Sorry it took a while guys. I had to type this on a laptop. Was on vacation and uploaded the chapter as soon as I got back.

Hope you like the chapter. Enjoy,

The Wildcard

Chapter 5

"Bobbleheads?" Aria asked in confusion. "What the hell's a bobblehead?"

After the question was asked, the booth was taken over by a long silence until the only human guard in the booth started laughing.

Almost instantly all aliens in the room gave him a questioning look.

"…I'm guessing this is a human thing?" Aria finally asked when the laughing died down.

"I… I'm sorry boss." the human said once he found out he was drawing attention to himself. "A… bobblehead is a knick-knack. Imagine a doll like thing with a big head that shakes."

"I… am going to pretend I didn't hear that. Anyway, I wanted to offer you a deal. If you are interested?" Aria offered. When Plague leaned forward in his seat with a look of interest on his face, she continued. "I am put in a rare situation. When I saw your face for the first time on camera, I took a scan. And what I received was a corrupted data file. Even now I am having trouble taking a scan of you." She then waved a hand to one of her guards who seemed to be irritated about something on his omnitool. "My men use the most advanced tech I can get my hands on."

"That's odd. I have a few enhancements but I don't know why that is happening. Does this have anything to do with your offer?"

With that a smile reappeared on her face.

"It has everything to do with it. If I can't then everyone else is having the same problem. In a way, you don't exist. I have a few… problems. If you could help me with said problems I can make it worth your while. I have seen what you can do and I don't think you will have a problem with them."

"This all depends on who these "problems" are. How do I know they aren't some civilians you want to keep quiet?" Plague asked as he sat back in his seat.

"Believe me when I say they deserve what's coming to them." Aria reassured with her expression unchanged. "The men I am speaking of used to work for me. A week ago they took everything in one of my weapon storehouses and now walk around Omega saying they are still under my employ." Aria's face changed to a look of disgust and irritation. "They hack into one of MY data stores and dare to leave me a message saying they will cut off the air supply to the lower levels in the next three days if I don't start paying them not to. If my contacts hear about this I will be a laughing stock." For the first time since her guest arrived, the asari stood up and looked directly at him.

This also let Plague see more of her curves but he knew when to shut up. He also knew when he was talking to someone who deserved respect.

"No one…FUCKS with Aria!" Plague guessed right. "I have direct control over everything in Omega. They hacked in to my systems because I let them out of curiosity. They also can't tamper with the air systems on my station since someone unleashed a "plague" a few days ago. Ironic in a way if you ask me. I would have spared them for stealing my weapons if they begged for mercy at my feet. But… to insult me in such a way. To underestimate me like this. I want you…" she then pointed at Plague. "…to end them. When they "hacked" in, I traced them. I know both where they are, and how many are in the sorry excuse of a group. If you do this for me I will give you whatever you want if it's in my power to do so."

"Why haven't you already sent your own men if you know where they are?" Plague asked after a short silence.

At that the smile again appeared.

A smirk worked its way on to Plague's face when he realized an asari smiling was quickly becoming one of his favorite images.

"What better insult is there then to have them all butchered by one measly merc? Now, is it a deal?" she asked as she sat back into her seat.

"I will do this for four things." Aria raised an eyebrow in interest. "One: a steady supply of food. Two: also a steady supply of clean water. I'm sure that last one my sound strange to you, but just humor me. If you were in my shoes you'd understand. Three: shelter. I need somewhere to sleep where I don't have to worry about some mutant sneaking up on me while I'm asleep. Four: Resources. I have a feeling I won't be able to re supply my ammunition. That means I will have to make my own with the minerals at my disposal. Will that form of payment be acceptable?"

"Well to tell you the truth I was expecting more." Aria said with a smile. "Your first two requests are strange, but will be no problem. But for the last two there will be two conditions." Plagues eyebrow went up at "conditions" clearly hoping it was something they both could enjoy. Overestimating his charm. "First if you succeed I would like to hire you…"

'Closer' Plague thought to himself. 'I don't know about becoming a gigolo but if she's the only customer…'

"…to be one of my guards or do similar jobs around Omega."

'Swing and a miss. Still one more condition so there's still hope.'

