"Wake up."

The distant voice reached my ears, stirring me from my slumber. Groaning in annoyance, I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. It was extremely rare that I ever managed to get rest without nightmares and there was no way I was going to waste this one-in-a-million chance, so I elected to ignore it.

"Wake up!"

It was louder this time, and strikingly familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on who it was. There was still too much distortion to make out the source. Not that it really mattered, I just needed them to shut up and go away. Raising my arm in the air, I stuck up my middle finger in the direction of the voice.

"How rude!" the voice exclaimed. "I'm trying to save us from plummeting to our deaths and this is how you repay me?"

I just kept my hand in the air as my response. So what if I offended somebody? We weren't in any mortal peri-

'Did he say plummeting to our deaths?'

Snapping open my eyes, I swore at my surroundings. Even though I was pinwheeling through the air, I could still make out the open sky stretched out around me. I spread out his arms and legs to increase drag, which managed to slow me down a bit and stop the constant spinning. I reached both of my hands down to my hips, making sure both of my handguns were still in their holsters. To my relief, neither of them had fallen out. Now though, I had more pressing matters to attend to.

'Shit!' I thought, quickly pulling up the Pip-Boy and flipping through tabs. 'You got any ideas on how to slow us down?'

My brain scoffed. "Yes, it's not like I've been spending the last couple minutes trying to get your lazy ass awake!'

I ignored my brain's sarcasm, instead scanning his inventory for anything that would stop me from becoming a bloody stain on the ground. Sadly, the massive arsenal I had accumulated was more suited to combat and exploration than mobility. Since I wasn't a fan of lugging around Power Armor, none of my armors had the sheer hydraulic strength to keep my legs intact after a fall like this. The only weapon that could have probably saved me was floating in pieces somewhere in the place between space and time. Buffout would definitely do some good if I managed to slow down though. Wasting no time, I summoned the pill bottle before lifting up my helmet and swallowing a mouthful, grinning at the feeling of strength that coursed through my body. I wiped my mouth, shoving the empty container back into my coat and bringing the Pip-Boy up again.

"If I could interject," my brain said, breaking through my thoughts. "I do believe the sun is coming out."

I raised an eyebrow. "How the hell will that…" I asked, before realization struck me. 'Of course! I'm such an idiot!' I quickly flipped over to the "Weapons" tab and summoned my Saturnite katana. In flash of blue, a scuffed leather sheath appeared in my free hand. What had used to be an advanced sword model from the Gun Runners was now a nearly unbreakable blade capable of cutting through most materials like butter. That, was thanks to the Think Tank. They had just piles of the metal lying around, begging to be put to use, so I did. A whole day of trying to figure out how to shape the damn metal plus another one on actually implementing it onto the hilt were lost, but the results were well worth it.

Just as I hooked the sheath onto my belt, the sun broke through the cover of the clouds. The warm rays permeated through my body, filling it with more vigor. Not only that, but the gunshot wound in my stomach was healing at a faster rate. Honestly, I had no idea on how the sun mystically granted me strength. If I had to take a guess, I'd chalk it up to the side effects of radiation. Whatever it was though, I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Glancing down again, I could make out the layout of a city with its tall buildings and streets filled with cars spread out beneath him. It was rather quiet for as big as it looked, I felt I should have heard at least the rumble of car engines, even from this height. The couple Pre-War books I had read about cities like the Boneyard had mentioned noise as a problem. Multiple airships that looked like newer vertibirds hovered around the airspace, flying from place to place. Silently, I gawked at the sight. There was nowhere I knew of that had civilization that was as structured as this. New Vegas was the only place I could think of that was somewhat like this, and even it wasn't on such a scale as the sprawling cityscape below me. 'Where the hell am I?'

"I don't mean to divert your thoughts from a very important question," my brain interrupted once again. "But I feel as if a landing strategy would be a much better use of our time. I've already found a couple locations that give us a higher chance of survival, but you're in charge after all, so you get to make the decision."

A large explosion suddenly erupted from one of the poorer-looking streets down below, launching a fireball nearly twenty feet into the air. Smoke twisted up from the center of the blast, making its way into the sky above. Sirens wailed and I could make out the flashing lights from the surrounding area speeding towards the site. Narrowing my eyes, I aimed my body towards the smoking street.

My brain seemed to get where I was going. "No, no, no! Just for once, can you not run towards the danger?"

'What if people need help? Who else can do what I can?'

"The local law enforcement, by the looks of it!" When I scowled at that, my brain let out a sigh. "Alright, we both know that they probably can't handle it. There's an alleyway with a rusty fire escape, combine that with your sword and you should be able to slow down enough. You still have that last auto-inject Super Stimpak, right?"

I nodded, quickly spotting the site and angling my body towards it. It was between two tall stone buildings around thirty feet to my left. As he had said, an old fire escape climbed up the side of one, covered in rust and grime. Swearing to myself, I unsheathed the katana, flipped it into a reverse grip, and grit my teeth.

This was going to hurt.

"Cash and valuables, now!"

Swallowing her fear, Ches tossed her purse onto the ground, before quickly fumbling with her earrings. It was just her luck to be caught in the middle of an all-out war between the Mad Dogs and Vale's police on her way home. Not only that, but a couple of the aforementioned gang members had split off from their friends and managed to corner her in an alley after she had tried to run.

"Hurry up!" The man in the ski mask closest to her grunted, poking her with his handgun. She shivered as the cold steel of the barrel touched her forehead, dropping her earrings onto her bag. The mugger towered over her, his frame nearly dwarfing her threefold. Her size was on the short side, but that was to be expected when neither of her parents had been very tall. Being a mouse Faunus didn't help either, so she was a prime target for muggings and robberies.

The man squinted at her for a second before poking her once again. "Necklace too, animal."

Silently, she shook her head and clasped the gold chain closer to her chest. It was the only heirloom she had left from her grandmother after she was killed in an anti-Faunus rally. She didn't care about losing her money and earrings, but her necklace was irreplaceable.

