Six was pleasantly surprised when Doc Rotson introduced his bodyguard, another ghoul named Betty, to her and Ruby. To Six, Betty looked like those no-nonsense soldiers from the NCR, and she had the look to match it. Sporting a suit of combat armor with a desert camo decal and a mean looking modified variant of what looked to be an M16 Assault Rifle. The quartet had left the Mojave Outpost a couple of hours prior and were making their way through the broken I-15, there was the occasional gecko or coyote, but other than that the trip had been uneventful, something Six was glad for. It's not that she couldn't deal with what the Mojave had to throw at her- far from it- but a nice, calm trip with little danger was a luxury in the wasteland.

Soon enough, the blurred silhouette of the trading town was visible on the horizon (thank goodness for the flatness of Nevada). By Six's calculations, Primm was still around a good 4 hours away, which would mean they'd be arriving after the sun had already set. Reasonably, Six was rather unnerved by this. Traveling at night meant they were more susceptible to raider ambushes. Maybe they could hide in the car wrecks and use the darkness to conceal themselves better…or maybe-

"Hey Six?" Six felt Ruby tugging on her duster, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Hmm? What's up?"

"What are those towers over there?" Six looked to where Ruby was pointing. Off in the distance were a selection of 2 big rundown and broken towers, with a third one completely collapsed. Six looked at her pipboy, but no named location was there, so she racked her brain trying to remember what that place was.

Six remained quiet for a good minute before remembering something. "It's uh…I think it was a power station? Like a solar-powered one. If memory serves me right, the NCR cleaned the place dry for scrap and shit to repair Helios One. I doubt there's anything there worth taking."

"Oh okay! Cool…What's that solar power thing?" Ruby's eyes lighted with curiosity.

Six stared at Ruby for a handful of seconds. How does she not know what solar power is? Sure, it wasn't all that common before the war as far as Six knew, but most people had still heard of it… Did her world not have it? Another question for later, Six supposed. "Well, it's just as the name implies. It uses the sunlight to make energy."

"I mean, I understood that much. But how does it do that?" Six answer. Mostly because she herself had no fucking clue of how it worked. Okay, that wasn't entirely right, she had a basic idea of how solar panels worked (Arcade can go on and on and on about stuff when you ask him), but she didn't know the why of it.

"Uhhhh weellllll…you seee… It-" Six was started to trail off before a now familiar raspy voice interrupted the mailwoman.

"Solar panels, which are usually made from silicon or other semiconducting material, absorb light and capture it inside the panel. The atoms from the silicons cells, once exposed to the photons that are inside' light, release electrons which then flow inside a current powering whatever needs to be powered." Six and Ruby stared, completely flabbergasted, at the ghoul who didn't even bother to look back at them, eyeing the group's surroundings instead with her M16 in hand.

Ruby's look of curiosity remained, although now it was sprinkled with a few metric tons of confusion. "I understood, like, nothing of what you just said. Also, how do you …know that?"

The ghoul glanced over her shoulder, eyeing the young teen with a cold stare. "You callin' me dumb?"

Ruby immediately shrunk, waving her hands at Betty. "Nonononono I didn't mean anything like that Ijustthoughtitwasweirdbecauseyou-"

Betty, however, began to chuckle as Ruby went on her little rant. "Is she always like this?" Betty asked Six, still chuckling.

"How should I know?" Six shrugged. "I've known her for the entire duration of a day… But seriously, how the fuck do you know that? You strike me more as the military type than the intellectual."

"Fair enough." Betty shrugged. "I was majoring in physics before I got drafted and sent to Alaska."

"You're pre-war?" Six asked, to which Betty responded with a nod. It wasn't exactly a jaw dropping revelation, but finding out you're talking to a 200+ year old person is always surprising. "You said you served in Alaska? That was the Chinese invasion thing right?"

"Yup. I was actually drafted into the paratroopers. Sargent Elizabeth Meyers, 101st Airborne division, 2nd brigade combat team, 1st battalion, A Company." Six saw a smile creep up on the corner of Betty's lips as she whispered something Six couldn't quite catch. "Doc over there is also pre-war, ain't that right Rotson?"

The old ghoul doctor nodded. "That's right. LA, born and raised."