"You will be allowed to live in one of my safe houses for as long as you work for me. I will as well help you replenish your ammunition with my resources and the tools needed. The final condition is very simple." Plague crosses his fingers. "I want you…"

'Yeeessss…'

"…to bring me the leader of this group, alive."

'DAMMIT God, you fucking cock-blocker.'

Slowly Plague stood up with a look of disappointment and held out his hand. "Deal."

After the details were uploaded to both his omnitool and his Pipboy, Plague followed his soon to be boss's orders and entered a hover car transport that was waiting for him. The human driver didn't even wait for the doors to close before he flew off with his passenger.

After Plague spent the first few seconds in shock when he realized his transport was flying, he started looking through the data on his targets.

The group had been hiding from Aria in an old sewer line. There were eleven of them but they had acquired some YMIR mechs from the warehouse. He examined the schematics and started to identify weak points in the design and started coming up with strategies on how to deal with them.

The trip took about twenty minutes. The only thing worth mentioning to Plague (except for the obvious things someone from a nuclear wasteland would say was uncommon.) was that there seemed to be fewer lights, and fewer people. The people he was able to see from the hover car looked even shadier than those he had already met on Omega.

By the time they reached the hideout (which had what Plague thought looked a lot like a large sewage drain with a sealed door on it.) Plague knew which weapons to use.

Him and the driver got out and walked up to the door.

"Once I unlock this, I will leave." started the driver as he activated his omnitool. "I will fly over the place in three hours. If I don't see you I will leave and you will be on your own. If you don't show up at afterlife tomorrow we will assume your ass is grass. Understand me?" Plague nodded. "All right. As soon as I unlock the door they will know you are here. If you have any preparations or have any last words, I would do it now."

The vault dweller put on his helmet and re atomized both his double barrel shotgun and a powerfist that covered his right hand.

"Was never one for speeches." he the cocked the shotgun. "Open it."

"Good luck." the driver said as he opened the door making a holographic panel turn green and then ran to the hover car.

"Who needs luck when you have skill?" he said as he entered the sewer.

His view turned light green as he ran through the darkness. The only sound he heard was the splashes he made as he ran through the somewhat flooded tunnel.

When he saw a room coming up he activated his stealth field and vanished as the splashes stopped.

"He's cloaked!" shouted a turian voice.

Still in his stealth field he jumped over the makeshift cover and aimed his shotgun at the lookout with a sniper rifle.

Clearly he thought Plague was still in the tunnel. He didn't get to realize his mistake since a buckshot went into his head at point blank. The gun was too close for the shields to register it as a danger.

The sound of the gunshot bounced off of the metal walls of the room. The other hostiles in the room looked in shock when they saw the turian fall.

It took them two seconds to register what had had just happened and then started shooting.

By then though, Plague had already dived out of the line of fire and behind a large rusted pipe sticking out of the wall and chucked a flash bang grenade in their direction.

At the exact second the flash blinded the men, Plague's visor went black. The flash illuminated the 10x12 room. The ceiling was twelve feet above with a pipe that dripped water on the sewer floor. Three pipes stuck out from two of the walls. Two men shouted from the side of the pipe at the end of the room while the other two were actually inside the large pipe that's opening were half the height of the room.

The two in the pipe looked to be human with dark armor while the ones outside were one turian and a third human shape.

Before the flash died down he switched his shotgun for his scoped magnum and crossed the distance.

All movement slowed to a halt as the pipboy pumped artificial adrenaline into Plague's bloodstream and then went directly to his brain. (V.A.T.S. Oh yes. I went there.)

Within the next fraction of a second, Plague picked his targets and fired.

Not knowing how a turian's body worked, he sent two rounds into the alien's head. The three other bullets made nice homes for themselves within the three human skulls.

Plague smirked under his helmet. On the way to the "hideout" he studied the kinetic barriers everyone used. The shields were designed to defend against the smaller rounds made by those high-tech guns that shave off layers of the blocks they used as ammo. A nice way to ensure unlimited ammo unless you don't have any heat sinks to cool the gun down. Plague's rounds however were almost three times bigger. It was like wax paper defending against an axe.

