A Close Call

It wasn't hard finding someone to draw up a simple map for us after Ruby pointed us in the right direction. From what I could tell the map was mostly similar to what I remembered in the game, so I knew it was accurate. Yoruichi spent a good ten minutes memorizing the map while we also tried to guess at likely places the convicts might be holding Beagle hostage. And I made sure to point out the kitchen on the first floor which was where he actually was in the game.

Of course, Yoruichi didn't think they'd be stupid enough to keep their hostage on the first floor so close to the entrance but, I wasn't so sure.

Either way she was starting to get antsy and wanted to get this over with as soon as possible and I couldn't think of any way to stop her. As dangerous as this was it was nothing compared to what was coming. So, I decided to trust her status as the protagonist and let her do it.

"Just don't get yourself killed" I said while handing her the Grenade Launcher once again "Here you might some heavy firepower to blow your way out if you get caught."

"With how often I needed this thing you might as well just give it to me" She joked.

"Come back alive and we'll talk" I rolled my eyes.

"Wait really" she gasped and looked at me with puppy dog eyes!

I crossed my arms and pouted but eventually gave in "Fine."

"Yes" she fist pumped!

"Just hurry up and get out of here before I change my mind" I shooed her off!

"Don't worry I've got this" she shot me thumbs up before activating her Stealth Boy and disappearing out the door.

"That woman's going to be the death of me" I sighed once I was sure she was really gone.

"The good one's normally are" Ruby came up behind me and slapped my shoulder! "Now come on instead of sitting here being a worry wort, trust your woman and come and try some of my Scorpion Venom Casserole."

My expression lit up at the mention of the mythical food and asked her what exactly a Casserole was as I followed after her. Of course, that didn't mean I wasn't still worried about Yoruichi since I was ready for action the second I heard gunfire.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Yoruichi stealthily made her way towards the Bison Steve Hotel while avoiding patrolling guards. She noticed there were more around than earlier and figured they must have finally found the bodies of the convicts Ethan killed when they first entered town.

She still wasn't sure how he managed to notice them coming around the corner, turn, and fire all before they even had a chance to respond. And as awesome and badass as she knew she was Yoruichi didn't think she was capable of doing something like that... at least not yet anyway. Which was why it was all the more amazing that he actually could!

Focusing back on the task at hand Yoruichi decided to think about Ethan's sudden burst of skill later since she had finally arrived at the entrance of the hotel.

She wasn't sure exactly how she was going to get in all the windows were boarded up and it would make to much noise if she forced one open. While front door itself was most likely going locked and guarded if the convicts were even mildly competent.

Still, it didn't hurt to try so she carefully tried pushing open the double doors just in case, and to her astonishment the door actually open slightly!

'Unbelievable' she shook her head 'the idiots really left it unlocked!'

Putting her ear to the crack she listened for any signs of convicts on the other side. She heard laughing in the distance but, it sounded like it was coming from a lot further in the hotel. After glancing around to make none of the guard patrols were nearby, she decided to take the risk and push the door open further.

As the door slowly creaked wider her muscles tensed ready to run the instant she was spotted or thought a trap might go off.

But, nothing did happen and soon enough the door was open wide enough to just barely squeeze through.

The inside was far darker than she expected it to be, most of the lights had already burnt out and most of the ones still working flicked constantly.

'Good' she grinned to herself!

Other people might have trouble seeing in this darkness, especially after walking around in blinding desert outside. But, to her golden eyes the gloomy halls of the hotel might as well have been bathed in sunlight! All the dark would do is make sneaking around even easier for her than it already was!

Yoruichi was in her element as she slunk into the lobby, her ears twitched as she heard approaching footsteps and froze hiding in the shadows. Her breathing became shallow and even her heartbeat slowed as a pair of convicts entered the room.

"Man, that brahmin meat hit the spot" one of the convicts patted his stomach and burped slightly.

"A bit overcooked if you ask me" the other responded "I honestly prefer my meat rare."

