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James did not even register what had happened in the first few minutes of the shot firing. He laid on the floor, dull ringing through his ears with blood not his own slightly smeared across his right cheek. The scout he had just spoken to sat completely still, his head laid back facing towards the lightbulb above with a new hole just above his right eye. The hulking metal form of Senior Knight Hawk still stood in the doorway, his gun shaking in one hand towards the scout as he stared down at James. The raptor struggled to find the words. "Wh-wha...wh-wh-whut the...h-h-h-hhhholy fuck what..." "He...he knew," mumbled Hawk. "He knew everything." Slowly James stood up with disbelief welling in his throat. Then came a burning fury of indignation. "...what the fuck is wrong with you? He...h-he didn't...you FUCKING ASSHOLE!" "WAIT WAIT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, I WAS-...I-i-the...the bear he...h-h-he told me I had to, I had to know what was in that place, h-h-he told me it was his but I SAVED HIM!" "Saved him!? YOU BEAT HIM UP, AND THEN YOU FUCKING KILLED HIM HOW THE FUCK IS THAT SAVING HIM!?!" "B-BECAUSE THE FEAR, THE RED FEARZA, THAT PLACE IS NOT SAFE! You saw him, he was g-gonna give you a manifest about it I can't let anyone go near it, not now!" "Oh, that's it, I have fucking HAD IT with you authority shitheads, you are going fucking DOWN for this Hawk. Crow might have the weight to throw around and get away with murder but you sure as hell don't. What's the deal with you Trilateral fucks anyway?!" "I-IT'S NOT US, NOT ME JUS-...listen, listen it's not what you think James y-you can trust me right?!" "YOU CAUSED AN INVASION BECAUSE OF YOUR FUCKING ATTITUDE! I was willing to forgive you once, but not for this shit!" "You...wh-what are you gonna do, kill me?" "I should...but I'm on a mission. Instead I'm taking your ass back to Beech and letting Paladin Jeffries tear you up like he should with your beloved Crow." "...no...n-no listen, I...I'm trying to protect you, all of you! I know Delgado wanted him to look, but m-momma wanted me to go too!" "Momma?" "She s-said that, Paladin Jeffries told her that something at Red Fearza was makin' transmissions I had to check out! When I heard the scout was gonna go I had to stop him, he wouldn't listen! I-i-i had to, he wouldn't listen, HE WOULDN'T LISTEN TO ME!" The senior knight shrieked from within his helmet clearly shaking from some fear of the unknown as James pointed a finger at him threateningly. "You killed...a scout from our village. You are NOT...going to get away clean." "Y-y-yeah? What you gonna do, take me back? Then what, that place still exists, fucking Fearza whatever, good name I gotta say hhhheheheheheeee...I'm not worried about me, n-nah, not at all...I'm worried about you." "Trust me, you worry about yourself now, put the gun down." "Wh-why?!" threatened Hawk. "S-so you can, go up there yerself!?" "If I have to yes, I think something important's up there, especially if you're so guarded about it." "N-n-...no...there's no eagle there if that's what you're saying." "First you talk about bears now it's eagles, the fuck are you drunk again?!" "I'M NOT DRUNK! I CAN HANDLE MYSELF SO YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP!" "ALRIGHT, alright."

James put up his hands seeing Hawk train his gun on him shivering with panic. The raptor softly suggested to him. "Would you like a drink at least, something to calm down with? There's some upstairs, why don't we relax, take a few sips and then you can explain to me all about it." "You really...think you can fool me like that?" "Your gun is shaking Hawk...it's real twitchy, I think you need to calm down with something. Look...we've been pals before, I just need a reason to trust you." "Promise me then." "What?" "Promise me you won't go to Red F-fearza...don't want anyone going there...just too dangerous...I need to keep them all away, c-can't...stop him murdering someone." "Him?" "B-b-bear...th-that bear, h-had...eyes all...p-purple an' black like...shit." "...let me go see him." "N-no." "Hawk, I don't want to have to do this, I have my own mission too, maybe I can talk with him and we can sort this all out." "F-fuck no." "Don't try to stop me." "I-i can fucking stop you if you try." "You're already a murderer...don't make this worse." "Yeah? How is it gonna get any worse?" "Let's not find out, let's just talk this all out, maybe we can just explain everything when you tell me everything straight up, you're kinda rambling, you need to clear your head." "Rambling...right...h-heh...okay...you wanna hear what I gotta say?" "Yeah I mean...you should explain yourself, get a chance to get it all out in the open, you're not gonna shoot me long as I do what you say, right? Promise?" "Long as you don't try anythin'...I won't. Promise." "Alright...I don't wanna have to fight you Hawk, please. Don't break that promise." "I won't. Meet me upstairs." The senior knight slowly put down his gun and walked upstairs tenderly, his thick feet clunking upon the stone steps as the raptor followed suit a few minutes later as he softly clicked his omni-tool on. The hulking young human sat gingerly at the bar, settling down as he drank desperately through the hole in his steel helmet gulping vigorously. James took one drink from the shelf, a softer drink just to settle down with him. He was hoping Hawk believed him as he watched his former friend slowly drink himself to a stupor as he sat beside him, both clearly tense and primed like a wire. "Tell me about what went down," began FG. "S-so um...I had orders, from mo-um, Swan, to go an' investigate Red Fearza. Cuz, radio transmissions, maybe it had something to do with the Eagle which is what we're searching for." "Right, I gotcha." "So I go there an'...place is deserted just...completely empty but then I saw...well, heard something...heard like a song, weird and twinklin' like some lullaby, got kinda creeped out an' then this voice pops up. It says...you're not meant to be here, you're not him." "Him?" "S-said...somethin' about an...i-i-i dunno he just said to leave, told me to never come back jus-...hhhhh..." James drunk softly as "Go on." "You...really believe me?" "I've been through a lot, I've got no reason to think you're lying...but you really should not have killed that scout dude, that was a bad mistake." "I-I JUS-...I DIDN'T-...IF YOU HEARD THAT VOICE TOO YOU'D HAVE...done the same thing too!" "Why?" "C-cuz he told me if I d-didn't keep everybody away, he'd come an' KILL ME! J-just...k-kill me in my dreams...I-i heard him, dark inside my ear I c-c-couldn't...s-stop him...please...please don't go."

The knight suddenly broke down sobbing onto the bar with an arm underneath his head and a beer bottle in the other, the raptor cautiously asking his next question. "Did...this voice say what...exactly it was looking for?" "N-no...just that...that someone would...come and when he did...that...person would...know. They would know, always they would know...t-true sorrow. Wh-what if it's someone I know? What if...what does that MEAN man?! D-does that mean somethin' terrible's gonna happen I can't let anyone go near that place!" "And killing that scout was the only way?" "HE WOULDA GONE BACK A-A-AN' TOLD EVERYONE, then everybody woulda come down a-a-an'...and......I'm sorry. I'm sorry James I-...I didn't-" "You had him tied down and beaten up and everything, there was no way he was going back." "W-w-well he woulda told what happened! A-an' then I'd get in trouble!" "Well that's your problem now is it? You're a senior knight now act like one." "DON'T tell me what to fuckin' do yer a goddamn squire!" "I'm not the one who murdered one of our own." "WELL least I didn't get thrown into solitary for backtalk!" "You know, you're right. I did my time, and I'm paying back for it, by being out here on a mission." "Wh-what mission?! Yer...y-y-yer not really goin' after Red Fearza yerself aren't you?! Did Jerry set you up fer that too?!?" "No...but I have my own mission to go to, so either you come with me back to Beech...or we're gonna have to talk this out." "What...m-mission?" "I'm getting medicine." "...I don't believe you." "Fine, you gonna kill me?" "If I have to...I don't...I don't want to die...I don't HAVE to die if I just...keep everybody away from it. Thassit...just...anybody comes near it...they won't be a problem ever again." He waited for James to speak back, hoping to disarm him with a lethal stare beneath his helmet like Crow could, piercing his gaze to his newest friend until fingers began to twitch. He took a large gulp of the beer he had before James gently clicked off a button on his omni-tool. Hawk suddenly twitched, fingers tight as James lunged forwards suddenly with a flaming spark from his fingertips, pushing his thumb between the bottletip and Hawk's face to send burning flammable liquid down his throat. It wasn't enough to scar him but it was enough to send him panicking as his hands flailed insanely, the raptor grabbing his silver rifle and pulling back from the bar itself. "A-AAAAAAAAAAAGH! AAAAAAAAAGH! YOU FUCKIN' PIECE OF SHIT!" "You need to stop drinking so much," quipped James, "wanna know why they call it firewater?" "Y-YOU... GHHHRRUUUUUUUH!"

