this room had been touched, Fred and his team could only assume their target had found what he was looking for in here… whatever that might have been.

They could also tell that something had been crushed underneath several of the crates that were gathered in the middle of the room, but paid no attention to it. If it hadn't been worth the Grimm Wanderer's time to free, then it certainly wasn't worth theirs. They gave that room all the attention it deserved before approaching the final room that their trail didn't lead to

Unlike the others before it, this one had been locked shut. A simple swing from John's hammer proved better than any key at gaining entry as the old wooden door burst into splinters under the force the mighty weapon was swung with. The only thing that laid inside was the ruined remains of the door they had just broken through to gain entry. A sheepish look was shared between them as they collectively lowered their weapons and set their eyes on the final room they had yet to check, the one with a trail of brass breadcrumbs that screamed 'obvious trap' that they had heard their target talking from earlier. This one was also locked, and John prepared to break it open just as he had the other one now that there was nowhere left for their target to hide.

Fred stepped in front of John just as the giant was about to break down another door with his mighty hammer, nearly getting himself batted through the door for his sudden action. Luckily for everyone involved, John was able to stop himself mid swing just before disaster struck his leader.

"What's wrong? Having second thoughts now that you're the guy who is going to get shot first?" Kelly chided, making sure to keep her voice low as when she chewed out her leader over their comms.

"If this isn't some sort of elaborate death trap, then we are dealing with the greatest idiot that ever lived." Fred said as he moved John behind him and slowly pushed the door in front of him open.

The moment the door was wide enough for him to take a step through the gap, an act he was tempted to do before recalling the fallen commander's fate before deciding against it, he had one his previous suspicions proven correct. A loud bang pierced through the silence that had surrounded the Hunters as several dagger sized icicles were embedded into the wooden door and nearly tore through it, stopping just scant inches away from his face. Fred let out a short yelp as he fired back through the door on reflex alone at having come so close to getting shot.

"Son of a bitch!" Shouted the Grimm Wanderer as his cry of pain was accompanied by the sound of something collapsing to the floor.

Not wanting to waste the opportunity in front of them and knowing that any further attempts at remaining stealthy were pointless, the trio burst through the doorway to the sound of laughter as they entered the vacant room. Aside from a few small packages covered in scrap metal and nails, a shotgun tied to the door with it's barrel still letting off an icy mist, and a radio that had fallen off of the bullet ridden table it had previously been standing on, the room was completely empty. The rigged shotgun was the only sign that their target had been here, and knowing the locals, even that wasn't enough proof he had ever been here.

"What the hell? Where is he? We just heard him" Kelly said as she scanned several of the packages that had been thrown haphazardly in the middle of the room, keeping her weapon drawn just in case he had somehow replicated her own semblance in order to remain hidden.

The only entrance to the room was the doorway that they just stormed through was behind them. The saw nothing, invisible or otherwise attempt to enter or leave and a creeping doubt slowly grew amongst them as they stared at the only way in and out of the room.

"Guys… I got a bad feeling about this." John said as he tightened the grip on his hammer and took a wide stance, ready to crush anything that approached him under the weight of his mighty weapon.

"Same here. We must have missed a room after hearing him talk to us through that radi- oh..." Fred replied as he recalled the black dust he had seen scattered about in the hallway and the many empty bullet casings they had walked past.

"Shit."

That was the only thing he could say upon seeing just how many packages and sharp metal objects were lying around him as the realization of what he and his team had just walked into.

-"Gotcha."- Said the Grimm Wanderer, his voice coming from the radio just as clearly as it had been earlier.

---

Alex felt the shockwave from the explosion before he saw the plume of smoke and debris it created rise high above the streets in front of him.

"Oh… I hope that wasn't Julia who did that." Was all he could managed to say as he watched the cloud slowly block out the shattered moon's form from the rooftop he had been waiting on top of for several hours now.

Although he hadn't been expecting to be waiting for a response from his most valuable asset for more than an hour knowing her skill, Alex had spent almost an entire day waiting for her to reply after sending her to make contact with the new piece that had entered the playing field. Apparently disappearing into thin air was only one of the many talents that this newest piece, or perhaps player if it was more than just a hapless pawn. Well, that was besides whatever skills had aided it in its three day rampage against what was most likely their common enemy. The Grimm Wanderer had already proven himself to be unmatched in his disruptive talents regarding Mantle's attempts to take control of the city, so much so that The Major himself had apparently sent out a team of Hunters to deal with the new threat rather than focusing them on the Spirit of Vacuo once more.

All Alex could do was laugh at how one man had done more damage to Mantle in three days than he or any of his other assets and allies had done in three years. While it was true that they were not as well equipped or trained than he would have liked them to be, his ace included, he did like to think that the organization he had been leading wasn't outclassed in both of those areas by a single person.

Regardless, thinking about the possibilities that the Grimm Wanderer would open up for him was pointless if his agent didn't manage to secure him. The thought that the man he had assigned her to bring back or kill turning against everything he had worked so hard for… that was something that Alex didn't dare to think about. Not when he was so close after years of work and decades of planning.

All he could do was watch, wait… and hope that Julia wasn't somehow involved in whatever had caused that massive explosion now that the night sky was coming alive with activity now that Mantle's full fury had been awoken once more.

---

Holy shit. I can't believe that actually worked. And some people say that Party Time Mentats aren't any more useful than the regular ones! HAH! Just because they make you a one devilish smoothtalker doesn't mean they don't make you any less smart...er.

Eh, screw it. I can't be bothered with something small like that right now. My genius isn't worth fixing a simple grammar mistake like that when I could instead appreciate what my little trap had done to those blasted assassins I blew up.

Before I could survey what kind of masterpiece I had created this time, I first had to push off the couple of crates that I intentionally dropped on myself as a disguise after making some noise to lure my very own assassination squad to me. They were getting way too close to knowing Drunk Me as well as I did and from then it would have only been a matter of time until they figured out what regular me would have been thinking afterwards. I really didn't want them to figure out the trap I had laid out for them and I really was pressed for ideas on how to lure them upstairs and needed to draw them to me fast. My old habit of stomping around while trying to think of something must have shifted a load bearing crate or something because the moment I put my foot down a whole pile of crap came tumbling down on me..

Not only did it nearly break my spine and create the necessary distraction to lure those idiots where I wanted them, it was also the perfect camouflage too. I mean, what kind of person would willingly be buried under a half dozen crates filled with who knows what just to not be found? Uhh… besides me of course. They certainly thought I wasn't crazy enough to do that to myself, so I guess it all worked out in the end.

After dragging my sorry rear out from under a couple hundred pounds of worthless junk, I gave myself some time to check my new gear for any scratches as I waited for the dust to settle after detonating the trap I lured them into. My inspection didn't take long, thankfully I had that going for me since the boxes nearly screwing me over made the first bit of good news I found all the sweeter. There were no more than a couple of scratches that were probably already there to begin with the weapons I cobbled together with the junk I found laying around here. Nothing else was really wrong with them aside from that, but I still gave them a thorough inspection just in case. That one Fred guy or whatever that assassination squad's leader was called did make a good point about how important it was to make sure your gear was working properly to prevent anything going wrong, not that his advice helped him out any.

As the dust continued to settle and I was left to bask in my victory I couldn't help but to laugh at how a tinful of whiskey infused chems helped end this fight before it even began. Once again I had proved that drugs, I mean Chems, were a perfectly valid answer to life's problems. They weren't a 'good' answer or a 'healthy' one, but it's always nice to know that there's something that you can rely on when the chips are down and the cards are stacked against your favor.

I mean… sure, I was definitely going to pay for this later since Party Time Mentats would always make my alcohol and mentat cravings come back worse than usually did, but since I was already addicted to half a dozen chems beforehand it wasn't going to make that much of a difference anyways.

Probably.

Hopefully...

Anyways, as much as I hate to admit it, eavesdropping on those guys while they were on route to the building I was holed up in wasn't anything intentional. No use in patting myself on the back for something that I hadn't been planning to do, right? At least, I hadn't been thinking about doing that when I was trying to find a radio station to listen to while setting up my little surprise for the lucky idiots sent to kill me.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that not a single radio channel that was being used by these 'Mantle' people, or anyone else for that matter, was secured. I was curious, one thing led to another, and I managed to start chatting up my own assassination squad with them being none the wiser. Hell, once I popped one of the last few tins of Party Time Mentats I had on me one of them was apparently starting to fall for my 'hapless fool that accidentally fell face first into success' act. It was certainly enough to bullshit my way past any of the finer details and inconsistencies of my story that most other people would have picked up on.

Now I know I have no ground to stand on when it comes to making stupid decisions regarding technology, but wow… not even security systems back in the Mojave were this horrendous. People from before the war were apparently dumber than a sack of bricks since the guys in charge of IT and security never thought to use passwords that had numbers, non-english characters… or you know, ANYTHING OTHER THAN COMMON WORDS. It truly was a wonder why great-great-great-great grandpa nuked the world a million times over when he thought 'Guest' was a good enough password to keep the launch codes he used to doom the world from being used by anyone other than himself. Seeing this kind of stupidity in Europe, a place that was infinitely better off than we were back home from only what I have already seen really made Klein of all people seem SMART, and that's really saying something!

Even Fantastic was better than that, and he was a complete idiot! Sure… he was an idiot that managed to sweet talk his way into the easy life and make you wonder what the hell the people who hired him were thinking, but an idiot all the same.

