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It had been years since James had been in a police cell. Until he remembered that he had been in one several months earlier in a galaxy far far away, but the stone walls and iron bars as opposed to steel and hard light shielding felt much more comfortable. Almost nobody came to visit him, at least nobody regular enough, there was a guard on post but he barely ever paid attention unless some noise was made. He also was the only one currently in the police station's meager five cells as he fiddled with his omni-tool passing away the time with a mini-log of days. "Day two. The cell's still cold but considering the heat outside that's pretty much a blessing. They give you a hole in the wall since the toilet doesn't work, but least I have a bed so it's not all bad. Feel like shit though, and I know why. Dunno what came over me, I think I'm starting to lose it, just keep...thinking of past things, stuff I really forgot about like this thing I got sorta confused with about Sarah years back when we first met. Hhhhhh...I know I'm talking to myself on this but I feel this could really set my head straight a little, least when I'm recording I feel like I'm not crazy about it." Sighing with a mirthless chuckle he continued. "Sarah wasn't nice when we first met, and she only really softened up once things really changed after um, the uh...incident. I can't quite remember all of it really, sorta comes in bits and pieces, I remember when she first shot me when I robbed her but anything after that's kind of really a blank slate until maybe the illegal bike racing...sorta broke my arm in two places and she came to visit me in hospital, showed me another side of her that she really cared...guess I sorta latched onto that hoping she was kind of nicer underneath. Sorta forgot she was a mobster for a few months right up until...the...beatings down in the basement I guess. God...I know she has her issues but jesus I dunno who's worse, me or her." "I could take a guess." Jerry stood outside his cell leering at him with crossed arms and stern teeth into a grimace. The raptor turned off his omni-tool softly as he got up slowly feeling his bandaged foot throb slightly. He hobbled over towards the cell door hearing Delgado ask: "Fiddlin' with yer robo-arm again?" "Just to pass the time, got a recorder function on it, figured out how to reset the time on it too, ask me what time it is." "...wha-...didn't you already do that when you first signed up?" "Well yeah, but I got the whole time on it now, like year and month, go on ask me what time it is." "...I don't-fine, what time is it?" "1:40pm, January 15th, 2288." "...huh, yep, sure is." "You said it was like August when we first came here." "Well pardon me fer not havin' a fancy calendar like you do when all I gots to worry about is next week or day an' night. Whut is that anyway, some kinda Pip-Boy?" "No? Just...something I got installed, can't remember, I programmed the date in finally on this thing." "Well...anyways, I heard everything from the paladin. After everything I told you, I expected better." "Just, listen I don't-I know what I said was really bad and she, h-he-" "Oh for god's sake," snarled Jerry, "you really got pronoun problems don't ya kid?" "Oh, so when Crow was giving pats on the head calling HIM 'madame' and not giving a shit about it, HE goes after me when I do the same thing!" "You INSULTED him and mocked your superior!" "He-she-whatever, doesn't get to make me speak in a certain way after HE let Crow do it!" "That's because yer a damn subordinate! Listen, you got a problem with authority, that's fine, but you are NOT gonna last out here unless you learn some manners!" "I don't HAVE a problem with authority, I just have a problem with assholes like Crow and hypocrites like Darryl."

"That's JUNIOR PALADIN Jeffries to you you fucking goof, you don't get to tell him what he should do or not, yer not his vanguard, yer his damn subordinate!" "Well WHAT then?! Why does he not take it from me but he lets Crow walk all over him, why couldn't he stand up for himself when it mattered, when Crow KILLED that woman even after she surrendered?!" "...I don't know." "What?" "I said I don't know, I agree about Crow if what you say is true-" "It IS true, I fucking told you, she did NOT wanna fight me no more and she gave her weapon away!" "Well being an ass to your superior's not gonna help you at all then isn't it?! You wanna file a complaint, you gotta do it properly, we have standards in this place." "Not according to some people." Jerry prodded up a bone-cold finger through the bars at FG's face. "You...are REALLY testing my patience, wet-rag." "Wet rag? The fuck are you from?" "I am your commanding officer, you want two weeks more in this place, go ahead." "I just...I just wanna know, what is the deal with Paladin Jeffries? Why does he insist on that so much?" "What?" "Cuz, I get 'sir', that's fine, I'm cool with that, it's military, but the insistence on 'him' and 'he' is REALLY WEIRD and I don't get why that's a thing because he looks like a-" "HE'S NOT A WOMAN!" Suddenly a bone hand grabbed at FG through the bars and slammed him hard against the cell door, feeling the breath of the ghoul wash over him thickly. "He...is NOT...a woman. You got that?" "...r-really?" "Yes. What, did you think he was?!" "...y-yes, no one said he wasn't so-" "Well, he isn't. That's yer answer, I thought you'd be smart enough to figure it out but turns out yer fuckin' stupid." Tossing him back hard enough to make him limp strongly on his injured foot and go down wincing on his knee, Delgado sneered at him with clenched fist of sinew beneath decayed flesh held by wrapping cloth. "Anymore trouble from you, an' that's TWO weeks. I didn't realise I had to explain stuff to you because yer not entitled to know everything about everyone in Beech. Instead of wastin' yer time gettin' angry at whut you can't figure out, why don't you use that passion of yers into where it counts, like yer training?" "N-nnngh...hhhh...I...I guess I should. Sorry." "You got five more days here, so be good until then. If all goes well I might have a way to fix yer reputation up again but no promises. Just...please don't be an ass." He said this in a rather pleading fashion as he walked off back along the cell corridor out of view, the raptor sighing as he limped his way back onto the bed waiting for next mealtime. It had never occurred to him what the problem with Darryl really would be. The name was what threw him off, or rather the face as he started thinking back on what Jerry said. "...what if he really isn't a woman? Like...maybe he's just a guy that looks really like one...and sounds like one. That exists right? Yeah...yeah it does, I knew people like that. ...god, if that's true I've really gone and made myself the worst possible asshole to him...god dammit."

The raptor put his head in his hands sighing regretfully, feeling terrible all over again as his heart hung low within him. But he could not help thinking back on what Crow had said to Jeffries in passing, a great many insults but then realised: "Fuck Crow. Guy's a real asshole worse than me, he probably just knew how to make Darryl tick like that, nothing he says has to be true right? ...right. Fuck maybe I'm just really confused right now, I'm getting so caught up in my memories and everything I just can't handle this stuff...whatever, whatever, I don't know anything so I just shouldn't have said anything, I'm gonna just call him sir, and that's that, nothing else. Not like I know what's underneath that armour and I don't even have to know." A week near passed as he made his way out of the prison, his time now served as he sneaked out a quart of bread from his pockets that Diana had snuck in for him through the window of his cell. He smirked at that little rebellion of authority, at least he knew that she was always going to be on his side. Thankfully Diana was put into care of Sally Sobchak for the time being until James was released, the raptor heading off towards the nursing college where she normally worked. He never told anyone about what Ramona had said to him, which he only started remembering after the first two days of being in solitary after which he tried to forget. Her claims of a greater horror of acts that Scissoraptor had committed was gone to the echoes of this wasteland, never to be remembered again now that the last survivor of which had been taken. He mourned for her upon burial, his last act before being taken to the cell was to put her in a peaceful spot just on the outer rim of the Beech, hoping it would satisfy her wretched spirit. As he approached checking in with the receptionist to see Sally, he noticed that Diana was nowhere to be seen, then realised that it was around this time that she was off learning in school and forgot the time of day briefly. He was about to leave when he heard two voices within Sobchak's office. One of them was quite clearly Jerry as his curiosity peaked overhearing Sally start with: "And he just kept PUKING like over and over again I just shoved his head out the window just so my floor wouldn't get all messy!" "Pfffthahahahahaa!" "And then, right at that moment, Carl is coming by with-" "OH DON'T TELL ME, can of beans!" "YES! OHHHH it was so awful!" "I HEARD ABOUT THIS, he came up to me like 'the fuck my beans are green now what the shit!' and I just euuuurgh!" "HMHMAHAHA, ohhhh god I'm so sorry but my patient was just going and going, I thought the stomach had WAY less than that inside of it." "Yeah well, I mean, yanno Pauline, got the stomach of a brahmin that one, I mean jeez, can't tell her to slow down eatin' fer shit, she'd sooner eat yer hand than go starvin'!" "Hmmmmm...hhmmhmhm...soooo?" "Hm?" asked Jerry. "Well? It's tomorrow isn't it?!" "...what?" "I told you about me, now let's hear about you cuz you said you were busy yesterday!" "O-OHHH riiiight right right sure, sorta never got round to tellin' you about stuff didn't I?" "Nope, so spill." "Welp, I was...sort of a rough young guy, worked in a mechanics shop my dad used to own, Delgado Motors, real nice place in a town down south and wuz kind of a rebel. Can't help it when you feel all the cars and fancy stuff around you, I mean you see the stuff broken down around you but back then they were like so sleek, like reflecting the damn sun enough to blind ya." "Ooooh...so you really just stuck to the mechanic game?" "Pretty much, I mean...I used to get really interested in college also, sorta outgrew the punk feel halfway through, stopped mussing my hair up all greasy, went out less late, studied in, figured out who my real friends were and who were really posers. One guy I know was a dumb shit, he had this phone thing on him, an' he claimed it had so many pixels on it an' just flashed it like his own damn dick wuz inside it."

