Sunset lay on the floor, gasping for breath as she processed the fact that they had actually managed to survive. She would dearly have loved to curl up into a ball, but she couldn't afford that kind of luxury, not until they were all back at the Citadel.

Forcing herself to sit up, Sunset saw that Pinkie was slumped against a wall, her pickaxe draped over her lap. Sunset was about to order Fluttershy to check on Pinkie's head wound, but bit her tongue when she spotted why the nurse wasn't already at it.

Fluttershy was on all fours, her eye glued on Pinkie's dripping blood, panting heavily. She looked like it was taking all of her control not to feed then and there.

Thankfully, Adam spotted the problem as well. He carefully reached around and into Fluttershy's nursing kit, drew out a blood pack, and waved it in front of her face. Fluttershy snatched the pack and drained it in an instant. The blood seemed to rejuvenate her, as she pulled another pack out of her kit, drained that one too, then shivered and returned to her ordinary human form in a shimmer of magic. "Pinkie!"

Sunset allowed herself to relax just a little as Fluttershy quickly set about inspecting and cleaning Pinkie's wound. Her own knee was absolutely throbbing, but that was hardly a priority just yet.

"Your skull isn't broken, so that's something," Fluttershy said eventually. "You're going to need a few stitches, and there's a good chance that you're going to have a concussion, though. Adam, can you give me a hand here?"

"Sure thing." Adam's armor hissed as it opened up, releasing both him and the sour reek of sweat. His tattered Vault jumpsuit was utterly soaked through, and beads of sweat dripped from his chin and nose, but he paid it no mind as he hurried to assist Fluttershy.

Unable to help, Sunset turned her attention to their surroundings. They were in what appeared to be a storage room, with surprisingly clean concrete walls, wooden pallets against the walls and small shelving units full of knick-knacks. A single door in the corner led out of the room. A faint smell of rotting flesh filled the room, but it was at least better than the sewers. Sunset just hoped that they were heading in the right direction.

Minutes dragged by. At first, Sunset was worried that the Deathclaws might try and force their way through the manhole, or at least shove an arm through, but it seemed that they had given up on their hunt.

"Okay, your stitches are done." Fluttershy finally leaned back to inspect her handiwork. Pinkie had a line of neat little stitches running up her forehead above her right eye. It didn't exactly look nice, but with the horrific amount of blood washed away, it didn't look anywhere near as bad as before.

Fluttershy waved Adam away, letting him get back into his armor, while she started applying a dressing over the stitches. "How are you feeling?"

"Sore," Pinkie replied quietly.

"That's understandable." Fluttershy offered her a couple of lozenges and a water bottle. "I can give you some mild painkillers, but I don't want to give you a stimpak in case it covers the symptoms of a concussion."

"How will you tell if she has one?" Sunset asked.

"There are several potential symptoms, but they might not present themselves for hours, or even days," Fluttershy explained with a sigh. "If I could, I'd have you wait here and get some rest, but…"

"It's way too dangerous with the Deathclaws," Sunset finished.

Fluttershy nodded. "How's your leg?"

"Not good," Sunset admitted. "I can barely bend it."

Scooting closer, Fluttershy tenderly examined Sunset's braced knee, then slipped a pair of syringes from her nursing kit. "To be honest, with this brace on I can't tell if you've sprained it or if you've done something worse. Either way, all I'll be able to do out here is brace it and give you painkillers."

"So… you're saying that my best bet for now is to just dose up and leave worrying about what's wrong until we get back to the Citadel?" Sunset asked.

"Pretty much," Fluttershy admitted sadly.

Sunset sighed heavily and held out an arm. "Jab me."

Fluttershy nodded. "First is a stimpak," she said as she rolled up Sunset's sleeve and applied it. "This second one is Med-X. It's a much stronger painkiller, but we can't use it too often. It's very addictive."

"Ooo, fun," Sunset muttered in a deadpan tone. She gasped as the medicine flooded her system, banishing the pain and filling her veins with a pleasant coolness. "Whoa. Okay… uh…" Sunset cleared her throat and let Fluttershy help her to her feet. Her knee still wouldn't bend much, but it didn't hurt to use. "Nice. What's our next move?"

"Why don't we ask those two ghouls hiding behind the door if they can help us?" Fluttershy suggested.

"Huh?" Sunset looked towards the door in surprise.

A gruff voice swore quietly, then the door creaked open and, as Fluttershy had said, two ghouls stepped through. The two were clad in simple worker's clothes, and both eyed the group warily.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Adam asked.

