Julian took that as a threat, and got closer to the man. He brought out his ripper once more. "Is that so? And if a certain little [censored] doesn't calm down, I'll be walking off with bits of that man's neck on my ripper. How's that sound?" Julian started up the ripper, and brought it uncomfortably close. "What'll it be?"

Rolling her eyes at the two men, she pocketed the stimpaks again, figuring it would have to wait until they were done posturing. Rachael turned her attention back to the boy and watched him eat. Smiling a little, she answered, "I saw. Good job!" Figuring it was fine to encourage him as long as he kept it to already dead things, she saw no problem in bestowing praise for his eating methods. Taking notice of the yawn, she wondered if he'd shift back now that he was relaxed because he was likely going to doze off and if she were going to carry him, she'd far prefer he be in the smaller form.

Julian just turned off the ripper and put it away. He glared angily at the man as he walked away. He stopped at the woman and the half-breed, and knelt down. "How long have you had him?" he asked curiously, brushing off some dirt from his face. He noticed a cut across his cheek. "The real question is where you found him..."

Watching the Enclave soldier inspecting his dusty, kevlar encased hands as he noticed the blood there from touching the gash along one side of his face, Rachael waited for his presence to put her back in a bad mood and when it didn't she felt a little relieved. "Had him?" she asked, before realizing what he meant. "I've only known him as long as you likely have. I saw the.. altercation in Megaton and followed him out, tracking him to where he'd stopped." Which made her wonder again how on earth the man had found the kid in the first place, but then she'd never used Power Armor--both because of not having the training and also the fact that there wasn't any made ever that could fit her--and wondered if it made it easier for him to track things when the helmet was on. "Before that," she added, shrugging, "I have no clue where he came from, only that he was staying in Megaton with somebody who I assume was taking care of him. He has mentioned a 'mother' several times." Thinking about it a bit more, she added, "Your guess is as good as mine as to why he's decided to refer to me as his Aunt."

Turning to face the man fully, she looked down at him, eyes slightly narrowed behind her tinted glasses. "What I'd like to know is what you want with him. I don't trust you. Let me make that extremely clear right now. But, I also sense that you are, at least in part, telling the truth, that you're 'on our side'," she said, repeating the words he'd used. "Are you simply following orders, or do you actually care? What is your part in this whole thing?" Looking back towards the other man, she continued, "Or his part, for that matter. What is so important about this child other than his unique lineage?"

Crouching down beside the soldier, she extended a hand towards the halfling for him to sniff or lick or whatever, just to show that she meant him no harm whatsoever. "Before you ask, I do have my own reasons for being here and for caring, but I'd rather not tell them to the likes of the Enclave." Leveling a glance at the man, she added, "I have had encounters with your type before and none of them have been very.. peaceful, nor have they been especially forgiving or kind. I've been shot at, hunted, attempts at capturing me, and all other sorts of nonsense. So, please do forgive me if I barely tolerate your presence."

Caso murred at her compliments and rubbing, as how he devoured his meal whole. He rubbed his face some, as he was starting to change back to himself once he calmed down. There was a sick cracking sound in his belly as his meal was forced to be compacted even smaller when he became a child again. He whimpered rubbing his eyes walking to Racheal's side and eached out to hold her hand also let out a little yawn. "Mmm..... I'm sleepy..." he whispered rubbing his left eye as he sighed softly. "nya......" Looking to Jack and smiled. "Can we go find... find..." He looked to Julian and blinked at the blood from the cut on his cheek. He walked over to him and crouched down to his side. ".... You okay metal man?" He asked crouching down and wagged his tail. "you need help getting up too?" he asked titling his head to the side.

"Huh?" he looked to them both and blushed when they talked to Rachael like she was his mother. "Well I dont really know you names... and I call you metal man, I call the big lady auntie cause she's nice" He murred again, just seemed so happy even after what had happened. The little boy wagged his tail then pointed to Jack. "and I call him sticky man!" he said so happily and cute. "cause he grabbed me away from those other metal man, and his hands look funny" He giggled as he seem to blush a little more, wagging his tail all around. "Murr.... so I all have small names for you cause I dont know your real ones an stuff...."

"But I'm sad now since you started talking about me like I'm not here..." he let out a small whimper as her lowered his head and ears.