"Pfffft," snarked Sally. "So fuck that kid, I kept my closest friends close and went studying into physics a lot, wanted to maybe get a degree in sumthin', it sorta licked all right with me. I did a lot of dumb shit before I got serious into physics, wanted to switch out my leather jacket fer a labcoat but then...the bomb dropped." "Where were you when that happened?" "Honestly? I can't remember, musta been flown off somewhere, lost in a daze burning like everywhere. You ever had that feeling where it burns when ya pee?" "Um...nooooo?" "Well, if you ever do, remember that feelin' but all over yer body, like every pore of sweat from yer skin is just literally on FIRE an' trying to burn you inside out. Wuz the worst fuckin' pain I ever felt in my life, an' the first thing I remember screaming out about...wuz 'please god don't let them take my hair'." "PFFFFFFFFFF...hhhahahahahaha, oh god really?!" "Yep, seriously." "Oh jeez Jerry, yer such a...yer a real...I don't even know what to call you." "Handsome devil?" "No." "Awww...okay then handsome, I can live without the devil part." "S-stop it!" "Ahhh okay okay...so mmmph, I gotta get back to work um, you got that list fer me on what I need?" "Sure do, we just need to get this all sorted and uh, we can get to work synthesising once you get all the ingredients." "Well all I need is just to find a sap willin' enough fer this. Oh hey Jim!" Jerry said this as he walked out the door grinning from bonecheek to cheek, his teeth alight unprotected against the elements as he slapped an arm on the scaly back. "JUST the dino I wanted to see." "H-hey um, I was just here for Diana but, then I realised she went to school." "Sure did, now I take it yer out of prison right?" "Yes sir." "Good. SO...you learnt yer lesson?" "Yes sir." "And?" "I will respect Junior Paladin Jeffries with whatever he asks of me and not to disobey him at any cost." "Thaaaaaat's it, I knew you weren't stupid!" "Don't be mean Jerry!" said Sally from in the office. "Ahhh he knows I'm kidding come on, lemme show ya." Taking the raptor into the office where Sally sat waiting, she offered up a small checklist printed out from a computer on dot-matrix paper. It was a list of various chemical phrases that he had no comprehension of whatsoever, with some other words written in stark pencil on the right of them such as "Buffout", "RadAway", "Med-X" and "After Burner Gum". "What's this?"

"This," explained Sally, "is a list of medical stuff I need because we're rather low on some of this for the camp. Jerry found out from scouts that there are a few unchecked pharmaceutical stores left sunken inside Chicago. Problem is a lot of these sunken pharmacies are down near the metro system...which is full of monsters, chimeras mostly. But we really need some of this, ESPECIALLY Buffout." "Whatsit do?" "Steroids basically, we use them to synthesise chemicals from them in order to help with arthritis, muscle atrophy and low testosterone." "Huh...aren't steroids addictive?" "Not when a doctor prescribes a controlled limit no, plus I'm not directly using them, I'm just using parts of it." "Ooookay...what's the other stuff?" "RadAway helps deal with radiation problems and also is a diuretic, Med-X is basically morphine and we always could use some of that, After Burner Gum is pretty rare but some pharmacies stocked it for medicinal purposes for containing methamphetamines." "Wait meth?! Seriously, they made a meth chewing gum?!" "Apparently!" "I remember that stuff," said Jerry, "gave a real shock to the brain an' made ya all hyped up super fast kinda like mentats do but better. We used to put it on turrets making them short out their systems fer some reason, not sure why but the chemicals in them tend to fuck up turrets." "Ooookay," said FG worryingly, "that...does not sound safe to chew." "Good thing we're not chewin' it, right Sally?!" "Nope," said the doctor, "I just need the methamphetamines to deal with ADHD, narcolepsy and refractory depression." "Well I guess being high would make you stop being depressed yeah." "Right, but...it's more medical-based, if treatment's not working for it." "I had no idea all these drugs had medical uses." "Every drug has a medical use...normally, you just need the right doctor behind it to synthesise it properly instead of the 'street value' you normally see out there." "Right, gotcha." "Sally's our best chemist honestly," said Delgado, "she's the one that heads up any chemical stuff frankly whereas both the other doctors tend to work with biological stuff, you know, bodies an' such, surgery an' whatnot." "I understand...so you want me to go out to these pharmacies and get back the stuff for ya?" "Wow I didn't even offer, you gonna do it?!" "I...assumed you were gonna ask me considering you brought me in to read this." "Heh, sharp kid, what I tell ya." He gestured towards FG and patpatted him on the back confidently, seeing Sally roll her eyes as she gave him the chemical readout of the stuff needed as she added: "The Buffout is most important so if you have to choose between them, get Buffout especially." "Right, got it. So uh when should I leave?" "Now even!" said Jerry. "I'll clear it over with Paladin once you get all yer stuff ready, it's pretty dangerous." "Won't there be anyone coming with me?"

The knightly ghoul rubbed the back of his neck nervously, a few flakes of dead skin whittling off glowing in the window's light as Sally winced slightly at it. "Thing is...that last attack with the Vipers kinda decimated us, we're down to two-thirds our usual force so we really need to keep numbers up here. It's bad enough risking our scouts fer this an' well...you took down Mentalia, least fought her enough plus you, seriously, went through the Nightstalker caves without gettin' poisoned I mean how the hell did you do that?!" "I just...crept through being smart and not making too much noise, though I admit I got kinda lucky." "Pfft, lucky my ass anyway, grab yer stuff an' get ready to head on out I'll see you up at the Paladin's office." "Wait um...what about Hawk, could he maybe come?" "Ahhh sorry," said Sally, "the Trilateral Force left about three days back, no idea where they got to. But I think I heard Hawk saying he was going off towards the northeast part of Chicago, if you find him you might ask for help if needed." "But other than that," said Jerry, "you won't have anyone helping, wish I could. I'll give you the map fer where you need to go once I got this cleared with Paladin." "Alright then," said FG. Returning back to his home he began packing things up for a long trip, taking water, food and basic tools in case of any problems. Diana noticed this as she returned back from school putting her backpack down on her bed. "Whu-...yer outta jail!" "Mmhmm, on good behaviour, thanks for the bread by the way." "You...you just got out today?!" "Yep." "But...why you packin' yer stuff?" "Because Delgado's got a mission for me I can help, basically doing something nice so um, people won't get mad at me for what I did." "Where you gonna go?" "Somewhere up north. Don't tell anyone but basically, we're kinda low on medicine and they need someone to go get some. And I'm the one they asked because of, if we could survive Nightstalkers we can survive anything." "Can I come wit' you?" "Uhhh...no." "Wh-why not?!" James worried that she would ask about this, but luckily he had a backup reply for this. "Because I need someone to protect our place, that last raid and all, the way you handled that no problem? I mean I'd be worrying like hell about what's happening with our place and you're the only one I trust." "R-...really?" "Yeah! If you came along I'd just worry about you this place being left without anyone to guard it for us." "Bu' the people are nice here!" "Yeaaaaaah but you can't tell if EVERYONE is nice, plus if there's another raid while I'm not here...who's going to look after our stuff?" "...yyyyyeaaaaaaah." "Sooooo if you stay here, I won't have to worry so much." "Are you really sayin' that, or you just don' want me to come along wit' you just because I'm sum kid?" "...I need you to stay here, and there's another reason anyway." "Wut's that?" "You're not in the Brotherhood yet, this is a mission from them and I'm part of them, if I took you long then I'll get in trouble for taking civilians, it's a dangerous mission. Now, I know you're not some kid Diana, that's fine, but basically there's rules we have to follow, so if you were part of the Brotherhood I could ask you to come along, but since you're not...then it really doesn't involve you does it?" "...well...I guess not...but...you really gonna be okay out there? On yer own?" "Course I'll be. Why, you worried?" "M-maybe...you better come back safe you hear me?!" "I promise. In fact, take this."

Rooting around in his satchel containing all his most precious items, he pulled out at first the bell before realising he did not exactly want to entrust such a mysterious item to the young Diana. Frankly he wasn't even sure why he still had it, having only brought bad things to him until realising he did not wish to disrespect the wishes of the dead. Instead, finding that he was in a bad predicament of trust which he was unable to back out of, he reluctantly gave the one other thing he had left on him. The photo of Koopin he soon handed over to Diana as he bent down on one knee. The girl was perplexed, looking at it as if he had just given her a puzzle box staring at the strange little family of yellow reptilians with wide eyes of perfect idealistic joy she had only ever seen on billboards. The face of the raptor however had been smudged over horribly by what appeared to be a bloodstain, or at least something similar. "Whut's this?" "It's...a small painting that someone did." "Seriously? ...looks weird, who dat?" "Someone I um...knew long ago." "Whut even are they? That thuh weirdest gecko I ever done seen, all yellow an' shit, why they all got a shell?" "Listen...that pho-I mean-painting...picture, whatever, that's REALLY important. That is how much I trust you." "Wh-really?" "It's a...memento, I know that sounds weird but it reminds me of someone I know, someone who I loved very much. Now...you have that on you, I will come back so you can give it back to me. I don't wanna lose it, so you promise me not to lose it." He held her hands firmly as she held the photo by her thumbs, taking care not to smear the picture. "You...you really trust me that much?" "I trust you enough to look after our place, so I trust you enough to look after that picture. It's the most important thing I've ever owned so PLEASE do not lose it. Promise?" "I promise." The girl said this without hesitation realising the severity of this in James' eyes, staring down upon her with muddied green pupils that seemed a far cry from his reflection in the photograph. Not that she ever knew and in fact neither would James upon seeing nothing of his own self from that photo ever again. But Diana understood the importance of this and carefully put the photo away in her dress, nodding as James finished up his packing and soon headed out.

