Every breath I took was a labored and desperate as I tried to pull oxygen from the miasmic sludge that clung to it like a cancer. It filled my chest readily, my throat burning. Fire burning through my lungs, as hot tar seeped into the wounds. My skin roiled, the moisture and life being pulled from it like tanned hide being drawn ready to crack, blister. My eyes stung, blurring and burning as tears filled my vision, feeling ready to melt and slough off of me like wax.

The pain was intolerable, robbing me of my senses for the precious seconds it would've taken to kill me.

Were it not for an involuntary reflex, it probably would have.

My leg kicked the ground, pushing me backwards and causing me to stumble. I landed on my back just outside the cloud, having just enough presence of self to scramble across the terrace away from it. A racking cough seized me as I tried to suck down the villa's 'cleaner' air. I pried off my security helmet as I coughed out gobs of rust colored slime, searing my throat and making my mouth taste coppery. The feeling was nauseating, clinging to my throat like layers of paint. Refusing to peel off, congesting everything.

Bile followed not long after, finally forcing the rest out.

I stayed there for a moment, shaking with adrenaline as I recollected myself.

The trip back to the fountain was more eventful than the one away from it. For one, I had Dog with me, who was far easier to deal with than God had been. For two, the 'inhabitants' had found us. But, even after his initial… 'meal', Dog just continued tearing his way through everything. If it weren't for the fact I wanted to avoid being close to the 'inhabitants' again, I'd probably have been more horrified than I was. My first brush with them had been more than enough to teach me how dangerous they were. If the fastest way to side-step them right then was to let Dog eat, I'd let him cut to the front of the buffet line.

As soon as we were back to the fountain, and Dog was less inclined to try and 'nom' me, I spent a few minutes talking with him. Made sure he wasn't going to be a problem. After that, I let God back out, keeping my word as promised. I didn't trust him, just like he didn't trust me, but I at least knew he wasn't going to try and take a bite out of me.

After letting God out, I contacted Elijah again through the fountain's hologram. As long as I was able, I was going to make this process feel like he was pulling teeth. Make sure he had input on every little thing I did. He wanted subservience; I'd make sure he choked on it until I knew what my limits were. He was probably aware of that, since he had me go for collar 16. The one in the complete opposite direction I'd just come from. Asshole.

After letting God out a second time and I started down the eastern street, looking to find our next partner in crime, along with whatever else the Madre was waiting to throw at me. A couple yards in, past some graffiti reading "the Madre's mine, mine, mine!" I hit a split. The path forked off to the north and south, with the main path continuing east. The signage said that the Residential district lay to the south, while a place called 'Salida del Sol', continued down the eastern path. I could hear more 'inhabitants' further down it, breath rasping, feet scraping the ground.

Fortunately, the marker had me heading south into the Residential district.

For a given amount of fortune, anyway.

The Residential district was a giant maze, littered with enough traps to run a reasonable re-enactment of Boulder City. Just stepping into the place I nearly lost a leg on a landmine. Hardly 20 feet after that I stepped on a pressure plate and nearly lost a few ribs to a blast of buckshot. Less than 10 feet after that I snapped a trip wire and had to duck a grenade bouquet. Threw myself down a flight of stairs just to avoid the blast.

I was hardly out of the entrance and the place had already proven to be more dangerous than the police station.

That wasn't even counting the 'inhabitants' stalking the place. The traps were probably set as much for them as they were for schmucks like me.

The 'inhabitants' stalking the residential district were larger than the one I'd fought outside the police station. They weren't any slower for it though, still moving with the same loping, jerky stride as the one I'd fought. Most of them were wielding different weapons as well. Odd, gauntlet contraptions that looked like the bastardized children of a powerfist and a bear trap. A bear trap fist, I guess. As if I didn't have enough reason to try and avoid them.

Making it worse, I watched most of them avoid the traps, teaching me two things I hadn't known. One was where the traps were, so I could avoid them myself. The other was that, they were smart enough to look for booby traps.

They weren't just scary, nigh-unkillable monsters. They were scary intelligent, nigh-unkillable monsters.

Just one more reason to avoid them.

It was touch and go trying to get around them, but I managed to cut through some of the still intact villa apartments. Most of them were connected by terraces on the second story. The construction was showing its age, and I was worried it'd collapse at a moment's notice. It already had in some spots. But it held well enough, and I found my way through the apartments to another portion of the district.