Julian sighed for a moment. "My part in this? I'm a pawn like all the others. I do Autumn's dirty work. If I oppose, I get killed. Hell, If Autumn figured out I was even talking to you without shooting on sight, he'd shoot me in the face now. And why am I trying to get the kid? It's my job. Eden wants all the half-breeds in the wasteland, including that boy. The Enclave is tryign to use them as.. Weapons.. Half-breeds like him are extremely dangerous, even more dangerous than a normal type of their own. The boy is half human, half deathclaw. When he grows to his full stage, he will be more effective and more powerful than an average deathclaw, mainly for the reason he can switch back and forth, use guns and use a deathclaw's powers. This boy could take out an entire town if he got angry enough."

Julian wiped off blood from his cheek and coughed. "Now do you understand? It's not me that wants the boy, it's them. I don't want to see a kid like that be put in captivity and fed rotting food. He doesn't deserve something like that. I mean, look at him. He's happy how he is right now. I will help you get this kid to safety, even if it means killing people on my side."

Dren ambled through the streets, uncaring of the eyes watching him. He had a lead on the enemy, but they hide so well. His guess was Megaton.... the only haven outside Washington DC. After many minutes of walking, He watched a child transform into a Yao-Guai. He had his first target.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: Dren
Full Name: Dren Merk
Age: 28
Gender: Male
Physical appearance: Pale, Bald
Height: 6'3
Weight: 300 pounds in armor
Personality: Does not talk often, he is presumed mute
Weapons:
10mm SMG
Immolator Cannon:
An experimental Enclave weapon based off the Brotherhood Tesla Cannon design. It was designed due to the need of weaponry that could
stop an attack by creatures normal weaponry cannot effect, such as Overlord Mutants and Deathclaws. It works by using a backpack to
shunt extreme power into a Over-The-Shoulder weapon's energy modulator, overloading the modulator with power untill it fires through
six lenses. Unfortunatly, this also makes the backpack a obvious bomb when the Cannon is active


Clothing:
Damaged Enclave Hell-Fire Armor
FusionPak Backpack
BIO:

Dren was an Enclave Trooper untill his squad was destroyed by the very thing they were sent to capture. Dren took this personaly and stormed out of Raven Rock after stealing an experimental weapon and proclaiming to the gaurd that all mutants should die, and that using mutants is hypocritical to the president's word. He is now on a crusade to destroy any he finds untill he provokes an official response from enclave HighCom.



OOC: We need an Antagonist

((Ummm .... Have you read where we are now? were no longer in Megaton and are you talking about Caso? If you are, he's not a Yao Guai))

OOC: Npc I dont MetaGame

Rachael melted a little at the look and reached out to pluck the child up and cradle him lightly. To her, he didn't really weigh much at all. She sighed, saying, "I'm sorry. We know you're here, it's okay. I'm Rachael.. I don't know these other people's names, though, you'll have to ask them." Looking up from her new burden, she met eyes with the solder again, her glance calculating, measuring, but not as unkind as it had been. She sensed that he told the truth and she knew that the Enclave rarely cared for their lower ranks, using them as cannon fodder at times. Still, it was difficult for her to simply accept one on his word alone.

"I understand.. and I know that the highers use you and your fellows, it's just.. I've never had dealings with the Enclave that were anything approaching peaceful, so it's a bit difficult for me to grasp the concept right away. But.. I believe you." She looked down at the halfling who was nearly asleep in her arms now. "He's only as dangerous as he's raised to be," she said softly, not just thinking about the boy, but herself as well. Her mother had been very firm in teaching her to control her strength, to be careful with it. Sure, she used it now as a tool, a weapon, but she knew what she could do and knew how to regulate herself. After that first rage when her mother had died, control over herself had become very important to her and she knew how to control herself, to keep her emotions tightly under wraps. Though, she also knew when to just let go.

A sad smile crossed her lips then as she murmured, almost to herself, "This is all about half-breeds is it? That explains a few things." Speaking up, she continued, "I can only guess as to how a half-breed Deathclaw could come about, but I'm guessing we both know." And that it's nothing like how I was concieved, she added mentally, trying to keep anything telling off her face, though if he started to wonder, well, he would wonder.. because people often did wonder about her and it was why she tried to keep her distance most of the time. He'd promised to help her, though, and that was something she had absolutely no experience with. "Does this only involve engineered half-breeds, or any at all?" It would certainly explain some of her confrontations with the Enclave if they were after any and all half-breed humans.

