A Tale of Two Chapter 7: Keeping up the good fight, a Fallout + RWBY Crossover fanfic

Hi, so, it's been a while, thank you for your patience, and hope you like this one, I had some problems with the fight scences, if anybody has advice, it is very welcome

*shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh*

"B. MT. to Six, B. MT. to Six."

*shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh*

"I repeat; B. MT. to Six, B. MT. to Six, please respond."

*shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh*

"COURIER SIX! YOUR UNRESPONDING NATURE IS INTERFERING WITH THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE!"

"Give me that." The stoic human takes the radio away from the metal claws of the doctor. "B. MT. to Six, B. MT. to Six, please respond."

"It was early in the morning when he rode into the toooown~~~."

Eight Mississippi, nine Mississippi, ten Mississipi.

"He came riding from the south side slowly lookin' all around, ooouuh~~, he's an outlaw loose and running, came the whisper from each lip, and he's here to do some business with the big iron on his hip *clap* *clap* Big Iron on his hiiiip~!"

Eight Mississippi, nine Mississippi, ten Mississipi.

"It this town there lived an outlaw by the name of Texas Red~ oooooouuhh~."

And one hundred.

"Many men had tried to take him and that many men were deaaaaaaad~"

(Medicine check: Pass)

Enough time has pass, and there's no evidence of poisoning from the flower, no over sweating, no major injuries to the head, or lack of air.

"He was vicious and a killer though a youth of 24, and the notches on his pistol numbered one and 19 more, one and 19 moreeeee!~."

Physically speaking there's nothing wrong with him.

I have nothing against music, a lot of times a catchy tune is more than what you need to get thru the day, and keeping the morale high is one of the main principles to get out of a bad situation, however, no one can deny that a person who starts singing after a near-death experience and a fight against never seen animals (not to mention the fact that they're still lost and in the company of a stranger) is either the most optimistic person alive, or has received some major head trauma and is completely delusional.

"Now the stranger started talking, made it plain to folks around, ooouhhh~."

But, since none of the preview options seems to be it, then a third one must arrive, and the evidence isn't only his song, but also his get-up of a typical cowboy and his golden Pip-Boy with jewelry.

"Was an Arizona ranger, wouldn't be too long in toooown, he came here to take an outlaw back alive or maybe dead, and he said it didn't matter he was after Texas Red, after Texas Reeeeeeeeeeeeeed~!"

I'm guessing he's just extravagant.

Julius is a flashy person, either by nature or because he thinks it's funny, maybe both. This causes everybody to notice him one way or another, after all, let's not forget his introduction back at Robert's place.

"Wasn't long before the story was relayed to Texas Red, but the outlaw didn't worry men that tried before were deeeead~ 20 men had tried to take him, 20 men had made a slip, 21 would be the ranger with the big iron on his hip *clap* *clap* Big iron on his hiiiip!"

We were a bit tense before, anybody could notice it, Julius tried to make some small talk to defuse the situation, and at some point, I started to go along (although, my answer didn't seem to please him) after that, we became quiet again, however this silence was more peaceful. It appears we both (specially Julius) realize we didn't need to talk unless it was necessary, we respect each other boundaries and kept going. Then, Julius started humming, after that, moving accordingly to the tune, and not long after, came the song.

"The morning passed so quickly; it was time for them to meet, it was 20 past 11 when they walked out in the streeeeeeeeeeet~!"

This new atmosphere isn't unwelcome (at least compared to the last one), but it is an odd one, and on some level, even a bit worrisome. We went from a carful and thin truce, to deciding if we should attack one another, to an awkward silence, to just silence, to him singing.

The last time 101 traveled with someone as bipolar as him, he had to sleep with a gun and a knife on him. Although, to be honest, that became a habit after some time, and sleep without them feels like sleeping naked now.

Let's make something clear, I'm NOT the one to be psychoanalyzed here, mainly because I was already checked last month.

"Folks were watching from the windows, everybody held their breath, they knew this handsome ranger was about to meet his death, about to meet his deaaaaaaaaath~!"

This just feels so unasked for.

At least is odd enough for him to focus on it and not on, well, everything else that is happing with them (you know, being lost, hurt, and on high the alert for new enemies). However, 101 noticed a slight change in his traveling companion's tone, at the start of the journey on these unexplored lands he had a more active or energetic voice, after time passed Julius developed a calmer (some may say even tired) one.

That's not the only thing he displays; tripping happens more regularly than before and his gaze starts to become less active to the things around them. The same characteristics I've been displaying myself, we both are clearly getting tired, the walk is one thing, but walking while being handicap is another, this trip is taking a greater toll on our bodies than it would normally do.

Maybe that's the reason behind the singing, something to focus on instead of the fatigue.

"There was 40 feet between them when they stopped to make their play, and the swiftness of the ranger is still talked about today, Texas Red had not cleared leather 'fore a bullet fairly ripped, and the ranger's aim was deadly with the big iron on his hip *Clap**Clap* , Big iron on his hip~!"

The singing disturbed the peace of the forest, now, it was time for the birds to remain silenced and hear the newcomer's tune.

"It was over in a moment and the folks had gathered round, there before them lay the body of the outlaw on the ground~! Oh! he might have went on living but he made one fatal slip, when he tried to match the ranger with the big iron on his hip *Clap**Clap* Big iron on his hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip~!"

With that last screak some flew away as far as they could, one annoyed crow decided to give the human a piece of its mind before leaving, dropping some fecal matter on his left shoulder and making a caw, reminiscing of an insult.

"Welp, screw you too, buddy!" He shouts at the fleeing animal. "Talk about a tough crowd."

Was that a pun?

He takes out a rag from one of his pockets and cleans his shoulder, then takes out a blue flask with the number 13 in yellow from his back pocket, and starts drinking.

"Is it wise to drink right now?"

They have the worst headache imaginable and have been throwing up for hours now, ingesting alcohol is just going to dehydrate them even further.

