FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Cooper clipped his sword to his belt, keeping his fingers clear of the button that would engage the shocking element, walking down the lobbying tunnel of the mine, each pace followed by a whir of motors. He’d stepped into the power armour frame once again, the suit a lot less bulky with most of its armour components now lying discarded in the chamber behind him, too damaged to be refitted. Only the back and the helmet were intact, which should provide at least a bit of protection.

Over his shoulders were his two weapons, his old ballistic rifle on one side, the new laser gun on the other. He wanted to take some practice shots with the latter, but his energy cells were limited, and he didn’t want to waste them. It’s previous owner had fired the gun well enough, so he was confident it wouldn’t fail him when the fighting began.

He raised a hand to shield his eyes from the morning glare, the whitewashed landscape growing in size. The pack was waiting for him, slinking just beyond the entrance, the billowing snowflakes falling to their swept horns. Matriarch, the runt, the two laborers, and one other deathclaw huddled together, looking about as uncomfortable as overgrown reptiles could be.

Cooper paused as his eyes met the unknown deathclaw’s. The beast was taller than the runt, but smaller than the laborers, maybe eight feet in all. It’s scales were a dark green hue, fading into a beiger tone as they travelled towards her underbelly. It’s horns were curved into tight loops, like a ram’s, its tongue flicking out to taste his scent as he walked by. He had barely seen this one during the previous day, but it seemed to recognise his scent, or the pack’s sent rather, giving him a low grumble that might have been a greeting.

“All set?” Pearl asked, stepping into view from one side of the tunnel. She was draped in her signature robe, her hood drawn so her features were hidden. He noted the tip of her tail was lifting the hem of her disguise a few inches off the ground, the white scales just visible from this angle. He wondered how he’d never seen it, and then wondered over all the other thing’s he’d missed that would have given away Pearl’s secret if he’d taken the time to think about them.

“Yeah,” he replied. “Got a big walk ahead of us, better get going while we have the light.”

“Did you turn the oven off?” Pearl asked Matriarch, the feral giving her a blank stare. “Nice. On me, everyone, I know the way better than anyone.”

The group set off into the cold, Cooper taking a look back at the mine as they went. It felt strange to leave the place behind after spending so long cooped up inside it, and the thought that he might not ever see it again made him oddly anxious.

“You alright, Coops?” Pearl said, walking up beside him, perhaps sensing his changing mood.

“I’m not sure, I feel… weird, for lack of a better word, and not just because its colder out here than in there.”

“I think that’s a bit of homesickness you’re feeling,” Pearl said, draping an arm over his shoulders. “You’ve spent more time in my den than anywhere else, right?”

“Up till recently,” he agreed. How could he feel for a location, and one of such… low standards than what he was used to? He should be longing for NCR if this was indeed what homesickness was like, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

He tore his eyes from the slowly fading mountain, electing to ponder on these thoughts later.

They walked past the rock where he had given Pearl his handbook, the pack bringing up the rear as the pair retraced their steps. The fog that had blanketed this area had lifted during the night, the windstorm gently abating to allow most of the sparse woodland to be visible. The mountains on the horizon were still shaded away, however, as was the sky.

“Check it out,” Pearl said after a while, pointing to the left. Cooper could see footprints marching into the haze, following their general heading. They must belong to the woman that Pearl had spared, Jade. Cooper wondered what Pearl would do if the two encountered each other again at the lodge, and if her show of mercy was just a one-off.

-xXx-

The day of travelling was mostly uneventful, save for the pair of wolf howls travelling on the wind sometime in the afternoon, the group’s reaction varying wildly. While Cooper thought it best to keep moving, some of the pack decided they could use a late snack, bounding off and quickly vanishing into the snow. Pearl decided it was for the best, the pack finding their own food would help keep Cooper’s rations from dwindling too fast.

He'd packed as much brahmin meat as he could manage, and once night fell, he set about cooking himself a steak, wishing he had something else to go with it. While he was a fan of meat, a bit of sauce could have gone a long way to vary his meals up. He looked up with a startled expression when he heard movement, relaxing as the pack reappeared into the light, carrying a furry wolf in their arms.

The ferals feasted on the carcass while he and Pearl acted a little more civilized, Cooper passing her a giant sirloin once he’d sizzled it over the flames to her liking. He’d become so used to the regulated temperature of the mine that the cold air was a bitter surprise, but Pearl came to his rescue, draping her cloak around the both of them so they shared their body heat.

“I missed this,” Pearl mused, staring into the crackling flames. “I know it was literally less than a week ago, but bundling up with my mate, our arms wrapped around each other… Oh, sounds like something out of one of my romance books.”

“Haven’t seen Jade’s tracks in a while,” Cooper said, not wanting to spoil her mood, but unable to help but bring the topic up. “She might have gotten lost in the storm, but if she didn’t… the lodge will know you’re still out here.”

“But they don’t know we’re planning on coming to them,” she replied. “Hopefully they’ll send out another group, and the lodge will have even less defenders for us to deal with.”

“Still think you shouldn’t have let her go,” he said, Pearl giving him a surprised look. “They’ll be on alert in any case, but we could have done with a bit of surprise on our hands.”

“So, what, should I have butchered her on the spot?” she asked, her brow furrowing. “I’m not a wild animal, I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that.”

“I know you’re not,” he said.

“She’d surrendered, and was completely defenseless,” Pearl continuned, her tail thumping into the snow, leaving a long groove. “if I’d killed her, I’d be no better than a feral, and that’s the exact justification everyone who wants me dead uses. I want to be better than that, and if that means putting us at a disadvantage, then I’m willing to pay that price.”

“I get that,” he assured. “but that price might be one of us dying.”

