We were surrounded. The robots, while still not showing any signs of attack, moved to form a blockade behind us, preventing any of us from retreating or finding someplace to take cover. Six Berserk-kings were in front of us, on top of the stairs. It was a very wide set of stairs, and it went up a good hundred feet or so, over a gradual incline. Despite being in imminent danger, it made me wonder who the hell designed this? Some fitness nut?

"Stalker Rothschild, how many rounds you have of armor penetrating rounds?"

"Um… ten I think?"

"You think?"

"My helmet is on the fritz Sir. It's… I'm getting some kind of interference."

I took a look at my Pip-Boar. The screen was flickering in and out. "Yeah, my Pip-Boar is acting up, what about yours Nate?"

"It seems fine, but then again this arm has a specialized insulation to prevent EMP discharges from effecting it. Or at least that's what Tuskgen told me."

EMP? What could… the robots. That sparking I saw was not because of the damage, they had an EMP Field Generator! Fuck! It was a trap. Those robots must be interrupting communication with it. Was the trap meant for the Legionaries, or someone else? I did kinda piss off the last group of Berserk-kings I ran into.

"Nate, these robots are generating an EMP field, that's why Jasmine and I are having issues. It must be short range, I didn't have any issues before."

"That means no backup. Defender Shackleford, make sure these robots do not attack, if they do, you are the only one who can withstand their attacks."

"But Sir, what about the other aggressors?"

"We have them covered. Stalker Rothschild, stay with the Defender and keep us covered with your gun."

"A-are you sure?"

"Stalker, is there a problem?"

Defender Shackleford was an elephant, but what I didn't realize until now was that his armored trunk also doubled as a flamethrower. I saw the small ignition light kick on at the tip of the trunk upon receiving Nate's orders. Paring up Jasmine with a fire user? That's not a very good idea.

"Crap, sorry Jasmine, but we need your fire support. Defender, please avoid using your flamer unless it is absolutely necessary."

"But Sir."

"That's an order. Please remember Jasmine, he is on our side, he means no harm to you. I know it's hard for you to be around fire, I've seen how even the smallest flame affects you, but remember, we are relying on you, and you need to rely on us as well."

"Y-yes Sir."

"Hey Nate, you notice something?"

"What is it Olivia?"

"They still haven't attacked."

That armored mammal had given the order for the six Berserk-kings to attack a few minutes ago, but they were still standing there. A few of them were visually shaking. Were they scared? Maybe our reputation has proceeded us and they'll just flee, leaving it eight against one. Of course there were the robots as well.

All six of them were having the same tremors going through their body when they all started to remove their helmets. There were two tigers, a wolf, a bear, and two lions. All of them were shaking, but upon removing their helmets I knew it wasn't from fear. Foam was falling from their mouths, their eyes were bloodshot and wide. They weren't scared, they were rabid.

"Guardians! Hold your ground!"

The moment those words came from Nate's mouth, the six started to charge us. They were fast, faster than I anticipated. I tried to activate B.A.T.S. but the EMP was strong enough that the command wasn't able to process. Fuck! I raised my plasma rifle and fired. A bolt hit square in the chest of one of the lions, but he seemed completely un-phased.

Jasmine's gun sounded, but I saw no sign of impact. With her targeting computer down, she must be having difficulties aiming that thing. She tried again, but it only grazed the arm of the other lion. Zack, Holly, and Mark were all firing, and they were having a much better time hitting their mark, but they were still unable to make much of a dent in these charging mammals. Even after Mark crippled the wolf's leg, it still came rushing in. It was a matter of moments before they were upon us.

"Onion, you got my back?"

"Yes Sir."

The bear made contact with Nate, but not before his robotic fist made contact with the bear's chest. Onion must have overpowered the arm again, because the bear went flying backwards. Blood spilled out of its mouth, causing the foam to redden, but he still got back up and continued the charge.

"That punch should have knocked him out cold. They're all unarmed and trying to enter melee range. Our firepower has kept them back, but we can't hold out forever! I'm… I'm sorry Jasmine, but we need time. Defender! Lay down a wall!"

"Yes Sir!"

