Tip: Play the other Fallout games if you haven't already!


Six and Lucius[1] sat near Caesar in his tent. They'd been waiting for about three hours for him to awaken since Six removed the tumor from his brain. Eventually, Caesar's eyes slowly opened and he groggily awoke. After he sat up, Six had him do a few motor function tests from touching his nose, shoulders, knees, and toes in quick succession, then finishing with a cognitive test. Looking at the clipboard with recordings of all the tests Six gave the news. "Caesar, your recovery will go well. You will fully recover in six to twelve months but you can most certainly function as you are now. Here's a list of daily activities you should perform to help your recovery."

"I thank you for saving my life. You're a warrior and a healer and a healer - a rare combination. I trust this payment is adequate compensation for your troubles." Caesar then handed over ten Legion Aureus.

Six shook their head and held up a hand in rejection. "I want payment but not in the form of currency. I have critiques of your legion and would like you to consider them."

"I'll listen but I'd have to be convinced that future benefits outweigh the current."

"You'll use children against the enemy because you know they'll hesitate.[2] While true, eventually the NCR will have its soldiers adapt and begin shooting them. They'll prioritize their soldiers over yours. Don't send soldiers into action until they're eighteen. By then they'll have reached mental maturity, be in physical prime, and have a lifetime of training compared to whatever pathetic vacation the NCR calls boot camp."

"I've received reports that more and more NCR troops have begun firing upon children who they've confirmed to be working with a legionnaire. Very well, I'll make it so. Anything else?"

"I understand why you have slaves. However, your gender ratio is too skewed. Your slave masters kill off male slaves that are too old. Why kill them when they could be put to work like household chores or growing crops? Better yet, if they're in decent physical condition but can't serve the legion, make them do the heavy labor."

"True, that is wasted potential. I'll allow it but the moment they cannot work anymore, they're gone."

"Of course. The individual has no value beyond his utility to the state, whether as an instrument of war, or production. Right?"


Robert, his familiar, Sona Sitri and her peerage stood in the student council room, having recently returned from their trip to gather familiars. In the room stood the recently delivered ten crates packed full of books.

Sona turned to Saji and Yura "Please assist Robert in moving these boxes." The two agreed and helped Robert move them back to the hotel, finishing about half an hour before midnight.

Robert handed the two a soda he'd bought from a vending machine on the way. After they'd left Robert pulled out the Transportalponder, sending both of them and all the crates back to Big Mt.

Once they arrived Six saw the think tank examining the devil he'd killed when he first arrived in Kuoh and chuckled.

Oh right. It's been what? Twenty to thirty days? They finished making the large scale auto-doc a while ago.

At the far left side of the room, near the wall, stood an old steel stretcher with a body lying on it, covered by a thin sheet. Six walked up to it, removed the cover and it revealed the body of Dohnaseek. He had a long stitch going from his upper chest to slightly above his belly button, he was extremely thin, it appeared all his blood had been extracted, his skull had a long horizontal stitch that wrapped all the way around. No doubt his brain had been removed.

"Here's what I want you to do."

Some minutes later Dohnaseek walked into Raynare's room.

The room smelled terrible. The smell came from the bucket that most definitely had been used as a makeshift bathroom. Raynare was on the bed sleeping where he examined her. Her skin looked dry, she was overall thinner than last time, moving the bed sheet revealed her ribs were slightly visible from how malnourished she was. Dohnaseek gently woke her up.

"Dohnaseek? I assumed they killed you. What happened?"

"I was imprisoned like you are but managed to escape my room. I'm going to get you out of here."

"Good. For whatever reason I'm extremely calm and can't attack anyone. The second I'm out, I'm going to cut up and torture that damn human."

"Forget about him. We've got to get back to Kokabiel. Our mission is far more important." Dohnaseek then opened the door and the two began going towards the entrance.

"We're going to be punished for not killing Issei anyways. I might as well get back at that damn bitch for leaving me in there to starve. Once we're back in Kuoh i'm going to kill the first piece of shit human I see." Dohnaseek sighed at her decision. He could understand getting revenge for what Robert did. But killing some random human just to feel better?

