Felix heard the lumbering steps of Sledge minutes before he and the Outcast knight came into view. For hours he had felt on edge, sense heightened by the night and an ominous feeling of dread washing over him.

Once Sledge and Anais entered Vincent took stock of the group and laid out the plan: The group would split into three teams, hitting the Police Station from multiple sides: Rafael would begin fired Missiles at the compound, drawing the Super Mutants out, while Sledge and Vincent attacked from the front of the building. Leon would cover Rafael as they worked their way towards the side of the police station. The two pairs would regroup and enter through the front of the building, drawing the bulk of the super mutants towards them. Meanwhile, Anais and Felix would sneak in through the rear of the building and locate the Big Towners, eliminating any super mutants that came across their path. Once the survivors had been located the stealthy pair would release said captives and double back out the rear entrance.

"Not to be a pessimist, but let's presume the captives are all dead. What is the contingency?" Felix shot a hurt look at Anais. The Outcast Knight merely shrugged and waited for Vincent to reply.

"They won't be dead. Muties don't kill their prey. They just… turn them."

Anais retorted. "Most of the time. Not always."

"Assuming the captives are still alive, we extract them. If not, then we regroup and reassess the situation."

"Are you sayin' we'd stay and fight these things Vince?"

"I'm sayin' that we'd stay and exterminate these things."

The group skeptically watched Vince, with even Sledge raising an eyebrow.

"What?"

"If these guys are all dead, you want to stay and take on the remainder by ourselves?"

"While I haven't had the best luck with Super Mutants before, I do think that this mission requires different angles depending on the Big Towners. Until we know their status, this becomes a rescue mission with distractions. We can't stand out ground on their turf and fight with unarmed, untrained and most likely wounded survivors on our sixes. But if they prove to be dead, then we take our time, mop up the mutants and salvage their base for supplies."

"Then we should be going right fucking now Vincent, not wondering if my friends might be dead!"

Vincent nodded and cocked his shotgun. "Fair enough, Anais, you give the signal once you are leaving the building and we will pull back to this spot. If you don't have any survivors to pull out, then you start clearing the building. All right? Let's break."

Rafael and Leon crept along to the top of the eastern hillside overlooking Germantown, missile launcher and assault rifle drawn respectfully, neither breathing a word while they made their way to a collapsed house that would prove to be their vantage point. Leon had been less than fond of this plan from the get go, for reasons that seemed to pile up by the hour: Having never been a fan of the woefully ill equipped Big Towners, Leon felt little sympathy for a group of teenagers who could neither fight nor flee to a safer haven. In the wake of his own adopted home fending off a siege with little more than their last minute help, Leon's sympathy had all but evaporated. Coupled with exhaustion from Megaton, the prospect of drawing the ire of mutants and having the clear Germantown left him feeling more than ready to ditch the kids to their fates.

As the two climbed into the makeshift redoubt, Rafe looked to Leon for the go ahead. It had been long enough for Vincent and Sledge to get into position-

A thunderous bellow erupted from the entrance to Germantown as gunfire lit up front of the prewar barricades.

"Shit, fire!" Leon barked as he readied his gun, unsure of what Vincent and Sledge had stepped into.

Rafe sighted the courtyard and fired.

Vincent and Sledge had easily made their way to houses across from the Police Station that served as the mutants' base. While they were little more than husks strewn with rubble, they provided excellent cover to duck into when super mutants patrolled past. Having reached the starting gate in their part of plan, Vincent and Sledge hunkered down and waited for explosions to start smashing into Germantown. While Rafael hammered at the Police Station with Missiles (Along with any visible Super Mutants), Vincent and Sledge would flank the mutants, killing anything that hadn't focused on Rafael and Leon. The two groups would form a wedge that would draw all mutants outside into the kill zone, before they would progress inside and cause the required ruckus to give Anais and Felix time to search.

Or so the plan would have gone, had a viscous and slurping hiss not emanated from behind the pair.

Vincent drew his knife and wheeled around to face… some godforsaken creature with tentacles around its maw and a beast like body. Arms stuck out awkwardly from differing places on its… torso? Body?

While Vincent comprehended the creature in front of him, he sprinted in front of it, gingerly stepping aside one of its swipes and grabbing the tentacles with his hand.

With a swift motion he wrenched the creatures head up and drove his combat knife into its skull, a shrill hiss leaving its body as the beast noisily crashed into the debris.

A bellowing roar and a hail of bullets smashed into the house around him. Vincent winced.

The deafening cacophony of missile fire filled his head as sledge leapt from the house and towards to Police Station.

'So much for a plan.' Vincent unsheathed his shotgun and rushed to catch the juggernaut.

Felix and the bitch moved towards the back of the Police Station, both easily avoiding the two patrols that stood in their way. Felix had been sneaking around bigger enemies for as long as he could remember, but he expected to Outcast knight to be blundering around the brush. Instead she had been quiet enough to keep up with him. The two worked their way to the back of the building, where a single super mutant stood by the back door.

His mind addled by agitation and loose whispers, Felix snarled at the mutant from a distance, ready to pounce. Anais put a hand on his chest, steadying him. "Wait." She commanded, softly but with a stern tone that held Felix in place.

"Why?"

Anais just looked ahead, eyes set on the door and the bored looking mutant idling beside it.

Minutes ticked by, the sounds of the wasteland threatening monotony. Yet while Felix grew more agitated, Anais simply watched the door.

Sounds of battle broke the silence, with an explosion causing the mutant to look around. The creature pounded on the door grumbling incoherently. Another mutant opened the door, while Felix tried to leap forward. Anais held him back, hissing at him. "Wait!" The mutants hurried through the door and slammed it, while the sounds of battle escalated.

"What the hell! Why didn't we ambush them?"

Anais scoffed, moving towards the door and motioning for Felix to follow. She positioned herself to the left of the door while Felix stood behind it. Anais repeated the loud thumping notion on the door and listened. Rumbling footsteps followed.

Anais drew her sword.

The door flung open and a mutant stepped out, weapon drawn. Anais slid behind the mutant and swept her foot beneath the creature, bringing it to its knees. Swiftly, she plunged the blade in the space between the creatures' shoulder and neck. Felix followed her queue and slit the dazed mutant's throat. Anais removed her blade while steadying the mutant the ground with her free hand, letting it touch the ground with little more than a quiet thud.

The two withdrew into the building, with the chaos of distant battle muting their entrance.