"Charles!" Ches started as his thinner friend watching the exit to alleyway turned back towards them and waved his rifle in impatience. "What's taking so long? The cops are pushing forward onto our street!"

Her captor growled in annoyance, jerking a thumb towards her. "Damn girl won't give up her necklace."

His friend gazed at him in disbelief for a second before facepalming himself. "You have a fucking gun! If she doesn't give it up, just shoot her and take it!"

"Oh, right."

Ches found herself staring down the barrel of his gun once again as Charles turned back around. "You heard the man, if you don't drop it in the bag, I shoot."

Tears welled in her eyes, but she shook unclasped the back of the chain. Losing the necklace felt like losing a piece of her soul. Sliding it through her fingers one last time, she glanced up in prayer. 'Please, someone, help me.'

That's when she saw the man in black armor with the katana and glowing bracelet falling from the sky.

He slammed into one of the rusty fire escapes above her, wrapping one hand around the steel bars. Unfortunately, his speed tore the metal platform free from the wall in a shower of stone and rubble. Before he got caught in the cascade of debris, he swung both feet into the wall and pushed back off. Leaping across the alleyway, he stabbed the sword into the brickwork of the other building and allowed his momentum to carry him to the ground.

About forty feet from the street, his sword slipped from the wall and sent the figure tumbling to the ground. He spun his body in mid air, landing feet first on the ground so hard he cracked the pavement. Even from half the alley away, she could hear the bones in his legs snap at the impact and winced as he went tumbling to the ground and went still, the sword slipping out of his hands. The steel fire escape clattered down onto the other side, shaking the alleyway with its impact.

"Uh," Charles said, glancing from the unmoving form of the man on the ground and back to his partner. He had changed targets to the obviously more pressing matter of the newcomer. "I think we got a problem, Eric."

"Did you shoot her?" the man named Eric asked in exasperation before turning around. "Because I didn't think your handgun was that lo-" His eyes landed on the broken figure on the ground. "Who the hell is this?"

All he got from Charles was a shrug of his shoulders. Sighing in frustration once again, he strode over to the man, keeping his rifle trained on his unmoving body. Hesitating briefly, he poked the body with his toe, and, when he didn't stir, nudged him harder. "Where did he come from?"

The stocky man pointed up into the air.

"He fell from the sky?"

"Yeah."

Eric followed his finger's direction with his eyes. "Like, the sky, sky?"

"Yeah."

"Wow," he said, staring down at the figure. A grin suddenly shone through his mask and he laughed out loud. "What a dumbass! Commits suicide right here and we get his shit! Ah, this has to be our lucky day."

Ches took a deep breath as Eric bent over the man's corpse and began rifling through his pockets, his partner quickly moving to help him. Although help hadn't come in the form she expected, the mysterious figure's arrival had been a blessing in disguise. Her mugger's attention was now completely absorbed in looting the dead body. Sending a silent prayer to the man's spirit, she eyed her purse briefly. After only a moment's hesitation, she decided against grabbing it and began to inch her way past the two gang members. 'It's not worth it.'

Step by step, she quietly made her way past them, careful not to make a sound. Even the slightest shifting of the broken concrete made her freeze in terror. Both her ears and eyes were trained on the two men, watching for any sign that they would turn around. Her muscles were tensed and ready to make a run for it if the need arose.

"Eric!"

She froze and closed her eyes in fear. This was it, it was all over. Any second, one of them was going to tu-

"This guy had some really nice guns!"

Cracking open one eye, she glanced towards the two men. They still hadn't turned around, but Charles was waving two engraved handguns around in the air excitedly. His movements came to a stop once his partner smacked him over the head. "I can see it, you idiot! Act professional for once in your life!"

Ches let out a sigh and began moving forward again as they went back to rummaging through his stuff. That had been way too close for her liking. Thankfully, they didn't seem to be the brightest or most perceptive, otherwise she would've been in real trouble.

It wasn't long before she had reached the exit to the alleyway. The stuff the dead man must have been carrying to keep them busy for that long must have really interesting to keep the two muggers' attention for that long. Half a dozen times she had thought that they were turning around only for one of them to exclaim in triumph about some new item.

The sound of gunshots and explosions, which had taken a back seat to her more urgent issues, now came to the front. Although she was free of her captors, now she had to deal with the streets flooded with Mad Dogs and policemen. The chances of her getting from the alley to her house without dying were slim. A sudden lull in the gunfire prompted her to glance out into the street.

Only to find herself face-to-face with a tall, broad-shouldered man dressed in purple combat gear.

She shrieked and fell backwards, quickly using her hands to back herself away from the very muscular man. He didn't say anything, only staring down at her with his eyes like flint and curling his thin mustache around his finger. After a moment, his mouth twisted into a sneer and he reached down, grabbing a fistful of her hair. Another cry escaped her throat as she was dragged back into the alleyway.

'Why did this have to happen to me?'

"Are you two stupid?" The man tossed her behind the goons. She hit the pavement headfirst, and another wave of tears broke loose from her eyes. Curling up into a ball, she glanced up at the three men around her.

Eric and Charles had turned around, and their looks of excitement were swapped for ones of terror. The bigger one still had the man's two guns in his hands and his thinner partner was holding the blue-bladed katana, but they gripped them tighter at the sight of the newcomer. The masked man who had caught her had his arms crossed over his chest in disapproval while simultaneously sending them a death glare. He raised a finger, and the two men flinched in fear.

"Why did you let this animal go?" he asked, the irritation in his tone evident. "The Boss's mission was capture any Faunus strong enough for the Maze and kill those who aren't, not looting a dead man, if I remember correctly. The muggings and robberies are a cover-up, not a chance to get rich."

An audible gulp escaped from Eric's throat as he tried to come up with an excuse. "W-we were a-about to shoot her, Phyrius, but then this man fell out of the sky!" His expression brightened briefly. "You should see some of the tech on this guy! If we salva-!"

