Fallout: Wild Horses (Started, Open)

[Ruedyn]

Scrapyard: Casca

Casca should've been glad. He wasn't heard after all. That was cold comfort, however, as they were busy using a war crime in the making. Casca gulped as he looked at the destruction. He never really familiarized himself with energy weapons... but now he wanted one, oddly. Also it was pretty, and shiny.

Casca slowly began his retreat, when his keen eyes noticed something. He slipped out the car window opposite the two, and saw them. A hunting party. The one in Crimson was Legion... Not Virgil's legion. Lanius... Wait, Rattlers, Niners, and a frigging Legionnaire... An execution squad...

Casca yelped in surprise, and ran to the scrawny girl and robot. He was almost upon them, when he realized he was dressed up as a legionnaire. And profligates never trusted Legionnaires...

The boy grimaced, and held up his hands in surrender, constantly flicking glances behind him, to make sure the group wasn't upon him yet. He opened his mouth slowly, to reveal his lack of tongue, while looking for the enemy legionnaire's behind him. He pointed at them, and then his mouth, making it seem like they were responsible.

Spoiler: Character sheet, CASCA

Name(s): Casca, Spectacular Speculatore, Newbie, Rockstar, God-hand

Appearance: Casca is a tall lad, standing at 6'2, with a lean athletic build. He is tanned, but Caucasian, and looks about his age at 18. He has a handsome face, but it's usually covered by his long, curly light brown hair. He has no beard, no matter how hard he tries, but his eyebrows are a bit thicker than average. He has grey eyes, that tend to reflect the color of the room he is in, and sometimes appear gold in the sunlight.
His usual attire is his legion uniform, with his fathers cloak draped around his shoulders. The cloak is slightly more raggedy, though it is brighter in color and has the gold bull on it's back. When not wearing this, he prefers his grimy pre-war business suit, with no tie of course. He never carries a weapon, except his guitar.

Skills: Unarmed, Speech (Oh cruel irony), and Survival

Perks: Legion Assault, Ranger Takedown, Khan Trick, Strength Implant

Traits: Heavy Handed

 

[TheDoctor455]

Cheyton Slums. A... different perspective.

Legate Virgil, hmm? Markus, now... should have seen that old path stretching behind him before I crossed eyes with him. Still, he only knows part of my path. Though, only The Courier knows more of it at this point. That machine might remember some of it, but I doubt it really knows.

Ulysses paced around the dingy, filthy room again. It was in the state its in largely due to the Knuckleheads' idea of 'fun'... which generally involved murder, torture, and sex (with just about anything). Almost reminded Ulysses of a dumbed-down version of The Legion. Except, when someone says no, the Knuckleheads back off. That part made Ulysses chuckle. Even these idiots had higher standards than Caesar's finest.

Tactically, I should send the Knuckleheads out in force. Everyone here knows exactly where they live, thanks to that machine's attempt at aping self-sacrifice. But, Virgil's presence might change things. He's a failure. Tried to take Arizona back from the tribes that had tried to reclaim it. Certain irony in that. I'm sure he blames the Monster of the East for that failure, but it truly was his own failing. Not the Monster's fault that Virgil didn't notice the obvious. Guess they have more in common than either would like.

Instead of sending the Knuckleheads off to die, Ulysses decided to instill them with some discipline, and teach them how to use their favored weapons more effectively. This, he knew, could take a while.

 

[Anti-American Eagle]

Wyoming Wastes - Somewhere

Martin pulled the trigger a seventh time and nothing. He sheathed his machete, holstered his revolver, and picked his rifle back up.
He looked and saw the berserk alpha leaping into Joe... Not good.
Martin reloaded his rifle and began lining up another shot.

How the hell is its hide so thick?

 

[Generic NPC 22]

Kashyyyk Cheyton Scrapyard:

Mercy was in a fair amount of awe of the crystalline structure that her Blaster Bunny of a sister had created without being aware of the scientific properties behind it. The spontaneous discovery of these scientific properties by the Beautifully Brainy Bunny brought a smile to the Youngest Rabbit sister's face as her mind tried to posit what exactly had occurred.

"Crystals are created through extreme pressure and heat. The plasma is obviously the source of the extreme heat but pressure is what has me puzzled." Mercy said as she walked forward a bit and tapped the crystals with an old ball point pen, not surprised that the still hot crystals melted the plastic.

"Wait! Wait! Okay, so the plasma residue encases certain materials rather than atomizing it. The electrical arc causes the plasma residue to rapidly expand and explode when the atomic bonds are ripped apart. The rapid expansion from the explosion is what creates the crystals. Vera. That's amazing!!!!" The Bouncing Bunny said as she grabbed a batter red wagon with four functioning wheels, the Radio Flyer logo still barely legible.

"I'll start collecting the materials while the crystals cool down." Mercy said as she considered the type of power source that would be needed. Microfusion cells, Energy Cells, those were the fairly standard affair in the scrapyard. Moving on with the wagon, a pale blue glow caught the Youngest Rabbit Sister's eyes.