The Defender pushed his way through us and was now in front. I saw the small flicker of flame at the end of the trunk brighten as he stretched it out. Heat filled the area as a stream of almost liquid looking fire spewed out onto the ground a few feet in front of him, creating a large wall of fire. I looked behind me and Jasmine was laying on the ground, shaking in fear, trying to cover her eyes.

"Mark! Go see to Jasmine. Nate, you sure about this?"

"No, but it should buy us time to think, these guys are too doped up on drugs for us to beat easily."

I really hope Jasmine will be okay. I can tell that Nate didn't think of this lightly. When the Defender was done with his attack, he stepped back. The robots still were'nt responding to any of this, so I wonder if maybe Jasmine did succeed in shorting out their weapons? Either that, or that Berserk King was keeping them as a backup of their own.

"Stalker Grant! See if you can slip by those robots. They don't seem to be doing anything, maybe they aren't functioning after all. We need to get a signal out to base. If there are more of these mammals, we'll need backup."

"Yes Sir!"

Zack pressed a button on his arm and he suddenly faded out of existence. He must have had a Stealth-Boar on him. That was smart. Even if they don't respond, they may be sending a signal to their leader showcasing us all. No sooner than he turned invisible, there was a loud electric jolt and Zack flew backwards, smoke emanating from his body. I turned and rand to him.

"Zack! Are you okay?"

He coughed a few times. "Y-yes. Ow that hurt. They've got some kind of a wall of their own. The moment I touched it, I felt my body surge with electricity."

"Damn it! That's why they're not moving! Mark, tend to his wounds, keep him and Jasmine together."

"Fuck, what are we…"

I was interrupted as one of the tiger's suddenly leaped through the wall of fire. Her fur was burning, and her armor had traces of fire still attached to it, but it didn't affect her as she grappled onto the Defender's armor. He tried to shake her off, but she kept scratching his armor with her large clawed gauntlets.

"Get off of me you bitch!"

Defender Shackleford wrapped his trunk around her neck and pulled her off, tossing her to the ground. She got up, completely unaffected and leaped at him again. The other tiger and the wolf jumped through the flames and into the melee. The wolf charged me as the tiger went after Nate. One punch from his arm sent the tiger back through the flames. I did the only thing I thought of. I fired my gun at point blank. When the green bolt hit the wolf, he let out a painful howl just before vaporizing, leaving a glowing pile of ash where he was standing. Okay, I did NOT see that coming.

"Fuck!"

"One of the perks to a plasma gun 'livi!"

The bear charged through and grabbed hold of Holly. I went to fire upon him, but hesitated. What if she got caught in the blast and that happened to her as well? Fuck. I dropped the gun and ran to the bear. Pushing myself off of the ground, I leaped up and landed on his back. I pulled out my pistol, pressed it against his head and fired.

I know for a fact that I just put a hole through his head, but minus a scream, he was still alive somehow. He let go of Holly and tried to claw at me. I fired a few more rounds in his head before he finally dropped. I put another two in his head for good measure before needing to reload.

"Thanks 'livi, but was those last two really necessary?"

"I shot him point blank in the back of the head and he was still alive, so yes, they were."

The wall of fire was starting to die down, but we had only managed to kill two of them. There were still four more left. The two tigers returned, the one that Nate punched was barely able to stand, but he kept on moving forward, the other one charged Nate. As she approached him, Nate went to punch and she dodged it, sending a claw to his side.

"Nate!"

I grabbed the plasma rifle from off the ground and charged after the tiger firing. It took three shots before the tiger turned to glowing dust. I dropped it again as I reached Nate.

"How bad is it?"

"Heh, it's fine. See?" He lifted his paw from his side and I saw metal under the fabric. "This isn't just for show, it has both ballistic fabric and a metal lining. Logan insisted on it. Guess I should thank him for it later."

"You damn fox, you had me worried."

"Sorry."

Three down and three… no make that two to go. Holly unloaded her shotgun into the other tiger and it collapsed onto the ground in a bloody mess. The two lions slowly walked through the half dead wall of fire, but they weren't unarmed like the others. Both of them had a large hammer very similar to their boss's. One came at me and Nate with it, but the other, he went straight for where Jasmine, Zack, and Mark were.

