After I regained some semblance of coherent thought from sleeping off Sally and Megan's impromptu impassioned "treatment". They had been inflamed by my work on Dakota. So it was my duty, once we setup a tent, to see to their "cure". They in turn took care of my growing "problem". We collapsed into a heap afterward and had slept deeply.

Hopefully, the noise didn't keep anyone else up. Heh.

I had a few ideas I wanted to run by them. A few thoughts on how to knock out one of my quests before we headed back to New Lordaeron. Specifically the reclaiming of the first outpost.

With the new War Pylons, we should be able to sneak a few buildings in right under Arasaka's nose. No muss no fuss. Then a new Hero to add to the roster. I hoped they would have the skills needed to help me take care of the other quests. Between Megan, Sally, Raynor and myself, we should be able to handle most issues, but we needed a real badass to take the fight to the enemy.

As much as the Paladin class had helped me bulk up physically I wasn't front line material just yet. I needed more training and a restructuring of my role in combat. Right now I was mostly cast into a support role. Fixing damage, cleaning up afterward, and increasing the abilities of my team.

That didn't sit well with me. Not sure why, but I wanted to be the one in the lead. I wanted to be the one to protect the ladies and my people.

However, my time in the city with the Probes taught me that I'm not that guy. But I had a feeling that with the help of the Great Tree System I could become that guy and so much more. All it would take is time.

Raynor and Sally filled the same role in a fight. Ranged overwatch. Though with the Power Armor getting close wasn't too much of a problem

Have to get the ladies fitted for armor, myself as well.

A few hours later we were sitting in the Mackinaw about half a mile from the ridge line surrounding the old cyberware plant. Rick, Mort and Glen detached from the vehicle. Buzz and Jitters went with the van back to New Lordaeron.

The girls and I would be on overwatch, while Mort and Glen would sneak with Rick to place the first War Pylon. The Sentry's shield ability should be able the protect the Pylon long enough if they are spotted. though if everything went well it would be needed.

I was going to watch the rear again. Heh.

Strangely enough no one was out there but the remainder of the work we had done served as a grim reminder of how quickly things could go wrong.

I took up the task of watching the desert and pretending I didn't want to watch Sally squeeze off a few rounds just to watch the effect on her "assets".

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

What am I, a teenager? Focus up moron. Silly jokes about anatomy can come later.

I've noticed that events seemed to repeat, if you don't make changes. What people consider asymmetric or abnormal professions, such as merc work, still developed into routines. This job looks like that job from five years ago. This bothers some people, me I liked routine, I enjoyed having a nicely organized plan.

Sally did not. She was constantly trying to "Shake things up". Starting fights and arguments out of boredom. A real shit stirrer my Dad would have said. Your best friend right up until there was nothing else to do and then she'd punch you in the nose, just the break up the quiet.

Megan was a person that loved chaos. On the surface, she seemed organized and put together, but underneath she sought out trouble. She delighted in Gremlin like behavior, move things out of their proper places, dropping uncomfortable facts at the worst time possible. Poking her nose into every little tidbit of info, just so she could fuck with you more.

It was why these two came as a set. Other folks had a hard time dealing with all the messes. I was still figuring out how we fit together, but I was learning to dig their quirks. As long as they didn't point that shit at me.

In moments like these, they put all of that aside and did their job with dedication. Because their normal behavior get you killed, especially out here in the Badlands. They had learned to block out their impulses, just as I was having to learn the same lesson.

Here I was again fighting boredom while somehow feeling stressed out. My mind was running a million miles an hour while my eyes scanned the scrublands. Nothing moved, even the usual hot breeze was missing. That bothered me.

I started concentrating more on my task, I couldn't put my finger on it but something was wrong.

'I can't see anything, but something's off.' I messaged. I pulled my pistol and scanned around the area. Still nothing, but that feeling wasn't going away.

I cast an Entangle changing the standard shape of the spell so that a small wall of grasping vines rose out of the baked ground. I repeated the process a few times.

My suspicion was that a person using some form of optical camouflage was creeping about. I was throwing out a few entangle to see if I could net them. then I cast Growth on the small walls I had surrounded us with. The masses of vegetation erupted into giant edifices of plant life. Reaching out and probing the area.

"Ahhhh! What the fuck is this shit?" The voice came from off to my right and I ran over to get a look at our peeping tom.

The vines of the entangling walls knew to avoid grabbing me, though they did run against me a few times. What was that about? Getting to know me?

When I caught sight of our voyeur, he was hanging upside down and cursing up a storm. I couldn't help it I started laughing.

"Hey! You rusting Gonk get this thing off me. Stop fucking laughing and let me out, shit head." His gear covered his whole body, including his face. All black and obviously high-end.

"Yeah, I don't think so slick. You can stay right there until we're done."

Speaking of. 'How are we doing ladies?' I sent.

'Almost finished.' Megan returned.

I duck back around the wall for a few more minutes. No sense standing out in the open.

I felt the change as the Pylon finished. Haha, now it didn't matter. I let my spells go and while the giant shrubs remained they lost their animated qualities. Still didn't free up, ol' lookie-loo.

Maybe we should take him with us, when we headed back.

Eh, probably more hassle than it was worth.

Since no one could see or hear us I rejoined the girls. I ordered Mort and Glen to layout a forge, a cybernetics core and robotic facility. That should count as an outpost. I'll also queue up a few Sentries before we leave.

We cuddled while the rest of the buildings finished and half and hour later I received 3000 CPoints and a Hero Token.

I had a good feeling about this token.