"I guess you're right, Nathan," Ren replied.

Tossing the body armor and shirt to Mark, Ren turned around and went behind a rock to change. The combat boots were much more comfortable than the crude brahmin skin boots she had on moments ago. She jumped up and down, and then vaulted over the top of the rock she had just changed behind.

"Much better," Ren said to no one in particular, "So what's our plan?"

OOC: I'm going to be gone for most of the day tomorrow, so my team can control my character while I'm gone.

"Okay, time's up!" Saint shouted. Team One. You're at this end of the canyon. Team Two, you're in the middle. Team Three, you're at the far end. Three groups of Spartans moved to take each of the team to the various locations they were being put in.

As Alice and her team were being led along to the center of the canyon, she noticed a gigantic rock slide that was sectioning off the part of the Grand Canyon they were to be in. As they passed through crowds people cheered, threw rubbish at them and had Slavers push them back. She also noticed that all the Slavers were armed with Sniper Rifles.
"Looks like they'll be keeping an eye on us." She whispered to Sean. Alice glanced at Charlette, noticing that she seemed nervous and uncomfortable. She whispered to Sean "Try keep an eye on her for me, I'm not a babysitter, remember." Alice noticed Sean nod in agreement.

When they reached the middle of the canyon they noticed a cage, suspended by pulleys hanging off the edge of the canyon. "Alright, you mutts, in you go." Grunted one of the Spartans. There was just about enough room for the three of them. The cage jerked and began to descend. "I hope you two are ready." Alice spoke in a low town, determination on her face.

Mark took the body armor and shirt and saw Ren go behind a rock to change. When he saw Ren vault over the rock, Mark said, "Hmm, impressive." before saying, "As for a plan, I'm not sure yet. The only plan I have at the moment involves us covering you since you're the fastest. We'll flesh it out once we get there." Once Saint yelled that time was up, their team was escorted to the far end of the canyon, being heckled by Wastlanders the whole time. As they walked Mark noticed two things other than the artificial rock slide blocking the canyon.

The first was that every slaver they could see was armed with a Sniper Rifle. The message was clear: There is no escape. The second was when he looked down the canyon walls and saw Radscorpions in holes around the rocks. Mark thought, "Let's just hope they stay up there. Who am I kidding, we'll be fighting them soon enough." Mark then said, "Funny, the Radscorpions are a different color than the ones back in the Capital Wasteland, probably because their base species was actually native to the former U.S." The slavers then prodded the team towards a cage and lowered them down towards the canyon floor. Mark clutched his bat, waiting for the cage to reach the bottom.

Saracen Saul took the shovel and insisted Eddie take the hunting rifle. They were taken to the far end of the canyon to be lowered down.

"You guys ready?" He asked his teammates.

Tom had watched the weapons they were given. He glared at Saint when he dropped the weapons in front of them. They had already deceided to give Eddie the rifle, which seemed fine to Tom. He figured he was going to be left with the shovel, but Saul took it instead. He raised his eyebrows slightly and picked up the knife, turning it over in his hands. He tested the point. Blood started to well from his fingertip. He svcked his finger and slipped the knife inbetween the overalls and the shirt of the brahmin skin outfit.

Tom quickly followed his teamates to where they would be lowered down. He wasn't worried. He had killed enough ghouls in his lifetime to know that for the most part, they wouldn't be that much of a problem. Tom was worried about the radscorpians though. One sting wouldn't hurt all that bad, but the poison it contained could kill you in little more than 5 seconds. Eddie would have to take them out before they got close, or they'd be dead for sure.

Tom cllimbed into the cage they would be lowered down in, not completely trusting the stability of it. He looked over the railing into the Grand Canyon. It was a remarkable sight, diluted by the possibility of dying in it. He heard Saracen ask if they were ready. Tom simply nodded.

It took a while for the cages to reach the bottom of the canyon but the doors didn't open yet, they were waiting for Saint to give the call. Alice, Charlette and Sean all had their weapons drawn and ready to run out the cage.