"Mark! Look out!"

I tried to get between them, but that lion was covering more ground faster than I could. I yelled and warned Mark, but he was too slow to react as the lion lifted the hammer for the attack. I reached for the plasma gun but before I could aim, a darkened figure dropped out of the sky and plucked the lion from the ground, causing him to drop his hammer only feet from Mark. I looked up and saw Drake grasping each arm in his feet, just before tearing them off and causing the body to fall to the ground. The lion was dead on impact.

"Drake!"

I felt something hit my shoulder.

"Sorry we took so long Olivia. Whatever that doctor gave to the big lug worked, he's almost normal now."

"Blanche! I am so glad to see the two of you!"

"Likewise, now if you'll excuse me."

The last enemy was starting to charge us, and Blanche, wielding a sword in each paw, leaped off of my shoulder and was flying to its face. However, her aim was off and as the lion was roaring, Blanche flew right into his mouth. He stopped, and I saw him swallow.

"Blanche! You fucking spit her out now!"

I rushed the lion, forgetting to grab my plasma gun, so pulled out my pistol and started to fire. Fuck! I forgot to reload it! I went to punch the mammal instead when I saw his chest start to expand and glow green. What the… I stopped in my tracks moments before the lion… exploded into a green goo.

Blanche flew out of the lion's corpse and I managed to catch her. She was glowing slightly, and my Pip-Boar started to tick. Figures that would be the only thing that worked.

"Blanche! What the fuck just happened?"

"I don't know! Without my tail my aim is off, and when he swallowed me, I just got… very angry and then he exploded!"

Drake landed near us and I could've sworn he had a bit of a smirk in his face as he fanned away the rest of the fire. That smirk left him fast as we all looked towards the building and saw the Berserk King, along with a dozen more Berserkers, and all of them were showing the same signs of trembling as these six did.

"Hah! So you are worthy of a fight after all! Good, good! Tell you what, how about you join me and I won't kill all of you? Not that zebra or giraffe though, they didn't show off their strengths which tells me they probably don't have any. They will die, but you all can live if you accept my offer!"

"Fuck you and your gaudy armor!"

"Gaudy? GAUDY?! You know what? I take that back. Kill them, kill them all!"

"Mister Valiant? That subroutine you asked me to create is finished."

"Subroutine? What the hell is he talking about Nate?"

"Remember when I… accidentally made that robot's core go critical in Hope, despite the fact my programming was flawless?"

"What about it?"

"Well, since that same malicious programming was in one of the Berserk-king robots, I wondered if it was in another, so… hit it Onion!"

What was he talking about? Please tell me he isn't going to blow them up! I thought we already had this conversation! I turned to the robots as I saw them move. My Pip-Boar started to function again as they started to roll to our sides.

"What are… Onion?"

"Yes Miss. Surprised?" Onion's voice emanated from ALL the robots at once.

"Nate… did you?"

"Get Onion to hack into those robots? Yes, yes I did. He's controlling them from my arm, so don't worry if they get damaged, he's safe with me."

I know we were in the middle of a war-zone, but I didn't care, his ingenuity may have just saved us so I just had to hug and kiss him.

"I told you that you were smarter than me. I would have never thought of that."

"It's your robot doing this after all, you can take most of the credit. Onion, attack!"

Once all five robots were in front of us, and they all opened fire upon the charging raiders. They were armed with both machine guns and beam weapons, and despite the raider's apparent immunity to pain, they were taken down one by one. We all joined in on the attack, and between all of us, we managed to take out the attacking aggressors.

"My Berserkers! My robots! You fuckers will pay!"

The Berserk King pushed a button on its gauntlet. Suddenly all five robots started to smoke and spark, and not in a good way.

"Onion! What's going on!"

"That… mammal has activated a hidden override and it is causing the system to short out, there's nothing I can do to stop it Sir."

All the robots suddenly stopped firing and from the looks of it, were deactivated for good. At least they didn't initiate any the robot's self destruct mechanisms, but then again, whoever's under that armor probably wouldn't want to get caught in that either.