“Nobody is dying,” she snapped. “I’m not losing anyone, not the pack, and certainly not you, Cooper. Not after I just got you. Look,” she said, her voice softening. “maybe it was a mistake letting that woman go, but the alternative was proving Hendrix and the Enclave right, that I’m just another mindless beast that’s better off being put down, or being controlled. Showing mercy is the one thing I have left.”

“And what about Hendrix?” he pressed. “Once we get to him, will you let him go, too? That won’t exactly tie up that loose end, which is what this whole attack is for, right?”

“It… depends on what he knows,” Pearl answered, shifting on her haunches. “If he’s not in contact with the Enclave, I’ll convince him to give up this hunting game, same way I did to you.”

“And if you can’t? Or he’s in league with the Enclave?”

“Then... I’ll do what I think is best,” she replied, averting her gaze. “Let’s worry about our plan of attack for now, cross that bridge when we get to it, y’know?”

He could tell she was being evasive, but he could tell pressing her any more wouldn’t get anywhere, so he dropped it. She’d have to figure this one out on her own, Hendrix wasn’t his target after all. He was hired help, as was usually the case, though his employer had never been his bedmate before…

“Let’s get some rest,” he said, wrapping an arm around her waist. He felt her apprehension melt away as he held her, encouraging her to lay back, the pair using her cloak like a bedsheet. They stared up at what few stars glittered through the clouds, sleep soon taking them.

-xXx-

Cooper felt a lot safer with a pack of deathclaws watching out for him, even though they encountered very little on their return trip. He was no longer afraid to be surrounded by them after their proclivities the other night, and he felt a sense of belongness around them that he didn’t feel around other humans. Did that make him some kind of outcast? It might have, but what did that matter if he was content? He wished they had connected like this sooner, instead of pumping their bloodstreams full of tranquilizer.

The runt sidled up to him from behind, placing her head underneath his gloved arm, encouraging him to pet her. He laughed, scratching at the base of her horn, the beast rumbling in contentment.

He looked at the other pack members as they kept moving. Pearl and Matriarch were chatting, while the laborers were chasing around the deathclaw he’d yet to give a nickname, their movements quick and playful. The creatures didn’t seem all that worried about their coming attack on the lodge, and he found himself envying their simple-mindedness.

Another day came and went, the pack using the river to guide them back to the area of the valley the lodge was located in. The mongrel that he’d blown apart with his explosive bullet was gone, bones and all, perhaps a yao guai had come through at some point and scavenged it. Copper chuckled under his breath as they walked past the sight, Pearl scrutinizing him with her amber eyes.

“What’s so funny?” she asked.

“That dog I shot around here kinda started all this,” he said. “We’d have never met if you hadn’t heard the shot.”

“That’s true,” she said. “Granted, shooting a dog isn’t exactly the most romantic beginning to our relationship, but who cares.”

“Hey, speaking of which… what were you doing out here in the first place anyway? Don’t tell me you were just sitting here waiting for someone.”

“I was drawn to you by the power of friendship,” Pearl said, giggling at him when he stared at her. “C’mon, not even a smirk? Alright seriously, I was going to do some recon on the lodge at the time, then you distracted me as you so often do nowadays.”

“Were you planning on attacking Hendrix before I came into the picture?”

“Of course I was! You would too if you had a thorn in your ass all the time, especially after said thorn captured you and tried to sell you off.”

“It’s thorn in your side,” he corrected.

“You try saying that with several horns sticking out of your butt.”

“We’re getting close now,” Cooper continued, changing the subject. “Maybe a day and a half out if we keep this pace. Wanna go over the plan again?”

“Sure,” she said. “Gather round, girls,” she added, the pack closing in on the pair from all sides. “First things first,” Pearl began. “We’ll split up into three teams, A B and C…”

-xXx-

Cooper placed a hand on the lip of earth covering him and Pearl, the pair looking down the length of road towards the structure in the near distance. The lodge emitted an aura of light, a yellow ball that encompassed both the building, and the walls of the pen that flanked the acres behind it.

Under the cover of darkness, they had snuck close enough to the lodge that they could hear the rattling of the mounted guns, the turrets swiveling on their stands as they tracked for movement. He could see men and women manning the walls, patrolling from left to right, the occasional piece of chatter lost over the distance. His suspicions had been right, the lodge had stepped up its security, which meant there was a good chance Jade was somewhere nearby. Neither he or Pearl voiced this fact.

“Any second now,” Pearl muttered, peeling back her hood a little to look out to the building. “There! Look!”

He turned his eyes skyward, movement on the roof of the lodge drawing his attention. Framed against the stars, the skies clear enough now that one could make out the many nebulas canvasing the heavens, was a spiky mass, stalking its way across the slanted rooftop, the tiles creaking under its weight.

Cooper held his breath, fearing the whole thing would come crashing down at any second. The burly figure darted over the peak, scanned its surroundings, then vanished from sight. After a few tense seconds, the roof did cave in, though for reasons other than the weight of the figure.

There was a tremendous bang, clouds of smoke and shrapnel pluming out from the rooftop, tiles and bricks falling down the sides of the building. The damage was controlled to the apex of the building, the structure holding fast, but bringing the lodge down wasn’t the plan.

Back on the ground level, roughly half of the turrets mounted on the walls stopped rotating, every other emplacement powering down with a distant whir. Someone shouted from afar, and then another explosion shook the earth, this one located on the opposite side of the lodge from where Cooper was crouching. The blast wasn’t huge, but the effects were immediate, some of the floodlights illuminating the area cutting off with loud clicks.

“Hope she didn’t catch herself in those blasts,” Cooper murmured. “I know your scales are tough, but shrapnel from a mine is no joke.”

“She’ll be fine,” Pearl reassured. “Looks like team C got the signal.”

