Layne was about to use up the last of his .45 ammo before he heard the subtle whistle of rockets being fired, followed by the loud *BANG* of the warheads hitting their target. Yellow limbs and red gore was strewn about the previously contested battleground, and Layne was legitimately surprised. After he'd spotted Paladin Vice he would snap back into reality, silently thankful that him and his squad saved their lives. He'd come out from the now mostly destroyed building they were using as cover, shrapnel embedded in just about everything at this point.

The green initiate would approach his squad leader and Paladin Vice, nodding to him in thanks before remembering what he wanted to ask. "Thanks for the assistance sir. Hate to get right to the point, but do you guys have any ammunition stores? I'd almost resigned to pistol whipping the muties before you guys came along."

Chase watched with satisfaction as the missiles blew the muties away. He had been waiting for a Brotherhood patrol to come along and save them. Not that they didn't already have it well in hand, of course... I could've taken them.

He sighed wearily as he got up from his firing position and walked forwards with Paladin Webster as the other Brotherhood members made their way across the gore strewn ground. He overheard most of the conversation, but was busy examining the various buildings the super mutants had been taking cover in for signs of life. It wasn't until they began moving towards the mall that he relaxed his guard.

He walked with one of the soldiers from the other squad, who was carrying a missile launcher. "Hey, nice shooting there. Blew the muties to pieces, and not a moment too soon. Names Chase Comara, Knight. You?"

"Will Backster, Knight. You guys looked like you were in some serious trouble back there. Speaking of which, what the hell happened to you?" the soldier said as he examined Chase's now shrapnel-ridden armor.

"Oh, you know, the usual. Grenade. Nasty things. I'm surprised a mutie even knows to pull the pin on one though... Hey, you said your name was Backster?"

"Yeah."

"You serve in San Fran?"

"Five years."

"I knew I recognized the name from somewhere. I was stationed there for two years. Shi always got on my nerves."

"Yeah, they are an odd group. But you get used to them. Who'd you serve under?"

"Paladin Rhodes."

"Huh. I don't remember him."

"Yeah, he never stood out much. Say, you guys found any tech out here? Other than the crap the muties call weapons?"

"Nope, nada. All we've found is dirt, radiation, and lots of angry muties. And a bunch of ghouls, but they keep to themselves most of the time. Still fun for target practice though."

"Damn. I was hoping you guys might have found something out here to make it worth my while. I knew I should have become a scribe. Then I could have stayed out West examining all that neat Enclave tech we secured a while back. I'd really like to see one of their vertibirds though. Some really advanced stuff there. I'm surprised we haven't come across anything here. With how important this area used to be, there must be some stashes of tech somewhere around here."

"I wouldn't know. We're kept on our feet by the muties practically all damn day. And you know, you talk a lot."

"Hey, it's what I'm good at. If I wasn't talking I'd be writing to my brother. Not that he ever gets the letters."

"He a knight too?"

"Naw, initiate. Wanted to follow in his elder brother's footsteps I suppose. Looking at things out here though, I'm not sure if it was such a good idea to begin with."

"Man, Reno's a [censored] paradise in comparison. At least there was no blowing up and getting sent flying through walls in Reno. God I hate this place." Called out Knight Camora.

"Speak for yourself, I left half my face behind in that filthy hell-hole." roared Beckett over the yells of his squad men and the muties.

Leroy popped out and fired several times, killing three mutants. All of a sudden time seemed to slow down as Beckett heard the high pitched whine of a missle. Seeing a squad of Brothers blow away the rest of the mutants, Beckett got out from behind the wall.

"Still hidin' from muties I see Leroy."

There was only four people who called Beckett, Leroy. One of them stood before him, Knight Allen Dubrowski.

"Hah, that's alot coming from you, you old waste-rat." Joked Leroy
"Yeah, I guess it is eh? How's your Dad doin' anyway man?" asked Allen, he too was also one of the few who knew Leroy's Father.
'Ahh, you know the same, he's been having some pretty harsh words with Elder Lyons recently. Luckily they're friends."
"Alright then, say what's your mission anyway." Asked the ever inquisitive Dubrowski.
"Jeez man I don't know hold on a sec."