The Berserk King hefted the massive hammer and charged us without saying anything else. We started to fire but it did nothing against that armor. I grabbed my plasma gun, but that armor just seemed to shrug it off. Defender Shackleford charged, spraying flames from his trunk, but the massive hammer made contact with him and sent the Defender flying. If that hammer could do that to a fully armored elephant, we stood no chance.

Nate took off his jacket and dropped it to the ground before charging the attacker. He dodged the first swing, and it seems that he or she needed a few seconds to ready it again, so Nate took that opportunity to punch the attacker right in the chest, leaving a large dent in it. The attack didn't damage it any further, but the shock was enough to catch the Berserk King off guard, stumble backwards a few steps, and most importantly, drop the hammer.

"Drake! Pry this tuna can open!"

Drake swooped down and with his feet he sliced through the chest of the armor. Nate used his extra strength from the arm to pull back the armor. We all gathered around to see what kind of monster inhabited that suit, but I was shocked by what I saw, and from the look of it, so was everyone else.

There, lying on the ground was a female deer. Her face was haggard, and it looked like she had never eaten a day in her life. Her bones were acting as if they would pop out of her skin at any moment, and there was no sign of any muscle mass. Blanche jumped on top of the armor and stared at the weak looking deer.

"You're Impotent Doe, aren't you?"

"No… one calls… me that!" Without the helmet on, her voice matched her look, it sounded weak and sickly.

"Impotent Doe? Never heard of her."

"Yeah, not much is known about this ass-twat, yet she has a bit of a history. Apparently she was born with some kind of sickness that ravaged her body, making her weak. Somehow she survived and was sold into slavery, but no one wanted her. That's not what made her infamous though, one day her slavers all died a horrible death and she went missing."

"How… do you… know so… much… rat?"

Blanche walked down to the deer's face and punched her. "First, I am NOT a rat. Second, when I was trying out for the Legionaries, I saw the report. Apparently the slavers were paying good money to find you. Not sure why someone would want a bag of bones like yourself."

"This… bag of… bones started an… empire!" She coughed, and I saw blood dribbling out of her mouth. "My Berserkers, I was… going to… rule this… wasteland!"

"Well, the only thing you're going to rule is the inside of a cell. Watch her, I need to signal a cleanup crew."

Nate went off as he opened a channel to the base. Impotent Doe wasn't moving, and her breathing was very shallow. I wasn't sure if that was due to her sickness, or if she was on the verge of dying. I went to call Mark over to take a look at her when I heard a whistling noise. I looked up and saw… missiles. Fuck!

"Everyone, get down!"

We all moved away, taking cover behind the downed robots. The missiles impacted the ground, but the odd thing was, they didn't explode. Instead they started to produce a thick black smoke, encircling the deer. Since there wasn't any sign of an explosion from those projectiles, I started to run over towards the smoke, but was stopped by a hail of machine gun fire.

"Above us!"

There, hovering above the smoke was some kind of flying vehicle. At first I thought it was a Tac-Lifter, but its design was different. It looked similar to a pre-war helicopter than a Guardian aircraft. On either side were mounted large machine guns, but the smoke was thick enough that it was covering the identity of whoever was operating it.

Everyone who could, started to open fire on the helicopter, but every time one of us poked our heads out to shoot, the machine gun suppressed it. We couldn't get a clear shot and only managed to nick the aircraft's metal shell. After a few moments, it lifted off and flew beyond our sight.

"What the fuck just happened?"

"I didn't recognize it Olivia. Stalker Logan, come in, we have an update on our situation."

"Um, Nate? She's gone."

"What do you mean 'gone'?"

"The deer and that armor of hers, the helicopter must have been here to rescue her. Have you ever seen a raider with something like that?"

"No, I haven't. Stalker, I need that backup, now."

"They're en route as we speak Sir. Stalker Logan, out."

"Who do you think rescued her Nate?"

"Not a damn clue. I'll make sure our patrols keep an eye out for a pre-war helicopter. In the mean time, we need to make sure that this area is clear. Defender, are you alright?"

"Yes Sir. My Exo-Suit is a bit banged up, but the absorption system took most of the blow. Not sure if I can take another one without an engineer looking over it however."

