Six's Geiger counter immediately started ticking once inside the bunker. Not a lot of rads, but enough to start causing issues if they are here for too long. "Let's do this quickly and get the hell out of here."

Ruby wordlessly nodded before she drew Lucky and her knife.

Six couldn't help but smile slightly under her helmet as she drew Dinner Bell. Ruby had grown a lot in the past month, more so than she expected if she had to be honest. Ruby was by no means a professional, but she acted a lot more carefully now, didn't flaunt her abilities too much, and, well, she wasn't as naive. The refusal to kill though, that was still something she needed to work on. Six understood her adversity to kill, but in the wasteland it's kill or be killed, and there was no other way.

The two slowly rounded a corner and reached a bigger room, where on a corner was a big console, with an even bigger monitor. A monitor displaying the person Six least wanted to talk to right now.

"Look who's finally decided to do her job. It only took you over a month to get inside the fort. I think that's a new record." Mr. House said sarcastically.

"I don't think being captured by the Legion counts as sneaking inside the fort, House." Six replied with obvious annoyance.

"W-Wait. House? As in Mr. House? That's Mr. House?" Ruby pointed at the computer, somewhat perplexed.

"Ah, you must be Ms. Rose. Our meeting has been a long time coming, Ms. Rose, though I'd have preferred it to be on the Lucky Thirty-Eight. All in due time."

"How are you here, House?"

"Isn't it obvious? I built this place. It's obvious it'd have a connection here from the tower." He said matter-of-factly. "Now, I want you to manually insert the data on the chip to the facility's primary computer. There's a terminal for it at the other end of the bunker.

"But hum, Mr. House, sir, Caesar is kind of making us destroy this place." Ruby awkwardly interjected.

"Was that meant to be a shocking revelation? Of course, he wants this place to be destroyed. Caesar's afraid of what this bunker may hold, and rightly so. The sheer noise and rumbling coming from the facility after you upload the program will be more than enough to make Caesar believe you've destroyed it. Any more questions with obvious answers?"

Six and Ruby stayed quiet.

"Perfect. There are some complications though. While I can broadcast to this screen, I can't control any of the facility's systems. That means I can't deactivate its security bots…most of which seem to be online."

Six groaned. "Of course. Because nothing can ever be easy. I'll upload the damn data."

"As you should. I will be eagerly awaiting your return. Make sure you don't die." Not a second later, the screen went black.

"Is House always this… uhhh…"

"Annoying? Narcissistic? Condescending? Arrogant?"

"Uhh y-yeah. Pretty much."

"Then yes. All the time."

"Why do you work for him again?"

"He pays really well and gave me a suite in the most expensive neighborhood in the Mojave. Plus, if I had to choose between roman larpers and the taxman douchebags, I'll choose the asshole libertarian." Six opened the door that led to the rest facility and sighed. "Let's go turn some robots into scrap metal."

Six descended the corridor with Ruby right behind her, right as she was turned where the corridor curved to a large chamber with a row of windows on either side. Inside the chamber laid at minimum half-a-dozen military grade Protectrons and Mark VI Turrets on the far end of the room. Six ducked back around the corner before a barrage of lasers threatened turning her into ash.

"Hey, watch and learn." Six ran her hand through her grenade pouch and pulled out a pair of pulse grenades. She threw both inside the chamber and right after the beautiful explosive crackling of electricity, Six went in. Five loud bangs from her shotgun and five Protectrons fell. Problem was, she had to reload now, and there were still two turrets and a temporarily disabled protectron.

Before she could switch to a sidearm to deal with the remaining bots, a red blur flew past her and the protectron, heading right to the turrets. The blur of petals landed right between the turrets and turned back into Ruby, who threw her combat knife at the exposed circuitry of one of the turrets and quickly dumped all of Lucky's 6 bullets, disabling both turrets.

Ruby wordlessly walked up to the turret her knife was lodged in and pried it out. She then looked back at Six and pointed at the robot with the knife with a cheeky smile. "Left that one for you."

"Show off." Six rolled her eyes and shot the robot in its weak spot. "I thought I told you to not use your semblance." They excited the chamber and climbed up a new flight of stairs.

