A female skunkette pushed open the door to the dark and dirty bar, her uniform showing off her shapely curves to all of the male patrons. The Strip in New Vegas was a good place to look for hired guns. Her uniform classified her as a class A courier, and she had a package to deliver, one of the utmost importance, and was given a hefty partial prepayment for it's completion, which she knew she needed to use for bodyguards. As she walked through the bar, one such fellow caught her eye quickly, a grizzled looking veteran in torn battle gear, sitting in the corner booth of the room. She sat across from him, making him set down his drink.
	"You best have a good reason to disturb me, gal. Uniforms don't sit well with me," the man growled. She noticed the three scars across his left eye, and the variety of weapons scattered on his body. His hair was tied back in a ponytail, a seemingly endless grimace on his face.
	"I do. You are a mercenary for hire, correct?"
	"Depends on the pay." The female flashed a sack of caps. "Lookin' good. What were you interested in? Escort, by the looks of it."
	"Correct, my name is Courier Dani and I need an escort up to the Brotherhood of Steel. I know the path, and it's of the utmost importance."
	"Hmmm... I'd go with you, but I'm not comfortable fighting solo," he chuckled, knowing that her path probably meant trouble.
	"Alright, I'll find someone else to join me. Meet in the lot outside in 10 minutes. Get your gear ready, I want to leave ASAP," Dani said briskly.
	"Not even going to ask my name, I like that in a girl. Right down to buisness," he chuckled. He swug down the rest of his drink and started going through his bag and checking his guns. Dani got up and nearly bumped into a tall, blue gryphon standing nearby.
	"Woah! Sorry about that, miss."
	"No issues," she laughed, stepping back. Looking a bit more at the bird, he seemed to have a small variety of guns attatched to him, mainly a large sniper attatched to his back. "You wouldn't happen to be a mercenary, would you? One available for a mission?"
	"Uh... Yeah, I am, ironically. What kinda mission?"
	"You don't seem very prepared," she commented, looking at his lack of armor.
	"There's always more then meets the eye, miss. I'd be happy to join you, I need the experience."
	Dani pondered it over briefly, she really only needed the other, but two, even one completely new, couldn't hurt. "Alright. Follow me, we're leaving right away, we have no time to waste."
	"Sure, but ah, what is your name?"	
	"Dani. Please hurry," she said, waving him along. He followed her out into the noon street, other merc already waiting by a streetlight, tapping his hand.
	"Is this the other guy?" he asked, nodding to the bird.
	"It is. Let's get acquainted as we walk, I want to get past Camp Golf and the Post 188 before late afternoon."
	"Why Camp Golf? It's just a longer detour," the veteran complained. "It would be much faster to go though South Vegas."
	"Because it's also safer, and we can restock at the post afterwards. I'm nearly being hunted in the city as it is, so I don't want to go through the part of town where I'm liable to get shot."
	"Hate to break in, but ahhh, I'm Leuphe. You're Dani, and you are..?" he asked, pointing to the third.
	"Judas. Veteran of the NCR for 40 years."
	"Alright, enough idle chat, let's get going," Dani said, taking off at a brisk pace down a southeastern heading path. She was heading for one of the main roads heading south. Leuphe and Judas both easily caught up, taller then her by multiple heads.
	"You guys are sure packing lightly," Judas growled. "You, carrying nothing at all, and you, carrying nothing but your rifle. You sure you can handle an intense encounter with just that?" he asked, fingering a pistol.
	"I'm very positive. You just haven't seen me in action yet." Leuphe smiled slyly over to Judas, giving a small wink. Something was not right about him, Judas thought...
New Vegas' roads were not in terrible shape, but they left much to be desired. Missing potholes scattered about, and occasionally being buried from some multiple dust storms. The day rolled on slowly, as the trio worked their way down the road and hitting the first detour, to Camp Golf.
	"I'm advising you to stay away, or at least let me while you take care of whatever business you have there, ma'am. I'm not on good terms with the NCR anymore, I think they still have a bounty on my head," Judas stated, cringing.
	"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Dani demanded. The fort was in plain view, and just as she said that, an alarm bell rang out, and a nearby patrol's yells were heard, already spotting the trio. "Fuck!" Dani growled. She dove for a rock, crouching behind it, leaving Judas and Leuphe to fight.