His sentence were cut off when the burly man snapped his hand across the short distance between them and wrapped his fingers around the thin criminal's neck. "The Boss doesn't care about technology." Each word was enunciated slowly, like he was talking to a child. The tone he used, however, would've scarred a kid for life. "He wants the Faunus off the streets. Should I tell him that you two were fooling around or can I trust you to do your damn job? If not," He lifted up one of his boots, showing off the plated, lavender metal. A quick flex of his foot shot three inch spikes out of the bottom and they glinted dangerously in the sunlight. "Then you'll finally understand why they call me Leadfoot."

Letting him go, he calmly crossed his arms again, waiting for a response. The two men wasted no time nodding.

"Good," the man said, slamming his foot back on the ground. The spikes cracked the concrete mere inches from Ches's head, and she let out a whimper of fear. "As much as I would like to see to this myself, a… complication has arisen that I need to see to personally, so I am trusting you to finish the job."

Without another word, he turned swiftly and departed. She watched him go from her position on the ground before breathing a silent sigh of relief. Leadfoot Phyrius. The man was an infamous racist among the Faunus community, but that was to be expected when you were second-in-command of the Mad Dogs. They had started out as a crime syndicate, but with the influence of people like Phyrius and his boss, had dipped their toes into other territories.

Namely, genocide against anybody with animal traits.

"Charles," Eric said, snapping her out of her thoughts. His voice had gained an earnest edge. "Grab her and drag her back over here, we can't afford to screw up. Not again."

You know those moments where you regret every single life choice you've made?

Yeah, I was having one of those. It most likely had to do with the fact that my legs felt like they had been shattered and then fused back together. That, and my stomach was flip-flopping so much that I was probably going to lose the Salisbury Steak I had eaten earlier.

All-in-all, I wasn't in the best place.

That's why the first thing I did upon waking up was empty the contents of my stomach. I rose up to all fours, lifted my mask, and threw up all over the ground. Teleportation usually lead to an upset stomach, and I'm pretty sure whatever malfunction occurred with the Transportalponder only heightening the effects.

'Note to self,' I groaned, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. From inside my duster, I drew out a canister of Jet and took a puff. 'Salisbury Steak still tastes like leather coming out as much as it does coming in.'

Honestly, I don't even know why I still bothered to eat the stuff. Fresh grilled meat of any animal was leagues better than Pre-War food. If I had to take a guess, I'd chalk it up to being a hoarder. Getting rid of anything that I thought could be remotely useful in the future was a challenge.

Stifling another wave of bile that rose up in my throat, I slid my mask back down and staggered to my feet. The auto-inject Super Stimpak I had was the only reason I could still get to my feet. Without it, I'd be a sack of broken flesh and bones on the ground. As an added bonus, it didn't even have the weakness that Super Stimpaks were known for, the effect somehow just disappearing from the medicine altogether.

"How the fuck are you still alive?!"

I glanced up in the direction of the voice. Two men in ski masks, one holding a pair of handguns and the other equipped with a katana, all of it looking strikingly familiar, stood over a small woman. The weirdest thing about her, were the two animal ears that stuck out of her head. They twitched every couple of seconds, mirroring her frantic expression and tear-stained face.

Switching my attention back to their weaponry, I frowned. It was mine, no doubt about that. A quick check at the holsters at my waist confirmed that. Both the Ranger Sequoia and A Light Shining in Darkness were in possession of the stockier man while his thinner partner had my katana.

"Evenin' gentleman," I said, giving them a cheery wave. Their grips on the handles of my weapons tightened in response. "How are you doing?"

The skinnier one spoke up first. "T-that fall should've killed you!"

"It probably should've," I said with a shrug of my shoulders and gazed around at the wrecked alleyway. The fire escape I had grabbed onto was sitting on the ground in a pile of twisted metal and broken stone. A large gash lined the wall behind me, the bricks that had been knocked loose were also scattered across the ground. In addition to all the debris, a small pool of my blood had stained the asphalt red.

The sight of which reminded me of the bullet wound in my abdomen. I reached into my coat and pulled out Blood-Nap, still in the same place I had left it. Taking the bowie knife into my hand, I ran a hand over the newly healed flesh of my stomach. Just as I had predicted, the Super Stimpak had completely patched it up, leaving only a tiny scar in its place.

'Whelp, might as well...'

I stabbed the blade down into the skin, grunting at the pain. My other hand quickly followed the knife, fingers poking around in the flesh for the bullet. It didn't take me long to find the damn thing, thankfully. The piece of lead sat right below the surface of my skin, a testament to my toughened skin. I sent a silent thank you to Dr. Usagani for what wasn't the first time, and for what definitely wouldn't be the last. As much as I hated doctors, I definitely would've died long ago if it weren't for her implants.

Flicking the knife, I popped the round out of my stomach in a spurt of blood before quickly pinching the wound shut and reaching inside my duster to produce a roll of bandages. I wasted no time in wrapping the gunshot tightly. There was no way I was going to survive a fall from the sky only to bleed out in the middle of an alleyway in some unknown city. Once it was significantly covered, I tore the strip off and returned the roll to my coat.

"Well!" I clapped my hands together and looked back up. All three of them had been watching in a mixture of morbid curiosity and fear. "I'm giving you one chance to drop my stuff and release the wonderful lady, otherwise I start slicing throats. You hear me?"

Lanky raised an eyebrow. "You're facing us one on two and you're the one offering mercy?"

I grinned, resheathing Blood-Nap back into my waist. It still surprised me how cocksure raiders could be sometimes, even after facing so many. At least, I assumed they were raiders. Their outfits were reminiscent of them, but, being in a new city, they could've been something else. Whatever they were called, I recognized the scene in front of me. They were a dime a dozen back in New Vegas. Two armed men in an alleyway standing over a crying woman? It was either rape or robbery, and I was leaning towards the latter considering she still had her clothes on.

"I mean, you can barely hold my sword correctly, so I think my chances are pretty good." I said with a shrug, gesturing towards him. "I'm guessing you're not interested in surrendering then?"