Elijah had mentioned that the cloud that hung over the entire Villa wasn't even. There were denser pockets of it that dotted the place, being lethal to step into for too long.

The alley the apartments led me out to was one such place. The cloud already dyed the Villa in shades of crimson and purple, but you could see the difference. Thick, crimson fog hung in the air like stagnant fixtures, only shifting with the occasional whisper of wind. The apartment's main entrance had stairs that lead down into the alley, right in the direction I was headed. Right into the cloud.

I wasn't crazy enough to use them.

So I took the balcony out of the apartment, keeping to the terrace. Kept out of the thick of the cloud. There were a few planks I could use to cut over to another apartment across the alley, at the top of another stair case. But before I went for it, I felt like checking to see if the rest of the apartments were accessible. I didn't have time to stop and loot supplies yet. Knowing what places were worth coming back to check was certainly on the table though. So I walked the length of the terrace, checking the doors as I went, seeing if any were unlocked and what kind of effort I was going to need to put into searching later.

That was when the mistake happened.

I had assumed the cloud was isolated to the alleyway. It hadn't occurred to me that I might have just not run into any up on my level yet.

I hadn't realized I was standing in the thick of it until I was already a few feet, and lung-fulls, in. I could now see what Elijah meant by the denser pockets being fatal. Had I been even a few seconds slower, I'd probably have collapsed in it. That'd be the end of that.

I wiped the bile and spit from my mouth, pulling myself together enough to stand again. As I pulled my security helmet back on, I checked the terrace in front of me. The cloud was hardly visible, an easy enough mistake to make. But as I looked at it, I noticed the motion of it. Billowing down and out, away from the wall. My eyes followed the motion upwards, back to the wall. Coming to rest on a vent, near the roof of the terrace. It was wedged right up against the roof, just the right spot you'd be liable to miss it otherwise. A very deliberate location.

Elijah hadn't said where the cloud came from. Maybe he'd tell me if I asked nicely. It shouldn't have surprised me that it was probably one more man-made catastrophe of the wasteland. Though it did, as I'd never seen anything else like it. I had to wonder just why the hell someone would commission something like that for a pre-war casino. If Elijah was right, nothing could stop it or slow it down. It was a weapon almost as dangerous as any nuke. Far more devious than one as well.

Having pulled myself together, I walked back to the planks crossing the alley. I didn't have much fear of crossing them. They were wide and strong enough I could practically jump on them. Not that I tried, anyway.

The opposite side had been booby trapped, another bouquet waiting for me. But I'd learned to be cautious by that point. I sidestepped them, making a mental note to watch out for them later. I did a quick sweep of the apartment as I went through it, not much of value aside from some .357 rounds. Good for the revolver I picked up from the police station. Didn't know how effective it would be though. I'd seen what it'd taken for me to get rid of even one of them. I wasn't sure how much good a magnum would do.

The apartment ran out onto another terrace overlooking the far end of the alley. A portion of the railing had been busted out haphazardly, leaving a gap. My way forward, unfortunately. The only other option was to go back to the stairs and try to walk through the cloud. As it stood, the spot where the railing was broken sat right at the edge of the denser pocket. Once I was down, I wasn't sure how I was going to get back up on the return trip. But that was a problem for later. A more immediate problem presented itself, however.

I could hear rasping.

The Terrace didn't quite reach to the alley's edge. There was still a fair bit of wall obscuring what I was throwing myself into. But I could hear it, the 'inhabitants' tell-tale rasping was echoing out into the alley from somewhere just around the corner. Perhaps lying in ambush for me?

I stayed at the edge of the terrace for a moment, deciding on what to do, as I didn't want to fight if I could avoid it. These things lacked agility, but they were a lot stronger and hardier for it. If they were as clever as I was assuming they were too, it definitely wasn't worth the risk. Looking at the alley, I took note of an overhang in the adjoined buildings, supported by brick columns, widening the alley by some small margin. I could try running from it, using the extra space to dodge around it. As long as I stayed out of the cloud, it should work. But how far would I have to go to lose it. Would I even be able to?

There was really only one way to find out, and I wasn't getting anywhere without taking a chance.