	"Let's see what you can do, bird," Judas chucked, pulling out two long barreled revolvers. He kept his semiautomatic strapped to his back.
	"Gladly," Leuphe chuckled, stripping down to nothing but his boxers, holding his rifle in hand.
	"That's not exactly productive to a battle, ya know..." Judas growled, taking cover as the group approached.
	"Is it?" Leuphe laughed, jumping behind a boulder, out of Judas' view. He cursed and focused on the group ahead, maybe 10 of them, running towards where the location was. Judas fired first, knowing that once they saw him he'd be the main target. His long life in the NCR paid off well, the shot took one soldier right in the head, killing him. The rest dived for cover, each armed with cheap semiautomatic guns. One spotted Judas and yelled "It's him! It's Judas Deadeye, he's got a bounty on him!" They started to open fire on Judas and he cursed, locked in place behind the small rock. Where the hell was the new guy???
	And just like that, one giant goo monster burst from the ground behind the group, grabbing two and devouring them whole. Most of the group turned to open fire at the goo, bullets passing through harmlessly. It grabbed another and ate them too, body dissolving. Judas shook his head, and opened fire with both pistols, hitting two of the distracted soldiers in the shoulder and chest.
	One of the soldiers had the smart idea of throwing a grenade, directly into the blob of goo. It tried to escape, but was blown apart, goo splattered everywhere. It quivered, but was mostly still. Now it was back to Judas versus the last four soldiers. Judas still had a small edge of surprise, running to the rock Leuphe was last seen at and hiding behind, but the bird was nowhere to be found! Damn newbies were worthless when it came time for a battle!
	Judas turned around with his arm, firing off two shots, killing another soldier before his arm was hit by a bullet, right near the hand. With a snarl, he dropped a pistol and reversed himself, shooting two more with quick headshots with his other hand and diving back for cover. He was careless, he let himself get nicked by a bullet. He heard a few more RAT-TAT-TATs before, silence... He looked back out to see the blue goo beast finishing it's last meal. Hopefully it didn't want more. Wait...
	"Leuphe, is that you?" Judas yelled out. The blob seemed to stop and shake, forming the shape of a nearly 15 foot, legless version of the gryphon.
	"Yup! Sorry about the scare, heh!" he chirped, moving over and devouring the bodies of the fallen.
	"What on earth..." Dani murmured, peeking out.
	"I told you, there's always more then meets the eye!"
	"But... How?" Dani fumbled.
	"Uhhhh... Scientists from the Enclave turned me into this against my will. I can eat people and grow stronger, but this also drains a lot of energy... Did I mention they want me back? They haven't been able to reproduce the results quite yet."
	"Christ, I pick the two mercs that are wanted!" Dani grumbled. "Oh, and one's injured, that's fantastic."
	"No, no, give it a minute," Judas chuckled, and sure enough, the bullet was pushed back out, falling on the rocks with a clink as the wound closed itself.
	"Oh, even better, two wanted mutant mercs. Well... At least I'll be safe," Dani sighed, handing Judas back his dropped pistol. "Let's get out of here before more soldiers arrive. Get your gear... Leuphe," she said, giving him an odd stare. He morphed back into his solid form, reclothing and grabbing his rifle. The trio wasted no time in running back down the road, heading more south.
As soon as they were out of earshot of the blaring alarm, they settled back into a steady pace going down the wasteland road. Dani took the lead, Judas and Leuphe on either side, ready.
	"So, both of you... each are mutated somehow."
	"Seems about so," Judas chuckled. They kept going in relative silence, only occassional breezes throwing pebbles sliding down gravelly hills. Eventually, the trio caught sight of the Trading Post 188, a seemingly ragtag collection of tents by two ancient bridges still uncollapsed.
	"Do either of you two need to stock up?" Dani asked. Leuphe shook his head, but Judas nodded.
	"Need more ammo and could use an extra pistol, if they have a good one," he replied, already walking towards one booth. Dani and Leuphe hung out by the bridge, waiting.
