Vol. lII Chapter 73 "Queen of the Hunt."

Chapter 72 "Queen of the Hunt."

Rosie sat in the cabin of a Vertibird outside the Vault. The long patrol and loss catching up to her. Matt appeared, Charlie with him. "Got word from the Corners, Madame Yao wants a meet." He looked her in the eye. "Asked for the Baron's ghost. Which I'm guessing is you." Matt had a look of respect.

"Soon as John gets here we'll go." Rosie needed to see him. She wanted to go to Wallace but even the thought of being underground stopped her. She had to focus on what she could do to help him. To help them all.

A few hours later, Rosie walked into the Four Corners. Charlie, Matt, and John were already on the inside. The place heaved with people, tension in the air. The normally discreet Hunters were out in force. This riled up the already animated raiders.

Rosie picked up on the chatter as she slipped unnoticed through the crowds. The word had gotten around that the Brotherhood had taken Shadowtown. Now they were amped up and spoiling for a fight.

She made her way to Hunter's bar, painted faces and spears blocked the door. "Here to see Madame Yao." Rosie saw an amused look. "Tell her the Baron's ghost is here." Their faces dropped. Spears clacked twice and the door opened.

Trophies from all manner of strange beasts adorned the walls. A Deathclaw skeleton crowned the bar. A row of skulls from mutated hounds below it. The mounted heads of great bears. A pair of guards marched her upstairs.

Madame Yao sat in a chair, smoking a long thin pipe. Hair tightly braided, face painted with a black stripe across her eyes. A woman pricking her arm with ink dipped needles. The guard walked over to her and whispered in her ear. She glared at Rosie, looking her up and down. She looked into her eyes for a long moment, before dismissing the others with a gesture.

"Your father, did he make it?" Rosie asked, cementing her identity. Madame Yao offered her a seat.

"Your intervention got him to our Lodge. Sadly the healers could not soothe the fever. He hunts with the ancestors now." Madame Yao had a look of pain and fury. Rosie knew the look well.

"I'm sorry. I lost the closest thing I had to a father that night too." Rosie felt the open wound still.

"We will hunt with them again, when the ancestors call us home." She seemed to find comfort in that. Rosie envied her.

"I want you to deliver a message." She pointed to an ornate box on the table. Rosie opened it, finding a carved bone knife within. "I want you to give that to the leader of the Brotherhood." Madame Yao snarled. "Tell him that for a guarantee of our safety, the tribe will stand with them. Or he may return the knife and make himself my enemy." She seemed like this was the best bad choice she had left. "Can you do that?"

"I can do better." Rosie put her finger to her ear, for the sake of appearances. "Whirlwind, Tornado." She reached Charlie, who'd been listening in. "Request open comm with Excalibur Actual." Madame Yao sat back, impressed.

"Can I ask you something?" Rosie asked, still enamoured with the fearsome Madame Yao.

"Why did I send for you?" She sat back, weighing her up in light of the new information. "I was curious. And I sensed you would aid the Tribe, again." She gave a nod, which Rosie took as close to a thank you as queens gave.

Rosie saw the channel open in the corner of her eye and put out her arm. "This is Elder Clarke Maxwell of the Brotherhood of Steel. To whom am I speaking?"

"Madame Yao Guai, Queen of the hunt." She bristled at the introduction.

"Your grace." The elder showed respect. "How may I be of service?"

"Jones and his guaiwu attacked the Tribe, destroyed our..." Her anger flared. "You intend to fight them, yes?"

"I intend to purge them in fire, your grace." He gave the right answer. Even Rosie found herself in agreement.

"Then we are of one mind." Her pride and station stopped her asking outright.

"It would honour me to fight with the Tribe." Elder Maxwell sounded sincere. "My people will aid in your extraction. I'll have air support on standby."

"Very well. We will arrive before sundown." She gave her a nod and Rosie shut off the comm. "He thinks me a savage."

"He thinks me a weapon." Rosie spoke honestly. "Seems like both of those things are what we need right now."

"Quite." Madame Yao stood, pulling on her leather vest and thick fur coat. "As you have completed my task, I am in your debt. What would you ask of the Queen of the hunt?"

"Jones." Rosie asked for the only thing she wanted. "He's mine."

Half an hour later, the Hunters were ready to move. "Ronin, Tornado. Babysit Yao." Charlie gave her orders over the comm. "Cyclone. Take point. I'll provide overwatch. Move."

The crowds swelled and pushed as the Hunters started to leave en masse. Rosie kept Madame Yao in front of her and followed John.

"Free Jet!" Someone shouted, tossing inhalers out of a window. The crowd scrambled over each other. Fist fights broke out. The Hunters held their line, keeping the others moving behind them. Coughing and the sound of panic spread. People started dropping all around. Seizing, writhing, changing.

Suddenly mutants were everywhere, ripping through the crowd. John opened fire. Sniper rounds cracked overhead. Rosie felt a wave of movement hit her from behind. The shock triggered the dreamlike state. A green arm swept overhead, reaching for Yao. Rosie did the only thing she could, and switched places with her.

Time snapped back as Rosie felt herself being lifted from the ground. An enlarged hand clamped around her waist, squeezing tight. She felt the breath being forced from her. Warnings and errors flashed as she pounded the thick arm. Things began to go quiet, her vision darkening.

Rosie drew breath and the world turned back on. She lay on the floor, John knelt by her firing into the mutant's chest. It's arm blasted off and twitching on the ground. "Move!" John dragged her up.

As Rosie stood, the mayhem around her stopped. Not slowed, stopped. Code scrolling down came to an end. A message flashed into her view. *Emergency countermeasures ready. Deploy: Y/N?*

Rosie screamed, unleashing an ear splitting blast of ultrasonic sound. The people around her couldn't hear it. The heightened senses of the mutants meant they could. Every one of them started to flinch and wince, giving her an opening.

The system overlaid a line and circles. She drew Grimm's spear, spinning it above her head. Rosie lashed out, whirling the spear tip at yellow eyes and pulsating throats. She thrust the spear head into open mouths and bullet wounds.

Her arms began to burn. With one last burst of strength, Rosie hurled the spear. It drove through one mutant and killed one behind it.

Time snapped back as she stood atop a dead mutant and retrieved the spear. Rosie looped a recording of her screaming and blasted it out from her pipboy. The Hunters rallied, striking out and forming into a tight group. Madame Yao barked commands and they started moving.

Spears, sniper cover, and the lives of Hunters got them to the gate. Rosie brought the Velo in to extract Charlie. She perched in the open cabin, laying down fire as Rosie piloted remotely.

They escaped into the open space. The mutants held back instinctively where they had the advantage. "Tornado, Whirlwind. Take me up." Charlie had a worried tone. Rosie sent the Velo up. She looked through the camera, seeing what Charlie saw.

An army, marching from the south.

The elder met them outside the southern gate. Madame Yao stepped forward, still proud despite losing nearly half her people. "I feared the worst. Your people show great strength." The elder greeted Yao.

"As do yours." Yao gave Rosie a nod.

"Actually Scout Captain Blake was trained by my late husband." The elder's words caught him off guard. "She is a credit to his memory." Rosie didn't look at him.

"My people," Madame Yao looked to her Tribe. The reduced number hit her and she broke. The elder stepped round her, offering his arm and turning her back.

"We must never let them see us bleed, your grace." He spoke to her as one leader to another. One grieving person to another.