Roaring a deep throated rage of coughing fit, he grabbed a bottle and hurled it violently at FG who ducked behind a table and forced it upright, the rotting wood uprooted with a groaning weakening tear. The silver rifle was in truth very easy to wield even for a raptor untrained in it, taking pot shots behind the table at Hawk's head who viciously began to throw bottles hoping to clonk or crack one upon James' head. But the rifle was, despite its sleek look, incredibly ineffective against metallic armour due to the small 5mm rounds it peppered out. Not that the accuracy suffered for it, ducking behind the table as he fired the first seven rounds hitting uselessly upon the soldier's thick armour. Upon realising he wasn't getting hurt at all, James shot as many of the bottles at the bar as possible slathering Hawk in alcohol as well as the bar itself. the senior knight, blind with half-drunken rage leapt over the bar with surprising strength, and bullrushed hard into the raptor's hiding spot. He dodgerolled hard as the burly wall of muscle slammed through the wood, cracking it to splinters as he kept his gun trained on him. "YOU FUCKING LIZARD!" screamed Hawk. "I TRUSTED YOUUUUUU!" "I thought I could trust you too, but turns out both of us really don't know each other well." "WHUT'S THAT S'PPOSED TO MEAN!?" "You're a murderer like Crow who's too scared to do the right thing, and I'm not letting you get away without paying for your crime!" "I WON' LET YOU KILL THIS WASTELAND, Y-YER WORKIN' FOR THAT THING, THA-THAT EVIL THING!" "I'm not gonna kill anyone, no one that doesn't deserve it unlike you! You're a cowardly little bitch who fights the wrong people, kills the wrong people and got pushed around by some disembodied voice, mister No Fear." "I'M NOT AFRAID! I'M A GODDAMN HERO, I FOUGHT YAO GUAI FOR FUCK'S SAKE, I SAVED OUTPOST THETA!!" "Yeah?! Well right now I see a fucktard who's too drunk to know what being brave REALLY is! You wanna be a hero, why don't you come with me and fight that thing down at Red Fearza you're not afraid of?!" "NO! I CAN'T!" "Why not?!" "BECAUSE HE'LL KILL ME! I DON' WANNA DIE, SO IF EVERYBODY STAYS AWAY THEN NOBODY'S GONNA GET HURT! I WON'T LET ANYBODY DIE, NOT TODAY!" "STOP PRETENDING TO BE A HERO YOU FUCKING CHICKENSHIT, YOU'RE JUST AFRAID LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE, JUST ACCEPT IT!" "I'M NOT AFRAID! I'M NOT AFRAAAAAAAID!" Hawk swung violently towards the raptor, slamming his hard steel fist straight into the floor and cracking underneath as James threw the rifle down the stairway, swinging out his scissors before blazing them with fire. Nanos sparked live in both hands as steel turned wreathed in flames, glinting off puddles of alcohol nearby as James had kept such in mind. Waiting for Hawk to charge at him once more, he ducked low and scraped at the legs hoping the metal wasn't hard enough to resist his assault.

The steel dented against his searing hot blades, scoring a hot wound upon them as the senior knight suddenly turned and slammed his fist into the back of James' head, knocking him against the left wall. Stunned briefly, he felt the thundering steps of the psychotic human as he dodgerolled out of the way before seeing two solid crunched holes in the wall caused by Hawk where he had once stood. The raptor shuddered blasting gale to strike a chair up towards the knight, who smashed his arm through it before wrenching a table out of its foundations and throwing it hard. His arms shook before he threw for as strong as he saw the table was heavy from years of damp ingrained into the wood as James striked hard with a diagonal cut, shearing through wood as his scissors cut it in half neatly. He saw Hawk straight in front of him following the table with a scream of fury beneath his mask, his scissors too high to strike him as he brought up his left arm to defend himself. Nanos sparked once again as a shield of fragmented blocks reassembled on top of his left arm suddenly, striking against Hawk's fist resisting. The raptor briefly stopped with surprise in realising how quick and efficient his body truly was now, as his confidence grew enough to shove the Brotherhood of Steel elite back hard as he stumbled. Directing him towards the bar, he went on the offensive with scissors swinging violently across the metal plates covering Senior Knight Hawk, scraping and piercing through after the third strike on a single point. Hot lacerations began seeping through the steel as everytime James swung left or right in a delayed rhythmic pressure, Hawk struggled to find a way to punch through. His gauntlets helped protect his arms more certainly as scissors streaked burning sparks off from them despite the uncomfortable heat they caused for Hawk, before desperately grabbing the scissors and sending a boot kick straight to James' gut. The heavy iron boot pounded into his stomach, heaving hard as he fell down on his knees but still grasped onto his scissors, burning against steel grip that slowly began torching the senior knight's fingers. Upon realising this he quickly let go before sending a huge booted kick as if about to use James' head like a football. The raptor, feeling the dampness of wood against his knees sent a rushing force of water and wind created from the filth and mildew of the bar floor striking across Hawk's face. His kick went horrendously off-course, swinging hard to one side as he sputtered and coughed horribly from the spores in his throat, the raptor shouldercharging him straight to the bar itself. With a stumbling shove as he kicked him behind the bar panel, he saw the endlessly large contained puddle of alcohol all kept within and even dripping down through the stairwell out back. He tripped Hawk with the scissors by stabbing down hard onto the back of his left knee, shrieking in agony before a hefty slam of his shoulder went him forwards onto the dripping wet floor. The moment he fell a heavy splash of mixed liquor coated his armour just before James scraped across his back as if carving open his chest, sparks radiating across like a christmas tree's glitter. "Last orders."

He barely had time to say this before shooting a fireblast from his hand, the bar set itself completely alight as it blazed ferociously. Hot flames drank from the sweetest nectar of alcohol-ridden fuel as Hawk slowly began to burn alive inside his suit, shrieking and panicking as both his smell and sight became completely consumed by the flames. "A-AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGH! AAAAAAAAAAAARGH MOMMYYYYYYY!" Struggling to get up the pressure inside his suit became overwhelming agony, a flaming monstrous human shape slamming itself against the drinks counter as even more hot fire poured onto his chest. Screaming louder, he saw James through the smoking wrath as he charged towards him, a sudden ball of unrepentant fury and suffering that the raptor could only dodge just nearly without flames licking across his flesh as Hawk slammed his head into the wall, howling as he struggled to grab at his helmet. "_GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF ME! HELP ME! HELP MEEEEEEE! _" Seeing him struggle in pain and agony shrieking with genuine fear started to make James turn uneasy, horrified at such a scene as he pondered for a few seconds. Whether to leave him and run to his mission or at least give him a chance to not suffer truly. Soon he began to hear sobbing, deep struggling tears of agony from inside the suit which finally convinced him. The raptor summoned a thicker blast of water from the pure moisture of the damp around him, splashing across Hawk as the alcohol burned itself off completely soaked. Pure water, at least chemically pure as can be, began to run off the doused flames as the raptor walked forwards, hearing the knight sob a little quieter than he did before. He dared not approach, but he heard him ask: "...why? Wh-wh-...why did you do this?" "Because I can't let you walk free...and I knew you were going to try to stop me by any means possible. I'm sorry Hawk. I couldn't let you stop me and I hoped that..." "But you...you didn't let me die...y-you...you helped me even though you...done that to me." "You were my friend...I couldn't let you suffer that way not...you're not a bad guy, I don't feel you are but...you need to control yourself a lot better." "I can't...I-i can't do this...I'm...I-I'm sorry James but I'm...I'm scared. I was...t-too scared to stop him..." "Who?" "C-Crow...that bear...everyone...I just wanted to be a hero...but I start thinking too much on whether I'm gonna survive or not an' I can't...I can't do it...I'm not a hero James, I caused a whole town to get invaded I didn't defend an outpost I was drunk...I was too drunk to know what the fuck happened because I ran...I didn't...Crow knew I did." "I...no one ever told me about what you did in the past Hawk, I know nothing about this...outpost and stuff it doesn't matter. I saw you as some guy, not some...big hero just a regular guy like us." "R-really?" "Yeah. ...just with a drinking problem." "H-heh...I guess...just a big stupid idiot." "What about Crow though, what you mean?" "He...h-he had a mission for me...l-locate...data from the Eagle. I...knew I had somethin' after checkin' some old routes but...didn't have time to tell him when I got to...Red Fearza. Thought I could...decode it for him." "Give what?" "This."

