Sarah and Luna walked into the Chop Shop to find what appeared to be your average clinic; a few beds with medical equipment beside them were in neat orderly rows. The odd things that were immediately noticeable however was the dead feral ghoul lying on one of the gunneries along with the unconscious human woman who looked exceedingly pale lying on another. The final odd thing was the row of windows which overlooked an enclosure full of glowing ghouls like the one that Sarah had fought earlier.

Without meaning too, Sarah walked over to the unconscious woman and examined her with Luna standing a little ways behind, scanning the room.

“Hmm... she’s obviously in a coma,” Sarah murmured as she looked her over with a frown.

“I’m afraid she’s going to be out for a while. She’s not well at all,” a raspy voice said from behind her making Sarah have to resist the urge to jump. She turned to see a ghoul in a pair of doctor’s scrubs standing behind her. “Don’t worry though, I’m sure the rest of Reilly's Rangers will show up soon and take her home.”

“Who?” Sarah asked him with a small frown, unfamiliar with the name.

“Oh, you must be new around here,” the ghoul replied with a small chuckle. “They’re a mercenary company that bases itself out of the D.C. Ruins. I’m assuming she’s their leader Reilly. What was left of her armour had her name stenciled on it. She was in a pretty bad way when we found her outside Underworld.”

A mercenary company, like those damnable Talon Company mercenaries who have been making our lives hell? Nim asked within Sarah’s head. Interesting... mayhaps if we can help her she can convince her fellow mercenaries to ensure that we remove those fools from our tails.

“I see...” Sarah said as she glanced at Luna who nodded a confirmation. “So... Doctor Barrows I presume?”

“Yes, that’s me,” the ghoul replied with a nod.

“Right... so, can you tell me what’s wrong with Miss Reilly?” Sarah asked as she spared a glance at the wounded ranger.

“She had multiple lacerations, contusions, a broken leg, some internal bleeding, and blunt force trauma,” the ghoul explained easily as if he had it memorized. “She hasn’t been conscious since they brought her in here a few days ago. I’d say she tangled with some Super Mutants and lost. It’s a miracle she isn’t dead.”

The information flashed through Sarah’s mind and she recounted all of her father’s medical lessons that he’d given her in the hopes that she’d become a Doctor like himself. Not all of them had stuck but she had a grasp on some of it. Maybe all she needed was this doctor’s opinion to fill in the blanks.

“Do you think there’s any way to revive her?” Sarah asked after a moment.

“Well... I wouldn’t recommend it,” Barrows stated. “She’s in some sort of coma. It’s dangerous to force someone out of it. There’s no telling when she’ll come out of it I’m afraid.”

Yet she’s been in one for several days now so... it is either now or never we believe, Nim stated. Do you know how to perform this operation Sarah?

Maybe... Sarah replied before asking Barrows one final question. “Do you mind if I try to revive her?”

“Unless you’re an expert at medicine, I wouldn’t recommend it. You may end up doing more harm than good,” he told her with a frown. “However... I’m all for helping my patients. So if you think you have the ability, be my guest.”

Sarah nodded. “I won’t let you down Doctor,” she stated as she turned away from Barrows and walked over to Reilly, grabbing several tools and going to work.

Meanwhile, Luna watched her with interested eyes. Sarah became so focused on her task that she forgot about everything else and as Luna studied her, she found that somehow made her even more beautiful than before.

She is so focused, so driven, so... intense, Luna whispered to Nim over their private link.

Indeed she is, Nim replied affectionately. Her mind is so focused on her task that I doubt even an explosion would distract her from it.

Luna smiled as she resisted the urge to go up behind Sarah and kiss her on the cheek as she worked. You know Nim... you sound so very happy.

We do... don’t we? Nim replied slowly, as if it surprised even herself.

Yes, you really do, Luna stated, allowing a bit of affection to slip into her mental voice. Far more then you ever were within my head.

Yes well... we still wish we could return to you... but we like it here as well, Nim told her. It is so much more... free here. We do not feel the constant urge to nettle and despair like we did within your mind.

Luna frowned at that. Strange... I was unaware that you felt had that problem... I thought you only did that because it was your nature as part of my mind.

As did we, but here in Sarah’s mind, the feeling is absent, Nim replied. Make of that what you will.

“And there,” Sarah said as she inserted a needle into Reilly's neck and pushed down the plunger before pulling it slowly out.

The effect was immediate. The unconscious woman’s eyes blinked open and she turned to look at Sarah with wide eyes from where she lay. “What... what happened... where am I... how long have I been out?”

“You were found seriously wounded outside of Underworld about two days ago,” Sarah answered as she placed a steadying hand on the woman’s shoulder. “Just lie there for a moment alright?”

The other woman nodded a little and closed her eyes before taking a deep breath. “Right... can’t remember what I was doing...” she trailed off and then her eyes widened. “Wait! Oh shit!” she shouted. “My men... my team! What happened to them?” she demanded as she tried to rise. Sarah pushed her back down, gently of course.