"Huh? Oh!" He turns his attention to me after his sip. "Probably not, but this ain't alcohol, just some water."

Oh.

"I like me a good beer and all, but even I know when and how to drink."

He keeps drinking.

"Why a flask?"

"Excuse me?"

"A flask can only contain a small quantity of liquid; wouldn't it be better to store your water in a bottle?"

Julius stares at me with a blank look, scratches his head, and thinks.

"To be honest, it never crossed my mind."

"How come?"

Water is one, if not the first, resource you always need to have in check, finding a proper way to store it is important. Carrying a big container will slow you down, a small one will run out of water quickly, and if you're carrying a bunch of multiple bottles then you can become impractical.

In conclusion, you need an effective way of transporting the most valuable liquid in the world if you want to increase your chances of survival, most people who live in the road know this and is one of the many things to take into account when preparing for a journey.

"Well, this little thing has never let me down before, so, you know, why fix it if it isn't broken?"

"That thing can't possibly hold more than a bottle."

"You'll be surprised."

Some seconds pass as his response lingers in my mind.

"Mmmh, perhaps your need for hydration differs from the rest of us."

My counter-point is meet with the same reaction from his part, until he speaks again with a hint of awkwardness in his tone (the most he has showed).

"That's the weirdest compliment I've received in a while, thanks?"

It seems even someone as confident as him can act awkwardly. My chit-chat can cause this effect once in a while, either my comments are too short, odd, cold, or just plain rude, or my conclusions aren't translated as I would hope they do. I don't mean to be mean, they just come up like that.

"Wait." He stops and puts a hand on my shoulder, I resist the urge (more of an instinct) of getting it off me. Instead, I just look at his other hand, pointing at the ground in front of us. "The grass."

(Perception Skill: On use)

The grass starts to be somewhat squash, some branches of the smaller trees are broken, and it's the only piece of land lacking flowers.

"A trail."

Even with the fatigue, he manages to notice it. We take out our guns, not sure of what we'll find. The trail isn't big enough to be from the wolves, but we can't be sure that it's from a peaceful thing either. We crouch, trying to make as fewer noise as possible, and also to avoid the tree branches.

The foliage gets ticker, making the trail more visible, but also making movement more difficult. Branches and bushes brush off against my garments and skin. Most would be faced at feeling them make a small cut on the hands or face, I just continue, been a while since something so miniscule cut me.

As we arrive near at our destination, the sun above us has moved to its new position, a glance at my wrist tells me the time, four in the afternoon. There's a bunch of plants getting in our way, they block our view and it's getting difficult to me pass them. After some struggles, I'm the first one to pass the wall of plants.

The light blinds me for a bit, I walk a couple of steps further as my view comes back, and I stop right at the edge of the land.

"Hey, buddy, why did you sto-?".

In front of us was a body of water, so big that you couldn't see anything else on the horizon. We stood there, the wilderness taking control of the noises again for a solid minute. I blinked, again and again, not sure how to process this.

A sea?

A clear blue sea, so blue that it may even be mistaken for the sky. The wind blows in our direction, I can feel the salt in my lips, and in high sight, I could taste it since a while back. Was I so invested in my companion that I really didn't notice the change on the atmosphere? Or am I so tired and worn out that the thought passed over my head?

We stare.

And stare.

…

And stare.

This reaction may seem exaggerated for some, however, if you have been exploring the wastes for years and the only thing you've been finding is dead, reek, and mutations, then this whole place is definitely going to be hard to process.

Yes, there are unaffected areas in the world that survived the war, statistically speaking, that's a fact, but it's like witnessing a miracle. You know they are possible; you've heard people talk about them, hell, you may have already seemed others before (the supernatural, aliens, a talking brain), but they are still going to be shocking to see.

Some fish jump from the water, some small, and others big, welcoming us to their home. Our heads turn down to the landscape below, the action causes a sudden spike of dizziness, nonetheless, I keep staring down. Below us is a nasty fall, the height is enough to break some bones, and the floor is covert with sand and rocks bound to hurt you as you crawl away after your fall.

We raise our heads once more, our gaze centered on the horizon, in nothing specific, just contemplating the whole picture. We remain silenced and, I don't know why, someone should say something but our minds are occupied, trying to come up with … an answer? Of what-? I don't even know what am I trying to figure out.

And so, the land was undisturbed, the fish swim, the birds fly, and two watchers stood over a cliff.

*shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh*

"Re- shhhhhhh Hey! Red! shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh You there?"

*shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh*

"Red, you copy?"

"I copy you, there's some static at your end, what happened?"

"The soldiers are getting closer to some hideouts."

"Important ones?"

"No, but still, we might lose some food and ammo storage there."

"Let them, not worth the fight."

"*sigh*, what a waste."

"Do we at least know what they're looking for?"

"Not sure, we manage to infiltrate their channels for a bit, but nothing good, I think someone mess with them and now the rest of us are dealing with their shit."

"Atack them?"

"Yep."

"Grimm?"

"Don't think so, they would have already bombed the area."

"You sure? Who's dumb enough to attack the Forth?"

"Dunno man, just know they're determine … what? … for real?"

"What?"

"They sent another message; they're sending one of their killing squads out."

"…"

"Shit."

"I know."

"Tell everybody to go back to the main camp."

"Everybody?"

"Everybody, you guys can't be seen, we have enough to deal with right now, we don't need the attention of the Fort's Huntsmen."

"Those guys still there?"

"No, but we don't know where they are now, they just came and went without us noticing."

"And the blind one?"

"Left as well."

"Good, he gave me the creeps."

"*sigh* just come back, and tell the other to do the same."

"Got it, see you later."

Back at the cliff, two silhouettes have become one with the scenery, so stoic and unmoving that any passing ship could confuse them with two strange-shaped rocks. For how long have they been in this state? Seconds? Minutes? Hours? All they know is that it felt like an eternity.

