-Daydals-

Daydals stood there, a long slash mark on his torso. The sledgehammer in his hand was bloodied, and he was staring down at the remnants of the deathclaw's head.

"Hostile neutralized. Self assessment: damage to torso minor, not critical. Next order: return to User Jade."

"What the hell?!"

Daydals targeted the new arrival, searching it's memory banks for previous data.

"Data found. Subject designation: John. Status: has custody of User Jade. History: verbally abusive, prone to violence, arrogant. New parameters. Accompany User Molly to halt subsequent psycholoical trauma."

John ran up to the robot, exasperated.

"How are you up?! And when did you learn how to walk and talk? Did you kill this deathclaw?! With that sledgehammer?!"

Daydals ignored the questions, moving back to Jade, just as she was waking.

"User Jade. You have attained consciousness. What are your orders?"

Jade rubbed her eyes, trying to focus on the robot.

"What happened, Mister Daydals?"

The robot ran through the events, listing them in chronological order for the girl. Jade gaped at him, until she was slammed against the wall by John.

"What did you do, you little brat? I left you to guard, and you screw up my robot?!"

Daydals acted, ripping Jade from John's grasp and pushing him against the wall.

"Aggressor detected. Warning: do not harm or physically assault User Jade in any way, or Daydals will be forced to enact lethal force against the aggressor."

Daydals let go of John, who took off his mask and sat down, tired out of his mind.

"Great. You ruined my robot. I built him, found all the parts, risked everything to make him, and now he's your robot."

Jade had a quizzical expression on her face, but turned to the robot.

"Daydals. Do that thing you did to me. But to him, Mister John."

Daydals interpreted these new commands and reiterated them.

"User Jade requests that Daydals perform a second cerebral data transmission with Aggressor John?"

Molly nodded vigorously, smiling.

"Yes, what you said."

Daydals crouched, close to the exiled Outcast.

"Commencing cerebral data transmission."

John backed away, holding his hands up.

"Don't do anything you'll regret, Daedalus. I built you, and I can destroy you, too."

Daydals made an attempt at performing the CDT, but ran into an error.

"Error. Cerebral data transmission function exhausted. Please wait 8,743 hours before trying again."

John relaxed, chuckling.

"Well, that's good. I don't want you to damage my advanced brain in anyway."

Daydals observed John, taking in every detail of his clothing, armor, physique, and capabilities.

"Aggressor John. Status has been changed to friendly. Friendly John must not enact aggressive actions, physical or verbal, towards the user. Will you comply?"

John glared at Jade, enraged by the robbery of his creation.

"I will comply."

"Friendly John. Beginning adoption protocol. Mission parameters changed. Protect User Molly and Friendly John."

-John-

Damn it, I knew my debt with Lady Luck would catch up to me. That brat, Jade, rode high on Daedalus's-, I mean Daydals's, shoulders. I kept my distance in front, walking west along a pre-War road, passing a Super Duper Mart. I can't believe how unlucky I am.

"Hey, bra- Jade. How'd this happen?"

Jade bounced up and down, and the robot didn't react at all.

"He woke up. And then he did something weird. After that, I fell asleep, and suddenly, he could do all the stuff he does."

I grumbled, smashing rocks under my boots to vent.

"Thanks for stealing my robot, then."

As we walked down the road, I noticed 3 dark figures in the distance. They were too far away for me to make out any details, but I had a hunch that they were bad news.

"Hey! Look alive, possible enemies."

"Targets scanned. Entering combat mode. User Jade. Please stay behind the unit."

I heard the kid set down onto the road, and she ran behind my robot. We got closer, and I made out the signature armor of my old friends, the Outcasts.

"Halt, Wastelander. Relinquish that robot, or we will be forced to take it by force."

I knew that voice. It was Ed, the closest thing I had to a brother in the fort.

"Hey, Ed. Don't you recognize your dear old bud, John?"

Ed lowered his rifle, jogging forward, while the rest if his group kept their weapons up.

"John? I can't believe my eyes. I thought you would die out here."

"Hah. Well, it IS me, after all. You really think I'd go down like a bitch that fast?"