It was an hour later that he found himself at the town gates waiting to head off, as Jerry came walking down with an approved stamp of permit giving him authority to leave the town for supplies. It was just an official thing and nothing more, a red seal with his name written underneath that was unable to give him proper authority outside of Beech. But it was however proof that he had been given an important task to achieve for the Brotherhood of Steel. The ghoul senior knight nodded resolutely at the raptor who stood with backpack and satchel, scissors glinting behind him. "You ready to go?" "Yep," said FG, "sure am." "Got yer compass, food, water?" "All good." "Alright, here's yer map an' yer geiger counter." "The what now?" He brought up a small machine the size of a portable radio that flickered a small dial on the front, twitching just above absolute zero on the green safe end of the scale. "Helps detect radiation, the city's pretty bad in sum parts an' you don't wanna walk into some place that's burning with radiation. Get all sick too much an' you die of poisoning so keep an eye on that." "Ahh alright then, cool." He handed James the geiger counter which flickered mutely beside Jerry giving a sheepish grin, along with a map somewhat the same size as the one from Gruthar that he still kept, giving him a somewhat-better perspective Chicago's most southern areas. But the raptor felt still somewhat nervous, thinking about one thing in particular that Jerry noticed asking: "Sumthin' wrong?" "Not...really just...I wish I had way to report about Crow." "Same here," said Jerry, "it's our policy round here to take unarmed people surrendering cuz that means another body for our garrison. I sent out a report to the Elder about Crow's conduct after Darryl wrote it all out." "Wait, seriously? Darryl wrote a report out on him?" "Mmhmm, improper conduct and unmitigated violence towards a defenceless person. When the Elder hears about this he's gonna get a whuppin'. See that's how you go about making people face crimes." "I guess...you sure Paladin Jeffries'll be okay after I do this?" "Totally, you bring back those chems an' you'll look real good, now get out there an' don't take long! Remember, we can't afford anyone else to go after you so if you get lost...yer on yer own kid." "Heh, thanks. Alright then uh, see you when I see you." "Alright then...hey uh, sure ya don't need any boots or sumthin'?" "Huh?" "I mean, how's yer foot holdin' up?" "It's all healed, no worries." "Right right just...you sure ya don't need any foot protection?" "I've never worn shoes my entire life, so why start now? Besides, what's shoes gonna do that my own scaly feet can't protect me from naturally out on the wastes? Besides, I hate wearing boots, never feel right wearing them." "Alright, fair enough just uh, be careful. We lost one of our guys out there, which is weird considerin' how good they are." "What?" "Well just...you know be careful, we never lost one yet since we came up to Beech so if you see anything unusual, don't question it just run. See you around Jim." Walking out of the gates of Beech, he walked his way around the steel walls making his way up north, feeling slightly annoyed he had to walk around when they only had the one gate for security reasons. Beyond the village was very little else but desert and hot winds, and yet another abandoned country club now decimated to ruin. James was annoyed enough to see such a bizarre number of them in this state that he kicked in the country club's sign and broke it apart, feeling somewhat better by a small act of vandalism. The club had been picked apart clean of supplies already and there was no need to enter.

After three hours of walking straight on with only one drink from his bottled supplies, he passed beyond another small town, known as Crete which was surprisingly empty despite being within the Brotherhood's borders as he soon saw the South Chicago Heights. Two things disturbed him the most as he approached it. Firstly, the fact there really were that few people left out on the wastes which meant this world was far worse off than he thought. Secondly, the fact he was now within the outer limits of the ruins of Chicago, specifically Seeing Chicago from far away was like seeing the shadow of a dream in the first two seconds after waking up, right before you realised that you were still safe in your own home and breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing it up closer upon entering the suburban borders of it, felt like he was trapped in a coma. An eternal nightmare happenstance, one he knew was not real but at the same time felt as if he would never be able to escape from. The tall ruined spires of its once-proud and radiant skyline felt somewhat different to him, but he knew in his heart it was the same city. He allowed himself a few moments of silence in memoriam to the city, an alternate one but still that of the one he knew, mourning for a mirror image that had fared far worse than his own homeworld. He could hardly recognise it, slanted roofs torn apart, garden lawns once resplendent now dry and barren, roads of commerce ripped and torn asunder, even the great American highways now wrought and broken. No home had been left untouched, no place, no building but the very outskirts could one live in and call a life out on the wild wastes of Illinois. He checked the map Jerry gave him, cautious on the city limits as a guidepoint giving him one specific street of entry, known as East End Avenue before heading onto South Halsted Street. Noting the street layout a scout helpfully had drawn out for him, the city was in bad enough decay that he had a rather erratic route laid out for him that forced him through twists and turns. His feet stepped cautiously over torn and ruined tarmac as best he could, his foot mostly healed but still rather twitchy occasionally from sensitivity. When he could, he tried to stay off the roads and headed on through park or forest areas, or somehow even more golf courses. He didn't remember this many back in his hometown, but then he realised this was still the pleasant southern heights rather than the inner city he lived within.

Heading onto the Dixie Highway. Driving schools, mexican restaurants, funeral homes and skate parks overrun by rampant radroach hordes scuttling for the remains of flesh. The creatures he saw were far and wide of the more insect variety, and he barely ever saw any other more intelligent creatures which both relieved and saddened him. Whatever store he could find nearby for extra food he tried searching but most of them had been ransacked clean of supplies until heading on towards Park Avenue. Hours passed as suburbia faded behind him. He had never realised how simple and peaceful the outer areas of Chicago were, but was it because his home had never been like this or had he not simply ever gone beyond the limits of Canaryville? Whatever the case, he felt a strange alien serenity as he walked down the highways, mindful of monsters that so far did not disturb him so long as he did not disturb them. The great variety of insects troubled him, roaches by the dozens skittering about feeding upon grains on the wind and whatever rotten remnants of humanity's consumerism still remained. Occasionally he found a small store or a supermarket for food, gladly gathering up scraps of food like beans or sugary products to keep his stomach full, as well as the odd drink of unclean water where possible. Morgan Street gave him a much better view of the desolate city beyond as he kept walking onwards, consulting his map on the most preferred route that had been taken by scouts. They noted in sidenote that they didn't encounter much obstacles until somewhere around West 95th Street, which forced them to diverge into other city districts for means of access. It took him six hours just to reach this troublesome point of entry, and soon realised why. He could barely find himself able to enter the city itself owing to the colossal wreckage from fallen skyscrapers all around him, encroaching upon residential districts tall and imposing in the distance. The air felt more dead around this point, more dusty and clouded towards the mourning twilight. Clambering over rubble, ducking his way beneath crushed bus shelters and granite archways, some of the roads had been sheltered by the towering remains long enough to not be as cracked out as the ones on the desert. But it was hardly better owing to sunbaked asphalt. Thankfully an answer for him came in the form of an underground railway, the CTA's former Red-Line Station. The map he had did not know what CTA meant, but he knew that it meant the greater transit authority that ruled the city's public transport system. He always preferred the subways over buses, made him feel more important. He also remembered that a railway went straight past an overbridge next to his own former home, as a small grin came upon him at realising this. He didn't quite remember the entire layout of the city, but he did notice that there were many pharmacies noted to be around one particular region of the inner city. Several of which had been noted by scouts from long distance as part of a sunken irradiated area that was too dangerous for them to enter. But the raptor felt he could risk it as he saw his geiger counter had not been flickering above the usual norm of this wasteland's level.

"Okay...just...need to get down to the subway, and find my way through, the map says that the subways are mostly clear due to all the hazards of decaying rubble being on the surface. Hopefully not as bad down there but...beware of mutants, they hate the light so they stay in subter-...sub-terrrrrain-neon, yeah, I got it." Heading east according to the compass he still kept from Gruthar, he soon saw the subway entrance beckoning him to its depths. Night time would come soon, and he wasn't sure whether it was colder to be above or below the ground and also noting that it was sometime around 8:45pm. It took him a while to even remember about asking for the time considering he never even used the time for the first few months, knowing only night and day until he became part of the Brotherhood. A part of him wondered on what time it was back on the Migrant Fleet. "Heh, this thing was way off by like...ten hours when I reset it? Leiah was the one to set it for me first time, god I was such an idiot, still am I guess...6:45am it must be for them now? Space was fucking weird with time not that this wasteland is much better. I guess in the end time isn't really that important anymore. No matter how advanced you get or how desolate a world is, what matters really is...life and death. Night and day. Sleep...and being wide awake. ...Leiah...nnngh shit I'm tired, I should find a place to sleep first, set up camp before going any further." Wanting to stay away from the outside, he headed down into the subway station and almost immediately found a security office he could lock himself into. The subway was mainly two large stairways undulating themselves downwards, a series of inoperable gates demanding tickets on either side of a glass cabin where the main holder of tickets sat up. The guard still sat before James 200 years on, body rooted to the very spot as nothing more than a decaying skeleton in a pile of rotting blue clothes, its head tilted back in one final gasp of pain. The hole in his head and a cracked window gave him the whole picture. The security office to one side was locked, and whilst he felt confident about breaking the lock he would rather prefer security over easy access as he tentatively ruffled through the guard's clothes. Luckily, no one had been through here or cared enough to find the key on the guard's corpse in its pockets, the raptor smiling as he opened up the office door and locked himself in swiftly. He was surprised that the key still worked without being warped by decay of disuse. The office was a nice humble place for him to make camp, a filing cabinet, noticeboard for post-its and keyhanging, calendar of old bygone dates and a small desk which he soon took apart to make a small fire for himself. The desk had nothing inside apart from a few pencils and such, but the wood was dry enough in this enclosed underground space that it was able to burn nicely, warming up his hands as he enjoyed a small meal, pontificating to himself in a slanderous upper-class accent poured thickly like sauvignon blanc on lobster.