"Did you also fight in the war?" Two centuries-old ghouls in a day. That oughta be a new record for Six.

"Oh God no. I wasn't drafted, since I worked at a hospital in Los Ang-er…What is it you guys call it now?" Rotson rubbed his chin. "The Boneyard? Yeah, something like that."

Six mulled this new revelation, letting the wind and the rustling of the carcasses of cars fill the silence. However, something didn't quite add up to Six. "How did you survive Rotson? I'm sorry if this is a touchy subject but, as far as I know, LA was nuked to kingdom-come."

Rotson waved dismissively at Six. "It's alright. It's been two centuries anyway. I wasn't in LA when the bombs hit. I was actually coming from Sacramento. I had a work thing there and, well, that spared me. I wasn't that far from Sacramento, or Sac-City as you call it now, and ended up getting soaked in radiation. Not enough to kill me, but enough to have me puke my guts out and turn me into the apocalypse version of a zombie. But y'know, as they say, it is what it is." The doctor shrugged.

Six listened attentively as the bicentenarian doctor relayed his story. It was obvious he was omitting some parts, but Six didn't quite care. Besides, she couldn't exactly judge him. Six's gaze wandered from the sky, to the Mojave's sands, to the wrecks, finally resting on Ruby. The girl had picked up her pace and was now in front of her, listening to Betty as she explained the basics of atomic theory and solar energy to the bundle of hyperactivity. Ruby was a weird case to Six, not minding the other world crap, she was too…pure. Yeah. That's the word Six was searching for. Pure.

Pure and naive, the kind that will always believe in the best of people. Six knew the type all too well…they were usually the first to die and break. Six had no obligation to stay with Ruby, the only reason she was here in the first place was due to some moral compass that rarely worked, keyword: rarely. She only needed to get to Vegas and dump her with the Followers. That's the right thing to do–no, the smart thing to do. What would she even do with an annoying 13-year-old? Kids shouldn't fight, and all Six does at the end of the day is fight and kill things. So why, why in the actual fuck, was she feeling a pit forming inside her stomach? She didn't care about the kid, in fact she just wanted to get rid of her. A day with her was a day too much. Could it be that…No, that was dumb. Why would she not want Ruby to get her innocence shattered? It happens to everyone, so why should she be any different?

The Courier saw they were passing by the Nipton Highway Patrol station. "Good we're close to Primm. I can finally go get a fucking drink." She thought to herself.

Six suddenly felt an itch on her left wrist. There wasn't a rash or anything of the sorts there, Six knew that. Just a phantom itch from something that doesn't matter, so don't think about it. Don't think about–

BANG

The stattaco report of a .308 caliber bullet rings out, followed milliseconds later by it grazing Six's helmet. She instinctively rolled to the side, finding cover behind a car carcass as the hail of bullets streamed from the station. Looking to the side, she saw the rest of her companions had done the same. Six took a glance at the origin of the bullets. She could detect at least 5 distinct barrels popping out from the windows, with 2 more people shooting from the roof. Drawing That Gun, Six shot a look at Betty. "You take the ones on the roof, I'll deal with the ones inside." She shouted, getting a nod from the veteran. "Ruby you-" Before she could finish a trail of petals breezed past her, tracking its origin, Six saw in disbelief as a red blob zoomed through the air before reaching the roof of the building and taking the shape of…RUBY?! AND WAS THAT A GIANT SCYTHE?! "You have to be kidding me." Six muttered before vaulting over the car. Six ran through the wave of bullets, some shots hit the armor and bounced off while others either pierced through or hit where she had no protection. She really did not want to do things this way. Running head first into a gun nest was a sure way of getting yourself killed. But SOMEONE decided to FLY head first into another gun nest! Six had to finish this, and do it fast.

Six crashed through the double doors of the station's main entrance, the nearest raider didn't even have time to react as a 5.56x45mm NATO round gave him a third eye as Six fell to the floor. Using her momentum, Six rolled and got back up, quickly unloading another two rounds on the next raider's chest, not outright killing her but decommissioning her from the fight. Feeling a presence behind her, Six turned around and with only a millisecond to spend, she raised her arms up to block (or at least reduce the impact) of a sledgehammer. The hit from the sledgehammer sent her flying over the reception table, knocking down the terminal that sat on it. She rolled over to the side, narrowly avoiding another impact from the sledgehammer. The raider swung for another attack but was stopped midway through with a bullet piercing his eye and collapsed to the floor. Six steeled herself, got back up and leaned (more like crashed) on the wall next to the door that led deeper into the station. Reaching into a pocket, she pulled out a stimpack and stabbed it in her shoulder before opening the door, making sure she was still covered by the wall. And good thing she did that because as soon as the door opened, a rainfall of bullets rang through the hallway.

