"You can come on, Twilight," shouted John. "They won't be a problem to anybody now."

Twilight was on her knees some distance away. She hesitated, but got to her hooves and approached John.

"Idiots were killing each other," said John, hatred in his voice. "They're not only evil, they must be incredibly stupid. It's almost a shame really, I would have loved to have ended them myself."

Twilight tried to block out John's last sentence.

"Anyway, help me out Twilight," John continued, crouching down to the dead raider. "We just struck it big time."

"Umm... Yeah, of course." She didn't move.

"You're not serious, are you Twilight?" asked John, not looking to her. He was focused on getting the raider's leather armor off. "This isn't stealing. Anything that these guys are carrying is fair game. And they won't be needing it anyway. And if we don't take this stuff, eventually some other group of raiders will happen upon it."

"You want to take everything?"

"Hell yeah. Junktown is just a little ways out there," said John pointing at an irregularity in the shape of the land on the horizon. "I said it once, but I'll say it again: great eyes."

Twilight moaned as the town seemed to sink even further into the distance as she watched. "I don't know if we can get there carrying all of this."

"We'll damn well carry as much of it as we can. If there's one thing I know, it's that the two things people out here want the most are weapons and armor." He pulled the armor completely off of the raider and let the body fall to the dirt with a thud.

After a moment, he heard Twilight call out "John!"

He hurried to her side and frowned at the body that she was staring at with her mouth hanging open.

"These people weren't raiders, John!" she said urgently.

"The hell, yes they were, I know what I saw!"

"No, that's not what I meant. These particular people were not raiders. I think they were security guards from Junktown! Look at how clean they are compared to the raiders, and how they've all got that same green armor!"

Now that Twilight mentioned it, John thought that the men did somehow look like they had at least been reasonable people.

"Oh. Well then... Bastards deserved what they got. I mean the raiders!" he shouted quickly upon seeing Twilight's face.

"ARGH!" he shouted into the sky. Twilight jumped at this drastic mood swing. "Dammit Twilight, Why didn't we get here just a minute sooner?!"

Twilight remained silent in shock.

John sat down on the ground. "It's nothing," he said to Twilight, as if replying to an unspoken question. "This is just what happens out here."

Getting up partially, he leaned over the security guard and peered into his face. The dead man returned a stare that disturbed John in light of the recent revelation about who they had been. But he didn't let it show.

"It's funny," John said ponderously.

Twilight listened intently upon hearing the tone of his voice. This was a chance to understand her friend a little better.

"I wonder who exactly they were. How long have they managed to survive out here before now? What if they have families that will never see them again?"

"If they do," Twilight interjected, "then we have to tell them." She indicated the distant town.

"Yeah, of course," said John. He closed the man's eyes.

John immediately jumped to his feet, afraid that Twilight had seen what he had done. "Come on, lets gather up these guns first, the armor is actually pretty massive."

Twilight watched him walk back to the raiders and pick up a long gun that she had never seen before.

"Hey, Twilight? What do you think of this thing?"

She looked at it critically. "If the size of it is anything to judge by, it probably hurts much worse than this thing." She started to hold her pistol into the air, but stopped halfway.

"You want me to use it."

"Of course I do. It's a bigger gun."

Twilight didn't speak, or take her eyes off of the hunting rifle.

John waited for her answer.

"That weapon," said Twilight tensely, "was used to murder a human."

After John recovered from surprise, he said "A gun is merely a tool. It does not choose to kill. That choice falls upon the one who wields it."

He held the rifle out toward Twilight.

She looked at him with a weary look in her eyes, but then they hardened. "Yes, of course... And it would be foolish to cling to this little thing." She held up the pistol.

A purple aura surrounded the rifle, but it resisted her will to move it. She looked up at John in surprise.

"Just don't shoot me in the back with it."

Twilight's expression changed to one of fear.

"I... was kidding," said John with a sigh. "But, that wasn't actually funny at all, was it."