"See that rock over there?" Alice asked her two teammates. "I'm gonna get on top of there and try spot some of these flags, I need you two to try keep me covered from anything that decides to come hear us, alright?" They nodded in agreement.

"Open the gates!" they heard Saint bellow, very faintly, the canyon carrying his echo down. The doors flung open and the ran out; Alice making a beeline for the rock, clambering on top of it while Charlette and Sean looked around for anything. In the distance she could see specs moving around, hopefully those of the other teams. Suddenly, something stuck out; a white flag embedded in the wall near a large crevice. A crevice large enough to probably house a family of Rapscoripons. Son of a b****! All of these flags are in near-suicidal spots!

"First flags there by what looks like a Radscorpion nest!" Alice called down to her team. She clambered off the rock to join them. "Let's get going."

Sean was annoyed, yet not surprised. There's always a catch...
He followed Alice towards the flag, the terrain was very rocky. Quite sharp rocks and sudden drops, tough, but didn't stop Sean.
When they finally reached the flag there were 5 Radscorpions crawling around. Wow.... Sean had an idea.
"Ok ladies, I've got an idea. Alice, you aim for the Stings in the scorpions so they can't poison us. Then I smash them in the head with my bat. The nest is surrounded by rocks, so if we get in trouble we can just climb up. Also when you shoot one Alice, Charlette should distract the rest of them while I kill the one Alice shot. You all cool with that?"

Alice cocked her gun and aimed it at the nearest Radscorpion. "Fine by me." she said, firing off a shot and blowing the stinger off one of the Radscorpions.
"Charlette, try getting some high ground the can't climb up and shoot 'em with that BB Gun." she shouted to Charlette, while blowing another stinger of a Radscorpion. This is easier than I thought it'd be.

Things were going pretty well, two of the Radscorpions were dead and they were working on the third, until they all heard a snarl that sent a shiver down their spine. Dammit! Typical. Alice turned to see a small pack of Feral Ghouls running at them. "Looks like we got ourselves a new problem here!" She shouting, opening fire on the Ghouls, taking one out. The trigger clicked but nothing happened. "Reloading, keep them off me." Alice pulled another Microfusion Cell out of the small cloth sack handing from her waist and loaded it into the Plasma Rifle.

"What do you propose we do now?"

Sean swore, Ghouls was the last thing he needed. He ran over to Alice and exclaimed, "Keep fire on the Scorpions I'll take the Ghouls!"
There were three Ghouls all making the same annoying cry, "Blehhh". He ran and swung the bat upwards to the Ghouls chin. Its head snapped backwards and its neck broke. The other two began to run from both directions, so the one that got closest first was going to get it. Sean stayed low and jabbed the bat to the ghouls stomach, it fell.
He quickly spun round and cracked the bat full force to the other ghouls head. The skull shattered.
Then the ghoul that Sean had jabbed began to get up. He plummeted the bat down on the last ghouls head.
Why does it have to be the head...

Sean panted and then turned around to see if Alice had killed the Radscorpions.

Alice had downed one of the Radscorpions. She started to climb up to where Charlette was when the remaining two started swarming around her. She managed to shoot their stingers but there was still the problem of the pincers, and she'd rather not take the risk with Spartan Corporation's health plan. She turned to Charlette while she was trying to shoot the Radcscorpions. "Think you could get down there and bludgeon them a bit?" Charlette nodded and slipped off the back off the rock so she wouldn't be noticed. Alice then motioned Sean over to her.
She managed to down another Radscorpion but lost her footing and slipped closer to the last one, while it attacked her. She tried to fend it off with her foot. She tried the Plasma Rifle but the clip was empty and now was not the time to reload. [censored]. she thought.

Nathan walked out of the cage and looked around for any signs of white. Spying a flash of the color in the distance Nathan groaned, there in front of the small cave was two glowing ghouls, looking for other options ,seeing none, Nathan sighed he hated fighting ghouls"I see a cave with a pair of glowing ghouls, they have a flag." Taking the second bat off his shoulder he tossed the weapon to Ren "I don't know if you will need it or not but better to have some sort of weapon then need to fight a Radscorpion with bare hands later."

