Western Oregon, I-5, Northern Frontier
June 16th, 2284
Mid-Evening

The evening sun shined through the irradiated trees, its golden rays warming the travelers trekking along the abandoned I-5 highway. Burned out cars were the only markers of the interstate, the only sign that any human life had been here. Darya scanned the tree line for any signs of movement. Strangely, there was nothing. They had been on the road for four days, they left Klamath behind yesterday. Aside from the birds and some rustling in the bushes every once in a while, they've encountered no resistance. She wished they had more information. NCR scouts hadn't delved too far north and even the things they scouted, their notes were shoddy at best. The NCR had charged Darya a few hundred caps just for a crudely drawn map. The bastards.

They're first stop was Medford. According to the NCR map, it was one of the few settled towns in the state that they know of and it sat right on the I-5. The last stop before the plunge into total wilderness. Darya tucked away the map and once again gazed around. The flora in this region was incredible. Unlike California and Nevada, which were ruled by desert, the bombs seemed to have supercharged the environment. Forests towered over them for miles around, their leaves often laced with glowing green radiation. The effect it had at night was almost magical and gave some much appreciated natural light. Flowers bloomed in enormous size. Some almost seemed to follow their movement. Darya made a mental note about those. Even the animals they've spotted so far. Clearly affected by the radiation but still retain some of their pre war beauty. But Darya knew better than to trust it. She had heard stories about the danger such beauty holds.

The sun dipped in the sky until the pines shielded the group from its rays. Darya noticed the blue signs of a recreation stop just off the highway. She turned to the group.

"Alright team, this is far enough for today! Let's head down this trail to the rest area. And keep your guard up!" she called over her shoulder, leading the way over the metal barrier and into the woods. She held Euthanasia at the ready, just in case they ran into any disgruntled locals. The rest area was simple enough. A few rotting benches and tables and what looked to be a bathroom. After clearing the area, Darya ordered the camp to be setup. As the group went about their duties, Darya couldn't help but stop to take in the landscape. The rest stop was perched above a small valley with a creek running through it. Though some of the soil was scorched by the bombs, vibrant green grass grew along the banks of the creek and the sun hit it just right.

"Oh, Sammy..." Darya whispered, "If only you could have seen this place."



The moon hung high in the night sky, illuminating the scarred land below. Darya had volunteered to take first watch tonight. She didn't mind. She liked to gaze at the radiation in the plants around her. She made notes in a small notepad by lantern light. She sketched the flowers and the trees, writing down her hypothesis on how it all worked. Suddenly, she heard a low rumbling coming from the trees around her. Her head snapped up and a shock ran down her spine as she saw four yellow eyes glaring at her. Then another four. And another. There were eyes all around and the rumbling became growling.

Wolves.

Not coyotes but giant wolves, as tall as chest level. And there were a lot of them. Darya scooped up Euthanasia.

"Everyone up! We're under attack!"

Thomas "Judas" Kelly
Western Oregon, I-5, Northern Frontier

Thomas, like many times before, was thinking about the Mojave and specifically the Vegas area. It was his home. Almost everything, good and awful in his life, had happened to him in the ruins of that area. It being such a place of significance for him he often found himself deeply missing it in the times he’d wandered far off. Which for him wasn’t actually that often. As a mercenary he had never truly needed to. Vegas was bursting with work for a man such as him, and the turbulence caused by the war between the NCR and Legion had meant there was always plenty of work to be found in the Mojave too. If there was one thing the NCR had always lacked, it was the means or smarts to properly secure their territory. The holes in security they left were often filled in by mercs and the locals eager to pay them.

As such Thomas was now the furthest from Vegas he’d ever been and despite the nagging feeling of homesickness he was quietly happy in his choice to make the trip. Even walking up the I-10, his rifle in his arms and his eyes scanning possible ambush points among the rusted out vehicles on the road ahead.

He thought back to the night before. Never in his life had he seen such splendor. The Mojave had beauty if you looked for it, but the amazing sights he’d seen recently on this trip didn’t need to be found or thought about. They displayed themselves as self-evidently beautiful. Plants and trees of wondrous green colours, some of which quite literally glowed at night. All his years in the Mojave and the closest thing he’d ever seen to such a thing was the man-made lights of New Vegas. Those lights and sights he couldn’t appreciate in nearly the same way. For where this natural beauty asked nothing of humanity for its presence, Vegas asked for everything. An industry and vision man designed to act as a makeshift siren, the like of which he’d read of in the Odyssey.

The day before they had stopped in Klamath. A community bustling with generations of hunters and trappers. These folk knew a thing or two about their trade and Thomas had thoroughly enjoyed conversing with them on topics such as the local wildlife and terrain. He’d been quite easily persuaded to buy some of their hand-loaded hot rounds, especially after being told of the size and tenacity of some of the beasts further north. Of which he’d never even heard tell of back down south. As such his go to big-game gun, the Glock 29 tucked into its holster on the small of his back was now loaded up with +P 10mm rounds. A few well placed shots with those would be enough to drop a Bighorner Bull, as was the intent. He also couldn’t help but buy a small tub of coffee as soon as he heard tell of it in the general store. The lady asked a damn near extortionate price but he couldn’t help himself. He’d fallen in love with it over the years.

