Chapter 11: Reilly's Rangers

Marcus, Charon and Winthrope carried the unconscious woman into the Underworld clinic, or "chop shop" as it was morbidly called.

"Put her over there." the ghoul doctor, Doc Barrows instructed them.

The three men carefully placed her on a gernie in the corner of the clinic. The doctor and his nurse, Ms. Graves, quickly pushed them aside, and began removing the woman's armor. Marcus turned to Winthrope. "Who is she?"

"That's Reilly, the founder and leader of Reilly's Rangers. They're a mercenary group operating out of downtown DC."

The ghoul must've noticed Marcus tense up when he said the word mercenary. "Relax kid, they're not like those Talon Company assholes. Reilly doesn't do assassinations, and she'll only take a bounty if the person's a real scumbag."

Marcus breathed a little easier. It was nice to know that some merc's had a heart. The doctor and nurse tossed Reilly's armor on the ground. "Looks like she was hit in the lower abdomen." Nurse Graves said.

Doc Barrows nodded. "Yeah and the bullet's still in there."

Marcus picked up the armor and it didn't take long to find the hole in the lower front plate. From the size it looked like a 7.62mm round.

"She's lost a lot of blood." the doctor said. "Check her holotags for a blood type."

Nurse Graves removed the tags from around Reilly's neck and placed them inside a small computer. When the information came up the nurse sighed. "Damn! She's AB negative."

"Shit!" Doc Barrows cursed. "We don't have a type that rare on hand, and she's probably the only human in the whole fucking wasteland with it."

Marcus placed the armor back on the ground. "Actually she's not the only one, doc."

Everyone in the room turned to look at him. "You're blood is AB negative?" the doctor asked,

"Yes. My father was the doctor in our Vault and..."

Doc Barrows grabbed Marcus' arm. "Sounds very interesting. Nurse! Get the transfusion kit ready."

Before Marcus knew it, he was being pushed into a seat next to the unconscious Reilly.

"Take off the top part of your armor and roll up your sleeve." the nurse told him.

He quickly obeyed and presented his left arm. Once the nurse had finished hooking up the tubes of the transfer kit, she stuck the rather large needle into Marcus' arm. A moment later a steady stream of blood began to flow through the tube and into Reilly.

"There you go." Nurse Graves said. "How do you feel?"

Marcus gave her a nod. "I'm fine."

"Good. I'm going to hook up an IV to your other arm. We don't want you passing out too."

Marcus thanked her and as he was stuck with another needle, Clover walked into the clinic. "What' going on, suga?"

"Well, it seems I'm the only one with her blood type so we're going to have to stay for a little longer."

Clover walked over and knelt in front of him. "I don't mind that baby, but if you keep stopin' to help everyone in the wasteland who's in trouble, we'll never find your dad."

Marcus quickly swallowed the lump in his throat. It was true these detours were slowing him down, but he couldn't let Reilly die. As much as Marcus wanted to find his father, he wanted to be able to look him in the eye when he did. "I can't help it. My father always taught me to help others when I could. I mean, wouldn't you want someone to help you if you were in trouble?"

Clover shrugged. "Sure...but on one would help me, suga. That's not how things work out here."

"That's not true." Marcus placed his hand on hers. "You helped me."

Clover shook her head. "That was just so I could escape from Eulogy."

Marcus looked into her eyes. "And the second time? When you saved me from that Super Mutant?"

For a few moments Clover was speechless as she stared into Marcus' brown eyes. Finally she flashed a coy smile. "Well...I...we've been having so much fun that I didn't want it to end."

Marcus smiled back. He wasn't buying it. "There's more to you then that."

"If you two are done with your pillow talk," an annoyed doctor Barrows said, "I'd like to finish getting this bullet out."

Clover leaned in and kissed Marcus on the lips. "Till next time, lover."

Marcus grinned. "Okay. I hopefully won't be too long so wait for me back in the room. Take Charon with you and...behave yourself."

Clover looked at Charon, then turned back to Marcus. "Don't worry baby, I only take the live ones." She turned back to Charon. "Come on, honey."

Without saying a word the ghoul followed her out of the clinic. Though Charon was silent his mind was busy trying to comprehend what he had just seen and heard. At first he had assumed that this Marcus was just another slaver, and the sight of Clover wearing a collar confirmed that. Only this Marcus was - different. Not only did he willingly give his blood to a stranger, but Clover seemed less like a slave and more like a companion - a companion he actually cared about. This was very confusing to Charon, but he decided not to dwell on it. All he knew for certain was that for the next two weeks her severed Marcus, and he would obey his commands to the death if necessary.

After his companions had left, a rather embarrassed Marcus looked up at Doctor Barrows, who had just extracted the bullet from Reilly. "I'm...sorry about that. Clover is very..."

"Rude!" Nurse Graves bluntly finished.

Marcus shrugged . "Well I was going to say immature."

The doctor reached for a pair of sutures. "That's okay kid, I've heard worse."