	"15 caps per bullet," the trader demanded. Under his blue tarp, and 4 foot size, he put up an intimidating figure. The bullet he held out as an example appeared to be an armor-piercing round.
	"What? You're effing crazy, man! I'll give you 2, tops, and they had better be good quality."
	"No deal. I'm low on supplies, and these are grade A rounds, top of the line. I want a good deal on these babies," he added.
	"Haggle with me a little, will you?" Judas growled. He was already fed up with this little badger. "Will you really take nothing less then 5?"
	The badger sighed and ran a hand through his fur. "Well, maybe. Depends, who are those you're travelling with?" he pointed over. Leuphe smiled and waved back, Dani rolling her eyes.
	"I'm guarding them on an escort."
	"Really? Both of them?" the badger asked, smiling.
	"The girl, at least. Courier mission of 'the utmost importance'," Judas mocked.
	"Hmmm, I see," the badger nodded, but froze when he saw Leuphe, making his hand gooey and showing Dani. "What the hell???"
	"Oh, right... We're all a bit weird, yeah?" he grinned down to the shop-keep. "How about 10 per round? It's the most I'll give an honest trader, as long as he promises to keep his mouth shut, or..." Judas made a slicing motion across his neck.
	"S-sure, so long as you leave me damn well alone afterwards!" he said, slamming a few clips of ammo on the table. Judas picked up 4, counted the rounds in each and checking for dirt, and gave the dealer his caps in exchange. Judas walked off without another word, back to the group.
	"What the hell were you doing, idiot!" Judas growled, slapping Leuphe on the back of the head, hard. He yelped and frowned back.
	"I was just showing miss Dani how I use my goo, sheesh! She requested it, after all!"
	"Well you nearly gave that trader a heart attack, and who knows if he'll keep quiet about a gryphon that's made of goddamn goo?"
	"Quiet, both of you." Dani seemingly stood taller then both of them, arms folded across her chest in a sign of control. "We're leaving, no more arguing lest I decide to leave both of you and risk it on my own."
	The others sighed and begrudgingly followed, sun starting to lower to the western horizon. Dani's next plan was to make it to the Novac before dark, as they could probably camp there with minimal disturbances. A new, brisk pace was set, traveling through the wasteland with a surprising lack of encounters by bandits. They thought they saw some to the north, but it was always hard to tell.
Novac was a small town, a cluster of a few buildings with a giant, fake T-Rex out in front, lights on as they approached. They would be safe here for the night, away from any beasts outside and mostly safe from any people who wanted that package... Mostly.
	"You two get your own room, I'll be in 115," Dani said, picking up her key from the motel owner. She walked away before either could speak, tail wagging happily.
	".....I'm not staring a room with you," Judas said, looking squarely at Leuphe.
"Fine, fine." Leuphe paid for his own room and waved goodbye to Judas, who did the same and found his own room, number 117.
	The room itself was dark and dirty, probably hadn't been cleaned in a dozen years, Judas thought. The bed was barely made, a broken wooden dresser on the side, and a small lantern on the nightstand by the bed which barely lit up the general area of the room. Windows were covered by rotting wood planks, and it sounded like something was scurrying about inside them. Colors were non-existent, as most of them had faded away to such a point that you could only guess the original hue. Judas shrugged and sighed, at least he would only be here a night.
	He took off his armor and clothes, fur happy to be able to breathe freely from the confines of the tight suit. He checked where the bullet hit him, and it must have been an armor piercing shot to hit him that well. Later he would repair that. For now, he flopped into bed, exhausted, and went to sleep, rather peacefully.
	When the day came about, he heard a banging on his door, with a familiar female voice.
	"Hey, get up! We need to keep moving, we're losing daylight." Judas checked the clock, 7AM, right on the mark.
	"Fine, I'm getting up, damn it..."
	“Meet you downstairs, we'll eat on the way." 
	Judas grumbled, getting back on his gear and briskly stepping outside into an unusually dark day. Dani waited by the office, Leuphe next to her. All three returned their keys, got some high protien bars from the clerk, and started to walk south along the trail again, passing through much of the scenic wasteland.
	"Where to next, Dani?" Leuphe asked.
