[color=teal][h2]Darlen Hammond[/h2][/color]

((Wolfhorn Ranch))
Darlen had peered down the sights of Tchaikovsky at his hometown and been mortified. He saw schoolmates and neighbors looking on in terror from cages as the Legion dug many peril-filled holes in the ground. He might be able to save a few of those he knew, despite being alone… Darlen had a lot of experience with danger filled spots. There was one alive he had intention to save, most of all… his kid sister Cloey was there amongst the crowd of Nipton locals, crying and clinging to their neighbor, her face pressed into a skirt. He had recognized her by her dress and hair through the scope of his gun. All of this added up to one enormous problem… Now what could be his solution?


[color=teal][b]“I can’t believe this is happening to us… No one should have stayed in Nipton after Joey and Samuel were abducted near Cottonwood Cove. It was insane to think we were anywhere near safe…”[/b][/color]


Tchaikovsky growled in a low tone, and his “ears” moved to the right. [color=teal][i]Someone’s there…[/i][/color] thought Darlen, taking his eyes off the proceedings in Nipton and onto the ridges close to his vantage point. He spotted two figures moving in his direction, weaving in between the tall cacti. [color=teal][i]Have they spotted me? No, just scouting… But now they have me pinned. If I move, they could turn and spoil my location. I’ll have to take my shots then leave. I’ll run for that old man’s ranch…[/i][/color] Darlen took aim for the lower bodies of the Legion sentries. He made his mark with a rapid stream of bullets, tearing through the body of one man and easily sliding his aim onto the next target and shredding his abdomen as well. They both dropped, gasping and bloody, and Darlen had turned and begun his run to the Ranch as soon as he had heard no cry come from them. As the scout wheezed softly, the last he saw was a dark figure with a shock of blonde hair disappearing over a nearby ridge. It was too late for him to warn his brothers of the incredible danger encroaching on their defenses.


Darlen found Wolfhorn Ranch entirely deserted. The old man he and his family had used to buy meat from was gone, without a trace left behind. Ulysses, Darlen remembered his name was… The man had always seemed to have seen so much, more than most of the wasteland residents. He had once picked up Darlen when he was young and told the boy he saw “great potential” in those eyes. Darlen couldn’t say why he thought this of a Bighorn rancher, but the man knew what he was talking about when he spoke of capability. He picked up a flyer off of a counter, next to a large chopper-style knife. It was for the services of a “Forecaster” at the 188 Trading Post. He had heard of him before… The forecaster had predicted the death of one of his schoolmates. He had heard the other students talking about how Jon’s parents, the boy who was soon to die, had asked the forecaster about their young son: the result was a vision of the boy being consumed by a large lizard. Later, Jon ended up being too close to a gecko nest while practicing shooting.


It seemed to Darlen that the 188 Trading Post could hold the answers he needed about his place in the wasteland, perhaps even a way to liberate those he needed to from Nipton. With the current number of Legion troops there, rescuing his sister Cloey seemed unrealistic. But he knew what the Legion would do with the children of those they captured. With his parents out of the way, Cloey would be conscripted, and taken to one of the Legion camps to be trained to one day become one of their servants or wives. What he needed to know most of all was when they would try to move her and the other young prisoners… And that meant he didn’t have time for fortune telling just yet. He had to keep an eye on the movements of Legion troops as best he could… And he was glad that he had the means to do so. He tossed a ragged jacket over his Hazmat Suit and donned the Darklight Cowl. He was ready to swoop into the storm that would come, and do whatever it took to bring Cloey out of it.