"Me too" the first convict rolled his eyes "But, I like living too much to even think about asking the boss to go easy with the fire."

"I know" the second laughed "I still remember the stink from when he burned that sheriff and his wife alive. They burned like pigs!"

"Damn it" the first convict sighed when he saw the open door and walked forward to kick it closed "One of those stupid idiots out on patrol must have forgot to close it, dumbass probably snuck in to go for seconds while we were gone. It's not every day we get a whole brahmin after all."

"..."

"Huh, what cat got your tongue" the first convict turned towards his friend "You're never this-" The convict froze when he saw his friend lying face down on the ground with his head twisted at an unnatural angle.

He wanted to scream but, before the words even reached his lips an invisible hand clasped itself over his mouth before his neck was jerk violently to the side.

Yoruichi let out a sigh of exasperation as the man slumped to the floor.

She didn't actually need to kill him and could have easily snuck passed them but, when they started laughing about burning people alive something inside of her snapped. After it was over she regretted immediately but, what was done was done and she could only deal with the consequences and move on.

She just needed to find a place to hide these bodies before anyone else showed up.

After a quick glance around she saw a locked supply closet, and it only took her a moment to hack into the nearby terminal to disengage the electronic lock. Stupid convicts probably had no idea this computer even opened that door, though it was a bit surprising they hadn't just bashed it down. But, whatever now she had the perfect place to hide the bodies.

Once she was done moving the corpses Yoruichi quickly looted the room for anything valuable though she didn't find anything other a few shots of Med-X, a bottle of Rad-X, and a Stimpak inside a wall mounted medkit as well as an old key labeled maintenance which she figured might be useful. There was also a safe in the wall but, she had more important things to do that bother with that and quickly locked the door again with the terminal before moving deeper into hotel.

Only pausing slightly as another convict passed by.

"Damn it where did those two idiots go" he cursed when he saw the empty lobby "They were supposed to be on guard duty! The boss is gonna have their heads when he hears about this!"

Ignoring him she quickly snuck by leaving him to rant on his own as she passed the ransacked remains of what used to be the hotel's giftshop and a set of broken elevators before arriving at a large room filled to the brim with convicts. They were surrounding a massive bonfire that had an entire brahmin slow cooking over the top. While a freak wearing a firefighter's outfit and wearing a hockey mask roasted it with a flame thrower.

'Nearly every convict in the town must be in there' she thought to herself.

Yoruichi took a moment to go over her options. From what she'd been told by the townspeople most of the first and second floors were completely unpassable after the ceiling collapsed a couple decades ago. Which meant that the only way up to the mostly intact 3rd and 4th floors were they were most likely keeping Deputy Beagle was through staircase in the dinning hall which completely packed with convicts.

She was confident she could do it though only as a last resort.

The elevators were also an option but, she'd taken a look at them when she first passed by and saw that they were a bit too broken for someone at her skill level to fix. Maybe she could try climbing up the shaft itself but, the panel leading to the roof of the elevator was locked from the other side meaning she would have to bust it open. Which would make a lot of noise and attracting attention she'd rather avoid.

So, it looked like she'd just have to bite the bullet and try a maneuver her way through the sea of criminals.

Of course, that didn't mean there wasn't anything she could do to make her life easier. From what she remembered of the hotel's layout there was a maintenance door nearby that led to the kitchen area which was also connected to the dining hall. From there she'd only have to sneak through a relatively small part of the dining hall as opposed to having to sneak across the entire thing which was what she'd have to do from her current spot in the lobby hallway.

Not to mention that the kitchen was one of the places Ethan thought they might be keeping Beagle. She of course disagreed but, would still check regardless just so she could say she told him so.

With her course of action decided Yoruichi doubled back to the blocked maintenance door which sat just beyond the gift shop and checked the lock. She was confident she would be able to pick it if she had too but, before that she'd try the key, she found in the supply room.

Glancing back to make sure the convict who passed by earlier wasn't coming back, she quietly inserted the key into the lock which slid smoothy in and made a satisfying click when she twisted it.