"John, please don't joke about that. I meant what I said: It will never happen again."

John let out another sigh. "What are we standing around for, let's get this stuff picked up before more raiders show up."

"Ugh!" groaned Twilight as she forced the leather armor into her bulging backpack.

"Whew..." she said to herself. Fortunately, the weight of the bag's contents wasn't as bad as she had been expecting, nor would it impede her accuracy with a gun. John, on the other hoof, would have to throw his bag to the floor at the first sign of trouble. She looked over to him and saw that he had already given up on trying to cram anything more into his bag.

"This is it, right?" she asked him, looking around. They had managed to pick the almost all of the bodies clean of everything useful.

"Yeah, I guess so. The security guards get to keep their armor I suppose."

"I thought you were avoiding that!"

"I guess I kind of was," agreed John. "But it isn't as though they are naked underneath."

Twilight looked at him hard.

"Let's just get into Junktown before sundown." she said.

"Welcome to Junktown, strangers," said the guard in front of a huge metal box that served as the entry into the town.

"Are we allowed in?" asked John cautiously, indicating Twilight.

"It's not our place to get into other people's business," replied the man.

"We need to report an accident with some of your men," said Twilight urgently.

"Ugh..." moaned the man, putting his hand over his face and letting is slowly fall away. "You need to speak to the sergeant about that, I'm just the lookout." He pointed a thumb behind him.

"Alright," said John. "Have a good day. Hope... nothing causes any trouble for you."

The guard just nodded and fixed his eyes on the horizon.

John and Twilight stepped through the metal entryway.

"What did they build this place out of?" asked Twilight curiously.

"It looks like they salvaged a whole bunch of cars from before the war," answered John. He didn't say anything more. Just on the other side of the entry was another guard holding a shotgun.

"Are you the sergeant?" asked Twilight.

The man looked at her in surprise, but said "Right you are, Sergeant Lars at your service. I would ask if you have a crime to report, but you two only just came out of the wastes. So... how may I help you?

"Unfortunately," said Twilight sadly, "we're here to report the deaths of three of your guards. They were murdered by raiders."

"Dammit! The patrol? Those were good men!" Lars hesitated. "I take it that you two finished off the raiders yourself?" he asked indicating their bulging bags.

"That's right." said John. "I don't suppose you could direct us to the nearest spot to unload all of this crap?"

Twilight looked at John incredulously, but Lars answered with "Not a problem, head to the center of town and look for a place called Darkwater's."

"Sergeant," said Twilight urgently. "Your men died some ways off in that direction." She pointed with her hoof.

"Oh. Well, thank you. I guess I'll have to throw together a new patrol after all. I'll make sure those men don't sit out in the sun for too long."

"This is the place!" said John happily as he read the sign on the building in front of him, which read "Darkwater's".

"How ever did you guess?" asked Twilight sarcastically. John just smiled at her before opening the front door.

"Well howdy!" said a man behind the desk. "Who's your friend?"

"I'm Twilight Sparkle. It's a pleasure to meet you."

The man jumped at her voice, but said "Killian Darkwater at your service. What can I do for you today?"

"I hope you're in a buying mood," said John with a grin, dropping his bag to the floor. He pulled out a suit of leather armor and laid it out on the desk. Before Killian could say anything, John ducked down and pulled another suit out and placed it on his desk too. Twilight had pulled her backpack off and was also beginning to pile armor onto his desk.

"From the look of it," said Killian admiringly, "You two must have recently wiped out a whole party of raiders."

"Sort of," answered John as he set a couple of magnums onto the desk. "Some Junktown guards did most of the work, but they got killed. We just finished the job."

"Ah," said Killian darkly. "I see. That is most unfortunate. But it looks like you'll at least be financing their replacements."

"Can you tell me what this is?" asked John, ignoring Killian's last statement. He set a strange device onto the table. "I figured it must be some kind of medical equipment, but I need to know exactly what it's for."