I made sure my revolver was loaded, and jumped off of the terrace. I touched down just outside the cloud, in the center of the alley.

Right on top of a pressure plate.

The mechanism depressed with a mechanical click, and I heard a metallic clattering behind me. I looked over my shoulder, and watched as a trio of grenades bounced out of the fog. Pins already pulled, fuses lit.

Five seconds.

I turned, back towards the alley ahead of me, away from the cloud. If I could get far enough away, I'd stand a decent chance of avoiding the shrapnel. But it was a stretch.

Especially because the 'inhabitant' was right in front of me.

Four seconds.

The monster lunged at me, bear trap fist flying towards my shoulder. I pivoted at the hip, letting the strike pass me. I gripped the inhabitant's shoulder and added to the blow's momentum.

The creature tried to round on me, but I followed through on the pass, pushing them past where I'd been standing.

Three seconds.

The inhabitant stumbled, staggering to a halt as I began to run. I didn't have time to get far enough away from the grenades. I needed something closer.

I dove for the alcove, scrambled across the groun-

An explosion rocked my world as something sharp and hot bit into my leg, a yelp of pain escaped me. The blast dragged me partially out from behind the pillar. But not far enough for the other two blasts to catch me.

Funny thing about grenades: Sometimes they have Five second fuses, sometimes they have Three. Then you get the ones that sit square in the middle somewhere.

The first one had been one of the outliers.

I groaned in pain, fighting the urge to curl up into a ball. I just wanted today to be over. I kept hold of myself, however, because I could feel the cloud biting at my wounded leg. One more thing to worry about.

I focused and looked down at my leg, half expecting to find it dangling by a few strands of muscle. Instead, I just found several large chunks of masonry embedded into the yellow jumpsuit. Though the cloth surrounding it was slowly growing crimson colored, which I was going to need to remedy quick.

The impact wasn't a direct one. Either a bit of ricochet, or some rubble swept up in the explosion. Count myself lucky. If I'd lost a leg here, that probably would've been the end. Again.

Two close calls in less than ten minutes. If I kept at it, I'd probably set some sort of record.

There was probably some proper procedure for handling shrapnel in your leg, but I didn't know it. So I just pulled all the shrapnel out of me that I could and hoped the stimpack would push out the rest. I needed to be more careful, these things were expensive in the Mojave, but near to nonexistent here.

I didn't quite wait for the ringing to leave my ears before staggering back to my feet. I stumbled out from behind my pillar, further down from where the grenades had been. I half expected the 'inhabitant' to still be standing, having somehow tanked the explosion.

I was half wrong.

The 'inhabitant' wasn't standing. That was actually impossible for them now, as the lower half of their body had been blown off. They were still alive, however. Its mangled torso twisted around until it finally saw me again, breath still rasping. Arms stiffly flipping it over, dragging them across the ground, innards dragging behind it in a messy trail.

It was moving about as slow as you could expect.

"… Sucks to be you pal."

I turned and continued to hobble down the alley, leaving the 'inhabitant' well behind me. Didn't take long before their rasping but was but a distant nightmare, and my stride lost its hitch.

The rest of the walk was smooth sailing. The alley opened out into another plaza, with even more paths to follow from. Fortunately, my compass showed me I was right where I needed to be.

The guy I was looking floor was on the second floor of one of the buildings ringing the plaza. He was easy enough to see from the ground, due in large part to the massive hole blown into the wall of the building. We both took note of each other and, instead of opening fire on me, he waved politely. At least he seemed closer to being on the same page with me than God was. Though I could hear him mumbling to himself about a tourist.

I found a staircase around the back of the building and climbed it. I entered into the building, and found a second staircase up to the top floor. Knowing where I'd seen him, I walked towards the front wall of the building, and opened a door into a small room. Sure enough, he was still there, sitting in an easy chair and staring out at the Villa through the hole in the wall.

He was a ghoul, dressed showily in a tuxedo that likely wouldn't have been out of place at the Ultra-Luxe. It was a bit tattered in places, and the stitching at the shoulders was torn slightly. Nothing a tailor couldn't fix, given a few minutes. He was bald, as was the standard for ghouls, with large patches of mottled skin peeling off his dome. They were striped oddly as well, running up over the top of his head. His nose was gone as well, another thing common of ghouls. Sitting just over the bridge of where it had once been, covering his eyes, were a pair of immaculate authority glasses, the dark tint helping to hide the fact his eyes were probably similarly ghoulish. Had to wonder how much harder they made it to see, what with the cloud hanging over everything.