I pass my tongue over my lips, my mouth feeling dry all of a sudden, and my hands getting a bit sweaty. Feling the necessity to speak (more than usual) I open my mouth and try my best.

"So ... A Sea."

That's as far as my mind could come up with. The question wasn't expecting an answer, to be honest, I'm not even sure to whom was it addressed to. Was it for Michael? For myself? The universe? No one? Probably all and none of the above.

"Yes."

It got an answer anyway.

"As in; a big chunk of water that covers most of the planet."

"Yes."

"Oooooooooooooooh, okay." I instinctively move my head up and down, as if this makes any sense. "Is it a Sea or is it an Ocean? What's the correct word here, ocean or sea?"

"I don't think that's what's important right now."

We don't turn around or even move our eyes from the water, so I can't see if he changed his serious demeanor, but I can hear his monotonous voice changing into a bit more alarmed, surprised, and/or confused one, like mine.

"We walked southeast, didn't we?"

"Affirmative."

"You said you came from the east, right?"

"Correct."

"Is there anything like, well, you know, THIS in the East?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool."

The waves of salty water clash against spiked rocks, some birds fly thru the air, and their song now sounds like a taunt, over his confusion and perhaps his early insult to one of their wind buddies.

"Are we sure this is a sea?"

I ask.

"What else could it be?"

He responds.

"A really, really, big lake."

"A salty lake?"

"You're just assuming it's salty."

"We can feel the salt in the wind from up here."

"Maybe is a contaminated lake, there's plenty of those."

That made more sense, right?

"Does this seem contaminated to you?"

"What about illusions? Have you ever experienced a bad trip caused by a Radscorpion's venom and a couple of chems?"

This has to be a bad trip, that's what the GOAC did, maybe that was it intend porpoise, I mean, those old-world scientists needed something to relax and chill the fuck down after a day of experimenting with dogs and people, or was it people and dogs? Dogs with humans? Dogs ON humans? Humans on dogs? I don't' know, I'll ask Boros later.

"This is a hallucination?"

"Exactly! All of this could be a hallucination."

"The Sea?

"Hallucination."

"The forest?"

"Hallucination."

"The wolves that wanted to kill us?"

"They became ash and disappeared; they didn't even touch us, I don't know about you, but I'm calling them a hallucination."

"Then what did my sword and your bullets hit?"

"Hallucination."

"A shared hallucination?"

(Medicine check; Pass)

"It can happen."

"Folie à deux, is a shared psychotic disorder that occurs on people with schizophrenia, an illness of the mind that neither us have."

(Medicine check; Failed)

"Okey, clearly you have a better understanding of the subject than I do, but you could also be a hallucination."

We turn slightly to face one another.

"And why is that?"

"You survived an explosion capable of destroying a whole region, No one, and I repeat, NO ONE, should be able to do that."

"You did."

"Yes, but that's because luck is a psychotic mistress that gets hard on my confusion. I know I'm alive because if the afterlife truly exists and I died, I would be in a place with more screams."

"And the gunners we killed?"

Oh, yeah.

"Not gonna lie, I forgot about them, but they are also hallucinations, you're all hallucinations!"

*Slap*

"…"

"Fuck, you're real."

*Slap*

"… What was that one for?"

"You had crazy eyes."

"…"

"Give me another one."

*Slap* *Slap*

"Thanks."

I turn back to the Sea, ignoring the pain in my face.

"You have a heavy hand, by the way."

Well, not completely ignoring it. Ouch.

"What now?" Asked the heavy-hand man.

I guess one of us had to say it.

"Just give me a sec, don't mind me, I just need to get this thru my system."

*Sigh*

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!

I repeat some phrases and exercises in my head.

After the complete disaster (depending on who you ask, I had a great night, as far as I can remember) of the first dinner meeting of the Boomers, Khans, and Kings (never mix explosives, chems, and pit fights, unless you are preparing for chaos), Arcade pretty much forced us all to take meditation classes and other mental mumble-jumble tests with doctor Usanagi, hoping we could learn how to control ourselves.

Most of us weren't all that trill, but remembering how Usanagi helped Betsy and all the good this has been for Lily, Arcade persuaded us to give it a try. And it was better than what I imagine, the sessions (at least the ones I attended) helped me see things more clearly, and to not nuke anything that annoys me.

After finishing my exercises, I look up to the sun, using my hands to track its movement.

"Well, we have about 4 or 3 hours of the day left." I inform. "After that we might as well just lay on the ground and let those things eat us."

"If we follow the coastline, we might find a river that connects to the sea, then, we just need to follow the river until we encounter-." He keeps on speaking, but his words trail off for me.

Already forming a new plan, eh?

The guy seems waaaaaaaay too calm for my likeness, has he even process all of this? We are in what a lot of people would describe as paradise, being pursue by monsters whom can become ash and smoke, and he is just forming a new plan, no fucks given.

"Stop, please."

He does, and we turn to face each other.

"If, if, if, if, if, No offense, but I'm tired of ifs, and you must be too. We've been walking for far too long, hoping to find something and we haven't."

"What's the other option?"

"There's no other option, and I hate it, but before we continue, we need to rest."

(Quest update: the long road ahead; Find a safe place to heal.)

"Rest?"

"Yes, rest, our brains are basically working in auto-pilot, a smoky, dry out, mushy, auto-pilot."

"… Explain yourself."

"I've seen a lot of weird shit in the wastes, some even weirder than this, and so, I understand that we shouldn't stay at awe for a lot of time and move, but we haven't process any of this, AT ALL, which is reasonable, we are trying to survive, going in auto-pilot, but we need to rest and let, well, ALL of this to sink in."

We are running on fumes, we need to rest, there's no reason to continue if there's nothing to find, and we don't know if there's anything out here. Best to at least get some rest and then continue.

"We don't have the time."

"Neither the energy."

"It's not safe."

"Nothing in the waste is safe."