"We could ask you the same thing," one of them said roughly.

"Easy, Kidd," the second one said warningly. "My name's Wint, and this is Kidd. We were part of a group that was trying to build a settlement for ghouls, kinda like Underworld, here in the Olney Underground."

"Underworld?" Pinkie asked.

Wint nodded. "It's a ghoul settlement. A safe haven, so we don't have to deal with smoothskins treating us like shit."

"That's a wonderful and depressing idea," Adam said with a sigh. "Not depressing that ghouls have made a settlement for themselves, but the fact that ghouls need one just to have a safe place to live."

"Why were you trying to build a settlement here?" Sunset asked. "I don't know if you've noticed, but there's a hell of a lot Deathclaws around here. I wouldn't exactly call it safe."

Wint snorted loudly. "Yeah, no shit. We thought the fuckers were mostly just up on the surface, figured that we could build a home down here and people would leave us alone. It was going okay at first, but when we started knocking walls through to expand, we stumbled on a whole damned nest of the things. Me and Kidd are the only guys left."

"We've been hiding here ever since," Kidd put in.

Hearing about what had happened gave Sunset an idea. "If you guys were planning a settlement, does that mean you know the way to the Powerworks?"

Wint scratched his head. "I know the rough direction, but I couldn't be sure. Besides, there's no way through. There's too many Deathclaws."

Sunset shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. I'll tell you what, if you help us find the Powerworks, we'll help you get out of here alive. Deal?"

"It's either that or wait here until the Deathclaws find you or you starve to death," Adam added.

"You're insane. There's no way we'd be able to make it through. Especially if two of you are injured. We'll be slaughtered before we even get halfway," Kidd said bluntly.

"I don't know," Wint said with a frown. "There was some huge fight somewhere further in an hour or so ago. We heard the screams from here. It sounded like the Deathclaws were picking a fight with something just as big and ugly as they are. Whichever side won, they might still be distracted with eating the losers."

Fluttershy tentatively raised a hand. "Um, if they're distracted, my senses are sharp enough that I should be able to guide us around them without getting caught."

Kidd raised an eyebrow as he looked her up and down. "Right… what kinda mutant are you, anyway?"

"They're the fucking Rainbooms, you dumbass," Wint told him.

"Rainbooms?" Kidd asked, frowning in confusion. "Who the hell are the Rainbooms?"

Wint stared at him as if he were a moron. "Seriously?! They're those magical girls Three Dog has been going on about for the last couple of months! How the hell can you not know that?!"

Kidd just shrugged. "I don't listen to Galaxy News."

"Here's a quick lesson." Sunset pointed to each of her companions in turn. "Fluttershy talks to animals, but they don't always listen, Pinkie makes things go boom, Adam is a badass dumbass, and I'm the idiot who's supposed to keep an eye on them."

Adam cocked his head at her. "I'm sure you're right, but why exactly am I a dumbass?"

"You lived in Vault 101 for nearly twenty years and still managed to get lost in it at least once a week?" Fluttershy pointed out.

"Point is, we're going to have to move slowly, but we're still your best chance of getting out of here in one piece," Sunset cut in, bringing everyone back on track.

Wint and Kidd shared a worried look, then gestured for the girls to wait and stepped outside the door to speak in hushed whispers. Sunset glanced at Fluttershy curiously.

"They're not sure if they can trust us," Fluttershy explained. "Now they're wondering if I can actually hear them. And now they're certain, and they're even more freaked out."

The two ghouls returned to the room and gave her unamused looks. "Alright, so you do have sharp senses," Wint said grumbled. He glanced at Kidd, who shrugged, then sighed and turned back to the girls. "Fine. If you can get us out of here, we'll help you find the Powerworks."

"You won't regret this," Sunset said.

"We'll see." Wint gestured for them to follow. "Come on, it's this way. Just be quiet. There could be Deathclaws anywhere."

The four fell into step behind the ghouls, Fluttershy keeping to the front so she could listen out for danger. Adam brought up the rear, keeping an eye on Sunset and Pinkie in case either of them showed any further signs of injury.

As they progressed through the remains of the abortive settlement, Sunset found herself impressed by how much work the ghouls had done. Every surface had been scrubbed clean, and moveable walls had been cobbled together from corrugated metal, wood, and loose debris, to break the larger rooms up into smaller, more private areas. There were even a few items of furniture and electrical appliances dotted around.