"Raynare why keep this up? Why not just start hiding amongst the humans and live out your days?"

"Amongst those HAIRLESS MONKEYS?! Those PIGS in human clothing?! They're just cockroaches that need to be stomped on!"

When Raynare opened the door she was surprised to see Six on the other side of the door. "I told you. Even granted the opportunity to get off scot free she'd prioritize trying to torture me just for fun. She even thinks it's fine for her to kill some random human for sport. She doesn't deserve a second chance."

Raynare stepped back in surprise. "Quick, Dohnasee-" Dohnaseek then dragged her back further inside to prevent any possible escape. She looked back at him in shock.

"No…you're with him? Why?"

"So she can't tell them apart? Perfect."

The two dragged her to Dr Borous. "Ah, lobotomite. Hello." Raynare was shocked at the floating monitors that displayed a pair of eyes and mouth connected to a steel body that had a glass dome with a brain inside it.

"Wuh- what the hell are you?" She tried to struggle to break free but failed due to the pacification field keeping her calm and non-violent.

"I want you to learn everything you can about this thing's genome and tell me how different it is to a human's. I don't care if you kill her or not but try to keep her alive. I want to try an old world experiment the government did."

"Of course. 'Can't splice enough' as I always say. I'd like to see what this old world experiment is."

"Dohnaseek, help me strap her to the operating table." He nodded in response, helped Six strap her in, Six pulled out a needle from their duffle bag and injected her with midazolam.

Raynare slowly lost the strength to resist and she went into an extremely relaxed state. The last thing she saw was Dr Dala and Dr Borous hovering next to her from her sides before being injected with something and losing consciousness.

"What did you do with the humans I sent over?" "Ah, the strange fitted humans wearing hats?" Dr Dala asked. "We had their brains scrubbed and had them wait. Curious little creatures. They all dressed the same and held tightly onto a plus sign hanging from their neck."

I think I've heard or seen a similar symbol before.

Six briefly went upstairs and got an old pre-war book and a gift given to them. Then entered the room with the priests with the familiar waiting outside.

"Hello, I'm Robert House. Let me start off by apologizing for the way I treated you. I'm a neutral mercenary who was hired by Freed. I did my best to limit your injuries to both you and your allies but unfortunately, Freed killed them. You six are all that's left. I know you all have questions but first, do you recognize this?"

The oldest priest amongst them stepped forward. A man in his early forties. "It's a bible. A very worn out one at that." Six then pulled out a cross necklace made out of stainless steel. "What about this?" "A cross." The priest answered, confused at odd questions. "Sir, thank you for helping us but where are we and what are your intentions?"

"We're currently in a specialized hospital. You were all injured during the fight and will be here for a few days. If you remember, Freed fought with a holy sword. The doctors want to check you guys for everything. There's a rumor that Freed may have somehow tampered with the holy sword. The hospital is pretty full but soon you'll all be moved to your own separate rooms. I'll go speak with the doctor to get an update." Six then left the room, locking it behind him, and went back upstairs to fetch something.

Six handed the familiar Dr Mobuis's scrubs, gloves, a disposable mask, surgical cap, and a clipboard. Then handed over a photo of Dr Dala back when she was human. "Transform into her, go inside, do a cheek swab, inject this syringe into their upper arm, draw the blood into it, then inject this into the same upper arm, after ten minutes take two into two separate rooms and ask one of them these questions i've written down." The familiar did as instructed and roughly fifteen minutes later a dazed, super relaxed, susceptible priest was taken to the next door room.

Six sat in front of the priest wearing Dr Klein's Scrubs, gloves, surgical cap, white disposable mask, and glasses to sell the look of being someone different.

"Please, sit down on the bed. Let's start off easy. Tell me your name." "Francesco Eduardo Esposito" "Age?" "Thirty nine" "Occupation?" "Priest and Senior Exorcist." "Any relatives?" "I have a brother at the Vatican but I have no children and my parents passed away peacefully a few years ago."

Vatican? Is that a camp, HQ, safehouse or something?