Mark said, "Nathan, you're a ghoul, from what I understand the Glowing One's won't attack you unless they're attacked first. If you go and get the flag, we can avoid unnecessary conflict and save our weapons for the Radscorpions."

Ren caught the bat and looked at it. It looked worn, but sturdy enough for fighting. She wasn't very proficient with melee weapons, but it was best to keep distance from Radscorpions, so she took it without protest.

"I think it might be best to kill those Glowing Ones. Otherwise, they may attack us while we search for other flags," Ren stated, tightening her grip on the bat.

Mark said, "What do you think Nathan? Leave them alone, or kill them." Mark then crossed his arms after holstering his bat, waiting to see what Nathan would say.

Crap!, Alice was cornered by a Radscorpion and she had to reload. After years of knowing Alice, Sean was not going to let her die as a slave.
He ran and jumped straight off the rock and on top of the Radscorpion. It was a silent battle, the scorpion was clicking away at Sean with its pincers. He managed to cripple the scorpions left pincer but right after that it used its right pincer to snap Sean's bat in half!
Luckily it turned into a new weapon, it was sharp and used to stab. He jabbed at the Radscorpions eyes to blind it. Sean did get a lucky strike and took one of its eyes out. It thrashed madly in pain and while it thrashed around Sean jumped on top of it and brought the weapon down through its head. Goo poured from the beasts head. Better not touch it.

Sean jumped back off the scorpion and noticed a finger lying on the ground, he picked it up. Then looked at his hands, he was missing a pinky. Bloody hell I've lost my pinky! I didn't even notice!. He put it in his pocket. The bat that had been cut in half saved his life, he could use it for stabbing now.
I wonder how Charlettes doing...

Alice was slumped against the rock panting, she didn't even bother to reload, she was too busy trying to get over how close to dying she was. She walked over to Sean. "Are you alright?" She said, putting a hand on his shoulder?
"I've lost my bloody pinky!" He said.
"Ahh [censored]." grunted Alice. "Here," she tore a bit off the leg of her trousers and tied it around where his pinky used to be. "Thanks a lot for that, I owe you one."

"I suggest we grab that flag before anything else comes." she motioned the two towards it. As she was walking she grunted in pain and looked at her left leg. It was bleeding. Bloody Radscorpions. Alice tore a bit off the sleeve of her shirt to tie up the wound. She reloaded her gun and grabbed the flag, sticking it in her belt. Alice turned to face her teammates and gave a bit of a smile. "Nice job so far."

"I think it would be best to for me to try getting it without a fight" Nathan's voice wavered a bit "I've seen what Glowing ghouls can do, they are not something I want to tangle with"
considering his options Nathan continued "Be careful of the other teams though, they may try to ambush us."
Nathan turned and started walking to the cave with a click of his heels and a small chunk of skin fluttering into the air.

Mark said, "Alright Nathan, Ren and I will keep watch." He then went to hide behind a rock while looking for any trouble.

Nathan walked with a quick pace, intent on not tiring himself out and leaving an easy target he arrived at the cave mouth in a few minutes.
The Glowing one hissed a rancid cloud of spit and rotten flesh at Nathan trying to prove dominance He ignored the creature grimacing and gripping the pistol in his hand, his hatred for Ferals ran deep.
Walking past, Nathan reached up and pulled the flag down from the area above him.
"Well that was anti-climactic" Nathan spoke lowly, he turned and noticed the pair of glowing ghouls were sniffing him.
The ghouls began acting strangely, muscles spasmodic, a low hissing coming from their bodies. In a flash Nathan knew what was happening, he ran.
A wave of energy cast off both of the ghouls less then two seconds later, the raw amount of radiation pouring off the pair pushing a cracking shockwave through the air,Nathan staggered and stumbled to the ground outside of the cave feeling the effects of the radiation on his body, Nathan felt as if he were flying with the amount of power the ghouls had hammered him with.
The urge to stay and drink in more of the old ones power was inescapable, Nathan's mind flashed with images of the past grasping at straws to prevent himself from going back into that cave and never coming out. With a clawed hand he gripped the rock in front of him and brought it near and then proceeded to smash his forehead into the thing. With a pained gasp Nathan got up, the wound giving him focus, he did not looking back for fear of what he might see.
The Old ghouls hissed in dissatisfaction but went back to their business, no reason coming to mind to chase the young ghoul for a fate he was doomed to.