Marcus looked over at Reilly. "How is she, doc?"

"Well the bullet's out and there's no major damage. So between that and your blood I think she's going to make it."

Marcus was relieved. "That's great. How many of these Rangers are there?"

Doc Barrows thought for a moment. "There are four others that I know of. They always travel together, so something pretty bad must've happened for her to be out here alone and wounded."

Marcus began to fear the worst. "Do you think they're all dead?"

The Doctor shook his head. "I don't know, kid. Reilly's Rangers are some of the toughest sonsabitchs around here, but this place has a habit of swallowing up the toughest of the tough."

Given everything that he had seen since leaving the Vault, Marcus had to agree with that grim statement. "How long do you think it will be before she wakes up?"

Barrows shook his head. "She needs rest and if you haven't noticed you've given her almost two pints of blood. So you're not going anywhere for a while either. The next six hours will be critical. If I wake her up now, it might kill her."

Marcus sighed. So much for not taking too long.

Six hours after the operation Marcus, Clover and Charon walked into the chop shop. Reilly was still unconscious and was hooked up to an IV and heart monitor.

"Is she ready to wake up, doc?" Marcus asked.

Barrows shook his head. "She's stable but I don't think we should wake her yet. There's still a risk of her going into shock."

Marcus raised his PIPBOY. "We're out of time doc. Listen to this:" There was the sound of gunfire which made everyone in the room jump. A minute later a voice could be heard speaking. "This is Butcher from Reilly's Rangers, we are currently trapped on the roof of the Statesmen Hotel by Super Mutants. ammunition is running low and we need immediate extraction." There was a pause and more gunfire. "If you can't reach us look for Reilly in Underworld. We will repeat this message for as long as possible."

Marcus turned off the message. "If there's any hope of helping the Rangers, we have to wake her up now!"

The doctor sighed. "Alright, but if something goes wrong it's your responsibility." Barrows walked over to Reilly's bed and prepared a syringe. Once he injected it's contents into her IV, Reilly began to stir. A moment later she opened her eyes and sat up in bed. "What...where am I? What happened? How long have I been out?"

"Not long, fortunately." Marcus said.

"Right...can't remember what I was doing. Wait! Oh shit!" She pushed the blankets off and began pulling the IV out of her arms. Doc Barrows and Marcus tried to restrain her. "Reilly! Reilly! You have to rest! You've been shot!"

"My men. My team! What happened to them?"

Marcus struggled to hold her down. 'This woman is as strong as a bull' he thought. "Your team is alive...I heard their distress signal."

After hearing that Reilly began to calm down. "Who are you people?"

"My name is Marcus Lincoln and these are my friends: Clover and Charon."

"Marcus donated some of his blood to you." Barrows said. "You're alive because of him."

Reilly studied Marcus' face. "Marcus Lincoln. The Lone Wanderer?"

Marcus nodded.

"The stories are true. You really are a 'do-gooder'. Listen, we don't have much time. We were mapping Vernon Square in downtown DC when we got jumped by Super Mutants. Usually this isn't a problem, but this group was larger and more organized then we have ever seen. We fought our way into Our Lady of Hope Hospital to make a stand."

Marcus guessed what happened next. "Don't tell me: more Super Mutants inside?"

"You got it. The ugly bastards just kept coming. We fought our way up and found a way across to the Stateman Hotel next door. The Super Mutants seemed driven...like they smelled blood. They just kept coming. We had no choice but to head for the roof. " Reilly paused and she let out a sigh. "On the way we lost Theo, one of my guys. We were unable to get the ammo case off his body before we were pushed onwards. We set up traps, dug in on the roof and made our stand. I slipped out with a stealth boy to find help. Listen, I know I have no right to ask this, but I need your help. The word is you can handle yourself in a fight."

Marcus took a moment to consider everything he had heard. Getting into another major battle with those damn Super Mutants was the last thing he wanted. However, he'd spent the day asking around Underworld and it seemed that what Doc Barrows had said was true: Reilly and her Rangers were people worth saving. Besides, with every bounty hunter and merc hunting him, Marcus figured having the Rangers as friends would increase his chance for survival. "Alright, I'll do" He turned to Clover, who was standing in the corner with Charon. "I can't ask you to put yourself in harms way..."

Clover placed her finger on his lips. "I know, you can't help yourself. I said I would follow you anywhere, suga and I meant it."

Marcus let out a small sigh of relieve. He turned to Charon. "What do you say, Charon? Feel like killing some Super Mutants?"

"Whatever you say, boss."

"Call me Marcus."

Charon looked puzzled. "Boss?"

"You heard me. Call me Marcus."

Charon hesitated for a moment. Finally he said: "Yes boss...I mean - Marcus."

Marcus turned and headed towards his room. 'Well, it's a start.' he thought.