"Where the hell did you find that?" asked Killian in alarm. "No, that's a stupid question. No surprise those idiot raiders would be carrying one of these." John's expression changed to worry.

"Listen here, this aint no medical equipment. FAR from. It's an incredibly addictive and incredibly dangerous drug called psycho. You inject yourself with that, and by the time you gain control of yourself again, you'll have murdered everything in sight, even if they weren't trying to hurt you. Or you'll wake up dead. You won't give a shit about if you get shot."

"What the hell do I do with it then?" asked John in alarm.

"Listen," said Killian in a whisper as he leaned forward. "You didn't hear this from me, but I bet you'll find somebody out there dumb enough to buy that off of you."

"You want me to sell somebody something that will ruin their life?"

"What they do with it is their problem," answered Killian. "It's up to you."

"Now then," Killian continued at a normal volume, "If that's everything...?"

"Oh, no it's not actually," said John, and he ducked into his bag yet again. He pulled out the two round objects and orange thing that had come from the vault locker and set them on the table.

"Ok, seriously, where the hell did you get these?" asked Killian.

"Deep inside a broken down vault. Now what are they?"

Killian shook his head. "You don't even know how dangerous these things that you've been carrying around are? This thing-" he motioned toward the orange box, "- is a time bomb."

"Oh, damn. Yeah, that's for sale too. Do those other things explode too?"

"Yeah, they do, but not until you pull out these here pins. They're grenades."

"Grenades?" said John uneasily. "How exactly do they work?"

"It's easy. When you pull out the pin, you have three seconds before it explodes. So as soon as you pull it, you throw the grenade at whatever is trying to kill you. If you're aim is good, it blows them to hell."

John hesitated. "I think I could handle that," he said. "Just so long as there is no chance of them going off in my pocket."

"No chance," assured Killian.

"Alright then. Now that's everything."

Killian drew in a large breath. "There's no way I have enough caps to cover all of this. I don't suppose there's anything around the shop that you need?"

"I'll let you know," said John, stepping away from the desk. "Twilight, keep an eye on the stuff."

Twilight nodded.

"Smart man," said Killian to Twilight.

"I know one thing that you could do to make up for all of this," said Twilight in a business voice.

"What would that be?"

"All of this leather armor would be nice, but obviously, I can't wear any of it. I bet you know somebody who convert a suit into something more my size?"

John froze in front of the shelf that he was browsing. Of course she would need that, you idiot! he shouted in his head.

Killian remained silent at the unexpected request for a moment, but then started stroking his chin. "Maybe. But I wouldn't get your hopes up, Miss. That kind of work isn't easy, and I'm sure that I would just wind up tearing apart perfectly good armor to little avail. Maybe you could get some kneepads out of it, but..."

"Ok, you don't have to sugarcoat it," said Twilight, deeply disappointed. "Just take them as they are."

"Twilight." Twilight turned to John, who had walked over to her side. "We can't leave you defenseless like this. I promise you, we'll figure something out, somehow."

"I'll be fine, John."

John gave her a look of concern before returning to browse the shelves.

Another customer walked through the door of the shop.

"Howdy there!" said Killian to the man. "You'll have to wait for a while if you decide to buy, we're working out a rather lengthy negotiation."

The man sneered at him and pulled a hunting rifle off of his back. "Gizmo sends his regard!"

BANG

Blood splatted from Killian's shoulder, who let out a small scream.

BANG

The guards who had been outside of the building came running through the door with alarmed expressions and their weapons at the ready. They stopped at the sight of Killian with a bleeding shoulder and Twilight pointing her rifle at the now dead man on the floor.

"Everything is under control!" Killian shouted. The guards backed away, but they did not holster their weapons.

"Excellent headshot, Miss," said Killian, who was slumped over against the wall. He had produced a pair of tweezers and was using them to dig into his shoulder. He yanked out the bullet with only a muffled groan.