It took every bit of my self restraint to play the part of a hapless soldier trying to help out as best as he could instead of throwing around whatever insults I could think of to these idiots. It certainly paid off too, and thanks to the special Mentats doing more than enough work to counteract the chems in my system I sounded sort of like how Ganon did. At least, I sounded as competent as him and was silver tongued enough to bullshit the more technical stuff. Ah those were the days…

Arcade was kind, careful not to be offensive but came off as a complete dick because of it, and able to reel in a conversation before it got him into too much trouble. I'd like to think I had that part of him nailed down. Well, aside from the whole 'being able to kiss ass and sound sciencey enough like him and bullshit my way into gaining those idiots' trust so I can stab them in the back later' thing. I wonder how Ganon felt before abandoning me after I went through hell and back for him?

If it was anything like I felt now, then I can see why he stuck around me for so long. It feels SO GOOD being the smar… cleverest person in the room. I'm clever, but nowhere close to being smart. There's a definite difference between the two, and there is no way I can claim being the smartest person alive unless everyone else was dead. I definitely don't want to claim that title either after seeing what became of the last few holders of that position back in Big Mountain.

Now, I do have to admit that I about had a panic attack when some random trooper that was way smarter than he had any right to be tried to sabotage my plan by bringing them to speak with their commander. Back when I was chatting those assassins up I figured that since I wiped out about half of their people that odds were that their commander was one of the bodies I laid out earlier, but NOOOOOO! Nothing ever goes in my favor when it comes to luck, I swear.

Thankfully Fred and his lackeys all had too high of an opinion of themselves to listen to what he had to say. Good thing too, since they never did catch on to what I was doing until the very end. After hearing about how they were packing some serious heat against a guy who was only armed with a lousy pistol, a shotgun that shoots ice, and a big ass knife, I wasn't feeling good about my chances in a straight up fight. Seeing the massive hammer that screamed penis envy that the giant of the group was carrying only made me much more confident in how to deal with them. That thing dwarfed your typical super sledge, and that was really saying something.

I mean, I wasn't afraid or anything… but since I still kinda felt terrible and only had the few weapons I could fashion from the spare parts and other goodies lying around the place i didn't feel like taking any unnecessary risks. Speaking of which…

Those satchel charges I whipped up were a real stroke of genius. Sure, it might have been risky to use something other than pistol powder to make them, but since I was practically an expert when it came to explosives thanks to all the times I have gotten blown up, I figured the worst thing that could happen was that I leveled the whole building and limped away from the blast. Thankfully that didn't happen, because even though I knew how best to free myself when trapped under a collapsed building that didn't mean I particularly wanted to go through that experience again this week… or ever for that matter.

I had a lot of spare ammo I was never going to use that I broke down to make those satchel charges, and since me and full auto weapons never did seem to get along too well, that meant I had a lot of resources to work with. Since a little bit of gunpowder going off didn't seem like it would be enough to take down a couple of psykers if they were somehow able to defend themselves against the force of a couple dozen charges going off, I added a little extra something that I remember Raul telling me about once. If we ever got back on speaking terms, or he at least doesn't try to shoot me the next time he sees me, I'll have to thank him for telling me just how much damage a couple of nails could do.

Long nails and short ones, iron and steel , twisted or straight, ready to be sent flying after a little help from the satchel charge I stuck them into or twisted into a few others to make a whole lot of caltrops, all the things a couple of nails could do was truly amazing. And that was before you took someone that could jury rig just about anything that could put the 'gun' in nail gun…

It's a shame that I wasn't able to use the weapon that I geniusly test fired in my foot to discover that it did indeed penetrate what a 10mm couldn't... the target in question being both my foot and the floor beneath it. Whether the effort it took to pull the blasted thing out was because of how well the gun was made or from me removing a few safety features is anyone's guess. I'd like to think I'm just that awesome when it comes to making weapons out of random objects.

I also wasn't able to use my new chain fist that I made by wrapping a few feet of metal chains that I found lying about around my right arm. It was… well, it was pretty much like a bear trap fist but without the bear trap. Not the most devastating weapon, I know, but since a missing bear trap was the only difference between this and the weapon that got me out of the Sierra Madre alive I felt fairly confident that it could get the job done. Certainly not the best gear I could have had with me, but it was definitely an improvement over the complete and utter brahmin shit that I had before nearly having my ass handed to me a while ago.

And I'm swearing again. I thought I was starting to sound a little less smarterer now. Guess that means those mentats finally wore off. That's a damn shame. Now I can't do… the thing… I was supposed to do…

Shit… what was I going to do?

Well, I guess if I can't remember whatever it was then there was no way it was worth remembering anyways. There were plenty of other things I could do and kill. Mostly kill if I were to take a guess.

With the thought of murdering the next thing I saw becoming more and more entertaining and my mind screaming for another tin of Mentats that I couldn't afford to use now, I did my best to focus on the fresh kills over in the next room. I had no idea if the assassins' bodies were salvageable, but I started making my way over there all the same as the dust was still settling down to the point that I could finally see just how much damage I caused.

Now, while I was expecting some of the room to have been disorganized from my 'explosive' remodeling, the sight of the roof and walls now laying on the floor in a broken mess was a lot more than I was inspecting. Hell, I could see the entire street and the few soldiers that had stayed behind until now running for their lives now that there was nothing but open space between us and a mess of broken wood and concrete at my feet! I don't know how the wall separating my room from theirs was still standing, and I took one quick look to see that yes, it was starting to sag a bit. That joke about collapsing the whole building on top of me suddenly felt a lot less funny now that I saw how close I came to making that happen.

Not wanting to see if that sniper was still waiting to put a third bullet in my head or how much longer the place could stand up with only three walls supporting it, I rushed over to the rubble and started sifting through it for anything useful. Since the dead didn't have any need for stuff like weapons, wallets, or anything else I could sell for a quick cap I did my best to make sure I gave these corpses all the respect they deserved. That big guy that was built like a super mutant but looked far too human to be one was carrying a fucking huge ass hammer was the only one I was wanted to find because of the compensator he had for his small little dick.

I'm… fairly confident in my dick size but even I felt a little jealous seeing that big thing earlier. The hammer, I mean. Not… oh, forget it.

Unfortunately, there was a fuckton of stuff all over the floor that I would have to dig through. Whether or not it was a literal fuckton was something that had yet to be seen, although there was no way I would stick around that long and find out and earn a bullet to the head for taking the time to find out. I really wished the damn thing could have just come out and smacked me so i could save myself the trouble of digging around for it.

The world and Lady Luck must have been reading my mind the moment I made that little wish, because just like the jackasses in Vegas I asked for favors, I got exactly what I asked for in the form of the hammer I was looking for swinging straight towards me. The only thing I had time to do was to keep my teeth closed so that way I wouldn't accidentally bite off one of the few pieces of my head that I didn't get replaced with metal yet once it hit me.

"Son of a…" Was all I could manage to say before life treated me like the dirty little whore it wanted me to be and that huge hammer shut me up.

Luckily for me, I didn't get a couple of teeth knocked out by that giant ass hammer because it hit me square in the chest instead. The force of the super sledge wannabe knocked the wind out of my lungs and filled the air with a sickening crack of bone and sent me flying across the room. Going off of feeling alone, that sound was probably from a couple of my ribs and a handful of vertebrae getting snapped open like a Slim Jim. I fought back the urge to curse myself for not leaving that artificial spine in place now that I finally had a use for once I hit the ground and came to a rolling stop.

What did I find when I finally pulled myself back onto my feet, you ask? Why, it was all three of the bastards I thought I killed looking like they weren't just blown up a few moments ago only to look and see the impossible right in front of me.

WHAT. THE. FUCK.

There wasn't a single difference from when they walked into my trap and them now as the fucker that treated me like a human golf ball pulled his assassin buddies out from underneath the rubble. They looked even better than me after setting off a single landmine, let alone a room full of satchel charges! Forget any bloody or broken limbs, THEIR FUCKING UNIFORMS DIDN'T EVEN LOOK WRINKLED! I DIDN'T DO A GODDAMN THING TO THEM!

Oh wait, there was one thing different about them now after I failed to blow them up. Each of them looked absolutely PISSED now. Guess whatever these cheating psyker bastards are using to protect themselves doesn't do anything for pain, or maybe it did. Either it was that, or they really weren't happy with me for bruising their egos and playing them like fools until now. Well, it looks like I'm the fool since I was somehow the only person to get hurt because of this.

"CONTACT!" The big fuck with the hammer, I couldn't give a damn about their names right now after getting brutalized like that, yelled as he looked at his comrades with a fire in his eyes.

"Yeah, I saw that you nearly took his head off too. How the hell did he not see you coming?." The leader asked as he checked the chick for any injuries now that she was freed.

"I don't know. All I know is that I'll keep on doing it until I finally kill that bastard." He growled as he tightened the grip on his hammer.

"Hey stick to the plan, remember?. We need to bring him in alive, but Frost never said anything about what else we could do to him." Fred said, although the way he said that didn't sound like he would care too much if I did kick the bucket anyways.

Apparently 'beaten within an inch of my life' or 'missing a few limbs' were both perfectly acceptable too. Not much better than dead, but at least it didn't mean they were ordered to kill me. After what had just happened, I was pretty sure that no one would have blamed them for being a little too eager for some payback and I somehow ended up dead.