Against the wishes of Doc Barrows, Reilly left the clinic and joined up with Marcus and his companions. While she was recovering, Marcus had Winthrope repair her armor, and Clover helped the merc suit up. It was clear to everyone that Reilly was still weak from her ordeal, but the fiery redhead was determined to rescue her men. With her armor in place, Reilly locked and loaded her tri-beam laser rifle, hooked four incendiary grenades to her belt, and finally holstered her laser pistol. Marcus and Clover still had the same weapons they used at the GNR gun battle, and Charon carried his combat shotgun. Marcus had asked Quinn to hold onto the Fat Man launcher that Sarah Lyons had given him, and Quinn agreed.

The group walked out of the Museum of History and into the dark wasteland.

"So Reilly, " Marcus began, "do you have a plan to rescue your guys?"

Reilly grinned. "If there's one thing I've learned is that no matter how random things seem, there's always a plan."

Marcus didn't know quite how to respond to that. He looked over at Clover and she only shrugged.

"You seem pretty confident in yourself." he said.

"Stick with me kid and you'll learn a few things. We'll head to Our Lady of Hope Hospital first. From there we'll cross over to the Statesman Hotel and relieve the Rangers."

"Do you really think they're still alive up on that roof?" Clover asked.

Reilly didn't answer at first, and Marcus was not happy about Clover asking such an insensitive question. Finally after a long pause Reilly said: "If anybody could hold off those mutants for this long, it's my guys."

Their walk to the hospital was just like any other in downtown DC: long and treacherous. After killing their share of ghouls and Super Mutants in the metro tunnels, the group finally found themselves across the street from the hospital's main entrance. Reilly used her night vision to check the area for movement and found none. She turned to the others. "Okay, I'm going to haul ass to the entrance and I want all of you to cover me. When I get to the other side and verify that it's clear, one of you run to me while we provide cover. Then so on and so forth until we're all across. Got it?"

Everyone nodded. Reilly took a deep breath and sprinted across the street. She made it without incident and quickly signaled for the next person. Marcus turned to his companions. "I'll go next. Cover me."

Clover gave him a smile. "Always, suga."

Marcus headed out and like Reilly he made it unscathed. Reilly patted him on the shoulder. "Good work." She signaled again and Clover come over next, and finally Charon joined them. All four of them were crouched in front of the main doors. "Okay," Reilly began, "I'll take point. Marcus, Clover, you two watch the left and right sides. Charon, you watch the rear." She opened the door and the group quietly stepped inside. The large waiting room was like ever other structure in the wasteland: blasted and burned. Aside from a few dead Super Mutants there were no signs of anyone inside; at least not at first.

"Hold it!" Reilly whispered as she held up her left fist. Everyone else stopped. At the other end of the waiting area, behind a huge counter to the left, Reilly spotted movement. "Take cover."

The group spread out. Reilly and Marcus took cover behind a pillar, Clover and Charon went behind a pile of rubble. Reilly pulled out an incendiary grenade, pulled the pin and threw it across the room. A moment later Marcus shielded his eyes from the fireball that erupted on the spot where the three mutants were standing. One was killed by the sheer force of the explosion, the other two were set ablaze and screaming in agony.

"Open Fire!" Reilly yelled.

All four companions stood up and unleashed a hail of lead and laser fire, putting the screaming mutants out of their misery. The room was once again silent, save for the sound of smoldering bodies. "Come on." Reilly said.

They climbed the stairs to the second floor and walked through a pair of double doors. They were in a long hallway with triage room to the right, and the cafeteria and kitchen to the left. Reilly signaled for everyone to stop. She could hear more Super Mutants inside the cafeteria. In the same moment, Marcus noticed a foul odor and that his eyes were starting to burn. "You smell that?" he whispered.

Reilly nodded. "Yeah, gas leak. The main line in the kitchen must've broken - and that gives me an idea." She reached for another incendiary grenade, and Marcus realized what she was doing and turned back in the other direction. "Move, move!" he whispered to Clover and Charon.

Reilly pulled the pin and rolled the grenade into the cafeteria. Quickly she ran back through the double doors, and everyone hit the deck. The explosion and fireball blew the doors off their hinges. Marcus could feel the hot wind blow over them, and then he could hear the screams of the Super Mutants who were caught in the inferno. After what seemed like an eternity the screaming stopped and the team stood up. They made their way through the scorched second floor and made it to the third. Marcus discovered a locked first aid kit on one of the nurse's stations, and after picking the lock, he found six stimpaks and med-x. Finally the team reached the roof and the point where they would cross over to the Statesman Hotel. The remains of the hospital's radio tower were lying across the gap between the two buildings. Marcus, Clover and Charon stared at the make-shift bridge.

"That's how we're getting across?" Clover asked.

Reilly stepped onto the tower. "Relax, me and my guys made it across with a bunch of Frankenstein's on our ass. It will hold you just fine."

Marcus peeked over the edge and saw how high up they were, and his throat went dry. "W...well, the sooner we get across the better."

Reilly smiled. "That's the spirit! Come on." She turned and began to make her way across.

Marcus looked over at his companions. "Will you be able to make it?"

Without saying a word, Charon walked out onto the tower.