Eventually Dr. Sadeghi called out for them to follow her down a trail so they could set up camp for the night. Thomas was personally grateful, even as young as he was, the trek had been a tiring one. His calf muscles were threatening to cramp and his hold of the rifle had gotten a tad lazy, threatening to simply let it hang by its sling. He dragged himself out of his thoughts and followed their leaders instructions, forcing himself to tighten his grip on the rifle and focus on their surroundings. Thankfully the place seemed to be clear and they got to work. Thomas found himself a comfortable looking place for his bedroll and laid it down. He then spent about an hour helping gather some wood for a fire and set up a pot of water to boil, hoping for a cup of coffee. He thought about going over and offering the doc a cup, she’d more than earned one after spearheading their expedition. As he glanced over though he noticed a familiar draw to her face, one that to him seemed to betray thoughts and emotions he often felt himself. Whether he was simply projecting or not immediately became irrelevant. He didn’t have the emotional intellect or confidence to pull her away from whatever it was. He would ask later instead.

As time went on and darkness fell he wearily unclipped his armour and unslung his rifle. He would have liked to keep both on but they were impossible to comfortably lay in. He’d wake up with a back throbbing with pain for the next week. As it was, the risk was worth a good few hours of sleep. Laying the armour pieces and his rifle down next to his bed he climbed onto it himself, taking his Glock out of it’s holster and resting it on his chest, his hat covering it. It was a habit that had saved his life more than once. Slowly, when thoughts finally quit barrelling at him one after the other, he drifted off to sleep.

---

He awoke frightfully to the yelling of the doc, his hand immediately tightening around the grip of his handgun. He shot up, blinking rapidly to clear his eyes, switching the handgun from safe to ready to fire and moving with haste towards the docs side and closer to the fearsome sounding growls. He made sure not to look directly at any of the various light sources on his way over. He knew for sure he’d need some night vision for this. Staring off into the dark he spotted more than a few sets of four yellow eyes, way too far off the ground for his comfort. Raising his handgun up he got into the Chapman stance. Such a stance that would help with the heavy recoil of the +P rounds.

Aiming between four glowing eyes he squeezed the trigger, once, twice, three times. The boom of the handgun echoed explosively in their surroundings. The beast stumbled with a pained whine and dropped, it’s bright eyes falling off into the darkness. Quickly turning again he found another glowing target and corrected his stance and aim, once again squeezing to the sound of a boom followed by a whine.

“Six more rounds before reload”. He thought, hoping that his companions were decent shots.

Western Oregon, I-5, Northern Frontier
June 16th, 2284
Mid-Evening

Finally the mission started.

Finally the mission started. Alexis already got bored of staying in one place during her life as a raider, after her second given chance, it became worse for her. Unable to move too much without pain which made her want to stay put and fiddle with armors and the sorts but at the same time, unable to escape her wanderlust.

When Darya approached her and was told about the mission, she was excited. A long time ago, excitement for her meant killing someone slowly being drugged on different drugs. Everything changes after that day for her.

As she was lost in her thoughts, she hit her foot on a pre-war vehicle.
" Shit! That hurt! " yelled Alexis. Pain shooting through her whole leg. Shaking her head, she started to actually pay attention to the area around them.
Long gone were the swampy sights of the Commonwealth or the desert of the Mojave. Mutated trees and pre-war wreckage everywhere you could see.
Klamath was shit-hole run by the NCR but that was expected of them. She had to cover her face and wear her longer clothes to hide her trademarked appearance. The Mecha Witch. As soon as they left, she moved her mechanical arms and oiled them with oil bought from the market.

The team composed by Darya was even weirder and crazier than the crew she used to lead. A nightkin, a super mutant, a medical robot, someone who resembled very slightly the Institute synths she tortured for her arms and a very hot lady which Alexis made a point of learning her name, Jacelyn and a dude who she saw in the market when she was buying oil. A group like this would surely stand out and maybe keep her old comrades, the raider tribes, away from the group.

Finally Darya signaled that the time to set up camp for the night has come. Perfect, Alexis thought. Her legs started to hurt already and she needed to rest.

***

Alexis was struggling with a rough nightmare which she always seemed to have, haunted by the faces of those that died by her hand when
Darya screamed :
"Everyone up! We're under attack! "

Rising quickly from her half-sleep state, she put on her NVG patch and saw the wolves approaching. A lot of them. She prepped her power fist and with the other hand, the 9mm pistol she carried. Aiming at the creatures, she took a few pot shots at them.
Her mechanical arms moving behind her in almost constant motion to hit or at least warn her if someone attacked from behind.

@Su

AHAB



Western Oregon, I-5, Northern Frontier
June 16th, 2284
Mid-Evening

The large super mutant was more than happy to be a part of this group, not many people would even talk to a super mutant. Most people would just want to shoot him dead and be on their way. The large mutant had stumbled onto the Followers while he was scavenging for supplies, he had saved a Follower member named David who repaid him by giving him some work. The jobs he was given were serviceable. Mostly helping druggies kicking their jet habits, or commonly saving someone from bleeding out. This current assignment seemed quite strange to him, finding a woman immune to radiation and potentially mutation. It seemed quite unbelievable to him. Although contradictory to his belief, he had seen quite a lot of unbelievable events in his long life. While in Klamath he got the feeling that they were being duped by the NCR troops, which he found to be a common occurrence. Noting how corrupt the NCR had gotten over the past couple of years, he was surprised that it had not imploded from the large amount of incompetence and greed the government had shown.