She pointed further down the walls, what few sentries he could see on the barricades aiming their guns inside the pen, firing at something out of his view. In the near-darkness, the muzzle flashes lit up like beacons, more worried shouting reaching his ears as more men joined the chorus of gunfire.

Something else could be heard as well. The distinct buzzing sound of rapidly beating wings, along with the clicking and growling that could only belong to an adult gecko. Yet another blast sounded off, but from a grenade this time, snow raining down over the point of impact towards the east side of the pen. He could see Matriarch and one of the laborer’s scale the electrified fence, rushing into the fray. The last two deathclaws were on the far side of the lodge, doing the exact same thing if the sounds were any clue.

“Déjà vu…” Pearl whispered.

“What’s that?” Cooper asked.

“When me and the other hybrids escaped the Enclave,” Pearl began, her bright eyes oddly reminiscent of the explosions. “our plan relied on unlocking the holding areas for the ferals, using them to cause chaos while the rest of us slipped away.” She looked back at the lodge. “Pretty much doing the exact same thing now. I guess they always say don’t reinvent the wheel.”

“We should get moving,” Cooper said, his suit whirring as he got to his feet, Pearl following. They dashed across the road to the other side, keeping low as they approached the corner of the forward wall. Things might get a little awkward if a caravan decided to turn up right now, but that was something they had to risk.

“Hold up,” Pearl hissed, motioning for him to stay put as she peeked around the corner. Cooper kept his laser rifle trained on the walls, his sights sliding over one of the unpowered turrets. Hopefully those solar panels and the battery banks were the only things they had to worry about, and there wasn’t some auxiliary unit stashed away somewhere.

“Three guards,” Pearl reported. “They’re moving back inside… alright, go go go.”

They rounded the corner, hugging the wall as they approached the main entrance, Cooper’s heart racing as every electric whir of his suit potentially betrayed his position. Pearl was paradoxically quieter, her massive frame trudging lightly along the gravel.

As they moved up on the arched gate, Cooper took the lead this time, checking his loaded cell one last time as he got ready. He’d had his complaints about approaching through the front door, but Pearl had managed to convince him, her excuse echoing through his thoughts as he shouldered his new gun.

“Attacking from the front is so obvious that nobody will suspect it!”

Cooper turned out, Pearl whisking out to his left as he scanned the lodge’s front side. It seemed she had been right, there was not a soul in sight watching the inner courtyard, nobody behind the mechanism that would shut the gate. There was the mounted pair of turrets to one side that was angled this way, but their targeting systems were offline, the barrels angled towards the ground.

“Told ya,” Pearl whispered, Cooper seeing that she’d bounded across half the courtyard in a few moments. She seemed to get faster every time she put her athletics on display. “C’mon.”

He joined her at the door, the wooden beams creaking under his exosuit, Cooper peering his helmeted head through one of the windows. The expansive lobby was almost still under the light of the chandelier. Almost. He could see people dashing out of the wings and from the stairs flanking the centralized bartop, filing towards the rear doors, shouting orders at each other. There was at least a dozen of them at a glance.

“Let’s wait till most of them are outside,” Pearl said, looking over his helmet. “but not for too long, we can’t wait for Hendrix to get his people under control.”

When the groups of rushing guards died down, they made their move, Cooper shoving aside the door with his gauntleted arm, Pearl sweeping into the room right after. The bulk of the guards were out in the pen, visible between the far windows, shooting at shadowy outlines further out, but their rearguard wasn’t so oblivious.

A group of six armed guards were holding the lobby when Pearl and Cooper barged inside, each one peering back to give the newcomers confused looks. Cooper didn’t let the moment of surprise go to waste. He pulled the stock of his laser rifle into his shoulder, taking aim at the man halfway up the staircase on the left, and squeezed the trigger.

Pm-Pm-Pm! Three bright red lasers lanced across the lobby, the weapon jumping in Cooper’s arms. His target’s leather chestpiece did little to deflect the incoming energy, the man’s cry of alarm cutting short as three burning holes pocked his torso. His legs gave out, and he tumbled down the stairs, the smell of cooking flesh filling the air.

Pearl was already dashing across the lobby before the dead guard had rolled to the last step, brandishing one of her hands, her claws snicking out of their sheaths. The guard unfortunate enough to be closest to her fired his rifle in full-auto, the sound of ripping fabric just audible over the barking weapon. Pearl swiped his head clean off his shoulders, the body part flying through the air to land inside one of the adjacent wings.

As the headless body crumpled, the remaining guards started yelling out in alarm, directing their fire on Pearl. The nimble deathclaw danced out of the way, ducking behind one of the support columns, clutching her horned head as the bullets showered her position.

Cooper moved right, kicking over a table with his armoured boot and kneeling behind it, aiming at a guard taking cover behind the bar. His first shot scored one of the glittering bottles lining the counter, the glass fracturing into a shower of shards. The second shot hit the guard in the shoulder, the man crying out, but not going down, calling for his counterparts while pointing at Cooper.

The table that was his cover was quickly shredded, and with the added height of the power armour, Cooper was forced to move, strafing out to the right as he filled the room with burning arcs of energy. The amount of recoil from his laser gun was less than he expected, throwing off his next couple of shots as he got used to the weapon.

He darted into the wing branching off the lobby, putting his back to the solid wall. He fired off a few blind shots around the corner, his weapon clicking impotently after a few discharges. He slapped a gloved hand into the receiver, the energy cell popping out like a bottlecap, Cooper producing a replacement from his belt and shoving it into the slot. The electric whir informed him he was reloaded.

He couldn’t see Pearl, but Cooper couldn’t afford to keep track of her, turning out the corner and aiming at the wounded guard again. There was a momentary flash as something slammed into his slatted visor, leaving a little ingrain in the fiberglass. A squashed bullet fell to his feet, Cooper’s heart hammering in his chest as he returned fire.