"What's that?" The young girl asked herself as she uncovered whatever was causing the glow and revealed a box with a RepConn logo. The glow was coming from inside the box, though Mercy could only partially make out what looked like a cluster of glowing rods inside the box.

"This might work." The Science Rabbit said as she moved on an grabbed the lenses that would be needed but there was one thing missing.

"V. I couldn't find anything in the scrap yard that'll work for a casing for the specifications that you mentioned. But maybe I can make some sort of ceramic that'll work. Last thing I want is Tessa's hand being cut off by whatever this thing you want to make her is." The Bunny Stormtrooper said as she noticed some sort of movement among the pile of junk. Seconds later a boy revealed himself, dressed in Legion ware.

"Who-who are you? And what're you doing out here? You better answer me of I'll have my sister blast you into green goo" Mercy yelled, an edge of panic in her voice as she heard more movement around where the trio was standing.

 

[EmperorZuma]

Follower's Morgue

"Where's his head?" asked Harland. "He was wanted, right? One too many bar fights and shootouts for Jon, I guess. Would it be at the Bounty Office? Maybe a trophy? Proof?" He turned to Nurse June, hoping for an explanation.

Hospital Morgue

June shrugged as she leaned over to inspect the body. "If there's a bounty office in Cheyton that takes heads, I wouldn't know about it. Most of them only require something...smaller, some of them will even settle for personal objects." The nurse frowned as she looked at the damage to the neck where the head was removed. "Frankly, I'm surprised the body is even here, he's in such poor condition that he's good for nothing but practice from some of the surgeons."

June stood back from the Khan corpse and thought of the implications, could someone at the hospital be involved in something sinister? Of all the times for Jacob to be gone... June rolled her eyes at the thought before speaking aloud. "It is possible that this is just a case of a brutal decapitation without express intent. Do you think the bounty on his head was worth the effort to take it off?"

I-25

Jacob was back on a brahmin cart after the caravan had made its way back to the highway, still trying to recover from previous events. Unfortunately, with the sun starting to drift towards the horizon, the doctor could find no respite from the bright light, and was forced awake.

With a sigh, he noticed that Jose happened to walk next to his cart, giving the two a chance to chat. "How much further do you think we'll have to go before reaching the outskirts of New Wheatland? I assumed you wanted to camp there before reaching the town?" The growth around New Wheatland became noticeable, though sparse, miles away from the town itself. The trees provided good cover for any caravans or nomadic tribes, and were beautiful blessings upon the eyesore that was the Wasteland.

Jose nodded, taking a moment to spit on the road before really answering. "All of us need a good rest, especially when we have to be on our toes for what's been attracted to those woods."

Jacob raised an eyebrow as he rested his head on the side of the cart. "It's gotten worse? I thought Issac had cooked up a good repellent to keep them out o the growth."

Jose shrugged, apparently regretting it afterwards, making the aged leader stretched. "Rumor is he did, but the growth...didn't like that. From what I hear, the Green Rangers are still cleaning up the mess."

Jacob's raised eyebrow grew into a puzzled expression. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

 

[Ruedyn]

Casca in: The Deadliest Charades

"Who-who are you? And what're you doing out here? You better answer me of I'll have my sister blast you into green goo"

Casca buried his face in his palm before springing his head back up, holding up his hand and index finger. That meant he needed a moment, of course. The sign was hopefully universal.

He pulled out his note book, and began scribbling furiously, looking between the new (admittedly cute but surprisingly daft) girl, and looking at the approaching band of Lanius approved murderers. He realized halfway through writing, is she couldn't read, he was beyond fucked.

No tongue, got removed, men coming, similar fate if not MOVING SOON He held up the message, and underlined SOON a few more times, taking a step forward and grabbing Mercy's hand. He really REALLY did not want to fight today, sure he could knock a man on his ass, but they had guns. And bullets hurt.

Markus: Rabbit Home

"Yes, Markus, presents."

"Why the blushing? I see the way you two look at each other... Fine, you two can have a moment. My business can wait." Markus jumped to his feet, and quickly moved out of the fallout zone that was about to appear, suppressing a smirk.

He made his way to where the food was kept, and grabbed himself a steak. He needed some damn food, and this actually looked pretty good. He ate somewhat quickly, grabbing a seat on the couch and taking a moment to think. He needed to think a lot more, he noticed. Perhaps the profligates were making him unsure... or perhaps the Rabbit Sisters were making his conscious reawaken.

He sighed, tilting his head back. And remembering...


"MOVE, GODDAMMIT MOVE!" My voice was so faint to me, the sound of artillery still ringing in my ears. My men are retreating, as I stand above the scene on the canyon. The air smells of death, and there seemed the canyon was flooded with the blood of his men and the tribals. The sky wasn't out today, it was cloudy, winter. Maybe even rain later...

Damned choke points... Mars was not with them that day. I curse again, I know my rage means nothing, it will not earn back the lives lost.

"Legate, calm your damned self!" Doc spoke up from his left, and I snapped my head up to meet his glare. He was old, and bloody from battle. The tribals were strong, why hadn't the Speculatore weakened them?!