Stocky chuckled, but it wasn't very convincing. His voice cracked like teenager and I could see his legs shaking. My cheerful demeanor usually unnerved most opponents I faced, so I was glad that hadn't changed. "Y-you've got to be joking, right? You think you can beat both of us?" To boost his confidence, he thumbed back the hammer of the Sequoia and aimed it at my head. His partner, Lanky, dropped into what I assumed he thought a sword-fighting stance was, only it was so wrong I could feel Lanius turn in his grave. The man's feet were way too close together and he held the blade like a baseball bat.

It reminded me of when a member of the Viper Gang got his hands on a Shishkebab, Power Armor, and a large stash of Chems. The lunatic went on a rampage through the Southern Mojave that I had to deal with personally. After nearly a week of chasing him down and cleaning up the trail of destruction he had left behind, I had cornered him in the stone quarry near Sloan. Although he swung with all the grace and skill of Brahmin, the Psycho, Med-X, and Buffout he had taken made him harder to take down than a Super Mutant. A couple of well placed shots from the Sonic Emitter and the help of a passing Deathclaw ended his life.

I flicked my eyes between the two men and cracked my knuckles. Neither of them seemed to have the deranged look of a chem-addict, which would make dealing with them quite a bit easier. Nothing was harder to put down than a man with Psycho flowing through his veins. That shit made a human equivalent to a Super Mutant in terms of strength.

"H-hey buddy," Lanky said, pointing the sword at my chest. "Don't get any ideas…"

My mouth curled into a grin and I slid Figaro from my sleeve down into my hand. "Trust me, I've already got some floating around."

Stocky widened his eyes in shock, but I was already in motion by the time he tried to pull the trigger. Crossing the short distance between us in one, quick stride, I wrapped my left arm around his gun arm and forced it to the side. With my other hand, I stabbed the razor into his throat. Instead of cutting through his jugular in a spectacular fountain of blood like it normally would have, however, the blade bent in half an inch from his throat and knocked him backwards onto the ground, knocking the revolver out of his hand.

'What the hell?' I stared at the disfigured razor in confusion. Never, in all my time fighting, had something like this ever happened. Usually, blade went in, shower of blood, body dead on the ground, and it was all over. This time, some invisible force had prevented the short knife from digging into his neck. The blade had still hit, but didn't even leave a cut on the man's throat.

"Watch out!"

I ducked, narrowly avoiding the sword that was meant for my neck. Sending my brain a silent thank you, I slid the crumpled razor back up my sleeve and slipped inside Lanky's guard. His swing had left him defenseless and off-balance, something I wasn't going to let him recover from.

He tried to bring the sword back in, but I was already too close for him to even hope to defend himself. My first punch hit home into his stomach, but, to my dismay, it was met with the same resistance that I had experienced with Stocky. I definitely hit him, but the same invisible force field prevented me from getting a solid blow.

Quickly snapping out of my thoughts, I reached up with both hands and grabbed onto the back of his head. In one swift movement, I brought my knee up into his face, grinning as my armored knee plate crushed his nose with a satisfying crack and a wet stain steadily began growing behind his ski mask. Apparently, whatever force was protecting them either had a limit or was only active sometimes. Of the two, I was leaning to the former.

He reeled backwards, grasping the shattered remains of his nasal cartilage. As an added bonus, the sword slipped from his fingers and clattered to the ground. Wasting no time, I scooped up the katana and spun it through my fingers.

"Hey!"

I glanced up from the ground towards the direction of the voice. Stocky had regained his breath and was pointing A Light Shining in Darkness at the woman on the ground. She pleaded with him silently, the tears beginning to flow down her face again.

"Now," he said, tugging on her hair to pull her upright. "Drop the sword or the animal gets it."

My grip tightened on the katana as he pressed the gun barrel tighter to her head. Every bone in my body was screaming for me to fight, but a situation like this was foreign to me. The few times hostage situations had arisen, they had never been as in direct danger as right now. It usually was a scenario in which I could sneak in, free the people, and then get out unscathed. Having to deal with it in the moment was new. That didn't mean I didn't have a plan for it though.

"Fine," I growled, bringing my sword up. "Shoot her, I don't care."

The girl's eyes widened in fear and her ears began twitching. Taking short, uneven breaths, she began to sob uncontrollably. "No, no, no, no, no! Please, you have to help me!"

Even the thicker man looked surprised, straightening a bit and lowering his gun slightly. "But you just said that you were playing the role of bodyguard a couple of minutes ago, didn't you?"

A grin spread across my face. I had the man right where I wanted him, hook, line, and sinker. Sometimes, it surprised me how easy it was to manipulate people, especially those whose IQ's were barely high enough for basic brain functions.

"Yeah, but that was to secure the moral high ground. Unless you are a complete psychopath, then the thought of shooting an innocent woman incites hesitation. Since I placed myself in the role of vigilante and only the insane murder civilians without a second thought, then it was bound to force some sort of pause, intentional or not, upon you, giving me the upper hand. If we're being completely honest though, her life means nothing to me."

Behind the ski mask, his eyes widened and the gun dipped just a bit further. "B-but you said…"

"Really?" I asked, spreading my arms wide. "You're going to believe the word of a man who looks like this? Not only that, but we just met. How do you know what I'm saying holds any weight?"

This time, his eyebrows scrunched in concentration as his brain tried to decipher what I was saying. "So, that thing about not caring about her could have been a lie?"

I shrugged. "Yeah."

The gun slowly dropped back down to his side. "Well, now I'm just confused."

'Then let me help you understand.'

Grasping the hilt tightly in my right hand, I flung the sword blade-first towards his face. If possible, his eyes widened even further before the sharp end entered into his forehead. Whoever these people were, they didn't seem to have very strong forces protecting their bodies, and only one or two solid hits from him were all that were required to break it. Back to the situation at hand, the stocky man stumbled backwards before slumping over.

The short woman screamed, wrenching herself free of the dead man's grasp. Tears continued to stream down her face as she curled up into a ball. Ignoring her for the moment, I strode towards Stocky's corpse and tugged the katana from his head. It came loose easily, the Saturnite staying free of any blood or gore. That was another one of the many perks that the blue material had over regular metals. Nothing ever stained or chipped the blade.