"…"

"Listen, I get it, we both want an out of this situation, but we both need some rest."

Michael's eyes are as strong as before, but the dizziness and fatigue are evident. I look down at his left hand, which is shaking, he notices my stare and clenches his hand into a fist to stop it.

"We might need it."

(Survival check: Pass) (Speak check: Pass)

"But we can't just set up camp here out in the open, we need somewhere safer."

He's right, if something attacks us from behind, where are we going to run to? This is a cliff, what are we going to do? Jump to the ocean? Get atop a tree?

"Any ideas?"

[Loading]

"Where's the rest of the trail?"

"Huh?"

Looking around, there's no more signs of it on the cliff. We turn down to the beach.

"There's a cave."

[Loading]

(Survival and Luck check: … Fail successfully)

One, two, one, two, one, two.

We carefully descend to the opening of the cave. I didn't notice the cavern before my companion mention it, but in my defense, I had to climb a tree, my headache is worse than his, the moment I looked down the cliff, I immediately regrated all my life's decisions and stopped putting attention.

The entrance is right in the middle of the cliff, between the beach and where we were standing before. The side of the cliff is rocky enough for us to hold onto but slippery enough to keep us on our feet (ironically).

After a while, we manage to reach the cave, our footsteps echoing inside the place. The entrance is about 7 feet tall and 6 feet wide, however, the interior seems to be bigger.

We stand next to each other, both of us drawing our weapons; I take a knife and a silenced 9 mm from my coat, and he takes out a silenced 10 mm (never shoot an unsilenced gun in a cave unless you want to lose your hearing). Crouching and going one step at a time, we explore the cavern, little by little, the light stops entering the place with us, and the darkness expands, so I take a pill of Cateye.

[Night vision, acquired.]

The thought of giving a pill to Michael crossed briefly thru my head, but as I quickly move my eyes to see him, he already had those goggles on, and I could see an eerie green glow coming from them.

The cavern has only one corridor, no other path or small hole where something could jump out and attack. The walls are made out of rock and are cover with moss and fungus.

The moment they start throwing spores, I burn this place.

The passage is long, although not infinite. We keep walking without hitting a wall for some good meters before finding the end, and there we find the first-ever human sign in this whole journey. A wooden table against the wall with a bunch of things, there's what seems to be the remains of a small campfire, there are some boxes on the left side next to a wall, and at the right side, we have some sort electronics.

As we get near the place, my companion decides to turn on his Pip-boy light. I take a Fixer before getting blinded by the light. As we get closer, we stop crouching and examine the campsite; I can see some food next to the fireplace, 2 bowls of soup and rice. I take a bowl as Michael walks to the table.

As he does, a big worm (about a foot long) with a bunch of legs falls from the ceiling. Michael takes out a knife and impales the insect against the wall. I instantly and instinctively reacted as well and pointed my gun at it, although, after it got impaled, it wasn't really a threat. It wiggles its legs and body, moves as it could, trying to escape before dying.

"That's nasty." I commented while getting next to him.

There's a lamp on the table, he opens the glass, and I use my lighter to light it. With the extra light, we can better see the rest of the things around us, although my initial interest is the dead creature on the wall.

In part, because I had never seen it before (maybe it was a worm that mutated and gained a hundred legs?) and in part because of how it died.

"Humm."

"Is something wrong?" He clearly saw my interest in the thing.

"This one didn't combust."

"No." Taking the knife out of the wall, the insect falls on the table. "It didn't."

Well, there goes my final hope of this being a dream.

"I thought that if you ever went for Mele, you would use the sword."

"Not enough space." He simply says.

"Fair enough."

On the table, apart from the lamp and the dead worm; there's an ashtray, some cigars, a knife, and a plate with a bunch of half-burned papers. Picking them up, I try to read what I could; there were some normal English words, but others seemed to be gibberish.

The south or the sun or ... is that even an s?

Surprisingly, you could still somewhat read it; some letters are a little different and their order in certain words was strange, but if you try, you can read the massage in the paper, or at least I think I can.

(Perception check: Pass) (Intelligence check: Pass)

"The sun runs south, while the little crows hunt." I read. "Is this bad poetry? What is that supposed to mean?"

The rest of the message was burned so any context is now missing.

"There weren't any footprints at the entry."

"And this bowl and the rest of the food is full of larvae and fungus." Showing my findings. "Whoever set up camp here left days ago."

"But why?"

The food was left half eaten, for some reason they burned papers and looking closely at the electronics that I saw earlier, they are a bunch of busted radio equipment. Michael also notices the devices, so he moves and crouches in front of the machine to take a closer look.

"Burn marks." He then inspects the walls and the floor. "No bullet holes on the walls, no signs of fighting, did they break their own equipment?"

I look over his shoulder

"Hmmm, if they did, it wasn't intentionally."

"How can you tell?"

"The papers were intentionally, that's obvious, but it seems the radio received damage from the inside, not the outside." I point out the burn marks. "I've seen this before, a short circuit caused a fire, happens from time to time if your machine is old and doesn't receive proper maintenance."

"How big the fire?"

"Not big enough to send anyone fleeing outside the cave."

"Hmm."

We keep inspecting the camp; the boxes at the left side become our next objective.

We each open a box, we go one by one, not finding that much at first; cans of food, blank papers, and metal junk, but after moving all the boxes, we found a safe.

Jackpot!

I quickly go to work, pulling out a bobby pin and screwdriver, is not an easy safe to crack, but isn't a hard one either. After 2 minutes I manage to open it. Inside there are boxes of ammo, some plastic cards of different colors, and a map!

"Hey! Look at this."

I move and put the map over one of the boxes, and we start to analyze it. The map showed a peninsula (that's a valid term, right?), there's a chunk of land covering most of the map, at the eastern and northern corners we have water, and scribbled all over the thing, where a bunch of red Xs and some weird symbols.

"I think we are over here, at this point near the southeast corner, the closest thing is ... this umm ... do you have any idea what these symbols mean?"