This time, his lasers were fatal, the man going down with a mist of blood spraying behind him. Cooper turned his sights on the next guard, seeing they were retreating up the steps, using the balconies as cover to fire down on him.

As he relocated, dashing up the length of the lobby, he spotted Pearl, seeing her advancing on the other side. She could only dodge and weave so much in the limited space, and he saw more than one trail of her blood in her wake, concern momentarily overcoming him. Two of the guards on that side had backed off, unwilling to let Pearl get close. They dashed upstairs, but one tripped over his own feet in his haste, pleading for his companion to help him, who didn’t look back until he reached the second floor.

Pearl dragged the fallen guard towards her by his feet, pinching her fingers together to form a bundle of sharp claws, then impaled them through the back of his uniform, her claws undoubtedly poking through on the other side. His screams of terror went silent shortly after.

She pulled her hand free, a curving sheet of blood draping off her fingers, turning her draconic features to the remaining men. She climbed the steps, but the guards concentrated their fire on her, and as quick as she was, the narrow staircase did her no favours. Pearl hissed in pain as several bullets found their marks, and she shielded her face as she backed away, diving beneath the bar top for cover.

Cooper fired off another burst, but he couldn’t get a shot, the chandelier put him at a bad angle. They blanketed the lobby with automatic fire, breaking bottles and shredding plaster, Cooper forced to duck away. He picked his moment, leaning out and firing off another burst, the lasers catching on the many branching pieces of wood jutting from the chandelier, glass raining down on Pearl’s head.

They couldn’t afford to waste any more time, that was exactly what the guards were doing, delaying them until someone came over to assist. They needed to end this now.

He waited for a break in the fire, then leaned out of cover once more, brandishing the flare gun in one hand. A bright ball of light sailed up to the second floor, listing a little to the left and trailing white sparks. The flare landed right between the two guards, both of them shielding their eyes at the sudden influx of light.

“Now Pearl!” Cooper called out, but his companion was already leaping up the stairs, her robe fluttering out behind her as she sprinted on all fours. The guards had recovered in seconds, but that was all Pearl needed to close the distance, turning the corner and seizing one of the guards, slashing him across his chest with her deadly claws.

The second guard aimed his weapon, but Cooper pulled the trigger faster, peppering his flank with a stream of lances. As his shots found their marks, a sizzling sound filled the lobby, Cooper’s eyes going wide as the man began to seemingly fade away, falling out of sight behind the balcony railing. There was no thump as he hit the ground.

Pearl gave the strange scene a weary glance, then nodded at him gratefully, her shoulders rising and falling as she caught her breath. “You check downstairs!” she called out, gesturing with an arm. “I’ll look up here.”

Cooper did as she asked, leaning his helmeted head inside the wings, busting down locked doors with his weapon, the power armour frame giving him the extra strength needed. He reappeared in the lounging area where he’d first met Hendrix, the fireplace still crackling away under the mantle, but the room was empty, as was the other wing when he looked throughout the barracks. Everyone must be outside dealing with the chaos the pack had caused.

He moved up the stairs, the wooden boards groaning worryingly under his tremendous weight, his boot landing in what looked like a pile of ash. This must be the last guard he’d shot, the laser gun had disintegrated him. Grimacing, he lifted his boot out of the ash pile, and walked around it.

He spied his companion on the far left side of the balcony. She’d gone through every door systematically it seemed, with only the three leftmost ones yet to be searched.

“Nothing,” he informed her as he ran up, noting that there were dozens of holes in her robe, a trail of wet blood trickling down her legs to leave a trail. “Shit Pearl, you’re hit.”

“Don’t worry about me,” she replied, holding up a hand. “Just help me find this guy.”

The next room was a bathroom, empty, and the one after was the kitchen, also abandoned. That left only one more place to search. Cooper kept his gun trained on the ground floor as Pearl moved to the door, grasping the doorknob and giving it a twist, the device not budging.

Pearl lifted a brow at him, then told him to step back, raising a digitigrade leg and giving the door a swift kick. The lock broke, and it swung inward, Pearl squeezing her shoulders inside, Cooper following her through.

They found themselves in a long, narrow room, with a couple of pristine couches positioned between tall bookshelves stacked against one wall. Opposite these furnishings was a huge window looking out over the acres of land behind the lodge, the glass inlaid with metal brackets. On the far side was a desk and chair, with a terminal resting upon the former, its screen currently switched off.

Looking out through the glass was Hendrix himself, his aged features illuminated by the moonlight, his wrinkles casting hard shadows on his face. As he turned to look at the pair, a flash of recognition passed over him when he looked to Cooper, but he gave Pearl a hard glance, unaware of her true identity thanks to the robe.

“So this is how you repay my generosity, Mister Cooper?” the old man asked, his voice more authorative than his appearance would suggest. “I hire you to perform a task, and then you assault my compound using the very tools I gave you?”

“It’s nothing personal,” Cooper replied, his helmet giving his voice a robotic quality.

“A tiresome reply from your typical, thoughtless mercenary,” Hendrix muttered, turning to Pearl. “And what about you? Did Mister Cooper here promise you a sum of the rewards he claims I hold?”

“No,” Pearl answered. “For me, this is personal.”

She drew back her hood, her forked tongue snaking between her chops as she tasted the air, Hendrix taking a step back in alarm. It was the only time Cooper had seen the old man falter.

“You shouldn’t be so hard on Cooper,” Pearl continued. “You told him to bring me back here, and he did. Maybe you should be a little more careful with how you word your requests, Hendrix.”

“So you can talk,” the old man muttered, quickly regaining his composure despite Pearl’s efforts to appear intimidating. “Why did you not answer me the last time you were here? We might have reached some level of understanding, Omega…”

“We have plenty of time to chat now,” Pearl said. “Don’t we? You lodge is in chaos, and your guards are dead. You and me are all alone now.”