"Charles!"

Lanky was now on his feet with a sleek rifle in his hands. The front of his ski mask was now a dark maroon, and the open area around his mouth was that same shade. His mouth was twisted into what looked like the constant struggle between horror in rage. After a moment, he set it to a scowl and aimed the barrel towards my head.

"You're going to pay for what you did to him!"

With a spin of the blade, I held it in front of me defensively. "Make me."

He growled and pulled the trigger. Leaping in his direction, I slid low to the ground. The gun discharged, but the bullet missed by a fraction, speeding over my head. Before he could fire again, I wrapped both legs around his own before snapping them shut and twisting to the left. Without anything to hold him up, he slammed into the ground, the rifle slipping from his grasp.

I wasted no time in spinning the sword into a reverse grip and stabbing it into his throat. Like it had done against his partner, the blade went in with little resistance, thank God for that. Blood sprayed into the air as I watched the light drain from his eyes. Dragging it back out, I resheathed it at my side and crouched over top of him.

"Nicely done, a little messy, but I can't argue with results."

"Like you could have done any better?" I muttered, sifting my hands through the man's pockets. Among additional ammunition for his rifle, there were a couple of plastic cards with odd symbols on them and a different white piece of plastic with a slit down the middle and a yellow diamond in the center. With a shrug, I pocketed both. My kleptomaniac tendencies had always been hard to shake.

Done with the second man, I moved back to the first. He held similar treasures. More ammo, more plastic cards, and another white plastic strip with a slit down the middle. Once again, I pocketed both. You can never go wrong with having too much stuff.

The real treasure though, was getting my handguns back. A Light Shining in Darkness was still in his hand, so I didn't waste any time pulling that free and holstering it at my left. It physically pained me to see my weapon in the hands of someone who could barely use a gun in the first place.

The Ranger Sequoia, on the other hand, was laying on the ground where Charles had dropped it. Picking it up, I brushed off the handle and checked for any scratches. There were plenty, a result of Hanlon's years of use he saw with it, but no more than usual. With a flourish, I returned it to its rightful place at my right hip.

With everything else taken care of, I turned towards the last thing left. The woman. She was still curled up on the ground, softly crying to herself. Kneeling down next to her, I lifted my mask slightly and took a puff of Jet. There was no way in hell I would deal with her unless I had the drug in my system.

"Uhh, ma'am?" I asked, tucking the empty container back into my coat and tapping her on the shoulder. She flinched at my touch and just curled up tighter, staying silent the whole time. "You can get up now, it's safe."

When she gave no response, I sighed. "Look, I'm sorry I said that I didn't care if you died, I just needed him to lower his weapon from the side of your head. There was no way I could've killed him without killing you in the process."

My reasoning seemed to spark something within her. Her head turned towards me and I could see her ears twitching in fear. "How do I know you're not lying?"

"You don't," I said, spreading my arms wide. "But, you're gonna have to trust me. If you want some reasoning, I could've killed you at any point before this, but I didn't. Is that good enough for you?"

Her eyebrows narrowed. "I suppose…" She slowly climbed to her feet, wiping the tears from her eyes. A quick glance towards the two corpses on the ground had her quickly turning in the other direction though and moving back towards her purse.

"You're not a Huntsman, are you?"

I blinked in surprise. "You mean a hunter?"

The confusion on her face only deepened as she picked up her bag and turned back to me. "No… I mean a Huntsman, protector of humanity. They fight against the Grimm and preserve justice. Ringing any bells?"

"Uhh, no..."

She frowned before examining me from head to toe. "What's your name?"

"Six," I replied, glancing towards the entrance of the alleyway. Now that the two men were dead, I could hear gunfire and explosions coming from the street connecting to where we were. It sounded like one of the wars between the NCR and the Fiends that would happen frequently before I kicked the former out and eradicated the latter. "What's yours?"

"Ches. You really don't know?"

"Listen lady," I said with a sigh. "I just fell out of the goddamn sky. In addition to not knowing what the hell a Huntsman is, I have no clue where I am."

Her mouth opened like she was about to say something, but I quickly cut her off. "As much as I would love for you to tell me where on Earth I am, we have more pressing matters to attend to." I jerked my thumb towards the exit of the alley. "Like getting you somewhere safe."

"What's an Earth?"

'You've gotta be shitting me…'

"Uhh," For once, I had no idea what to say. The sheer fact that I met someone who had never heard of Earth was even more unnerving than the unfamiliar terms from earlier. It meant one of two things, either she didn't know the history of what happened (which was highly unlikely, considering how many people like to curse the Old World countries), or I wasn't on the planet anymore. I hoped to God it was the first.

"J-just a figure of speech," I stuttered, giving her a once over. My location could wait, there were other things that needed to be done first. Satisfied that she wasn't fatally injured, I glanced down to the Pip-Boy and started flipping through radio stations, none of which were familiar to me. Vale News Network and Radio Vale had replaced Mojave Music and Radio New Vegas. Pretty standard for being in a different location. A different one caught my eye however. Remnant's Greatest Hits. Although the name was unfamiliar, the prospect of music always always intrigued me. Flipping to it, I dropped the bracer back towards my side and

"Welcome back to Remnant's Greatest Hits with your host, Vern Persimmon, a.k.a., me!" A female voice echoed from the Pip-Boy rather excitedly. "I won't waste your time, so we'll get right into the music! Next up is 'I Burn' by Casey Lee Williams!"

A burst of distorted guitars flew forth from the radio and I gave a tentative smile. Even though I loved every song in New Vegas dearly (except maybe Johnny Guitar), it was nice to have a change of pace.

"Stay close and out of harm's way," I told Ches, moving towards the exit of the alley. Reaching down with one hand, I pulled up the Ranger Sequoia, flicked the cylinder out, and reloaded it. "I'm gonna show these fuckers why I'm the best damned mailman in the business."