"Doc, report." I cleared my throat and issued the demand, and only half listened as he went on about casualties. I look around my home state. Arizona... How did you sink so low?

"Doc, we're leaving. Lanius won't send support." Doc raised an eyebrow, not making a fuss he was interrupted. Too much going on for him to care.

"C'mon. Gather the men, meet me at the border... Arizona is lost." I turn, and raise the hood on my cloak. No, Mars was not with us. He was too busy with Lanius, and his god forsaken conquering. He couldn't see that he needed Arizona, a land conquered stayed conquered in his simple, bigoted little mind... No, his betrayal wasn't what hurt Virgil so much.

It was his own teams betrayal. The legionnaires who left, the 5th Legate even abandoned him. The 4th Legate, Virgil simply hiked forward. Towards the border back. He'd have to confront Lanius soon, he was destroying the Legion. Virgil would have to take up the mantle of Caesar soon.


Markus removed his hands from his eyes, and sighed with mild frustration. The past was in the past. Markus felt his scar, and felt the need to punch something. He'd wait, until the two love birds were done.

 

[TheDoctor455]

The Scrapyard.

Although Vera knew Mercy could read, she used her quicker visual scanners to rapidly take in the information written on that bit of paper.

"Don't shoot him Mer-Mer," the Crystal Bunny said, "He can't talk. Someone cut out his tongue."

Then Vera noticed what the newcomer was wearing.

"On the other hand," Vera said, her voice getting uncharacteristically hard, the edges of Tessa's influence in her voice taking over, "He's obviously Legion. Don't give him an inch."

Terrifying Presence Vera primed her plasma pistol, and inclined her faceplate down as she approached the stranger, careful to stay out of reach of whatever melee weapons he might be hiding on him.

"Okay, stranger," the little eyebot said, her voice sounding more and more like Tessa at her worst, "I'm going to ask you a few yes or no questions. Nod for yes. Shake for no."

Vera fired her plasma pistol just so that the pellet seemed to just barely miss the man's shoulder. She primed it again.

"Now then," the little eyebot said, "There's an asshole wandering around these parts. Used to be Cee-ser's first scout. Led you bastards to the Dam. He's dark skinned, has graying dreadlocks, and uses a flagpole as a weapon. Goes by the name of Ulysses. Have you seen him? Do you know what he is up to?"

Vera paused to let him answer before continuing.

"Next question," she said, "Do you know Markus?"

Vera was surprised that she was managing to contain her rage and rising blood-thirst at the thought of ridding the world of yet another murdering, raping asshat from the Legion.

 

[Ruedyn]

Casca, 20 question in the Scrapyard.

"I'm going to ask you a few yes or no questions. Nod for yes. Shake for no."

Casca rolled his eyes, why in gods name the creepy eyebot was playing good cop here confused him more than a tad. Did she have pretensions to self awareness?

"There's an asshole wandering around these parts. Used to be Cee-ser's first scout. Led you bastards to the Dam. He's dark skinned, has graying dreadlocks, and uses a flagpole as a weapon. Goes by the name of Ulysses. Have you seen him? Do you know what he is up to?"

Casca sighed with frustration, and shook his head no. He didn't care what some old geezer with a stupid haircut was doing, why in gods name would he? And the gang of hunters were drawing ever nearer.

He tapped his foot, feeling sweat on his brow as he waved his hand to get the robot to go a little damned faster. Seriously, 20 questions was not the last thing he wanted to do before his death.

"Do you know Markus?"

Casca scrunched his nose in frustration, and buried his heads in his palms. He made an ugly, tongueless approximation of the words "Fucking dammit", that sounded more like "Uckig Damm it." He shook his head no, and pointed towards the exit with some desperation in his eyes.

'Should've just let them catch me. Less likely to kill me, somehow...' Casca chuckled nervously. This was the worst possible situation...

 

[Rip Van Rabbit]

Lady and the tramp Thief

"For me, this is all about getting as far away from my parents as I possibly can. Their idea for my future was arranging a marriage between myself and Stanley Collins, the son of one of my dad's business partners, so that I could stay at home and pump out a couple of babies. I guess it also had to do with my Uncle too. He used to tell me stories about his East Coast adventures... about the friends that he made. He even come home with this crazed maniac of a daughter."

Even with an edge to Vicky's voice, Tessa tried to picture a version of Victoria that wore polka-dot dresses while preparing supper. The image did not fit. "Something tells me that you aren't the stay-at-home kind of girl, just a hunch." She said so while winking towards the clothing and weapons of choice. "East coast always grabs our attention, I'm surprised that anyone can live there. There was a story about an eye-patched woman and her best friend cloaked in red...they played a hand in dominating the Enclave. Hard to believe, but legendary. Kinda makes me want to travel."

Victoria words felt like silk upon the skin, her every movement delicate yet calculated, almost practised to a fine-tuned rhythm. Much like Tessa's heavy reliance on intuition and snap-decisionmaking, both of these females calculated their actions according to every reaction.

To an outsider, it may have sounded like a slightly above-average conversation with flirtatious undertones. Yet to Tessa, this was exhilarating. Every word was a strike, a finished sentence was the completed attack and the expression that followed was the flourish and counterattack. They were in bladed combat, but on a level that went far above that of the physical. There was definitely a sense of passion in this sparring match.