John was still standing in front of a shelf, gawking at Twilight. Twilight remained in place and did not put her hunting rifle away. She did not say anything.

"Listen, thanks for saving my life," continued Killian as he injected a stimpack into the bullet wound. "It was a mighty brave thing of you to do. Looks like we got ourselves a situation here. I know Gizmo's behind this, but I need proof. You interested in helpin'?"

"I'm in," said Twilight coldly.

Killian jumped to his feet and opened a drawer in his desk. "You have to wear a recorder and tape Gizmo confessing, or, if he won't spill the beans, you can plant this wire tap in his office. Either way, we got him."

"Leave it to us," said John, who was now standing at Twilight's side.

"Alright, I owe you. Here's the bug and wire tap. Gizmo's office is in the back of his casino in the back of town. You let me know when it's done. And good luck."

John turned to the door and walked out of the shop. Twilight didn't follow right away, instead turning to Killian.

"Don't worry. You can count on us."

"I owe you," Killian repeated.

Twilight walked out of the shop and approached John.

"What's the plan here?" she asked.

"I'm not sure," admitted John. "One thing is for sure, it would be idiotic to walk up to Gizmo and ask if he sent that man."

"We should split up and ask people around town what they know about the man." said Twilight.

"I guess that's a start."

"Gishmo?"

Twilight refrained from rolling her eyes at the drunk man that she was questioning.

"He ownsh that thar cashino," said the man, pointing.

"I know," said Twilight, frustrated. "Can you tell me anything else about him?"

"Oh, he'sh a great guy. Before the casino , thish town wash shoooo borin'. I alwaysh leave empty handed, but one of these days, I'm gunna get lucky."

"Argh!" cried Twilight. She turned walked away from the man.

"Does dat mean you won't give me no caps?" he called after her.

She was getting nowhere. All that she had learned was that everybody in the whole town knew who this "Gizmo" was, and almost everyone hated his guts and didn't want to talk about him. The drunk man had been an exception, and she had thought that he might actually be able to tell her more.

She shook her head at her own gullibility.

"What the hell do you want?" shouted a woman in leather armor at John from across the hall.

He looked over at her and frowned. He stepped into a building called "The Crash House Inn", according to the sign outside. He had been approaching a woman at the desk in front of the door.

The woman at the desk sat heavily into her chair and looked down intently.

I have a really bad feeling about this, thought John.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked, annoyed.

The armored woman looked insulted. "Who the hell do you think I am? We're the Skulz the biggest, badass-est gang in town! Of course, we're the only gang in town, but theres a good reason for that."

John noted a crashing noise from a room in the back of the inn followed by angry shouting. This woman clearly had friends nearby.

"And what is it that you do here?" he asked her, being careful to avoid upsetting her further.

"Whatever the hell we want. These days we mostly just booze it up and have a good time, although some of our members have a hobby of beating the hell out of people."

John tensely waited, but the woman did nothing.

"Do you do business with Gizmo?"

"What?" asked the woman, surprised. "Well, yeah, sometimes. We don't actually work for him, but sometimes he offers us special jobs, and he pays pretty good. He's cool."

"Okay, thanks."

The woman watched John walk out of the inn. Suddenly she remembered.

"Don't you come back here if you know what's good for you!"

"Twilight!"

Twilight turned to see John running down the street to meet her. She let out a relieved sigh.

"John!" she said as he slowed to a stop in front of her. "Please tell me that you have something. All I've learned is that this Gizmo must be nothing more than a raider who thought up a clever way to get people to give him everything they own. These people are all useless."

"Yeah, I've got something alright. Apparently, there's a gang called the Skulz in town. I had a little chat with one of their more courteous members." He ignored Twilight's look. "Turns out that sometimes they do jobs for Gizmo. And that gives me an idea."

