[center][color=tan][h3]Courier 6[/h3][/color] [b]Level 2[/b] - (9/20) EXP [b]Location:[/b] 1-1, Canyon Exit -> Ancient Gardens [b]Word Count:[/b] 824[/center] Frustration toward the large number of misses gave way to surprise at the results of the shot that had connected. Rather than black powder in the barrel, another of these green monster things jolted up in pain. The larger concealing the smaller? No doubt a great tactic for sneak attacks, which backfired in this particular instance. However the Courier didn’t get the opportunity to think too much more about it at the time, as Zer0 soared over head (did he propel himself on the rocket explosion’s shockwave? Holy crap that was awesome!) and planted some of his own bullets into their cart of explosives, leading to… Much more favorable results than the Courier’s own attempt. Which led to the most insane plan the creatures could have possibly come up with in that instant. Had he more opportunity to appreciate the tactic, the Courier would have admired their determination and tenacity as one rivaling his own. Alas, he had to think quickly and react even faster as they propelled their own explosive-filled cart straight for him in a brutal suicide bombing. Having just exhausted his stamina as much as he could through the use of his V.A.T.S., sprinting wasn’t an option. The out of breath Courier took a dive down the incline, his back and thus the thickest part of his duster, to the crash site. Dammit, if only these creatures were leaving behind typical corpses rather than fading away with the only remnant being these wispy disk-like things! Then he could take proper cover behind a cadaver! The explosion was the largest yet, fitting for the bomb-lovers’ final hurrah. The incline gave some measure of cover, but the Courier still felt a sharp piercing pain in his back, a few inches left of the spine near the waist. Reaching back, he bit his lips as he yanked a piece of metal shrapnel from his body, then looked it over. About an inch of it was dripping with red blood. Damn, lucky break. A couple inches over and it’d have hit his spine. If his sub-dermal armor hadn’t come back online, or he hadn’t made it partially down the incline, it’d have pierced much deeper. Ok, now the music was just getting annoying. The Courier switched off the radio on his pip-boy, now finding the added stimulus to be more aggravating than calming, given his situation. That’s when he began to hear another sound altogether… [i]VRWOOP. VRWOOP. VRWOOP.[/i] Where was that coming from? Was it the tinnitus from the explosion? No, that sensation was more of a ringing bell while this sounded more like a car trying to move forward, but in reverse, if you could imagine such a thing. It wasn’t back up the canyon, neither was it back down. Carefully the Courier looked upward, toward the very top of the cliff wall. There he witnessed a bizarre [url=https://s7.orientaltrading.com/is/image/OrientalTrading/PDP_VIEWER_IMAGE/doctor-who-tardis-cardboard-stand-up~13577407]blue box[/url] fading away from sight, like it was rejecting reality. [color=tan]”Hey, Zer0! Did you, uh… See that? Eh, nevermind.”[/color] He straightened up, groaning somewhat from the stabbing pain.The high of the jet didn’t dull it one bit. It wasn’t like med-x or anything else useful in that regard, just gave him heightened awareness. [color=tan][i]Damn what I wouldn’t give for some med-x right now. Wonder if this place has any plants I can use to make some? Wait, why can’t I remember how to make it? Wait, my movements in that fight were sluggish and poor too. I can’t remember how to fight proper neither! Fucking sparkle-lord up in the sky. Guess I’ll have to keep trudging along until I remember those things like how it took some time for my armor to kick in again.[/i][/color] That’s when the Courier remembered that he was, you know, bleeding. Pretty badly, too. Well, only one thing to do there. He pulled out his one and only stimpack left and injected it near the wound. Almost instantly 6 felt the pain subside as the blood coagulated and scabbed over, building proteins for muscle tissue at an extremely rapid pace. His minor cuts and bruises quickly faded as well. He wasn’t back to 100%, but damn it was near close enough. After taking a moment to enjoy the feeling of the stimpack, the Courier noticed that the three bomb throwing creatures left behind but a single remnant between them all, not one apiece. This whole thing was kookie, but hey, who was he to complain? [color=tan]”Oh, you all done pissed me off enough that I’ll throttle ya even in death!”[/color] Without further pomp or circumstance the Mojave mailman made his way to the crash site, stepping carefully around the wreckage and debris, then reached out to the floating moat of whatever-the-hell-it-was and made to [i]crush it[/i] between his hands.