"Good day sirrah, can I interest thee in a...mmhmph, macaroni NNN cheeeese of the most finest bourbignon edam swiss variety? Why yes sir I will have some thank you VERY much good sir, and um, may I recommend our special wine of the day, the uh new-ka coooola from the finest irradiated springs of Atlanta. A fine sucre tingling of the palate that I am sure will have you positively glowing. ...pffffthahahaha, oh god...a-hem, and um for dessert? A veritable smorgasbord of Le Sucre Bomb to accompany the palate-sweetened taste of...new-ka cooola, mmmmyesyes." Smirking to himself as he allowed a moment of whimsy, the raptor sampled his food like he was at a Cordon Bleu restaurant, chewing in a way that was unnatural to him as he grated food between his jaws looking snooty all the while. He drank and swilled aged cola in his mouth like it was prime chianti, except swallowing rather than spitting out as he laid back and sighed. He wiped his mouth on a clean piece of document from the filing cabinet as he pretended to read it, noticing it was to do with expectant measures of traffic during the Christmas period. "Mmmmyes stocks are down today Margaret, but I don't care because I'm a rich bastard fuck the poor people mwah-mwah-mwah...ehhhhh...pfft...what time is it now? ...man, it's been years since I celebrated this, I didn't even get any time to do it back in the galaxy...what DO they celebrate anyway, I never heard much about stuff they did...hhhhhaaaa...I miss Christmas. Sarah always acted a lot nicer when it was-" _ "-Christmas time boys an' girls!" It wasn't cold in the slightly-underground bar as Sarah waded her way up to the front bar, replacing most of the drinks with carbonated or fruit beverages for the remainder of the night. All the hard stuff got put away, and she soon saw the room had been cleared out before her with chairs and tables all to the side. People had come with their families all of whom gladly bantered with one another. Canids, humans, felines, the odd reptilian couple and a hefty amalgamation of various other mammals. A fully-formed artificial pine tree stood proudly in the corner, with electrical fibres woven into the seams creating a radiant multicoloured display. As always she manned the bar, along with James who both wore the cuddliest comfortable clothing. James' cotton sweater was simply plain beige, whilst Sarah's had an exploding skyscraper and half a man's face silhouetted in shock perfectly represented through the art of knitting. A six-year old wolf cub in fleece top and bottoms waddled up to the bar and tap-tapped for attention with a glass. "Can ah have sum orange juice pleaaase?" "I dunno," said Sarah, "are you fit to drive?" "Wh-...whuuuuh?" "Hmhmhm, go ahead, it's on me." "Thankyouuuu."_

She poured him a round of clear orange juice fresh from the Congo as the wolf waddled back into the crowd drinking from it, James siding up alongside her as they stared at the crowd before them. Mingling with smiles and cheers, everybody seemed to know each other and everybody had a story to tell, giggling, patting on the back, the calendar below the TV in the corner which was turned off for the entire party. December 23, 3512 A.D. "Man am I glad there's no eggnog," said James. "Pfft, like hell I'd have that," mumbled Sarah. "Seriously who drinks that stuff? I know it's traditional apparently but it tastes weird." "Ehh, people drink weird stuff fer partying. Thanks fer the sweater by the way, really nailed the Nakatomi blast on it." "No prob, that KWA place down the road gave me a good deal on making it customised for ya so was worth it." "Hmhmhm...had a chance to listen to yer album yet?" "Not yet, I can't believe you managed to get me that!" "Heh...I can get almost anything in this town...even a Krunk-22 album." "Yeah but seriously, thanks." The bartender pulled him in with one arm closely for a hug, smirking down upon him as they served out drinks to anyone asking, free of charge. Sarah only ever had drinks free for one time of the year and that was Christmas. But the flipside of it was that nothing was alcoholic so there would be no danger of overconsumption on her premises. In truth her bar was the only part of her business that was legit, everything paid up for and above board with every trader she had for her supplies. A clean smile to hide dirty hands she said. Eventually Sarah joined in letting James man the bar solo, having done enough work behind it for the last seven years by this point as he watched the dolphin's middle-aged swagger slip away around children. Quickly she began putting up chairs in the centre of the room and organised some musical chairs, tricking out the jukebox to start and stop whenever she made it so by the push of a button. Nineteen kids it began with, but there could only be one and there were no survivors. A rascally pale human boy with black hair was the winner, one of seven in the whole group of mixed-species underaged newcomers as Sarah looked at the clock, sucking her teeth as she handed the winner a prize in the form of a bag of chocolate coins. She quickly headed out to the front entrance upon seeing one of her assistants, a wily-looking red fox as no one noticed but James. Curiosity beckoned him deeply as he put up a "back in five minutes" sign on the bar before heading out in turn, seeing nobody needed a drink at the moment.

Outside the city was cold, and there was very little snow to be had on account of the polluted air keeping the place a little too warm for any of the white drift to remain which saddened him. London had been better about that somehow, always he remembered the few snowball fights and precocious attempts at building a snowcreature. Here however he watched Sarah trying not to freeze outside along with her shivering cohort, the red fox swishing his tail desperately as he looked round him. "Where the hell IS he?" asked Sarah demanding. "H-he'll be here soon, don' worry." "Nothing bad's going on is there?" "Eh...couple of cases here an' there, usual thefts on Christmas." "Sheesh...least my neighbourhood's safe, there's no reports on that right?" "Nope...yanno, yer neighbourhood's one of the safest places to be actually." "Hah, really?" "Oh yeah! Just...got no idea why, I mean the odd assault an' theft but who doesn't have that, but honestly, there's no other place I'd rather be workin' in." "What about the South Heights?" "Hah, yeah, like I wanna deal with old people havin' heart attacks on a golf course, I'd take this place over that." "Hmhmhm...I wonder what sorta cases are still goin' around here?" "Ohhh yanno, string of thefts mainly, can't say who or what though. I mean could be worse, could be like that missing babysitter case where we-" "Don't." Suddenly she grabbed him by the shoulder firmly enough to stop him talking, her eyes piercing dead-on into his. The fox looked at her uncertainly. "Um...ma'am, please take your hand off." "...oh, s-sorry." She did as he asked. "I just...please don't mention that around me it...turns me sick." "Alright...sorry but next time you don't go grabbin' an officer's arm like that, good thing I know you or otherwise-" "I know I know just-please accept my apology I just...that case is dead right? We don't need to speak about it ever again." "Officially it's closed, has been fer the last few years when nothing else turned up. Hopefully that's the end of it." "It is. I know it is." "Really?" "...I know it is."

She gave a thousand-yard stare at him that James saw from the shadows, a slight twist of his stomach turning him towards shivering more than the cold did for him. The fox officer in plain clothes looked at her oddly, asking: "Do you...know something?" "...I knew families that had been affected by it. Where else would you go to drown your sorrows here?" "Ah...alright, I understand. I'm sorry." "It's okay. I know you did everything you could, I'm really glad people like you are here." "Heh, wouldn't mind hearing that more often." "As would I." Behind her was a deep impenetrable voice, a hulking beast of snow layered in thick red coat marking him out against the backdrop of the street alleyway. Thick and robust with a heavy step, his face the proud snout of a polar bear resplendent in the great jolly king of Lapland himself, wielding a sack in one hand over his back like a sword and an immaculate false beard. Sarah smiled with audible relief, his towering form even taller than Sarah's own subordinate brown bear henchman by sheer muscle underneath the winter coat, hearing him speak: "Sorry I'm late, the city council meeting dragged on a bit." "No problem," said Sarah, "I was worried since you normally arrive like five minutes earlier than I ask you." "Like I said, meeting. MMM-hmmph so, let's get inside then, Jenkins." "Yes sir?" replied the fox. "Are the streets clear?" "Absolutely sir, checked radio dispatch not more than ten minutes ago." "Check them again after I go in. Don't want Santa to be unprepared for anything." "Yes Commissioner-" "AH-AH...that's not what the children call me this night." "Yes...Santa." The polar bear chuckled as Sarah nodded and lead the way in, right after James ducked back in and took place back at the bar readily serving drinks to a slightly dreary tigress who just wanted the coldest drink he had. The door burst open as a large booming polar bear in a red suit proclaimed to the entire bar: "MEEEEEEEEERRY CHRISTMAAAAAS!" There was nothing greater to hear whilst working evening at a bar the sound of nineteen children plus thirty-seven adults squeal with joy at the arrival of the benevolent spirit. His sack came down readily offering up to every boy and girl by name, the beard well-placed to cover up the true identity of this mysterious saint of giving. Course all the adults knew who he was, even James knew he was one of the most powerful people in this area of the city but that didn't matter. He was able to do one thing good to his local district beyond policing them, to protect and serve them. He could give them hope as well.