"Okay. You ready, Clover?"

Clover stepped onto the tower. "I was born ready, suga."

Marcus could tell from the strain in her voice that Clover was trying to hide her fear. Carefully she began walking across, and Marcus was a few feet behind her. By the time Clover was halfway across, Reilly and Charon were waiting on the other side. Marcus looked down to check his footing, and that's when a gun shot ran out, followed by a scream. Marcus looked up just as Clover tumbled over the side.

"CLOVER!" Marcus screamed as he dropped his AK-47 and ran towards her.

Clover held onto the bars of the tower, her feet dangling a hundred feet in the air. "MARCUS I'M SLIPPING!"

Marcus dove, his hands stretched out in front of him. Clover tried desperately to hold on, but she was too weighed down by her gear. Her hands slipped.

Marcus landed on his stomach and grabbed hold of both her wrist. The sudden jerk of dead weight pulled his right shoulder out of the socket. Marcus screamed in agony, but he fought against the pain with everything he had.

"MARCUS! DON'T LET ME FALL, PLEASE!"

Marcus gritted his teeth. "I won't let you go!" he managed to say.

More gunfire erupted from the street below, and two of the rounds landed inches from Marcus. Reilly took aim with her tri-beam rifle and returned fire, while Charon ran out onto the bridge. Charon reached down and grabbed Clover's right hand, giving much needed relief to Marcus. Reilly peppered the mutant with laser fire until he finally screamed and died. Charon and Marcus managed to pull the terrified Clover onto the bridge, and the three of them walked over to where Reilly was waiting. "Damn you got guts, kid. No brains, but guts."

Marcus didn't respond. It wasn't the first time he'd heard that, and he was starting to think people were right. He had his left arm wrapped around Clover, who was shaking like a leaf and holding onto him for dear life.

"Here, we'd better sit down." Marcus strained. Both he and Clover plopped down on the floor and a sharp pain went through his shoulder. "Oh, Jesus!" he cried.

Clover snapped out of her terror and looked at him. "You're hurt! We're you hit?"

Marcus shook his head. "No, it's my shoulder. Again!"

Reilly, having seen more then her share of dislocated limbs, knew exactly what to do. Putting her rifle down, she carefully pulled Clover away. "We need to snap it back in place. It's going to hurt like hell so lay back. Charon, hold him down."

Marcus laid down on the hard floor, and Charon held onto his left shoulder. Reilly sat down next to Marcus, took hold of his wrist, and placed her foot under his armpit. "Are you ready, kid?"

Marcus took a deep breath. "Ah...no."

Reilly braced herself. "On the count of three. One..."

She yanked his arm with all her might and Marcus let out a scream that echoed through the downtown area. In one violent moment it was over. As Marcus laid there groaning, Reilly injected his shoulder with a med-x to dull the pain. "There. You'll be able to use that arm again in a few minutes." she said.

Marcus thanked her and sat up. "I thought you said on three."

Reilly shrugged. "I lied. Rest for a minute."

Clover practically pushed Charon out of the way and wrapped her arms around Marcus. "Thank you! Thank you, thank you." she kept saying as she covered him in kisses. Clover's affection caused Marcus to wince in pain, but he didn't stop her. He was just glad she was alright. "I guess I only owe you one now." he told her.

Clover only laughed. Marcus looked up at Charon and extended his left hand. "Thank you."

At first Charon just stood there stone faced. Finally he said: "I was doing my job."

Marcus would not leave it at that. "I still want to thank you and shake your hand."

A few more awkward moments past until Charon finally gave Marcus a firm hand shake. Clover stood up, wrapped her arms around Charon's neck and kissed his cheek. "Thank you." she said.

For a moment a hint of surprise could be seen on the ghoul's face. He remained speechless as Clover released him and helped Marcus up.

"Damn it!" Marcus cursed. "My rifle went over the side!"

It was true, both he and Clover's AK-47's were lying in the street below. Marcus pulled his sawed-off shotgun out of his hip holster. "I guess this will have to do for now."

Reilly tapped Clover on the shoulder. "Here, take my laser pistol. It will tide you over until you can get an assault rifle off one of the muties."

Clover thanked her and took the weapon. Reilly addressed the group again. "Okay, I'll take point again. Keep your eyes open. There's going to be lots of rooms so watch your corners."

Marcus was reminded of what Sarah Lyons said during the battle at GNR. 'Clear the corners, rookie!'.

The team entered the Statesman hotel. The halls were littered with dead Super Mutants, empty shell casings and rubble. Bullet holes, blood and scorch marks covered the walls. It was clear that the Rangers had make the mutants pay for every inch of ground they had gained. All of the hotel rooms had been ransacked long ago, and many of them contained two-hundred year old chared skeletons. Since whole sections of the staircases had been blocked or collapsed, it would take the team longer to reach the roof. They had almost cleared the first hallway when Reilly stopped. A Super Mutant was in a room to their right.

"What was that?" the mutant said.