He seemed relaxed enough where he was, feet kicked up on a milk crate and sipping something out of a tin can.

It raised some alarm bells, but what about this place hadn't?

The Ghoul craned his head my way, seeming to size me up for a moment. Then his radiation burned lips shifted. Cracked, waxy skin curling up into a smile. The kind you see on merchants who know they're selling you less than honest goods.

With his free hand, he motioned to the empty easy chair next to his. Not losing his smile as spoke. His voice carried an odd lilt I wasn't familiar with. "Have a seat, then we'll talk."

I looked down at the chair for a moment, then back up at the ghoul. He was still smiling coyly.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"You came all this way, the least I can do is let you rest your feet."

"…"

It was pretty obvious this was a trap. However, I was willing to play along.

I walked around front of the chair and eased into it. First chance I'd gotten to sit down since I'd woken up in this place. It was at least nice for a moment or two. Then I felt the cushion begin to conform oddly to the seat of my pants.

"The Sierra Madre." The Ghoul spoke, swilling back the rest of whatever was in that can of his "Mmm… beauty, isn't she. She the one who invited you?" He tossed the can aside, not really asking in search of an answer "Or maybe you didn't catch her voice on the radio. Woke up confused like some of the others… Least you're still breathing." He leaned towards me slightly, whispering conspiratorially "By the way, don't get up or make any sudden motions, no matter how uncomfortable that chair gets… the cushion's just for show."

"Mm, kinda figured that out. Wasn't really planning on it though, first chance I've had to sit all day." I grunted, keeping my cool "If I was a betting boy, I'd say… shaped charge?"

The ghoul chuckled "Sounds like someone's done a little blue-collar work in their life. Ma must be proud."

I felt an odd sting at the mention of my mother, but let it go. Whoever she was, she didn't have a bomb around both pairs of cheeks.

"Still…" The ghoul continued "Get up from that chair without my permission, I'll blast you ass so far through your head, it'll turn the moon cherry pie red."

An image passed through my head of it happening. Though rather than some graphic, gory image of my death, I got something different. A cartoon in the style of Vault-boy, getting a grenade rammed up his ass. The explosion causing his head to pop off like a mortar, flying to moon and popping like a bubble on impact.

It was neither realistic, nor good for me, but it somehow still got a chuckle out of me.

Which seemed to unnerve the ghoul, as he lowered his glasses, giving me a sidelong look with his pale, milky eyes.

"Don't mind me, just pictured it running through my head like an old cartoon."

"Hrm, a strange one…" The Ghoul shook his head, probably already drawing a conclusion on me "Let's keep this sweet and polite, finish our conversation without misunderstandings."

"… We're all ears." I said, motioning to my collar, then my ear "I'll save my questions for the end, please, continue."

The ghoul paused for a moment, then smiled again "-And that's what I've missed. A rapt audience." He leaned closer to me again "Just because I work in entertainment, doesn't mean I'm a moron." He leaned back. "I heard my necktie beeping, I know what that means- I'm part of this somehow. I want out of this contract. And if you're the one who put me in it, I'm not going to be too happy. So whatever's going on here, if you're part of all this? You're taking orders from me."

A looked at the ghoul for a moment. A part of me really wanted to mouth off to him, tell him that he was in about as much position to bargain as I was. Fact was, neither of us was getting a say in this. Elijah would probably kill us both if he thought it'd save him the trouble. However, even barring that outcome, Elijah wasn't the one that had plastic explosives molding to his ass crack. The ghoul didn't seem to grasp that killing me would mean the death of him too. Saying something incorrectly would kill him, sure. But it'd kill me a lot quicker.

So I bit my tongue, this time.

"I'll play along." I said, nodding "What do you want?"

The smile on the ghoul's face changed, almost feeling more genuine now, pleased. "Good, good- then we're in business. I may be a betting man, but I like it when the odds are in our favor. If you're here with who I you are, I'd rather have you on my side than his. An… ace in the hole."