"Do you know anybody by the name of Joshua Graham or Daniel from New Canaan or are called New Canaanites?" "I know a man named Daniel but he has no affiliation to either of those."

"What faction are you and the other priests with?" "We're with the church." "What is the church?" The priest looked at him oddly before shrugging and continuing. "The church is made up of various branches. The main three being Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Orthodox."

Nothing about either them or the New canaanites? I thought Joshua would be well known. It is possible they still prefer to not talk about his past out of shame. Maybe they chose to not be part of the church or are too small of a group?

"What do you know about Valper Galilei?" "He's the lead researcher of the holy sword project." "What's that?" "It was an attempt at making artificial holy sword wielders. Children were used as test subjects, the oldest being eleven. Eventually, the project was stopped because of the lack of results and the children were all killed." Six stopped writing when the priest said that last bit and stared blankly at the clipboard, unmoving.

"So, uh-um, how long will I be here?" Six shook their head and did their best to refocus. "If there's nothing wrong you may be able to leave before the end of the day." "Tell me, why was the experiment allowed?" "I don't know personally, but from what I've heard, Valper began the work independently, convinced a few bishops that the church needed a holy sword user as a symbol for the church just like King Arthur was. What they planned to do with this new King Arthur, I have no idea."

"But surely, people must've condemned it?"

"I don't know. I hope so but, everyone involved is either dead or excommunicated with no form of contact. If I were to guess, the thought process of everyone there was 'as long as he gets results all these terrible things will be worth it.' "

"Or, 'we can help more people long term by doing this now.' "

"Give me a job description of an exorcist and what you do." "We hunt down and kill any devil, fallen, or monster that could potentially harm humans. Ever since the cease fire however, we only kill devils or fallen outside their territory but our policy on monsters hasn't changed."

"I was told that the goal of christianity is to spread the word of Christ, start others on the path if they are willing, and to follow its teachings. How true is this?" "Yes, that is true. It's just uh- well we- some of us feel…" "Whatever you say stays between us as part of patient confidentiality. It's ok to tell me."

Francesco gripped the cross around his neck tightly and continued. "Well, this is just my personal opinion but, I feel like we're more focused on developing ways to destroy those who are different from us rather than accept it. Those bishops, how many backed Valper, or who they even were, are still unknown and it makes me think that some of our elder members won't be satisfied with the outcome of the great war until it's only Heaven who remains."

"So there's the possibility that tensions could rise until either those people are removed from power or they win?" Francesco frowned slightly and nodded. "It seems like there are two sides to the church as a whole. The side that teaches educates, like the small humble church with its flock ready to learn more about the lord. They host events for families to gather, interact, have fun, and encourage people to join. On the other hand, there's the militarized, equally devoted, sometimes belligerent, individuals. Both are needed and many do find a balance between both mindsets but… it's those who take either to the extreme that are likely to change the future goals of the church."

At the very least it seems like these priests aren't bad people. But I need others' perspectives before I form a definitive stance on them or the church.

"The nurse should be done with her patient by now. I'll take you back and go get the next priest." Six stepped out and saw the human Dr Dala standing outside the door.

"How'd it go?"

"Surprisingly easy. They just answered everything I asked. What was in those syringes?"

"I'll tell you later but good work. Let's do another pair and we'll send them back home." After about an hour all the priests had been interviewed, samples taken, and after some anesthesia were sent back to Kuoh with Six.


The group appeared in the park, during somewhat heavy rain, and dragged each drenched body to the abandoned church that Raynare used.

That's probably the first time I've been unhappy to see rain.

After laying them all on the wooden benches Robert looked at the entrance leading downstairs.

Oh, yeah, she used that machine to remove her sacred gear. I better send that back too. The only problem is finding the right candidate to use it on. Ideally it'd be someone like Raynare who deserves it. We shall see I suppose.

After a quick disassembly, Robert sent the machine back to the think tank with a note telling them to study the machine and eventually reverse engineer it.