"I'll keep that in mind, report to Engineer Tuskgen when we head back. Mark, how are they doing?"

"Well, Zack has a few electrical burns, but nothing too bad, Jasmine is more psychological than anything. I'd advise against having him using a flamer around her though, too much mental shock can kill someone."

Nate walked up to Jasmine. She was breathing heavily, and still curled on the ground, but she wasn't in tears anymore.

"I'm sorry I had to do that Jasmine, but it was needed."

"T-that… I… u-understand…"

"I'll have the cleanup crew take you back, you and Zack can have some time off if you want. I'm not mad at you, I know all too well what an uncontrollable fear can do to someone. You take it easy, okay?"

Jasmine started to get up, but Nate put his paw on her arm.

"N-no… I can… I think I can go on…"

"Are you sure? I'm not going to make you do something you don't want to."

"No… I-I… I need to get stronger… I… I can't let that keep hurting me."

"She reminds me of you Nate." I put my paw on his back.

"Yeah, that's why I don't wanna strain her, I've been broken by it, and I wouldn't want to see that happen to another mammal, especially one with such a good heart as hers."

"Th-thank you. That means a lot to me… I'm sorry I'm not a better soldier…" Jasmine's voice showed that she was slowly recovering from her panic attack.

"Stalker Grant, are you okay to continue?"

"Yes Sir!"

"Keep close to your girl, okay?"

"Um… yes… Yes Sir!"

Nate looked at me, and his expression changed. "What? If I'm going to convince Logan that our relationship won't detriment my role in the Guardians, I can't sit by and tell others they can't have one. I think it's good to have someone to fall back to."

"No, it's not that, it was the fact that Jasmine didn't react the way she normally did when you said he was Zack's 'girl'."

"I… I'm getting used to that…" Jasmine was slowly rising to her feet, with the help of Zack and Mark.

"Yet I still can't kiss her in public without her nearly fainting." Zack said it in a very joking manner.

"I'm sure Logan'll still give you two the evil eyes."

"We try not to show anything around him. He's… he really needs to get laid."

"Stalker Grant! That was… actually that was kinda funny. Don't tell Logan I said that or he'll have both of our hides, Chief or not."

Defender Shackleford was standing behind me and I heard a deep groan come from his helmet.

"Better get used to it when we're all together big guy."

I couldn't see his reaction under the helmet, but he simply grunted again and turned away, heading towards the fallen Legionaries. Once we were all situated again, we joined him. From the looks of it, the robots were the only ones who met with this small force. We spent a few minutes going through their stuff, but there was nothing that was helpful. The one tiger that we had left alive was dead, more than likely bled out during this fight.

"Nothing. Not a single clue telling us why these fuckers are so dead set on trying to capture me."

"Maybe there are more inside?" Holly shrugged.

"Or maybe there are more Berserk-kings in there."

"Well Mark, there's only one way to find out. Everyone reload, we're going in."

The inside was trashed. Everything that wasn't bolted down was piled in the center and from the looks of it, was used as some kind of fire, as everything had scorch marks on it. All the fixtures that were bolted down, had graffiti all over it. From the looks of it, this wasn't the Berserk-kings doing.

Messages such as The end is near!, and It was the Predators or It was the Prey! were scribbled over one another, as if two mammals were having a written dispute. A few skeletons that were scattered around told me that whoever tried to make this place a shelter after the war, didn't succeed.

We took our time going through the building, looking for any signs of Legionaries or Berserk-kings, but so far there wasn't any. Did we take on her whole force? I doubt it was all of them, but maybe we caught them before they could establish a base? Nate's look told me that he was thinking the same thing.

"Stalker Logan, I need you to put together a team to post in the area of City Hall. It is possible that more raiders may attempt to move in. We can't have them setting up a base this close to Precinct One."

"Right away Sir!"

"Think those Legionaries were to blame?"

"Possibly. I am guessing that both forces were looking for a new base. This place is huge. It puts Hope to shame, too bad we can't move them here."

"Hmm." Nate started to scratch his chin.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing, just had an idea. So far it looks good and… what's this?"