During their trip he walked past the many burned out cars and rotten corpses, something he had seen countless times. Although desensitised by death and decay, he still felt saddened seeing the destruction of war first hand. Soon the sight of dilapidated cars and empty roads were replaced by vegetation and greenery. It was a nice change of scenery, on the days he was not working, usually he would be growing flowers or even food to give to the poor. Although he was cautious because he had his fair share of dangerous encounters with violent plants. Quickly picking a flower from a bush and putting it onto the lapel of his duster. The hulking figure made sure that they were not going to run into any spore plants.

When the grow travelled far enough and the sun was starting to set, he was glad to rest because his feet were killing him. While the rest of the team were either resting or taking turns standing guard, Ahab was reading a few pages of Moby Dick. He surmised that he must have read the book hundreds of times, if not more. But he was always happy to experience the adventure of Captain Ahab. Part of him desired to go on a boat and sail the high seas with a ragtag group. Although two problems were ever present, one he did not have a boat and two he didn’t think the team would even want to go on a boat. His mind wandered a bit before being alerted by Darya.

Quickly standing up and readying his .45 Auto pistol, quickly loading a magazine filled with .45 hollow point bullets. He was reminded of where he had gotten the pistol, from a New Canaanite named Father Berkley. The man was nice but Ahab was not really interested in partaking in a religion that is blasphemous. The gun itself was well crafted and easy to maintain, which was good for Ahab since he was not very good with repairing things. Firing a couple of shots at the pairs of eyes hiding behind the bushes and trees, he could hear the yelping and whines of the wolves. A good sign since that means Ahab had hit his target. Feeling a little terrible hearing their cries of pain, being reminded of the time Ishmael was killed by raiders. He held his dog after slaughtering all the raiders, the dog bleeding out in his arms. Ahab felt some tears rolling down his face, now projecting his anger for the raiders towards the wolves. “You shalt not ent'r our domain foul beasts, i shall smith thee and sendeth thy hides to the devil’s pit. ”

---

Benning had seen trees and the like before. Granted, it had been a couple centuries since he had last seen them, but even as they mutated to grow large and bioluminescent, it was a healthy sign for life. The fallout from the Great War had a completely different effect here, and Benning was all for it. If it wasn’t for the fact they were headed into less and less familiar territory, even for the NCR, he would have called it peaceful. A place where no harm could be done. IT was very photogenic. A straight highway of broken-down vehicles and eroded concrete surrounded lush vegetation. Had the road turned to the west just a bit more, at this time of day, their rag tag group’s silhouette could make for a phenomenal promotional poster.

Benning liked the group they had going. It was different, and he liked that. Compared to the dime a dozen NCR soldiers he treated; this was a nice change of pace. After spending years staring at the same transport vessel wall slowly watching it rust any time anything new took place, it was a thrilling experience. He was satisfied working with the NCR, but he had his fair share of complaints. Of course, being a robot made it hard to bring these feeling across. If he wanted to practice medicine, the NCR was the only way. His unwanted other half made it hard for him to find employment in more private hospitals which in this day and age were few and far in-between. This chance to explore the wilderness and still be of use to those around him was the change he needed this time around. No longer in the desert, it was easier keeping the sand out of his joints.

It was oddly reassuring to be with a couple super mutants and an engineer. Their presence alone would hopefully have enough intimidation to stop the lesser thugs from accosting them. Even though they had more than a few odd looks from the various settlers along their route. Benning really couldn't blame them since super mutants not killing anything that breaths were very rare. For the most part, communication in Klamath was easy. Supplied up with various drugs and stimpaks, Benning was prepared. Enough medicine between him and Ahab plus enough fire power between everyone else, this trip was looking like it would go without a hitch. But this is the wasteland. As beautiful as it is at the moment, anything can happen, so it’s best to be prepared.

Once they made it to a former rest area, they had set up a camp. With so few buildings, it wasn’t much better than sitting out in the middle of the woods with only a camp fire and those on their bedrolls. For a bit there, Benning had decided to remain active with Darya. He was good to go for several more days before he would need to rest of any sort. Besides, when the night fell, the glow of the leaves gave everything a supernatural effect. Just bright enough to distinguish, but dark enough that the shade of the spaces between the trunks left them alone in an otherwise black abyss.

Something grabbed his attention as one of his eye stalks turned to face movement coming through the trees. He focused barely making out the outline of some large beast quickly darting back and forth. Then another one. Dozens if not more of the creatures were hastily surrounding them. He turned back towards the camp when Darya called out. It was as he feared. It looks like they would be a pack of wolves next meal. It was at times like this where Benning felt a need to initiate combat, but he simply could not. NO matter. He harkened back toward the days of Anchorage. He trusted the skill of those traveling with them. Preparing a stimpak syringe, Benning was ready. Battle was not without harm and this way he lean it towards his colleagues.

Ever since taking this job...and such a strange one it is...she'd been wary of the others. Institute guidelines said she should avoid taking on side missions if she could help it. And mostly she has. Artorias has been on her long distance mission for quite some time now and it's taken her from one end of the former United States to the other. But for whatever reason she signed up and had been traveling with this group for a short bit now. Learning and watching and helping in what little way she felt she could.