Sarah understood this as she watched him work, doling out presents one by one until every child ranged from moderately thankful to exquisitely happy. After at least another half hour of song and dance, regaling the youngest with his tales of strong reindeer teams slushing across the sky to head back home to the north, the party soon began to leave out towards the front door. People thanked, people said goodbye, merry christmas was made all round to everyone hoping for a good new year. Sarah thanked them all the same, before seeing "Santa" leave last. "Thanks for doing this," she said to him. "Anytime," said the polar bear. "It's nice to be out from behind my desk for once." "Hmhmhm...next round I'm buyin' for ya." "I'll remember that Miss King. Merry christmas." "Merry christmas." And so he left, with Sarah locking the door behind him as she smiled back at James who stepped out from behind the bar, the two sighing at a good day being done with nothing to fear for the next few days. The dolphin bartender stretched her arms out showing her thickened arms through years of lifting and gun handling before saying: "Mmmmnnnaaagh...hey, let's go watch Die Hard before bed." "Seriously?" said James. "We do that every Christmas." "Hey, if you wanna find the perfect christmas movie than go right ahead cuz frankly that one is. Come on you know you love it." "Could we at LEAST watch the 4-D version someday, I hear it's really good." "Fuck no, these movies gotta be seen the way they were! I don't wanna deal with another dimension making me think I was actually THERE being shot at, sometimes there's such a thing as TOO real yanno." "Hehehehe." "Besides we don't got a 4-D viewer for it." "There's a cinema down over at Harwood's that does that." "Oh sure, Harwood, sounds great." "Pffft...you ever think it's really weird you keep inviting him to your bar every year to be Santa Claus?" "No, and I still think it's not weird even though you asked me that same question two years back, seriously, keep up kid." "Kid, still? I'm twenty-one." "And I'm fifty, trust me yer not winnin' this line of thought here, yer still a kid to me." "Alright alright just...yanno it's kinda weird, you're the one that's keeping this place up running by being so good a criminal he hasn't even heard of you, and he's the freaking head of police! It's like sometimes you're almost taunting him." "I'm not that shallow kid. Lemme tell you something. The people rely on me, you know that, to keep them happy, keep them safe. Now I may not have to do a lot of good things to keep everyone safe...but when I see all of them still here the next time it's Christmas...I know it's worth doing this. He knows that feeling too. We're both like two sides of the same coin but we both work towards the same thing. To keep these people safe, and to keep kids like them free without fear in them. Those kids...one day they'll thank me...you'll thank me too."

He woke up as her words drifted beyond the veil of his memory neatly crawling from the desk as he rubbed his eyes softly. The fire had burnt out sometime in the night as he checked his omni-tool clock. January 22nd, 4:40am. Dawn had not yet risen not that he could tell from down below as he began his journey into the underground transit system. The crumbling rubble from underneath looked like tombstones of a forgotten cemetery, broken and dismayed from years of disuse and regret. But the warmth of his memory kept his hope flickering like the soft embers of his campfire, walking ever onwards. The railway maps thankfully gave him some semblance of where he had to go, and whilst the geography layout of the city above was now different, the underground was somewhat less. He still had his compass as he noted which station he was at, 95th as he made his way north. The cold air rushed through his bones seeped with ancient damp, the sounds of rocks occasionally dislodging loose through the passage of time setting his senses off as he kept himself ready, handgun in one hand cautiously as he stepped down towards the lower platform, encased in hard peeling linoleum. His eyes adjusted soon to the darkness as he saw the railway line, indicating the right direction to be north despite the twisted corpse of a steel train rampaging through the lower lobby, horribly derailed beyond repair. Wheels rusted through to decay and crumble, broken steel carriages as the bodies of those within still laid where they had fallen, twisted necks and huddled limbs of fear in their last moments. The carriage had blocked one of the tunnels on his left, but had also protected it from being caved in like the one on his right. He made his way through the train as his only means of heading north. The clothes of those he walked amongst he all saw as very much part of an idyllic past, stroller outfits in pink and blue back when women were real women in shimmering dresses and men were real men with immaculate pipe-smoking. He did not disturb their final rest as he stepped through the derailed subway train as he began to reminisce the last time he did this. Another ruined city under great calamity, but this time he was now alone and at the very least did not have to worry about others in his care.

"Heh...Roy would fucking hate this, all these trains lying around here panicking like crazy...heh...was kinda funny though, I know he's really afraid and all of them but it was pretty fucking funny. Maybe next time I see him I'll recommend a movie for him, Chase The Express, that one was super great. Sarah hated it but fuckit I can enjoy a movie too even if it's not one of her classic 20th-century stuff or anything...seriously does she even watch any new movies? I don't remember." He made himself quiet as he saw something up ahead, thinking a shadow had moved just past the other end of the tunnel as he climbed down from the rear end of the train carriage. He resisted the urge to turn his light on in case he exposed himself to any enemies down here, not entirely sure yet of what strange creatures still existed in this universe. Giant rats, coyotes and cockroaches were bad enough but he didn't want to face another Nightstalker horde anytime soon. As he made his way down the long dark tunnel, he soon heard a slavering hiss he did not recognise from anywhere. Something sinuous and slithering went straight past before his eyes as he caught his breath, waiting to see the growing light from above in the next terminal as he cautiously moved forwards. In the light of the next terminal, which had once been elevated but now fell into the earth underneath a great pile of rubble from a skyscraper's fate, he saw a bizarre floating creature. What appeared to be a giant flatworm grown to the size of a human, its tremulous thin tail quivered just above the ground as it flickered through the air with a horrifying head. To the raptor it resembled a hollow eye socket filled with teeth, pulsating and glistening with a slimy substance naturally forming from it, blindly sensing the very air for alterations in its presence. It made a strange trickling sound like a poisonous brook trickling over glass, "looking" back and forth as he noted what the map had said on the back of it.

Beware of floaters, they are fast and difficult to kill but very susceptible to fire, not sure why but we think it's because they use gaseous means to float Centaurs are another danger, we see them rarely but they tend to spit acid at you, thankfully not amazingly fast so if need be, you can outrun them.

James watched the floating creature slowly disappear, realising that he was now in their territory and they were clearly far better than him at hunting in the dark. Putting his handgun away softly to avoid accidents, he slowly began to crawl his way through hoping at the very least that due to their floating he was able to hide under them if needed. He avoided the light, hearing the sounds of their trickling chirrs towards each other as he watched one large rat sniff his way into the destroyed lobby. The lobby formerly had been a place to sit and relax with benches and a terminal desk along with stairs leading up towards the elevated railway. But now he saw a huge skyscraper face come leering down upon them, windows shattered up above completely blotting out the sun apart from a few hidden rays of light inbetween cracks of granite. The remnants of offices he saw upended completely from above, as well as fallen desks, people and forms littering the entire area. Then he heard the scream of the rat that wandered in to his left. A floater managed to find it and suddenly latched hard upon it, sinking its ring of teeth straight upon the rat's face and biting out its eye violently with a forcefully hateful suction action. The rodent, which was the size of a small dog screamed and clawed at the mutant flatworm who was soon joined by two more friends for the feast. They latched onto his rump as well as the side of its body, wriggling their long tails as James soon saw half of its face completely devoured from its bearings, even the skull had been eaten. The same for half its leg and ribcage as they faded back to darkness. Cautiously breathing through his nose only, the raptor crawled his way forwards and made absolutely certain not to move if ever he felt or heard anything come close beside him. Moving through rubble was painful both in mind and body, the fear of being caught by such things as well as the scraping of rock and glass upon his leather-armoured chest made it an agonising experience. If he moved too quick, the sound of rubble or even the scratching creak of his armour on stone could expose him to nearby predators, even if he was certain that flatworms should be blind and deaf. But they also shouldn't be hovering across the ground like ghosts of an infernal realm, haunting the sunken railway system as he made his way through the transit access. It was a much smaller tunnel than the one he had been through, and somehow not crushed completely as he pushed his way onwards, seeing none of the creatures up ahead. One floated straight over his tail, making him sink completely flat to the ground and lay perfectly still, not even blink. It seemed to not notice him and when it disappeared into darkness, only then did he move on.

Soon he found himself at a divergent point noted on the map, surprised at thinking how any of the scouts even made it this far without being killed. But of course that was why they were still scouts, being so good at stealth according to Delgado one time in mid-conversation. One scout was apparently such an expert of stealth, he could steal the earrings of a deathclaw without anyone noticing. "Pfffft, deathclaw, more like in-dragclaw am I right, hhhahaha...hhhffff shit no, come on gotta keep quiet, don't want anyone knowing you're down here with them now shush, shhh." The map noted to keep heading north until reaching somewhere, showing a red line of corresponding routes in comparison to the station's own mapped routes of various coloured lines to different places. The red line was his objective and currently what he was on, starting at 95th Station before heading far upwards, his own map stopping around the area at 47th Station just beyond Garfield Red Line Station. Memories slowly came rushing back to him at these places wondering: "I...Garfield Station...wasn't that...where I...yeah, it was, I-" "-never done this before," said the younger James. "Then is gonna feel irie," said the older male. Standing before him, pressing him up against the inside of a maintenance closet's walls was a large muscular-armed goat with a finely woven beard of black and grey, brown-haired body and twinkling golden eyes. Dreadlocks woven on either side of his head from both fur and hair trickled down his cheeks, the cross-slatted pupils within always unnerved James, but at the same time enchanted him. A large hand with the scent of diesel grabbed him by the upper back, pressing his snout wispily against the goat's bearded face. "MMMMPH...mmmmmph..." "Mmmmhhhh...hhhhh...train always a little late, give it another minute...when you feel it run past, you're gonna feel I rattle up inside you." "I-i-i...sh-should we...be doing this?" "Why you ask? You never cared about the law anyway." "Wh-what if we get-" "Caught?" The goat smiled with a wicked grin, chuckling as he enticed the young raptor to take a dare as claws wrapped round the older goat's back, moaning as he kissed hungrily deep into the bearded snout. The only time he ever broke the smooth quiver of an elder's tongue across his was when he whispered to his cheek. "Such a dirty boy." "H-hoh!" "So lithe and young not a day work on you." "J-just...please, I need it." "Mmmmm...lemme hear ya say it." "I...need it. F-fuck me, p-please fuck me." "Good boy."