We stopped at a wall that had either caved in, or been demolished, but I could see why he showed such an interest in it. The rest of this building was made from wood, marbled stone, and other materials to give it a bit of a sophisticated look to it, but not here. Here there was a wrecked wall with a set of metal stairs leading down to a large metal door. The whole thing looked industrial, completely changing the entire building's motif.

"What do you think is down there?"

"No clue, but my curiosity is getting the better of me."

"Mine too, so, let's go quell that curiosity, shall we sweetie?"

Nate and I took the lead. The door was large enough for most of us, but Defender Shackleford and Jasmine were too big to fit.

"Since you two are unable to follow us, Defender, take Stalker Rothschild and Stalker Grant and patrol the rest of the area. I want you to check in every fifteen minutes, and Defender, avoid using your flamer, that's an order."

"Almost out of fuel anyways, Sir." He sounded a bit spiteful.

When they were gone I turned to Nate and whispered, just in case. "Is it a good idea to keep him with Jasmine?"

"He's one of the few Defenders that doesn't care about me being a fox or her being a Red-Neck. It seems there are more Guardians who oppose her history than my species, although none of them seem to show it."

"Then why is he acting like that?"

"They don't call him Hot Head for nothing. If he was a giraffe, I think he would have been a Red-Neck. He likes fire a bit too much, but he's never shown himself to be a danger to any of the Guardians. I think he just resents her fear of fire is all."

"Just as long as she's safe with him."

"He is loyal, he wouldn't ever let anything happen to another Guardian. I just wish he brought an actual weapon with him. From what I know of him, he either uses his fists, or his trunk to fight."

"I really hope that was the last of them then."

The door was old, and there was a small access computer attached to it. I beat Nate to it and used my Pip-Boar to hack into it. It wasn't the hardest thing to crack, but it did take a little longer than I had hoped. When I finally got it, the door unlatched and swung in-wards.

Inside was a long hallway with a series of perpendicular rooms. It was very reminiscent of the halls in Precinct One's bunker. I took a look at my map.

"Hey Nate, look at this."

"It looks like… yes, I think this connects to Precinct One!"

"I wonder why the recon teams didn't find the other end then?"

"Um, I think that is why." Holly was pointing towards the end of the hall.

It was dark, but there was enough light to show a couple of large, tiger sized machines parked in front of a wall. Upon closer investigation, we found that the machines had powered down in the middle of constructing the hallway, a large wall of dirt and rock was all that was there.

"It looks like they were tunneling and then stopped." Nate was paying much closer attention to the robot then the rest of the area.

I turned on my Pip-Boar's light and we saw it much better now. From the looks of it, there must have been a team building the infrastructure while the robots dug the tunnel. Support beams, pallets of building materials, and tools scattered the area. There was no sign of skeletons or other bodies, so they must have high tailed it out of here and locked the door behind them.

"You think they stopped when the bombs went off?"

"Most likely, although you'd think this would be a safer place to hide then anywhere else."

"Hey 'livi, look at this."

Holly was bent over a small crate and picked up a memory chip. I took it from her and popped it into my Pip-Boar and played it.

"This message is for Foremammal Steward. We have received multiple reports that the ongoing construction between City Hall and the ZPD Station has been causing problems due to the caverns below. We sent some surveyors to the Nocturnal District to see if there is any way to increase support, but until we hear back from them, I am suspending the project. We have already lined up new work, so don't worry, you will still be payed for your services."

"Nocturnal District?" I haven't heard of that one before.

"Yeah, it's actually within a large cavernous system below the city. It was home to many of mammals who are more active at night, but other than a few pockets of fresh water, like the one below Hope, no one has heard from, or even set foot in the Nocturnal District for centuries. All the known entrances had been sealed." Mark had chimed in at the onset of new knowledge.

"From the sound of it, this project almost made a new one. You think anyone is still alive down there?"

"No one knows. I have heard of attempts to breach the entrances, but then those mammals were never heard from again. I heard they have been marked as danger zones by the earlier Guardians, so no one is allowed to go there."

"Yeah, even Mister Lazlo kept it that way. It's one of the few places not even a Guardian is allowed to go, but patrols are sent close enough every so often to make sure it stays clear. I think its reputation makes it something that even raiders want to avoid."