"Now we just wait 'till they wake up. C'mon I want to talk for a bit." The two went upstairs and sat down. "I should've asked this way earlier, do you have a name?" "No, I never needed one but I think I'd like one. I just don't know many outside of the few I've heard recently, so I'm unsure on what kind of name I'd want." "How 'bout one of those you already heard?"

The familiar considered for a moment but ultimately shook its head."I don't mind but it would be nice to have a unique one." "How about I just call you S for now? You can choose what the rest of the name is like Sawyer, Scott, Sydney, Stephanie, or whatever." [3]

"Ok, That's fine for now. Just one thing, It occurred to me that I know barely anything about you. Where are you from?"

"California, United States. I haven't been there in a while but that's where I was born." "umm… where's the United States?" Robert briefly chuckled, realizing his mistake. "Oh right, you've lived in that forest for probably your whole life."

Robert leaned back placing his arms over the bench, reminiscing over days gone by. "To the far west of this country there's another that took up about an entire continent. The country was made up of fifty states. Some small and others as large as other countries. California was one of the largest states and it had a huge coastline. The state was famous for producing movies."

He chuckled before continuing. "I've heard that adult movies were all the rage in New Reno back in the day." "What's your job?" "I'm a courier, a mailman, a deliveryman. I just take packages from one place to another." "How long have you been doing it?" "A few years. Part of the reason I like is that it keeps me moving so I don't get bored. Can't imagine standing around all day waiting for someone to come up to me to buy something or deal with an annoying customer."

"Is you-" Before S could finish one of the priests finally woke up, rubbing the back of his head. "Ugh, I thought hospital beds were supposed to be good. Where am I?" Robert stood up and walked over. "We didn't know where to bring you so we brought you to a church in Kuoh. The others are laying down on the other benches. The doctors told us you're all in good condition." The rest of the priests then woke up, all nursing their heads. Once, they were vertical, Robert handed them each two stimpacks and after a quick demonstration they gladly took them. Francesco stepped forward, a hint of uncertainty visible. "Why?"

"Think of it as my way of making it up to you for what happened to the other exorcists. Please, tell the church I'm a neutral mercenary who has no problem selling it to them and if circumstances align, I have no problem working for them." "Where can we contact you?"

Ahh damn it. Why am I such an idiot? I'm so accustomed to being found or having letters sent to me at Vegas, that I forgot to leave people with a way to contact me.

"Contact me here." Robert pulled out a pencil and scrap of paper, writing down the address and room number. Francesco nodded, motioned for the others to follow, and ran off.

"Let's wait a bit. Hopefully the rain dies down soon, if not we'll just run to the hotel." Robert walked to a bench and sat back down. "So what were-" He cut himself off when he saw two white cloaked individuals pass in front of a window and immediately turned to S and whispered. "Quick, turn into a small bird and do your best to not draw attention to yourself." S was confused by the abruptness but managed to turn into a pigeon fast enough. Robert crouched, activated the stealth field and went to hide in the corner with S resting on the ground next to him.

"This place is in ruins." "I heard some devils fought against some fallen here and a third party intervened somehow." "Huh. Interesting." One pulled up their sleeve, checking their watch. "It'll be two soon. Are you sure we're supposed to meet here?" "Yeah, there's no way I'm wrong. I came here a lot as a kid." A cheerful smile almost visible under the hood. Then another pair entered the church, their umbrellas covering their faces. Their school uniforms and physique however, gave them away.

Sitri and her queen, Shinra. Today's the day those two exorcists with the Excaliburs show up. Assuming they are, why meet with an enemy? They're looking for Excaliburs, maybe they'll ask for help? No, that's stupid. Trade or ask for information? Could be but, the only thing Sitri would tell them is they don't know or are unrelated to the events. Even if she did know the answer would stay the same. Best guess, they'll tell Sitri to not interfere in their search. Wait, then why not have Gremory here to-?

Robert's thoughts were interrupted when the cloaked pair removed their hoods, revealing two teenage girls. The one with the wrapped item on her back then spoke up. "I'm Xenovia Quarta[4, I'm with the Catholic Church." The other waved before introducing herself. "And I'm Irina Shidou[5, part of the Protestant Church. We're both here investigating a theft of Excaliburs. We only want two things, that you don't interfere in our search and, you arrange us a moment to Rias Gremory to tell her the same."