Six fished through her pouches and out a frag grenade. She took a deep breath and pulled the pin, flicking the clasp away in one smooth motion.

1

2

She threw the grenade into the hallway. "GRENA–" The raider was interrupted by an explosion and screams followed after. Six slid inside the hallway and saw the walls painted red with gore and viscera of what used to be a raider. From her position she saw a raider lying down on the cell room at the end of the corridor, not wasting any time, she unloaded the final round on the raider. The mechanical cylinder of the pistol popped out as Six stepped behind a wall and reached to her pocket to slide in a new clip of ammo. With the small click and green light from the gun, Six popped back up from cover and entered the cell room which was…empty. Minus the two corpses the room was just as empty as last time Six had come through here and cleaned the place dry of any valuab–Wait a second…2 corpses? But she only shot–She whipped on her heel only to be tackled to the ground by a very much alive raider.

"I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU, YOU BITCH!" the raider leader yelled, bringing a knife down to stab at Six's eyes (or rather at the lenses of the helmet). Six cocked her head to the side, making the knife miss Six by an inch, and threw a hook at the raider, followed by a headbutt. The raider took a couple steps back, staggered, giving Six enough time to get up and raising her fists. "THIS HOW YOU WANNA GO, HUH RANGER? I'M GONNA GUT YOU LIKE A F–" The head of the raider burst open, spraying her brains all over the floor and Six. At the entrance to the room, the smoke from Betty's M16 dissipated.

"I had her." Six complained, picking up That Gun from the floor and wiping the blood from her visor.

"Of course you did." Betty rolled her eyes, lowering her rifle.

"How's the kid?" Six asked.

"Why don't you see for yourself?" Betty motioned for Six to follow her outside.

Ruby was ecstatic. She was finally able to kick some bad guy butt and be a hero, just like her mom! She could hear Six shouting something from behind the cars as she used her semblance to get to the building's roof, but it didn't matter. This was Ruby's element! Sure she had never actually fought a real bad guy, but she'd sparred with her classmates back at Signal. How hard could this be? As Ruby landed on the roof, Crescent Rose undid itself, turning into its scythe form and she struck the closest bad-guy with the blunt end of the scythe, sending him flying back.

"Surrender evil doers! Because Huntress-in-training Ruby Rose is gonna kick your butts!" Ruby pointed Crescent Rose at the other bad-guy whose attention was now fully on Ruby. "I always wanted to say that!" However, it was kinda weird how this bad guy was eyeing Ruby. It looked like he was scared? I mean, he was all wide-eyed and took a few steps back. Maybe he's just taken aback by Ruby's coolness?! That'd be so awesome.

"I-I dunno what kinda chems you're on. I-It doesn't matter, yeah! EAT LEAD BITCH!" The bad guy raised his SMG at the huntress-in-training and began unloading its entire magazine on her. Unfortunately for him, Ruby spun Crescent Rose at an incredible speed, blocking most of the bullets.

"Huh, these bullets feel like they're hitting a lot harder…Eh, probably my imagination." Ruby thought, finishing spinning Crescent Rose now that the bad-guy was reloading. This was it. Using her semblance, she sped towards the bad-guy and swung her scythe at his hands. Getting rid of that gun was top priority. "OOOOHHH THIS IS SO COOL! I'M ACTUALLY HAVING A REAL FIGHT! I'm gonna be all pow and kablam and-"

Plop

An ear-piercing, painful scream rang out as Ruby starred in horror at the floor, where a severed hand lay holding an smg. Ruby froze as the bad-guy in front of her clasped his wrist, covering the giant slash that had cut his hand clean off and attempting to keep it from spewing too much blood. Blood. Oh no the blood. I-It's everywhere. It-It-It's squirting out. Nonononononononono, b-but his aura! He-he-It-It should've stopped the attack! Th-This isn't right! This isn't how it's supposed to go!