I gave the ghoul a look, then motioned to my collar again. Either he wasn't getting that Elijah was listening, or he didn't care. Or maybe he was willing to bet Elijah needed us more than he was leading me to believe. Either way, it didn't deter the ghoul.

He continued to smile "You want to live; I want what's in the Madre. Real simple."

"… Well, I'm all in." I said "Assuming we can avoid getting our heads blown off."

"All right… partner."

He got up from his chair, stretching, then motioning that I could do the same. I stood up slowly, making sure the charge wasn't stuck to me.

"Gotta say, you made this easier than the first guy." I said "Much less drama."

"First guy?" the ghoul asked.

"Yeah, a nightkin I found in the police station. He's the one that dragged me here."

"Hmm, not sure I'm familiar with that one."

"You'll get to know him, believe me, we're all stuck here." I shrugged, taking a moment to peruse the room "… Speaking of, you got a name?"

"Hmm?"

"A name, the other guy has trouble with his, and I know mine more or less. Unless you'd prefer to be called partner until we get out of here, it'd probably help if I knew your name."

"… What?" The ghoul asked, astonished "You don't recognize this velvety voice?"

I looked at the ghoul, half expecting him to be joking. Except I couldn't actually tell if he was. If he was, he was good about hiding it. If he wasn't, he had a good poker face.

"Can't say I do, sorry."

"Hrm, used to open in Paris, now this… Perhaps you've heard my work then." The ghoul growled slightly "Ever heard 'I saw her yesterday'?"

"I saw her yesterday… sounds familiar, hum me a few bars?"

The ghoul fixed me with deadened stare. Perhaps I was trying his patience by being who I was. But he also couldn't paint the moon with my blood anymore, so I wasn't as inclined to be an ass kisser.

"… Please?" I asked.

"…"

The ghoul gave an aggrieved sigh, and cleared his throat. I was expecting something in the range of rusted nails dragged across stone or crumbling masonry.

What I got was pure professionalism.

The ghoul's voice changed. Losing the gravel and age it had carried. Sounding the same as any pre-recorded song I'd have heard on Radio New Vegas. Smooth, crystalline, and very appealing.

"You can bet, just as sure as you live." The ghoul sang "Something's gotta give, something's gotta give, something's gotta give…"

The ghoul cocked his head at me, smirking. Knowing for a fact he'd surprised me once again.

More so, as I recognized who he was. Though it wasn't because of the singing. That was Bing Crosby's work if I'd ever heard it. But the voice and sunglasses together had straightened it out for me.

"Dean Domino." I said, surprised "… Huh, always wondered what happened to you."

"Did you just assume I faded like so many other Johnny-come-latelies?" Domino said, a proud smirk on his face as he dusted off his lapel.

"No, I just wasn't sure what'd happened to you when the bombs hit." I said "Most of your posters are still up around Vegas, I'd figured it was your next stop after… wherever it was you were."

"Ah, Vegas." Domino smirked "A lovely jewel, ripe for the taking on its own." His expression darkened "If not for that twat Robert House…It was to be my next show, after my business here at the Madre concluded. But, well~" He motioned to the villa "I'm afraid the show keeps getting delayed."

Somehow, I got the impression he wasn't talking about music.

We started down out of the building, looking to get back to the fountain before our circumstances changed.

"Tell me something-" I said "You the one that set all those traps on the way in?"

"Of course." Domino said, following me down the stairs "Someone needs to make sure the Ghost People can't easily walk around the place. If the person who wrote our contract just so happened to stumble into them… well, even better."

I ignored the fact that most of his traps had nearly killed me, in favor of more pressing news. "… Ghost People?"

I looked over my shoulder at Domino. It took a moment, but he got the message, scowling. "Christ, they're not telling you tourists anything are they. Need to update the brochures."

"Yeah, I'll tell that to the marketing guys when I find them." I drawled "But are saying there's more hiding in the fog besides the freaks in the hazmat suits?"

"No, the freaks in the hazmat suits are the Ghost People." Domino growled "The locals of this 'beautiful' place."

"Hm, hadn't been given a name for them until now… seems fitting, I guess. Can't imagine much else could live in a place like this."