"Who cares about what Frost said? Where the hell did that son of a bitch go? I'm going to rip his head off for what he did to me!" Kelly shouted as she pulled out a wimpier looking pistol than my 10mm and a nasty looking knife that looked more like a hook for… oh my god, that is the perfect shape to catch another weapon on it.

That is evil. I'm going to have to remember to make myself one later.

Well, since those guys were just fucking around and talking to themselves I decided to take initiative of the situation and try to get at least one of those assassins taken care of before taking the other two on alone. Maybe have a 2v2 if my little friend watching me in the shadows decides to do something if they already haven't. Either way, they weren't doing anything and I was getting bored so I just did the first thing that came to mind and threw my last satchel charge at them now that they were distracted.

Unlike the other ones that were made with my spare 5mm rounds, this one was different. Since the shotgun that I took from Sergeant Shithead earlier fired icicles, I figured… well, maybe it was because of the shells he was using. I mean, they did have a snowflake on them after all…

A quick little peak into one of those bullets revealed that they were filled with a light blue powder that clearly wasn't gunpowder since it was cold to the touch. That powder looked like it could be a lot more useful when used to make a satchel charge instead of a shotgun shell, especially since I couldn't exactly reload a rigged shotgun after blowing it to kingdom come and… yeah, that's about it.

Now, I know that field testing your homemade weapons was the best way to test them since it encouraged you to get it right the first time otherwise there wouldn't be a next time to improve them for. I had been waiting to set off my one and only experimental explosive someplace that was a comfortable distance away from me, but that wasn't a luxury I had any more. I mean, right now my only alternatives were running away from people that probably could outrun me since they had lighter outfits on and weren't experiencing chem withdraw like I was or I could try to fight all three of them head on. Since those options were pretty much 'eventual failure' and 'certain failure', I decided to go for the wild card option because… well, why not? Certainly couldn't make things any worse for me… I think.

So, with the trio of assassins arguing among themselves like idiots and paying no attention to me, I threw the icy satchel charge at them and detonated it the moment it sailed in between them. I had been expecting them all to either be frozen solid or impaled with dozens of giant icicles when I set off the charge with my Pipboy and was really banking on one of them biting the dust soon afterwards. Instead, my expectations were massacred when an icy mist shot out from my explosive and completely obscured everything around them. Not at all what I was going for but it was still something I could work with.

I couldn't see them, they couldn't see me, and I knew exactly where they were before I evened the playing field a bit. Since I had the advantage and remembered exactly where those assassins were, I charged in before they wisened up and started blindly shooting in my general direction.

I opened up the fight by focusing on the closest person to me since I wanted to even out the playing field a bit before my impromptu smokescreen wore off. My target turned out to be that chick with the weird looking knife that the chains wrapped around my right arm could get caught on knowing my luck. As much as I wanted to risk claiming her weapon for myself I knew I didn't currently have the Agility to pull it off, even with some Rebound flowing through my veins. So instead of going in for a quick jab, haymaker, or trying to gut her with my knife, I had to improvise once again.

Since my only other weapon that wasn't a liability against her was the nail gun, I did the obvious thing and started shooting nails at her so as to not to lose a weapon to her hooked dagger. It turns out my little 'tweak' to the firing mechanism worked, allowing it to fire like a submachine gun as I pressed it into her stomach while she flailed around trying to hit me with her dagger and escape at the same time. I hated wasting ammo on a fully automatic weapon like this, but since I didn't have much in the way of options regarding magical people that are immune to bullets, overkill was the only way to make sure I took these fuckers out.

She was crying out in pain by the time I blew my load... of nails in her, and since I didn't feel that familiar splatter of blood I had a feeling I did little more than piss her off. I didn't really know or care because I was amazed at how much tougher she, well, all of these assassins were than the other shits I moped the floor with. A simple axe to the neck was enough to kill the other fucking psykers I came up against earlier and now a drum of nails doesn't do jack shit. Apparently these guys really were as tough as they thought they were and I could only curse myself for thinking that an assassination squad created to deal for me and me alone would be a pushover like the ones I crushed in the Mojave.

With my plan to kill one and mop up one of these guys a complete failure I now realized something that I didn't really think about earlier. My spectacular failure left me standing in the middle of three highly trained psykers that all really wanted me dead for personal and professional reasons and I just blew the element of surprise I had by making one of them scream for me. Well isn't this just my lucky day?

...I really wish I thought of a backup plan before charging in alone now that I was faced with the consequences of my chem addled actions. Well, if they figured that they can just abuse me to hell and back just because I am weaker than them then I just had to show them exactly why nobody fucks with the mailman no more.

Whatever advantage I had was completely ruined since there was no way that these assassins didn't hear their companion get shot up by me so I was not going to get out of this unscathed. Before that chick I shot up had a chance to back away from me, I grabbed a hold of her with my chain clad fist and brought her in close for what I like to call a Powder Ganger Kiss. All I did was bring her close enough to smell my breath and simply reared my head back and brought the edge of my helmet into her face as hard as I possibly could. Not the most classy move, but it still was a lot more creative than the 'Khan Trick'.

What a shitty 'thank you' that was...

"FUCK!" She cried at the same time I felt my skull rattle against something hard, making me feel like I headbutted a forcefield from the Big Empty again.

I once again didn't feel that warm splatter of blood from breaking her face, but even I could tell from the sound my helmet made when I hit… whatever psyker bullshit she defended herself with, that it still hurt like Mean Sonofabitch. I had to abandon my plans of abusing her further as the faint image of the giant with the hammer from earlier came charging towards me through the mist now that he had heard where I was at. Since he made the mistake of going for an overhead swing without knowing exactly where I was at, I simply sidestepped his swing and delivered a swift uppercut to his jaw as his hammer passed by me. The big bastard didn't even flinch and instead pressed something on his hammer that I just knew wouldn't end well for me.

Turns out that I was right about that because the head of the hammer FUCKING EXPLODED and sent me tumbling away from the mist that had been the only advantage I held over those assassins. To top it off, my leg now felt all sorts of wrong too thanks to that blast. It wasn't broken, but it sure as hell wasn't far off from being crippled right now either.

My attempt to catalogue my injuries was forcefully stopped when I noticed the assassin's leader staring at me from behind the scope of his rifle from where I had been launched to. The clever bastard had enough wits on him to step out of the cloud of death I created… and I don't know why I didn't expect him to stay in it in all honesty. I probably just got too used to the idiots I usually fight not bothering to acknowledge the occasional grenade or firebomb I threw at them. Then again, perhaps it was my fault for thinking these guys were as smart as your run of the mill raider or Fiend when they were clearly experts. Who knows?

Seeing that lit a fire under my ass and motivated me to lift my sorry hide back up as a barrage of biting cold danced across my chest and I did my best to ignore every shot that hit. The bullets weren't physically penetrating my armor, but that damn cold cut through me like a cosmic knife. I was still a little foggy on the whole 'medicine' thing I only started picking up a little while ago, but I was pretty damn sure that a person could die if they got cold enough. It certainly couldn't be healthy to have your chest feel like you are in the middle of a nuclear winter while the rest of you was sweating under your usual midnight heat from the Mojave.

It took only a few seconds for me to get back to my feet, the same amount of time it took for that jackass that was shooting me to empty the magazine he was using and the mist that had been my one saving grace until now to fade into nothingness. I saw that the current target of my wrath was defenseless and made a mad dash towards him without thinking, only to receive a knife to my side after taking a couple of steps to the guy that dared to piss me off. Instinct took over and I swung my chain fist in the direction that the pain came from and seemingly hit a pocket of solid air, before that bitch appeared out of thin air with a nice chunk of my flesh stuck to that knife of hers.

"Oh fuck off! Since when were stealth boys that good at hiding people!?" I shouted as the bitch quickly shrugged off the blow to her chest and turned invisible again.

Well, ain't that fan-FUCKING-tastic. Not only can these fucks block bullets, but they can turn invisible too. What's next? Reading people's minds? Moving objects by only thinking about it? Throwing fucking fireballs and making it rain mini-nukes?

"Raaaaaaarrrggh! Fucking psykers!" I roared in blind rage as I attempted to get another hit on the bitch that thought it was so funny that she tore out a piece of me that she was laughing the moment she turned invisible again.

The cross I sent her way missed, but the miss did turn me around just in time to see the giant about to bring his hammer down on me like I was the world's deadliest nail. I didn't have time to step out of the way nor was I feeling good enough to take another hit like that head on and keep on fighting, so I just put my arms in front of me like a shield and hoped to god that what I was about to do would hurt him a lot more than I knew it was going to hurt me.

As you can imagine, trying to block a wannabe super sledge with your bare arms isn't exactly the best way to keep yourself in fighting condition. Unlike what would usually happen when fighting against the occasional legionnaire that barely had the strength to keep your standard super sledge's head off the ground, this guy was almost as strong as me and looked like he could throw his around with only one hand if he had to. He was exactly the kind of opponent you didn't want to be on the receiving end of when you only have your two arms to keep your face from getting beaten in.

A sickening crunch echoed around me as a wave of numbness filled my left arm and it bent in the opposite direction as the hammer that hit it was going, but it gave me the opening I needed to retaliate and I was not about to waste by crying about a broken arm. Ignoring how effortlessly my guard had been broken and how many meds it would take to get any feeling back in my arm, I used the Scribe Counter Veronica taught me and delivered a mean hook to the giant's side. I didn't draw blood once more, but for the first time since shit went sideways I managed to get a reaction out of these assassins as my strike was powerful enough to knock the guy off balance.