“Aren’t we?” Hendrix countered.

“Cooper’s staying,” she replied, glancing over her shoulder. “I want him to hear all of this.”

“Oh, I wasn’t talking about him.”

Pearl opened her mouth to speak, but instead she loosed a cry of pain, fresh blood spurting out of a wound that had suddenly appeared on her neck. She buckled, as if a dumbbell had been placed on her shoulders, twirling on the spot as red marks appeared on her neck. Hendrix stepped out of the way of her whipping tail, Pearl snarling in anger and confusion. Cooper raised his rifle, but he couldn’t see anything, his eyes darting frantically for the source of her pain.

She swiped her claws about like she was swatting at an errant fly, Cooper watching in disbelief as her hand connected with something solid above her head, something that his eyes couldn’t see. A hiss that wasn’t from Pearl called out, the deathclaw ramming her backside up against the wall as bite marks appeared on her arm, then her face.

Reaching up above her head, Pearl seized at something, her hands clenching over a distinct mass. She wrangled with the air, tossing what appeared to be nothing to the ground, but the thump of an impact convincing him otherwise. The deathclaw stamped on the spot with her digitigrade leg, her talons digging furrows into the floorboards as she missed whatever it was.

Realisation flashed in his eyes, Cooper whipping about in alarm, peering down the sights of his laser rifle. He could hear that hiss again, low and menacing, but he couldn’t tell what direction it was coming from.

“Call off your pet!” he snarled, turning his gun on Hendrix. The old man didn’t even bat an eye – he knew they wanted him alive, and that Cooper wouldn’t fire.

Pearl’s shoulder twisted unnaturally to the side, her face scrunching up as two puncture marks appeared on her bicep. She swiped down her torso, but she missed, her figure hunching as the invisible mass crawled over her backside. She threw out an elbow, but that also missed, Pearl throwing herself to one knee as the scales on her thigh were pierced.

Cooper held his sights over Pearl, watching as she spun and wailed on the spot. He couldn’t bring himself to squeeze the trigger, not without risking hitting Pearl. She was bleeding so much, her many bullet wounds now joined by these fresh bites.

She cried out as the thing attacking her bit down on the spot between her horns, but rather than try and swipe at it, instead she flipped herself over, planting her dorsal spikes into the wooden floor, some of them caving inward.

Dark blood appeared on a handful of her spikes, impaling into the gut of the invisible creature. A sourceless yowl filled the room as Pearl twisted her shoulders, goring the creature. She flipped onto her front, pinning the creature down before it could slither away.

Cooper was able to make out an outline of a torso as Pearl held the invisible thing down, the thing flailing so much that even Pearl almost lost her grip on it. She bared her teeth, her chops parting as she rammed her head between her hands. The hissing took on a wet quality as she gored it on her horns, more blood appearing on their sharp tips. Pearl gave her head a pointed twist, ensuring the kill, pulling her head back to decouple her face from the hidden mass.

The creature lost control of its invisibility, its canine-like body appearing in Pearl’s arms. The nightstalker’s tail rattled once more before going still, the beasts head rolling back as it bled out. Its body wobbled as Pearl let it go, shutting her eyes as she rose to a crouching position, her breath coming out in ragged gasps.

“Not… cool,” Pearl muttered. “Not cool at all.”

She was on Hendrix in a moment, grasping the old man by the throat, lifting him into the air so that their eyes were level. He kicked out his legs as Pearl flexed her other hand, her claws glinting as the light from the muzzle flashes outside caught on them.

“I’m getting pretty thin on patience right now, Hendrix,” Pearl snarled, blood dripping down her left eye. “I was hoping we could be a little more civilized, but you clearly want to do this the hard way.”

“D-Do what?” Hendrix sputtered, grasping at her hand, which she squeezed a little more tightly over his neck.

“I want information,” she demanded. “And if I even get a whiff of a lie, I’ll do things to you that’ll make your pet’s death look like paradise in comparison. I’d ask you how that sounds, but you don’t have much of a choice, do you?”

The choking noises Hendrix made were horrible, and he gave Cooper a pleading look, but he just shook his head. This was Pearl’s time, and he wasn’t going to intervene.

“Talk,” Pearl snapped. “When you captured me, how did you know where I was? Was it sheer dumb luck that you stumbled upon me of all deathclaws?”

“N-No,” Hendrix gasped.

“Then how?” Pearl demanded, leaning so close her horns brushed Hendrix’s temple. “You keep being vague, and this will be a lot more painful for you than it needs to be.”

“They told me how to find you!” Hendrix replied, Pearl’s hold on him loosening so he could speak. “I don’t know who they are! They didn’t give me names, and I didn’t ask, they weren’t the kind of people I wanted to press for details. Said they were looking for something, some subject, gave me a description that you fit to the letter.”

Pearl’s expression shifted. Now she was more worried than angry, though her fury quickly returned. “These people, have you told them that I’m here?”

Cooper’s heart sank. Hendrix had nodded.

“How do you contact them?” Pearl asked, exposing her teeth in either anger or fear, he wasn’t sure.

The old man pointed at the far end of the room, towards the terminal. Pearl glanced at it, then returned her fiery gaze to the old man.

“Cooper,” she said, her tone a little softer. “If you wouldn’t mind, please.”

He nodded, walking over and pushing the chair aside, hitting the power button on the boxy device. He waited for the BIOS settings to scroll by, the green tint of the screen casting half the room in a sickly light, and then a small window with two lines appeared, a flicking cursor awaiting his input.