In his thirteen years as Sergeant of Vale's Police Department, Jasper Redwood had never been in such a pickle before.

And that was putting it lightly.

When the Mad Dogs had started their raid on the mostly-Faunus slums, his squad had been the first called on. It was because he lead the most recognized and distinguished squadron that Vale had ever seen. Although he thought they were prepared for any situation, he was proven wrong as soon as the first squad car was blown up.

Someone had supplied the criminals with rocket launchers, heavy machine guns, anti-tank rifles. Any attempt to push forward only resulted in casualty upon casualty. They were so well dug into the streets, that it was like assaulting a fortress. It didn't help that they managed to cut him off from the rest of his squad after a failed push.

Which put him in his current situation.

Trapped behind a crashed police cruiser under constant surveillance by a machine gun nest. Not only that, but one of the newest additions to his team was stuck with him. While he might have gone through the same training as Jasper had, Jett had nowhere near as much experience. After all, he was fresh from the academy and had very little field experience.

"What are we gonna do, Sarge?" The young man asked, tightening his grip on the rifle in his hands. Even if he was still wet behind the ears, he showed a remarkable amount of level-headedness. Compared to some of the other recruits he had met in similar situations, he was downright calm.

"Well," Jasper said, slowly peeking over the car. A fresh wave of bullets slamming into the side of it stopped curbed his curiosity though, and he ducked back down behind cover. "I believe the only thing that we can do is wait for reinforcements to arrive. Against a nest like this, we're outmanned and outgunned. We should be fine if we ju-."

"COME OUT COWARDS!"

They both jumped as the robotic voice echoed through the street and it began to shake like something heavy was stepping around. Jasper's skin paled when he realized the only thing it could be.

'Things just had to get worse, huh?'

"Don't panic, but I think they have an Atlesian Paladin."

The recruit's eyes widened, but quickly returned to normal in an attempt to save face. Honestly, Jasper couldn't blame the kid for trying. If their positions were reversed, he would have done the same thing. "A-a Paladin? We don't have the firepower to deal with that!"

"I know," he said, pulling out his scroll and checking it. Oliver, one of his officers, was an expert in demolitions and was the only one who carried something powerful enough to take down the mech. Only problem was they were cut off from him and had no way of clearing a path.

An explosion rocked the street and he swore heavily again. There was no way they could last against a giant mech suit for very long, if at all. Those things were designed to go toe to toe with the strongest of Grimm, so they didn't stand much of a chance with low calibre rifles. It was only a matter of time before the-.

Through a lull in the gunfire, music started to play. Compared to their surroundings, it was way too cheery and uplifting. Even the Mad Dogs were confused by it, if the quietness of the street was anything to go off of.

"Uhh... " Jasper glanced across the short space between the two of them. Jett had cocked his head and was listening to the tune. Underneath the helmet, the Sergeant could see a grin form onto his face and his expression lighten. "Is that music?

He was about to respond, when he noticed the new figure approach from an alleyway a bit behind of where they were hiding. Clothed head to toe in black and dark green, he radiated an aura of deadliness that few other people Jasper had seen could hope to replicate. That was probably due to the two glowing, red eyes that stared down the street towards the gun encampment and Paladin. In his right hand, a revolver glinted in the sunlight, showing off the writing on the side that was too small for him to read. On the opposite arm, a glowing blue bracer seemed to be the origin of the music. Behind him, a short Faunus woman stood, keeping her body between the man and the Mad Dogs.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?"

Risking a look, the Sergeant slowly tried once more to look over the barricade. This time, their foe's attention was diverted to the newcomers. Sure enough, an Atlesian Paladin stood in all of its glory, gun arms pointed ahead. Instead of the usual white and grey of Atlas, the thing was painted a matte black with the symbol of the Mad Dogs, a snarling canine with foam dripping from its mouth, right in the center of the chest.

Not far to the left of it, Jasper could still see the mess of overturned cars that made up the machine gun nest. On the top of the pile of cars, a masked man sat with chain-fed machine gun, like the type Atlas always had hanging out of their Bullheads. Now that he thought about it, it was obvious the giant mech had been the one to build it. There was no way they could have moved the steel chassis all by themselves.

Turning back to the man, he saw him jerk his thumb towards their cover. The woman nodded once before sprinting towards them. Before she got very far, however, the chain gun on the Paladin's left arm revved up.

"Oi," the man said suddenly, his voice coming out grainy through the filter in the gas mask on his helmet. With his free hand, he reached into his jacket and pulled out a fragmentation grenade. Meanwhile, the other leveled its gun towards the giant robot. "Your fight's with me. She's all yours if I lose."

"I DON'T MAKE DEALS WITH HUNTSMAN!" the criminal in the mech shouted, pointing its own gun down at him. To Jasper's surprise, he didn't even flinch, only shake his head in what looked like disappointment. "BUT, I SUPPOSE IT WON'T MATTER IN THE LONG RUN! I'LL KILL YOU AND THEN THE ANIMAL! AFTER ALL, YOU CAN'T DEFEAT US ALL ON YOUR OWN!"

Instead of replying, the figure pulled the pin and flicked the safety level to the ground. Both pieces clattered to the ground, bouncing briefly against the asphalt before settling still. Tossing it up with one hand, he caught it and cocked back his left arm. "I wouldn't bet on that."

"You sure this is smart?"

I tightened my grip on the grenade, silently ticking down the fuse in my mind. The man in the mech still had the massive minigun aimed at my chest, but it wasn't even spinning yet. No doubt the pilot thought himself indestructible to the Ranger Sequoia's bullets. 'No, but it was the first thing that came to mind. The rest of it will fall into place as I go.'

With three seconds left until the bomb exploded, I threw it. It spiraled through the air before landing right into the machine gun nest. The criminal manning the gun shouted out something incoherent before the entire thing went up in flames. As an added bonus, the stacked vehicles the gun sat on only added to the massive fireball.