I heard him chuckle, and I loosened up, feeling more safe.

"Casdin really made a mistake letting go of you. To think, you got that old pile of scrap up and running. And you're still alive, despite your attachment to that antiquated line of laser weapons. Just because Wattz weapons are rare does not mean that they are better."

"Yeah, well, call it sentimentality. It was my father's, after all."

He sighed, shaking his head.

"Well. Sorry to have to do this, but you gotta hand the robot over."

Ed raised his rifle, sounding grim and determined. He was joking, right?

"Ed. Don't tell me you're serious?"

"Oh, I'm dead serious. You're not an Outcast anymore, John. We can't treat you special."

I grit my teeth, and drew my Wattz 1000, aiming it at his helmet.

"Don't make me do this, Ed. I don't want to kill you."

He was silent, motioning for his squad to surround and flank.

"I'm afraid I have to insist, dear friend."

Daydals threw Jade to the side of the road, running forward with a burst of speed.

"NEUTRALIZE HOSTILES."

I ducked, as three lasers flashed through the air where I was standing just a second ago. I fired at the targeting optic on Ed's helmet, missing it by an inch. Daydals leaped, and swung his hammer, catching one of the other Outcasts in the head. I watched the helmet crumple inward, and the Outcast fell over, dead.

"Robbie!"

One of the other Outcasts, a woman, ran over, right into range of Daydals's killer swing. She died on the spot, right beside her Robbie. Ed threw himself to his left, flipping over to land on his back. He fired a shot at Daydals, the beam melting clear through his chest plate.

"Warning. Physical coordination module damaged. Activating redundancy systems."

I tried to shoot at Ed, but I had no ammo. Instead, I dived at him, knocking the rifle from his hands, and ripped off his helmet, seeing his angry face.

"I didn't want to do this, John. You just had to put up a fight, didn't you?"

"HELP!"

Jade cried out, and I swung my head over, seeing an Outcast hold a rifle to her head. In that time, Ed lashed out, his right fist smashing into my face. The iron of blood filled my taste buds, and my eyes watered from the pain.

"Stand down, John. Or we'll shoot the girl."

The Outcast holding Jade laughed, sadism evident. Rage consumed my mind, and I roared.

"I'll kill you, Ed. You're a dead man!"

He chuckled, as he tugged Daedalus away. He eyed my artificial arm, and decided to rip it out, throwing it to the side. The pain was unbearable, and without the Buffout coursing through my system, more than I could take.

"That's right. Good boy. Now, fetch."

I turned, looking at Jade. She smiled at me, looking happy, looking like just a little girl. I heard a discharge, and Jade fell beside me, not moving. The brat? She was... she was ok, right? She's just a kid. H-her right eye... Jade's not dead. But her eye is done for. The laser had gone in diagonally, scorching the right side of her head, and boiled her right eye. The smell of burnt hair filled my nostrils, and I gagged, disgusted. The Outcasts were gone with Daedalus, and I was just lying there, with blood in my mouth. I sat up, yanking my mask off.

"Jade... Answer me, damn it!"

She didn't respond. I stumbled toward her, falling over. The world was gray, and my hearing was gone.

"Jade!"

Why did I care? Why? I reached her, hunched over. Her pulse, it was there. But it was fast, and fluttery. I picked her up, managing to just lean her against my left arm, and her face looked up at me, awake, yet not there.

"GRUAR!"

A Yao Gai lumbered toward me, stopping to rise up on it's hind legs, growling. It glowered at me, surely eyeing the snack in my arms. If I threw her at it, he would stop to feed, and I could escape... Pathetic. Hah, I'm actually thinking of using a little girl as bait. To save my life. A little girl. Jade may be a brat. An annoying little shit, needy, prone to naïveté, and most importantly, she stole my robot. But I wasn't going to let a kid die. I don't kill kids.

"No."

I glared at the beast, and screamed at it, pouring all my rage into my voice. It stood there, staring, not intimidated in the least. It fell onto it's front legs, and began a slow walk toward us, taking it's time. We weren't going anywhere, after all.