"Nonono." Ruby protested. "You said I couldn't use my semblance in front of people. Which I didn't."

"So I'm not people?" Six shot a lone protectron that had unfortunately come out of an adjacent room at a bad time.

"Yup."

"Wooooow. I'm hurt."

"Then you can go cry to Raul afterward." Ruby continued skipping along the corridor, while a flabbergasted Six looked at her go.

"I need to talk to Cass about the things she teaches you."

After a few more minutes of shooting robots, the two arrived at the main control panel for the facility. It looked a lot like the console on the weather station, down to the small slot the size of the platinum chip. Without a second thought, Six inserted the chip and…nothing happened.

"Sooooo…now what?" Ruby looked at Six expectantly.

"I dunno. I'm not a tech person."

Both looked back at the console. Then Ruby gave it a kick.

Not a second later, the whole facility started rumbling, loud mechanical whizzes and thumps, creaks and swirls, a thunderous orchestra of sounds. The window behind the console, that was once fogged, was now clear. And the Courier was left speechless by what she could see. Rows, upon rows, of Securitrons. Dozens, no, hundreds of the metallic wardens of the New Vegas Strip now powered up and upgraded with the software from the Platinum Chip.

"Woah…" Ruby pressed her face against the glass. "That's a lot of robots."

"Yeah." Six stayed quiet for a moment, watching through the glass as the vault's noise slowly died down. Then she turned to the door. "We should go. The quicker we get back home, the better."

As Six took a step towards the door, but Ruby walked in front of her. "We need to talk first."

Six tilted her head. "Can't it wait? We're kind of on the clock here."

Ruby furrowed her brow and put her hands on her hips. "No."

Six sighed. "Okay, what is it?"

Ruby's furrowed brow softened. "Why did you agree to fight? I-I-I mean, don't get me wrong! I'm all for helping those slaves - all slaves! B-But what you agreed to, that's something I would do. Something reckless that you would chew me out for after. Not something you'd do." Her eyebrows curved into a worried look. "So what brought this on?"

Six stayed quieter than usual and for longer too. What Ruby hated the most was not knowing what Six was thinking behind that stupid helmet. Eventually, the Courier spoke a quiet whisper. "It's stupid."

"What?"

"The reason, it's stupid."

Ruby pouted slightly and grabbed both of Six's hands. "I don't care if you think it's stupid. It's not to me."

Six sighed again, but this one sounded different. Like a smile was behind that sigh. Another silent moment passed before Six spoke once more. "Stella, the ranger. She, um, has the same name as my mother. And…and seeing her like that made me think about my mom. I know it's stupid and reckless and–"

Six was interrupted by Ruby hugging her tightly. "It's not stupid. You don't want her to go through what your mother had to endure." Ruby raised her head and looked straight in Six's eyes. "That's called having a heart."

"Who knew I had one of those?" Six and Ruby chuckled and broke off the hug.

"Alright! Let's go show Vulpes and Caesar who's boss and free those guys!"

"Took the words right out of my mouth."


Ruby and Six entered Caesar's tent for the second time that day. Like before, Vulpes stood on the left, Lucius on the right and Caesar relaxed in his throne.

"I felt the ground shake a while ago. I assume that means you got the job done?"

"Yes." The Courier responded dryly. "No more robot army for House. Happy?"

Caesar smirked. "There are rewards to doing as I command, Courier. Your reward today is that your friends gets to live, and you get to serve the Legion again."

Six rolled her eyes behind the helmet. "Yeah, yeah, but before that." She turned to Vulpes. "Me and him have a score to settle."

Caesar let out an annoyed sigh. "Yes, yes. I was made aware of your little…wager, and I have given my blessing."

"Which I once again thank you deeply, my lord." Vulpes interjected, not taking his eyes off of Six.

"Alright. You go see the Arena Master and get this fight over with. Win or die, I want this thing done quickly. I have more important tasks that need completion and a war to manage." Caesar stood up and waved them off, retreating to his bedroom/war room with Lucius in tow.

Vulpes turned to Six, with his smile now absent from his face. "You heard His Lordship. Let's have you die quickly."