The shockwave from the giant explosion spread out quickly, shattering windows and slamming into me. With a grunt, I turned my back to the blast and and rolled with it to avoid getting knocked flat on my ass. For the most part, I succeeded, but small pieces of shrapnel peppered my tattered duster. Thankfully, the reinforced fibers prevented any of them from digging into my flesh.

"DAMN YOU!"

Turning back around, I glanced back towards the mech. The giant robot was currently trying to stagger to its feet since the explosion had knocked it to the ground. Other than a few burns, it was completely unharmed. Not that that was surprising though, the thing was larger and looked more advanced than any suit of Power Armor I had gone up against, and even those ate up explosions easily.

As it was struggling to get upright, I gazed towards where I had sent Ches. She was currently crouched behind the police car with the two other men, watching him and the mech. We locked eyes, or, in my case, lenses, I pointed back behind me. "You need to go!"

The older of the two men turned to his partner and leaned down close to his ear. Over the noise of the burning flames and gunshots, I couldn't even begin to make out what they were saying. After a couple seconds, the younger nodded and grabbed Ches by the hand before leading her back down the street. The way they were heading seemed to be filled with relatively few criminals, so I turned to the older man who was making his way towards me.

He was dressed in what looked like police riot gear, though unlike mine, it wasn't as heavily armored and had no duster. His helmet was also different, because instead of a gas mask and red lenses, his had a clear blast shield that was currently slid over his face. Beneath said shield, his crimson eyes stared at me with a mixture of respect and intrigue.

"So," he said, shouldering his rifle. "You need some help fighting this thing?"

"Normally, I wouldn't hesitate at the prospect of extra firepower, but I doubt your rifle would do anything against a mech."

The man frowned. "You're probably right, but you've got the same problem as me. A revolver isn't the best choice either."

"And you're right about that," I said, holstering the revolver and bringing up the Pip-Boy. In a few short turns of the dial, a flash of blue filled the street and my riot shotgun was sitting in my hands. With my weapon equipped, I quickly smacked the magazine free before ramming a new one home. Cocking the bolt, I glanced at the man. "But I've got that covered."

"What about me?" he said, staring at the shotgun in surprise. "I'm not a Huntsman and my gun won't do shit."

Briefly, I contemplated handing him my last pulse grenade, but quickly decided against it. An extra hand was always useful, especially against a giant robot, but my past experiences with law enforcement weren't the best. The NCR was never the greatest police force ever, they preferred to just straight up kill people instead of wasting resources on holding them for a trial. That lead to poor decisions being made all the time on their part and frustration on mine. Thankfully, there was another job that I could give him that would still help me while not infringing on my thin layer of trust.

"You make sure I only have to worry about the big guy. It'll do me little good fighting this thing if I get shot full of holes." After a second of thinking, I added. "Also, get as many civilians out as you can. This could get messy."

I could tell by the look on his face that he didn't like the plan, but he accepted it with a sigh anyway. "Alright, you fight that thing and I'll cover you. Don't feel like you have to take it down though, I have help on the way."

And with that, he was gone, streaking up the side past the robot to pick off any stragglers from the explosion. Once he was out of sight, I checked the magazine once again. The drum of pulse slugs was still loaded, the blue tips glowing slightly. Not enough to take down a robot that large, but it would do decent damage to its internal wiring. I had other plans for how to finish the damn thing anyway.

The street shook heavily and I glanced back towards the mech. It had finally managed to find its footing and stand up without stumbling back into another building. The arm with the chain gun was once again spun up at my chest while his other rested at his side.

"THIS IS YOUR END, HUNTSMAN!" he roared before charging forward. Each footstep made the asphalt tremble under the mech's immense weight. While he was sprinting, his other arm brought up the minigun and revved it up. A wave of bullets struck the concrete, sending chunks flying up in my direction.

"Time to move." my brain said as I tensed my legs in preparation to jump. Rolling my eyes at its obvious observation, I dove towards the crashed car that the two officers had been using as cover earlier. I managed to get behind it just as the mech's rounds punched into the steel of it.

Surprisingly, it held under the force of the gatling gun and didn't tear apart like wet paper. "Must be some sort of reinforced metal…" I muttered, running my hand along one of the doors. It was unlike any car I had ever seen in the Mojave. Whoever made it had made sure that it was well-crafted and durable, unlike the easy to produce, often cheaply made vehicles back home. That was excluding military, of course.

The thought of the old American cars brought another memory to the front of my mind. I had completely forgotten about it up until this point, but it all came rushing back suddenly. A while back in nearly the same situation (except replace giant robot with Fiend with a minigun), I had devised a strategy that hadn't worked out. I sliced off a door to one of the cars laying around New Vegas and tried to use it as a shield against it. The flimsy, rusted metal had soon broken under the rain of 5mm bullets and I was left picking them out for weeks afterwards. The reason I brought it up now, however, was that with a more durable metal, like the one the police cruiser was made of, it could finally work.

Slinging the riot shotgun over my back, I drew my katana from my hip. While one hand opened the door, the other brought the blade down upon the hinge, separating the heavy piece of metal from the rest of the car. Just in the nick of time too, because no sooner had I grabbed my makeshift shield and leapt backwards, then a giant foot slammed down upon the car, crushing it like a tin can. If I had been a second later, there would be nothing left of my body but a broken pile of bones and flesh.

"Shit…" I swore, backing up to face the giant robot and returning the sword to ts sheath. At this distance, it towered above me, forcing me to crane my neck backwards to even get a clear visual of the cockpit. Earlier, I had been so focused on trying to get Ches to safety and keeping the two police officers alive that I had completely ignored the sheer scope of what I was fighting. The only thing that I had fought that was even close to the same size was Mobius's X-42 Robo-Scorpion.

"I told you this was a mistake," my brain chastised as I raised my car door shield against a wave of minigun rounds. "But did you listen? No. You're just as reckless as you've always been. The fate of the innocent isn't always in your hands."