Beckett looked around as he strode towards the Paladin, something was wrong, someone was missing. Ahh! The woman, probably got herself killed by the ghouls.

Ryan could see that the rest of the squad was running low, not him, Ryan had about 3,000 rounds left, but even that was cutting it close considering how long he would be fighting, Ryan was steadily tearing up mutants as 3 missiles slammed into them, to Ryan's suprise, "WTF man! Let me do my job!" he screamed at them new squad formed up on the roof of a nearby building, "Did it look like we need help?" The Ryan looked around him, there were mutants bodies scattered around him, Everyone's guns were dry and the rest of his squad was littered with bullet marks, laser burns and were tired, he also noticed someone was missing, the woman, and like everyone else, Ryan's armor was littered with bullet dents, but he hadn't noticed them with the adrenaline and his extra protection built inside his armor.

"Ah damn it, we lost one, sorry guys, he walked over to where Ryan had last seen her, I wish I could have done more," Ryan didn't have any funny comments or jokes this time, and this wasn't the place.

He walked over to one of the men who had shot down the mutants, "He thanks for that, I don't know how longer we would have lasted Ryan said.

"No problem, it didn't seem like you were having very much trouble though, hey ever think about using cover? I heard it really works."

Ryan laughed, "Naw thats why I added extra plating to my armor, If I'm not out there constatly firing, then this big gun I have here, has no purpose, thats what I'm here for, Ryan Hawk, Knight and support gunner, Nice to meet you."

It had looked bad, until the reinforcing squad caught the mutants with their pants down. As he walked through the bullet riddled building he noticed that the woman was missing, this struck Kyle as sad, he had never had the best luck keeping women safe.

Kyle met up with the rest of squad in the torn up building across the street, where the Gunner was jawing with the new squad, confident as ever. Everyone's armor looked beat up, and his wasn't much better with scattered bullets holes and dents. Kyle moved in with the rest of the squad, talking with the new squad...

The female Knight was missing, but there was a mission at hand, and Layne had been taught to put those emotions aside until after the main objectives were completed. "With any luck she died quickly.", he would say in a stoic tone before noticing a member of the new squad had the insignia of an initiate on his armor, instantly becoming a little more comfortable with their current situation.

Layne would walk up to the kid that looked around his age if not a few years older. "Hey man, I see your a green-ass initiate like myself."

The initiate looked surprised that anyone had noticed him, finally responding in a somewhat relieved tone now that he was talking to someone on his level. "Whoa, another initiate that got sent to The Mall? Man... The brass must be determined to get us killed! Hahaha." Layne would laugh as well, finding himself thinking the same exact thing.

"So, what's your name? I'm Initiate Layne Deckard, Infantry Initiate in training.", he'd state proudly. "Names Initiate Dane Barnaky, and I'm training in the same specialty. Man, we must be crazy! Infantry has the highest mortality rate out of the entire Brotherhood. Then again, I wouldn't wanna be a lazy ass scribe sittin' inside all day and missing out on all the fun!", the young initiate would say loudly and proudly.

"Ha! My sentiments exactly. Well, I figure we'll be headed out soon after we re-up on supplies. Try and stay alive out there so we can make it to the Knighting Ceremony after we become heroes on this mission, eh?!", Layne would say half-jokingly.

Richard was shooting when he heard the whiz of Missle Launchers and saw three new BoS soldiers show up and rout the Sper Mutants. Richard was happy to see them and said, "Thanks a lot, those Super Mutants just kept on coming." He then noticed that he was almost out of Microfusion Cells for his Laser Rifle and said, "You guys wouldn't have any extra ammo, would you? I'm nearly dry." He then noticed that the one female was missing and said, "Damn shame, Super Mutants must've gotten her." Richard then looked at his armor and noticed that it was covered in laser burns and bullet dents. He thought, "If I didn't have this armor, I'd be dead 10 times over by now."

OOC: ((So hey guys I'll be gone for the rest of today and the bulk of tomorrow, going to MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station). Long, grueling process I'm not exactly looking forward to :\))

Ryan awoke to the noise of energy weapons fire. he rolled out from his makeshift house...more like a metal tent...and stretched out. He wasn't alarmed by the weapon fire. Probably some supermutants fighting over a scrap of meat...Stupid things. Ryan looked over to where the small metal shack he constructed last night stood. He started heading towards it to recover his meager belongings. But as he aproached, he saw a shadow inside the doorway. Ryan instantly pulled out his old scoped hunting rifle, and chambered a round. He aimed the muzzle toward the door.
"I'll give who evers in there three seconds to come out" Ryan said

"one"

Ryan started creeping towards the door.