"Not sure the word 'living' could apply to them." Domino said darkly "I wouldn't let them catch you. They drag you into the Cloud, and you're not coming back out. After that… well-" He motioned to the bomb collar around his neck "- having your necktie go off would be mercy."

I nodded, thinking back over my first run-in. I could see what he was saying. "Stay out of their way, learned that one the hardway."

"Hm, already had a meeting, did you?" Domino said, not really asking "Hope you didn't try bargaining, it doesn't work."

"Kinda figured, seemed more interested in something else."

We reached the bottom of the stairs, and headed down the second flight to ground level. Walking back around the building to the plaza. As we walked out into it, I heard the faint scrap of metal, and dragging of something soft.

We stepped out, and I found the Ghost Person there, still as bifurcated as I'd last seen him. Tenacious bastard had dragged himself after me.

Domino noticed him and made an unpleasant noise. "Always the persistent ones."

"Got caught in one of your traps down the way." I said "Nearly got me with it too."

"… Allow me to give you some advice then, partner." Dean said, unfailingly polite in his tone as he drew a 9mm pistol from his tuxedo jacket "Firstly, if they ever do catch you, and you're not a good enough shot, save the last bullet for yourself."

"Uh huh."

"Secondly, there aren't enough bullets in this town to put them down for good. You'll cripple them. You'll burn them. You'll hack them to pieces. But barring disintegration, there's only one other way to be rid of them."

Dean calmly strode past me, racking the slide on his pistol. He didn't quite get right up next to it, but close enough he'd have to have been Benny to miss.

"You have to shoot them in the head."

…

My Pip-boy began its muted chime. Signaling me to roll out of my cot and get ready.

I reached my hand over and blindly messed with the nobs until the chiming stopped. Then I rolled over, opting to give my eyes a few minutes to adjust naturally to the concept of being awake.

*Poomf*

Something collided with my head, and I was in motion. A ferocious, not at all half-asleep, roar escaped my lips, hand slipping under my pillow to grab my sawn-off. I whipped it around front of me, blindly trying to club at whoever'd just hit me as I blinked the sleep out of my eyes.

My flailing caught nothing but air, and my vision came into focus enough for me to see what was going on.

I was back in our dorm room, half upright on my cot. Weiss and Ruby were standing near the map table we'd set up between the beds. I was just off angle enough I'd probably have missed them if I'd blind fired. Blake was sitting on her bed, next to my cot. All three of them were still in their pajamas, looking at me warily and just a bit bemused.

I forcefully blinked the sleep from my eyes, looking down at the floor. There was a, rather frilly, pink pillow lying on the floor.

My gaze then changed direction, looking above me.

Yang was hanging half way out of her bunk, likewise in her pajamas.

"Morning." Yang said, smirking

I gave a growl, swinging my legs off my cot.

"Someone's not a morning person."

"Thought you'd have learned that after yesterday."

"That's why I used a pillow."

I turned to look back up at Yang, smirking ball of sunshine she was, but then my half-asleep brain took note of something else. My head swiveled back to floor, as I rubbed the bridge of my mask. "Y'know, it's a nice view, but you really ought to consider a different shirt."

"…Huh?"

I looked halfway up at her as she stared down at me in confusion. Then she looked down at herself, and a red tint found its way to her cheeks. "Ack!" She gave me a soft glare and pulled herself back over her bunk. Not sure how it was my fault. She should've been more aware. Considering her pajamas were, well, a loose tank top and shorts, letting gravity help was kind of unnecessary.

I let my gaze drift back to the floor, trying to shake the sleep out of my head. But that was easier said than done. I'd muddle through, but I was going to need-

"Coffee?"

I blinked, and looked back up again. Ruby was next to me, holding out a steaming mug of the restorative elixir.

Miracle of miracles, it was black as the night.

"… You're an angel."

I gladly accepted the mug from her, pulling my straw out of the crate under my cot. I fed the straw in the hole in my mask and began greedily gulping the brew as quickly as I could. Not quite caring that I was burning myself, just a bit. Not the first time I'd scalded myself with fresh brewed caffeine.

"So now that you're awake-" Weiss said, still next to the map "What're these new markings?"

"Stash-houses" I explained, having pulled back half my mug "- along with the plans for a small-scale attack they tried to pull last night."

My teammates looked at me in alarm.

"Relax, the key word here is tried. I managed to screw things up for them."