He walked past the dead men in a casual manner as he reloaded his spent rounds. He spun the revolver in his hand as he walked.

The situation reminded him of many things.

("Watch your children…Watch your wives…He doesn't care whose meet he chops…" Plague's pipboy blasted as he hid behind cover.

Minigun fire rained upon the piece of wall he used as cover as he slipped a stainless steel combat knife to look at his attackers.

He barely noticed a large green shape before a stray bullet tore the knife out of his grip.

"Damit!" he cursed to himself.

"What do we do?" screamed the trader Plague was hired to escort to Megaton.

Earlier that day he and the trader wanted to pick the safest route. Plague being the survivalist he was wanted to go around the DC ruins, while the dumbass trader insisted they go through to put themselves two days ahead of schedule.

The ending result was a super mutant ambush between two buildings.

"How the bloody hell am I supposed to know my all mighty and knowledgeable navigator?" Plague shouted over the gunfire as he loaded his hunting rifle.

"Can you at least turn off that damn music?"

"I told you already." Plague pointed at the trader with his right hand that had a few robotic fingers. "The music only goes off if either I lose signal, or Three Dog starts yapping. Other than that I am not getting paid to lose my only source of…" he shoots out of cover and then returns. "…entertainment.")

"Watch your husband…watch your Wives… He doesn't care who's meat he chops." Plague sang to himself. "humm…humm… Chop that meat…" he trailed off as he turned the corner.

What he saw was the view down a rather large barrel attached to an equally large white robot.

On instinct he ducked under the gun arm and was about to drive his power fist into an opening.

"Error…" groaned a robotic voice.

The sound made Plague pause.

"Error… no targets." it said again.

Plague took a step back with a look of confusion under his visor.

After twenty seconds of "Error…" every time he waved a hand in front of the machine, he simply walked past it.

'When I saw your face for the first time on camera, I took a scan. And what I received was a corrupted data file.' was what Aria had said.

'Machines must have a harder time seeing me.' Plague thought to himself.

He continued through the tunnel. As he walked he saw at least nine more mechs. The only sounds were his footsteps and the slowly becoming annoying "Error" the robots would say when they look in his direction.

"This is going to be a fun hunt. I can tell already."

The last of the group didn't really manage to slow him down. One well-placed shot each and they fell.

The only one he spared was the leader. He pieced together which one it was by how he kept yapping orders. They also got frustrated by the mechs that seemed to just stand around as they got picked off one by one.

Now said human leader was being dragged through the tunnels unconscious with a nasty bruise on his head. If only he stayed quiet. One good hit with the stock of his shotgun shut him up.

His visor went to its normal tint when he stepped outside. He tied the man's arms behind his back and put him next to the door.

It would be two hours until the driver would return. Knowing this Plague atomized his suit to get rid of the foul odor he picked up while doing his task. He breathed a sigh of relief when the armor no longer smelled when they reappeared.

He spent the hours fiddling with both his pipboy and his omnitool. He nearly shouted in frustration when he couldn't find any good music.

He fiddled with the settings and eventually found some options on the omnitool. He could search for the music he wanted to listen to. He selected the human song list and searched for Galaxy News Radio.

"What the bloody hell?" he shouted as his search came up with nothing.

He started to realize some things. If there was a way to get to space in the Wasteland, then why didn't he know about it?

That question brought forth even more questions. He went out of the music function and searched for Earth. The images he saw was probably the last thing he expected to see.

No wasteland was mentioned. No Brotherhood of Steel. No Enclave. No nuclear war. No mutations. What he saw was green forests, grass, animals, and cities.

The world he knew didn't exist. He didn't exist. His father didn't exist. Even Sarah.

"What happened to me?" he asked no one. "I exist. The wasteland exists... Did it?" he shook his head when that absurd question exited him.

He got up as the driver appeared above him and started to land.

"Sarah was real!"

Plague's starting to come up with questions. Where will this lead him through MA 2? Why is it that his image corrupts data when he is watched and why is earth not the earth he knew? Plague's existence is beginning to draw attention.

Next chapter I am planning to make it a big one. So please review or ask questions.

Next chapter. The Wildcard chapter 6 Recruit The Wildcard