The goat smoothly slipped down James' jeans without him noticing, almost shedding off like a snake's skin before undoing just the flies of his own pants. Hoisting up James' legs with well-trained strength, the raptor was pushed up against the wall as his legs swung over the goat's burly shoulders, his scaled rump twitching before the growing cock that threatened to rub against it. "O-oh ffffuck Mahmoud-" "Sh-sh-shhh...wait fer it. Wait...here it come." The rumbling grew closer and closer towards them, and they knew they were close enough to the track to feel it vibrate stronger against them. Without a single word Mahmoud thrust into him right as the train went screaming past them, the raptor's cries of bliss drowned by the shrieking rails as he felt hot vibrations rumbling deep inside his anal walls. The passion he felt from him was of such intensity, he wasn't sure whether it was because of where they were or how his tongue slithered out sensuous words to him. Bodies pressed against each other as Mahmoud hilted inside him, their words lost in the rapturous noise of the grinding carriages outside the door as his mind turned deaf, blind and dumb within an instant. Claws twitched at the end of the young raptor's legs as he watched the older goat smooch him on the lips, thrusting his hips into him as he whimpered silently at the slap of the dark balls against his hole. To think it had only been his third time with a male, the same one who had been his first and second. "Feel the rumble of the earth," moaned Mahmoud, "feel the itesquake inside o' you...do you feel a demon, or an angel?" "H-HOH! GOD! F-FUH!" "You such a sly boy little James, there a darkness inside o' you I love to feel against I." "A-an' what...wh-what are you then?" "You afraid? You trust I?" "N-no, I'm not afraid, I-i trust you...you taught me...made me...f-feel like I was w-worth something ANNGH!" James could not last any longer and soon came profusely onto himself, splattering his bare chest with hot sweet seed as Mahmoud felt the tightening clench of the raptor's anal walls milking him sweetly. He did not hold back as he pushed in for the last time filling him completely, the vibrations dying out as they rumbled away off into the distance. The goat's twinkling eyes mystified him as he moaned softly, feeling the thick cum inside of him as Mahmoud added: "I tell you one thing...you have a darkness, I see that truly...but you are not evil." "Wh-wha...what do you mean?" "You a bad boy maybe, he just never learn to be good an' if nobody taught him to be good what else can he know? I think, if someone taught you, you'd learn to be good." "You...you really think so?" "Mmmhmm...you have passion, it what I like about you, burning with FIRE in you so deep and hungry...but you must tame it, or else it will burn you...so badly." "Ah...hhhhh...I don't understand half the stuff you say sometimes." "You will, once you do it not understanding, it overstanding. You'll learn once you see your own darkness then you know...an' once you do...that is when you must learn to wield it for good, the darkness to light your way, do you overstand?" "I...i-i-...no." "Hmhmhm...there no rush to learn anyway, come on, wanna leave before the rush hour come."

James stood staring at the empty maintenance closet down somewhere along the 63rd Street Station, as memories came drifting back before fading away like a bottle on the shore. He felt a little fuzzy, and somewhat half-erect before smirking as he walked on. He wondered if his memories in this place had some meaning or he was just remembering random incidents. Either way a long trek down the dark tunnel was a lot less occupied of abominations than the last one was according to his flashlight sweeping across briefly. The real danger lied in falling glass and debris from above seeing the cave-in collapse of the entire street all around him. Soon he crossed into the next station, where he found a most unusual sight that disturbed him more than living mutants. Dead ones. All around him with gunshot wounds. The creatures presumably known as centaurs were the size of a small bear each, their human heads stretched out on distended necks from their corporeal mess of a body. The body itself was certainly human flesh but it had so many undeveloped organs, limbs, foetal layers to be shed like the coils of a snake. The arms lucky enough to be developed were now its feet, splayed out underneath to slap hardened fingers broken upon the uneven rubble. But these ones were dead, long acidic tongues drooling out their last breaths. "Holy shit...who walked through this place?" He noted the map was telling him he was right around that area noted to have centaurs within, which also coincidentally was where they had noted one of their scouts had gone missing. He pondered on whether this was connected or not, as he walked slowly amongst the dead with some strange reverence he wanted to give as if wishing not to disturb them. They were horrifying creatures certainly, one of which was enormous and at the centre of the room, the hive "queen" of sorts if one could call it that. He knew it had to be the leader due to having two heads instead of one. One was an elongated woman's neck with yawning mouth shrieking silently at James, the other being some sort of disgusting insect similar to the floaters he had seen previously. Perhaps at one point they had bred, or fed from the same genetic pool of mutation but either way he was most disturbed. The gunshot wounds upon them were perfect, almost pinpoint on their heads or vital organs. He also noticed some brutal crushing blows, thick fist imprints with chips of steel plating left in the crippled flesh. He knew the scouts were not capable of such destruction. His mind however would soon be distracted by a much more current sight. The moment he found himself emerging out of 47th Street Station, he found a place too familiar for it to be anything else but where he knew. Where he grew up once in another world. Canaryville. "Oh...god. This...this can't be..."

Somewhat different in its general design but still feeling familiar by the streetsigns and basic layout, he stepped off the sunken express rail and hopped west over a motorway, feeling his instincts guide him more pointedly. Climbing over granite rubble from the overpass, he saw no other life living within the neighbourhood owing to the damage being far too numerous and haphazard to form any sustained life within. The raptor had gotten used to this sensation for the last three months, but in the shadow of the colossal skyscrapers half-standing and torn from the northeast beyond, their weight felt even greater upon him. By a large grey slope of crumbling debris, he got a good look of the city ruined all around him by a height of fifty feet, the raptor heading onwards by his lonesome along the great city-cutting motorway. Passing up a small hill beside the overpass, he ran down the road of 47th Street itself through an underpass before reaching a more suburban area. The buildings had been heavily built upon to reach further up than simple South Chicago Heights had been, the overbearing reach of urbanisation having come full sweep upon this neighbourhood. He checked on his omni-clock seeing the sun rise from behind him. 7:12am. He saw the light shining upon a signpost at an intersection, a hardware store crumbling beyond all recognition to his left as its once-proud turreted storefront caved in on itself. South Wallace Street laid north of him as his eyes widened. "It's here...it has to be." Running north desperately as his claws scrabbled along the broken street, he passed alongside broken vehicle allotments and gnarled broken steel fences. Ten minutes later, after walking past street after place that constantly crossed past South Wallace Street, the remaining houses gazing down upon with twisted crumpled edifices, he soon found it. West 44th Street, at the corner of South Wallace Street. A bar stood waiting in the shade between two houses, waiting to decay quietly into dust. "I...I'm home. Finally I...I'm back home." It was certainly much different than the one of his time but the sentiment remained the same. In his world it had been all overwrought apartment blocks of grey and red with thick old streets and dull neon signs hiding mutedly in the shadows out of shame and lack of dignity. A few windows slatted, grated and thick glassed windows along the left side of the entrance, the bar big enough to take the space of two houses now that he noticed it.. But here he saw only the one house, a humble little place known only as Kelly's Tavern, a steel-bar door across the entrance with green and light-brick colours on its front. In another time and another place, there always would be a bar on this street somehow. The thought of it made his stomach churn with uncomfortable feelings. The sky above him had always been dark from filtered pollution, the streets were semi-clean for what few people did the job no one else wanted to do.