"It means; wolves' den, stay clear."

…

"What?"

"I wasn't expecting you to answer me, how do you know?"

"This is Chinese, or at least most of it."

"You can read Chinese?"

"Yes."

"Well, what else does the map say?"

He moves next to me. "This whole area says 'Fort's territory, stay clear', and …, wait … this part." Pointing at the northeast part of the map, referring to some land and part of the ocean. "Says; 'Harbor's territory, stay clear'."

"Lovely."

"There's a town here." He points out.

According to the map, the town is up north, passing high terrain, and it's between the Fort and the Harbor. Below the settlement is a couple of routes we can take to reach it. I take my Pip-Boy and compare maps, trying to figure out the scale of things. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see he does the same.

"The nearest route is still far from here, by the time we reach it, the sun will be down."

Some of the routes are also marked.

"What do these say?"

"These say; 'too risky'. And these ones over here say ... 'easy pickings'."

"Less lovely."

*sigh*

"This is a raider camp."

In retrospect, it was kind of obvious; the hidden camp in a cave, burned information, the hidden safe, took us long enough to figure that one out.

"But why is it abandon? There's no signs of fighting or infighting, either here or outside."

"Maybe they were discovered?"

That would explain why they left everything behind, someone detected their radio broadcast, and they fled.

"Then why are we the first ones to be here?"

There's no evidence of more people coming here.

I think, think and think.

"I got nothing."

I tried, okey, don't judge me.

We didn't have time to think this one completely thru, as new sounds became noticeable for us, we turn around and draw our guns, just in time to face armed raiders.

*Thud*

"Careful! That's not a sack of potatoes."

The soldiers moving the bodies to the clinic try their best to not screw up and hurt the bodies even more. The medic in charge is a serious person. She is technically part of the Forts personal, but the higher-ups tend to keep her moving between bases.

"Relax, as if the corpses can get worse."

"Glad to see you have such respect for the dead, Wan."

Said Huntsmen smirks.

"Anytime, beautiful."

"Ugh, keep your words for yourself, soldier."

Wan is a rather short man, with black short hair, South-Anima features (Asian features), and green eyes.

"Shiro, stop harassing everything that moves for five minutes, please." The captain of task force Jiā mǎ approaches the duo. "I don't want to put you in the hole, again."

The captain is a tall muscular women, brown long hair and dark eyes.

"To be fair, you've never put me in the hole for harassment, Heather."

*coff**coff*

"I mean; Captain."

"Good, let's keep it that way." She turns her attention to the medic. "Doctor."

"Captain Shields."

"We need a quick autopsy."

"First let's put the bodies on the table, shall we?"

The rest of the task force move the bodies and boxes filled with different objects into the clinic and facility.

"Evidence?"

"Something like that." They walk into the small clinic of the Fort.

"How did things go? Did you find the culprit?"

"Negative."

"Then whose bodies are these?"

"That's what we expect to figure out."

The clinic is rather small. Entering you can see a doctor's office, with cabinets holding different medical equipment. Passing the office, there's 4 beds for injured personal, and lastly, at the end of the room, passing a big curtain, is an operation room with two tables, where the now decease, rest.

"Let's take a look."

Putting on her gloves, the professional unzips the first body bag. Revealing a large male, in some kind of armor.

"What in dear Oum's name?"

And his whole head, gruesomely mangle.

"You weren't joking, Wan."

The body lacks the eyes, the nose, and it's bruised all over.

"If this surprises you, you should take a look at the other one."

"One step at a time, can you confirm the cause of death?" Asks the captain.

The doctor takes a closer look.

"From my preliminary assessment, I can see some bite marks all over his face."

"There were some animals munching on them."

"The size of the bites does match that of a fox. In what position did you find the bodies?"

"Separated from each other, surrounded by parts of a burned caravan."

"Travelers?"

"Not simple travelers, we suspect."

"Well, apart from the bites, he has several head injuries, like someone beat him up with enough force to break his skull and probably cause serious brain damage."

"That did the job?"

"I can't say anything for certain until I open them up, but that's probably what happened."

We move to the other body, opening the bag, revealing another male, same clothing, but his neck was torn out.

"And I thought this was going to be a boring day. This one most likely died from blood loss."

"Was it an animal?"

"Only if said animal has hands, these marks over here are from strangulation, then somehow they made a small cut on the neck, their thumbs enter the cut and then they pulled the skin, hard."

"Yikes."

"So, this wasn't the job of an animal or a Grimm?"

"No, but you already suspected that, didn't you, Captain?"

"We just needed someone to confirm."

The doctor crosses her arms and looks down on the dead and their clothes.

"Interesting tattoo, bandits?"

"Not sure, could be mercs." Said Wan. "I've never seen their sigil before, if they're the latter, then a quick search on Vale's registered mercenary groups may help, but if they're the former, well, that complicates things."

Bandits tend to be nomads, after all, staying in one place for far too long can attract the Grimm, and with no type of protection, that can get them killed (not that I mind), so they mostly stay on the move, only settling up camp whenever they find a safe place where to past the winter. It's common to have one tribe as undesirable neighbors for one week and then the following week have another one, we have already gotten used to this, what we aren't used to is seeing new tribes.

To those savages' credit, forming and maintaining a tribe isn't an easy feat. Surviving in the wilderness requires meticulous planning, time, and organizing; you need reliable people, know how to distribute rations and ammunition, when and how to attack your enemy, etc. So, the only tribes who know how to survive are the ones who have been established for decades now.

Meaning that either; we're dealing with a new group of idiots who thought; "Hey, let's rob people for fun and giggles!" or an old tribe of merciless bastards who got their asses kicked out of their former territory by the authorities, huntsmen or rival gangs, and ran all the way here. In both cases, they may want to gain power on this land, meaning that they must raid, kill, and, in general, be a nuisance to everybody around here.