'Well, that was convenient" she thought to herself while pocketing the key.

Pushing open the door she another long hallway with a lone convict sitting at the end of the corridor. At first, she was worried he'd seen the locked door opening and notice something wrong but, as the seconds passed by he remained seated in his spot staring into space mumbling occasionally.

I took her a moment to finally realize what was going on but, when she did she quickly pushed open the door and closed it behind her before turning her attention back to the convict. As she got closer she confirmed her suspicions that the guy was stoned out of his mind. His pupils were dilated, he was twitching occasionally, and wasn't quite all there.

Yoruichi sneered and kicked away an empty syringe of Psycho before leaving the man to wallow in his shame.

He wasn't even worth killing.

Finally arriving at the kitchen, she saw something that made her jaw drop! It was a shaggy blonde-haired man in leather armor handcuffed and lying on the floor looking starved but, mostly okay.

'No freaking way' she thought refusing to believe that this was actually Deputy Beagle! But, she hadn't heard of the convicts taking any other prisoners so who else could this possibly be?

They were literally within walking distance from the literal front door and there was maybe ONE person guarding the entrance between here and there! How could they possibly have been so stupid as to keep their only hostage here!

But, then she remembered that they just a bunch of dumb druggy criminals led by a psycho with a fetish for fire. What else could she possibly expect from them? Still, she was a bit upset she'd have to admit Ethan was right. She could already imagine the smug look he'd have on his face when she told him.

Whatever, she deal with that later. Getting Beagle out of here first was more important.

The kitchen itself was right in view of the dining hall so it would be very easy for anyone looking to notice something wrong. She'd have to be very careful to avoid pissing off every convict in town.

Creeping closer she covered Beagle's mouth with her hand to prevent him from screaming. Beagle of course struggled once he noticed what was happening his eyes wide with fear but, Yoruichi easily kept him restrained.

"Keep quiet" she harshly whispered in his ear "I'm here to bust you out so unless you want to be brutally murdered CALM DOWN!"

Beagle stopped struggling but, she could still see the fear in his eyes as he struggled to see her invisible form.

"Now" she continued "I'm going to take my hand off your mouth and if you scream something VERY unpleasant is going to happen to you so is that understood?"

Beagle hastily nodded.

"Good" she said finally removing her hand "Now, just to make sure you are Deputy Beagle right?"

He nodded in silence.

"Great" Yoruichi grinned! "Just let me get these off of you real quick" she easily popped open his handcuffs." Before continuing "Now I want you to wait her patiently until I give the go ahead but, once I do I want you to get up and sprint down the maintenance hallway and out the front door and don't stop running until you reach the casino. Got it?"

"Got it" he whispered back.

Yoruichi was satisfied he understood and stealthily made her way back to the lobby to see if the convict was still there. She wanted to clear the way so the Beagle could hopefully escape without anyone the wiser. Returning to the lobby she saw that it was empty once again and guessed the man from earlier must have either went to look for the two she killed or to get more someone else to guard the door. Either way there was no one there right now and she had to hurry.

Back in the kitchen she whispered to Beagle that she was going to cause a distraction in a second to get everyone's attention and that once she did that it was time for him to run.

He agreed without hesitation, and she snuck over to the entrance of the dining hall.

She'd thought about just firing a bunch of grenades into the crowd since most of the convicts were there but, eventually decided against it. Because if she didn't get them all and pissed off the survivors too much they might go crazy and launch an assault on the casino while chasing after her. Something she didn't want to happen.

So, going with plan b she picked up a few of the empty beer bottles scattered around and chucked them as hard as she could across the room where they shattered against the wall with a mighty crash momentarily catching all their attention's.

See them all distracted Beagle Knew this was his chance and leapt to his feet, sprinting down the maintenance hall passed the drugged out convict and out into the lobby like his life depended on it!

Yoruichi was thankful for his quick reactions and followed after him but, cursed when she heard a commotion from up ahead.