"We work in very similar ways, you and I. We both use a bit of misdirection to get things done. You seem to use peoples' emotions and vices to get the upper hand while I use distractions in very much the same way. I've been told that I'm good at what I do but I'm no where close to what I saw you do today." The darkly dressed woman admitted, pausing as she looked at her reflection in the blade before tucking it away.

"And if I were to elaborate, I would say that both of us remain hidden in plain sight. Socially, you'll misdirect, dominate and greatly influence those around you in order to keep yourself hidden yet prepared to strike. That's definitely not something I can do. You walk with absolute freedom and a wide set of skills at your disposal, it's fascinating." Tessa realized that she was staring, however, her gaze was soft and thoughtful.

"Truth be told, you have me a little worried about how lightly armed you are compared to the things that you do. I admire you, but there's still apart of me that can't help but worry. I guess I'll have to keep an extra specially close eye on your backside the next time we work together." Vicky said with a coy smile.

"Oh? The same could be said for you, my unarmoured lady." Another attempt at sounding formal, was she trying to sound like an idiot!?

Tessa laid out her designated weapons: Three throwing knives, combat knife, bowie knife and finally her recently acquired trench knife. Tessa would have to ask Mercy to craft another holster for her. Each blade served a unique purpose and her tactics could be changed according to any short-medium range encounter.

"Now you have me a little curious, especially since I'm sitting here worrying about you." Tessa smirked as she silently drew one of three throwing knives. "I may not rely on firepower, yet how do you regard me as lightly armed? With six blades at my disposal and a pretty set of armor waiting at home, I seem to be rather well-protected as of late. As for watching your backside, if someone closes the distance on you, I intend to step in dramatically."

[hr]

[small]"You're... you're welcome. I've never heard anyone talk about me like that ... so... I wanted to ... thank you"[/small] Vicky said as she brushed away a stray lock of hair. [small]"Now... about asking you... whatever I wanted."[/small]

Tessa was extremely shy with regards to the initiation of flirtation, tending to tiptoe around the conversational part and run for the hills if things ever went south (NOT THAT KIND OF SOUTH! Dirty-minded people!). Tessa was more comfortable and confident when things were seemingly working towards her desires. Her breathing had grown shallow.

Almost breathlessly, [small]"Ask me whatever you wish..."[/small]

What was more interesting is how Tessa, of all people, had managed to somewhat subdue Victoria on a charismatic level. How was that even possible?

[hr]

"Presents?" Nearby, a familiar voice had made it's presence known. Sending a flustered Victoria and an embarrassed Tessa retreating from their intimate distance.

Falling back on her schoolbag, Tessa used the opportunity to scrounge for Markus' present. While she wanted to give him his present under different circumstances, Markus had interrupted a fairly PLEASANT turn of events!

Not cool, bro.

Perhaps giving him something shiny to play with would occupy his time.

"Excellent balance between force and weight. Not much in the way of maneuverability, but it's geared towards thrusts and heavy-handed slashes due to it's sheer durability. It's not really my style, but I was hoping you'd appreciate it. It's to say thanks for everything." Tessa presented the pristine Machete Gladius to Markus, complete with a: "Tada!"

"...Fine, you two can have a moment. My business can wait."

Oh Markus, just for that, Tessa intended to prepare dinner later for you.

[hr]

Watching Markus leave, Tessa took one look at Victoria's rosy cheeks and disgruntled disposition and softly laughed.

"You know, you can be pretty adorable when you get all disgruntled."

This time, Tessa pushed aside her overwhelming nervousness and closed the distance once again. This time with a more direct purpose. [small]"You were going to ask me something. But you lost your turn."[/small]

A mere centimeter away, Tessa's breathing had grown shallow. Her heart was pounding, yet she was able to steadily run a finger along Victoria's cheek before laying her palm on the silky skin. [small]"I'm the thief, so I'm seizing an opportunity..."[/small]

With those final words, Tessa's lips gently met Victoria's. Instead of feeling an expected surge of emotions, Tessa's overconfidence dissolved as she simply melted into the smoldering yet intimate kiss. Closing her eyes, she was quickly enveloped in a very slow and extremely gentle kiss.

In that moment, Tessa belonged to Victoria.

 

[TheDoctor455]

The Junkyard.

Vera was oddly amused by the silent Legionary's frustration. Still, to ensure that whoever was chasing him wouldn't be a problem, she turned on her nav-beacon, which of course...

Fly My Pretties Fly! started to draw in every dog within five miles of the little eyebot, all of them ready to protect a distressed ***** in heat. Which... on reflection is kind of accurate. It'll only be a few moments for the first dogs to arrive, and a couple to several minutes for the rest to turn up.

In the meantime, Vera kept her eye on the stranger in red.

"Don't move," the eyebot said in a tone that if a voice could kill, Vera's would have just flattened all of Cheyton, "I'm... bringing backup to make sure your... pursuers won't be a problem, but once that's dealt with, you have a lot of explaining to do. And... we'll get Markus to confirm whether or not he knows you. Frusta es homo."