“Like I said, you’re not in any condition to be up and about,” Sarah informed her. “Just stay down for a bit longer alright? I’ll answer any questions that I can.”

“That’s not the way I do things!” Reilly said as she pushed Sarah’s hand from her shoulder and tried to get up. “Do you have any idea what it would do to my reputation if word got around that Reilly of Reilly’s Rangers was laid up in a hospital bed?”

“Not really,” Sarah stated firmly, once more pushing the woman down.

“Stop that!” the weakened woman said.

“Fine, Luna, please keep her down,” Sarah said, looking over her shoulder at Luna. Reilly followed her gaze and finally spotted the alicorn.

“The fuck?” she asked before Luna’s light blue aura flowed over her and she found herself unable to sit up as an invisible force pushed lightly against her.

“Reilly, meet Luna, Luna, meet Reilly,” Sarah said by way of introduction, still rather surprised at how easy being casual about Luna had become.

“Hello,” Luna said pleasantly as she walked a bit closer, Reilly stared at her dumbfounded for a moment before she shook her head.

“I’m not hallucinating the blue horse with the mane made of stars, am I?” the woman asked before she took a deep breath and let it out. “Alright... okay... so I’m not crazy... good.” Then she turned back to Sarah. “Okay... so you’re that woman I heard about on the radio... right?”

“That’s what people keep telling me,” Sarah replied with a small blush. “Honestly though, I don’t listen to it very much.”

“Ah, alright... well, Three Dog has been spouting some kind of nonsense about a woman who flies around on a magical blue horse that can talk,” Reilly said with a small sardonic smile. “Though I guess it wasn’t nonsense, was it?”

“No, it was not,” Luna stated emphatically. “Though we cannot blame you for thinking such. To be honest; the fact I’m here at all still comes as a constant surprise to me as well.”

“Right...” Reilly said as she digested that bit of info. “Err, anyways, I’m probably too hurt to help my boys, but you two might just be able too.”

“Okay, what do you need us to do?” Sarah asked, figuring that she’d woken the woman so she might as well humor her. “Though do you mind skipping most of the story and just telling us what we need to know?”

“My team is trapped on the roof of the Statesman Hotel in Vernon Square and completely surrounded by Super Mutants. Their ammo is probably almost gone and I have no idea much longer they have to live,” the woman explained quickly.

Well now... this is interesting, Nim stated as Sarah mulled over her options. It seems that we have been presented with the opportunity to be big damn heroes.

Big damn heroes? Sarah asked, caught a bit off guard by the phrase.

Indeed, we shall show up in the nick of time to liberate these men from the jaws of death, Nim said with a mental smile. The term was coined by one of our top lieutenants, he was fond of wearing a brown coat over top of his armour and saved us on several occasions.

Right... Sarah trailed off and then glanced at Luna, raising an eyebrow slightly. “What do you think Luna? A chance to be ‘big damn heroes’ sound good to you?”

“Indeed it does,” Luna replied with a nod.

“Alright, we’ll do it,” Sarah told Reilly who let out a slightly relived breath.

“Whew, I was holding my breath on that one I think,” she said as she gently scratched the back of her neck. “I wasn’t sure what you were going to say.”

“Well, I like helping people I guess,” Sarah replied.

“Right; all I ask is that you hurry, I don’t know how much longer they will be able to survive up there,” Reilly replied while giving Sarah an intense look. “Also, I’d recommend that you try to find Theo, he was our ammo guy, here’s the code for his box,” she added as she quickly reached into her pocket and handed a small info stick to Sarah who quickly inserted it into her Pip-Boy.

Sarah just smiled and nodded. “Thank you Reilly, I promise, we’ll get your boys home safe,” she swore.

“Thank you,” the woman said before looking at Luna. “Think you could let me go now? I’m not going anywhere for a while so long as I know that you two are on the case.” Luna nodded and released her hold on Reilly, allowing the woman to sit up a little in the bed.

“We should get going,” Sarah said as she patted Luna on the neck softly. “See you again soon Reilly, and when we do your team will be safe and sound.”

“They damn well better be,” Reilly said angrily, though she didn’t sound like she was mad at Sarah.

Sarah and Luna nodded and shuffled out of the Chop Shop. “Wasn’t there something else we were supposed to get while we were in there?” Luna asked Sarah with a frown.

“Yeah... but we can get it later,” Sarah replied as she began to march out of Underworld. “We have people to save Luna, let’s get our asses in gear and do it.”

Luna looked at her love, a look of pure determination was plastered across her face and the mare had the sudden urge to kiss her deeply, so she did.

When they parted, Sarah looked at her with a small frown.

“What was that for?” she asked, a bit befuddled by the suddenness of the kiss.

“For being so incredible,” Luna replied before she stepped in front of Sarah and began to walk forwards. “Come on, we have an appointment on a rooftop.”

Author's Note

Short chapter is short, so chapter 35 will probably be out tomorrow or around midnight tonight