He only felt a small semblance between this world and his own by a small bottle of beer to sniff from having been left upon the street corner, sighing as he felt his world come back to him by the very scent. The rushing of the metro cars hurtling down the end of the road, the barking of neighbours from his left and the clamouring of teenagers in a ball-game to his right. Davidson he remembered staring at him with one eye, an old wolf winking half-scarred as a good reminder of what he did to him. Sheepish wave, a politely stiff nod in return as he got in his delivery van every morning. 6:40am ready to make his rounds. Here however the houses of American suburbia had once been simple and clean, red and white in various styles all of which were now ruined beyond repair minus one or two possibly habitable places. He tempted himself to investigate the bar, noticing it had not actually been locked despite the barred door in front of the entrance. Gently he opened it, stepping inside of the bar. It wasn't quite the same, but the smell of stale alcohol kept his memory alive enough. It wasn't as subterranean by a few feet like Sarah's bar had been, but the open space was enough. Chairs and tables all dilapidated, wedged into the floor itself by rotting themselves to the very spot, as well as rooting practically through many years of disuse. The bar itself had many drinks available, several of which had clearly been touched and emptied by some recent visitor. The raptor noticed the usual blends in this world, Roentgen Rum, Gamma Gulp Beer and the old classics of vodka and whiskey. He wondered who had been here previously but he saw a series of rooms behind the bar itself, straight through the middle of it separating the drink selections in half. The first few rooms was a stairway heading upwards, as well as a back office dealing with taxes and finances of the bar itself, mainly where the boss sat to take a break from the usual clientele. But then James noticed a basement and started turning a little unwell. Mostly a feeling in his head swimming with hot sweat, brought on suddenly as his eyes locked on each and every step heading downwards. He soon saw himself walking down those same steps almost unconsciously, not even realising what he did until opening the door at the bottom. The bar itself was nowhere near the same as Sarah's had been. The stairwell was on the wrong side, the rooms were not as many, the place itself was much smaller and compact within one household area rather than two stretching out. But there was one thing he wished was not the same within this street address. A bloodied broken human body sitting in an old chair beneath a flickering light, tied up and dripping red on the floor between two shelves full of industrial equipment. "No...oh...jesus christ no this...this can't be real...can it? No, no it's just me fucking around, it's just me hallucinating I'm sure I just...this can't be-" _ "-it is."_

He peeked through the keyhole after hearing a commotion from downstairs, thinking that Sarah had been hurt or that someone was in a fight. But seeing her go down to the basement at a time far too late for getting supplies made him suspicious. The young raptor stared upon the dolphin shoving someone down onto a chair, restraining them tight with bindings on their hands then feet. She stepped back slightly as James' eyes widened. It was the collie from the news he had seen in all her innocent glory, with black-and-white fur and radiant smile upon the middle-aged bartender. "Now you're in my court, bitch," said Sarah. "Goodness you're very unsocial," said the collie with Quebecois accent. "Is this 'ow you treat all your guests? I'm amazed your bar is still open!" "I'm amazed you haven't been put in a chair like this with all the national grid running through ya." "Hmph...well, I always did want an electrifying personali-" "Shut the fuck up." She brought up a revolver and pointed it squarely at the woman's head, clicking the hammer back threateningly by her thumb. The collie wore simply a white T-shirt saying "I <3 New York" along with tight curved jeans of denim blue. Sarah stood in her open-top shirt and darker brown jeans before adding:: "Let's talk." "Ooohh...or else you really plan to shoot me?" "If you become uncooperative then yes, I will." "But then you won't get to hear all the fun stories about meeee...besides, what do you want to talk about?" "Whatever you wanna talk about. Tampering with my phones, interfering with my people, causing shit in my neighbourhood by kidnappin' young kids, you pick. Clearly you have something constantly keep taunting me about your latest victims to me, what's the catch?" "I think you know perfectly well what deal I am involved in...you obviously 'eard the news and put two-and-two together...oh, judging by your bar name you must 'ave been doing it, hahahaha." "I'm not here to play around with you." "Good...because I think you're too old for my taste." The collie grinned unashamedly as Sarah's other empty hand twitched with great hatred, something James had seen her do many times before on speaking about this woman. She further added: "It's just a shame that this is the first time they caught my good side on camera." "Shame for you, but good for me and everybody else in this world." "Mmmmmso aggressive, that's not 'ow a lady should be." "You are in NO position to say that to me." "Really? Hmph, I guess you're right, appearances are only deceiving if you make them such, they are never deceiving by nature really unless you adhere to such outdated preconceptions. You know what's the most wonderful thing about being a lady? Nobody ever suspects a woman to do what I've done." "What you tryin' to say?" "We live in a society where a young boy can make it with an old woman, an' he's called lucky. But a young girl with an old guy, that's just creepy. And yet they never suspect a woman to feel up those little boys and girls and...do terrible things to them. Which makes things soooo easy because it's never the first thing on their minds." "You sayin' you wanna break the glass ceiling your own fashion? Double standards an' all that bullcrap?"

_ "Hahaha, noooo no no, I'm not some activist I don't care about other people like that. I just find it funny 'ow easy it is to avoid suspicion when you're female. If someone's poisoned, then it would have to be a woman. If it was a strangling, it can be either husband or wife. It's like how nobody ever suspects a non-white human to be a serial killer, have you ever heard about that? I know nowadays it doesn't apply as much except for gender like we just said...an' species too, but pre-World literature makes some...fascinating little bits." "I know of what people think back then, movies taught me enough. Black guy steals, the hispanic guy takes yer car, the white guy keeps yer head in a fridge." "Some stereotypes are 'ard to kill, unless a new one comes up to overtake it. Like dogs. We are always very loyal...an' fiercely territorial. Self-defence people always assume when it's a crime with us." "Yer not exactly either since you got no master and no territory to stay in." "You see? Stereotypes mean nothing! You're a Spanish dolphin, yet you don't take to water nor are you a ball of emotions. Any crime you'd be involved in-" "I'm NOT a Spaniard." "Really? Sarah Ibenez Maria Francesco Clinton Booth King? Took me a long time to remember that, I'm pretty sure at least 'alf of that was Spanish to some extent." "You make too many assumptions fer someone tryin' to say how bad assumptions are, Gillian Delacroix." "Really? My point still stands you are not very emotional." "Oh I got plenty of emotion fer you." "Hmmm? ...is this a little...conflicting romance we are having?" She dared to touch her belly with her nose, nuzzling right over as she lifted up the shirt slightly to reveal a faded hysterectomy scar. Sarah was clearly shivering from the cold touch of her nose slightly. "Do you know 'ow warm children feel against you? ...oh...my mistake." "Don't." The gun pressed against Gillian's temple. "Fucking touch me." "Hmph, not the friendliest bartender are you?" "Not to people like you...what's your real reason for all this? I mean...no one just savours the crime itself." "But that's the thing...people forget how easy it is to become addicted. The rush, and thrill, of never being caught for what you do. I learned the same thing as you, knowing to avoid technology, never carrying phones or palmtops or whatever, always off the grid, at least in terms of digitally, that's how I knew 'ow to find you. Using phonelines, old tech, analog stuff an' such, it makes things sooooo much less a hassle for when moving from place to place, job to job...house to house." "So you fooled the cops in every county before, until now." "Yes sadly I...was a bit careless to be caught on camera but then we would never have met and have such...wonderful memories." "Memories I'll always forget after this night, trust me." "Noooo nooo I think you won't forget about me, do you know why? Because I'm the only one that ticks you off just the right way." "How?"_

_ "That scar...hmhm, it all makes sense now. I hear all the little whispers around your city but always the most important thing...take care of the children, protect the children always above all else for they are innocent of everything. And I always wondered why you were so protective of them...now THAT I put two-and-two together for. Do you know why I came to your town specifically, Sarah King?" "No." "Because I knew...that none of the children here here were ever abused...corrupt...tainted as of yet, not by drugs, not by filthy child abuse, not by any violence of that you were soooo certain. Thank you." She leaned forwards with a fawning look in her eyes and sighed. "Thank you for keeping them soft, an' tight, an'...virgin for me. The two I played with 'ere were the most wonderful little things I ever...god..." James only ever turned away once during this entire interrogation and it was during this part. When he noticed a stain growing on the front of Gillian's pants. Sarah kept her gun aimed always with intent to shoot, curling her lip with a sneer as she saw the same thing too hearing a breathless shudder from Gillian, panting openly before saying: "Fffffucking god yes." "You really...REALLY wanna tempt me to kill you? You don't have to tempt me any further if that's yer plan but I'd rather watch you rot in prison." "What? Are you going to turn me in?" "Yer not leavin' this city either way bitch, and I'd rather you suffer in the system fer what you did." "Are you sure about that? Maybe I'm just a little too quick and sweeteasy for those big dumb brutes down at the police station? I've done it before...always I've been...so...h-helpless..." Gillian began quivering her lip suddenly, gasping with tears in her eyes softly beginning to flow as she developed a perfect Missouri accent, tender and whimpering. "I d-dunno what h-happened officer, I s-s-swear...hoh...hoh god I'm sorry, I'm s-so sorry those p-poor little things-" "Stop it." "They w-were such s-sweet little things, like D-danny an' Jane a-a-an' hoh god I'll never forgive myself, I should have done something, should have done something to protect them I'm s-sorry I'm SORRYYY!" "STOP IT!" "See?" Her tears disappeared as a smile returned to her, Sarah twitching near her eyes which began slitting with hate. "You are not fooled naturally, but what about them? What if...they have not seen the face I have shown you this night? Are you going to make sure that they will never see it? Or are you going to risk everything on trusting them?" "...what do you mean by that?" "All I'm saying is that, you might think you have this entire city under your thumb, but in the end you're still just the greatest hero who never came." _ "H-huh?"