 

[Ruedyn]

Scrapyard: Casca

"Frusta es homo."

Casca gave a low growl at that, and blushed slightly. Stupid eyebot trash. She couldn't intimidate him! He pulled out his notepad, and scribbled down a word, and held it up so the robot could see, sticking his tongue out at the same time.

Cucurbita!

Casca gave a small impish grin, and chuckled lightly. He was so clever...

He noticed as the first dog came in, and frowned at it. He preferred cats, always. He looked up at the sky, and smiled lightly at the memory of his own cat, Clementia. God that thing could hunt mice. Almost frightening, actually. Casca shuddered a bit.

Casca began paying attention again, and hopped to his feet, offering for them to lead on. He pulled out his guitar, and began playing an old Roman song, humming the lyrics as he followed them.

Spoiler

 

[ImSkeletor]

Booker shoved the last slug into his gun and pumped it. Suddenly he felt the deathclaw corpse slam into him. He could feel a few of is ribs snap like twigs on impact and his left arm popped right out of its socket. Mcgrath felt his feet leave the ground and began flying backwards in tremendous pain. He hit the ground with the back of his head and began rolling downward at a slightly improbable speed before crashing into Joe's legs. Needless to say that while good doctor was still awake he was down and out for a while. He was built to be a thinker not a brawler and his drive could only get him so far. However Dave was built as security and was now only a few feet away from Malkos and was moving at about 40mph.

 

[Generic NPC 22]

Cheyton Scrapyards: But... there's so much scrap! I could die here!!

With her Globus Lepus of a sister taking the lead on interrogating the mute kid, whomever he was, the Blaster Bunny finished up with the scrap collection that they would need if they were going to finish Tessa's gift.

"I'm... bringing backup to make sure your... pursuers won't be a problem, but once that's dealt with, you have a lot of explaining to do. And... we'll get Markus to confirm whether or not he knows you. Frusta es homo." Mercy heard her sister say icily as the Bomber Bunny and her Bunny Wagon came to a stop as Mercy came to the realization that they were not alone.

"Pursuers? And what does Markus have to do with this?" The Youngest Little Bunny asked, surprised and a bit panicked that the man who had risked his life to save her and hide her from the Keeper's carnage would be involved in anything underhanded. Looking at the Casca, the Brainy Bunny was sure that whatever he had to say about Markus was a lie.

"CLANG CLANG CLUNK!"

The sound of an armor piercing bullet fired from a distance, that passed through one side of an engine block and exiting out the other was followed by a pained scream as it most likely tore a large hole through someone's torso.

Looking back towards the Rabbit Hole, Mercy could see the odd Undertaker Woman lying on her deck chair, shaded by an umbrella and looking through the scope of her Anti Materiel rifle.

"Vera. We should go. I've got all the parts. We need to get home before anything else happens."

"HARRRROOOOOOOOO!!!!"

Something else happened. It seemed that gods weren't the only thing that was attracted to Vera's call.

"SPLORCH!!!"

The sound of one of the Pets being obliterated by another of Victoria's Anti Materiel rounds echoed off the piles of scrap, reinforcing Mercy's suggestion that they should run. Turning towards the house that had been her home for some time, Mercy's mind reflected back on the past.

[hr]

The Rabbit Hole: Two and a Half Months Ago

"Can you tell me your name? I'm Tessa, but most people just call me Rabbit." Asked the older sister that Mercy had never known.

"M.M.M.Mercy." Mercy managed to stammer out as she shivered from the rain, the cold and most of all the relief at finally finding the woman that she had been searching for.

Her father's final words to Mercy had been to find this woman and to go get a metal box from their now burnt out home.

What was inside were some papers, one had been the official documents that marked the birth of Tessa while another catalogued a number of dates, dates that marked Dad's visits to New Vegas during his prospecting trips.

The last thing in the box was a picture, one that had been taken maybe a month prior, of a young woman leaving the Freeside Follower's complex.

Looking at the woman in the picture sitting in front of her right now, Mercy didn't know whether to be relieved or scared to tell her the nature of their relationship.

"I'm your - I'm your sister." The almost Bawling Bunny stuttered once again as she wrapped the towel around herself, wishing that she could get something warm to eat or drink.

"H - H - Half-sister. We shared a dad." She finished saying, emphasizing the past tenseness of the word shared.

 

[TheDoctor455]

The Scrapyard.

Eager to test out her new weapon, and to vent some lingering frustration, Vera fired her plasma pistol at several random bits of junk around where the Raiders would have to pass through. She made sure to space them as closely together as she could. If she was right, she'd set off a chain reaction that would either completely obliterate all of the Raiders, or at least block the path leading directly to Vera and Mercy... and Casca.

The dogs charged forward, right at the raiders that had dared to threaten (from their perspective) that one fine ***** in heat that they hadn't seen yet, but were sure was just around the corner... somewhere. Bloody stupid animals.

The raiders surged into the scrapyard and just as they were about to cross the threshold that Vera had covered in plasma goo...