"You know," Six took a step closer to Vulpes. "We could solve this a lot faster if you weren't such a coward and stepped inside the ring with me, Vulpes."

"Coward? Me? Ha! Don't make me laugh. You're the one that wanted this in the first place. Besides, knowing that me being alive allows me to better serve the Legion doesn't make me a coward. It makes me a useful asset. Unlike you. I can find dozens of people like you. But the Imperator insists that you're special." He sneered. "Well, we'll find out soon enough if you're more than an old hag with anger issues."

Six clicked her tongue and turned her back on Vulpes as she and Ruby left Caesar's tent and made their way to the arena further down the camp.

Fortification Hill had a couple dozen arenas and small fighting pits scattered around its lower levels to keep the rabble and lower ranked legionnaires entertained. The palisade atop the hill only had one. And of course, was the more lavish one -if one could call it lavish. The arena was, in all truth, a large circle surrounded by scrap walls. Situated right below the top of the hill where the Imperator's tent laid so that he might have a better view of the fights below, the other camp inhabitants sat in wooden stands that surrounded the walls. On each opposing side- east and west- was a building, more of a shack really, from where each gladiator could enter the arena and face off in deadly combat.

Leaning on one of the support pillars to one of the grandstands was the Arena Master, evident by his different armor. "You must be the woman that's going to be fighting." The man couldn't, or simply wouldn't, hide the disdain of Six in his voice. "I'm Otho, the Arena Master. As the title implies, I organize the fights such as your own. Now, as to why His Lordship would allow a woman to defile my arena is beyond me. But alas, I am but a mere servant to my Caesar's will. You ready for the fight?"

Six cracked her knuckles. "Ready as I'll ever be."

"Fantastic." Otho said enthusiastically. "You go through the West entrance. There you'll remove the armor and weapons on your person. You agreed to fight with no equipment, so you will go into the arena with the bare minimum. Is that understood?"

"Yes." Six nodded.

"Great. Now get out of my sight." Otho annoyingly waved them off. Like the simple act of talking to the Courier for more than thirty seconds was a great sacrifice that required a Herculean effort.

Six shrugged at the man's blatant misogyny and started making her way to the shack. Though, when Ruby tried to follow, Otho raised his arm to stop.

"Not you. For some reason, Lord Vulpes insisted that you view the fight from the best seats in the camp." He gestured to the small outcropping at the top of the hill, where a couple slaves were setting chairs and tables for Caesar and his inner circle.

"W-Why?" Ruby question, with a slight hint of fear.

Otho shrugged. "Just do as you're told, girl."

Ruby and Six exchanged a look. Both positively disliked the idea, to put it mildly. But there was little they could do about it, so they had to relent.

Six put a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Be careful."

"Aren't you the one that's going to fight in a deadly arena?" Ruby smirked. "I'll be careful."

Six nodded and the two separated. Ruby walked back up the hill and Six entered the shack.

The shack in itself was nothing too impressive. Just a medium-ish -more on the smaller end of medium- building with a couple chairs, a table and a plethora of machetes, hatchets, spears and assorted weapons on stands for the gladiator to choose from. All in all, it's a pretty boring building. What was not boring was that Stella, of all people was sitting on one of those aforementioned chairs inspecting one of the machetes in her hands.

"You took your sweet time getting here." Said the younger woman.

"How the hell did you get in here?"

"Well-" she put the machete on the table and looked at Six. Showing that she now had a black eye. "I asked one of the guards to talk to you before the fight. So I took a punch to the face and a kick in the gut for even daring to talk to him." She responded nonchalantly. "But knowing who that specific guard was, I knew he wasn't going to drag me back to my pen before his little lunch break was over. So I dragged myself in here when no one was looking."

"Don't you have a broken leg?"

"I've had a broken leg for the past three weeks. Besides, it's not like the bone shattered in half."

Six looked the woman up and down. She knew for a fact rangers were tough, but Stella didn't look like the 'I'm going to endure a beating just to talk to you' type of tough. She took off her helmet, hucking it on a table before dragging a chair in front of Stella.