They had bedded down that night beside the road. Her wrapped up in her institute provided silver thermal blanket. With the rock hard but comfortable pillow that came with it. She slept but a little blue, charcoal grey and black drone hovered above her. And immediately started to beep and whir waking it's mistress, or trying too and it eventually does when someone else cries out, "We're being attacked!" Artoria blinks awake the internal light of her helmet snapping on, letting her see out of the dome. The drone bobs and in a robotic tinny voice asks, "Permission to engage?" It beeps then again asks, "Permission to engage?" Artoria grapples for her Plasma Defender on her belt, "Permission granted!" She shouts, as she gets too her feet.

The little drone beeps a 12.7 smg muzzle clicking out of a port on the side of it, and beginning to pepper one of the beasts with fire. Causing it to howl and jerk. Artoria gets to her feet and the whirr of the plasma weapon ends with a Blyt! as a blue-green blast of heated matter spits out and burns into the beast her drone was firing on. She gets to her feet finally and tries to move into a position where she won't be exposed, "Fascinating. They are quite large for a canine species are they not? Mutation? Yes that would be it. Drone, access side note dictation. Record from main camera. The Board may want information on this as well." This all said as she fired her Plasma Defender again, causing one of the beasts to jump back and away with a yelp.

𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙼𝙸𝚂𝚂𝙸𝙾𝙽: 𝓪 𝓭𝓪𝓶𝓮 𝓷𝓪𝓶𝓮𝓭 𝓛𝓲𝓵𝓲𝓽𝓱
𝚆𝙴𝚂𝚃𝙴𝚁𝙽 𝙾𝚁𝙴𝙶𝙾𝙽, 𝙸-𝟻, 𝙽𝙾𝚁𝚃𝙷𝙴𝚁𝙽 𝙵𝚁𝙾𝙽𝚃𝙸𝙴𝚁
𝙹𝚄𝙽𝙴 𝟷𝟼𝚃𝙷 𝟸𝟸𝟾𝟺
𝙷𝙰𝙻𝙵-𝙰𝚂𝙻𝙴𝙴𝙿; 𝙵𝚄𝙻𝙻-𝙿𝙸𝚂𝚂𝙴𝙳

The nightkin kept up with the rest of the team, but he made sure to keep some distance. As all with his affliction the mere thought of being seen made a gag reflex otherwise atrophied in supermutants come to the fore. The Master did not intend for him to be seen, thus he shouldn't. The fact that this was so difficult for humans to comprehend was one of many indicators that truly their day was bygone. They set up strange moral systems, and yet they so blatantly refused to abide by any of them in a real way. Even now looking between the charges he was supposed to protect he could only see faces of what pre-war religions described as sin. He was comforted to know that even if he didn't tear them limb from limb following the end of his contract, they would die alone, pathetic as all humans would by virtue of their mortality.

Gail would make sure to nevertheless announce his presence to the company in the form of markings left ahead of their trail warning of all sorts of dangers like radroach infestations or sinkholes by scrawling on things like tree stumps or decrepit billboards. The supermutant wondered if he had ever been here and simply forgotten about it by virtue of the state of his mind. It didn't look familiar, but he also found himself feeling comfortable in traversing an apparently alien landscape. The new wildlife was almost soothing, it certainly had a far less aggressive appearance than the radscorpions and deathclaws that seemed to always be staring at him even when he was far off.

He didn't really need much rest, and thus when the humans went to rest he didn't bother with such. He found his enjoyment to be simply in exploring what was around, his frame demanding little in the way of respite. Besides, the thought of sticking with all of those eyes only harkened back to the threat that they could glare upon him.

Scouting ahead around the environs of the campsite, he was returning back to his motley crew of colleagues only to find that they were beset by wolves. They were large, very large to say the least and he had no doubt they would be a match for radscorpions and other elements of fearsome fauna within the wastelands he had been in before. Worse yet, these were animals that operated as a pack, a team, and hence removed one of the key advantages that humanoids had over creatures of the wasteland. He thrust himself upon one from behind, the creature not hearing, seeing, or even smelling him after he had made sure to cover himself with local dusts as the Master's army had trained him. Twisting the beast's head with such violence, the party would simply see a disturbance in the air before the head of one of the wolves spun in the air and fell to the ground. He punched through the eye of another to squash the brain, only to turn his head to look upon the humans for a quick status update.

He noticed that they had made a mockery of the rather severe situation, some even outright refusing to engage in the fight themselves. He was a mercenary here to fight, but if they thought a fight was not warrented then he had no reason to provide one. Removing his fist from the skull of one of the monsters he skulked off into the shadows once more, wiping off the blood upon his hands and arms.

Darya zeroed in on a wolf at the edge of clearing and fired. She was rewarded with the trees being painted red. They had taken down a good number of the wolves already, with help of a few mutants and a drone. But even more lingered just beyond the tree line, gazing at the party with their many eyes. She heard Jack make a few quips about their enemy. Darya wondered if she could keep those quips going while their throats were being torn out. Despite the diversity of their skills, they were outnumbered. And bad. Darya's brief pondering was violently interrupted by one of the wolves charging her flank. How could something that big move that damn fast? She turned to shoot it but knew she would be able to bring her rifle up in time. The wolf's jaws were already upon her.