"two"

Suddenly, a scrawny looking man burst out of the door with a 10 mm. pistol in his hand. He swung the pistol at Ryan, trying to bash the slide into his temple. Ryan ducked under it and brought the stock of his hunting rifle up into the mans chin, sending him down to the ground and pistol flying. The man looked up at Ryan with fear and started trying to scoot away from him. Ryan closed the distance and put a boot on the mans chest. He placed his rifle barrel on the mans forehead.
"You picked the wrong wastelander." Ryan said and pulled the trigger.

Ryan flicked some of the brain matter that landed on his shoulder off and headed inside. he scooped up a bag full of bandages, med X, a few stimpacks, and mentats. He grinned as he pulled out a pack of mentats and popped them into his mouth. Ryan let out a sigh as the pills set in. The gun fight had stopped with several very large booms...Maybe he should go check that out.
(several minutes later)
Ryan hid behind a pile of debris. he peeked over to see hundreds of mutilated supermutants laying on the ground. His eyes scanned up to find 2 squads of the brotherhood of steel heading towards each other. Ryan took a deep breath, chambered another round for good measure, and stepped out of cover, heading for the brotherhood.

Chase was in the middle of discussing the possibilities of making adjustments to his laser rifle's crystal array to make it less susceptible to overheating, when Knight Backster said something that surprised him.

"We have a local watching us."

Chase turned and peered off into the direction Backster was looking in, and saw the man. He was a dirty looking man, but then all locals were. Chase stopped and watched as he slowly approached the group.

"Should we waste him?"

"Nah. The locals around here are just a bunch of scavengers. They don't pose a threat. They keep their heads down and avoid both us and the super mutants for the most part. I don't know why this one's coming over here."

"Maybe he wants a hand out?"

"Maybe. I doubt it though. Most of them are fairly well off, all things considered."

Chase scoffed, but said nothing. Instead, he decided to inform the Paladin, just in case he hadn't noticed.

"Hey Sir, we have a local in the distance over there. Headed this way."

Kyle turned to face the wastelander Baxter mentioned to Chase. The man was dirty and carrying a rifle, down by his side. Kyle fired a round over his head, not wanting to see another bomb-strapped wastelander, to show him he should stay down....

Kyle yelled over to Chase and Ryan "I don't like this, you never see lonely wastelanders out here" "The freaks could be getting smart, they could've stuck a crude explosive on him or something"

Ryan saw the movement out of the corner of his eye and whipped around and pulled the trigger, just as the barrel began to spin and the whine of the mingun became apparent he noticed it was just a regular waster. "Hey whats the [censored] doing over there?," He turned to the dirty man and yelled, "Hey! Are you crazy! This is a war-zone man, you're gonna get youself killed!"

Ryan flinched and pulled his head into his chest as a bullet wizzed past his head. He slowly lifted his head back up when no other rounds were fired.
Damn Brotherhood...Always got their panties in a knot.
Ryan slung his rifle, not wanting to further alarm the soldiers, and kept walking. He was soon within earshot. one of the Brotherhood soldiers yelled at him. Ryan didnt quite hear it. He was more content with gazing at the minigun in the soldiers hands.

"Not too often i see a group of tin cans walkin round!" He yelled. His voice had a slight southern accent.

Chase saw the shot and heard the minigun, but didn't even move. Instead, he raised his laser rifle, even as the wastelander put his weapon away. He watched him walk forwards with his finger on the trigger.

"Oh yeah? Well you keep walking towards us tin cans and this rifle right here will burn your face clean off! So why don't you just stand right there at a good distance and explain what you want, or go back to the hole in the ground you call a home!"

Knight Backster lowered his rocket launcher and added his own comment. "And why the hell are you alone out here anyway? Most of the locals round these parts travel in pairs, at least."