“Wants a password,” Cooper announced. Hendrix told him a string of numbers, and after typing them in, a loading bar appeared. After it filled, a small startup menu occupied the screen. The options were settings, system, logs, and status. He tapped the arrow keys until he highlighted logs, then hit the enter button.

A couple of messages dating back for about a month popped up, all of them directing and receiving from the same user, according to the labels.

“Got some messages here from someone called… Private Astley,” Cooper said.

“So much for no names,” Pearl mumbled, giving Hendrix a look. “Read them out to me.”

“Lodge, preliminary report on subject. Use caution when engaging, target is highly elusive, but will attack if cornered. Subject reported to be active in the northeastern quadrant of California, estimated to be hiding in the many remote, abandoned locations to the far north of VC. Last seen traveling in isolation. Height: 280cm. Weight: 622 lb. Pink and white complexion. See below.”

There was a picture attached to the bottom of the message. In it, a pale deathclaw stood in the foreground of a whitewashed, featureless space. Pearl looked younger, a lot younger, her features less weathered, her hide oddly iridescent without all the gunshots and wounds she’d accumulated over her years in the Wastes.

“Don’t remember anyone taking a picture of me,” Pearl said. “Creepy. What else?”

“Next one’s a reply from Hendrix. Mister Astley, your report was invaluable, subject has been secured, currently sleeping in one of my cages. Told you the tranquilizer worked. I’ll let you keep the container if you want, though I’m a bit confused as to how you’ll transport it? You’re not using one of those flying contraptions again, are you? Please forewarn me if that’s the case, the animals were spooked for hours after you left last time.”

“Reply from Astley a day later. Lodge, confirm subject’s identity. We cannot risk sending a retrieval team unless there is complete certainty, we draw enough attention from the province already. You will be held accountable if fuel and resources are wasted.”

“Hendrix a few days after that. Mister Astley, the situation has changed. I don’t know how it did it, but it got out, but rest assured I have my best people working on finding it. Updates to follow.”

“Hendrix again. Update: sent out several teams into the valley, and one of them found something. Only one of the four guards returned, who claimed that a hunter I hired is working alongside the subject, and that said subject can speak. I chalked that up to delirium, you would have told me if it could communicate. Sending out another two teams to detain it, updates to follow.”

Cooper placed his hands on the desk. “That’s it,” he muttered. “Astley has to be Enclave, and he knows you’re definitely here.”

“Fuck!” Pearl snarled, pointing an accusing finger at the suspended Hendrix. “You’ve doomed me! Years I went without drawing attention to myself, now I’ll have vertibirds buzzing me any day now! Why couldn’t you just couldn’t leave me alone?”

She was choking him harder with every word, Hendrix’s face turning a worrying shade of purple. Just when Cooper thought she might suffocate the old man, she relented, her nostrils flexing as she sighed.

“What if we told them you’re dead?” Cooper suggested. “I can send a message right now, all we’ll have to do is play along.”

“Wouldn’t work,” Pearl grumbled. “they’d want my body recovered, and they’ll come back. Fuck knows what they’ll think when they see this mess we’ve made.”

Cooper wanted to do something, suggest anything, but nothing came. The cat was already out of the bag, and they’d be hard-pressed to convince her former captors to drop the search thanks to Hendrix’s messages. They’d been very lucky the Enclave hadn’t turned up the moment they’d been told she was caught.

“I-I could help you,” Hendrix whispered, breaking the silence. “I’m the only one with access to that terminal, I could tell them I’m cutting all ties, say you escaped and killed too many men for us to recover.”

“You do realise you just gave us your password?” Pearl asked, shaking her head. “I can’t believe you’d think me stupid enough to even consider leaving you alone with a way to contact them.”

“Then take my terminal!” Hendrix said. “Destroy it if you want, it’s the only device they gave me.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Pearl snarled. “You’re on the Enclave’s file now. Try to run now and they’ll find you. They always do…”

She shook her head, pinching her eyes between two claws.

“I… I didn’t want it to have to end this way, Hendrix,” she added, her tone suddenly shifting. “I hoped I could just ruin your operation and be done with it, but… I don’t see any other option now.”

“Wait, please,” Hendrix begged, her implication not lost on him. “As one thinking being to another, you must understand I was only doing what I had to do to survive. You’re not just a thoughtless animal, I see that now. I won’t bother you any longer, just let me go.”

“It took me days to convince my best friend to see me as more than a beast,” Pearl began, giving Cooper a glance. “but it takes you all of two minutes? I don’t believe you. I can’t. I’m sorry.”

She shut her eyes, Hendrix starting to plead as she clenched her hand around his throat. There was a gut-wrenching crack, Hendrix’s head jutting at an odd angle, his words cutting off with a breathy sigh. His limbs relaxed, dangling by his sides, Pearl placing him on the floor with a surprising amount of care, shaking her head as she stared at his corpse.

“There was no other way,” she muttered, giving Cooper a somber look. “Right?”

“Sorry, Pearl,” he said, walking over and placing a hand on her arm. “It had to be done, letting him go would have just made things worse.”

“Yeah,” she said, not sounding very convinced. She straightened up before continuing. “There’ll be time to feel bad for myself later. Right now we have to deal with the Enclave. Let’s have a look at those logs.”

She took up a spot in front of the terminal, getting on her knees so she was low enough to read the screen. The sounds of fighting beyond the window were dying down, Cooper looking out over the pen while Pearl clicked at the keyboard. He could see some of the pack dashing through the yard, along with a few other critters. There was a giant green mantis, its purple wings flittering as it dodged out of Matriarch’s way, its head twisting at unnatural angles. There was also a few brahmin, and what looked like a radscorpion in the distance. There were dead people and creatures everywhere, and it looked like the guards had abandoned the lodge to get clear of the loose animals.

“Wait a tick,” Pearl said, clicking her fingers. “We might not be able to get the Enclave off my back, but maybe we can throw them off it for a while.”