Vera had timed the shot from her arc projector almost perfectly. And had an amazing grouping for it... the cascade of green explosions threatened to envelop half of the junkyard. Fortunately, the half that didn't include the angry little eyebot, Mercy, and... Casca. The explosions ripped most of the raiders apart atom by atom in barely a few seconds, leaving the stragglers that had been lagging behind the main group to turn and run. No quarry was worth this mess. Unfortunately, (or fortunately, depending on your view), the blast also killed A LOT of the dogs as well. The survivors ran back the many ways they came, too scared, confused, and sexually frustrated to care anymore about a hot ***** they hadn't even seen yet.

Vera was, for the briefest of nanoseconds terrified of her new-found power. Then, she reveled in it. Then, she hated herself for it... because innocent dogs had gotten killed in the process... and she could have easily taken herself and Mercy with them... and Casca, I guess.

"Umm... come on Mercy, we'd... better go," she said, sounding more like herself again, "We need to find Tessa and... that Legionary we know oh so well."

Then, turning her attention to Casca for a moment, "If you want to keep breathing, you'd better come with us. I doubt that display went unnoticed."

Spoiler: OOC

So like I said in the chat... I don't know when I'll be able to post again. Seriously considering dropping half my money for a new computer entirely. I'm not sure the one I have is really going to be worth the effort much longer. If it even is now.

Also... if this post wasn't hint enough; I actually hate dogs. I'm a cat person.

 

[Ruedyn]

Scrapyard: Casca

"Vera. We should go. I've got all the parts. We need to get home before anything else happens."

Casca nodded emphatically, this was a good plan. It involved not dying. Not dying was his favorite activity.

"If you want to keep breathing, you'd better come with us. I doubt that display went unnoticed."

The boy rolled his eyes, "I uv oo tu." the boy's tonguelessness wouldn't stop the stream of smarm, though one could sense uneasiness in his voice, as he saw the destruction the Pumpkin was capable of. Still, getting the fuck out didn't seem like a horrible idea right about now, all things considered.

The boy flinched and hid behind Mercy when the bullet hit, and ricocheted off of something close by. He immediately straightened up, and flinched again when another bullet was fired, killing one of the Rattlers it looked like, who confused dogs with snakes apparently. They were waaaaaaay too close...

He stopped playing, and just chose to focus on following, readying himself up in case he needed to fight. His old instructor told him it was like his hand was blessed by Mar's, and he was about ready to unleash the fury. He did a bit of shadow boxing as he trailed, closely.

Markus, on the move

Markus was content to sit and brood for the time, but unfortunately the sounds of the Dogs of War and gunfire forced him to get up and move. He slung his sword over his back, and regretted not picking up the Gladius yet. He was better trained with that weapon...

The roads cleared as the horde of dogs passed through, Markus following quickly. Luckily, animals always liked him, so none turned to rip his throat out. He came upon the group at the entrance of what looked a scrapyard, Mercy and the robot she was so fond of were unharmed it looked... and the guitar player. Why was he punching the air?

Markus sighed and approached, "Good to see you aren't injured, Mercy, Vera... Casca. Please- why are you kneeling?" Casca had gone to one knee now, it seemed he now respected his authority. Or had gone mental, either or. The boy even blushed a tad, clearly it was the latter. Markus looked at the cloak, it looked oddly familiar...

"Wait, now I recognize you. You're one of the recruits... You saw action at Arizona, didn't you?" Casca nodded, not looking at Markus. He felt a bit of bile in the back of his throat at the memories, while Markus felt only rage.

The ex-Legionnaire sheathed his sword, and offered a hand out for Mercy. "C'mon. Sorry I didn't come, one figures a trip to the scrapyard wouldn't need an escort." He kept his voice nice and sarcastic, and a bit more pleasant then he felt at the moment.

He glanced at Vera. It had just killed a lot of his favorite animals, and made it so he couldn't unleash his fury on the bandits. He sighed with contempt, but still offered a weak smile for Mercy.

 

[Generic NPC 22]

Cheyton Alley: Be Still My Foolish Heart

Be Still My Foolish Heart!!: More of a curse than anything, when in the presence of someone the Fool is attracted to, she gains +2 to Charisma but suffers a penalty to Intelligence/Focus.

"C'mon. Sorry I didn't come, one figures a trip to the scrapyard wouldn't need an escort." The Boom Bunny's Knight in Crimson Armor (At least his hand was wrapped in armor) named Squishy McHugglestein said as he offered the Blushing Baby Bunny his hand, a motion that sapped Mercy's entire vocabulary from her brain at that very moment. If she could have uttered anything other than a simple "'Kay" she most definitely would have but even then, she wasn't quite able to say that.

"errrr hi?!" Mercy exclaimed as she took The Handsome Hare's hand and started following him back towards the Rabbit Compound.

If Mister Legionnaire Extraordinaire was miffed about not seeing combat, he should have been rather happen when one of the Keepers, drawn by the sound of combat and the howling of the Pets, intercepted the group, managing to kick Markus in the back while backhanding the Bruised Bunny in the face.