I ignored the pulsing tides of hot and cold that lit up my unarmored back from whatever the fucks behind me shot me with and kept up the pressure I was putting on the giant. I made the most of my victim's unguarded state by wrapping what little of my left arm I had feeling in around the back of his neck and delivered a solid knee to his family jewels that dropped him to his knees. The fucker was still silent as ever, mocking me with how damn tough he was acting and lording how little damage I was doing to him thanks to his bullshit superpowers.

Since the big guy wanted to act all tough, I decided to make him the manly man of manville that he was so desperately trying to be by giving him a little something to remember me by in case he and his fucking assassin buddies did manage to take me down. I grabbed the side of his head with my good arm and plunged my thumb as deep as I could into his left eye socket. Turns out that these psykers had another weakness beyond melee weapons, because there was no forcefield bullshit stopping me from getting my thumb in his eye socket and pulling out a nice chunk of gooey goodness out from there.

The giant howled like a coyote before he found the strength to push me off of him and continue to writhe in pain. I was feeling very spiteful and being the sore loser I was, I threw the eye and bits of whatever else I ripped out of his skull right back at him. His friends weren't too impressed with me though, because one of them stopped shitting around with their pussy ass magical bullets and mounted my back in an attempt to keep me away from their wounded friend. The lightweight and the sharp stabbing pains that came with the fucker that was riding me like a Bighorner could only mean that the BITCH who stabbed me was going for round two.

Well, if that's how these fucks wanted to play then I then who am I to deny them what they asked for? If they want a jackass genie, then so be it.

I ignored the bitch on my back and reached into my 'medicine' pouch, pulling one of the few doses of Slasher in it that I hadn't used during my blackout rampage and jammed the needle straight into my bad arm. The strength that I lost earlier in this fight immediately came back to me and the grogginess from the other chems that I so desperately needed became a memory of the past now that LORD DEATH was back in action!

I bent my broken arm back into place as the STUPID BITCH continued to poke me with that PATHETIC NEEDLE SHE CALLED A KNIFE and gripped her legs with both of my arms and charged forwards without any care to the world around me.

The BITCH was shouting something as she kept stabbing me, but even if she was praying to the GOD that was carrying her on his back her pleas would have fallen on deaf ears for her judgement was at hand. I barreled through the last remaining section of wall from the bombed out section of the building so that it was just me and her around for some alone time. She was WEAK, INCOMPETENT without that PRISSY PSYKER BULLSHIT that could not affect a GOD like me, and she needed to be taught the error of her ways for defying me.

I grabbed one of her TINY legs and pulled the WEAKLING off of me with my broken arm and dangled her in front of my face. She was only armed with that same PATHETIC PEASHOOTER from earlier, as I could feel her PUNY POKER was still sticking out of my back. I gave her a chance to beg for forgiveness, plead for mercy, pray to whatever COWARDLY GOD that held no sway over me as a final kindness now that she was alone with only my hateful gaze staring back at her. Nothing would save her... but I was not so far gone as to deny her a chance to make amends in the face of LORD DEATH.

How did she repay my kindness? By beating her pistol in my face and then emptying whatever she had left in it right afterwards. I only felt a dull warmth greet me, but to my surprise one of the lenses of my gas mask blew out due to a lucky shot she managed to land on me.

It was at that moment that she knew she fucked up. That same ANNOYING SIREN that follows me everywhere played again as she looked straight into my eye and all the color from her face drained now that there was nothing stopping from my gaze from burning a hole straight through her.

"OH BROTHERS, IT'S A GRIMM! IT'S A FUCKING GRIMM IN DISGUISE!" She shouted as she started to beat on the lone arm that I used to dangle her by the leg.

I don't know what the fuck a 'Grimm' is and I didn't really care what kind of shit her parnters were getting up to behind me either. I had a shit list a mile long and right now I had a name to rub off of it dangling right in front of me. Whatever kind of weak ass European shit she was talking about could get in line and kiss my hairy ass for all I care. I'd show them that Grimm ain't a damn thing compared to me.

I let out a roar that could have scared off a Deathclaw Matron away from her brood and started swinging that BITCH like a ragdoll at anything I could reach. Since there wasn't a damn thing in the room with us that left the floor as the only thing I could beat her against.. Every single time she hit the floor, she let out a BEAUTIFUL scream that was the best sound I heard today and it only grew louder with every follow up until it finally stopped altogether.

"Heh, puny psyker." I said, laughing at how all of her godly powers were nothing to me now. That damn siren that followed me everywhere went off for a moment, but I didn't pay any attention to it and just kept swinging the bitch around.

I don't know how long it took her to stop fighting back and fall silent as I continued to slam her against everything I could reach, but all I do know is that her fellow assassins just had to come and ruin the fun right as I was starting to enjoy myself.

"KELLY!" The giant shouted the moment he laid his eyes on me.

The big bastard looked absolutely horrified at what I was doing. I wish he could have seen himself, finally looking like the average chump the moment he realized he was outclassed now that it was someone he knew getting pounded instead of me.

"KELLY'S DEAD AND SO ARE WE IF WE DON'T KILL IT NOW WHILE IT'S WEAK!" The WORTHLESS, WEAK leader of the assassination squad said as he started firing more of his PATHETIC bullets at me.

Every shot of his felt refreshing, eating away at the heat that their bitch of a companion hit me with thanks to her magical bullshit bullets. I took my sweetass time walking towards them, dragging their friend against the floor so they could see exactly what I did to her. The looks on their faces finally looked as they should, completely terrified by my very presence. The leader kept on shooting me with that worthless weapon of his despite looking like he was about to piss himself and the giant had only been fazed by a moment before he recovered. I was almost impressed at how both of them found the nerve to not curl up in a ball and cry like so many others before them until the giant let out a mighty roar and charged straight at me.

I answered his defiance with a roar of my own, and lacking a real weapon of my own I decided to use the body I was still grabbing onto since I was not going to be blocking that hammer with my arms again if I could help it. I finally took a look at the bitch and could hardly recognize her anymore as I prepared to swing her like a club and counter the hammer that the giant was getting ready to pound me with. Her head had burst open, one of her arms had fallen off, and every part of her was covered in blood thanks to her psyker powers failing against my awesome might.

The giant swung at me in a clear attempt to decapitate me with his hammer… a possibility I would have laughed at if I hadn't already tasted his strength twice already, and parried his hammer with his fallen partner. The bitch's body exploded in a shower of gore that always signaled my descent upon the masses, leaving me only armed with the leg that was clenched tightly in my grasp.

The giant just stood there in shock at what I had done instead of trying to defend himself, giving me the perfect opportunity to bitch slap him with the stump I was still holding onto. The giant instantly recoiled in disgust once he realized what I had used his partner for, giving me enough time to aim a quick jab at his shoulder with my chain fist, only to barely graze him and leave a bloody stain where my fist touched his uniform once he pulled himself out of his daze. I cackled with glee upon seeing that I had finally weakened the giant's psyker abilities enough to where I could tear him apart with my bare hands, and the sudden look of terror that washed over him told me that he did too. Now that he no longer could rely on his bullshit powers to guarantee his own safety, things looked like they were finally going my way.

I was fresh out of mercy so I did not bother giving this son of a bitch the courtesy to go out like a man. I threw a flurry of punches at him as I dipped, dived, bobbed, and weaved around the panicked swings that he sent my way in an attempt to keep me from grabbing hold of him again. We went on like that for far too long as I slowly wore him down with every hit I landed, even those that he had somehow managed to ignore.

After doing more than enough to leave that shitbag looking as rough as I did, he went for a large swing that I easily ducked under and the kick I threw his way didn't even ruffle his clothes. The next one passed right beside me and I managed to knock a few teeth thanks to a well placed uppercut to the jaw with my broken arm, no chain fist required. After that little display I could tell that which of my hits were and weren't landing were random as hell and I was getting real pissed off at how this guy was still standing. Sure, the giant was clearly blocking less and less with his psyker bullshit for every one he managed to block but I had already spent more time beating him around then I had spent on an entire horde of Ghost People, and those fucks never stayed down until I had a moment to rip off their limbs.

His friend continued to fire his peashooter while I was focusing on the giant, the latest burst allowing his partner to take a step back and collect himself while I just stood there and took those bullets like a champ. He did little more than cool me off a bit before I could even work up a sweat trying to kill him and his partner. For as effective as these bullets were at trashing armor, they did fuck all against flesh. They hurt like hell if you got shot by a mix of them or were a little bitch like the guys from earlier probably were, but now they would have gotten better results by spitting at me. Being driven into a corner earlier was pathetic of me, but now that had all changed. Turns out all I needed was a little something to take the edge off of the pain for me to stop bitching out and get shit done.

To think that all it took as a bit of chems to get me back to my rightful position as LORD DEATH! Why did I not do this sooner?

I laughed at my earlier cowardice as the leader ran out of bullets and dashed towards the giant to continue his beatdown. He swung at me and I let him hit me, executing a flawless Scribe Counter that sent the guy reeling away from me and gave me enough time taking force the bones in my broken arm back into position again and flatten out that second elbow he gave me as best as I could. One look was all it took for me to see that the giant was no longer as energetic as he had been before I nearly took his jaw off with that last hit. It was obvious that our play time with him was at an end and LORD DEATH was about to add to Murder Mountain. The Lanius wannabe looked exhausted and ready to give up, but I could tell from the look in his eyes that he still had more fight in him than his partner did before she fell to pieces.