"What do you think you're doing" the convict from earlier shouted while holding Beagle at gunpoint!

'Damn it' she thought! He must have been outside looking for the other and chose the absolute worst time to come back in! And now the whole hotel was probably alerted!

Not wasting a moment Yoruichi rushed at the convict who barely had the time to notice the strange shimmering in the air before his throat was viciously sliced by a single swing of her machete.

"Keep going" she shouted at Beagle!

The two of them burst outside and Yoruichi thought fast tossing one of the mines she'd disarmed earlier behind her. Not long after the first gunshots sounded out as their dramatic exit was noticed by a few of the patrolling guards who instantly recognized Beagle.

Luckily, Yoruichi was still mostly invisible and hadn't really been noticed yet.

But, Beagle wasn't so lucky and sprinted for his life praying that he wasn't going to be hit my any of the stray bullets!

Not wanting her only lead on the checkered suited man to have his brains blown out Yoruichi unslung the grenade launcher from her shoulder and started firing! Explosions echoed out as she fired round after round into the convicts and the mine by the door blew up as the first of the enemy reinforcements arrived.

Yoruichi frowned as a swarm of convicts started pouring out of the hotel trampling over the bloody remains of their former allies.

She couldn't return to the casino like this! Even though the people of Primm had their guard up and were ready for a fight, the convicts vastly outnumbered them as well as an enormous amount of dynamite they could just use to demolish the entire building if they felt like it.

"Change of plans" she shouted at Beagle "We need to get to cover in the alleys and make our way towards the NCR camp at the entrance of town!"

"Whatever you say magic invisible lady" Beagle screamed darting away from the casino and into the nearest alley!

"Ahh" Yoruichi grimaced as a bullet grazed her cutting a long bloody trench through the side of her shoulder!

Looking back she saw that the dozens of convicts who'd left the hotel had finally gotten their acts together under the command of their leader Burn still decked in his ridiculous outfit and were firing on her location. And even though most of them were either flat out drunk or high on some kind of chem and couldn't aim worth a damn, the sheer number of them firing together was a massive threat.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!" shots rang out in quick succession as three of the more competent looking convict's heads exploded in a shower of blood and a massive dent was formed on Burn's hockey mask as was knocked back!

Yoruichi's head snapped to the side where she saw Ethan shooting her a cocky grin before diving behind cover and disappearing from sight.

"Go and catch that asshole" Burn screamed throwing off the dented mask revealing his scarred face "He needs to BURN!"

A million different thoughts raced through her head at that moment but, she didn't have time dwell on them and ran into the alley after Beagle. She extremely worried about Ethan since he'd just pissed the psychotic pyromaniac the convicts called a leader, especially since the alley he ducked into led AWAY from the town's exit. But, she trusted that he was smart and tough enough to escape from that situation on his own and would meet her back at the bridge.

After all he trusted her enough to let her sneak in an enemy base all by herself. Although that might not have been the best comparison seeing how her infiltration went.

Regardless she had something else she needed worry about right now and that was if they'd be fast enough to make it to the bridge before the convicts did.

Because to avoid getting shot at they had to take a detour through the alleys while the convicts themselves could take the direct route down Primm's main street. She still had hope they'd make it through because like she noticed earlier most of them were wasted off their asses. And were probably either too drunk to run properly, or too stupid to think about taking the short cut and would just follow them into the alleys. Hopefully a combination of both!

An instant later she had caught back up to Beagle who was a surprisingly slow runner all things considered. Though she was going to cut him some slack since he'd been held captive for the past week.

Making use of the narrow corridors she threw out her remaining two mines hoping to slow them down a bit more, before they finally exited the alleys and saw the bridge in the distance.

Unfortunately, there was still a massive stretch of nothing but, empty land between them and safety and they were going to have no choice except to just sprint it and hope for the best.

"Let's go" Yoruichi grit her teeth and pushed Beagle forward into the last leg of their race!