They could hear him approaching the door, and Reilly raised her rifle. Charon grabbed her shoulder. "Allow me." He said.

Before Reilly could say anything, Charon placed his combat shotgun on the ground and stepped in front of her. He crouched down into a battle stance and waited for the mutant to walk into the hall. Just as the mutant appeared, Charon sprang like a cat and planted both his knees on the mutant's shoulders, grabbed it's head and snapped it's neck. Charon jumped down, landing on his feet, and the Super Mutant's body hit the ground with a thud. Everyone stood there with their mouths open as Charon presented the mutant's assault rifle to Clover. "This, I believe, will suffice."

Clover, her mouth still gapped open, took the rifle. Charon picked up his shotgun and turned to Reilly. "Sometimes stealth is the best approach." He turned and continued walking down the hall.

Reilly and Marcus looked at each other. "Damn!" Reilly said. "Where's you find him?"

"Underworld. Everyone there said he was the toughest sonofabitch in the city."

Reilly looked back at the ghoul. "Guess they were right. He keeps that up and I might just hire him."

They continued down the hallway, and Clover handed Reilly's pistol back to her. The next floor contained two more live mutants which the team took care of with no problems. As they cleared the rooms, Marcus would check for anything of any value: ammunition, first aid, food; he even found a science book he decided to read later. In one of the rooms he noticed a .38 revolver lying on a king sized bed next to a skeleton. After securing the weapon, he noticed the skeleton was clutching a holotape. Curious, he pried it loose and read the title: "My little Moonbeam".

Reilly walked up behind him. "What you got there?"

Marcus placed the holotape into his PIPBOY. "Let's find out."

"My dearest little moonbeam. I know you've been waiting to hear what happened to me. I'm sorry I left you like I did. An important deal came up... one that might have let us get away from that shack we were living in. I came to the Statesman Hotel to meet the buyer and the deal went bad. We shot each other, and now I think I'm dying. I won't make it out of this place... the ruins are crawling with super mutants. All I can do is record this and then hide up in one of the rooms. You're a strong girl and I know you can use everything I taught you to survive alone. Please forgive me, sweetie. I only wanted to make the best for us. Daddy loves you very much. Goodbye."

As he listened, Marcus couldn't help but relate to this story - and it scared him to death. Whoever this 'little moonbeam' was her father had left her behind to do something good, and instead he ended up dying alone in a rundown hotel room. No doubt his daughter to this day has no clue what happened to him. Marcus wondered if he would share little moonbeam's fate...or find his father's skeleton clutching a death message.

"Hey, you okay?" Reilly asked.

Marcus stopped the recording. "We should keep going." He said as he hurried out of the room. As they approached another stairwell, Reilly stopped Marcus from going in. "Hold it!" She pointed to the ground, and that's when Marcus saw the tripwire. Reilly pointed to the ceiling, and the team spotted a bundle of five frag grenades suspended by a wire.

"Not bad." Marcus complemented.

Reilly smiled and showed him how to disarm the trap. When she was done she handed each of them a frag grenade and continued heading up. They had reached the next platform and that's when they came across Theo's body. The headless corpses was lying in a pool of blood, still clutching a tri-beam rifle. Everyone was silent as Reilly kneeled down next to the body. Tears began welling up in her eyes, but the tough merc fought against them. 'Never let them see you cry', she kept telling herself. She managed to find Theo's holotags and she placed them in her pocket. She then removed the tri-beam rifle from his arms. "Till we meet again, my old friend." she whispered. Reilly stood up and handed the laser rifle to Marcus. "Here, you'll need this."

Marcus holstered his shotgun and took the weapon. He had never fired a laser rifle before, and since he loved scifi stories, he was looking forward to it.

"This is the ammo case I told you about." Reilly said as she punched in the code and unlocked the massive crate. "Here, everyone take some. The Rangers will need this when we reach them."

After passing out the ammo, the team continued on and finally reached the last floor of the hotel. At the other end of the hall, through a pair of double doors, was the hotel's bar. Behind it was a staircase leading to a catwalk which lead to the roof. And inside this room were no fewer then six Super Mutants, including a Master with a minigun on the catwalk. "They...are coming!" the Master said. "Be...ready."

Out in the hall, the team was crouched down, planning their next move. "I could hear them in there," Reilly began, "but I can't tell how many or where."

"Why don't we just go in there and blast'em?" Clover asked.

Charon shook his head. "They might get us in a crossfire. We need to throw them off balance first."

The rest of the group agreed. Marcus looked around and spotted a storage room to his right with a sign that read "O2". He quietly went inside and found a number of full oxygen tanks lying on a cart. A smile appeared on his face. "I have an idea."

The double doors burst open, and the six Super Mutants took aim with their weapons. A small metal cart carrying green cylinders slowly rolled into the room. The mutants watched until it rolled into the front of the bar. Three of the mutants slowly approached, not sure what to make of it. On top of the cylinders was a piece of wood with the words: "You're Fucked" carved into it.