I was still pissed off at having my earlier attack ruined and wanted this shit to suffer before I finally killed him, or it was just the Slasher telling me that. Either way, I was pissed and wanted to make the next couple of fucks to think twice before coming after me. So rather than try blinding his other eye or anything pleasant like that when I ducked under his next frantic swing, I grabbed the man's full attention in the palm of my hand in one swift motion. Of course by attention, I mean penis.

Whatever fight the guy had that I hadn't already beaten out of him faded as I got my hand on his boys down under. Since he wasn't making any attempts to fight back, I took my time and squeezed his family jewels harder and harder until I felt both of them pop and a pained hiss escape out from in between his ruined teeth. That dropped the son of a bitch to his knees without a word from either of us, but I wasn't going to stop there. No, that was just the warm up act. With the giant's reckoning at hand all the grace of a super mutant behemoth flowing through my body, I pulled on his dick like I was trying to start a chainsaw.

I didn't feel any resistance as I separated him from his man card. No guilt, no regret, and sure as no resistance fighting back as I castrated the son of a bitch.

THAT finally got him to break his silence, and the giant crumpled down in a ball as I held out his dick and shattered nutsack in front of him before dropping them right in front of him. The howl he let out could have made even a Lakelurk wince in sympathy, but not me. LORD DEATH had run out of mercy a while ago, especially for these psyker fucks. If I didn't have another guy to take care of, I would have fed him his own sausage too but sadly it was just not meant to be. The last guy though… he would not be so fortunate.

With the giant no longer a threat, I turned around to see the terrified face of the last survivor of the assassination squad who had watched me castrate his companion right in front of him. The man was quaking in his boots and somehow didn't think to run for his life while I was distracted dismantling his partner.

Hah hah, disMANtling.

"G-G-GET AWAY FROM ME YOU FUCKING MONSTER!" He shouted in a feeble attempt to drive me away.

I didn't bother to answer him, deciding to instead grab the nail gun hanging from my hip and quickly reloading it before returning my attention back to the last pathetic assassin before he made a run for it. I did my best to steady my aim towards him, but with how badly I had broken my one arm I could only manage to land a few of the shots I aimed in his general direction. Of course I had to break my fucking pistol arm and not my punching one, and it was the one time I needed finesse over raw power too.

It didn't matter in the end because I was just that badass. Oh, and I suppose the Slasher might have had something to do with my success too I guess. The assassin cried out in pain as a few of those nails tore into him and I felt nothing but glee upon hearing him scream. Fuck pity, I didn't give a shit abotu how sloppy my kills were becoming after everything that those fucks did to me. After getting lit up like a christmas tree ever since my genius plan failed thanks to their psyker bullshit I wasn't in the mood for playing games anymore.

"STAY STILL SO I CAN DECORATE THE ROOM WITH YOUR GUTS!" I roared as I tried my best to grab on to the last assassin and pop his head like a bottle cap.

The guy had enough of a spine to not instantly bolt for the stairs, but was still too fucking stupid to realize that those nice, cooling things he was shooting at me weren't doing jack shit to me. This bastard still hadn't learned his lesson about defying me, LORD DEATH! I wanted to chase him down and feed him his own spleen when I caught him, but as I was about to make a run for him my foot brushed up against the toy that was now laying at my feet and I thought of an even better punishment for angering me.

I picked up the hammer with only one hand now that the giant it belonged to wouldn't be needing it no more. I gave the thing a twirl to test out it's weight and I laughed like a madman upon discovering it was even heavier than a super sledge. There was also a switch on the handle too, probably had something to do with how I got blown up by that thing earlier. Turns out that this wasn't just a big ass hammer, this was a big ass BALLISTIC HAMMER!

Lord Death approves. I need to see if I can make a ballistic proton axe if I ever get the chance, then there won't be anyone who can stop me.

Mantle might not be a bloody stain that I smear all over Europe or wherever the hell I am once I finish painting this place cherry pie red with the coward in front of me. Of course, that was if I managed to catch him in the first place before I started getting all artsy again.

Whatever nerve the last man standing still had vanished the moment I started twirling that massive weapon around with one hand. The coward made a beeline towards the stairs, probably trying to escape with his life while he still could upon realizing just how hopeless he was now. Unfortunately for him, whatever god he was praying to had no power over him. The only one that mattered had been standing right before him he was fresh out of mercy.

Not wanting to waste time and chase after him, I swung down at the floor underneath me with all of my strength and tore open a large hole in the floor thanks to my inhuman strength. It was just large enough to jump through and the only path I could take to catch and kill that last assassin without taking another hit of Rebound. There was no way in hell I was letting that shitbag get away from me and start spreading rumors about me being some weak pushover, so taking the expressway down was the only option I had left.

"HAH HAH, ALL ABOARD THE RIDE DOWN TO MURDER MOUNTAIN!" I shouted as I jumped down into the darkness below.

---

-"FROST, I NEED BACKUP, REINFORCEMENTS, THE FUCKING MAJOR… EVERYTHING YOU CAN GET OVER HERE! NOW!"-

"What's wrong Holiday? I thought you said you could handle the Grimm Wanderer on your own?"

-"THIS ISN'T THE TIME TO BE FUCKING WITH ME YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE! EVERYONE ON MY TEAM IS DEAD AND IT TURNS OUT THAT THING IS ACTUALLY A BROTHERS DAMNED GRIMM!"-

"Wait, what? What happened there Fred?"

-"JUST GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE FROST BEFORE IT G-oh, FUCK!"-

"Holiday? Frederick Holiday, report!"

-"..."-

"Someone ready my car! I'm going to put this animal down personally."

---

Fred knew that the fight was lost the moment he was the last man standing and that horrible, glowing red eye that had been hidden behind the Grimm Wanderer's mask was able to stare down into the depths of his very soul.

Continuing to fight the man shaped monster would have only hastened his death so he instantly bolted towards the exit in the hopes of escaping the same fate that his team suffered. Kelly had been carried away and killed without doing anything more than pissing it off, Linda still wasn't contacting him and was more than likely dead if the monster had a trap set for her as well, his own aura had been shattered after barely stopping himself from being shot full of nails, and John… no one deserved to die like that. Fred had to take a moment to stop himself from throwing up at the mere thought of what that monster had done to the formerly unstoppable giant, but he managed to keep his stomach quiet enough to continue running towards his escape as he called for help knowing that it would never arrive soon enough.

He made a panicked call to the woman that had sent him and his team to hell on Remnant in order to somehow salvage the situation despite how everything had gone wrong. That call and his hopes of survival were abruptly ended the moment the ceiling caved in a few feet in front of him and something fell down with it, blocking the only path he had towards salvation. Even from where he was standing at the base of the stairs he could see the abomination itself, the Grimm Wanderer, slowly picking itself off of the floor after having broken through it in a mad attempt to kill him.

The simple act of it rising off the ground looked WRONG to him. The abomination before him looked like a marionette controlled by a rabid puppeteer with the jerky movements of the monster before the lone survivor making it look even more unnatural and terrifying than it already was. Rather than looking like a human or faunus, it looked more like a corpse being raised from the dead in order to drag him to the same hell it had taken the rest of his team to.

"OH, COME ON! YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS RIGHT NOW!?" Fred shouted in frenzied terror as that horrible, glowing red eye fixated on him once more.

The Grimm Wanderer either hadn't heard his shout or didn't bother dignifying him with a response, instead choosing to steadily walk towards him while dragging the hammer that the monster had claimed for itself. The sound of metal scraping against stone as the humanoid Grimm silently closed in on its prey was the only thing that dared to break the silence around them. The awful screeching noise terrified him more than watching Kelly getting turned into bits of meat once the abomination started flailing her around like she was nothing to him. Being torn to pieces, by hammer of all things, seemed to be the very same fate that was in store for Fred now that he and the Grimm Wanderer alone. He didn't know if it would be any less messy or painful than how Kelly had made it sound, but Fred knew from the way the Grimm Wanderer hadn't already charged at him that his death would not be quick all the same.

Giving into his growing terror, Fred began to fire the last of his ammo at the Grimm Wanderer as he backed himself into a corner. Even after watching every other shot of his do little more than annoy the monster before him, there was some final, desperate voice inside of him saying that this was his last chance at survival despite knowing damn well how much of an effect his bullets had on the monster last time. The mission hardly mattered to him now that his own survival seemed hopeless, but that last part of him that still hadn't given in to fear forced him to fire upon the Grimm Wanderer.

Much like it had earlier, the Grimm Wanderer only offered a token amount of resistance as he continued his slow march towards its prey. The abomination only bothered raising an arm, the same arm that he knew John had broken several times over that the monster bent back into place every time, in front of its face to defend against the bullets that collided against it. Patches of ice were finally starting to show up with this volley, but even with the armor and most likely the flesh underneath it being frozen the Grimm Wanderer showed no signs of being injured or slowing down after being hit by another barrage of dust infused bullets.

Watching this was what crushed the last remnants of hope that Fred had been clinging on to. He knew that the thing in front of him wasn't a human, faunus, or anything else that could be considered alive. Not only was it too savage to ever be considered a civilized being, but it's incredible endurance without an aura and tell tale eye that Kelly had revealed before her death was all he needed to see to know what he was dealing with.

There was only one type of creature that was as inhumane as the monster before him, but also lacked the soul needed to produce an aura and had the same devilish eyes like the one staring him down right now. The Grimm Wanderer really was a Grimm, and now that he was alone with the monster he knew how screwed he was.