“How so?” he asked, walking back over to the desk.

“They’re a very secretive organization,” Pearl explained. “The Enclave operate in the shadows, making sure to capture or kill anyone who stumbles upon them, and keep their outside contacts in the dark about their true identity. See what this Private Astley guy says here? We cannot risk sending a retrieval team unless there is complete certainty, we draw enough attention from the province already. I’m pretty sure that means he doesn’t want everyone seeing a vertibird flying to and from their bases without a great reason. Those things aren’t exactly discreet.”

“So what do we say?” Cooper asked. “We could tell them that it wasn’t actually you who was captured, but that might read off as suspicious, Hendrix suddenly backing off after all this effort.”

“We tell them that some other organization has gotten involved,” Pearl said. “Say NCR or something has sent an armed group to investigate the area, and has set up a camp nearby. The Enclave wouldn’t dare showing themselves to a powerful group like them, or at least, that’s my hope.”

“Wont they ask why the NCR’s here?”

“Then we say we don’t know. It’s not up to us to ask questions, that’s what Hendrix basically said before.”

“Okay, that might buy some time,” Cooper admitted. “but Hendrix already told them you got away. You’ll never be safe if we can’t somehow reverse that.”

“I don’t see how that’s possible now,” Pearl sighed. “Best we can do is hope this made-up NCR squad keeps them out of the area for a while.”

“What if we said you were somewhere you aren’t?” Cooper suggested. “Tell them you were seen heading north, or west, out and away from the mine, and that trackers lost sight of you going somewhere like, the Glow or something.”

“Good idea!” she replied. “Alright, help me word this message, these keys are too small for my fingers.”

They spent maybe twenty minutes thinking and planning on a reply to the Enclave, Hendrix and his pet nightstalker starting to permeate the room with a foul smell. They were careful to make sure their message sounded like something Hendrix would say, using his prior messages as reference. Once they were both satisfied with their reply, they typed it all out in full, and what it said was this:

Mister Astley, teams reported subject is heading northwest in relation to my lodge. Highly elusive indeed. Ordered one team to track at a distance. No sign of the hired hunter my guard claimed was working with it. Apologies for the delayed response, it’s been getting popular around here these last few days. A group of President Tandi’s finest was patrolling the road yesterday, apparently the Republic has heard rumours of ‘flying metal birds’ and are investigating the area. They appear to be settling in for the moment. Updates to follow.

“It’ll have to do,” Pearl said, reading it over one last time. “I kinda want to put ASSHOLES or something at the end there, but that might give us away.”

“Maybe,” he said, smirking at her. “You want to send it, or will I?”

“I’ll do it,” she said. She brought a claw over the enter button, the icon flickering over the send command. “Feels weird talking to the Enclave again, even if its indirectly. Hopefully our little reunion doesn’t go much further than this.”

“It won’t come to that,” Cooper insisted. In truth he didn’t know what would happen after they sent the message, but he wanted to reassure Pearl in any way he could.

She gave him a grateful smile, then clicked the button. Their impersonated message was transferred after a small delay, appearing at the top of the log section. That was it, the ball was out of their court, and the fight was over for the moment. Pearl leaned on the desk as though suddenly overcome with fatigue, Cooper reciprocating as he plucked his helmet off, taking in a breath of fresh air.

Something metallic in the corner of the room caught his eye. It was a silver box stood on a set of four tiny legs, the front side of it built like a door. Tilting his head, he made his way over to it, seeing that instead of a traditional doorknob, there was a circular dial labeled with over a hundred numerics.

“Hendrix’s safe,” he muttered. He tried putting in the password for the terminal, but the code was too long. “Wonder what’s inside it.”

“You keep forgetting you have a deathclaw on tap,” Pearl said, waving for him to stand clear. She walked over, slipping a claw into the groove in the door, slicing the lock apart like it was nothing. The safe swung open, Cooper leaning over and peering inside. What he saw inside made his veins flood with excitement.

Green bundles of notes held together by rubber bands occupied the top shelf to capacity, crammed all the way to the back wall. The number 100 was stenciled into each corner, with President Tandi’s youthful face donning each bill. The lower shelf was similarly brimming, but instead of paper notes, there was several bulky bags tied at the necks by hairy strings, their contents bulging the linen outwards.

Cooper reached down to drag one of said bags out, finding himself needing to use both arms to lift it. He undid the knot in the string, folding back the neck, Pearl’s amber eyes widening as she peeked inside.

“Am I crazy,” she began. “or is that like, a whole Nuka Cola factory’s worth of caps in there?”

There had to be a hundred caps easy on the first few layers alone, and there were maybe half ten bags crammed into the safe. The paper money already outdid his promised reward money that Hendrix had offered, but this was just absurd. Had this come straight from the Enclave, or was this simply Hendrix’s treasury? He’d never know, nor did he much care anyway.

He took out a handful of caps, letting them trickle through his gloved fingers, clinking as they fell back into the bag. He’d never seen so much wealth in one place before, and his thoughts were already rushing with the possibilities that were now open to him.

“Looks like you got what you wanted after all,” Pearl said, Cooper glancing up at her. “All the reward money and then some. You could buy back your parent’s place, heck maybe the whole block with this kind of cash.”

“There’s an idea,” he muttered, transfixed as he pulled another bag from the safe.

“I… I guess that’s it then,” Pearl added, rubbing one of her horns absentmindedly.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Well, you’ve accomplished what you set out to do,” she explained. “your life as a hunter is over, and you’re’ rich as fuck. You could hire out the Bishop family condo with all this, and those New Reno women will crawl over each other to get to Mister Rich Guy Cooper.”

“Having a bunch of consorts would be a nice way to live,” he admitted.