The 40mm grenade sailed down the hall and hit the cart dead on. The pure oxygen in the cylinders might as well have been gasoline, because the explosion blew the three mutants to pieces. Some of the cylinders that ruptured became projectiles, causing the remaining Super Mutants to run for cover. Marcus, Reilly, Clover and Charon stormed inside, their guns blazing. Reilly and Charon targeted the Master on the catwalk, while Marcus and Clover blasted the remaining two. The surprised mutants didn't have a chance, and the battle was over as quickly as it had begun.

The roof of the Statesman hotel was unlike any of the roofs in downtown DC. Beautiful Roman style columns lined it's edges. In the center was a large stone staircase which led to an outside lounge, complete with tables, chairs and another bar. It was here that Reilly's Rangers had settle in for what they thought might be their last stand; and the piles of dead Super Mutants were proof of that. Sitting behind their makeshift barricade Butcher, the Ranger's medic and second in command, cleaned his 10mm submachine gun. "I sure hope Reilly made it to Underworld okay." Butcher was the oldest and tallest of the Rangers, and the scares on his face showed he'd seen more then his share of battle. Try as he might he couldn't stop worrying about Reilly. Sure they all were concerned about their leader, but Butcher had other reasons for his worry: he and Reilly were carrying on a secret love affair. When it began Reilly was clear that if got in the way of work she would end it. Up until now they had managed to keep the two separate.

"Don't worry Butcher," their technician Donovan replied, "I'm sure luck will be with her. It always has been." Donovan looked like an average soldier, but he was one of the best techs in the waste. Reilly had compared him to an old world hero called "Macgyver", for his ability to build anything from anything.

"Yeah, but luck wasn't with Theo, was it?" Butcher grimly replied.

Donovan didn't respond. An awkward silence filled the air for a few minutes, until it was shattered by the battle cries of Super Mutants. "Hey guys!" Brick, the Rangers other female and heavy weapons specialist shouted. "Guess who's coming to dinner!"

Butcher cursed under his breath. With Brick's minigun dry and the rest of them low on ammo, he didn't know how much longer they could hold out. He gritted his teeth and took aim with his submachine gun. Donovan was next to him, taking aim with his marksman carbine. The first mutant's head that appeared coming up the steps was blown to pieces. More of the giants appeared and charged head on into the Ranger's fire. Two more died at the top of the steps, but more were coming and getting closer.

"Damn it!" Butcher cursed as his submachine gun went dry. He reached down to draw his side arm when the mutants were suddenly engulfed in flames from an incendiary grenade. The Rangers took advantage of this and managed to finish off the screaming creatures. "Well alright!" Brick shouted with her long southern draw. She took a long whiff of the air. "I love the smell of burning Super Mutant in the morning. It smells like...victory!"

Butcher and Donovan ignored her; they usually did when she talked like that. "I thought you were out of those." Butcher said.

Donovan shook his head. "That wasn't me."

They heard more foot steps coming, only these were not the thunderous steps of Super Mutants. Rather, they sounded like human foot steps. "Who goes there?" Butcher shouted.

"The one who pays you, dumbass!" came the reply.

Butcher's heart nearly leaped in his chest. "Reilly!"

The sight of their leader alive and well caused the Rangers to let out a cheer. Butcher ran up to Reilly, and while he resisted to urge to wrap his arms around her, he couldn't hide the smile on his face. "Well, it's about time you showed up."

Reilly smiled back and jabbed his shoulder. "Hey it's not like I was on R and R." she joked.

Butcher managed to pry his eyes off of her and looked over at the team she had brought. "Reinforcements, hu?"

After Reilly made the introductions, Marcus shook Butcher's hand. "Ah, the Lone Wanderer everyone's been talking about. I guess those stories weren't exaggerations."

Marcus began to blush. "Well...some of it is."

Butcher fixed his eyes on Clover. "You must be the one he escaped with from Paradise Falls."

Clover beamed with pride. "Well, it's nice to know I'm finally being noticed."

Charon stood silent and rolled his eyes. Marcus reached into his back pack. "Here, we have some ammo for all of you." He handed Donovan three magazines of 5.56mm for his rifle, and a rocket for his RPG.

"Oh yeah, that's what I needed!"

Marcus then handed Brick a case of four-hundred rounds of minigun ammo. Brick literly jumped for joy and snatched the case out of his hand. "YESSS!" She began to caress the ammo case. "My precious! My precious!" She hurried over to her minigun. "Oh Eugene! I have something for you!"

Marcus and the others stared at the woman as if she had two heads. "Is she - alright?"

Donovan locked and loaded his carbine. "That fool is batshit crazy, that's what."

Reilly turned to Marcus. "But she's the best there is in a fire fight. She could also operate just about any vehicle you can find in the waste."

"So who's Eugene?" Marcus asked.

As if on cue, Brick spun up her 5mm minigun, startling everyone. "Yeeehaw!" she shouted when her test was finished.

"That's Eugene." Butcher said.