"Boom! Boom!" Two massive explosions rang out from the alley behind them, and she let out an evil grin knowing that her trap was successful! Even better was the fact that they were already halfway across the field and none of the convicts had turned the corner around mainstreet yet, meaning she was right about how stupid they were.

The two of them finally arrived at the rickety old bridge and bolted across before diving behind NCR cover.

"What the hell did you do" an angry Lieutenant Hayes burst through the crowd of battle ready NCR soldiers coming to a stop in front of the duo!

Yoruichi deactivated her Stealth Boy and bitterly smiled up at the Lieutenant before pointing at Beagle who just waved "Saving a hostage who has information about the man I'm hunting."

Hayes eyebrow twitched before he facepalmed and sighed to himself "It's fine, I already expected something like this to happen when I let you into town." Snapping back into action Hayes ordered his men to be ready for anything before glancing back down at Yoruichi "Speaking of which where's that friend of yours? He's not still in town is he?"

Realizing that Ethan really wasn't there yet, she jumped out from her cover dashed over to the elevated guard post overlooking the town to see if she could spot him.

A moment later a bloody figure dashed into view and Yoruichi paled instantly at the sight.

It was Ethan! His clothes were torn to shreds, he was covered in blood, and his entire arm was scorched black! Yoruichi bit her lip and was about to rush out to help when Lieutenant Hayes grabbed her.

"Running out there won't help him! You'll just get yourself killed too!"

"Get off me" she screamed throwing Hayes aside!

"Pin her down" he shouted causing her to be swarmed by soldiers!

"Damn it! Let me go" she cursed with tears in her eyes still fought as half a dozen soldiers struggled to keep her pinned down! "I won't let him die just because I messed up!"

Hayes gulped nervously at her monstrous strength and hoped that Ethan kid managed to make it, if for no other reason than so he wouldn't have to deal with Yoruichi's vengeance.

From her position on the ground Yoruichi could just barely make out Ethan in the distance as he ran for his life, and felt something break inside her when she a burst of blood explode from his back.

He'd been shot!

She thought it was over and could already imagine the tragic scene of him stumbling over as he's swarmed by convicts. She didn't even want to think about what that Burn guy would do to him if he got his hands on Ethan. Blood ran down her chin as she bit her lip once again before a steely look came over her eyes as she made a decision.

"Let me go" she stopped struggling and looked up at Hayes.

"I already told you I'm not letting you run out there to get killed on my watch" he knelt down next to her "There's too many of them out there."

"...I know" she answered darkly "...I know I can't save him and if he isn't able to make it back on his own, I at least want to make sure they don't take him alive."

"Y-you're not suggesting what I think you are" Hayes looked at her in shock!

Yoruichi didn't answer only stared up at him in silence.

"Let her go" Hayes ordered as his shoulders slumped.

"Thank you" she whispered rising to her feet.

"Here" Hayes offered her his service rifle before sighing "I won't question your resolve to do this but, you should know. I've known people who have been in the exact same situation you're in now and... they're never the same after they do what you're about to do. A part them dies and they can never get it back."

"That's fine" she answered getting into position and aiming down the sights "I've already died once this week."

Back down in Primm Ethan had made it most of the way towards the bridge and Yoruichi looked back just in time to see another geyser of blood erupt from his back. She was astonished that he could take hits like that and keep on running and a trace of hope bloomed in her heart. Regardless she kept her rifle trained on target refusing to let something horrible happen just because she lost focus.

The horde behind Ethan kept firing and even him Burn himself joined in on the fun unleashing massive fireballs that arced through the air landing just short of him. The seconds ticked by as more and more wounds started piling up on Ethan yet, he kept running regardless. And she could hear the astonishment of the soldiers around her as they wondered how the hell he was still standing.

Soon enough he was in the final stench and was only seconds from safety!

A fact that Burn also seemed to notice as he shouted out an order to his men, a dozen or so of whom stopped firing and pulled out several bright red sticks of dynamite!

Her heart stopped as she saw them light their fuses, and made a snap decision!

