[u][b]Mary Hawthorne - Between her and Brandy's house[/b][/u]

The Deathclaw shrieked in pain as the sabot slugs hit and bit deep, whirling around and roaring out a challenge. Fortunately, before it could leap at Mary while she was reloading, Shelby stepped in with what appeared to be the poker from her fireplace, and took a swing at the deathclaw, connecting with it's head and sending it reeling until it fell at Brandy's feet, thrashing spasmodically in it's death throes, Shelby's blow being the final straw.

 “Holy shit, you don't fuck around,” Shelby winked at Mary and spun the poker around once, grasping it with both hands and preparing to charge in and finish the Deathclaw off when she stopped in her tracks and looked back, over Mary's shoulder in the direction of the church. Immediately, the sassy expression, and the color, drained from her face. 

“A fucking mutie”, she said. She then turned and sprang forward, grabbing Brandy by the arm and trying to drag her away. Brandy, frightened out of her wits, just sat there aiming at the dying creature and pulling the trigger of a pitifully small (and empty revolver) over and over again.  “You're fuckin’ funeral Twit.”, Shelby hissed and then she dashed off towards the church. Mary raised the now loaded shotgun to finish the Deathclaw, but it finally expired. Mary then lowered the weapon, and looked around to take in the situation. The streets were in total chaos...by the church Shelby was helping up the blond mercenary woman from under a dead Mutant. Gunfire was sounding all across town, another Mutant with a huge gun of some sort was killing another Deathclaw over by the Diner. 

At this point, the bourbon no longer shielded Mary from the realization of how much danger she had placed herself in. While she could use a gun...at least a simple one like her shotgun or revolver...a double barrel shotgun was not the tool to be hunting a Deathclaw with. while she did have means of dealing with these creatures....it would completely blow her cover to make use of her magic. She had to get indoors at once. The clicking from Brandy dry-firing her revolver reminded Mary of her presence. 

"How did you make it to adulthood?", Mary thought irritably. "I haven't seen someone so shielded since I was her age."

But it was clear, if Mary left her there, she would die. For some reason, that bothered Mary...stirring feelings she thought long dead. After a moment of internal struggling, she rationalized that helping the younger woman would ingratiate her with the others, and wasn't just fooling altruism. the decision made, she tried to take her by the arm to lead her away. 

"Come on, Brandy", Mary said, "It's not safe here! We need to go inside!" But like with Shelby, she resisted and continued blankly staring at the now dead Deathclaw and pulling the trigger of her empty revolver. 

"Damn ye, ye foolish girl!", Mary said, "Ye don't have the good sense God gave ye!" She then leaned the shotgun against the dead creature, and bodily picked up Brandy and threw her over her shoulder. The younger girl resisted, but Mary was stronger and once she picked Brandy up, she grabbed her shotgun and headed back towards her house, ignoring Brandy's feeble struggle to get free. She walked in her front door, pushing it shut again with her foot as she passed, and took Brandy upstairs to her bedroom, throwing her onto her bed. 

"Stay in here until this is over, you silly girl", Mary said sternly, then closed the door behind her and went back downstairs. Walking back into the living room, her eyes lit upon the two dormant robots in the living room. 

"Looks to be as good time as any to try you out", Mary said, as she examined the nearest one. "Now, how does one turn you on......". 

After some pushing and prodding, she found a small panel that opened, revealing a flip switch marked on and off. She flipped it to on, and some whirring noises began to emanate from the robot. Something was happening, but Mary wasn't sure what. She then went to the window and peered out around the curtains, to see what was currently happening.....