"Sir!" A trooper comes running to the clinic.

"What is it?"

"Is search patrol A, and you have a call."

We turn around just in time to see them draw their weapons.

Damn it.

The fatigue is catching up faster than I expected, the perception of my surroundings is getting worse. I wasn't able to notice their approach until now, they are 3 meters away from us and I didn't even saw my Pip-Boy's yellow light going on.

VATS activates. There's a pinch of pain growing in the back of my head, I try my best to ignore it as time goes slower than normal, and I shoot.

*Bang**Bang**Bang***Bang*

The first one goes down, along with their only source of light, his head bursting into a million pieces, and stopping him from shooting us with his shotgun at close range. Julius turns around and shoots the lamp off the table, leaving us all in the dark.

Time resumes, and real fight begins.

*Bang**Bang**Bang**

We jump to the floor and I activate my googles, missing the bullets that collie against the wall and wooden table.

*Bang**Bang**Bang***Bang**Bang**Bang*

Six more shoots come from my gun to the torso of the nearest raider wilding a sub-machine gun. Julius imitates my actions, shooting the hands off another raider. We charge and tackle the last two with fire arms. I pin her down, and shoot her with one of my last 2 bullets in the head.

A hammer goes against me from the left, but it collides with the wall and losses momentum (Not enough space), letting me move out of the way. I roll and shot his chest, but he avoids it by imitating my roll.

A red light is activated, a raider ignites a flare and throws it at the floor blinding me for enough time for him to get close and tries to hit me with a bat. I dodge his hits, catching his last blow with my left arm and twisting his arm, disarming him.

The one with the hammer comes to his aid, I block his blow with my right arm, while kicking the other unharmed raider down. Taking my trench knife, I start cutting his arm, he drops the hammer and I push him to the wall, where we struggle for survival, while I try to stab his throat.

The guy is big and has a good build, but that's not enough to stop me, and my knife enters his body, a bit slower than anticipated. I take it out and he falls, the smaller one takes his bat back, but is late, I punch his face with the spiked knuckle guard of my knife, and finally stab him in the eye.

*Bang**Bang**Bang*

I grunt out in pain. The submachine guy who felt after 6 shots survived, he's out bullets now, we both reload, but I´m faster.

*Bang**Bang**Bang*

3 clean shots to the head, I point my gun around the cave, checking the bodies for movement.

Julius screams in pain as a machete hits his arm, but then turns his palm and grabs the machete, not letting the raider get away and stabs her in the chest. He kicks her, pulls out another pistol and shoots the assailant's head.

I take my trench knife out of the body next to me and get up.

"You okey?" Asks Julius.

The bullets didn't go thru tanks to the metal plates in between the leather of my armor and the toughness of my skin.

"Hit me in the armor, and you?"

Getting away from his last kill, he walks towards me.

"She got a lucky hit." Blood was dripping from his arm; the machete had gone thru his clothes and made a big cut, plus the one he got by holding the weapon. "Ugh! Fuck."

He moves his sleeve up and sticks a stimpak on his arm.

"I don't know about you, but taking into account all the chems I have to take daily to stay alive, is a surprise I'm not an addict."

The place now reek of the dead, blood and gun powder fills the air, and they convene with the salt and the dampness of the cave.

"There could be more of them." I reload my gun again. "Better leave now."

"Shame, wanted to catch a break."

We take the map and any other thing that could be useful as fast as we can. As much as we need to rest, we can't do it in here anymore. I search the pockets of the headless men, finding a knife, some plastic cards and ammo for the shotgun he never used.

We search some of the others (Not all, we are in a hurry, but maybe they can give us more info), finding more of the same. We take the ammo, and take a glimpse at the cards. As stated before; they're made of plastic, having different colors (red, yellow, blue, green), and a symbol very similar to an L.

"This symbol isn't a Chinese letter by any chance, is it?"

"No."

"Worth a shot. They must be valuable enough to keep them in a safe, tho."

You can't exactly do much with a piece of plastic, but the symbols reminiscent of old-world paper currency and their likely value gave by raiders points at their possible use; as money.

Bottle caps may be the standard currency on the wasteland, but it's not the only one. A lot of people barter with ammunition, food, water, or other valuables. Some use pre-war money, and once I heard of a man trying to pay his food with another type of plastic card; a 'Charge card' as the man put it, was worth 100 caps, but of course, nobody took him seriously and beat him to a pulp until he paid with actual caps.

As we prepare to leave, the farthest corpse, the last one to be pillage, starts moving and moaning.

"Well, shit."

The man starts coughing and spitting blood.

"I shoot him 7 time in chest." Julius turns to me. "Not bad for leather armor, no offense, buddy."

His weapon is far away from him, and it doesn't seem like he has another one. The scene brings the feeling of Deja Vu, like so many others, another person near the gates of the dead in front of him.

"Sorry." I move closely and take out my pistol. "It was meant to be quick."

"Pl-please, no …"

*shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh*

"Hey! What's happening down there?!"

Before I could pull the trigger, the sound of a radio message came from within the bandit's clothes. We stare at man and he stares back, no longer pleating for mercy, instead he moves fast to pick up his radio.

*Bang*

I kill him.

"Run."

"Hey, buddy, get up."

The man in the back of the wagon doesn't even move at the sound of the driver's voice.

"Wake up! It will get dark in a couple of hours, and you've been drunk half of the day."

"Hangover." Said the guy with little energy in his voice. "I've been hangover for half a day, I was drunk yesterday."

"Why did I even try."

The merchant needed someone to protect him in his travel, and the man just wanted a ride. According to his papers, he's a Huntsmen, but doesn't look like the best one. However, he was cheap, and didn't care for his cargo and business.

"At least give me some company, why did you even want to go to Embrace anyway? The place isn't that bad, but is a pain in the ass to try to do anything there."