"W-w-wait! You don't have to do this!" Fred shouted as he felt the wall behind him finally managed to catch up to him.

The Grimm Wanderer ignored him, continuing to walk towards him with the same malice that it had from before.

"I can find you a way out of here! You want to get out of here, right? Let me live and I will do ANYTHING to get you away from me- I MEAN HERE!" He shouted as the terror began to rattle him to his very core, loosening the grip on his weapon enough to drop it without him realizing it.

The Grimm Wanderer ignored him, letting out a low, sinister laugh as it continued to march forward while dragging the massive hammer it held behind it.

"Okay you don't want that, I KNOW! PEOPLE! I'LL SEND AS MANY FAUNUS OR HUMANS AS YOU WANT FROM THIS CITY THAT YOU WANT TO KILL! JUST PLEASE LET ME LIVE!" He shouted as tears started streaking down his face and a warm, wet spot grew on the front of his pants.

The Grimm Wanderer stopped to look at him for a moment. Fred looked at his killer for a moment with a mad glee at having finally said something that stopped his steady march towards him. The Grimm Wanderer looked towards the hammer it was dragging, then back at the shell of a man before it.

It stopped laughing, bringing the hammer it had been lazily dragging behind it into its hands and resuming it's march as an aura of hate exploded from it. The Grimm Wanderer was not amused with the offer that had been presented before it, and had every intention to show just how furious it truly was.

In a last ditch effort to evade certain death, Fred threw a quick jab towards the monster the moment it drew close. The Grimm Wanderer let his chain clad fist drop from the hammer and caught the offending arm in front of him without ever taking its gaze away from the eyes of the man in front of him.

The monster let its victim struggle for a moment, as if it wanted to show just how futile any further attempts to resist would be, before it attacked. All it did was wrap its arm against its prey's before pulling it towards him and headbutting the man as it pulled its skull and his together in the same motion.

Without his aura to protect him, Fred's nose was crushed by the helmet that crashed into it and a warm gush of blood exploded from his ruined face as he fell to his knees in anguish. He would have collapsed to the ground entirely if he could have, but the Grimm Wanderer held his arm in a vise-like grip that left him hanging from the monster's arm as his legs failed him.

"You absolute, weak, pathetic, sorry excuse for an assassin. Did you really think I can be bribed like that?" The Grimm Wanderer growled at him with a focused rage that seemed almost serene compared to earlier.

The berserking monster seemed to have calmed down after having fallen from the roof, for now what had once been unrestrained rage had now been honed into something far more vile and purposeful. Although the man held in it's grips did not know what he did to cause this change in attitude from the monster before it, he regretted it all the same. The blind fury that the Grimm Wanderer displayed when killing his partners had been terrifying, but unsurprising considering how inhuman the monster had proven itself to be. This calm, emotionless rage that held the same underlying hate from earlier and was even more terrifying as it showed that the monster was more than just a savage, unthinking beast.

The Grimm Wanderer, unsatisfied with how its prey refused to move now after proving to be an annoyance minutes earlier, continued to look down at its prey in silence. It had clearly been expecting something from Fred as it dangled the man in his grip. Perhaps it was expecting a plea for help, a cry for mercy, or more fruitless resistance. Whatever expectations had clearly been left unmatched, as its hate became more pointed and a clear disgust took shape alongside it.

With its prey not acting out on its own, the Grimm Wanderer pulled on the assassin in its grip once more and delivered a knee to his chin. The blow drove the soldier's head against the wall as he cried out in agony before the monster let the man crumple against the corner he had been beaten into. Neither man nor monster moved, one from the fear of being killed and the other knowing that its prey could do nothing to escape it now.

"You absolute piece of shit!" The Grimm Wanderer shouted as he threw his knee into the face of the man that had collapsed before him once more. "You DARE to save your own skin by sacrificing someone else? You think someone else's life is more valuable than yours?" The monster shouted as it kicked him in the stomach, earning a sickening crunching noise for his efforts as Fred nearly folded in on himself from the force of the blow.

"Well, you are a lot more right than you think you are. I should really kill you right now." It snarled as it lowered itself so it could look the broken man in front of it in the eyes. "I should, but I won't. Killing you is too easy, too painless. People like you and Benny don't deserve to go out without suffering as much as possible first."

The Grimm Wanderer returned its grip to its hammer and took a step back away from its prey, taking a stance like it was ready to drive a human sized nail through the floor with the giant weapon it was wielding. With the threat it gave Fred earlier and the distance between them, it clearly had no intentions of killing him with its first swing. He wouldn't die, but death would more than likely be a mercy once the monster had its way with him.

"W-wait, don't!" Fred pleaded as he realized what would soon follow.

His cry went unanswered, as the Grimm Wanderer had already started to swing its massive hammer overhead the moment he started talking and all that the assassin could do was scream in terror as the heavy weapon came straight for him. It seemed absolutely certain that his last few moments would be spent in absolute suffering…

"RAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

...until a familiar face that Fred believed to be dead barreled into the Grimm Wanderer and knocked the weapon out of its hands as the monster was driven into a wall from the impact.

Although he was bloody and bruised, John had not yet been broken by the monster that had beaten him moments ago. Where he had come from and how he had done so quickly, was something that neither the Grimm Wanderer nor John's own partner knew. Neither of them had thought he would be alive after what had happened to him, much less be able to fight. Since he was alive and looked more than willing to fight as John reclaimed the hammer that had been about to crush Fred's last hopes of survival for himself.

With John back in the fight, hope seemed to have returned and Fred wasted no time in using the hand his partner offered him to pull himself up off of the ground.

"John! You're alive!" He shouted as he took the pistol that his giant partner offered him. "How the hell are you still standing? I thought he-"

"Doesn' ma'er. Gonna kill him if if's 'he lasf fing I do." John said, his words coming out in the same broken form that matched his teeth.

Fred was impressed at how his partner was still standing and wondered if he had ever been injured at all, until a quick glance towards his crotch satisfied his curiosity and nearly killed what little confidence he had recovered after being saved. Despite his broken teeth, severed manhood, and missing aura he was still willing to fight the very monster that had given him those injuries until the very end. Not only that, but he even offered his leader the pistol that his other, less fortunate partner had been using until her demise too.

If John hadn't looked so committed to killing the monster that had maimed him, Fred would have ran for his life and dragged the last living member of his team with him. At least, he could only assume that they were the last surviving members. Kelly was definitely dead, and Linda still hadn't said anything so he could only assume the worst from her.

"Son of a bitch!" Shouted the Grimm Wanderer as it pulled itself out from the wall it had been embedded in. "So, you want me to rip something else off of you? FINE BY ME!"

With that final threat uttered, the Grimm Wanderer ran towards the last two assassins once more as they prepared themselves for whatever he could throw at them. Rather than trying to once again go on the offensive against a target that beat them despite lacking their aura, they carefully evaded the flurry of punches that their target tried to send their way.

The Grimm Wanderer had decided that the giant was the greatest threat and centered its attention on him while Fred hung away from the duo as they fought their own private battle. Lacking a proper melee weapon of his own, there was little that he could have done to stall the flurry of blows that the monster tried and failed to rain down on his partner that the giant man narrowly dodged every time. Fred did not let his subordinate fight alone though, as he took full advantage of the loaded firearm that his partner had given him and carefully aimed at the unarmored, scarred back of his target whenever it presented itself to make every shot count. The scraps of cloth belonging to the ruined longcoat their target wore did nothing to protect it, and the sound of its frustrated roars it made with every impact filled them with a renewed energy as they finally heard their target pained by their attacks. The monster did not slow down its furious pace, but it was enough to cause it to falter for a moment after every hit.

Even with the momentary pause that had been caused by their combined efforts, John did not make an attempt to move in on the openings he saw. After having underestimated his opponent earlier and paying dearly for it, he had no intentions of making the same mistakes from before. Perhaps he was being too cautious, or perhaps that caution was what prevented the Grimm Wanderer from blocking his hammer once more and caving his skull in afterwards. He did not know nor did he care to find out, for he was waiting for the same opportunity that his opponent had taken advantage of earlier.

Their long, grueling fight continued as John proved to be far more agile than his opponent thought, evading every single strike that the monster he was fighting tried to hit him with. Every jab was deflected with his hammer, every uppercut backed away from, and attempts to disarm him were rewarded with a half hearted attempt to push him away that the human Grimm backed away from. With the way things were going, John knew he would lose as he could feel himself growing weaker and slower by the moment. He had bled a lot, and had lost much of his strength as he did so. It would only be a matter of time until he no longer had the strength to fight, but before then he would still stand and fight in the hopes his partner would manage to create the opening necessary to take the Grimm Wanderer down.

That moment soon came in the form of a flaming bullet that found itself buried in a sickly green scar on the Grimm Wanderer's back that made it cry out in pain and lose its footing for only a moment. It was not enough to take down the monster, but it was enough to leave it unable to dodge the swing that John had been waiting to unleash this whole time, the first and last one he would be able to land regardless of the results.

Powered by the raw anger he had been holding back throughout their one sided battle he put everything he had into one, powerful swing aimed for the monster's chest. That same swing was absorbed by the monster's arm when it took that strange defensive stance seemingly on instinct and tried to counter attack with its other in the same motion. After having been knocked senseless twice already by that same tactic, John had already been prepared to take advantage of the wild punch that was coming for him and attacked accordingly.