"Didn't expect to find a ungrateful wastelander either! hahaha," Ryan notcied the poor guy eyeing his minigun, "You like? Pretty nice huh? It gets the job done, but you might fall apart under the weight, so don't even think about. O and by the way, who are you calling a tin can? This is high-tech stuff here! Plus we last a lot longer than the likes of you," he noticed the wastelanders ragged clothes, what is that gonna protect you from, Boatflys? yea these fine pieces of armor can keep the the dumbest wasteland afloat," Ryan realized the initiate survival rate and corrected himself, "Well at least it keeps some of use safe."

"Whats you name, you crazy son of a [censored]?"

Ryan raised his hands slightly at the remark about burning his face off.
"easy now, i aint here to cause trouble. I'm alone cause the rest of the people i've been travelin with are dead." Ryan looked at the soldier with the minigun
"The names Ryan. Now do you happen to have any ordinance? .32 caliber by any chance?" ryan yelled

Kyle pulled a bandoleer of .32 out of his bag and threw it to the dirty wastelander....

"Take it, I don't think any of us need it, and its just dead weight in my bag"

"If you got any smokes, I'll take some of them though"

Chase, "Even with all this armor on am still lazy and maybe he'll distract a few of the freaks for us" he said with a grin...

"Ryan? Now doesn't that sound familiar. I wonder who I know named Ryan... Heh. Hey local, you want ordinance? Go sort through the killing field behind us. You'll find enough ordinance there to last you a lifetime!"

Chase lowered his rifle and turned to Knight Backster. "See. See! I told you he wanted a hand out."

"Yeah, yeah. Well, he'll get an armful if he feels like wading knee deep in mutie organs."

Chase watched as Kyle threw him bandoleer of ammo. "You just had to spoil the fun, didn't ya?"

Ryans eyes shifted from the Soldier who offered him ammo for cigs, and the one who told him to start diggen through muttie organs. He was unsure of what to do. he didnt want to upset the Brotherhood...too much. he suddenly gasped and whipped the rifle off his back, bringing the scope up to his eye, aiming, seemingly, towards the Brotherhood. Just as the whine of a minigun started to kick in

Kyle instantly brought his rifle to bear on the Wastelander, and leveled it square at his head.

"Come on man, we will rip your organs out before you can even get a shot off, just drop the rifle" Kyle yelled to the Ryan as he aimed his rifle at the group..

OOC: Good line ambrose

"Locals gone loco man!" Chase shouted, raising his laser rifle back up.

"What the hell are you doing? Is this guy an idiot?" He heard Backster shout as he pointed his missile launcher at the wastelander.

"Come on man, I dare you. Give me an excuse to put a shot right between your eyes," Chase muttered as he waited for the man to make a wrong move.

OOC: Oh you have no idea how long I've been waiting to write that first sentence. Incredibly lame, I know, but still.

"GET DOWWWWNNNNN!" Ryan yelled as he pulled the trigger, shooting at the now visible super mutant that had walked up on the group from behind, its minigun already reving up. Ryans bullet hit the muties left cheek, ripping most of the skin and its mutated ear right off. It spun in pain, causing the first shots of the minigun to go wide

"Pssshhh whatever man, its just one mutant, but thanks anyway." Ryan walked over and started picking up parts of the mutants minigun and added them to his, just fixing it up, "Haha! Jack pot! This idiot had about a thousand rounds on him! Your lucky we didn't kill you though, next time you should be more careful, unless you have a deathwish," Ryan pulled up his minigun," Just because we have the same name doesn't mean i won't kill you in a blink of a [censored]in eye, ass hole."

Ryan's first feelings of pride were thwarted by this other Ryan. Ryan started half jogging have walking over to the brotherhood. Either these brotherhood guys were tougher than he thought, or Ryan was just an ass hole. Ryan jumped up on a pile of debris.
"Anybody hurt?" he asked as he ejected the shell. Ryan caught the shell and blew the smoke out of it.
"Heh. hey you...Ryan." He tossed the empty shell towards him.
"Thats the casing that saved your tin can ass."

"Hey, wastelander" Kyle said with his own southern drawn.

"Shut the [censored] up, before I shut your ass up or before Ryan does" "And you really don't want him to shut you up"

After this, Kyle began to reload his weapons, seeing they had been empty since the Back-up squad had arrived...