She raised her robotic left arm just in time for the beast to clamp its jaws down on it and send them both tumbling across the campground. It was all Darya could do to keep the monster from flinging around like a ragdoll. It's breath was rancid with a tinge of acidity, as if it exhaled radiation instead of carbon dioxide. Darya scrabbled at her thigh for her smg, finally finding it's handle and ripping it out of the holster. She jammed the barrel into the wolf's neck and pulled the trigger. A shower of blood shot out the other side and the beast's vicious growling turned into a pained gurgle and then silence as it collapsed on top of Darya. The woman could feel it's blood soaking into her clothes.

"I'm too old for this." she realized out loud before shoving the corpse off her with great effort. Darya struggled to her feet and scooped up her rifle. There was still too many of them. Then a loud rumble cut through the forest. Darya looked to the north and her heart dropped into her stomach. A six eyed behemoth stalked out of the woods, covered in bristly gray fur and scars. It was at least as big as a small pick up truck and its teeth had to have been as long as Darya's forearm.

"That's the alpha! We need to kill that fucking thing if we're gonna get out of this alive!!" Darya shouted to the others as she scoped in on the monster.

@psych0pomp @Su

AHAB



Western Oregon, I-5, Northern Frontier
June 16th, 2284
Mid-Evening

Ahab saw the wolves coming closer towards the group, firing a couple of more shots from his pistol into the hell hounds surrounding them. He stayed close towards his human companions, even though he was medically trained he felt he was not as good as Dr. Stanko or Dr. Honor. His mind was trying to drown out the yelps and whines of the wolves he was shooting at. His mind was still replaying the deaths of his pups and companions. One of the wolves came to the side of Ahab, jumping up and bitting onto the mutant’s arm. “Alas thee foul beast, thy biteth is nothing but a mosquito to me.” The large mutant placed the muzzle of the pistol to the temple of the wolf, firing a couple of shots watching the animal drop to the ground with a soft thud. There was blood leaking down his arm, which only meant that the wolves would be coming for him.

Aiming his gun towards the wolves that were coming towards his human companions, he was going to protect them to the best of his abilities. His eyes scanning the area around them, he could see more wolves coming towards the group. “Cometh, receiveth on thy feet and square with the fury of a thousand suns.” Addressing Jack waving her over towards the battle. Thinking perhaps she would need something to wake her up, get her more involved in the battle.

Being commanded to take out the alpha wolf, Ahab turned his attention towards the scary-looking animal. “Nay longeth'r shall thee haunteth the dreams of weary traveleth'rs. I sendeth thee to the depth of hell, in the nameth of god.” Putting away his pistol and pulling out his harpoon gun, at that moment he truly felt like Captain Ahab. Aiming his harpoon gun, he carefully aimed and hoped to fire his harpoon into the head of the Alpha wolf.

Thomas "Judas" Kelly
Western Oregon, Campground off of I-5, Northern Frontier

They were really in the shit now. Thomas felt the almost comfortably familiar feeling of his body being flooded with adrenaline. His hands were shaking ever so slightly even with all his years of experience and he was having to take an extra split second before shots to make sure they were on point. Forcing himself not to run purely on instinct he calmed his nerves and shot down another beast, blasting holes through its eyes and neck. At the same time to his left one of the things threw itself onto Dr. Sadegi, seeming to try with all its might to tear out her throat. Before he could even reposition himself to open fire on the thing the deadly woman had taken care of it herself, silencing and throwing the heavy creature off of her with a strength and speed Thomas found faintly surprising.

“Don’t go messin’ with older folk livin’ lives where most die young.” He quoted his mother quietly, a subtle smirk pulling at the edge of his mouth even as he fired his weapon at yet another freakishly fast moving creature.

Around him his teammates were taking care of themselves. Something that he was only really noticing in the periphery. In most circumstances more cohesive squad tactics would have been massively beneficial to them, but the size and speed of the beasts along with the layout of the landscape they found themselves in made most tactics he could think of redundant. It’s not like they could trick the beasts into a choke point out in the open like this. Best they could do was keep the circle tight and try to cover each other. He just hoped everyone could survive on the merit of their own wits until they saw their way through it. This shit was a real trial by fire.

Behind him Dr. Sadeghi called out the alpha of the beasts, a creature that the sight of sent a shiver through Thomas even through the adrenaline. He leveled the Glock 29 at the huge creature and let off careful, deliberately placed shots. Squeezing thrice, he opened gaping wounds. One in its neck and two in its upper left leg, hoping against hope to slow it down a bit so they could better maneuver against it and make it bleed out. The thing, blood soaking its gray, scarred form let out a growl loud enough that Thomas heard it even at the distance, his arm hairs standing on end as it sprinted forward, just barely having a limp to it’s gait.

“Ah, fuck that!” He grumbled under his breath, slowly backing up towards the super mutant he’d clocked behind him. If that beast closed distance, which it almost certainly would with the speed it possessed, he needed to be next to someone who had a chance to survive for more than a couple of seconds in close quarters with the thing. That sure as shit wasn’t him.

Western Oregon, I-5, Northern Frontier
June 16th, 2284
Evening

God Dammit more wolves appeared and Alexis's legs already hurt. A scratch here and there but her legs were the problem. She was never meant to fight again after her accident.
Looking towards Darya, she shouted while laughing " Doc! I don't like this trip already. " her face was of agony combined with something else, a release. Finally she was doing what she was supposed to do, kill, maim, destroy .
All of her feelings got even more riled up when she saw the nightkin just doing nothing, staying away from the fight.