He twisted his head out of the way of the fierce jab that brushed by his chin and let go of his hammer, before wrapping both of his hands around the Grimm Wanderer's neck. He noticed the look in the monster's glowing red eye dull for a brief moment before he lifted it off of its feet and tightened his grip on it in the hope that he could strangle the life out of it or at least keep it restrained in time for the reinforcements he heard his leader calling for to arrive.

The Grimm Wanderer struggled against the giant's grip for a moment, doing its best to pound against the arms squeezing the life out of it in a hopeless attempt to break free. Although he could feel every single hit from the one arm that hadn't been crushed by his hammer and every single link of metal that was wrapped around it, John still held onto the monster in his hands knowing that it would be the death of his if he let go.

The monster stopped at the exact same time that it realized that any further attempts to break free with its lonely fist would be useless, and dreaded whatever it was planning. That plan had apparently been a lot more simple and brutally efficient than John had been expecting as the Grimm Wanderer simply pulled the dagger stuck in its back free and made one last attempt to kill him with it.

The blade was shot out of its hands before it even got close to John's neck by Fred who had been waiting for their target to try something just as psychotic. That killed whatever fight the Grimm Wanderer had left in it, and rather than try to fight back it simply chose to dangle from John's arms as he continued to choke it.

"Fucking… psyker… bullshit…" It gasped out as it desperately tried to fill its lungs with air.

"What the hell is this thing talking about?" Fred asked as he listened to the Grimm Wanderer's idle ranting.

"Don' know. Ne'er hearf of a 'fyker' befo'e." John said, not letting his attention or grip loosen on the monster that held them.

"Huh… I guess that's it then. We actually managed to take this son of a bitch down." Fred said as he finally let out the breath he never realized he was holding in.

John did the same as he finally felt relief at having the Grimm Wanderer at his mercy, able to stangle it or snap its neck whenever he felt like it. And then it started to laugh. It was not the same boisterous laughter or madened ones that it had let out earlier. No, this was one that was low, soft, and made every bone in the two assassins bodies scream out in terror.

"What's so funny? Killing our friends, hundreds of Mantle soldiers, or attracting every single Grimm for miles only to have it all end like this?" Fred taunted towards the Grimm Wanderer who continued to laugh without care.

All he did was cross his arms together, somewhat impaired in his ability to do so thanks to the blocky object that was attached to his broken arm, and looked to almost be annoyed at what was happening. Both men felt an urge to kill it now, but only restrained themselves knowing that they would soon follow it in death courtesy of Frost or The Major for defying their orders.

"You think… this is… your win…" It croaked out, before fixing its gaze on the both of them once more.

That same, unnerving terror that they had felt before had returned but not nearly to the extent that it had earlier after it had killed Kelly. Both me tensed up in preparation for an attack that never came as the Grimm Wanderer continued to have the life strangled from it… for far longer than it should have taken to either kill it or make it pass out now that they thought about it.

"Yeah, you and your little Grimm friends or whoever you are working for have lost. It's over you sick fuck, we won." Fred said, moving close to John just so he could get closer to gloat in the Grimm Wanderer's face.

"That's what… you think…" It gasped, as it started tapping the thing that was wrapped around its arm.

"Oh, and why's that?" Fred asked as he continued to enjoy the captive monster's suffering.

"Cause… I…" It said as it continued to mess with the object on its broken arm.

Suddenly, a large, football sized object popped into existence with a bright flash of light just to the left of the Grimm Wanderer. Neither of the assassins knew what it was, and they could only watch in terror in terror as it fell just outside of their reach and hope that it wasn't exactly what they thought it looked like.

"...gotcha!"

---

Wanna know what happens when you drop a mini-nuke while standing in a building, or more specifically, a room filled to the brim with gasoline. Not just any building, but a building that is already half collapsed thanks to one that nearly knocked it down earlier?

EXACTLY WHAT ANYONE WITH HALF A BRAIN WOULD EXPECT TO HAPPEN!

Maybe it was the chems that made it seem like a good idea at the time, maybe I was just being a sore loser again after getting beat in a straight up fight. Either way, I still blew myself and those two psyker fucks to kingdom come all the same. I don't exactly remember what I said after having the stupid idea to blow myself up, but since it meant that I wasn't going to be killed by those two assassins or taken away to have an uncomfortable chat with their bosses then I'd still consider this a win.

It was a simple matter of pulling myself out from underneath the flaming rubble that I managed to bury myself under after my attempt at being a kamikaze except for, you know, breaking every single bone in my body. Alright, maybe I'm exaggerating just a little bit. I honestly couldn't tell since that was the diagnosis that my Pipboy was giving me and it sure as hell felt like I broke everything in my body.

Chest hurt, legs hurt, right arm hurt, left arm hurt where it wasn't still numb, and my head was still perfectly fine other than my ears ringing like I just got my bell rung by a super sledge. Fucking tinnitus was back and with a vengeance like never before.

Aside from that, I was doing pretty damn good considering I was getting the shit beaten out of me just before I blew myself up. I honestly couldn't tell if the pain was from being burnt alive, the explosion, or nearly getting crushed to death and I didn't really care since knowing wouldn't make the pain go away. Since I hadn't been burnt to a smoldering crisp, I guess that must have been the Slasher I mixed in with a bit of Atomic Cocktail a while ago. Lucky me.

Well, Lady Luck still had the last laugh in the end, because crawling my way out of the rubble of a two story building after crippling every single limb in my body SUCKED SO MUCH! Crawling on a broken everything almost made me forget I was also on fire. What should have been a two minute attempt to get back on my feet felt like it took an eternity as I did my best to crawl my way out for the burning ruins I created and tried to ignore the ticking of my Pipboy's geiger counter.

It took a long ass time, but in the end I was still able to drag my carcass out from underneath the flaming rubble. Not exactly what I would call a victory, but it sure as hell wasn't a loss or a draw…

I think I'll just file that under 'stupid shit I'm never going to attempt again unless I have to' and leave it at that. You know, just split the difference between the three and call it a day.

With that little note filed into my Pipboy, I was on to my next order of business. Namely, figuring out what the hell Mantle was and how I could destroy them. Since those fuckwads seemed to have a bone to pick with me and I wasn't the type of person to sit idly by and wait around for the next assassination squad of psykers to be sent my way, they had to go the way of the Old World. To make sure I didn't forget about this, I made a special update to my quest log just for them since Mantle had definitely earned a place on my shit list after today.

*************************************************
* The Morning After
* _ Find out where and what Mantle is.
* _ Kill anything that has to do with or is allied with Mantle.
* _ Find allies to help you destroy Mantle. (Optional)
*************************************************

Sure… it wasn't perhaps the best way of maintaining a 'To Do' list but, it was more than enough to keep me organized back in the Mojave and everywhere else I traveled to and I wasn't about to fix what ain't broke. Besides, I had bigger fish to fry now that I was at about 20% health according to my Pipboy. Still couldn't risk another couple of stimpaks yet, not without passing out again and I was not going to be taken away only to find I got kidnapped… again. Three times in one year was three times too many.

WIth that in mind I limped away from the ruins I made as best I could with both of my legs looking like they had a couple extra knees to spare on account of how badly they were messed up. I didn't stop or bother smothering the fire that was still eating away at me until I was able to get a good look at the otherside of the street from the middle of the road. The fire would put itself out in time, and I really needed to haul ass before that explosion attracted the wrong type of attention.

Luckily, where there was one abandoned building you could always find several more within eyesight. At least, that was the general rule of thumb that I found to be useful whenever I went prospecting around Vegas.

All I needed was to find one of them, and...

---

*Kathump*

"I can't believe that worked, Frost. You actually managed to knock him out by running him over in the middle of the street." The soldier beside me in the passenger seat said once we came to a stop after running over the Grimm Wanderer the moment it came out from the building it destroyed.

"Neither can I." I said, as I changed gears into reverse and slammed down on the gas again.

*VrrrrrrrRRRRR-Kathump*

"Uhh… I think you got him the first time." The soldier said, clearly hesitant to voice his opinions on what I had just done.

"This animal not only managed to kill my best men, but nearly managed to level an entire block of the city on his own." I said before I gripped him by the collar and pulled him in close. "And unless you are willing to go over there and check to make sure he isn't still able to move after all the people he has killed today, I am not taking any chances."

That last part got the lowly private beside me thinking. It was amazing how quickly someone managed to start thinking for themselves when it was their lives on the line.

"Maybe we should run him over again… just to make sure?" He asked sheepishly.

"Don't be ridiculous. If the first one didn't knock him out, the second-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGHH…" Roared the Grimm Wanderer as it started trying to pick itself up off of the ground after having been ran over twice already.

*VrrrrrrRRRRR-Kathump*

"Okay, NOW we've knocked him out." I said after running over the Grimm Wanderer for the third time and waiting long enough for him to make sure he was knocked out for good this time.

"Maybe we should run him over one more time, just to be safe." The soldier beside me suggested.

First the coward thought I was being too harsh on the animal that has been terrorizing our army for the past three days, and now he is too afraid to haul their body into our transport. Fred was right about the new recruits, they are useless… and now they are all I have left now that my Hunters are gone.

"Private, handcuff him and drag him into the vehicle NOW before The Major hears about any of this." I said. After everything that had happened tonight I was no longer in the mood for playing games. Not when I had a job that my life depended on.

"But…"

"NOW!" I yelled at his attempt to weasel his way out of the one task I had bothered assigning him.

"MA'AM, YES MA'AM!" He replied as he jumped out of the vehicle in order to get to work.