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU, YOU FUCKING MUTANT BITCH!" Ruby reacted just in time to turn around and use Crescent Rose to block a machete to the face from the other bad guy. His machete clashed with the metal handle of her scythe. This evil doer looked…different, somehow. Ruby could smell his stench, Brothers he smelled so horrible. Ruby was faltering, his eyes showed a combination of hate and sadism Ruby had never even dreamed of, and his scars and tattoos terrified her.

His machete was getting closer. He was getting close. He's too close. He's way too close. "GET AWAY FROM ME!" Ruby screamed, pulling the trigger on Crescent Rose and sending her flying to the side, due to the recoil her weapon had. What she didn't account for though, was the speed she was moving at…and the direction her blade was. It was almost as if time had once again slowed down for her. But this time she wasn't falling to her presumed death, this time she was witnessing as her scythe, her beloved baby, Crescent Rose, slowly separate a man's head from his body. She then collided with the concrete of the half broken road and reality went back to normal.

Ruby sat up and froze, her eyes widened in shock as the decapitated head of the man she just-just… the man she just hurt laid there in front of her with blood pouring out. She felt a tugging on her shoulder, but the voice was muffled and she couldn't focus on what it was saying. She could only stare at that head and those lifeless eyes. The young Huntress-in-training had just had her first real fight and she didn't feel good, she didn't feel proud. She felt horrible, she was scared, she was panicking, she...she could feel something coming up.

Her cheeks puffed out, she rolled to the side, and she threw up.

Six walked out of the station with Betty, stabbing a stimpack into her gut. As she stepped through the double doors of the building, she saw Ruby sitting down, hugging her knees and with her face hidden with Doc Rotson beside her, with a sad look on his face. Six's brief confusion was soon quelled by the large pool of blood and the severed head of a raider laying amidst it. Six sighed. This was exactly what she had predicted, a little girl experiencing the wasteland first hand. Still, for as hard and traumatic as taking a life for the first time is, they couldn't delay. The sun was already setting, turning the sky from its deep light blue to a deep orange. Soon, the moon would rise and they'd be exposed to more dangers.

Six walked up to Ruby, and Rotson and bent a knee to be on the same level as the girl who couldn't stop shaking. Six remained quiet, waiting for Ruby to start the conversation. While they did need to hurry, Ruby was still in shock and needed to calm down a bit before moving again. "I-I d-didn't mean to." Ruby said quietly, in between sobs.

"I know. But that's just how things are, Ruby. We kill them or they kill us."

"How can you just say that!" Ruby shouted. "They are people too! A-And killing people is–" Ruby raised her head to finally look at Six but she froze. Six saw how Ruby's pupils dilated and stared horrified at the mailwoman. Six reckoned it was the stupid amount of blood that was dripping from her duster and helmet, she had made a real Bloody Mess inside the station. "Y-You k-killed them." Ruby managed to stutter.

"They're– they were raiders Ruby. Murderers, rapists, thieves. They won't ever show you mercy, so you never show them it either." Six sighed once again. "Listen, we need to go. The sun's setting and the more we delay the more dangerous it'll get." Six's tone wasn't harsh, but her words left no room for discussion. "I can understand what you're feeling right now, but as much as I might sound like an asshole right now, we can't sort out feelings here. Right Doc?"

The ghoul gave a sad nod. "Six is right, little Ruby. Walking the roads at night is far too dangerous."

Ruby didn't respond for a moment, but eventually she stood up and gave a quiet, mumbled 'ok' before walking off, away from everyone. Rotson, Betty and Six did a quick search of the bodies, taking anything useful like extra ammunition and the guns that looked to be in the best condition, while Ruby watched them from the road with an uncomfortable look. But that didn't matter- at least, not to Six and the Ghouls. Quickly enough, the group took off, they'd reach Primm soon enough.

Oh yeah the trauma begins. Say what you will, but Ruby would not have a reason to think people don't have an aura on Earth without anyone explicitly telling her. I rewatched some of ruby's combat scenes and BOI would that shit instantly kill a person.

Also, fuck algebra, fuck geometry and fuck calculus