	"We're going to take a bit of a roundabout route. Down to Searchlight, then up through Primm and the Hidden Valley to finally reach the Brotherhood," she explained. "They shouldn't catch us that way."
	"Don't be so sure about that," Judas growled. "You're thinking too lowly of the enemy."
	"As you say," Dani laughed.
	The trio walked on, Judas the only one carefully watching their surroundings, as they reached midday, almost all the way down to Searchlight. They saw the camp right after cresting one hill, noticing the lack of people out and about in the afternoon. Shacks littered the outer town as they stepped in.
	"Freeze." A stoic voice shouted, someone stepping up from a rooftop, pistol aimed. "Don't move. You're surrounded."
	Leuphe and Judas looked to each side as Legion renegades poured out from the sides of buildings, guns at the ready and aimed at the mercenaries. Dani was frozen in place, frowning at the cocker spaniel leader.
	"And you are...?" she asked.
	"Jerebb, one of the Legion's best commanders," he said with a smirk. He hopped down and stepped up to Dani, even shorter then she was. "So, I hear you're trying to give a little gift to the Brotherhood of Steel... We're not too happy about that. You have two options, give us the package," he held his paw out, "...or die." Every single soldier there cocked their gun, aiming squarely at the trio.
	"...Shit. Alright, fine," Dani growled, reaching for her pocket and bumping Leuphe. Suddenly, his clothes ripped and he surrounded the other two with a wall of his goo, then forming a thick protective bubble.
	"Fire!" Jerebb snarled, pointing at Dani. The soldiers did so, firing dozens of rounds against the goo, to little effect.
	"Leuphe, are you okay?" Dani asked, crouching.
	"Yeah, I'm fine..." He chirped, a torso reforming over the bubble. "I can't do a whole lot to help, though! It's hard enough keeping you guys safe!"
	"Mmm, guess it's time for some fun, eh?" Judas chucked, unslinging his semiautomatic. He poked Leuphe with the end of it. "Lemme out, bird. I'm going to show these Legion scum how an ex-NCR does it."
	"Alright..." Leuphe laughed, shrinking the bubble and making an opening for Judas. Twenty soldiers waited as they watched, unsure of what was going on or what on Earth that goo thing was. "Dani, hand me my rifle, will you?"
	She blinked and picked it up from where his pile of clothes was, and pushed it up into the goo, unsure if that was really what he needed, and it simply flowed through him like water, up to his hands. Judas took this as a diversion and bolted behind a shack, a few soldiers seeing him and firing at him. Their guns were cheap and poorly made, built for power and not accuraccy. Some soldiers kept wasting rounds on Leuphe, but also making him jiggle enough to make it hard to get a good shot at any of them.
Judas heard half of them mobilizing, coming after him, and the rest taking cover against Leuphe. He heard a few sniper rounds fire, then silence, as Judas prepared himself for a fight.
	Sure enough, one wolf soldier walked out carefully into his alley, and was quickly dispatched with a clean shot between the eyes. His location was blown, and he ran towards the mouth of the alley, gun drawn. Two soldiers stepped out to see what had happened, and were smashed by the butt of Judas' rifle, breaking both jaws. A quick knife to the chest in each, wiping his blade clean, before a trio of soliders saw him and began to fire, one bullet hitting his leg. Cursing, Judas limped into a building, luckily an abandoned one with no citizens inside. Broken walls and empty floors greeted him. He crouched and waited, feeling the bullet wiggle it's way out, flesh healing.
	"One target wounded, leg shot," he heard. Radios, of course. Screams were heard back, and Judas grimaced at not knowing what was happening back by the edge of town.
Two soldiers kicked the door open, spraying the room in full automatic fire. Judas returned, needing only 2 shots to dispatch the pair, and a few more to fire through the thin stucco walls and incapacitate the man outside. 6 down, 4 to go, Judas thought...
	The last four wouldn't be as easy, as they had kept in a close group. Judas faced them as he exited the house, immediately taking a hit in the arm and running around the house. He cursed, reslinging his rifle and pulling out a revolver, preparing for a flank, if they were smart enough. Sure enough, they broke two and two, and Judas managed to take out the two on his right, as his right arm still functioned. The left pair fired after him, more then one bullet grazing his ear. Damn it, why did he take this mission?