Hawk slowly pulled out a compartment of his suit, giving FG a small somewhat-broken piece of equipment reminiscent of a futuristic wristworn computer. The size of a large wallet with flip-top split-screen monitor currently inactive along with a broken vacuum tube to one side of it. "What's this?" "L-Little Pip...three-thousand...found it...inside an old Enclave outpost up...north, couldn't...decode it, thought I...heard some old radio transmissions out on Red Fearza maybe...try an' decipher it. They were Enclave transmissions too, so it had to be...h-hoh jesus I wish I'd never gone to it." "This has stuff about the Eagle? But...it's broken." "Long as...circuits aren't fried inside...s-still good to retrieve...don't...d-don't take it back to Beech, they won't know what to do with it, not got the tech fer it, just take it up to Paladin Swan, she'll know what to do...don't give it to Crow, he doesn't...he can't be trusted...I can't do it like this." "Alright then. Anything else?" "Where...where's my gun?" "I...threw it down the stairs." "D-do you...I can't do this anymore, I'm done with this James." "What do you mean?" "I...that thing's gonna kill me either way no matter what I do...so either I let someone else die or...me instead." "I don't-" "You have a gun?" "...sure." "Please...let me die by myself." He turned uncertain at this idea after such a furious battle, a lesser part of him now wishing he had just let him burn away instead if this was what he wanted. "Why? Why after...this?" "B-because...I want it to not hurt...I'm scared...p-p-please...please James...don' hurt me. Just...gimme your gun an'...I'll do myself." "You won't." "Wha?" "How are you gonna do it if you can't stand up to what scares you?" "Because...I'm not afraid of myself." "You really think taking your own life'll solve anything?" "No...no it won't. But I don't wanna solve anything..." "Come back to Beech with me, we can sort you out, just maybe-" "NOOO! Jus-...leave me here or...give me your gun so I can...shoot myself. You wanna...go to Red Fearza an' get yourself killed so be it. Do it...I don't care...I know sounds selfish but I don' care anymore...just wanna stop being scared, only time I'm not scared of anything's when I'm too drunk to fuckin' know whut's happenin'...please." The raptor understood, not agreeing with this decision but if Hawk demanded it so clearly he was not going to say anything else. He already had his evidence to damn him and he knew in the end that Hawk would be a marked man and perhaps even be executed either way. He was not sure how they handled such crimes in the Brotherhood but knowing this he walked forwards and handed Hawk his Beretta, seeing the fight lost within him. "I'll see you...sir." Giving a formal salute out of respect, he walked out of the bar and waited out of view. Hawk slowly but shakily put the handgun to his lips through the interior of the helmet, and mumbled his last words unheard. "S-s-sorry momma...ah failed you..." The gunshot echoed beyond the doorway as James looked up towards the sky uncertain. Guilt, and perhaps a sense of empathy, buried itself again inside the pit of his stomach. He walked back in to recover his Beretta and slowly went back down the stairwell to investigate the scout's corpse. Hopefully something positive would come out of all this.

"An' that's it?" asked Jerry. "Yep," said FG most truthfully, "that's the rest of it, then I went to the pharmacy in the area and managed to recover all the drugs we needed." "Huh..." Paladin Jeffries crossed his arms sternly scratching at her chin, "I don't remember you ever tellin' us you had a recorder on you, you know you're not allowed that as a squire." "I'm sorry sir, it's a part of me I can't exactly take it out." "Ahh...that really true?" "It is," replied Jerry, "I seen his Auto-doc reports, left arm's totally synthetic." "Well I suppose I can't punish you for somethin' that's a part of you biologically, and this IS evidence of a mutiny in the ranks that I have to inform the Elder of, along with Swan and Crow." "Guess we really have to...Swan's not gonna like this." "I can handle her, for now you just keep that recording if I need it. Good work out there." "Thank you sir." James bowed humbly before his next request, standing up straight. "May I ask what you plan to do about Red Fearza?" "Hmm?" "I mean, Hawk clearly was upset by something about it, and this manifest I got off the scout DID mention something concerning hydraulics that Jer-...Senior Knight Delgado asked for." "We will deal with that at another time, right now I'm more concerned about the killing of my scout." "You don't have to. I volunteer." Darryl and Jerry looked at him curiously with slight cock of their heads before Jerry asked him: "Huh...that's uh, new to here, whysat?" "Because I wanna help out still, I got to Canaryville back and forth with little problem other than Hawk, I can do it again." "Okay what's Canaryville?" "It's the...name of the district of Chicago I was in where all that occurred." "How did you find that out?" asked Paladin Jeffries. "I discovered info, that's really all I can say, bits and pieces all linked by a common name." "Hmm...never imagined you for scout potential, Campbell, first you get our medicine back, now you find an old name for a district. Normally people don't offer themselves up for a mission." "Is there any reason I can't, paladin?" "Not...as such, I am glad to see you are a lot more dilligent than usual, guess that solitary straightened you out a lot." "It gave me a lot of time to think, and while I'm a part of this unit I'd like to give one-hundred-percent, sir." Keeping obedience as straight as an arrow he knew that the better he played soldier to please his superiors the better chance he had of investigating the curious sector he was too intrigued not to explore. Senior Knight Delgado asked him: "Yanno, sumthin' I don't understand about you. You don't have passion when yer out practicin' out on the field, you got skill an' experience but no passion. Then the one moment you DO have passion disobeyin' authority yer like a damn child wielding an assault rifle wild an' unprofessional. Never do I see the two of them meet." "Ah huh?" "But now...I'm seein' maybe the two meet up a little, there's an eagerness inside ya now rather than just followin' orders, don't you agree paladin?" "I can see that," replied Jeffries, "your training reports are very interesting even more than the fact you seem to be the only one of your kind out there. Is your reason for going to Red Fearza really just eagerness to be a part of this unit?" "Well," began FG, "not just that. I really wanna get those parts for our bikes and bus so we can recruit people, rescue them from places. I know you've got to wait for the Elder's reply but there's no reason we can't be ready to roll out the moment we get a signal back, right?!" "You have to understand my orders to the Elder are not so much for permission as they are for requesting backup. This town is small enough as it is, there are barely fifty people in this town alone, half of which are civilians. If I want to undertake an expedition out into the desert I need absolute certainty I have this place protected. You understand?" "Yes sir. But I believe in being prepared for anything, while we still have a chance." "Hm...I agree. Very well, I'll allow you to go to Red Fearza, as a mandate from me. But if anything happens to you while you're out there, you will not find anyone to come save you so please...be careful. You don't know whut's in that place so if anythin' happens, you stay the fuck away, and you come straight back to me with a report, use your recorder to find anything for us." "Yes sir, I understand sir." "Good. Thank you once again for the medicine. You can leave tomorrow once you've rested up some so get your gear ready and be out the door by oh-six-hundred. Dismissed."

The raptor bowed and stepped out the door breathing a deep sigh of relief the moment he was out of earshot as an eagerness shivered through him. Whether it was a deep burning fascination or a willing shot at reaching closer towards his promise, a surge of hope lifted up his heart briefly before checking to make sure the Li'l Pip circuits remained safely secure inside his satchel by placing them in the snuggest pocket available. He wanted to honour Hawk's wishes despite all that had been as he tried not to flip with a startle on hearing the ghoul knight behind him. "JIM!" "WHU-um...y-yes sir?" "You got a minute?" He stopped in the middle of the hallway as Jerry walked up to him, taking steps with him to lead outside. "I wanted to thank you fer bein' so eager on this mission, I know you wanna help those slaves much as I do. I know paladin seems like a hardass but you don't get to be a bleedin' heart in his position." "I got it," said FG, "you look too soft people just roll over you like Swan tried with him." "You got it...also, when you go out there, remember to hold onto that passion of yers along with the experience. The way you were asking eagerly to fulfil a mission, that was whut I was lookin' fer!" "Wait, really?" "YEAH! Like you were serious but also eager to do it, eager to force your way through a mission fer the good of the people THAT'S the way I wanna see ya. But you need to be careful. If you have one lead, you cannot control one without the other to temper it. That's an assignment from me, fer your own sake." "Yes...sir." "Heh...seriously." He put a bony hand on his shoulder tenderly. "Please be careful. I like you Jim, maybe it's cuz yer some fream an' I always liked that sorta thing-" "Sorry, fream?" "Heh, never mind point is I like you, yer unique in a lotta ways an' it's kinda obvious you stand out amongst the rest of us so maybe I just notice you a lot better. I mean I don't gotta care about the knights, they can handle themselves but you, the squires, shit I gotta deal with all the goof troop around here cuz that's what they are!" "You mean the knights of which there's only about...um...three, four?" "Five, actually yeah it...it's not a big camp. We do our best so we appreciate any help now get out there an' show me what you got, I'll give you the info on yer assignment before you leave tomorrow." "Alrighty sir, see you round." Heading back home he saw Diana was already in as he unlocked the door, seeing her suddenly scrabble stuff away into a small box underneath the floorboard of her mattress before waving up at him. "YO-heeeeeeyyyy whut's up, the boss chew you out agin?!" "Actually he thanked me for a pretty good job and even let me go out on another mission." "Cool cool!" she said too eagerly. "That-...wait, whut you mean another mission?" "I'm heading out tomorrow again for something else, I think it's finally happening." "Whudduya mean?" "Remember our promise, freeing people?" "...o-oh! Yeah, that!" "...is something wrong Diana?" "N-nah nah, there ain' nuthin' wrong around here!" "Cuz normally I expect you to get all really excited about my going on a mission that'll bring us one step closer to freeing that slave camp, it's about those machine parts we need for the bikes and bus." "Yeah that cool James, yeah ah mean ah hope you find dat stuff so we can get on out this place an' things'll be back together again!" "Soooooo...why are you all like, evasive and all twitchy?" "Ahm not bein' twitchy whut you talkin' about?!" "Because I saw a box in your hands you then hide away...right over there."