It hadn't been easy, I spent most of the night sprinting from one part of town to the other. I wasn't able to reach all of the stash-houses before they'd gotten moving either. However, I managed to catch enough of them in route to cut back how many people were actually going to be on the street. Quite significantly at that. What could've been an effective assault was reduced to a riot, then a public disturbance. By the time any stragglers got to their designated starting points, the cops had been waiting there to meet them, showing that there may have been something of redeemable merit in the VPD after all. Although the White Fang had succeeded in its goal of getting the police on the streets, it hadn't been for any meaningful length of time. If they'd made any progress in transporting the Dust, as was their stated goal, it would've been negligible at best. Non-existent at worst.

Though the inverse of those results was my preference. Not that I could hold my breath much.

After that, it was the same as the day before. Continued prowling Vale for intel, caught the early airship back, marked the map, changed, hit the john, then passed out on my cot. Notably, Blake was still awake when I got back, leaning intently over the map of Vale and scrutinizing a notebook. As far as I can tell she was still there when I passed out, so I really had no clue how long she was up for.

I finished sucking back my coffee and got off my cot, walking over to the table with the map.

"- Good news from last night though: I was right." I said, leaning over the map "The Dust is still here, somewhere. Half the reason they've tried being so overt is just to make moving it easier."

"That seems counterintuitive." Weiss said, still looking at the map.

"The most effective plans often are."

"They're smart enough to know the police are hunting them." Blake said, likely from experience "So they're using that against them."

"A shame that only works if you can keep the other side in the dark. Even bigger one because the VPD is too dense and slow to see that's what they're doing." I said, tracing the map with a finger. Mentally puzzling other locations they may have planted stash-houses. Every location we could rule out, would take us one step closer to where they were keeping the mother lode. "Works in our favor though. They're lack of caution just means we get to paint a more accurate picture."

"We can talk about this later." Weiss said, cutting in "We've got class soon."

I nodded and went back to my things, still mulling over the locations. There had to be some connection between them. If I figure it out, I wouldn't need to trick idiots into giving up the locations. Or stand around hoping that I'd be contacted by them in the first place.

I stripped out of my pajamas and pulled the pants to my uniform on. Making sure to keep my teammates out of my line of sight. I could hear cloth rustling in the rest of the room. Meaning they were probably mirroring my actions.

I pulled my shoes on, then went and stripped my shirt off. I was about to pull my button-up and jacket on, but stopped. A lot of times, getting changed, I tended to just breeze through it without much thought. Most people do, I think. We're not all narcissists after all. So taking the time to really look at ourselves is something reserved for specific points.

Frankly, it had been longer than I thought it was.

Because looking down, I could scarcely recognize myself.

I wasn't bulging with muscle and meat, but I was bigger than I remembered. When I got here, I had a wastelander's physique. Lots of lean, stringy muscle, built for endurance and survival. It wasn't a matter of choice either. The human body only keeps the muscle it's capable of sustaining. Even with the access to sources of food, building any form of sustainable bulk was next to impossible. Dangerous in some circumstances. As a result, I was strong, but I hardly looked the part.

Now: I could actually see my abs. Albeit under as thin shellacking of hair. Plus my scars from the Big MT, among others.

Strange how those hung around when everything else didn't.

I knew my clothes had begun fitting tighter, but I hadn't picked up on the rest of the changes. I'd just assumed all the food available here was just making me fat, and I had to train harder.

I held my arms out in front of me, flexing the muscles. It got me to chuckle a bit watching them.

"What's that?" Ruby asked.

"What's what?" I asked, turning to look over my should-

Another pillow hit me in the face.

"Don't look!" Weiss squeaked.

"I wasn't trying to!" I shot back, realizing my mistake and snapping to the wall. "Besides the fact I'm not the one who broke the rule, Ruby."

I heard Ruby chuckle nervously.

I waited a minute, not at all annoyed, before I was allowed to turn around. My teammates were all dressed now, leaving just me standing there half naked. I wasn't particularly uncomfortable with it, more annoyed than anything, but my teammates seemed less comfortable. I could note Ruby and Weiss were looking red as bighorners. Blake looked at me neutrally for a moment, then looked elsewhere. Yang… well, she turned a little red, and got a weird grin on her face.