"Okay, you have my attention. What is so important to talk about that you felt the need to do all this?"

"For starters, I think I'm entitled to a why."

"That's not im—"

"The hell it is!" The Ranger shouted. She tried standing up but ended up putting too much weight on her bad leg and the pain forced her to sit back down. "I've been here for months. The things I–The way he–..." She clenched her fists and her good leg wouldn't stop shaking. "I gave up hope a long time ago. So for some random woman to j-just swoop in and-and say they're going to save me? I–..." She took a deep and shaky breath. "I'm not dumb. I can see that you're here against your will. I take it they're threatening to kill the kid?" Six nodded. "Yeah, I figured. I just need you to tell me why. Why are you risking your life, your kid's, for me?!" Small droplets of tears started falling from the corners of her eyes. "I don't know you, you don't know me! I-I've been trying to come up with a reason for hours as to why you'd do this. And I can't think of anything! I can't…" Stella leaned in and pressed her clasped hands against her forehead. She was shaking, her breaths were short and quick, she wouldn't stop shaking.

Six's gaze softened. "You're scared. You're terrified that, somehow, you're going to end up in a worse place. Even though that, logically, that doesn't make sense, you can't stop believing that. 'Why me?' 'Why not someone else?' You can't stop thinking that as well, can you?" Stella meekly shook her head.

Six stood up and took off her trench coat. She carefully wrapped it around Stella who grabbed it tightly. Six then started unclasping her armor. "You're afraid that this is just chance. You're afraid that you happened to be at the right place at the right time." Her upper armor was now all removed, only leaving her long sleeved shirt. "But most importantly, you're terrified that you don't deserve to be saved." She got down on one knee in front of Stella. "Is that right?"

Stella held the trench coat tighter. She was clenching her teeth together so hard it hurt, and her face contorted to hold back tears. She was a ranger. The rangers didn't cry, they didn't break. They were meant to be strong. Her mouth opened and closed many times, but she never said anything. A minute flew by before she could shakily utter a couple words.

"H-How d-do you know this?"

"I–..." Six's gaze drifted, and her left wrist started to itch. Her head was screaming at her to not do this, that it was just going to open an unnecessary can of worms.

Six took a deep breath, and pulled up her left sleeve. On her left wrist was a tattoo, a series of numbers followed by three letters.

050238BON

"W-What does that mean?"

"...fifth of February, twenty-two, thirty-eight. Batch B. Oh negative. That's the date I was born in, batch and blood type."

"I-I don't understand."

Six sighed. "Have you ever heard of Desmond Carmine?"

"He was one of the big shot slave traders in Nevada, wasn't he? A complete psycho from what I heard."

"Well, that, and he was obsessed with having every detail written down."

Stella's widened, the realization hitting her like a train. "You…"

"Yeah." Six stood up and broke their eye contact once more. "I was ten. When I was freed." She paused. "You asked earlier why I started this. It's a selfish reason. The truth is, you have my mother's name and the way you held that kid, the way you were more concerned about her than yourself. You reminded me of her. It's silly really. And very much reckless. But I suppose the brat's been rubbing off on me." She quietly chuckled.

Six walked up to the door leading to the arena and pulled up both her sleeves to her elbows. Stella couldn't see it quite well, but it looked like Six had other tattoos on her arms, the ends of them barely covered by the pulled sleeves. Just before going out, she turned to the ranger again, giving her a three-fingered wave with her right hand.

Stella's eyes widened, and her jaw dropped slightly, seeing her right wrist. Because there was also a tattoo, a tattoo that was the complete opposite in meaning for the one on the left wrist. A seven of spades and a two of diamonds held by a skeleton hand.

"You're one of them…" She whispered

"Just hang tight ranger. You'll be outta here in no time."


To say Ruby was nervous, right now, was an understatement. She, in fact, was positively freaking out. Why? Sitting on her right was Vulpes, on his right was freaking Caesar. Not to mention an entire arena's worth of legionnaires in the stands, who were most definitely not giving her good stares.

Those stares shifted once Six finally entered the arena. Most watchers on the stands booed the Courier, who was very unarmed and very unarmored.