She took a few pot shots at some of the wolves to get their attention and as soon as they started closing in on them, she directed them towards the nightkin. A bullet was let loose towards his feet to remind him of the situation they were in.

Soon the doctor singled out the alpha. A huge creature, muscles out with a wild look in its eyes. A true wasteland horror. One more reason to get everyone involved in the fight.

" Oi! Everyone, I don't give a flying fuck who you think you are. Everyone has to fight! We kill that big thing and the others will run away. You, pointing towards Judas, take that new rifle of yours and keep that thing busy!

Supermutants, both of you, close in while it's attention is grabbed by the Doc and the others. " shouted Alexis as she positioned herself in the middle of the group, in order for everyone to hear her.

𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙼𝙸𝚂𝚂𝙸𝙾𝙽: 𝓪 𝓭𝓪𝓶𝓮 𝓷𝓪𝓶𝓮𝓭 𝓛𝓲𝓵𝓲𝓽𝓱
𝚆𝙴𝚂𝚃𝙴𝚁𝙽 𝙾𝚁𝙴𝙶𝙾𝙽, 𝙸-𝟻, 𝙽𝙾𝚁𝚃𝙷𝙴𝚁𝙽 𝙵𝚁𝙾𝙽𝚃𝙸𝙴𝚁
𝙹𝚄𝙽𝙴 𝟷𝟼𝚃𝙷 𝟸𝟸𝟾𝟺
𝙷𝙰𝙻𝙵-𝙰𝚂𝙻𝙴𝙴𝙿; 𝙵𝚄𝙻𝙻-𝙿𝙸𝚂𝚂𝙴𝙳

Artoria Stanko

Still on the I-5

Artoria turns in place, her little drone buzzing above her head. Holding her Plasma Defender out in front of her. They'd peppered one other wolf since the fight started. That makes two for her and her drone. She gulps looking around. And it's clear she's not some kind of battle hardened warrior. As her eyes are round as dinner plates figuratively, her hands shake with adrenaline. And even her drone beeps, "Warning, high levels of tension, stress and adrenaline. Recommend user: Artoria Stanko. Calm down. Slow, deep breathes. Repeat, slow, deep breathes." Artoria gulps and tries to get her slightly rapid breathing under control, "Thank you Drone." she says. She licks her lips and fires another bolt of blue-white plasma at a retreating wolf. She for a moment or two felt like she could have this under control. Even with them being out numbered.

And then like a lightning bolt another form appears. Her drone began to squeak and caterwaul, "Alert! Alert! Major threat detected! Suggest priority target! Permission to engage!" Artoria turned and gasped. Looking at the huge beast, "By The Director's beard..." And then her mind switched over, "Something like this...could only be borne through massive mutation. It can't be a normal strain of canis lupus anymore, not something that big. Drone take a picture just in cast, then concentrate fire!" Meanwhile she fumbled and finally got a bearing, her plasma pistol whining as it charged up for another shot again. Her eye and the muzzle of her weapon trained on the alpha wolf, "Please work..." she whispered, unsure as what to do in this situation.

---

“Ms. Sadeghi!” spoke Benning suddenly. He was practically next to her but he couldn’t do anything to fend off the wolf’s charge. Surely with such brute strength and speed, Darya would have taken a beating. Seeing it clamp down on her arm, he wasn’t sure if he could save it. Except he didn’t need to. Once the wolf had slumped over, he noticed sparks, not blood coming from her arm. It makes sense now. It was artificial, not covered in some sort of metallic armor, it was actual armor. The constant need to keep it clean made much more sense now. Actually, he surprised himself he didn’t notice sooner. He was probably distracted with his other compatriots that it never occurred to him. But that was neither here nor there. A battle was still going, and an Alpha wolf had made itself known.

In the midst of the battle, Benning still hurried next to the dust covered doctor. While she was able to dispatch her assailant, the tumble they took was anything by harmless. With near three hundred pounds of pure muscle just moments ago clamping down on Darya, it was a relief that she hadn’t suffered any more damage. With a quick stimpak, Darya should be tied over for the time being, but his job was not done. Wolves were charging in and taking swipes at everyone else, trying to pick them off probably.

The alpha wolf Darya pointed out seemed to now be facing Thomas. Larger than the others, dark grey fur, it exhaled the essence of the wasteland with each breath. With muscular prowess at on every square inch of this beast, it certainly was imposing. It was definitely something that should not be messed with. Unfortunately, Thomas seems to have volunteered to be first. A couple direct hits, but not enough to take it down. With its attention off od Darya and him, he quickly scanned the others in battle. The mutants were handling themselves fine. Well at least one of them, Benning did not know where Gail had moved to. The drone and its master were doing fine. Alexis on the other hand, not so much. Her body posture and facial expressions, not so much. It was probably a while since he last seen her inject herself with something.

Benning made his way next to Alexis. “I wish I could be of help, but I am incapable of harming another living being. Perhaps if you allow me administer some medication, you can dispatch these beasts before any more harm is done.” Said Benning. Alexis had just finished giving orders, but it seemed to have fell on deaf ears. He had prepared a small dose of Med X, a pain reliever. Theoretically, that could help ease the pressure on her legs, so that she could put all of her attention on the wolves, especially the alpha. Sometimes, it bothered him he could not prime his weapon. He couldn’t tell if that sentiment was because of the other or not. It didn’t matter, so for now Benning had bandages prepared in another of his appendages just in case.