I looked pointedly at her for a moment.

"It's a nice view." Yang shrugged "But you might want to try a shirt."

"Hrm." I grunted "… Well, what is it?"

"U-umm." Ruby said, face still red "Your arms."

"What about them?"

"They- um… They look different." She motioned to her own arms.

I looked down at my arms for a moment, not quite sure what she was driving at. Looking at my arms, it took a moment to click, but I knew what she was asking.

"You mean the scars?" I asked.

"Y-yeah." Ruby said "You- um didn't… y'know…"

"…" I reached back to my cot and grabbed my button-up. Sliding it over my arms and closing up the front. "Better?"

The red began to leave Ruby and Weiss's face, though it lingered slightly "Y-yeah, thanks."

I nodded "Now, what about the scars on my arms?"

"I don't remember them."

"Do you remember every time you see me half naked?"

The red came back with a vengeance. "Stop making it weird!"

"I'm with my sis on this one." Yang smirked "Kinda hard to miss something like that."

"I'm actually surprised you noticed them at all. Thought the stimpacks healed them up quite nicely."

"stim-whats?"

"Medicine, tell you about it later." I turned back to Ruby "Also, yeah, I got hurt last night while raiding the White Fang. They're not exactly known for their non-violent methods anymore."

"Are you ok?"

"If I wasn't, you probably wouldn't be able to tell anyway."

Ruby gave me a pouty glare. The kind she was so practiced with it could cut steel.

"I'm kidding, I'm fine." I teased "Lighten up a little."

Ruby's eyes drifted to the floor for a moment, still holding that same, steel cutting heat. Then her expression softened, and she looked back at me again. "Did you have to… y'know?"

"Have to what?"

"…"

"… Kill anyone?" I offered, nonplussed.

Ruby, much to my annoyance, nodded.

"Oh for the love of- I thought we agreed to not talk about that anymore."

"W-we did!" Ruby said hastily "I-I just… I wanted to make sure you're ok."

"Well, I'm fine." I said, succinct "Nobody died… probably."

Confusion spread across Ruby's face. Blake, Yang, and Weiss mirrored it as well.

"Probably!?" Ruby squawked.

"Well, I didn't exactly have time to stop and check." I groused "Because, y'know, I was trying to stop them from killing people."

"Siiix~" Ruby whined.

I pinched the bridge of my mask and sighed, heavily. "… Look, people here tend to be hardier than the ones in the wasteland. What might kill someone over there, doesn't seem to be enough over here. If I wanted to kill anyone here, odds are I'd have to go out of my way to do so."

"How would you know that?" Weiss asked, perturbed.

"Well gee, it's almost like you've got people that strap dozens of different weapons together, fully aware of what they're doing, and don't have mountains of corpses everywhere." I shrugged "Took me longer than it should have to pick up on that. But you people really aren't as afraid of getting shot as we are in the Mojave."

Case in point, I stuck a shotgun to the back of a guy's head, and wasn't awarded with a fountain of meat and gore. Which is exactly what would've happened back in the Mojave. With how the entire previous night had played out, it wasn't impossible to say I hadn't killed anyone. However, I wasn't an idiot. Odds were, someone's luck had run out and they wound up in the morgue.

Ruby shifted uncomfortably, probably wondering if it really had been a good call to let me ramble around Vale on my own. Jury was still out on that.

"I'm not going out of my way to kill people." I said "But I can't afford to play nice with people whose whole shtick right now is to spread chaos and mayhem."

Blake looked like she wanted to say something, but thought better of it.

Ruby pouted for a moment longer, before her expression grew pointed. "Promise me."

"… Promise what?" I asked.

"That you're going to try not to kill anyone."

"…" I sighed, even more heavily "I can't promise that. Not when people's lives are on the line."

Ruby's gaze narrowed, and she frowned sadly. It was too early for a conversation like this, it always was.

"… However, I will promise you that I'm not just going to shoot first and ask questions later, alright?" I said, reaching for the rest of my clothes "Push comes to shove, I'm going to do what I have to. But if it can be kept from going that far, I'm going to stop it, ok?"

"… Ok." Ruby said, her gaze coming back to mine, steely now "Just be careful, please?"

"For my sake or theirs?" I asked.

"… Yes."