Still breathing slowly Nathan walked back to his team. "I don't think we could have killed those things." Nathan said slowly idly wondering if Mark would notice an increase in radioactivity with his return.

Mark looked and saw Nathan coming back with the flag. He was about to greet him when the Geiger Counter on his Pip-Boy started acting up. Mark said, "Good job with the flag Nathan, but you look slightly healthier besides that wound on your head, so I'm that the Glowing One's attacked you. That's strange, considering Feral Ghouls normally don't attack other's of their kind unprovoked, sapient or not. What happened in there, Nathan?" Det, who was standing nearby Mark, suddenly rolled up into a ball. "[censored]," said Mark, "we have compamy." A Radscorpion appeared behind the rocks and started to approach the team.

Tom pulled the knife from his clothes. He stepped quickly out of the lift, scanning the area in front of him for any kind of resistance. As he sidestepped, he kicked a drum of something. He spun, startled. That allowed him to see the ghoul before it saw him. As the drum rolled towards it, it turned, and upon seeing Tom, hissed. He calmed himself as it ran towards him. Once it was close enough, it tried to swipe at him with its hands. Tom sidestepped, and brought the knife down into the back of its skull. He had let go of the knife, and the ghoul dropped with it sticking out of his head. Tom reached down and grabbed it. The lower end of the canyon was crawling with ghouls. That much Tom could see. What he didn't see were the crevices where the radscorpians lived. Once they heard them, they'd swarm around them. Tom turned back to the lift, nodding them forward.

"I'll explain later," Nathan spoke quickly with a thought back to the enclave power armor Nathan had an idea."Aim for the joints, they are weaker then the rest of it" pulling his gun with unnatural speed Nathan shot twice one bullet scraping past the creatures armored side in a flash of fire and the other one scoring a direct hit on an eye. The creature writhed in pain and Nathan drew closer so as to get a better shot.
"Now would be an excellent time to whack this thing in the head." Nathan spoke roughly and began firing on the scorpions tail.

Mark heeded Nathan's advice and started hitting the Radscorpion, breaking two of its legs. He then started whacking its cephalothorax with his bat, hoping the exoskeleton would crack enough for someone else to finish it.

Alice gathered her team around. "So we have one of the flags, no doubt the other teams have at least one flag, there'll probably be one close enough to each of the cages, the rest will be between the center and the other parts the teams are in. So what do we do, head to Team One or Team Three?" Alice looked Sean and Charlette in the eyes, waiting for an honest response.

She hoped that the other teams were having as hard a time as they were, she needed to win this if she was going to break out. And she'd need something to convince the other slaves she was in charge so there wouldn't be civil war between them. She took this opportunity to reload her gun and check that it was in working order. The Radscorpion had scratched in a bit, but that's it.

Nathan shot the scorpion two bullets impacting right near the tip of it's tail that oozed blood and green foam, a third shot had missed entirely and ricocheted off a near rock before flashing into the distance. Looking at Mark Nathan saw that wherever he was hitting that bug it hurt.
With a ruined stinger and two broken limbs it started to get the the idea that staying here would result in its grisly death snapping claws and flailing its tail the scorpion tried to run, unfortunate that the scorpion could not run all that fast anymore and a man happened to be beating on its carapace with a baseball bat.
Nathan saw the creature try to run, coward he thought. An anger flashed in his mind and he bolted over to the scorpion slamming a fist into the side of it and followed up ramming the muzzle of his gun into the now dimpled carapace, a death rattle from the scorpion as several bullets bounced off the insides of its body. A caustic hiss erupted from Nathan as the creature shuddered and collapsed.
Blinking Nathan pulled the gun from the shattered insect and looked at Mark "What did I just do?" Nathan asked cautiously.