Suddenly the girl began to sweat, nervously standing still like an icicle about to drop as she stared down against his green eyes unflinching. He simply waited for her to speak but nothing would come as she waited him out, a slight twitch in her eye before he added: "Come on, you've done worse than this so I can't be mad at it, is it drugs?" "WHU-NO! Ah ain' doin' any drugs fuck that!" "Okay okay glad you know better so why are you so nervous about it?" "Cuz it-...it...cuz it's private, dat's who!" "Diana...do you still have that picture I gave you?" "Ye-...y-yeah I do." "Can I see?" Without hesitation she brought it out from her dress showing the picture untouched without any damage made to it. A mite dustier but her fabric had kept it relatively clean enough to still remain legible, the smiling young faces of a family far away keeping cheerful up at him. He handed it back to her, which slightly confused the young girl. "Thanks for taking care of it." "S'alrigh'...but...don't you wanna keep it?" "I'm on a mission remember, I can't take that with me in case it gets lost out there. I need you to hold onto it just a while longer, is that okay?" "S-sure...I'll hold onto it safe fer you James." "Now...you see I trust you, you gave me your word and I trust you with that because it's my most precious thing to me, and I know you'll keep it safe. So why won't you trust me?" "...w-why don' I trust you?" "With this box, of yours." "But...b-b-bu'...that's not thuh same." "Is it something important to you?" "Mmhmm." "Is it something...embarrassing?" "...m-maybe." "Is it something you're ashamed of?" Diana pursed her lips and looked away softly, as James knew he had hit the right spot. He sat on his knees before her waiting humbly to look disarming. "I'm not gonna be ashamed of you. We've been through too much for me to be ashamed of you." "You...you promise righ'? You ain' gonna laugh?" "I promise."

Saying this with the straightest face he waited for Diana to slowly walk over to her mattress and pull up the floorboard. Inside was a lunchbox old and lumpy from various dents into the metal casing. The dusts of time had decayed its original paint to the point of erasing whatever had been on the front of it as she opened it carefully. Inside were two little plastic pony who James wasn't sure was grey originally or had lost its original colour from years of abandonment. The hair he noticed was that of brahmin and had been added to the skull carefully to replace its original lost mane and tail. "What...what's this?" "It's a pony," said Diana meekly. "It's my pony...see, me an' Jen, we-Jen's this girl I know at school, we found 'em in that ol' shed where we killed that radroach when you threw that ball-" "Uh I didn't throw that ball, you did." "So we found these toys in this little box an' we took one each, we made 'em friends cuz we're friends too." "...this is adorable...why were you so ashamed of it?" "Cuz...c-cuz it...stuff that little girls do." James at first wanted to immediately respond by the obvious then remembered exactly what concerning was the problem of this, seeing Diana rub her toes inward from being rooted to the spot with awkwardness. He leaned forwards asking: "You feel like this...is something a grown woman should not be playing with, is that right?" "...r-r-righ'." "Because that's what you are." "Yeah." "Diana...listen, I respect you immensely for after all you've been through, and still somehow not dead. Even with being alongside me you take care of yourself better than anybody else and frankly if you and I got separated I would not have to worry about you seeing what you are capable of. Which is why I want you to remember all I said when I tell you this." He put a hand on her back as he gazed into her eyes. "You...are nine years old. You're not going to be nine forever, you will have to grow up one day and when you do, that's going to mean a lot of stuff you won't ever get to do again." "Like whut?" "Like...playing with kids your age. Playing like a KID again. You never played with anyone your age, right?" "N-nah...nah-uh." "Not until now when we made it to this place. And are the kids cool with you?" "Yeah...they said...they said that I'm the coolest cuz ah...ah killed a buncha snakeheaded dudes." "That's right, you are, but thing is, those kids don't see you as a grown woman. They see you like a kid just like them, and that's not a bad thing...you haven't been the way you usually were when we stayed up here, I remember the first month you were here and you just didn't speak to anyone, kept to yourself feeling betrayed by everything." "I-i jus-"

"And that's fine, you WANTED to be reunited with your mum and one day you will, that's why nobody gave you grief for that and I promised you. Which is why I'm going out on this next mission so we can do this for real. But you've been playing with these kids, you're making friends, you've been singing and dancing and playing a lot more, you look HAPPY for once and I know you don't wanna be because you feel sorta guilty about it...but you know what, that's not a bad thing. Wouldn't your mum want you to be happy?" "Y-yeah, b-but ah ain' gonna fergit her or nuthin' NAH!" "NO NO nobody's forgetting her, I'm not, you're not, we BOTH keep on remembering so we know what we're fighting for. But out here, while on your own, you're more acting like your own age and you know what, that's not a bad thing. That's a good thing, you are still capable of defending yourself, you can still fight for your life but there's no reason for you to not be playing with dolls just because people expect you not to be." "So...you ain'...s'not weird if I like to play wi' ponies?" "Play with whatever you damn well want I don't care! Baseball, ponies, get a toy gun and place space cowboys don't be ashamed of it! If you like something, then go do something no matter what people think you should be doing." He put both hands on Diana's shoulders and smiled upon her grinning back. "You'll only ever be a kid once...but after this you'll be a grown woman for the rest of your entire life. You've got plenty of time to be a tough bitch, but not a lot left to be a kid so please...go outside and play with your pony." "...th-...th-thank..." She suddenly hugged him, pushing her head against his chest as he returned the hug back feeling her just a little bit wet around the cheeks. She didn't even sniff once as she breathed in deep and squeezed at him tight, before pulling back and nodded up at him. "Th-thanks...James." "Heh...so uh, I got time to kill before I leave by six tomorrow morning so why don't you tell me about your new friend?" "Okay!" For the rest of the day Diana waffled on and on about her new friend Jen, a girl she had only known truly for about a month and a half but already had become best friends with. James allowed her to talk until her throat gave out, watching a whole new excitement just bubble up from inside of her as slowly, somewhat surely, she began to regain her innocence. It only gave him even more purpose to want to keep true to his promise so that one day life, at least for one person, would come back to normal, at least as normal as can possibly be.

7pm, January 26th. The sky turned darker as he soon reached Red Fearza. For all intents and purposes it seemed like an ordinary building minus its somewhat-dilapidated sign above and being surprisingly large almost resembling some form of warehouse. But at the same time it was also surprisingly intact having no part of its structure cave in despite being somewhat out of the way from several buildings in its own parking lot region, possibly some kind of store maybe for hardware and such. "Definitely got the name right...huh...Red...F...ear...za...wonder what it was originally called. Welp, might as well get started." He saw the once-previously barricaded door had been opened by its previous visitor, the broken boards lying around one of two pairs of glass swing doors with diagonal handles. He opened the door cautiously as he stepped inside, his feet clacking upon hard linoleum. The place was definitely deserted as the door gently creaked back into its set position, blotting out any of the light from outside as he turned on both recorder and flashlight together. The first thing he noticed was a large dining area, with six tables in three rows of two and perfectly lined-up chairs with a star on each headrest. Party hats were laid out on each table, dust untouched upon any of them. Five doorways split off from the central dining area, one on his right towards the restrooms, one directly south in front of him, two alongside it leading to barely-lit hallways and lastly one to his right on the opposite side of the hall. A large stage with a wooden floor raised with purple curtains was directly on his right facing towards the dining area. Nothing appeared to be on it for now, but he started to realise this was a restaurant at least. He kept himself silent as he cautiously began to investigate. He knew some form of machinery had been sent out to this place, ignoring the restrooms for now and heading straight towards the kitchen. Casting a light over everything gave him nothing but pots and pans as well as a central workspot of various kitchen hobs and stoves, the outer wall of the kitchen also being completely covered by a fridge, sink, cupboards and ovens. There was however an odd smell, something that reminded him of cheese and struggling to wonder what it was as he went on further into the restaurant. The two hallways both looked as if they met at the same point on his left, but straight ahead he noticed a small room with an enclosed purple curtain, along with a sign saying "Sorry! Out of Order" in front of it. "Out of order...must mean machinery inside there." Walking across the dining hall he saw the curtains had stars imprinted upon them in radiant little white spots, five-point like cookie cutters as he softly peeked inside. Darkness laid within and nothing more, but the smell of something was present as he tried to shine his light across the interior. There was nothing at all, but a scent still remained in the air of something vaguely mechanical. With nothing more to find he went back towards the two hallways, taking the west hallway that was now closest to him. Cobwebs strewn upon mica-formed walls, black-white linoleum skirting halfway low to the ground. Stars made of paper dangled all over the restaurant as a form of festivity hanging bleakly as James brushed past them. He also noticed posters half-torn but unable to see what they originally said, other than PARTY or FUN as he soon reached the end of the hallway. Darkness continued to follow him wherever he went, his light barely able to reach past ten feet of distance as he saw an office nearby to his left. On his right was an empty supply closet with basic cleaning tools.