"She loves that gun more then anything in the world." Reilly said. "If she could I think she'd have sex with it."

Brick picked up the massive gun and walked up to the group. "What makes you think I haven't already?"

"Oh God!" Donovan sighed. The rest of the Rangers and Marcus shook their heads. Clover let out a giggle. Charon leaned over to Marcus. "She remind you of anyone?"

At first Marcus didn't understand what he was getting at, but then he looked over at Clover and laughed. "Oh yeah." Marcus regarded Charon with curiosity. "Charon, did you just tell a joke?"

Marcus didn't think it was possible for Charon to look any more serious, but that's exactly what happened. "Relax, I'm not mad. In fact, I think you should do it more often."

Charon watched Marcus walk away. He couldn't remember the last time he'd told a joke, much less when someone actually laughed at one. Marcus approached Reilly. "So do you have a plan off this roof?"

"Well we can't go back the way we came since we kicked the hornets nest. Donovan, what's the statics of the express elevator?"

"Without a fission battery this elevator ain't going nowhere."

It was as if a light bulb went on inside Marcus' head, and he quickly began sifting through his bag. He remembered scavenging a dead Robco robot for energy cells and a fission battery. He pulled it out of his pack and presented it to Donovan. "Will this do?"

Donovan's jaw dropped. "Hell yeah it will do! Everyone hold on, I"ll have this working in a minute."

While Donovan made final repairs to the elevator, Marcus turned to the other Rangers. "If we take this elevator down to the main lobby, it's a safe bet the Super Mutants will be waiting for us."

Brick stepped forward. "Don't you worry kid, Eugene and I will clear a path."

Reilly agreed. "As soon as Brick let's loose with Eugene, you and your friends run out the left side of the elevator. We'll head out the right. Shoot anything that moves."

The rest of the group agreed. "Okay it's ready." Donovan said. "Time to get off this roof."

One by one they all entered the elevator and proceeded down. The elevator stopped at the platform just above the main lobby. The Super Mutant Brute standing in front of it turned just in time to be cut in half by Eugene. As planned, Marcus, Charon and Clover ran out the left side of the elevator. immediately Marcus spotted a Super Mutant armed with a rifle on the other side of the platform. Activating his VATS, he targeted the creature's head and fired the tri-bean rifle, blasting it to pieces. Reilly and the rest of the Rangers ran out the right side, and took out two more mutants and the platform. Brick stepped out of the elevator and targeted two mutants in the lobby below. "Say hello to my little friend!" She pulled the trigger and peppered the creatures with lead.

Just as the last mutant fell, the doors to the lobby burst opened. Four Super Mutants, two of them Masters armed with miniguns, ran inside. Brick greeted them with a blast from Eugene, killing one of the Masters. But four hundred rounds doesn't last long in a minigun, and Brick cursed as she ran out of ammo. The remaining mutants opened fire. Charon was hit in his left shoulder, and Marcus pushed both he and Clover against the wall. On the other side, Donovan was hit in his left leg and went down. Butcher was quickly at his side and dragged Donovan away from the edge. Reilly hit the deck, and managed to pull Donovan's RPG off his back. She pulled the grenades pin and stood up. "Eat this!" She yelled as she fired rocket, which landed in the center of the three mutants. The Master was killed outright, and the other two were severely wounded.

Marcus saw his chance and fired his 40mm grenade launcher. Three shells rained down into the lobby, finishing the off the last Super Mutants. Everything was finally quiet, and Marcus ran over to Charon. "Let me see your shoulder."

"It's just a scratch." the ghoul replied.

"Marcus pulled out his first aid kit. "Bullshit! Let me see it."

Charon relented and allowed Marcus to dress his wound. On the other side of the platform, Butcher was treating Donovan's leg. "You're lucky. The bullet missed the bone and went straight through the cafe muscle."

Donovan grunted. "Oh yeah, I'm really blessed!"

Reilly slapped him on the shoulder. "We're alive, that's what matters." She walked over to Marcus' group. "How is he?"

Marcus finished applying the bandages and helped Charon up. "He's fine. What about Donovan?"

"He'll live...thanks to all of you. What do you say we get the fuck out of this hotel?"

Marcus let out a sigh of relief. "Sounds good to me."

Reilly led the group outside the Statesman Hotel's main entrance. They stopped for a moment to observe the sun rising in the distance. All of them breathed a little easier as they took in the view, and all of them were thinking the same thing: we make it.

"We did it, Reilly." Butcher said as he helped Donovan outside.

Reilly smiled. "It's like I told you, no matter how random things may seem there's always a plan." She reached inside her armor and pulled out a large cigar, which she placed inside her mouth. "And I love it when a plan comes together!"

The Ranger's Compound was on the eastern edge of downtown DC near Seward Square. At first glance there was nothing but a collapsed building, but a large steel door at the base of the rubble led down to a bunker. It was small, but more then adequate for the Rangers. In the center was a small planning room, to the right was the living quarters and kitchen, and to the left was the armory. Once everyone was inside, Reilly passed out bottle of purified water to everyone (except Charon, who prefered the radiated kind).