Darya watched as Benning buzzed over and stuck her in a matter of moments. The aches in her joints and a the burn of a scrape here and there subsided. It was nice but unneeded. She made a mental note to go over his treatment parameters later. The doctor fired a round at the great beast, who was now being peppered on all sides by the group. Slim trails of crimson began to slide down its face and sides as it roared in frustration. After a few more moments, it let out a chilling howl. The sound reverberated through the entire campground as if it was a gigantic instrument. The smaller wolves howled in response, adding the piercing quality of their ghostly song. Darya blinked and they were gone. She glanced a bushy tail disappearing behind a tree. They had fled. It almost seemed to good to be true. The party waited a few moments with baited breath, expecting the beasts to attack from a different angle. But nothing.

Darya sighed and lowered her rifle, taking stock of the camp. The ground was ripped up and any park benches or tables had been destroyed in the chaos. But there seemed to be no injuries or at the very least minor ones. She gave a grim chuckle.

"Not bad team, if you're injured come see me. If not, get some rest. We leave at first light tomorrow."

Darya saw to those who were injured with Benning's help and laid down on her sleeping mat. 'Sammy would have most certainly enjoyed this place', she thought with a wry grin before sleep overtook her.

The next morning the party packed their things and set off once again on the I-5. The sun had barely cleared the horizon by the time they began picking their way past burnt out cars and the skeletons of those unlucky enough to be caught outside of a vault. Despite their excitement from the previous night, the I-5 was as quiet as ever. Eerily so. Traveling in the republic ensured you'd always be harassed by geckos, scorpions, and raiders. Sometimes all three at once. But up here any wildlife they saw kept their distance. Aside from the wolves, of course. It was noon when they finally stopped, the ruins of a town about a mile ahead. Darya looked at her map. The NCR scouts didn't annotate any ruins on the way to Medford. She scowled.

"Hey, Gail." Darya called over her shoulder, "Do you think you can scout out these ruins? I want to know what I'm walking into."

@Andreyich

Walking off from the carnage, Gail stopped by a small bush to wipe his hands of the blood. He turned his head a little to see someone shooting where he had been, poking his head up yet further to see it was the lady that for some reason thought she was the leader here. He would remember this of course. It had been others who had at first refused to do anything, and yet it seemed he was the one that was the recipient of ill-will. Not that this was particularly surprising to the Nightkin. Supermutants always were the recipients of inexplicable hatred, which in turn humans always expressed in the most peculiar of ways. Truly, they were a suffering people to live such short lives that they could not see the folly of their behaviour. Musing on such things he wandered off into the wilderness, forgetting the entirety of his night's adventures by the time he returned to the party in the morning.

---

Gail returned to the camp just as the sun started to once more arise, picking out pieces of radroach from the end of his rebar club. He didn't exactly know how they ended up there, but he supposed the feeling of fullness he had probably had some accounting to do for it. Briefly he worried about food poisoning having likely eaten this meal uncooked, until he lucid part of his mind reminded the rest of it that such things were no longer the worry of his splendid form.

The mutant soon after spotted himself in a reflection of dew upon leaves, prompting him to start obsessively picking out hairs upon his head that were too long, a trait acquired some decades after the obsessive stealth boy use. That very soon brought him to another activity, as the smell of falling hairs reminded him that he had acquired new smells to worsen his ability to move concealed. As such, he began bringing his fist down to grab handfuls of dust, rub it across himself, and repeat the cycle until he could hardly feel his own sent when bringing his elbow to his nose.

The many humans started waking up just as Gail finished his rituals, and thus he wandered over a little closer to observe them. Most pecuiliar to him was the supermutant in the group. He had an obsession almost as nightkin, and yet he lacked the characteristic blue skin, invisibility. The robot briefly brought him a distant memory of his life as a human when he shifted his eyes to it, and thus the nightkin shook his head to distract himself from the matter.

They packed up, and went on yet another walk. As always he traveled some distance from the group, making sure that there were no more bits of fauna that were hungry and would go after the little humans. Of course, he made sure every five minutes or so to run back to them, and make sure they had not fallen into some sort of infighting that would need a clobbering to resolve. Satisfied, this cycle would continue until at some point he heard Darya call out for him on one of his return trips. He took a few long strides to make sure he was in earshot when he replied to her, revealing himself with the characteristic vwumpsh of a stealth-boy turning off a meter or two behind her. "Yes. Wait here. Do you have a flare?" he requested, continuing with "Something for a signal of sorts if it is unsafe to stay here, and time to flee." Regardless of if he received such a means for a signal or not, he would once more activate his stealth boy and run off towards the town.

@Su @Randomness @Andreyich

AHAB



Western Oregon, I-5, Northern Frontier
June 16th, 2284
Mid-Evening

Ahab felt stupid not getting that Jack was joking, he surmised that she was not going to just let her teammates be brutalized by wolves while she slept. His attention focusing on the Alpha and the other wolves closing in on their position. “Stayeth closeth to me." Quickly using his body to protect Thomas from the incoming droves of wolves. One of the wolves biting and hanging onto his arm. Cursing under his breath, he used both of his hands to rip its jaw off. Changing out his sledgehammer to use his pistol firing at the wolves coming towards the human companions. There were multiple bites on his arms and legs, something he would need Dr. Benning to look at afterward. Trying to huddle Thomas, Jack, and Daya close towards himself, Dr. Benning, and Stanko. His attention turned back towards the Alpha, starting to shot the beast in the head.