The door to the office however was unlocked as he noticed a plethora of items within, peeking through the sturdy security window realising it was indeed a security office. A central black desk wide enough to fill one wall of the cramped area with a security monitor and a fan alongside it. Various children's paintings adorned the walls or struggled to but again James could not recognise any of them clearly enough. One poster however he did notice, torn at the middle but the above said CELEBRATE quite clearly. "...is this...some kind of kid's place? Maybe it's one of those party places or-...pizza. That was what I smelt in the kitchen, it was pizza...god I haven't had any in like a year...but...why would a pizza parlour need-" The security monitor suddenly flicked on with a burst of static making James fall back in panic. He landed on a chair luckily in mid-stumble as he watched the monitor show the restaurant interior. It flickered without warning, buzzing every five seconds to change to another room. The dining hall seemed empty, the kitchen was not working and completely blacked out. The restrooms were empty but the show stage suddenly revealed three shadowy beings too large to be human. Hulking beastly silhouettes before flicking to another room. Another room was shown, known as the backstage where several animal heads hung on the back wall. They appeared to resemble basks as he turned nervous, seeing a shadow move on the left side of the screen slowly up towards his vision. The camera switched again showing the area with enclosed purple curtain and "Out of Order" sign before it. But this time, he saw something glint in the very back of its darkness, peering shyly. A single white dot that soon lost itself in the static of screen changing. His paranoia turned even worse when he saw the hallway he had just been walking through. But this he saw himself, trapped in still motion on the security monitor itself, but much more different. Instead of his somewhat-upright cautious self, it was a slathering hunched-over beast scraping long claws against the walls looking focused on something to hunt. The screen suddenly twitched to the other hallway to the east, showing the same creature coming closer to the camera, noticing it, his eyes pitch black with the tiniest of white dots within them. A hot breath shuddered fearfully from him. The screen changed again, back to the west hallway as the monstrous form of James had disappeared all of a sudden. The east hallway also showed nothing appearing either as he brought up his gun towards the western door of the security office waiting for something to come through. Even if he knew that whatever thing on the screen could not possibly exist, not while he was in this room, he took no chances by this point. His hand started shaking feeling his lip quiver against his teeth slowly biting into it, panic rising through his very veins. It's just a trick, thought FG, just a trick, c-can't be him, can't be...must be some kinda recording, maybe, he did that before didn't he? Tried to fuck with me...well he's not gonna fuck me this time not while I'm ready. I'm ready...I'm ready for- SKREEEEEEEEEEEE "JESUS FUCK!"

Firing off three bullets at the window beside the door, he fell from his seat as a piercing shriek almost mechanical had come bursting through the static feed. But he swore he had heard someone else scream within it, his hearing turning dull for a second. He laid on the floor seeing nothing coming through the door, the window managing to resist the bullet shots with three cracked holes neatly in it. The raptor got up slowly, shaking his head and rubbing it nervously as he wondered what sort of trickery was happening in this place. "W-was this what Hawk meant about...this place being haunted? No...m-maybe...ghosts might be here. Should have thought of that but...I need those parts, no fear for these ghosts I can take them, I've fought ghosts before. Yeah." Crackling fire in his hand softly to bolster his enthusiasm, he walked down the east hallway he had not been through yet just to make his rounds across the whole pizzeria. Behind him on the wall was a cracked board showing rules of safety from the management, mumbling to himself what was readable. "Don't run...don't yell...don't scream, kinda the same thing, don't...hmmm...stay close to mom? ...uhhh okay, don't touch...something with F I dunno, don't...something else and...leave before dark. ...welp." He looked behind him to see darkness and nothing more, simply shrugging as he kept his gun ready and trained towards the dining hall for anything to appear. Something did. The show stage now had three tall beastly shadows standing perfectly still before an absent audience. He could not tell what they were as he cautiously pulled up his light on them. A large purple rabbit, a robust yellow bird with teeth and an eating bib, and a large brown bear wearing a top hat with bow tie whilst wielding a microphone in one hand. They did not move as James cast his light on them. "The hell...what...hello!? Someone there?! Whoever's out there, I'm not here to hurt you, I just need some parts from the machines to repair something, that's all I want! I don't want any trouble! I'm just here for some machine parts, if you got any spare to borrow that's totally cool, I'll leave after getting some, that okay?! HELLO?!" His voice echoed faintly across the empty parlour as he kept his gun trained on the three animals, seeing them not move a single inch. The bird to him looked especially clunky, black-rimmed eyes and unsightly teeth compared to the bulky large-mouthed bear and the moderately perky-looking giant rabbit. All of them stood taller than James as he walked closer, a moderate 6'5'' seeing something even more unusual about them. They weren't even real. He noticed the gleam of metal underneath small rips in their fur and mouths. "These...these are all machines I...what the hell is this place, are these like robots or something?" He climbed up on stage keeping gun trained on them cautiously as he inspected them all over. They were definitely not real creatures, not even responding to his touch as he looked cautiously inside the rabbit's mouth or the bear's eyes perfect blue eyes. Cold as death. Quiet as a graveyard. Smelled like a corpse. "Uuuuuugh...jesus why does it smell like...like a rotting corpse I jus-god...that's not normal for a machine right? Definitely not but...these have to be the machines I'm looking for. Well..." The raptor put away his gun and pulled out his scissors readying himself for a little vandalism. "Looks like we'll have to open you up big bear...sorry about this, but I really need those parts and...I don't think anyone's gonna come to this place anymore. Hope that's alright."

Just before he was about to fire up his blades with heat to cut open the animatronic, a light shined down peerless upon the stage as he suddenly turned in panic. "WHO'S THERE?!" Swinging his scissors out he could barely see anyone in the dining area, his eyes squinting blearily up at the lights as a song began to play. An oddly familiar somewhat classical song as if played from a music box, deafening him with overwhelming volume. "WH-WHO'S THERE?! WHO'S PLAYING THAT SONG?! I-IS SOMEONE THERE I'M NOT HERE TO CAUSE TROUBLE, I JUST WANT SOME-COULD SOMEONE PLEASE TURN THAT SONG OFF IT'S DRIVING MY HEAD IN!" But no one replied to him, no one he saw as the song kept playing. He looked around frantically, the animatronics behind him still unmoving, the dining hall now even more dark as the light blinded him further. "I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY I DIDN'T MEANT TO I JUST NEED SOMETHING, PLEASE! PLEASE-h-huh?!" The song suddenly cut off, the click of a recorder audibly heard. Just when he thought it was over, he felt an icy breath wash over his right shoulder. A voice shuddered darkly directly inside his ear. iT's...mE The moment he turned he slammed his fist out only to hit cold hard steel, his wrist suddenly grappled by a large furred hand almost crushing him tight as he stared into the bear's eyes. But no longer were they clear and blue-pupilled. But a pitch dark black with the tiniest of white dots. Before James could even comprehend what he was seeing, the bear punched him violently hard in the chest and sent him hurling across the dining hall landing with a crash upon the table, chairs scattering all around him. Groaning as he got up, the pain in his chest was of a dull burning agony as he struggled to breathe. He was certain he lost a rib, or three as he saw the bear turn its head towards him. The rabbit and bird also did the same, their eyes also perfectly black. He grabbed his scissors as the bear slowly stepped its foot off from the stage with a heavy thud, the lights suddenly disappearing as James brought out his scissors fully and cried: "S-STAY BACK! GET BACK I'M WARNING YOU!" He flashed his own omni-tool light desperately to find the next enemy but the stage was now empty. Then even more strangely his own light began flickering despite being a part of his own body. He panicked and tapped his left arm desperately, fidgeting. "N-no no NO don't d-don't the-WHY ARE YOU FLICKERING YOU ARE LITERALLY YOU STUPID FUCKING ARM! WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT I'M GONNA-OH GOD!" The moment it blinked fully back on he saw the bird with raw teeth inside its beak open wide before him motionless. What was even more disturbing was that James also saw a second pair of teeth inside of the beak at the back of its throat, glistening with something wet as he furiously struck down at the machine's head. Knocking it to one side straight off-balance, he frantically searched for the other two until something rushed past him violently fast, ripping across his left arm as he saw the glint of a wicked hook just by his left eye, his scissors ripped from his hands and off into darkness. "A-AAAAAAAAGH!"