"John," said Twilight, "I can see where you are going with this. It's actually a pretty good plan, but if we aren't careful, it will get you killed."

"Me killed? What about you?"

"This won't work if you take me with you John. Now listen up, you need to tell Gizmo exactly what I tell you."

John stepped into the casino and took a look around. There were roulette games all around him, but some of the dealers were standing by idly. Clearly, this was not the high point of business hours. Better that way, he thought.

He noticed two armored men standing on either side of a door. He stepped toward them determinedly opened the door without looking at either one. Neither guard made any attempt to stop him. He stepped into the next room.

To his surprise, this was not Gizmo's office. There were more roulette tables around him, but the only people in the room was a man sitting at a slot machine and a lone dealer who looked bored out of her mind.

He shrugged to himself and opened the next door. He closed it behind him, and then fully registered what it was that he was seeing.

His eyes flew wide open and he inhaled very sharply, but otherwise retained composure.

At the other side of the office sat by far the fattest man that John had ever seen, his chair almost as wide as the desk that he sat behind. At his side stood a man wearing some kind of metal armor, radiating menace.

"Who are you?" demanded the fat man. "I'm a busy man!"

"Gizmo," said John evenly. "I'm here about the job."

"I don't have any idea what you are talking about," said Gizmo suspiciously.

"Allow me to elaborate. I'm a prospective recruit in the Skulz. In order to gain their trust, I have am to complete a special job, given by you."

"The Skulz?" said Gizmo in surprise. "Those lay'bouts too busy partying to give you work themselves? I'm not surprised. What did they tell you?"

"If I fail, I'll end up just like your last man."

"Ugh, that's the job alright. Hmm..."

John waited in silence.

"Okay... alright, we can do this. But you work for me. You better know that nobody double crosses Gizmo and lives to talk about it." He inclined his neck toward the body guard. "You got me?"

"Got it," answered John. "What'cha want the shop keeper dead for?

"Huh, that's easy. I want him dead because he cramps my business. So, will you take him out?

"Sure, it's a job."

This is working out far better than I had expected, thought John.

"Good. Return with the dog tags that he wears around his neck as proof. And we never had this conversation, you don't mention this to anyone. No one double crosses me. No one."

"Izo!" shouted Gizmo to the body guard. The guard brought his fist to his other hand in a kind of salute. "Show this one the way to the door."

"You're back!" said Killian happily as John and Twilight walked into the store. "Did you get a confession?"

"I sure did," answered John.

"Which? Bug or tape?"

"Tape."

"Let's hear it then.

"That's the first time I've ever been happy to hear that man's voice," said Killian in relief. "Thank you so much friend. Now then, how about you and me finish up the rest of our business?"

John's eyes lit up in alarm.

"Where are the weapons?"

"I had to get them off of the table to do business with other people," said Killian quickly. "I totaled up everything, and I owe you five thousand, seven hundred and fifty caps. But I only have twenty-one hundred with me. Not only can you take your pick of anything in here worth the difference, but I'll also give you another thousand caps worth for your help with Gizmo.

"Two hundred rounds of .223, six stimpacks, a shotgun, and one hundred and fifty shells." said John to Killian, indicating the said merchandise that he had brought to the desk.

"And twenty-one hundred caps," added Killian. "It's a deal. Of course, I'm completely out of caps now, but I'll get them all back by the end of the month."

"Excellent," said John excitedly. He began stuffing things into his bag.

"What exactly is the effective range for this thing?" asked Twilight, picking up the shotgun.

"I wouldn't bother with it if the target is any more than about ten yards away," said Killian. "After that, that's what the rifle is for."

"Alright, got it."

"So, Killian," said John. "Maybe you could give us a little bit of information?"

"If I can," agreed Killian.

"Do you have any idea where we could get our hands on a functioning water chip?"

"A what?" asked Killian, surprised. John lowered his head.

"Sorry," said Killian apologetically. "I'm afraid I've never heard of such a thing."