Unfortunately, there were also clear signs of what had befallen the ill-fated expedition. Several of the makeshift walls had been smashed apart, while claw marks marred many of those that still stood. Conspicuous trails and pools of blood showed where the former inhabitants had met a horrible end.

Wint and Kidd got more and more nervous the further they walked, but, strangely, the group didn't encounter any signs of the Deathclaws other than old marks and dried blood. Taking advantage of the temporary peace, the group, with the ghouls' permission, made sure to salvage any and all supplies that they could find, filling their packs with food, water and, in Fluttershy's case, a handful of stimpaks.

Eventually, the ragtag bunch left the concrete confines of the building through a crumbling hole in a wall and found themselves back in a sewer tunnel. Wint and Kidd both now shook with fear as they walked, slowing down to let Fluttershy take the lead.

Sunset could hardly blame them. The sewers were the last place she had wanted to see again. Thankfully, they only had a short way to go before they found another hole in the sewer wall, and a rocky tunnel climbing upwards.

"This is as far as we've gone," Wint whispered. He pointed up the tunnel. "The Powerworks should be up that way, but there's bound to be a whole bunch of Deathclaws up there, too."

"There are, I can hear them," Fluttershy said. "But... there's something else. Something has their attention…" Fluttershy head cocked to the side as she listened. She could clearly hear something going on but, if her expression was anything to go by, it wasn't anything pleasant.

"Do you think we'll be able to sneak past?" Sunset asked.

Fluttershy nodded. "Just follow me and stay silent. Don't even try to whisper. And switch your Pip-Boy lights off."

The others quickly did as they were told and followed her into the tunnel. Faint light filtered down from above, providing just enough illumination to see by. After a short climb the group emerged into what looked like an old office building.

A handful of electric ceiling lights still worked, revealing a scene of devastation. The ceiling was still intact, but something had still managed to smash through several of the lower floors, leaving an immense hole in the middle of the room.

Fluttershy crept to the edge. She shivered at whatever was down there, then glanced over her shoulder and waved Sunset forward. Taking great care not to nudge any debris with her injured leg, Sunset hobbled over to the edge of the hole and looked down.

A colossal corpse lay at the bottom of the hole. It looked vaguely like a bat, but one grown to such monstrous proportions that it boggled the mind. The creature's jaws were easily big enough to swallow a person whole.

As if that wasn't terrifying enough, a whole pack of Deathclaws was swarming over the corpse, tearing strips off it with their teeth to messily devour. Large shattered bones dotted around suggested that the unidentified beast had killed several Deathclaws before being brought down in turn, and now the survivors were enjoying the spoils of their victory.

Desperately hoping that they weren't going to have to try to sneak past that nightmare, Sunset stepped back from the edge and turned back to the others. She was about to try and silently ask which way they should go when Fluttershy grabbed her arm and pointed to a nearby door.

Sunset frowned and mouthed 'Deathclaw', but Fluttershy shook her head and motioned for her to raise her weapon. Sunset dutifully did as asked and pointed her plasma rifle at the door, Adam quickly following suit. A few seconds later, much to Sunset's surprise, a woman stepped silently through the door.

The woman had long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, and was wearing a light tank top, rugged shorts, and military-grade combat boots, all in the tan and grey colors of the Enclave. She didn't seem surprised to see the group. On the contrary, she seemed to sag with relief when she spotted them. Glancing around quickly, the woman gestured for the girls to follow and stepped back through the door.

Sunset looked around at the others, seeing the same confused expressions on each of their faces, then shrugged and followed the woman. The stranger led them through winding corridors and down several flights of stairs, following a circuitous route that, Sunset assumed, avoided wherever the Deathclaws frequented.

After almost half an hour of creeping through the decrepit subterranean building, the woman stopped before a door that had been crudely reinforced with metal plates and pressed a carefully camouflaged button on the doorframe. A moment later the door opened, revealing a power-armored Enclave soldier.

Adam and the girls tensed, but the soldier just sighed and stepped aside to let everyone pass. As soon as everyone was inside, Wint and Kidd looking relieved, the soldier closed the door and turned to the woman, crossing his arms. "Did you really have to bring them here?"

"Ignore this idiot, he's just annoyed because he's been stuck out here babysitting my ass for weeks," the woman said airily. "The name's Lemon. What the hell are all of you doing way out here?"

Next Chapter: Chapter 97 - Shock Value? Estimated time remaining: 23 Hours, 22 Minutes