Falling to his knees he clutched his right arm desperately, feeling hot liquid pump down across his fingers. Seeing a tear across his left arm's flesh, it wasn't blood but instead a more thickened white ichor of pseudo-organic origin, glistening as his omni-tool light suddenly shorted out. He didn't even think such a thing could happen but now he was truly frightened, alone in the dark without his weapon until pulling out his handgun before rushing for the exit door next to the stage. But the door was now locked, barricaded from the other side to the point of being impossibly shut. He tried not to whimper, desperately held his breath as he looked around for some window, another exit point, some way to escape as he quickly flashed his light behind him. The bear stood behind him suddenly choking him by the throat, tightening its thick fingers before lifting the raptor up without any effort, suffocating violently. He struggled to fight back, slashing at the felt-covered steel head. Even with claws wrapped in fire he could do nothing to damage it, the bear simply smiling somehow. Smiling. Squeezing tightly. James felt his throat suddenly become crushed, agonising crackling of bone as his head lolled back against too powerful a mechanical grip no matter how desperately he clawed at it. Fire did not hurt it, and it refused to let go by one inch as it took James over towards the stage. His head stared upon it upside down, gasping with anguish as his final breaths rattled out pleading in half-gurgling tears of sorrow as he saw something new. Another bear, but this one was yellow. Almost golden, with hollow eyes slumped and sitting upon the central stage. He could not even think beyond losing his vision and breath, yet somehow he was not dead just yet. He was on the cusp of being able to breathe by the tiniest sliver and not by accident, but because the bear used just the right amount of force to keep him barely alive, and completely helpless. He understood what Hawk had been saying before as a voice came garbled from the gold bear, like radio static but deep and sinister. Yet every sentence of it brought new waves of agony straight inside of FG's brain, driving it hot and burning as if his head would start melting. A pain he had felt before but he wasn't sure where he had felt it, screaming mutedly as his jaw hung open feebly shrieking beyond more than a whisper as tears came down his face. Burning. Deep burning from inside his own head as the static would not stop, refusing to give him but a moment's rest in the blissful edge of fatal asphyxiation. The walls blackened out all around him as if suddenly vanishing from existence, flickering along with the light on the stage. He couldn't even scream as the bear flipped open the gold bear's head, and promptly dropped him into the suit, where a deepest darkness came to him. Yet at the same time he felt himself falling a great height, the sounds of machinery scraping, screaming and grinding all around him as he felt his breath slowly return to him. His mind began to cool down slowly, the rushing wind seeping back into his lungs as he hit the bottom of a filth-ridden floor.

oNe...wHo...kNoWs wHaT yOu hAvE dOnE

The voice woke him up slowly as he put a hand to his throat. He felt as if nothing had happened physically despite the mental pain of which throbbed back in his mind, stumbling onto his feet slightly as he groaned whilst gripping his head. The cold air, encroaching darkness and dusty floor made him feel as if he was somewhere down in subterranean levels, the touch of his scissors cool against his back making him more confused than anything. "The...the fuck...wh-what...where am I? Jesus it's dark maybe I just-" He hesitated turning on his omni-tool light feeling as if it would only attract a greater threat lurking within darkness. But he had no choice as he saw his left arm had not been damaged whatsoever, his leather armour intact also as he blinkered on his light, seeing a wide almost-square room that looked as if it was some sort of basement. That was when a deafening alarm started screaming all around him, blinding him red-white. INTRUDER ALERT. INTRUDER ALERT. "AW JESUS FUCK WHAT NOW?!" roared FG. "INTRUDER!" "MAN THE CONSOLE, PREPARE YOURSELVES MEN!" " BRRZZZRRT!" The alarm continued to blind and deafen him as his head hurt throbbing harder, stumbling around the room slowly turning more lit by the minute as a large shutter opened up before him. A light flooded on towards a small windowed office up a flight of steps above him, the sight of steel girders laying all around him with powerful metal struts seemingly keeping the roof above their heads. The corners were darkest behind him as a shutter door appeared in front of him. James' head was spinning, tears ran down his face with panic all over him as he cried out: "WHO'S THERE?!" "YOUR FATE," shouted a blusterous voice, "IF YOU DO NOT LEAVE HERE QUIETLY!" "QUIET?! I'M FUCKING DEAF FROM ALL THIS SHIT!" "HOW DID YOU GET DOWN HERE?! EXPLAIN YOURSELF!" "I-I JUST-I DUNNO, JUST TURN THAT ALARM OFF FOR FUCK'S SAKE!" "WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE BOY!" "FUCK YOU, TURN THAT ALARM OFF RIGHT NOW BEFORE I FUCKING BREAK YOU!" The alarm slammed off as the shutter fully turned itself open upwards, revealing a rather strange robotic creature hovering towards James' height. A large sphere-shaped body, three arms of spindly length each holding a fine cavalry sabre and three metal eyestalks facing left, right and centre. The one eye facing him had a thin cable length attached to its body. The raptor's head was hurting moreso, but his body was not harmed as he swung out his scissors ready for a fight, despite being rather confused by what he saw.

"...the...fuck are you?!" "I am the one who protects this domain now stand down! Or else you shall suffer my blade!" "Why should I?!" "Because you are an intruder, and as such you have no right to stand here within our sanctum, now stand DOWN!" "Where the hell am I anyway?! Who are you?! Where the fuck is that bear?!" "Bear?! What bear?!" "THE BEAR THAT FUCKING STRANGLED ME YOU DUMB SHIT!" "....THAT...DOES IT, I WILL NOT BE INSULTED IN MY OWN HOME!" The robot suddenly began to boost forwards upon a single hoverjet underneath, roaring with the battle cry of a war chief. " CHAAAAAAAAAAARGE!" Striking down hard upon FG with all three swords, the raptor clashed desperately against the blades with his own as they crossed together, scraping sparks in an instant as they backed off swiftly. The left and right swords sliced forwards forcing James to back off rapidly, panicking slightly at having to deal with more than one weapon as his scissors spread out by his handles, blocking both sabres at the same time. But the one front and centre swung down hard upon his head as James shoved the scissors forward to block it, pulling back hard scraping steel against steel before striking upwards to deflect. The sudden swing of his third sabre deflected had the robotic enemy stumbling back slightly, but he charged nevertheless with renewed vigour as all three swords lunged thrusting hard towards the raptor's body. He dodged to the left side but not before the nearest sabre swung out in seeing him dodge, striking across the leather armour but not enough to cut through it. James turned fast, blazing up his scissors with a furious frantic energy as he swung down hard across the right side of the robot, shearing off some of its metallic side as it screamed with pain. "G-GAAARGH! YOU...think you can take me down that easy, IT TAKES MORE THAN FIRE TO TAKE DOWN A BULLMOOSE, BOY!" "I'M NOT YOUR BOY, NOW GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!" "THEN SURRENDER YOURSELF TO ME OR ELSE! If you come quietly and show dignity in remorse, then you have my word I won't harm you!" "FUCK YOU, YOU THINK AFTER I GOT CHOKED TO DEATH BY A FUCKING BEAR I'M GONNA LISTEN TO YOU!?" "In that case you are most DEFINITELY trespassing and I'll finish the JOB!" A fury welled up inside out of sheer indulgence, indignant even as he watched the triple-limbed robot boost forwards with another rush, swinging swords left and right with surprisingly well-trained precision. For a robot it had a skill with the blade, striking against FG's burning scissors with the left sabre once, then striking harder with the right almost immediately to send his weapon straight across leaving him wide open. The striking cleave of the central sabre carved down his armour, cutting further in and leaving a superficial gash across his lower back.

James winced before bearing his teeth, swinging his scissors the opposite direction in an arc of flames to smack down the middle sabre before thrusting hard into the robot's chassis. The orb-shaped machine however suddenly boosted upwards in a sudden "hop", avoiding the lancing thrust before coming down hard with a cry of victory upon James' head. The raptor dodged the moment he saw dusted propulsion before him, striking his bladetips across the ground before swinging up high and focusing back onto the weakened armour he broke before, cracking it right off the main body. "GAAAAAAAAARGH! NNRRRGH! ...not...bad, you fight better than most! A shame your talents are wasted as a poor THIEF!" "YOU STARTED THIS FUCKFACE!" "I DID NOT START ANYTHING YOU, YOU BROKE INTO MY HOME!" "BULLSHIT I FELL IN HERE, OKAY!?" "So shall my sword fall into your NECK!" The robot swung harder than ever with the right blade swinging across and both left and central sabre stabbing hard in order to trap FG towards them, blocking inadvertently against the right blade as another sword scraped through his thigh. Crying out as blood seeped down his leg from his tearing jeans, he grabbed at the eyestalk peering fiercely with a golden lens as he burned up his hand ready to set it alight. But then he found the lens came off suddenly by his fingers dangling from the cable length, almost like that of a monocle. "YOU...WELL! Taking advantage of weakness may be fair in love and war but NOT when in a man's own domain!" "YOU'RE A FUCKING ROBOT NOW STOP THIS SHIT!" "NOT UNTIL YOU RELENT, BOY!" The machine swung its eye upwards with the lens hanging off still as blades kept strongly upon James' scissors, resisting by a scraping clash as the robot shouted: "VAN BUREN, WHAT'S TAKING SO LONG?!" "Patience!" shouted a dignified excitable voice above via intercom. "The reinforcements will arrive shortly once they navigate down to this sector, so fear not! Perhaps you can affray with this prey a little longer, Teddy?" "DON'T! CALL ME TEDDY YOU DUTCH BASTARD!" "My mistake! Feel free to release your anger upon our intruder however!" "GLADLY!" With one forceful shove of propulsion jet he shoved FG back and swung all three blades down at once, the raptor allowing himself to fall back and dodgeroll to the right before a stabbing thrust went through the machine's left side. A cry of agony almost too human came from it as it sputtered harshly, shivering with anguished fury as he called out: "GRAAAAAAAARGH! JACKSOOOOOOOOON!" " BRRZZZZT!" A deep bellow of mechanical seizure suddenly came from the shutter door, the floating robot staring back with a swish of the sabretip tauntingly towards FG before sparks suddenly shot out of its side. "Nnnnn...hhhh_HHHHhhhhh_...you fight well for a surly brigand!" "Who the fuck even are you, ball-boy?!" "The one who's going to see you fall tonight!"