	He ran back to the place where Leuphe still stood, growling and simply trying to protect Dani. He noticed a few pairs of clothed on the ground, devoid of any people in them, and yelled to Leuphe.
"Hey, bird! Where's the rest of them?" Judas was still behind cover, not knowing if Leuphe was still fighting.
	"Gone, with the exception of Jerebb," Leuphe growled, looking around. "He managed to get away." He still held his seemingly tiny rifle in his hands.
	"I have two more coming after me, help me out!" Judas yelled, taking cover next to the giant mass of goo. He got his pistol ready, and as soon as he saw the chance, dispatched one. Leuphe took out the other with a well placed shot, and the town grew quiet. Leuphe sighed, letting Dani out of her little bubble and flowing over to consume the dead soldiers.
	"You okay?" Judas asked Dani, checking on his arm wound.
	"I should ask you, but yes, I'm fine."
	"Good." Leuphe walked over to rejoin the pair, looking very tired and clothes covered in rips.
"Think we could break in Primm? I'm exhausted," Leuphe chuckled weakly. "Using my goo so much took a lot out of me... Those meals barely kept me up."
	"Mmm, alright. Can't have a bodyguard that's gonna pass out from exhaustion," Dani commented. They walked away from the grizzly scene, not one of them looking back at the town, heading west.
	The day during the walk to Primm was relatively quick and straightforward, but constantly dodging wild beasts that none of the group was interested in fighting. Judas had to fire a few warning shots to keep them at bay, as Leuphe was in no condition to fight and Dani was making sure to help him keep up. The desolate landscape was no comfort, travelling almost in the wilderness on their way to Primm. It took much of the rest of the day to make it there, Leuphe constanly dragging behind. 
"Finally, Primm," Dani pointed, the setting sun allowing to see some of the lights there. It was kept well lit, the ex-amusement park kept up. A wide, shabby building was the main attraction, city streets fairly well kept. They looked around for a place to sleep, and found a small motel that had precisely 3 of it's rooms available.
	"Leuphe, do you think you can make it to your own room without us?" Dani asked.
	"Yeah, I'll be fine, just need a good long catnap..." he chuckled. He gratefully accepted the key, to a first floor room, as Dani and Judas found door-to-door second floor rooms. Dani found her room first, one of the smallest motel rooms she'd seen in a long time, but fell atop the bed happily after that stressful even earlier today. Soon enough, she fell into a deep sleep , only to be awakened to a rough banging of her door, almost enough to break the shoddy wood down.
	"Dani! They're taking Leuphe!"
	"Wha-?" she blinked. The words hit her and she got up, opening the door to a grim faced Judas. He pointed, and indeed, Leuphe was strapped down to a stretcher, being transported by 4 men, 10 guards surrounding him with high-powered energy weapons. Leuphe was awake, but just barely, weakly struggling against the thick bands that hold him. 
	"Why isn't he going goo?" she demanded.
	"If I had to guess, I'd say exhaustion or the fact energy weapons could hurt him like that," Judas commented. He shoved a gun into Dani's hands, surprising her with it's weight. Yosemete, a fanciful wooden rifle with ornate gold designs over it, also a testament to it's sheer power. "Make sure to brace yourself, it packs a punch. Let's go."
	The duo ran downstairs, guns at the ready, yelling to the armored group of soldiers. All of them turned around, pointing energy rifles at them, and the insignia on their chestplates was clear: the Enclave.
	"What are you doing?" Dani yelled.
	"We are reclaiming the property of the Enclave. This test subject escaped from us, and we're taking him back. Interfere with us and we will be forced to terminate you in the name of the government."
	"Government, hah," Judas barked loudly.
	"Last warning, return to your rooms or be shot!" one soldier yelled. Their energy rifles began to charge, threatening to shoot.
	"H-Help!" Leuphe croaked, struggling against the bands.
	Dani dropped and fired first, opening with a strong barrage of rounds to the lefthand group of soldiers. The strong, .45 caliber rounds easily punched through armor and flesh, dropping some soldiers where they stood. No time to count how many, Judas grabbed Dani as the rest of the group fired where they just stood, using his quick speed to ferry her behind an old trailer.