[Mental V.A.T.S]

• -Spinning Kick - Torso (95%)
  -Pistol Whip - Face (95%)
  -Knee - Face (95%)
  -Plasma Burst - Groin (95%)

[Be Still My Foolish Heart]

Time seemed to slow down for the Plasma Rabbit as she used the momentum of the Keepers' strike to propel her into a spinning kick that should have caused the Keeper to double over in pain, had Mercy bothered to note the padded armor that the Keeper was wearing.

[small]thunk[/small]

The impact of Mercy's vicious kick did NOTHING! except give the Keeper time to grab Mercy's wrist as she attempted a pistol whip and flip her onto her chest as she brought her knee up for a strike.

"OOMPH!" She oomphed as she squeezed the trigger on her A3P sending out a burst of tiny plasma bolts that struck the wall next to the keeper.

Well that was a rather feeble assault but it did leave the Keeper distracted and open to other attacks.

 

[Ruedyn]

Cheyton Alley: Casca time!

"errrr hi?!"

Markus bit his bottom lip to suppress laughter, the girl was acting strange. Perhaps she took a blow to the head. A quick moving examination showed that there was no blood, and Vera would've said SOMETHING. He didn't feel like putting the puzzle together at the moment.

The Young Veteran saw the attack coming, as he was pushed out of the way by a keeper. He saw his Legate take a hit to the back, and saw the girl do something actually pretty badass. Unfortunately, armor. Casca took a kick to the ribs, and used the momentum to roll and pop up off the ground. Good thing he recovered quickly!

Casca took a step back, before leaping at his opponent, thrusting out his palm and knocking the man to the ground, without breath. Legion training=best training. Casca kicked the man in the face as he ran to his Legate, to help him up.

Markus was starting to see red, and he picked himself up, with minor unneeded help, and drew his sword. "Casca, help Mercy!" Casca nodded and ran to her, and Markus charged.

The keeper was shaking off the shock of nearly getting goo-ed, when a punch seemed to crack his helmet. Mercy's glove really DID help that! The keeper kept his balance, surprisngly, and turned to face the Legate. Markus dug his sword through the man, the cushioning only managed to slow the blades journey to his heart.

Unfortunately, Markus was hilt deep in Keeper when his buddy swung a pipe at him. He raised his armored... arm, letting go of the blade and letting the body fall. The pipe actually bent on his arm, and Markus gave a swift punch to the man's gut.

Cushioning was starting to get annoying, but it spun him back to Casca, who thrust out his palm, and stood his ground. A classic ranger takedown made it through the armor, and the man collapsed in pain. Markus retrieved his blade, and stabbed the man through his helmet, to the disgust of Casca.

"I gave an order!" The boy gulped, and nodded, returning to Mercy's side as Markus straightened out his coat, and drew his pistol with his free hand. He nodded to Casca, so they could start moving again. Markus noticed an approaching three, and whistled to Casca, who turned and dropped into a fighting position.

 

[TheDoctor455]

Somewhere between the blasted remains of the Junkyard, and the Rabbit Hole.

Having recently been so bashful around Tessa, Vera immediately picked up on why Mercy was being bashful around Markus... and well...

She can do MUCH better than some raping, murdering ************ from the Legion. If pressed, I'm sure he's going to tell us how he was the only Legionary that never raped anyone...riiight. Wasn't that the whole reason men joined the Legion in the first place? Vera was still trying to work out why women would join the Legion, ever. She figured either conned into it or just flatout enslaved. Then she realized it didn't matter. No matter how or why you joined the Legion, you wound up a slave. The little eyebot struggled to suppress the horrific memories of walking through Caesar's camp, and seeing The Courier's eyes narrow when one of the slave women warned her that some of the Legionaries wanted to 'try her out' later. Vera blocked out the memories of seeing starving children being made to fight over scraps. Must be where the Keepers got the idea for working with children. Fuckers. Well, whatever happens, even if that asshat does figure out why Mercy is acting this way around him... he's not going to survive trying putting the moves on my Mer-Mer. My... little sister, Mer-Mer, I mean.

Vera whirled around and her visual scanners immediately started analyzing the situation. Five Keepers in the foreground, four in the back. No pets. That was odd.

Did they actually run out?

Then Vera heard them.

HAROOOOO!

The poor abused things cried out... but... they seemed to be getting farther away, not closer. Another bullet claimed one of the nearby Keepers. That's when Vera realized where the Keeper's pets were going.

For Tessa and Vicky...

Vera killed two Keepers in quick succession. The first had been trying to sneak up on Mercy, that one crumpled to the ground after two hits right in the junk, sending his legs soaring into the sky... or at least further down the street. The second had nearly gotten the jump on Vera, who darted out of the way in time to let the sick fucker hit the wall behind her... and a puddle beneath them. Vera wasted no time in firing up her arc projector, electrocuting the guy until his head popped off.

Vera shut off her nav-beacon, then tried to recalibrate the signal so that it said "RUN! DANGER! FLEE!" by reversing the usual signal. Then she got back to blasting idiot, probably pedophile Keepers.