"You got this Six." Ruby murmured.

"I wouldn't be so certain, child." The blonde menace oozed with confidence as a small venomous grin grew on his face.

"Legionaires, Decani and Centurions, I bid you welcome to my arena." Otho's voice boomed from the small stage that was erected in the middle of the stands. "Today we have a fight organized by Lord Vulpes Inculta, and has received the blessing of none other than our Imperator Caesar. All for ownership of three slaves. On the West Gate we have the challenger, whose name has become common to the Legion ear and guest of the Imperator, Courier Six!"

The crowd thundered with boos and shouts of other unsavory words and messages. Six didn't appear bothered by any of it.

"And on the East Gate, hailing from the Rocky Mountains, he is a warrior that has dominated every fighting arena from Red Sun City to Flagstaff! He who at the tender age of twenty had the honor of being elevated to Skinwalker, the most elite soldier of his tribe! A beast in and out of the arena, Skinwalker of the Navajo, I give you Bidziil!"

The East Gate swung open and the crowd erupted into excited cheers. Out of it came a tall, well-built man, probably around his late twenties, draped in leather armor and pelts. He had black hair that reached his shoulders and a face adorned with scars and facial paints. But the thing both Six and Ruby ended up noticing first, was that Bidziil was holding a tomahawk in each hand.

Six cursed under her breath and raised her arms to her face, slightly bending her knees and turning her waist more towards the stands, assuming a common boxing position. Bidziil assumed his own stance with slightly bent knees and one arm stretched while the other was slightly flexed.

"Gladiators…FIGHT!" The bell rang and the fight started.

Bidziil lunged at Six with a quick series of slashes that Six was barely able to dodge. Six tried to counter with a couple punches of her own, but the nifty thing about tomahawks is that an experienced fighter could use its head to hook their opponent's arms and control the flow of the fight. And Bidziil was no novice. So despite Six having a pretty mean punch, it wouldn't matter if none of them hit.

To her credit, Six was also not getting hit as much being able to dodge or block most of Bidziil's strikes but every time she tried to strike, her opponent had been able to use it to his advantage and ended up hitting her with a couple shallow cuts. It wasn't anything life-threatening, but Six wasn't about to have a death by a thousand cuts.

Fighting the Navajo was tricky, something Six did not have much experience with these guys, ever only hearing retellings. But from what she'd heard combined to the whooping she was getting, Six had ascertained that these Skinwalkers relied on their speed and countering their opponent. And from the way he was reacting to Six's attacks, he'd fought some praetorians in the past, or at least some people who fought like boxers. In short, he was really fucking annoying to fight.

Okay, this isn't working. Let's see how you handle this.

Six blocked Bidziil's strike by putting her forearm right under the tomahawk's head and followed with a quick jab to his chest. Not something that would hurt that much outright, but allowed Six to take a step back. Six dragged her right foot back and visibly leaned more on it, essentially signaling to any fighter that she was going to attack and leaving her very much open. Seeing this opening, Bidziil lunged at her, hoping to finally end this duel. But as the pointed edge of his tomahawks were about to nail into Six's neck she started falling. In a span of a second, she'd transferred her strength to her left foot to control her fall. And was now too distracted to react to her right foot that came crashing to his side, knocking off his balance, allowing Six to grab him and pull him down with her and use her momentum to turn them around.

As soon as they hit the ground, it was over.

Six's knee fell on his chest, hearing a loud crack as a result and making him drop the tomahawks. Then Six went to town on the Navajo Skinwalker. Pummeling him with her fists non-stop until his body stopped reacting to them. She groggily stood up and admired the Bloody Mess she'd made of his face. But just to make sure the warrior was dead, she stomped on his neck, breaking the bone and positively ending this man's life.

The arena went quiet as all seeing a Skinwalker fall, to a woman no less. An old woman that by law of nature shouldn't be able to withstand such punishment, much less move that fast. To add salt to the injury, Six turned to the VIP area with a shit-eating grin and spread arms. Essentially saying, 'This is it?'

Caesar's inner circle were composed men, so that didn't get much of a reaction out of them besides a scowl. What did get a reaction out of them, and from Ruby, was baffled looks as the small cuts he had on her arms and legs slowly began to heal and disappear.