Mostly because of the paper work, technically spiking the jurisdiction of the place falls on the hands of Vale and Mistral, but in reality, the local government is who controls and deals with everything. So, if you want to make any type of business (legal or otherwise) there's 3 governments you have to deal with, either with the papers or lien, that goes for huntsmen as well.

So, the guy must have a good reason for his journey, right?

"Nothing special."

"Do tell."

"Just going to talk with an old fling of mine."

"Oh~, just talk?"

"Yep."

"You sure? I mean, you're doing quite the travel for just "talk"."

"What can I say? I like to maintain good relations with my exe's, can get you out of trouble sometimes.

"Is there a child involve? You left before she could tell you?"

"I hope not, she's taken now."

"Damn, now I feel bad for the guy."

Before he could talk back, a bunch of noise from gunshots came.

*Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang*

The two wastelanders run thru the land, jumping, rolling and doing whatever is necessary to avoid getting shot.

After somehow evading the raiders at the beach, the lot somehow manage to track them down at the forest. The plants help at covering their movements, but they are getting closer. A machete cuts the bush wall at Six's left, almost cutting him as well, he fire Maria at it and keeps moving, they can't slow down, this is their turf, and the duo are at a disadvantage in numbers here.

Six quickly turns and fires Maria 9 times, not sure if he hit something, but better than nothing. Our vault boy sees movement to his right, and gets himself and his companion out of the way, as another ''mutated wolf'' jumps from the bushes, missing its prey.

Six takes as many grenades as he can muster, and throws them at the animal, not slowing one bit. They are running up a hill, terrible strategy, but there's not much of an option right now. The soldier throws smoke grenades to block the enemy's view. Some attack from their sides, but one raider gets shot and another one ambush by another wolf.

One comes from the left, and loses his head with a blade.

Another from the right and gets a bullet thru the eye.

Throwing gas grenades behind them, they try to lose their attackers. After climbing a hill, they take cover behind a big rock. The only reason the raiders aren't storming in are the wolves, looking over the rock, they spot a pack of 6 wolves now in the battlefield.

Turning around, they notice a big stone wall, blocking their way.

101 takes a sniper rifle and fires indiscriminately.

*Boom*

*Click**Clack**Boom*

4 shots, 4 heads gone.

The raiders change their attention and tactics, taking cover themselves, focusing on the animals and manage to kill 4 of the 6 wolves, the last two lashed out. However, they are taken down by a new treat, a four-wheeler, motorized vehicle, with armor and a big minigun on top.

*Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang*

"Crap." Said the messenger.

The merc and the soldier climb a hill and get cover behind a big rock, as the raiders take care of the pack of animals.

Hundreds of bullets flew towards them. Pieces of the rock being chip away with each hit.

"Hold the fire!"

The bullets stop, and the voice of a male is heard.

"You're surrounded!"

They take this moment to take a good look at their situation. A wall at their backs, forest at their sides, and a bunch of raiders down the hill. They could go for the forest, but there's no other cover apart from this rock, they'll just get shoot immediately.

"Mi no entender, yo estar perdido, donde estar la biblioteca?!"

What? Thought 101. The tension gets broken for a moment as his companion decided to switch languages.

"We heard you speak Vytally, asshole! Stop messing around!"

Vytally?

"Aww, I thought you would fall for that one for sure!" Six turns to his allied and whispers. "7 at 2 and 3."

"5 at 11 and 10, plus 2 on the car."

"We want to know what happen to the people of the camp you sack! Answer us, and we'll give you a quick death!"

"The raiders are mad about people raiding them?!" Michael turns and whispers. "Small arms and melee weapons."

"I know, right?! The hypocrisy!" Six turns again. "The only big guns are in the car."

"Last chance, jerks!"

"The fact that you gave them a chance, is the reason why your tribe crumbles."

A big man walks calmly from the bushes, over to the car, with his eyes close. Had been with the group since the beginning of the hunt, but didn't care much for the situation.

"Unless you're going to help, keep your comments, Branwen!"

"As you wish."

The guy goes under a tree to get some shade, letting the shit show continue.

There's no time to get better armor on, but they can still put a small machine to their Pip-Boys. There's no other respond from the duo, the raiders start to get closer, walking up the hill, some charge, running and shooting, but the only thing they find are mines.

The explosion kills 2, and sends others to the ground, hurt, disoriented, and/or blackout. About 20 grantees get thrown from the bushes to the car, some are regular, some are pulse. Meanwhile, the rest of the foot enemies get shot and blown from the trees. The ones who are quick enough fight back but are unable to see their enemies, the best they can spot are glimmers of light reflected from something once in a while.

The car is incapable of attack or move for some seconds, enough for a sword to fly thru the air, break the window, and stab the driver in the chest.

(Strength check: Pass)

Hundreds of bolts travel to the metal vehicle, sparks coming out of the thing as the man dies, the man managing the gun gets a clean shot, right between the eyes. The raiders that are still up form a circle, and fire the whole area, in an effort to hit the wastelanders.

A grenade flies over them from the left, they shoot at it, and two sniper bullets are fire from their right. They turn to the right and get more grenades. This cycle breaks their circle and kills most. Everyone is now on the floor, either black out, shot, or blown up.

Once the battlefield was completely silence, someone starts clapping.

*Clap**Clap**Clap**Clap*

"Bravo, quick and efficient, I respect that, but I do have to say, I'm surprise you didn't attack me."

The man from before comments while still being under a tree. He's a tall, muscular man, with long hair, a lot of scars, and with little to no armor; boots, leather pants, and metal shoulder pats over a simple brown shirt. For some reason his eyes are close.

He gets no response. He doesn't need one, but it's kind of rude not getting it.

*Sigh* "Both of you are in the center, pointing your weapons at me."

Surprise comes over the invisible duo. From the man's perspective, it's easy to see the aura of the two killers and the heat and energy of their weapons, however, apart from the sword, the guns had little to no heat residues.

"Interesting ammo, by the way, no dust, handmade?"