"That's alright," said John. "I guess that means we will be on our way now. We'll have to try the Hub next."

"Hey, wait," said Killian. "Now that our business is concluded, I'm going to take the sheriff and a couple men to take down Gizmo. I could use another couple guns. Might be good for a laugh?" he suggested.

John flashed Killian a clenched smile. "Definitely. Let's go take that tub down!"

One of the two guards at the front of the casino drew his machine gun when he saw Killian and several other men filed through the front door, but his companion stopped him. Killian looked at them.

"This would be an excellent time to seek alternative employment," he said threateningly.

The two guards looked at each other for a moment and then holstered their weapons and raised their hands. They walked out of the casino without opposition from any of Killian's group. They gave Twilight a weird look, but quickly turned away and ran off into the town.

They proceeded through the next room and John opened the next door. He stepped through alone.

"Ah," said Gizmo, looking up at him. "I trust that you have taken care of the business that we discussed?"

"My apologies, Gizmo," said John as Killian came through the door behind him. The rest of the group came in behind him, including Twilight.

Gizmo gave John a stare that let him know that he would burn a hole through his head by looking at him if he could. "I knew that I never should have trusted you."

POW

Killian gasped as blood emerged from his chest, and then fired his own pistol at Gizmo. He was surprised to discover that John was already next to Gizmo's desk, with Gizmo's body guard right behind him.

Suddenly there was an explosion of blood and gore and a guttural howl as a swipe at Gizmo's stomach ripped right through his flesh and left a gaping pit. The enormous man fell face forward into his desk.

The other men stared in astonishment as the target was dispatched with such ease.

The body guard preformed a martial arts kick and sent John falling into the corner of Gizmo's desk. Izo raised his foot again, ready to stomp John into the ground.

BLAM

The body guard flew into the wall from the force of Twilight's shotgun. The metal armor he was wearing had saved his life, but it did not stop the rain of fire from the other men.

John groaned and got to his feet.

"Are you ok?" shouted Twilight in concern.

"Relax, Twilight," he said. "I've had worse. Just a stimpack, then I'll be fine."

"If I may," said Killian, "There is no need to waste a stimpack when we have a doctor right here in town for cheaper. Just look near the front of town for the hospital, it has a red cross on it. Ask for Doctor Morbid.

"Doctor Morbid?" asked John.

"Don't worry, he will patch you up good as new, despite what his name might imply."

"I'll keep that in mind," groaned John.

"Okay, thanks a heap again for all the help you've given us. I wish we could give you something more. Anyway, I've got to take care of things elsewhere. I'll send someone up here soon to clean up the mess."

After Killian and his men had left Gizmo's office, Twilight said to John "WHY are we still in this room?"

John Smiled. "That was our cue to take what we please." He swiped the gun Gizmo had used off of the desk in one swift movement.

"This thing isn't really that powerful, judging from the noise it made," he remarked.

"I'm getting out of here," said Twilight in disgust. "I'll be waiting outside."

John came out of the casino. He was wearing Izo's metal armor, not at all to Twilight's surprise.

"Did you get anything good?" asked Twilight, causing John to jump. He turned to her.

"I may have found this in Gizmo's bedroom," he said, pulling a book out from behind his back.

Twilight seized the book in excitement, but then her face changed to confusion when she saw what was on the cover.

"Guns and Bullets..." she read.

"Just what I need," she said and smiled at John.

"But now, we need to get you to that hospital."

"Yeah yeah..."

"JOHN!" screamed a horrified Twilight at the sight of her companion emerging from the hospital. He was splattered with blood from almost his head down.

"Twilight, I'm fine!" he shouted. "I just used a stimpack or two after all.

"WHAT HAPPENED?"

John tensed up. "Do. Not. Ask. We need to find Killian now!"

Author's Note

The Junktown gang is taken directly from the game. The name of the gang being similar to my username is purely a coincidence.