Dren carefully watched the youth transform into a Bear. The Bear then reared and looked at him, knowing the jig was up. Dren armed his Immolator, and activated his power pack, the huge rectangular weapon coming online and glowing crimson out of every unsealed orifice. The child, being Yao-Guai and sharing tendencies with said species, lunged at him. Dren merely aimed and hit the abomination mid-flight, the gun spitting a twisting beam of red energy that forced Dren to polarize his visor. Dren unpolarized his visor to a gruesome sight, the weapon had turned the creature to a pile of ash and had continued to mangle a helpless tree and drain his entire FusionPak (Whining in protest for time to recharge). He laughed for once, a bittersweet taste of vengeance.... compounding the thought that he would hunt them down until his heart was content, every last one of them.

OOC: I thought on the subject of being a villain, and found that such a weapon would put him one notch about above a common troublemaker - a villain must have means to hold the throne of Villainy and not be laughingstock

Julian nodded. "Yes. They're after all half-breeds. They figure half-breeds shouldn't be in the general public, and they see half-breeds as monstrosities. But, as said, once they get a mind control device on one's head, it follows their orders." Julian looked at the boy. "What's your name? Do you know where you came from?"

....Yao-Guai? If I recall, Yao-Guai have no horns, its a deathclaw.



IC:

Jack pointed his gun at the enclave man, and stood in front of Caso. "Hey! Stay away from the boy, he's miiii- Me and the womans duty to protect!".

He looked behind him, and saw Caso, and he said in a calm voice. "'Names Jack, not sticky man. And I don't have weird hands.". He smiled, then whispered, kneeling down to the kid, 'Hey, want some food? You're not going to eat for a while, out here. This man, right 'ere, 'ese gonna' take you to a cold place, you'll rarely get fed, and they'll, ehh...". He though of some more propaganda to tell the child, "They'll. Stick things in ya'? Yeah. Big, sharp, scary needles. Kill this man, and eat em'.", he turned, stood, and pointed his gun back at the soldier.

Julian got up, getting angry. "Give it a rest, will you? Why do you have to have the last word? Can't you see I'm not here to attack you? We seem alot safer here without you." Julian turned away and sat on a large rock, awaiting a response.

OOC: No Deathclaw! I was combating a Non Player Character (Yao-Guai) in a different area......... *Grumble*

Oddly enough, Rachael found herself agreeing with an Enclave soldier, another first for her. Green eyes moved from one man to the other, then fixed on the man in front of her for a moment. She moved Caso to cradle him in the crook of one arm, freeing the other and before either man knew what was going on, she snatched her hand out, tearing the rifle from Jack's grip. Her voice was deep and growling as her anger grew, "Will you let it go for a few minutes?" Unloading the rifle, she handed both it and the clip back to its owner. "If you hadn't noticed, we're under threat of the Enclave here. Sure, that Vertibird," and here she pointed to the pile of smouldering wreckage not too far away, "Is out, but there's going to be more and I don't know about you, but I'd like to be far away from here when they arrive."

Wrestling her voice into something more calm, she tried to speak more evenly and smoothly. "The more time we waste messing around here, the less time we have to get the hell out of here." Generally, she had a much easier time of keeping herself more calm and keeping the rumbling, guttural tone out of her voice, but her protectiveness was out in force, making itself her top priority. Nobody was going to harm this child if she could help it. He deserved a chance at a good life with people who cared about him just as she had. It had been very important to her mother to give her the best, most normal childhood she could have and she respected that, wishing it for this child she didn't even know because they shared a unique bond that no full human could truly understand.

Swiftly turning away from the two, she started storming off in a general Southern direction. "If you're with me, then get a move on. I want to get as much distance from this place as possible." She hoped neither would shoot her in the back, but they both were interested in the child and shooting her while she carried him would endager the kid. If one of them did shoot at her, then Atom help the man because she wasn't going to hold herself back given the circumstances.

Dren, satisfied with the pile of ash, began to set up a radio transmission using his helmet communicator. He began to record a message: "I am Dren Merk, a freelance soldier in the occupation of destroying these 'Hybrids' or 'Mutants' as you will.... if you know the location of one of these abominations and wish it removed for a small fee - contact me with a radio signal; termination is guaranteed, this message repeats". This signal could either be a blessing or a curse, leading him to the enemy or leading the enemy right to him. He did not particularly think about wastelanders not having many transmitters.

After setting the transmission, He began to spray-paint his armor red using a spray can from the Bear's shack to set himself apart from the common Enclave troops he used to belong to. After a few minutes of rummaging, he also found the child's father's power-fist along with a knife, pole support, and a very leaky wonderglue bottle. He carefully set the four items down outside, avoiding the leaky bottle top. He first applied wonderglue to the pole support and attached it to the Power-fist's rectangular ram block. He next applied glue inside the pole support and stuck the knife, minus its rubber grip, inside the metal hole. After five minutes of trimming He hefted his creation, the wicked junkyard weapon's blade stretched one inch past his knuckles when the heavy glove was attached to his gauntlet. He flicked his wrist, and the power fist drove the deadly combat knife forward with murderous intent.