Two figures emerge from seemingly nowhere in the middle of the place, as their machines make a noise and shows the image of the Vault-boy with a surprise look and stealth-boy on his hand.

"What type of sword is that? I can feel the energy, but I don't feel any dust crystal."

"You could see us?" Said the one with the green and grey aura.

"Yes."

"You could had help them."

"Yes."

"So why didn't you?" asked the one with the orange and brown aura.

"They told me to stay out of it, and you guys didn't attack me." The man can sense more auras on the floor, a couple of idiots are alive. "However, technically speaking, I'm a guest, so it would be very rude of me not to avenge my host."

"Ruder than letting them die?"

"Everyone dies from their own stupidity, and in some cases by following the stupidity of others."

Survival of the fittest, that's how things work, if you're not strong and resourceful enough to survive, that's your fault.

"Hmmp, yeah right." The orange one continues. "You just wanted an excuse to let some of them die, your smile gives it a way."

The new enemy covers his mouth for a moment, never been good at facial expressions since he can't see any

"Heh, well, that too."

The raider runs at tops speeds towards them. An assortment of bullets flies thru the air, but the big guy doesn't stop, takes a small Halberd from the back, and deflects each bullet instead.

Seeing how the blind raider didn't seem to stop, they move to dodge his attack, and they barely succeed. His weapon turns to the green one, and he blocks the blow with the sword, a bit of a surprise for the big man, not a lot of people are strong enough to do that, specially not a lot of people with their aura locked.

The orange one takes out more guns and fires, but the raider moves and kicks his guns out of his hands. A sword tries to hit him, but fails, colliding with the halberd again, and headbutting the guy to the floor.

Before the raider continues, the other tries to kick him in the balls from behind, and stab him in the back, the hit connects, but hardly feels anything (thank Oum for aura), and blade gets repeal because of a forcefield.

"The fuck!"

A hand reaches out and grabs his throat, Six punches his face with Love and Hate (knuckle-dusters), one hit, two hits, three hits, but this does next to almost nothing to his opponent. One Oh One, shoots his pistol, and the big man moves a little, but quickly throws Six to the other wastelander, with enough force to send both of them against a tree.

"Not bad, not bad at all, for someone without aura, mad respect, heheh." Letting his weapon rest on his back, he approaches. "Tell you what, only meele, you two can use whatever you want."

"*Panting* *Panting* Thanks, *panting* how considerate." The orange one turns and fires a grenade launcher, while the other one injects himself.

Runing and jumping, the raider avoids the explosions, they stop for a moment only to be change with sniper shoots, courtesy of the green one, while the other reloads and also injects himself.

"One last trip before dying?! I like the adrenalin and all, but not my style!"

The bullets are quicker than the grenades, so he uses the environment to avoid getting shot, using the trees, rock, and the destroyed car. The moment they switch again, he runs as fast as possible towards his enemies, expecting more bullets and explosives.

Instead, they prepared a smoke and flash cover, with flash grenades and smoke bombs. The smoke did nothing to block his view, but admittedly, the light and heat energy of the flash grenades does somewhat affect his vision. A sledgehammer goes for his head, which he blocks with his arms, but then sees an orange and brown light, hitting his abdomen with another weapon despreading electric energy (cattle prod).

Both attacks lower the aura of their opponent, but it isn't enough. The guy pushes the sledgehammer (and the man wilding it) back, takes the arm holding the cattle prod, pulls it, and hits Six's head with his knee. Luckily for Six, he had put a riot gear helmet on during the small window of time he had to be able to see and breathe in the smoke.

Six goes down hard to the ground, and punches are thrown at the wanderer. He tries his best to avoid them and tries to slash and cut the tribesman with his sword; going down, rolling, receiving, but always fighting with his all. The bandit recognizes his technic and dedication, even after his fists broke a couple of bones, he keeps fighting. And speaking of still fighting, The other aura gets up and throws a hatchet at his feet while the sword guy goes for his left arm.

Leaping to the side, the man goes to the defense for a bit, wanting to see what else they could do. One goes for the legs and lower body, while the other for the head and upper body, sometimes switching. They aren't fooling around; all of their blows go either at a vital organ or a way to immobilize him, he almost feels bad about playing them.

Unfortunately, it's getting late, and he has things to do. Moving quickly, he takes an arm, and breaks the wrist, making his enemy drop the sword, using him as a ragdoll, and hitting his partner with his body.

"Sorry, time is up."

A punch to the face, a kick to the stomach, the head being smashed against the floor. Blow after blow, they keep fighting, with blood and dust in their faces, bruises all over their bodies, broken bones and cuts, they don't give up.

They try to fight back, but it made little difference.

"Well, this was fun, any las words?" Said while taking out his weapon.

However, he backs off, evading the incoming shoots. A new figure appears from the trees, leaping to protect the duo, metal collides at extreme speeds, moving dangerously thru the battlefield.

"Well, well, well, Nice to see you, ungrateful bastard."

They break free of one another, and the newcomer fires his weapon.

"Hi, Sam."

The newcomer says between shots, and the other man deflects every one of them with his halbert.

"Only my friends call me that, Qrow."

"So, no one then."

Hope you liked the chapter and Sam. We finally have a familiar face, Qrow, I wanted to use Maria as a mentor/guide for a long time, but I didn't know how to get her into the story (This is the seventh version of this chapter!), so we have Qrow instead.

Did you like Sam? 10 points to whoever is able to guess from what myth, fairy tale, or history he's based on.

diegoliracruz2002; Thanks for the review, this chapter is less short than the last one, I'm trying to go as fast as possible (but not as fast), the worst part was the fighting, I think it is the hardest thing for me to write.

Rio Skyron: Six agrees with you dude, hehe, thanks for the review.

LokeNier: Thanks! Sorry it took so long for this chapter, I'm trying my best, hope you like it.

Thanks to everybody, I really can say this enough. Any comment, question, etc. you're free to ask, see you soon.