"And make sure you extinguish that fire! I need him brought in alive, not burnt to a crisp!" I yelled after him.

The Major had better make this freak pay. For Mantle, and for everyone he has killed.

---

From the rooftop that she was standing on, the woman that had been watching the Grimm Wanderer ever since he had revealed himself tonight could only click her tongue in frustration at how things had changed so suddenly.

First, she had to get her own hands dirty by taking out the sniper that had nearly exposed her position while she tried getting her own vantage point on their shared target. Then, there had been the first explosion that had caught her off guard when it collapsed part of the second floor of the building that the Grimm Wanderer was hiding in. It didn't take too much effort to figure out that her target had been the cause of that one, although it did make her earlier fears about his usefulness return. That unease had only grown once the Grimm Wanderer had nearly deafened her with the next explosion that had rang out when he leveled not only the building that he had been hiding in, but the adjacent ones too.

She had been expecting the Grimm Wanderer to be a lot of things, many of which had already been proven after seeing him tear through aura like it was nothing. Violent, cruel, powerful, and far more resourceful than most people she had met. He had proven to be all of that and more by fending off an attack from a squad of Hunters that had been tasked with hunting down a terrorist instead of faunus like they usually did. She had been uncertain as to whether or not she could or even should help the Grimm Wanderer escape the humans that had been sent to kill him, but now she wasn't sure who needed saving anymore. Was it her target, or Mantle? Now that she saw exactly how much of a threat he posed, it was hard to tell.

That raised an even greater question too. Is it worth allying with a psychopath willing to blow himself up and go to war against an entire kingdom on his own if the only other alternative was to try and kill him before he set his sight on her own people? She didn't know what to do anymore, and after what she had seen of the Grimm Wanderer's fight from the scope she borrowed from the sniper she took it from all she knew is that he could not be allowed to act on his own any more.

The entire city would be at risk because of his actions if he didn't have anyone keeping watch over him, that much was certain. Another certainty was that he was far too powerful to be kept in check by any one person. He was strong and deadly, almost like… no, not that powerful. If anyone but her and the others could be that powerful then the world would have already ended a long time ago.

Mantle would be able to keep him restrained for a while, but not forever. Whether they killed him before he broke free was another matter entirely. That meant that she only had a little time to decide what to do next. Fortunately, she knew exactly who to ask and pulled out her scroll to ask him the question that could end up deciding Vacuo's fate.

-"JULIA? JULIA IS THAT YOU? PLEASE TELL ME YOU ARE OKAY!"- Came a frantic voice from the other end of her scroll the moment she flipped it open.

"I-I'm fine Alex. There's just been a small… problem regarding the target." Julia said, surprised at how the usually calm, collected leader of her people that she had come to know and adore over the years sounded like he was at the edge of insanity.

-"OH… oh thank the brothers you're okay. I don't know what we would do without you."- Alex said as he breathed a sigh of relief. -"So… which one of those explosions were caused by you and which one was the Grimm Wanderer's?"-

"Both of them were from the Grimm Wanderer." She said, giving him some time to linger on that fact before adding, "He somehow managed to blow himself up."

-"Oh…so it seems we can add 'pyromaniac' to the list of things we know about him."- Alex said with a faint, humorless laugh.

"Yes, I'm as surprised as you are after he blew himself up the second time and collapsed an entire building on top of himself. I don't know how he managed to set it all on fire at the same time though." She said as calmly as he could.

A long, uncomfortable silence was shared between them as her leader took the time to process what she had told him.

-"Is he dead?"- He asked with no small amount of hope in his voice suggesting that was the case.

"No."

-"How many people did he manage to kill this time?"- He then asked, sounding much more resigned now.

"Fourteen. Eleven regular soldiers and three of Mantle's Hunters." She said, purposefully withholding one last piece of information to see what Alex's reaction was.

-"Three Hunters? Impressive."- He said, with clear admiration in his voice before lowering his voice and asking, -"How much did you have to help him to manage that?"-

"I didn't." She said, dreading what she would have to say next.

-"He killed three Hunters on his own? That's… very concerning. Has he agreed to help our cause?"- He asked.

"No, that's why I called you. I didn't have time to ask him before he was captured by Frost. After he killed those three Hunters after having his aura broken and collapsing several buildings on himself with that last explosion, he was run over by her and captured. There wasn't anything I could do without exposing myself." She said, preparing herself for Alex's reaction.

-"...Jullia. Can you repeat what you said about the Grimm Wanderer's aura? I don't think I heard you correctly because it sounded like all of those things happened in the order that you told them to me."- He said after having gone silent for a minute as he processed he just heard.

"That's because they did. The Grimm Wanderer had his aura broken, survived two explosions, killed three Hunters, and was run over by a car three times before he was finally able to be captured. In that order." She said and waited for her leader's decision on how best to deal with her target from here on out.

Another uncomfortably long silence passed between them before the silence was finally broken.

-"And he was captured by Mantle?"- He asked with a slight edge to his voice.

-"Yes, by Specialist Frost to be exact."- Julia answered.

She pretended not to hear the series of curses he let out knowing that yet another one of their most persistent enemies had managed to get involved now too. It was about a minute before Alex finally was able to control himself long enough to come to a decision about how to move forward.

-"Julia. Do whatever it takes to get the Grimm Wanderer to join us."- He said, trying and failing to hide the desperation in his voice from her.

"Alex? Are you sure we want a psychopath and terrorist fighting with us?" She asked, making no attempt to hide the disdain at her leader's verdict.

-"If our options right now are between fighting with him or fighting against him… I don't think I need to explain myself any further."- He said flatly.

She had to admit, as much as she hated it, Alex was right. Despite how much she didn't like the idea of joining forces with someone who seemingly targeted and killed Mantle soldiers for no reason, Julia knew it would be far better to be working with him than any of the other alternatives depending on what Mantle did to him. If they killed him, then they would lose a very powerful asset at the most. If they someone managed to control him or convince him to join forces with them however…

The thought alone was enough to make her break out into a cold sweat.

-"Julia, do whatever it takes to ensure that the Grimm Wanderer is on our side."- Alex said before his voice turned into little more than a solemn whisper as he continued. "But be careful. I can't lose you. Not after I lost your sister."

"I know. I'll be careful." She said as she forced that thought of her mind before it could affect her in the future.

-"Good. I'll be waiting to hear back from you soon, sweetheart."- He said before ending their call.

Julia had her orders and regardless of how much she hated them, she would not abandon them. The car that had taken the Grimm Wanderer away could only have been headed towards one place, the same Brothers forsaken place that so many others had been taken away to as well. Not knowing how she would manage to free him, she pulled her sword out of the sniper's corpse that had been laying not far from her and began running across the rooftops as she headed towards The Camp hoping she could plan out a rescue before she arrived.

---

Author's Corner:

This chapter came out way later than I was intending it to. Not going to lie, I took a week long victory lap after finishing off the last chapter before working on this one since I had it somewhat started at the time. It's amazing how a week away from your work will change your mindset and make you realize that putting two curbstomp battles back to back makes a character seem way too overpowered. As I had been planning to show that Courier Six's foes are not all weak at some point, I started wondering why I should wait to do that. So, yeah… pretty much had to trash what I had for the most part and start fresh at that point. The holiday season and all the fun from that did not help getting this chapter out any faster too, nor did my repeated refusal to trim some things down.

And yes, I am aware I probably could have released this in two parts. I… don't really have another reason beyond not wanting to end at too bad of a cliffhanger.

I've also been reading the comments that have been left here and do agree that I could trim down a lot of sections if I were to skip out on minor bits of characterization displayed through the various actions and thoughts of the characters… but then I would just be delaying that problem until I need to pull it out of my ass. As much as I would love to take the easy route and, I don't know, have him find a tragically orphaned child to take care of that SO MANY STORIES ABUSE (I neither like nor dislike that trope, but we all have seen it come out of nowhere and completely hijack too many storylines), I will not be doing that here. I don't feel like taking the 'easy route' when showing off certain characters' morality and want to display certain traits, behaviors, and other things naturally.

In case I haven't made it clear already, let me say this now: This ain't the story of a hero. Whether or not it is the story of a villain or something else entirely is what I'll be revealing as time goes on. Looking at New Vegas alone, every Courier is practically a one man army that can potentially match and best every single faction in the Mojave on their own. There is no way that someone that powerful, someone who can and will slaughter entire 'tribes' such as the Brotherhood of Steel, Fiends, White-Legs, will be thought of too kindly. Feared? Yes. Loved? No, not unless there was a conflict of interest somehow involved or the enemies they were fighting were absolute monsters… and being fought for the right reasons.

As to why the Courier was being called a Grimm? I'll leave that to you guys to wonder about, unless you have already figured it out. All I will say is that there is a perfectly valid reason that few stories tend to explore, the one I'm using being a F:NV feature that is usually overlooked much to my amazement.

That's about it from me. For those that are wondering about how the story is moving along, this is the end of Part 1, Act 1. Yeah… whether you like it or hate it, there is more to be seen from Vacuo. I will not be saying anymore on that because I have probably already said too much in regards to my future plans with this story.

Anyways, thank you all for your time and I hope to see you all in the future! The next chapter shouldn't take another whole month to finish, and that's not just because it will be somewhat smaller than this one.

PS: It has just come to my attention that some formatting additions that I make to these uploads are not saved... that is quite disappointing. Really makes the slight alterations to text that I want to distinguish different forms of communication a pain to show and edit in a second time.