This would be the perfect chance to attack, and rob them. Only problem is, if I pop up and attack, I could end up fighting all of them simultaneously. I doubt Sitri would ask questions in an ambush rather than fight back. Maybe she'd recognize me and not interfere, possibly even help but that's unlikely. On top of that I don't know enough about the two exorcists. Could be as fast as Kiba for all I know. If only I rigged this place with a bouquet of flashbangs. Despite that, I'm still going to take this dastardly dumb risk.

Robert tapped on S, picking him up, and quietly whispered, millimeters from its head. "Fly above them, distract them, when they look up, leave." S nodded and flew. Robert's heart rate began to increase, he silently grabbed a flashbang, removed the pin, gripped onto the Transportalponder, manually released the lever, waited about three quarters a second, by now he could hear his rapid heartbeat in his ears, and threw it.

Irina and Xenovia looked up to see a bird fly above them, bump into the ceiling, and fly off. Sitri and Shinra only glanced before ignoring it. "I understand. You have my word we won't inter-" Then saw the moonlight shine on a cylindrical object for a split second in her peripherals. Then they were all blinded by a bright light.

Xenovia felt the faint vibrations of footsteps but before she could even turn her head, her eyes were burning. She felt her sword move, the back and forward motion of a knife cutting at the belt that sheathed her sword, the weight on her back lightened, after what felt like an eternity, she finally turned around and…there was nothing there.

All in less than a second, their mission had gotten much harder. Irina's mood soured when she saw the missing sword on Xenovia's back. "Is everyone ok?" She asked. Sona immediately spoke up. "Whoever that was, they weren't trying to hurt us. Their goal was to steal that Excalibur. Let me say this, it wasn't us. If we even tried to grab it, our hands would burn off."

While true, it did little to soften Xenovia's glare or frown but maintained her composure nonetheless. "Recently, fallen angels fought in this very church and the one who stole the swords was a high ranking fallen angel. Keep an eye out for any fallen who may be in your territory."

"We'll tell Rias Gremory you want to meet with her. Come to Kuoh academy tomorrow, you can talk then."


Six could hardly contain their excitement upon return to Big Mt. Although grabbing the giant wrapped sword burned away at their hands it was worth it.

Finally! Now I can learn about this 'magic'.

Six eagerly walked to the think tank members. "Good news, everyone! I've managed to get my hands on this sword. It's supposedly made using 'magic' and 'alchemy'. For whatever reason even touching it burns my hands. I want you to find out what this sword is made of, how it was made, the source of the heat that burns my hand when I grip it, and so on. Find out everything you can about it but keep it in its original condition."

Six walked over to the sword on the ground, crouched, and noticed faint golden symbols. "Don't damage the cloth if you can help it. Destroy it as a final resort. It's got some strange symbols scattered all over and I want to study them."

Six went to the crates of books and began searching for one that could explain magic symbols.

I'll wait for about half an hour before returning back to Kuoh. Heh, I Haven't been this excited since finding all those gold bars.


Warning: Going to links to the wiki for either franchise contains spoilers.

I know, it's dumb of me to not put this in from the beginning. I'll edit the previous chapters to have this warning.

Would love it if you told me what you liked, would like to see, and what I could've done better. See you on spooky day!

[LINKS]

[1]Fallout Wiki: Lucius or Youtube: Fallout: New Vegas - Lucius

[2]Fallout Wiki: Andy (Ranger) or Youtube at 1:52: Ranger Andy - Fallout New Vegas

[3] These are people who worked on Fallout New Vegas. Josh Sawyer, Scott Everts, Scott Bennie, Sydney Wolfram, Stephanie Newland. NOTE: I originally wanted to name the familiar V. As in V from cyberpunk 2077 but thought I should be more original about it instead of just throwing in a reference.

[4]High school DxD wiki:Xenovia Quarta

[5]High school DxD wiki: Irina Shidou