She shifted her focus away from Ethan and took aim at the dynamite wielding convict closest to Burn! She didn't know if Ethan was going to survive what was about to happen but, at the very least she could make sure that Burn died with him!

An unimaginable fury coursed through her as she pulled the trigger sending a volley of bullet into the distance!

The bullet struck just as the stick of dynamite left the convicts hand and a massive explosion erupted as his dynamite detonated the other sticks he was carrying along taking out a good quarter of the convicts.

It was hard to imagine that it was only a couple days before that she woke up at Doc Mitchell's with Ethan and so much had happened in that short time. They'd gone Gecko hunting with Sunny, saved Gale from that weirdo Barton Thorn, and of course the time they saved the entire town of Goodsprings and he preformed the exact same feat she just did to take out a group of Powder Gangers all at once.

It seemed only fitting to use it to avenge him.

Though he wasn't dead yet, but Yoruichi found it hard to imagine how he'd survive the shower of explosives that were about to rain on him. Because as skilled as she was, she was only able to shoot down a single one of the more than dozen sticks of dynamite out of the air.

As for Burn he was unfortunately just outside the blast range and wasn't killed by the explosion. Though she didn't have a problem with that since the giant fuel tank attached to his flame thrower had ruptured during the blast and Burn the man was now living up to his namesake. He flailed and screamed in agony as his body was consumed by flames.

Yoruichi steeled herself and decided to be brave and watch Ethan's final moments. She wasn't going to cower away from this, or she'd regret it for the rest of her live. But, when she looked at Ethan she was stunned!

This entire time from the first moment Ethan appeared bloodied and beaten she'd never actually taken a proper look at him. He was too far away and there were other more important things to focus on like the blood spurting from his back after he'd been shot or the army of criminals chasing after him. Even when she had a rifle aimed at his head she hadn't taken the time to actually look at his face.

And now seeing it in the first in what seemed like an eternity, she was ashamed.

Because he didn't look scared or unwilling, all she saw on his face was a look of pure unwavering determination. Like he knew he was going to survive and that nothing or no one was going to stop him.

The rifle fell from her grip and tears poured from her eyes.

Even though she'd only known him for a couple days Ethan had already become an extremely important part of her life! She'd only really been around for a few days and he'd been there since the beginning, and was one of the very few stable things in her life and she didn't want him to die!

"Come on Ethan you can make" she shouted "Don't die!"

The dynamite finally hit the ground landing right in front of Ethan just as he was about to step on the bridge with only a few moments left on the fuse.

"He's not going to make" Lieutenant Hayes whispered and Yoruichi had resist the urge to rip his head off right then and there.

Ethan completely ignoring the dynamite stepped onto the bridge and immediately threw himself off of the side falling nearly 15 feet(5 meters) to the ground below.

"BOOM" the explosives detonated almost the second he hit the ground shaking the ground and causing the bridge to collapse!

Before the dust had even begun to settle Yoruichi had already sprinted off leaving while everyone else was still recovering from the blast.

"Ethan" she called bounding through the rubble! "Where are you!? Don't tell me you've been buried" she panicked and started struggling to flip over the massive pieces of concrete!

"Calm down, I'm over here" a familiar voice coughed out!

"Ethan" Yoruichi's face brightened up as she arrived at his side in an instant!

"Hey" he awkwardly waved up at her from his position leaning against the overpass "Guess I didn't die."

Words failed her as she started crying again and instinctively jumped in for a hug.

"Wait, no Yoruichi don't I'm stil-" he tried to stop her but, was crushed under her mighty grip and instantly passed out from the pain!

"Huh" Yoruichi noticed something was wrong and looked down at her blood covered hand before going into panic mode once again!

'Right! There was a military base right behind her! She just needed to get a Medic! No, wait! She knew how to treat people! And she already had a bunch of medical supplies!"

Up above Lieutenant Hayes felt his sweat drop as she ran around trying to figure out how to help her friend and shook his head before ordering a couple of his men to hurry down there and sort things out before she accidentally killed him.