Rolling out from the shutter doors was another strange robotic contraption, standing at a good 6'5'' with three legs like a tripod, rolling out with wheels underneath. The large hulking body was shaped like a small boiler upon its torso, and its head was a much smaller greying dome showing a red-slatted visor. But what James was most focused on was its tremendously-sized gatling gun on its single right arm, a dangerous length of gun-metal the size of its own legs. The hover bot slowly began hobbling with small bursts towards the door shouting: "JACKSON! Show this intruder no mercy, he wants to stand and fight like a man then he will DIE like a man!" " BRRRRZZZT!" The hulking tripod rolled itself forwards and immediately began to open fire upon the raptor, the gatling gun screeching as it turned rapidly in its chamber to begin spreading bullets across the abandoned floor. James dodged desperately to one side, keeping towards the sentry's left and staying ahead of the gunfire, the robot too slow in its turn to keep up its firing. As he kept on running around in a circle, James soon heard the gatling gun cease fire, sputtering and locking up with smoke puffing out making the hover-bot turn back from the shutter door. "What?! Land SAKES I-HHHHH...thought we fixed that damn thing!" " B-B-BRRRZZZT!" "WELL BREAK HIS DAMN HEAD OPEN, YOU HAVE A BIG STICK NOW USE IT!" The larger mech suddenly rolled forwards with the speed of a runaway trailer and slammed its gatling gun down upon FG like it was a giant club, cracking the floor where he had stood as he ran hard to the right. Stabbing with flaming scissors right into the machine, he found he could not penetrate the armour as easily as the other robot's had been, a much thicker carapace to contend with. As the beastly bot smacked him across the face with the backswing of his gun, burning hot still from firing off, he shrieked and stumbled hard almost falling. With a bruise of hot steel welting on his face, he kept himself running around the tripod mech using his mobile agility to distract it, taunt it, finding a weak spot somewhere. He noticed the back was less guarded with armour than the front or side, figuring out where exactly he could disable the machine. Soon however it had restarted its gatling gun and began firing wildly in a full-on circle, rattling bullets off every wall with a bellowing mechanical war shout. As much as James kept running ahead of the gunfire, he was going to tire out from running eventually. Once the gatling gun shorted out again, he ran for the back of the machine and tried to stab straight inside, lancing his hot blades straight into the mechanical abdomen, only to find it was just as tough as everywhere else. Plunging only a few inches in as the steel creaked open around his scissortips, he soon faced the might of the hulking robot up close, roaring its electronic fury upon him with one, two, three violent swings of the gatling gun left, right and finally downwards. The raptor managed to dodge all of them well enough due to its much slower speed, but then he noticed something.

One of its three legs was not actually real and instead had been painted to look like such as he blazed up his scissors from his white-hot hands and opened them wide. Cutting straight down upon what actually he now saw as wood, the robot suddenly fell forwards by the sudden loss of balance, crying out with a static shriek of surprise as James dodged round its fallen body. The hover-bot panicked slightly but was more furious than anything else. "JACKSON!" " BRR-BZ-BRRZZZRRRT!" "I THOUGHT NO ONE WOULD BE FOOLED, I'M A WRITER NOT AN ARTIST! VAN BUREN, WHERE'S OUR GARRISON ALREADY?!" "Ready and waiting!" called out Van Buren. "Just say the word!" "...are you ready boy?!" "For WHAT?!" cried FG. "You think you've stopped a bullmoose like me, but how will you fare against the bear!?" "BEAR!?" A sudden thud came down behind him, followed by three more throughout the room rumbling the very floor with vibrations as he turned fast desperately before becoming rooted with fear. The brown animatronic bear that had throttled the very life out of him, or so he thought, now stood staring down upon him with clear blue eyes and a wide rictus grin, mic still in hand with bowtie and hat. "H-HOH GOD JESUS NO!" He fell back in panic scrabbling away violently as the bear walked forwards, slowly at first without a care as arms swung heavily back and forth with pure mechanical gait. Then it started to walk faster, picking up the pace before suddenly running fast with a brutal haymaker swing straight towards FG's head. The air whooshed like a hurricane above him as he ducked frantically, dodging away with fear shaking in his very bones as he backed off with scissors shivering. "S-STAY AWAY! GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME YOU FUCKING BEAR!" But of course it would not listen, the other machines watching as the one known as Jackson slowly dragged himself off back towards the shutter door with gatling gun like a land oar. The raptor saw a wall was slowly coming up behind him, and he swung screaming with violent fear desperate to strike upon his fearsome opponent. But the moment he struck, the bear grabbed the scissors in its left hand, burning rusted steel tight within its large felt fingers slowly burning to a blackened touch. James pulled furiously back, but the animatronic simply stood with eternal smile no matter how hard he tried, whimpering and crying out right before the bear's right hand slammed into his face. With or without holding a mic it still hurt brutally as blood burst from his snout, rolling back hard before he hit the wall slamming against it. He struggled to stand up feeling deja vu, and was almost afraid of what happened next. Until he saw the bear gently toss the scissors into the air before grasping it once again, hurling it like a javelin right at FG's head.

He ducked just in time, screaming as the fires burned out on his scissors which impaled themselves directly into the wall above him, a screeching crunch of the thick plated wall now broken through. The scissors were fully stuck in, no matter how hard he tried pulling they were impossible to remove out the wall, as the raptor panicked feverishly before he brought out his handgun aiming it at the bear. Just before he fired however, someone grabbed him from behind waiting in the shadows, a set of large purple hands locking around his arms and chest clutching him in a bear hug. "A-AAAAGH AAAGH, GETOFF ME, GET THE FUCK OFF ME YOU-" "SKREEEEEEEE!" "JESUS CHRIST!" A screeching static call deafened him as he barely saw the looming oversized face of the rabbit, shrieking as he felt the tightened grip which while was not crushing his bones was most certainly hurting him. Even worse he noticed the bear start walking slowly towards him, knowing precisely they were going to double team him. He flailed madly, the rabbit giving him a forced Heimlich maneuver to keep him still as he choked coughing hard from the sudden shove of its hands against his diaphragm. He couldn't even lift his hands enough to fight back. His feet lifted off the ground slightly as he saw the bear start running towards him, ready with mic up high like a steel club as he tried one desperate move. The moment the mic went high in the air, he swung his upper half down forcing both him and the rabbit to go forwards as if bowing down to the large animatronic beast. Right when the mic cracked down hard upon the back of the rabbit's head, smashing the back inwards as it shrieked suddenly from its physical error. The broken rear of its metallic skull showed a shiny perfectly clean interior as it dropped its hands forwards before stumbling, the raptor scurrying off underfoot and pulling up his gun frantically to fire at the monstrous bear. He knew how pointless it was in the long run shooting bullets at a steel creature, but he had no other armament unless somehow he found a way to get his scissors back out of being buried in a wall. The bear turned at the annoying gunshots flecking across its faux-fur pelt, twitching slightly as it walked then ran towards him with another hammering swing. The raptor dodged and ran away to the far side of the room next to one of the steel structural supports, hoping to hide behind it not knowing someone else hid behind it too. As if from out of nowhere, something came down upon his right shoulder biting violently with teeth sinking through his leather armour. Screaming with panic, the monster behind him tore and ripped at his leather pauldron like a ragged dog as he frantically undid the strap binding it to his armour, pulling away with unguarded right arm as he saw yet another of the horrifying machines. The yellow bird with two sets of teeth, wild-eyed despite the black rings around the outer edges and a brightly-coloured bib screaming "LET'S EAT" just to make it more disturbing to see. The fact it was chewing up part of his leather armour with mulchy crunching noises did not make it any prettier as it screamed the same static screech he had heard before. Before he had time to consider fighting it, the pounding footsteps of the bear made him duck harshly right before a brutal haymaker, smacking across the bird's beak and cracking it viciously to one side.