 

[Rip Van Rabbit]

Vicious Rabbit

Tessa was shaking ever so slightly, it was probably the mixture of unadulterated intimacy and excessive vulnerability at the same time. Although she couldn't process that at the time...her mind was elsewhere.

"Tessa... your sisters." Victoria softly muttered as the two broke contact.

"I'm pretty sure a threesome is off the table, the one might be my half-sister and the other is - oh!" Exclaimed the Bumbling Bunny as she finally noticed that Victoria's attention was being directed through a scope. Lucky scope. What did he ever do for her.

"Looks like your sisters are doing what they do best... getting into trouble." Came the calm voice.

"Runs in the family...stick around, we're full of bad ideas." Tessa replied cheerfully while gathering up the loot of the day.

"Raiders... Large Group... headed directly towards Mercy and Vera... too large for them to handle by themselves. I can keep them busy." The Sniper Cat reassured the Blade Bunny.

"I'm armoring up and heading back! Just...you better not get hurt!" The Thief was already on the ground, sprinting the short distance home and shouting back.

[hr]

Once inside, Tessa got dressed in her blood-stained composite leather armor and resecured all her blades. She dropped off her bag of goodies. Presents would have to wait till later.

"Last resort." Tessa muttered as she stuffed a vial of psycho into her thigh holster.

The fact that there were frequent blasts, shouting and what sounded like a small explosion only seemed to hasten the Rabbit's movement from the house and back to Victoria.

[hr]

Openly wielding her trench knife, Tessa got back onto the rooftop with Victoria.

"I went as fast as I could! Do I need to go out there!?"

[HEADING=3]"HAROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"[/HEADING]

Tessa blood turned to ice as her worst fears were confirmed. The Keeper's Children were nearby. Just like last night.

This time, multiple howls could be heard. This would be nothing like last night.

Positioning her trench knife for slashes and thrusts, she drew her bowie knife for downward stabs and reverse slashes.

Her worries were confirmed when the children, more than she was able to count at the time, had started clawing their way onto the rooftop. From all sides, no less.

[Ferocious Loyalty] "Vicky, Freeside City Shuffle: I go right while you go left!"

Tessa sprinted to intercept the nearest boy that intended to leap at Victoria and gutted him with a vicious dual stab and flourishing slice.

[Ferocious Loyalty] "They can only kill us once! But it won't be today!"

The Feral Rabbit snarled viciously, almost mirroring the children, before slicing at a running girl's thigh. Causing her to tumble onto her back, Tessa wasted no time with crushing it's windpipe under her boot.

It was one thing to threaten her life. But you're going to see Tessa at her most vicious if you threaten her loved ones.

 

[TheDoctor455]

Cheyton Slum Rooftops... a different perspective.

Ulysses clambered onto the rooftops as soon as one of his scouts told him that they'd been sighted around Twisted Hare territory.

Then, Ulysses heard their call for himself.

HAROOOOOO!

Keepers again. Legion imitators... taking the worst of it... and twisting it into something worse still. Their interference is growing tiresome. Time I dealt with this problem more... directly.

He fired a flare towards the Keepers and their pets.

"Kill the Keepers and their servants," he ordered through a radio he'd set up, "Do not attack the Twisted Hares, even in self-defense."

The Knuckleheads ran straight for Twisted Hare turf just as Ulysses jumped to the next roof over and started running along them, back towards the Keeper compound.

This many cells aren't operating alone. Some fool thinks to play Kai-Tzar here... they'll meet my glory.

-----

Twisted Hare Territory

Vera kept firing at the Keepers, but they'd caught onto her, and were dodging her plasma blasts with little effort. So instead of trying to kill them herself, Vera switched gears (not literally), and started focusing on keeping the Keepers from getting too close to Mercy... and Markus... and Casca. Just enough so that the Keepers couldn't get a strike in most of the time, while letting Vera's sister... and allies a chance to finish the job.

Then the Knuckleheads showed up. But to Vera's complete bafflement, and the Keepers' final moments of astonishment... the Knuckleheads started tackling the Keepers and beating them to death, leaving everyone else present to wonder what the hell was going on.

-----
Meanwhile, at the Keeper Compound.

Ulysses couldn't believe he hadn't spotted it last night. The guard he'd knocked out last night in the watch-tower? Not a guard. It was the ring-leader of these Keeper cells; he was giving orders through a one-way radio, and every-time he called through it, the Keepers and their pets responded with a resounding "HAARRROOOOOO!"

Once at the top, Ulysses grabbed the Keepers' leader, and pointed his smg at the bastard's throat.

"Order your Keepers to set their pets free," the old scout growled into the man's ear, "Then let your Keepers die."

The Keeper did so. Ulysses shot the worthless man's arms.

"Now, go back to your masters and tell them that the hunt is over," he said, still aiming his smg at the Keeper, "Tell them that they are under the protection of The Courier of the East. Any who dare come after them will answer to Kai-Tzar's First Scout. The Terror that led Kai-Tzar to the Dam."

With that, Ulysses shoved the monstrous excuse of a human being off of the tower, and watched as he crawled, slowly, and painfully out of Cheyton, eager to follow Ulysses' commands.