"What the heck was that…" Ruby mumbled.

Vulpes appeared to have no answer to that as he tried to stammer out a response. Ruby couldn't help but smirk because of it. Caesar, on the other hand, after the second that took him to process this new development, had gone back to his cold, indifferent face and scratching his chin.

"Huh. So they did go forward with it." He mumbled.

"My Lord?" Lucius raised an eyebrow.

"Thirty years in the Boneyard, the Followers of the Apocalypse stumbled upon a pre-war medical facility. It housed a series of prototype cybernetic implants. Machines that doctors would put in people's bodies. There was talk at the time to try and finish these prototypes, get them past prototype phase, but it would require considerable time and resources. It seems the followers perfected this heretical technology." He gave Vulpes a side glance. "Most likely, these cybernetics cost a pretty cap. So it would appear our little Courier has more resources at her disposal than you were aware of, Vulpes."

Caesar leaned in on his seat, clasped his hands together, and smirked. "I believe these next fights are going to be very interesting."

"W-What do you mean fights? I-It was just the one!" Ruby protested.

"It, uh, it appears we have a winner…" Otho awkwardly announced. Gesturing the slaves that served as personnel to remove the corpse from the arena.

"I should have you crucified just for questioning me, child." Caesar threatened coldly. "She's fighting for each of the slaves. Three slaves, three fights. So, Vulpes, who do we have next?"

A slave walked up to Otho's podium and handed him a small note. The master read it quickly before recomposing himself and once again addressing the crowd. "Fear not, friends, because this was just the appetizer! Two more fights to the death await us, two fights to determine whether, the Courier shall receive the deed of ownership of these three slaves!"

Six scowled at Vulpes. She wasn't surprised that the frumentarius would pull something like this, but she was still angry nonetheless.

"And now, for our second fighter. Hailing from the birthplace of the Legion, this man has known nothing but service to the Mighty Caesar his entire life. This man has proven time and time again to be the very best warrior of his Cohort. Winner of uncountable duels. Veteran of the Battle of Phoenix. Hero in the Sonoran Wars of Pacification. Herald of Civilisation to Mexican barbarians and current Governor of the City of Ten Signs. I present to you: Centurion of the Seventh Cohort, Tulius Agustus!"

The arena boomed with even louder cheers than before as a man completely clad in a bronze breastplate and Legion combat armor stepped inside the arena. Wielding a gladius, he circled around Six, always turned to the spectators as he galavanted and riled up the audience, making them even more excited. When he deemed the audience excited enough, he finally turned to Six.

The man lacked a beard, but was by no means young. Around late mid-thirties if Six had to guess. "So you are the Profligate that's caused such a stir. Can't say I'm impressed."

Six sighed, she'd much rather skip to the fight already. "Listen, are you gonna monologue? Because I ain't got the patience to kill you and hear some stupid misogynistic monologue about 'woman bad'. So, can we just skip to the part where I kill you?"

The centurion sneered. Probably because his entire plan had just been called out and spat on by Six. "I'm to put your head on a spike after I kill you for everyone to see." Six didn't respond, merely assumed the boxing position she'd taken prior. The centurion also assumed his combat, about ten feet from the Courier.

The master of the arena declared the fight to have started, and for the second time the Legion fighter attacked first, but in a way no one in the arena expected. He threw his gladius at Six. Of course, it didn't hit her, all it took was her leaning to the side to dodge the flying blade. But as the machete whizzed past her, Tulius had already closed the distance and hit her with a right hook Six was barely able to block.

He followed it with a series of jabs and hooks, three actually managed to hit Six. A right hook on the side of her, and two mean jabs in the gut. Regardless of whether his strikes hit or not, Six was starting to inch ever closer to the walls. Tulius threw a hook, but it ended up being too wide and Six was able to duck and score a good uppercut on the centurion's head. Or rather, it would've been a good uppercut if the man wasn't wearing a goddamn metal helmet that covered his chin!

I can't get a fucking good hit on this guy! God-fucking-damned armor. Six seethed.