“I’m happy for you,” Pearl continued. “You get to live out the rest of the winter behind walls, surrounded by your own kind. Don’t know how you’re gonna manage to bring all this to the city with you, those bags look heavy. Maybe the joy of being rich will give you the willpower.”

“Pearl… I was pretty content before finding all this money.”

“What? But-” He silenced her with a peck on the chin, the power armour allowing him to just reach her if he tiptoed. He chuckled at her bewildered expression, Pearl blinking at him. “Y-You talked so much about getting your fortune, I thought this was what you wanted?”

“I’m not denying the money’s a good bonus,” he admitted, resting his hands on her wide hips. “But I guess my priorities changed over these past few days. You asked me once if I saw you as more than just a beast,” he continued, Pearl grinning at him as he began to stumble his words. “and the answer is… I do. I… I like you, Pearl, more than anything. I’ve been worrying for so long on what kind of person that makes me, but after all that’s happened, I don’t give a shit anymore. I guess what I’m trying to say is I… I think I’ve fallen for you.”

He watched her cheeks flush into a shade of crimson, her smile not born from teasing, but of relief.

“I guess I can be pretty annoyingly insistent,” she chuckled, her laughter coming out a little more forced than was natural. “I was worried too,” she continued, brushing his cheek with a claw. “I kept thinking that once we took out the lodge, that was it, you’d be on your way. I almost didn’t want to bring it up, like I’d jinx it or something. What about your dreams of living in a city?” she asked. “I like my den, but it doesn’t hold a candle to a heated apartment block.”

“I’d be willing to make a few sacrifices if it means staying with you, if you’ll have me,” he added. Pearl answered by wrapping her arms around him, the servos in his suit whirring as they compensated for her weight.

“O-Of course I will! This whole time I’ve been trying to get you to stay with me, and now you’re asking for permission? You’re such a tease, Coops…”

Her thighs opened, encompassing his waist on both sides as she pushed against him, guiding him up against the wall as she leaned over, pressing her mouth against his own. He battled with her forked tongue for a while, Pearl pulling back to peeper his face with quick kisses, Cooper chuckling as her organ tickled him.

“And, for the record,” she added between pecks. “I love you too. Yes!” she exclaimed, pumping a fist. “I finally got to say that to someone other than the mirror! It feels utterly amazing!”

“Just wait until the pack here’s about this,” he said, his words muffled by her bosom as she pulled him into her chest. After holding him there for a few minutes, she gave him some room, turning to peer out the glass.

“The pack, right,” she said, a twinge of worry creeping into her voice. “Let’s go check on them, we’ll pick this back up later, count on that.”

-xXx-

Cooper and Pearl shared a sigh of relief as they walked out into the pen, seeing that all members of the pack were accounted for. One of the laborers had a few gunshot wounds on her arm, and Matriarch had what looked like bite marks on her chest, but that was the extent of their wounds. Cooper ducked back inside in search of a medkit, returning to patch up the deathclaws once he located one.

As he dressed Matriarch’s wounds, the beast nibbling on the bandage, pausing when Cooper chided her, Pearl motioned for the pack to gather round, switching to their language as she started to speak. Cooper guessed she was explaining to them what had happened to Hendrix.

He looked around the area as she gave them the news. The pen was like an abandoned battlefield. Broken fences were strewn everywhere, sections of the outer wall partially collapsed from where the escaped wildlife had barged their way to freedom. Some of the turrets were utterly destroyed, with only their mounted legs still standing on the vantage points, the guards must have managed to get some of them back online during the attack. What guards that had managed to survive were nowhere to be seen, and Cooper doubted they’d ever come back after the show the pack had given them.

“Heads up, Cooper,” Pearl said, and before Cooper could ask, the runt of the pack barreled into him, nuzzling her horns into his chest, his alarm quickly fading as he returned her embrace.

“Guessing you told them I’ll be sticking around?” he asked, the runt squatting by his foot, her tail wagging happily.

“They’re as happy as I am,” she informed him, standing head and shoulders above the pack as they gave him warm looks. “You’ve grown on them in the short time we’ve spent together, even this one here was worried she’d have to say goodbye.”

Pearl patted Matriarch’s shoulder, the giant deathclaw looking away, perhaps sensing she was the subject of the conversation despite the language barrier.

“That’s… somehow adorable,” he laughed. “I was thinking,” he added, gesturing at the lodge. “It’d be a waste to let all that furniture in there go to waste. We should bring some of this stuff back to the mine, spruce up the place.”

“Suppose we should decorate it if you wanna live there long-term,” Pearl replied. “And those bookcases would look damn fine in my room.”

“We should see about transporting Hendrix’s terminal as well,” Cooper continued. “I think it has its own battery unit, so we should be able to just pick it up. We can keep an eye on it for when the Enclave replies to us.”

“Let’s worry about that later,” Pearl said. “Right now I just want to lay down and sleep for a solid day. But first…”

Without warning, she picked him up, shaking him from side to side as she hugged him to her bosom, Cooper’s feet dangling over the ground. He felt her scales thrum as she purred happily.

“Just had to get that out of my system,” she murmured. She placed him back on the ground, but the moment she freed him, Matriarch took her place, nuzzling him from the left side. Not wanting to be left out, the runt took up the right, and the rest of the pack soon joined in, subjecting him to an overwhelming, but no less pleasant group hug.

“I’ve got my mate,” Pearl said, snickering as he avoided catching himself on their spikes. “I’ve got my pack, and our hunters are gone. I’d say that’s a pretty good outcome, all things considered.”

“Best job I’ve ever taken,” Cooper said, Pearl’s throwing her head back, giggling as the pack pressed in all around him.

-xXx-

*Thank you all for reading! Please see my profile for links to an ebook if you want to download it. While you're at it, visit my website for more of my works! *