Watching the wolves howling in the air, the super mutant readied his weapon in case they plan to rush the group. However they escaped into the bushes, he wanted to chase after them but Daya would not want to lose him. “Doctor, I will need some medical assistance.” addressing Benning while sticking himself with some stimpacks. His eyes peering over towards Gail who conveniently came back, he wanted to make some sort of snide comment but didn’t want to anger the psychotic mutant. Quickly collecting his harpoons after he was patched up, walking with the group down the highway.

Looking over towards the ruins of the town, a part of him was reminded of the town of Broken Hill. A sad look came onto his face but shaking off this feeling by speaking with Daya. “Misseth Daya, wouldst thee liketh me to assisteth Mr. Gail?”

After the woman shook her head, Gail shrugged, and ran off to the mystery city. A supermutant was far faster than a human being even when making sure to be keeping quiet, but it was still some distance to cover. Back in the day the Master's Army had used steam-trucks, ingenious retrofitted vehicles that had now gone out of use despite the amount that were even now still sitting there in the Necropolis. But now it was purely Gail's own burden to get there. Looking up, he noted a sign, Ashland.

It was a shithole, despite the fact somebody had tried to decorate the place such that this fact would be hidden. Despite everything, he didn't see very many people, at least not from outside of the place. He hopped a few meters closer to a stone upon which he could stabilize his rifle and examined it. There was movement, but he would have to get a lot closer to inspect the place. He was almost about to run closer, until looking up into the sky he found that he had already been here some time.

Thus he stood, and sprinted back. Somewhere around half of the journey's path he ignored stealth, kicking up a dust cloud with his great big mutant feet thus announcing his arrival to the team. Again he deactivated the stealthboy with the noise ever more common to the group. "Movement in City. Called Ashland. Looked... happy, but that's gone. Probably raiders, or wildlife in there."

---

Just as Benning finished with what he was doing, one of his eye stalks turned to follow the sound of a howl. The alpha beast charged towards the squishy man known as Thomas. Luckily for him, if Thomas had any plans to avoid the mountain of muscle, he did not have need to enact any of them. Ahab had managed to intercept the wolf mid dash and used his size as a shield, letting the sharp teeth penetrate his thick skin rather than that of the human’s. Ahab didn’t just take it, he fought back with the strength of several wolves, ripping the jaw off one.

Benning immediately made course for Thomas and Ahab. The group was now huddling together and everyone were firing lead and lasers into the beast. Eventually, it was too much for the wolf, and it turned tail and fled back into the abyss which it came, the others who were significantly less bloody than their comrades followed. Once the tree line was empty of the sharp mouthed canines, the party started to rest and recuperate. Benning could not see Gail, and did feel some concern he might have been ambushed by the pack, but he could not dwell on it long. Ahab had been injured. Several large dashes formed semicircular impressions over Ahab’s arms and legs and would need treatment.

“Of course, Mr. Ahab.” Benning started to wrap the wounds with some bandages, and assessed whether the need for medication was necessary. It was hard to tell whether the medications would even work on a super mutant, but he kept these thoughts to himself. As he worked, one of the eye stalks looked up to Ahab. “If I am told correctly, you wish to become a medical provider. While I was not designed to teach medicine, I think I might be able to help you hone your skill. In fact, I think we can help each other so I may learn more about super mutant physiology.” Ahab could read and that already put him miles ahead of any other super mutant with remotely the same level of compassion Ahab had when it came to more intellectual professions.

After a few moments of cleaning and wrapping the wounds, Benning put his tools away. “Alright. Most of the wounds you received were only superficial damage. You could probably thank your bulk for that. I’ve cleaned out and stitched the deeper wounds. By human standards these should heal within a week or two. If damage persists, I have potent medications which may help the healing process work a little faster.” Benning gave Ahab a pat on the shoulder with his arm and went to the others who may have been injured and see to what needs they may have.

Once they were back on the road it was eerily quiet. Gail returned, so no one was lost to any wildlife. It was almost like there wasn’t any. Not that Benning complained about it. An easy trip would be a nice change of pace. Besides, the events of last night already cut everyone’s sleep short. If anyone was only half awake, Benning did not want to be in the middle of that gun fight. As they walked, Darya lectured Benning on his use of stimpaks. He apologized, but corrected her saying that when he was at Anchorage, there was need to keep moving, keeping everyone alive and healthy, and if he had spent the time to access everyone under fire, several would be dead by the time he got to them. That was unacceptable. He conceded that in this day and age, he should be thriftier with his medications. It’s not as easy to restock them as it once was. He also commended that if a 400-pound wolf tackling her several yards across the camp ground did not break any bones, then she was made of some pretty tough stuff.

The group stopped a fair distance away from the ruins of a town of some kind. Benning looked down towards them, but even when magnified, he didn’t see anything noteworthy. If it was inhabited, be it monsters or man, they were probably deeper inside the collection of barely habitable constructs. Gail had left to scout. After some time, he returned. The town sounds like it was attacked and perhaps taken over. If there were raiders in there, He wondered if the group would clear it out and make a path, or would find another path around. It looked like it was an end for easy straight path forward for now.