Any retort that would've come out of my mouth was silenced by the grunt that came out instead. My predictions earlier had been true, seeing as the shield didn't immediately get filled to the brim with holes. The force of the gunfire forced my feet to slide backwards across the asphalt. Growling in frustration, I threaded my left arm through the door handle and pulled the riot shotgun back off of my back.

A moment later, the hail of bullets stopped abruptly and I peeked around from behind the shield. The barrel of his gun was smoking and red, and every time he tried to rev it up, it would sputter out feebly. Even if I had wanted to, I wouldn't have been able to stop the grin from spreading across my face. It was obvious this dumbass wasn't familiar with overheating.

Hefting the shield with my left arm, I sprinted back towards him, keeping the riot shotgun steady in my right hand. After one more failed attempt to get the gun working again, he swung his other arm sideways to smack me into one of the adjacent buildings. Dropping into a slide, I narrowly avoided the massive appendage before unloading the entire magazine of pulse slugs into the mech's lower body.

Each shot slammed into him with an electrical discharge, forcing even his massive form to stumble backwards a step or two. As my momentum slowed to a halt right underneath him, I slid my arm out of the shield, letting it fall to the ground, and pulled my last pulse grenade from my bandolier and primed it. With a quiet hum, the thing sputtered to life, glowing a dull, blue tint.

"Bombs away, motherfucker." I said, dropping the canister to the street below. It clattered on top of the shield before rolling down into the window and coming to a rest. As soon as it stopped moving, I turned to find cover only to come face-to-face with a giant gun arm swinging my way.

It slammed into me horizontally, lifting my feet off the ground and sending my body flying into one of the brick buildings lining the street. It hurt as much as you would expect, and I swore I heard more than a couple ribs crack. Not only that, but my riot shotgun went flying from my hand into the street.

'Dammit!' I mentally swore, wincing at the waves of pain that spiked through my body. Carefully, I pulled my left arm free of the rubble and brought the Pip-Boy into view. The cartoonish figure of the Vault Boy had little x's over his eyes and his tongue hung limply out of his mouth, most likely due the grand slam the mech had managed to hit me with. If I was being honest, it did a pretty bang up job of describing how I felt right now.

A loud bang stripped my eyes from the PDA and I glanced back towards my opponent. Blue tendrils of electricity ran up and down the entire length of the giant mech and it fell to one knee. Against a machine that large, however, I doubted the effects would last long.

Slowly, I began to pull my body from the dent it had made into the side of the building. My muscles protested in agony at my every movement, silently pleading me to slow down. I ignored the intense pain, instead continuing to work myself free. Stopping now was not an option, I needed to finish the damn thing off before it got back up. With one final tug, I came loose of the wall and hopped down to the floor.

My legs gave way underneath me as soon as I touched down, sending the rest of my body keeling forward onto the ground. If only every single fiber of my being hadn't seized up right there, I could've saved myself a one way ticket to slamming my face right into the concrete.

"Yeah," brain said in amusement. "Our body's not too happy that your pushing us like this. The Super-Stimpak earlier didn't completely patch you up."

"Don't remind me," I grumbled as my muscles slowly began to relax again. A week's worth of sleepless nights and skirmishes had finally caught up to me. Implants made fatigue a bit easier to deal with, but they could only do so much when I absolutely refused to sleep. I had enough nightmares during the day when I was off drugs to want another batch at night. "After this one, I'll call it quits."

"You better. Last time you pushed yourself too far, you nearly lost control and murdered everyone at the Dam."

Staggering painfully to my feet, I frowned as I drifted my free hand down to the Pip-Boy. "You don't have to remind me" With a couple turns of the dial, Annabelle materialized into my hands. "But, if I'm being honest, Lanius deserved worse." Popping the loaded missile free, I loaded a high explosive variant into the launcher. "Man got off way easier than he should have."

Before my brain could reply, I lined up the missile launcher with the mech. The pilot had, regretfully, managed to get the thing back on its feet once again. The pulse burns that lined the metal body were more numerous and darker than I originally thought and every time he took a step, I could see the stiffness at which the joints rotated. Eying the distance one final time, I pulled the trigger and let the explosive fly.

As soon as its flaming trail left the barrel, I slid another one into place and glanced back towards the missile. It spiraled swiftly towards him before slamming into the metal body in a large fireball. It staggered backward, slamming into the ground with an impact that shook the entire street.

Hesitantly, I brought Annabelle back up in preparation to fire again. My eyes scanned the smoke for any sign of him barreling back at me. Eventually, the dust cleared and I saw the mech getting slowly to its feet.

"H-H-HUNTSMAN!" he shouted, the robotic filter over his voice briefly stuttering. A large portion of his torso was a mess of fired wires and melted metal, the missile having done more damage than I could have even dreamed against the advanced armor. Part of his cockpit had been blown off, and I could see part of the man exposed in through the shattered window. "I'M G-G-GONNA KILL Y-Y-YOU!"

At that, he began to slowly amble forward. I assumed he was trying to charge threateningly, but the extensive damage to his suit made high speeds near impossible. His other arm pulled up the minigun again, now free from the red coloring of the metal. With a grinding whirr, it began to rotate.

Before he started firing, I let the second missile fly. This one didn't have to go very far before impacting right into the mans cockpit and erupting in another large explosion. As the mech creaked and tipped forward onto the ground, I returned Annabelle to the Pip-Boy in a flash of light. Based on how much punishment the two men had taken earlier before their forcefields had faded, I doubted that he could have survived the blast. High explosive missiles were known to turn a Super Mutant to mist, so it pretty much spoke for itself.

With the threat finally taken care of, the adrenaline pumping through my body faded and I collapsed to my knees. All of a sudden, I just felt like taking a nap. Although my body was pretty good at taking injuries, it was limited in how long it could work for. Endurance aside, a lack of sleep had left me pretty exhausted.

As my body collapsed the rest of the way onto the ground, a purplish form entered my blurry vision before I lost consciousness.

Hey guys, another chapter.

Just as an FYI, I plan on using music for almost every chapter. It helps elevate the tone and mood, and, quite frankly, helps inspire me to write scenes.

See you next time.