James heard a familiar male voice mocking him throughout the memory from this point on, blinking softly as he felt halfway in and yet halfway out of his own reminiscence as Delacroix continued. Her voice occasionally began to interject with an unknown derisive male voice, seeing from both his mind's eye and his own younger self's eye peering through the keyhole. _ "Do you know how depressingly dull life is sometimes? All we have left is each other an' if you have no skill to paint, or write what you need...then why not make my own little soap opera?" "Shut the fuck up, Bob." The raptor started to feel weak as he heard that name. The memory started to warp slightly, fraying at the edges like an old film reel about to snap and stutter. Sarah's voice occasionally broke through with his own replacing hers, his legs buckling underneath as a sickening lurch turned thick within his stomach. As two memories began intersecting with each other, all he could do was watch Sarah slowly walk around the collie in her chair once, as the dialogue started up again blending with one another. James started seeing the basement occasionally contrast against a wooden house from ages past. "So what will it be?" asked Delacroix. "Shall we go down to the police station, or eviscerate me?" "You really think you'll survive this?" said Sarah. "In any other town you might have kept on runnin'...but nobody runs in my town without me knowing the pain you caused for your own sick pleasure!" "Hmhmhmm...but you cannot predict people, can't you? You cannot know who is so foolish and who is smart enough to never have loved you...if it wasn't for me because I am just like you. Deceiver of society, tricking people with a look of innocence whilst always constantly moving underneath their skin. You and I are just moving through the same paths of life for different reasons." "I will NEVER be like YOU FUCKING MURDERER!" "Are you certain of that? No one knows who you really are...but I do. I...know what you can do if she ever saw you in order to stop me. No one's watching Sarah...the moment I walk out of here everyone will see me walk away and I will never be seen again...and I love the life I make for myself, a free spirit on the wind reduced to a butchering lover of wonderful petite cheries...who knows how many more I'll meet before I find myself like this again, trapped with no other place to run. Let me ask you...who is the REAL master of this city, Sarah King?" A wide smile came across her face, staring up towards Sarah unrepentant. It was a dare, a dare of belief that they both knew was a battle of endurance, the dolphin staring down upon her with a twitch in her eye. Gillian caught it, a flicker in her eye of excitement as Sarah contemplated every single possibility, some way of escaping this test of patience as Delacroix continued. "All the little ones I met, how many are there now? Ten, fourteen maybe, all at such an unfortunate point of staying at their age if it wasn't for me forever alone...but I kept them good company, such good waaaarm company they made for me when I felt them twitch inside of me for the last ti-NGAAAH!" Sarah slammed her fist hard across the collie's face, panting with a rising twitch upon her eye. Delacroix looked up surprised with a bruised snout until Sarah punched once more, then again, and again without stopping. Her right fist pounded into the canine face, picking up pace as Sarah closed her eyes tight and snarled with a hatred boiling up towards the surface. She wouldn't stop. She even grabbed the chair back by her left hand and kept punching harder, grunts turning into screams, screams turning into shrieks of fury all whilst Delacroix giggled brokenly._

And at the same time she giggled, another voice came cackling along with it. A male voice that James kept turning in his head struggling to try and remember as he watched with horror upon Sarah brutalising the collie's face. The chuckling Delacroix made seemed to relish the pain of her swollen face, bloodied and dripping blood with one purpling eye as Sarah walked over towards the shelves and grabbed a corkscrew, then further debated to herself with a bottle she slowly filled up with gasoline. James watched with eye staring wider with horror at her brutal punching, blood flying out in small strips across the knuckle everytime she pulled back to land another hit. Delacroix laughed only until the corkscrew went straight into her other unswollen eye, screaming horribly as Sarah hunched over and twisted it fiercely into the socket blinding her. But only far enough to completely destroy the nerve and not quite kill her just yet. She began to take off Gillian's pants, forcing them downwards to her feet before slowly scraping the bottle's side with a glass cutter creating a hole as she held it sideways. Without the gasoline spilling, she pushed paper into the hole and shoved the bottleneck straight into the exposed tufted vagina of the collie. "H-HAAAH! OH...J-jesus wha, what are you doing?! Are you...are you going to rape me? I never knew you were such a sick bastard." "What's the matter?" said Sarah. "I always thought you liked them warm...and tight." The sound of a lighter flicked on in her hand as slowly she began to set alight the paper. She stepped back watching the sight of Gillian start to panic, nervous purely on instinct as an uncomfortable warmth started to burn its way into her vaginal passage, pushing smoke into it that made her wince at the chemical gaseous heat. Then it started to burn, slowly scorching the insides as she felt the heat turn intense, screaming and writhing with agony as James watched the worst thing he could see upon Sarah's face. She began to smile the first time that night.

As the collie burned and shrieked with unwanted anguish, she felt the true prospect of pain and suffering for the first time in her life. And yet at the same time, her mind twisted as it was simply took it as a new form of depravity, one she struggled to enjoy as she shuddered with groans of painful bliss. Sarah saw what she was up to and immediately shoved the bottle in harder, choking her brutally at the same time, with James' voice shrieking at the very start of it. " SHUT UP! ** NO, you are NOT gonna enjoy this you fucking child-raping BITCH I will make you **fucking take it and you will know the most painful way I can imagine." Strangling her hard enough to silence her gasps of lust Sarah forced her thumbs on the larynx blocking James' view of the scene, the choking thrusts of Sarah's hands somehow causing the light to swing above her erratically. Soon she faded into shadow, and the first few times it did she was simply hunched over her torturous victim. But the third time it swung James saw something different. His own silhouette, along with another body swinging from the rafters, but only briefly with blood dripping down onto an empty scene. The fourth swing brought back the scene of Sarah choking Gillian out until one final rasp of agony came forth. The sound that Sarah made was strange and disturbing, an almost wanting grunt of satisfaction as she gazed upon her work. The bottle burned deeply into Delacroix's body, the sounds of crackling smoulders from between her legs with one eye corkscrewed and her throat bruised purple beneath her swollen face. Sarah turned slowly towards the darkness away from the light above her. "You wanna know what I'm gonna do? ...I'll make sure none like you ever exist in my city again. No matter what...I will not let any child suffer fer yourr pleasure or anybody else's...not ever. Heh...I guess it looks like I couldn't stay out of trouble." As she said these last words, James himself walked into the light staring towards James himself, a cruel smile without remorse simply on his face as both stared at each other's eyes. James felt horror come drawn upon his younger face seeing himself glint with wicked grin as the body that hung from rafters simply appeared as a silhouette, behind the light fixture hanging above Delacroix's body on the seat. Sarah's last words ended the warped memory as he heard the click of a revolver, pointing at him staring down the barrel of her gun through the keyhole. "You just run back upstairs, do whatever you want, and tell NOBODY about this...or I'll make you wish you'd never been born."

He found himself on his knees weeping without knowing, eyes reawakening as he stared upon the floor of the dark basement. Hot shuddering of disgust and fear went through him, a familiar set of words he had always felt was wrong, had somehow re-emerged from the surface in his deepest darkest memory. Once upon a time he had went to a foggy town that brought back everything he hated about Sarah and the things she did, the worst of it being dragged from the trenches of his mind. But always he had thought that one single line had been added by the town itself. Even with his mind so muddied by the events of it, he always knew that line was not right, something she would never have said to him. But she did. She had said that to him. He just didn't realise that it came from his first memory of this, his true memory of when this first began that he had tried so hard to forget, burying it deep enough that even the town had not found it beyond all his other more immediate issues. In that moment, he started wishing that he had never met Sarah King. "H-hoh...g-god dammit..." He went down on his knees as he wept with deepest shame. He knew already that Sarah had been the one to break down and desensitise him, even unintentionally. But he never realised until now how truly alike he had become. It was his sobbing grief however that brought another voice into the room, one straight in front of him, gasping: "HHHHHHhhhhh...a-aaaagh...ffffuck...whoszere?" He looked up and saw that the body on the chair began moving, bloodied but unbowed desperate to see some new face. It was one of the scouts from the Brotherhood camp, the sneaking suit clearly identifying him despite the swollen red eye almost heavily out of socket, blinded by pain to see anyone. The raptor slowly got up in front of him, tears still streaked upon his face as his voice kept shaking from his unsettled heart. "You...a-a-are you...the scout that went missing?" "G-guess so...who issat?" "James...Campbell, squire." "R-raptor...boy...you were in...detention weren't you?" "I got out, good behaviour, they...s-sent me out to get medicine for the-jesus what happened to you?" "H-hawk...Hawk took me, beat me up...just crazy fucked up on me." "Wait...wait, what, Hawk?" "Kidnapped me...when no one else looking...dragged me out here, told me...had to know what we found out, had...stuff about radio transmission...Red Fearza." "What, fear-za? What's that?" "Old...ruin...out on...S-south Kedzie Avenue...was...given a mission to investigate but...H-hawk went too, ordered by...his...s-saw him go in...never came back out." "B-but you said he kidnapped you." "Walking back...took me an' dragged me off...had a...really twitchy voice, panickin'...s-something about...he knows something...he's afraid of it." "Afraid of...wh-what?" "Red...Fearza...don't...stay away from him." "But why did you want to go there?" "S-senior...Delgado...asked me to." "Wait, Jerry?! What does he want?" "C-cawthorn...hydraulics." A light shined up within James' mind as he heard the name before, feeling a wide blink of realisation come upon his eyelids. "Did you...find anything?!" "S-something...not...went in but...some manifest that...machines went in there." "Machines, really?!" "Possibly...parts for...motors, aagh..." "H-hey, um, listen I'll...I know where there's a drugstore near lemme just-I'll be right back, we'll fix you up, and then we get you back to the Beech when we have everything and you can tell Jerry all about it right?" "M-maybe...maybe I can jus-" A gunshot deafened James sharply as he fell over to the side panicking, blood flecked onto his cheek as he looked up and saw the scout completely still on the chair. His head craned back dripping blood freshly down from his eye as the raptor turned with numb shock towards the opened door. Senior Knight Hawk stood with the shakiest trigger finger he had ever seen, hand holding his "Master Assault" rifle pointing straight at the scout's body, turning his head slowly towards James before uttering only one short sentence. "No...f-fear."