Moving away from them, the raptor crawled then stumbled into a run but the bear stomped on his tail, shrieking with agony as he desperately tried to pull it off from under him. Soon it tried to swing its studded microphone at him with precise autonomous movements, right to left, up before coming down all of which James managed to dodge by ducking panickedly inbetween firing at its face. Firing off half a clip straight into the bear's eyes was enough to set it backwards, stumbling from the pressure and twitching maniacally from the incremental damage. In its slight stumble back it lifted its foot off of FG's tail who soon ran for the far side of the room once more, the dark corner hopefully offering some small hope in hiding from their sight. Seeing all three of the usual suspects now before him looking around curiously on where he went, the rabbit now recovering from its crushing blow and jerking its head around brokenly, he kept silent and tried to look around for an exit strategy. Then he heard something whir from behind him, a glinting of light as something slashed towards his back. Despite dodging right, he screamed from another all-too-familiar pain as his leather armour tore off almost fully, rending a long thin gash down the top of his left arm that soon began to bleed a whitish liquid. Fear turned even more fervently in his mind as it felt a little too close to deja vu, looking up to find another fourth animatronic. This one had reasons for not showing its face, a crippled-looking fox with parts of its felt clearly torn off to reveal the metallic joints, with brown linen pants and a hook for its right hand as well as an eyepatch over the right eye. "WHA-...the FUCK IS THIS!?" "THE WHOLE GANG'S HERE NOW BOY!" roared the hover-bot from behind the shutter door. "I HOPE YOU CAN FIGHT TOOTH AND NAIL AGAINST HOOK AND STEEL!" "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?! I JUST WANTED SOME PARTS YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!" "PARTS?! PARTS FOR WHAT?!" "MACHINES, THAT'S ALL I WANT, I JUST WANTED TO FIX SOMETHING FOR ONCE AND YOU FUCKING-AAAAA AAARRRGH! NO! NO NOT YOU AS WELL!" Suddenly a deep pain burst inside his chest, a familiar feeling of when fear overtook him beyond a certain point. He went down on his knees clutching his chest, shuddering hot breaths as his eyes pulsated gulping fast to control himself. His hands trembled, his body ached and soon his fear began twisting itself as it birthed anew another unbearable tightness in his heart. Raw unaldulterated fury and frustration as he lunged towards the fox. "HRRRRAAAAAAAAAARGH!" Streaking tears down his face, he charged into its face as he slammed his fist down onto its snout. Being made of steel this was a bad move as he bruised his hand, wincing hard as the fox punched him back hard with its only hand before swinging its left hook violently fast, swishing left and right with wild spastic frenzy. James weaved like a tired boxer, desperate to not get struck as white synthetic blood dripped hotly down his left arm before pulling back to pull out his gun. Click. Click click, he hadn't realised he had emptied it already on the bear. Desperate to not get backed into a corner again, he bullrushed the fox again ducking low beneath the hook swing and shoving it down hard onto the floor, leaping off of it before grabbing a steel pipe. It was heavy enough to feel like a thick club all on its own, screeching towards the other three robots until his voice almost gave. "_COME ON THEN! YOU WANNA KILL ME HUH?! TRY IT, JUST FUCKING TRY IT, COME ON! DO IT! DO IIIIIIT! _"

In the midst of this final stand, an audience gazed upon him from the small control room above the steel arena. The floating bot from earlier with sparks setting off inside of him, as well as another floating orb the size of a basketball with radio antennas and white tufted buds of cotton fluff on either side of its body, both of whom stood in front of four panels labelled for each animatronic. Each of them had been rewired into the console, with a radio transmitter humming softly on its own. "The boy has spirit!" shouted the hover-bot. "Indeed!" said the other voice. "Perhaps we should give him a chance, he did come this far after all and is determined to live." "After blundering into our home like a bull through a restaurant and insulting me?! He could do with a lesson!" "Lessons involving the dead only work when there are others of his kind to see it, Theodore. What lesson will he learn if he is the only one dead enough to appreciate it?" "I agree." A third voice came from behind them, much more stern with dignity as the four robots slowly began to approach. With steel pipe in hand he readied himself for the inevitable battle, one he was almost certainly going to lose with the fox behind him, and the bear, bird and rabbit walking closer in front. Then, as quickly as they had appeared, they shut down all around him promptly, heads bowed down and hands slumping to their sides. The triple-armed robot shouted from above James through the intercom: "WH-WHAT THE-...the devil are you doing?!" "Giving him a lesson," said the new voice, "I think after enough of this he will learn to do as we say." "Still armed and dangerous look at him!" "His sword is buried in the wall, his gun is empty and he is reduced to a steel club like a London urchin." "HEY," shouted James, "HOW THE FUCK YOU KNOW I'M FROM LONDON?!" Silence came from the control room as he watched panting desperately before moving away from the robots, quickly heading over back to where his scissors were and frantically trying to pull them out of the wall. They were stuck fast, too far in for a mortal being to pull as he resorted to just swiftly reloading his handgun, dropping the clip nearly in his panicked state wired and nervous with overwhelming fear. He didn't trust the robots before him to stay shut down for long as a new voice emerged, one clearly much more British and sternly polite. "Hello? Can you hear me down there?" "...UM...Y-YEAH?!" "Are you perhaps willing to lay down your arms yet, good sir?" "THE FUCK!? YOU ASKING ME THIS AFTER YOU ALMOST KILLED ME WITH THESE THINGS?!" "I apologise for my companions'...robust altercation but you must understand that you did trespass on our premises." "PREMISES, IT'S A FUCKING BASEMENT YOU JACKASS!" "...insulting me will not do you any good nor will it prove your innocence." "NEITHER WAS TRYING TO BREAK MY NECK AND STUFF ME IN A GOLDEN BEAR SUIT!" "...I...beg your pardon?" "UP THERE, IN THAT KIDDY PLACE, THE FUCKING PIZZA PARLOUR, THAT FUCKING BEAR CHOKED ME DEAD OR LEAST...THOUGHT I DID, AND THEN IT TRIED TO STUFF ME IN SOME SUIT AND I END UP DOWN HERE, WHAT THE FUCK?!" "...he must be mad." "I could tell you he was," murmured the hoverbot. "But that makes no sense," said the smaller ball-shaped bot, "that bear's been down in storage until I activated it at the start of this." "What IS he even? I know this land's seen some strange characters but what sort of walking abomination is this intruder even?" "A delusional one." "HEY!" roared James. "I'M NOT FUCKING CRAZY!" "What?! OH, Thomas you fool you left the intercom on!"

The sounds of desperate clanking of steel fumbling could be heard briefly as the newest voice replied: "AH, um...apologies, we are just having some problems concerning the authenticity of your claims." "YOU SAYING I'M A LIAR!?" "I would not be so rude to assume that, I am simply stating that some of your claims do not match that of my companions and myself." "LIKE WHAT?!" "Your claim of a golden bear suit amongst our small battalion, of which there is no such thing. Also your claim of the regular bear you see before you, having attacked you previously to this engagement. I can tell you quite certainly that none of our friends with you have left their storage since we first encountered you in this basement." "LIAR! YOU-YOU ATTACKED ME, THOSE THINGS ATTACKED ME UP IN THAT PIZZA PARLOUR UP THERE!" "Are you certain of that sir? What exactly is this...pizza parlour?" "DON'T PISS ME AROUND I'M TALKING ABOUT THE RESTAURANT OR WHATEVER THAT'S UP THERE!" "......really? Well...perhaps you would like to show me yourself." "HUH?!" "Beyond that shutter door you will see three hallways. Take the one straight ahead with a stairway leading upwards to your left. Don't worry, I have locked the control room we are in in order to prevent either of us from creating any further altercations." "HEY!" shouted the hoverbot. "WHAT'S PAST THERE?!" shouted FG. "The exit of course. Show me this pizza parlour that you speak of and if it is still there I will concede that your story is correct." "OF COURSE IT'S RIGHT THE PLACE IS RIGHT FUCKING THERE!" "Prove it then! I await to hear your return good sir." James stomped his way through the shutter door finding three hallways as the voice had said to him. The one on his left he saw lead up towards the control room which he saw had been well-locked from the inside, with the right heading further inside different halls of darkening depths. The front passage straight ahead however gave him a view of another staircase, leading as was said upwards to the left. He ran up desperately with handgun in tow feverish in his pursuit to be proven right, snarling with hatred burning in his eyes as he climbed a good twenty feet. "Fucking asshole I'll show you who's not crazy I fucking saw that place and you're gonna LISTEN to me, then I'll make you pay...I'll make you all pay for fucking with me right after this door and I jus-......what?" At the very top of the stairwell was a steel door within the ceiling, opening without trouble to the outside world. Sunset was seeping in across the wasteland at an earlier point than when he first entered, the sky still turning pink within orange as the mountains turned black. All around him was nothing but the remains of a torn-down foundation, a building's remnants engraved upon dirt. He saw what used to be the restrooms on the opposite side, the dining hall, even the office down the other end with broken chairs and tables. But there was no wall left standing. All he could see was endless, darkening wasteland and the silhouettes of houses. He blinked softly the first few six times struggling to comprehend what had just happened to this place. He knew the layout was the same, he recognised all the rooms but nothing more remained of it. His eye began twitching as a creased smile of uncertainty creeped along his left cheek. "...but...b-b-but...I was here...I saw...I saw the pizza place...th-that...bear...was...I was...ready for him...ohh..." The stress had finally taken toll on him as he collapsed upon the rotting ruined floor, a room to the west of the former show stage where cracked metallic masks of various animals laid everywhere around him. A whisper on the wind buried itself into his mind.

tHrEe...wHo...sUfFerReD fOr yOuR cOwArDicE