Seeing the opening that had just now been created, the Centurion scored another hit on the side of Six's head, which finally knocked her to the floor.

The crowd erupted in cheers as the Courier finally fell on the floor for the first time. The Centurion didn't stop there and kept kicking Six, who was barely able to keep her guard up.

"SIX!" Ruby shot up from her seat with terror in her silver eyes.

Vulpes chuckled at the girl. "Your friend won't win in a contest of boxing with Centurion Tulius. That man fought the top Luchadores of Sonora and lived to tell the tale. The only other man in the entire Legion to have survived against the fury of El Santo's punches and won was Legate Lanius himself. So tell me, girl, still confident now?" The Fox showed his venomous smile at the teenager, who couldn't do anything but sit back down.

"I-I know Six will win. She always does." Her brow stiffened as she focused back on the match. Come on Six. You turn this around.

Six was not in a good spot at all. Tulius could easily finish her off if he grabbed his gladius. But he wouldn't, he wanted to rake in all the glory he could get by humiliated her. So he'd just pummel her until he got bored.

Think Six. THINK! You can only hit him on his face, but he comes off too fast to get a good opening.

"You're too tense, you dumb child!" The voice of an annoying old man rang out in Six's thoughts. "You have to be fluid, like water. Use your opponent's strength to their detriment. If you can't take his punch, then use it!"

You have a point, you annoying old geezer. But first, I need to get him off me.

When Tulius' blows finally slowed, Six wasted no time in grabbing a handful of dirt from the ground and throwing it at his face. The Centurion staggered back, and Six was able to shakily get back on her feet.

"You bitch!" The centurion growled. But stopped for a second before engaging again. Six had changed her stance again. With one arm half-stretched out and the other flexed at a 90-degree angle by her waist. By the looks of it, he was unfamiliar with this stance. But that seemed to not deter him as he rushed in for a strike nonetheless.

What he probably didn't expect, was for his straight punch dodged, no, redirected. Six used her stretched out arm to catch the punch and redirected it. Not only that, but while her body turned, she used the elbow from the same arm to score a hit right in the bridge of Tulius' nose. This process continued for the next few attacks. With Tulius not managing to hit a single punch in while Six kept scoring hit after hit on the hardened Centurion's face.

"You…" The man growled. "What in Oblivion is that?!"

"What's what?" She smirked

The Centurion let out an enraged scream and rushed the Courier, finally grabbing his machete once more. Enough was enough, and it was time to kill this Mars-damned profligate woman! The following moment, he was looking at the sky and then fell on his back.

The Courier had used his momentum to sweep his footing and spin him around. The Courier towered over him now, blood dripping from an open cut in her forehead, and with his machete in hand.

He couldn't move. Why couldn't he move? H-He couldn't be scared of her… He couldn't be scared of a woman! "Who are you…"

Six lowered the machete and brushed it against his exposed neck. "Water." And slid it open.

This time, the crowd was too stunned to boo the Courier. All just wordlessly stared at the Courier as she had just killed one of the best fighters in the Legion.

"Are you not entertained!?" Six shouted, still holding onto the bloodied machete. "Is this not why you're here?"

She turned to the high stands and her battered and bloodied face met Vulpes'. The master of the Frumentarii was a calm and collected man, sure he had his moments of rage, especially this past day. But now, now he looked like he was going to pop a vein.

"Can't win, huh?" Ruby side eyed Vulpes with a smug in her lips as Otho announced the winner of the fight.

The Frumentarii gritted his teeth and snuck a glance at Caesar. He hadn't said anything, but he had a bemused expression.

No, nonono! This is bad! He thought. He motioned for one of the stand guards to approach him.

"Tell the handler the last opponent has changed. The woman's fighting the Beast."

The guard looked stunned, even Caesar broke his gaze off the Courier to look at Vulpes curiously. "A-Are you sure, Lord Vulpes?"

"Do not question me. Do it." The guard nodded and ran off down the hill.

"What was that all about?" Ruby narrowed her eyes.

"You'll see soon enough." Vulpes didn't grin or smile this time. He just leaned in on his seat and tapped his foot. In his mind he prayed, prayed to Mars, Diana, Vulkan, all gods in the Pantheon to give him this one victory.