"Why does that make me want to go visit it then?" Curiosity always seems to get the better of me.

"I will tie you down to your bed if you even try."

"Sounds like Nate is starting to get a little kinky, what else do you two do when you're alone?"

"Holly!"

"Just asking a question 'livi, no need to yell my ear off."

"Chief Valiant, come in."

"Yes Stalker?"

"We have arrived and a team is now scouting the area for any threats."

"Thank you Stalker. When the Engineer team is done with Precinct One, let me know. I have one last job for them before they head back."

"Yes Sir"

"One last job?"

"I want them to check this place out, maybe it's safe to continue constructing the tunnel. Having this place connecting Precinct One can come in handy."

"Makes sense. Hey Mark, you got any books on the Nocturnal District? It's piqued my curiosity."

"Yes, but you better not be thinking about trying to go there, it sounds way too dangerous."

"Me? Never."

Everyone looked at me, and I could tell they didn't believe me. It did pique my interest, and yes, if I ever found the opportunity to explore it, I would, but not alone. I've still got an entire life ahead of me, and even when we end this Legionary threat, even if I return to Hope to start fixing it up, after all I have been though, I have the feeling that I will always be up for a little adventure.

So maybe one day, but not today.

Fallout: Zootopia After Show

Featuring:

'Stripes in the Morning'

[Celeste]

"So… Hello Zootopia. I… Honestly have no idea what to really say today. Cider is off with his new girlfriend and didn't really leave any hints or notes behind here so there's nothing to go off of from him. And Max he… He's just come out of his third surgery in a week. I'm not even trying to disturb him right now and Chief Valiant has been amazing to the two of us since Max came back here. Even gave me this office to work out of for now. Max should be alright in a few weeks but… the good Doctor here has informed me that he can't… He won't be able to make large trips anymore. The damage to his lung was far more severe than they initially thought. So Max is sort of relegated to desk duty from now on. He's still out right now and I don't even know if I can face him with this news. It's… Well it's not like he enjoyed being put in danger. Not by a long shot. He enjoyed the outdoors though, walking around and just seeing the world for what it is. He's not going to be able to enjoy that as easily as he used to now. Chief Valiant has been kind enough to offer him a position here though! So there's that potential future for him. Otherwise I don't really see where he could go, or what he could really do anymore.

"The situation just kind of really sucks for him right now and it's got me bummed out. Still, there's hope for a future for him. He's been talking about moving on to a new vocation and a position with the Guardians couldn't hurt… Huh? Hey who ar-"

[Gary]

"Gaaary… "

[Celeste]

"Gary… OH! You're Max's little friend from the Caller!"

[Gary]

"Gary! Gaaary."

[Celeste]

"Huh… ? What's… " (sounds of shuffling paper) "… Well… Isn't that just a great how dee do. Is this how that incontinent boss of his does business now?"

[Gary]

"Gaaaaary.."

[Celeste]

"Sorry Gary… Well it looks like Max is no longer employed by this station for, and I quote, 'Gross absence without notification, undue charges relating to injuries which the station cannot justify paying, and… Gross negligence in properly handling the vital commodity that is Cider Stripes…?! Oh… Oooh well this has made it so much easier for me folks. Good bye Caller, hello Guardians! I know Max won't entirely like me jumping the gun on this, but after reading this little snippet. I'm all for him staying right here and doing what he does best. Letting you all out there know you aren't alone anymore and that you don't have to be afraid. Sorry for such a short show this time around but Max and I have some planning to do and I'm gonna have a heck of a time waking him up!"

(Sounds of rapidly retreating paw steps.)

[Gary, In a deep baritone voice.]

"Well now, don't that just beat all. What… You all thought I'd just sit here and say my name? That's just an act I put on for the new kids I meet. Max an' that lil otter lady of his is good mammals so I ain't gonna keep the act up much longer, so for now. Good night Zootpian Wasteland. I'm going to go check up on a few friends here… And probably send all of my brothers after that Zebra one more time… Just for kicks! You all stay classy out there, and don't let those raiders bother you none. Show 'em you ain't afraid to lay a little lead about anymore. Good night, good luck, and by all means. Enjoy your weekend."