"I want to thank all of you for helping me bring my guys home."

"It was our pleasure." Marcus said. "We fought beside the Brotherhood once and I must say you guys would give them a run for their money."

That compliment brought a smile to Reilly's face. "Speaking of money, I can't pay you for what you've done but there's something I want to give you." She walked into the living quarters and reappeared a minute later with a set of green armor and a combat helmet. "Here, take this armor. As far as I'm concerned you're a Ranger now, so wear it with pride, kid."

Marcus was so overwhelmed by the gesture that he didn't know what to say. The armor was beautiful, and if offered much more protection then the advanced leather armor he'd been wearing. "I will, and thank you." He took the armor and ducked into the living quarters to put it on. While Marcus was doing that, Brick presented a gold coin to Clover. "This is my lucky piece. I want you to have it."

Clover was more then a little surprised at the gift. "Thank you." She took the coin and studied it. On one side was the Ranger's emblem: a four leaf clover and two crossed swords. On the other side the words "Luck of the Irish" were engraved. Clover looked up at Brick. "But...won't you be needing this?"

Brick gave her a dismissive wave. "Nah. Besides, I got Eugene and that's all the luck I need."

Butcher approached Charon and presented him with a rather impressive looking combat shotgun. "Donovan wanted me to give you this. It was his when we first started out, but he rarely uses it anymore. It's his way of saying thank you for saving us."

Charon stared at the shotgun for a few moments before he slowly reached up and grabbed it. He looked down it's barrel, examined the stock and looked down it's sights. On the side of the barrel the word 'Terrible' had been engraved. It was a beautiful weapon, and for a moment Charon almost choked up. "Tell Donovan thank you." the ghoul managed to say.

Marcus came out wearing the Ranger armor and helmet. "So, how do I look?"

Brick let out a whistle, and Clover walked up and began to caress the chest plating. "Very nice, suga. But I think it looks better off."

Marcus grinned and they shared a kiss. "Here, I want you to wear my old armor. It will protect you better then...that."

Clover stepped back and presented a little pose. "Don't you like seeing me in this, lover?"

Marcus looked her up and down. There was no doubt the skimpy raider armor did her body justice. "Yes, but I'd much rather see you in one piece." He held out the leather armor. Clover pouted. "Please Clover, for me?"

Clover sighed and finally took them. "Alright. For you."

Marcus patted her behind as she walked past him. While Clover got dressed, he made his way into the planning room and found Reilly smoking her cigar. "Thank you again for the armor."

Reilly took a drag from the cigar. "It's the least we could do."

"Listen um, what do you know about Talon Company?"

Reilly was surprised by the question, and it showed. "Let me give you some advise: stay away from them. They give us mercs a bad name."

"Well I have to. You see there's a pretty big bounty on my head."

Reilly let out a sigh. "I know, and that's why you'll no doubt run into them. My advise: shoot first. But hey, you're one of us now so I'll spread the word that if anyone messes with you, they'll have a problem with us."

Marcus was grateful for the reassurance. "Thank you. You mind if we grab a bite to eat before heading out?"

"Of course, consider this your home away from home. And listen, since you get around so much I have a job for you. As you know we map the DC area for a contractor. If you let me download all the places you've discovered from that PIPBOY of yours I'll pay you in caps."

Marcus liked the sound of that. "Sure thing. In fact I have a few locations for you now."

"Excellent! Let me down load them and I'll get you your caps." The whole process only took about two minutes, and Reilly gave Marcus about three-hundred fifty caps.

"Say Reilly, who is this contractor that wants to map the wasteland?"

Reilly shook her head. "I really don't know much about him. He's some big-whig from up north. I thought it was someone in the Commonwealth, but I think he's somewhere in Pennsylvania. Anyway, let's eat."

After a hearty meal (and a few beers), Marcus, Clover and Charon said goodbye to the Rangers and headed out into Seward Square. They were walking down a small path between two apartment buildings when a man sporting an AK-47 and eye patch walked out of the rubble and stood twenty feet in front of them. Marcus recognized him immediately - and his blood ran cold. 'Jericho!' he thought."

"Well, well it's the 'goody-two shoes!" Jericho mocked.

Marcus tightened the grip on his tri-beam rifle. "Well hello Cyclopes. What the hell do you want?"

Marcus could see Jericho's good eye twitch. It was obvious he'd heard that insult before. "Moriarty wants a word with you."

Marcus starred the ex-raider down. "Really? Well you could tell Moriarty to kiss my ass!"

A sinister grin appeared on Jericho's face. "He figured you'd say that." He put his fingers to his lips and let out a whistle. At least two dozen raiders appeared in the windows above, and four more appeared behind the trio.

"We could do this two ways, kid: the easy way, or the hard way."

As she stared at the trap they had walked into, Clover suddenly remembered the gold coin Brick had given her. 'So much for the luck of the Irish', she thought.