	"You idiot! You nearly got yourself killed!" Judas growled.
	"Shut up and open fire!" Dani barked back. Judas was more then happy to, peeking through a hole in the trailer and shooting a man carrying Leuphe, making the rest drop his stretcher a bit roughly. The three surviving men ran, unarmed and unsure of what else to do in battle. The soldiers, however, would not give up so easily.
	They spread out, some running back to the . Two ran for the motel, climbing up to the second floor balcony and aiming to either side of the trailer. Leuphe was still on the middle of the field, within easy view of everyone.
	"We need to take out the guys on the balcony... But how?"
	Judas looked around and smiled, pointing to the motel sign. It was almost directly over the soldiers' overhang. He took back Yosemete for a moment, aiming squarely at the part where it was bolted on, greatly rusted. One shot, and the sign came crashing down in an explosion of sparks, crushing the two soldiers under a pile of rubble. The motel probably wouldn't be too happy about that.
The other soldiers mobilized in a squad, 6 still left, and began to run towards the trailer, attempting to take it by force. Judas cursed and threw back Yosemete to Dani, getting his revolvers ready.
	 "Aim for the legs!" he barked, ducking under the trailer and firing, managing to hit a few feet, dropping half of the soldiers, now unable to walk. They could still shoot, though. The remaining three reached the side of the trailer, and fired wildly. Judas again dragged Dani out of the way with one hand, dust kicking up. She tried to take aim as she was moved, firing and hitting one dead in the chest. Judas saw his chance, dropping Dani quite unceremoniously, pulling out his second revolver and spraying down the last two soldiers in rapid fire .45 rounds, 3 shots to each of their chests. Dead.
	"We need to take out those last few incapacitated soldiers," Judas observed, holding a hand down to Dani.
	"Ow... Right," she grimaced, jolted from the fall. "You take care of that, I'll check on Leuphe."
Judas pulled Dani back up, surveying the damage and death. This one mercenary mission had taken more kills then his past 5 combined. Judas walked close to the soldiers, dispatching them quickly as they tried to fire back, missing greatly. Dani walked over to Leuphe, poking his chest.
	"Help..." he muttered, barely awake.
	"Alright, you dumb bird, alright..." Dani got to work removing the binds that held him down, tight bars of metal with complex locks and energy fields around them. It wasn't hard for her to remove them, it simply took some time, Judas taking back Yosemete and watching her intently. One last click, and Leuphe gasped, rolling over as he was freed.
	"Thank you..." he chuckled, getting up a bit shakily.
	"Geez... Think you need to rest a bit more?"
	"No, no... I think I'll be fine, if we go a little slowly."
	"Toss the keys to the owner. He's probably not gonna be too happy about our little... Mishaps?" Judas mentioned, nodding to the office. Leuphe and Dani both handed him their keys, running back to their rooms to get their gear. Judas was already packed, tossing the keys on the ground in front of the owner's door. Dani and Leuphe rejoined him, the bird seeming a fair bit more awake, and they began to walk out of town.
	"So, now where to, navigator?" asked Judas.
	"Ah, well... Most of the roads to the Brotherhood are probably crammed with the Legion and powder gangers. So it looks like we're going to have to take a little off-road adventure up through the mountains," Dani pondered.
	"The mountains are chock full of monsters and mutants, though," Leuphe pointed out.
	"That's a risk we're going to have to take," Dani responded. The sun was just starting to rise, feeling like it was going to be a hot day. Immediately she turned off the well-beaten road, climbing a steep hill and forcing Leuphe and Judas to just scrabble over.
	The off-roading took much more energy, needing to climb and find paths around obstacles. It would only take them a few hours to reach the Brotherhood, and at the rate they were going, it was fairly easy. Once or twice the group found the decaying skeleton of some long-dead traveller, deep gauges cut clean through the bones. This only encouraged them to go faster, after they had checked the corpse for anything that could be useful to them. Every time they hit a higher altitude, they looked around the dead landscape, watching the area around them, Leuphe with a small longing. They reached the Hidden Valley shortly before noon, barely able to tell that it was there. Hidden indeed. If not for Dani pointing out the fence, they could have walked right past it.