You're fine. She can't possibly beat this. Even a super mutant would have a hard time dealing with It.

Six walked back to her corner of the arena. Just one more. She kept telling herself. Just one more and it's over. She wasn't at her best condition, that Centurion had done a number on her. But she'd been worse. At maximum, she may have cracked a rib, but it didn't hurt a lot now. That'd be a problem for future her.

"It seems there has been a change of fighters!" Otho announced, reading from a piece of paper.

He looked…distressed? Nah, that couldn't be right. Why would he be like that?

"Since days before Mars cleansed the world, It has been here. Terrorising and feasting upon the unfortunate souls that It meets. It is a monster without equal, and without losses. Taking thirty of the strongest trappers to capture it, it has ravaged all arenas it was set loose on. Welcome, brothers, the living monster, the Mongollon!"

The ground shuddered, for what it seemed like small rumbles that occur before an earthquake. It was faint at first, but it got louder and closer with each rumble. The clinking and clanking of chains echoed from behind the East Gate. No sound came from the arena or stands, not even a small insect would dare make a noise.

Six brought her guard up, with Tulius' machete in hand. The anticipation was killing her, honestly. What the heck was behind that door?

The gate finally creaked open and from out of it came a hulking, towering shadow accompanied by a troupe of Legionnaires dragging it with chains. It walked on two-legs, with a silhouette akin to those ape-animals Six saw in a magazine once. But instead of some dark and light browns, this Thing was as covered in fur as black as the void, and it stood as tall as a super-mutant. Across its body there was bone-like armor and even though they looked worn, still looked sturdy. On each of its oversized muscular hands has claws the size of deathclaw teeth, and spikes grew from its elbows. Yet, the most terrifying of all was its face. Even though the void-coloured fur covered most of it, the edges of bone-white plates could be seen and in the middle of them, pupiless glowing crimson eyes.

Six took a step back, her guard even lowered slightly. What the fuck is that thing? What in the actual fuck am I looking at?

The Legionnaires looked at each other before in sync all dropping the chains that connected to a collar on the beast's neck and all bolting back beyond the gate.

Six couldn't help but feel a sense of dread. She couldn't explain why, but this…this thing didn't feel natural.

"Fear." The beast spoke in a slow, deep, ragged voice.

IT FUCKING TALKS?!

"You're feeling, fear." It continued, taking a step forward. Six took a step back. "You're strong. I can feel it. Well, strong for your kind. Hopefully you're entertaining." It took another step forward and Six another backwards.

Mongollon kept taking steps forward and Six more backwards. She didn't even realize she was so close to the wall already. The Courier just couldn't stop staring at that monster. Her heart was in her throat and her breaths were quick.

She didn't usually get this scared. No, she was fucking terrified. Her body kept screaming at her to run away, that she'd die. Could she even win th—

Her hair rose in the air as Mongollon took a long and loud sniff of her. When did it get so close?

"That smell… I haven't smelled that in so long." He took another whiff. "You're covered in it. It fills the air." Mongollon shifted its gaze across the stands, finally stopping at the seats next to Caesar, and looked directly at the teenage girl. "Ah. There you are. Aura." It drew out the word in an almost delighted tone. "I will delight in tearing you limb from limb. But first…"

She turned back to Six

"You. At least last a bit."

A sharp, crushing pain came from Six's side as Mongollon had hit her side with the strongest backhand she'd ever left in her entire life. And the moment later, she was flying across the arena before crashing against the walls with a loud crash.

Everything was blurry for a moment as the beast slowly approached again. And then everything went black.


Legion Pantheon - Although many outside the Legion the tribal army only worships one god -Mars- this is in fact not true. The populace worships a pantheon of deities with Mars at its center. Many of these deities were adapted from particularly fierce opponents of the Legion or sprouted from other needs.

This chapter was supposed to have been posted 2 weeks ago but uhhh I forgot to finish it :P Plus I went on vacation so it wasn't like I was gonna finish it then. Ready up kids because next chapter will be the finale of the arc! :D