Julian got up and loaded his guns for any wild animals that migh attack on the way. "Do we have any place to go in specific?" Julian asked, putting his guns away. "If you asked me, there are several old shacks spread around south, and the Enclave wouldn't think of checking in any of them." Before anyone said anything, Julian got out his radio that soldiers used to call in troops. "You have to believe that I'm helping you guys for what I'm about to do."Julian tossed the radio on the ground, got out his laser pistol, and shot at it several times. He put the gun away and stomped off whatever was left of the radio. "Now there's no way they can detect me on radar, and no way I can communicate with them."

((jedib1: alright, just give us a little warning when that happens because I'm pretty sure some of us thought it was Caso then just a NPC))

Caso murred as he was picked up by Rachael and smiled happily. "hee hee.... you have a pretty name" he said nuzzling in to her as he burped softly. He looked to her and smiled. "Can I call you Aunt Rachael? your nice like my mom but more yelly to the men... So cool!" he murred wagging his tail but looked to them when Jack came over and told him to eat Julian. Talking about how he will take him away and do all those bad stuff. He sniffled starting to be scared. "Noooo" he sniffled reaching and hugged her close crying in to her a little. "No I'm full and he's not a meany metal man anymore....." he sniffled curling his tail between his legs.

Once Rachael yelled at Jack he calmed down and sighed softly. "Mmm.. maybe we can hide at this cool rocky place! I only heard about it... but It's called Sniper Shack. I think it's West of here near Rockbreaker's Last Gas" he wagged his tail for being a 6 year old boy he sure know what places are called. Guess thats what he gets for staying in the house and listening to people's conversations. "It sounded like a good place to keep a lookout... out..." he whimpered as he started to curl up holding his ears. "Nya...." he whimpered shacking his head as a ringing in his ears for a moment. It passed by quickly. "ow... that hurt" he whispered.

He rubbed his ears and looked to the two guys and girl. "Well.... not sure... I heard of other places but I'm not sure they will be good" He said rubbing his eyes feeling sleepy again. He murred laying against the strong arms that held him feeling safe again. It might not be home or his mom but it's better then nothing. He sighed as he nuzzled her one more times. "I'm sorry I couldn't help...." He whispered as the boy finally fell asleep. Yet as he would nap in Rachael's arms, his dreams would be plagued with nightmares.

~~

A little bit of time passed for Dren, as from the horizon a wastelander would be walking up towards him. He wore some leather armor, on his back was a Hunting rifle and a sawed-off shot gun holster on his side. "Hey.... I heard your recording down near Megaton and I request for you..." he said with a stern look on his face. "Recently there has been a half freaky in Megaton. It had escaped and caused some deaths when it did." It was a lie but he was the kind of person that wanted those hybrids gone. "I want you to hunt it down and kill it before it can cause any more damage to others... I will pay you 1000 caps and an extra 200 for whoever it can be traveling with" he spoke with a smirk. "think you up for the job?"

Dren nodded, an evil grin presenting under his helmet. "Yes, that will do nicely...... do you have any leads as to a direction?".

~~

The man smiled at him. "Well..." raising up his hand and titled the hat he wore on his head, to the side. "He got out of megaton but at the same time the Enclave came by and tried to capture the beat but him and his little group ran off to the south... so it seemed. There was an explosion on from the distance to one of those flying machines as it crashed. Then grew more disturbing when a roared echoed out once it cashed. It would be a good place to start there" he said tossing him a bag of 300 caps inside. "you get the rest of the payment when you get me it's head." He then added. "The boy is a Deathclaw so dont even try to find a replacement and pas it as it. I want the monster's human head then you get your pay" he said with a smile.

"You're pretty smart for a kid. I guess that's our destination. Just let me look it up on the GECK." Julian said, getting out the GECK map and scanning for any place called 'Rockbreaker's Last Gas'. It took a few moments, but it pinpointed the exact location and directions there. "Alright. I got it up on the GECK, you guys all set to head out?" Julian said, putting up his GECK.

Dren nodded than tossed the bag back "No pay till I bring the head" He then set out to the south east figuring that one would not go directly on the beaten path and muttering about Deathclaws.

((OOC: Please don't let this die ))

((OOC: I was waiting for Skippy to post))