	"There, we need to find the West bunker. It should have... ah, there!" Dani said, pointing to a rotting tree stump. The trio walked through a broken link of fence, probably from the numerous animals, and headed that way. Leuphe smiling and flapping his wings, Dani with a determined stride to her step, and Judas still weary as always, looking around to make sure nothing was a threat.
Dani banged on the door to the West bunker, after checking for any traps, to have a voice call out from the other side.
	"Who's there?" It sounded like gravel, deep and strong.
	"Courier Dani, with two hired mercs, here to deliver a parcel to the Brotherhood of Steel as a peace offering from the NCR."
	"...Leave all of your weapons in the locker," the voice said with hesitation. There was indeed a locker to the left of the door. It fit Leuphe's rifle, but all of Judas' guns barely fit without some fancy rearranging. Judas was not one comfortable without his weapons, longing to keep a pistol with him in case of emergencies. His hands itched to pick up something.
	"We're clean," Dani told the solider.
	"Leave the package by the door, then step 10 paces away," the voice responded. Dani did so, pulling out the small brown paper-covered box, placing it by the door and pulling the group back with her. The door opened enough for a hand to reach out and yank it in, door slamming shut behind them for a minute. The trio waited outside for what felt like an eternity under the baking sun before the thick, rusted metal door creaked all the way open, an invitation.
	They walked in, door slamming shut behind them as they waited for their eyes to adjust to the darkness. Computers and other technology covered the walls, the man by the door stepping up to lead them in.
	"Follow me. I'll take you to Elder McNamara." He began walking down, deeper into the bunker. Dani followed, Judas and Leuphe after her.
	They finally emerged in a small office, a man sitting behind a small desk with a Brotherhood banner projected behind him on the wall, two guards on either side with guns at the ready. He held the package, a holodisk, in his hand. His fur was a golden gray, his age easily showing but still strng body under his light armor. One of the guards caught notice of the NCR patch on Judas' jacket, immediately aiming his rifle at his head.
	"NCR!"
	"Calm down, I'm an NCR veteran but no longer am on good terms with them. I'm a mercenary, hired to escort this girl to you guys," he said, rasising his empty hands.
	"And why should we believe you?" the elderly man at the desk asked.
	"He's helped guard me on this journey. I wouldn't be so stupid as to hire NCR forces to go into a hostile zone. However, it is the intention of NCR to deliver this gift to you so that you will have a peace treaty, at least for the time. I'm fairly certain neither of you is interested in a full-scale war, yes?" Dani mentioned.
	"And to add, I was shot by the NCR on our way here. I'm Judas Deadeye, the one with a bounty on my head from the kind officers at NCR."
	The old man in the middle thought for a moment, then motioned for the soldier to lower his gun. "My name is McNamara, Elder of this chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel.. So, Courier Dani, do you know what's on this disc?" he asked.
	"No, sir."
	"Interesting, that Hardin let you in then... Well, anyways, this disc contains the holographic schematic for a radiation purification system. Quite a well designed one too. Yet strangely enough, it's signed by the Enclave..." McNamara gave Dani a small smile. "Now, I wonder how they got this. Nonetheless, we appreciate you bringing it to us. When you go back to report to the NCR, please, do give them my best wishes. And tell them we will get in contact soon to work on the finer details of this peace treaty."
	"I will. Nothing else here?"
	McNamara shook his head, holding out his hands. "We can give you a few more supplies for your way back, but that's about it."
	"We'd love some." Dani replied, smiling. They were escorted back up to the door, the Brotherhood seeming to want them out as soon as possible. Dani and Judas took extra gear while Leuphe stood back, shaking his head.
	"This is where I part! I'd just like two thousand or so caps and I'll be good. Reasonable?"
	"For your work, yes," Dani smiled, handing him a small bag of caps. He took them alond with his rifle, shaking and walking out, waving goodbye before pushing a powerful flap with his wings and taking off.
	"Should I escort you back to New Vegas?" Judas asked Dani.
	"Yes, please." And with that, the now duo began the trek back to the New Vegas Strip from where they had came to further work out the payment for Judas, and to report to the NCR (with Judas hidden away) that the package had been delivered safely.