After napping off our first session Sally and Megan drew me into another impromptu impassioreatment". They had been infmed by my work on Dakota. I suppose that made it my duty, to see to their "cure". They in turn took care of my growing "problem". We colpsed into a sweaty heap afterward and had slept deeply. Hopefully, our riotous noise didn't keep anyone else up. Heh.

  When we all got moving the m, I had a few ideas I wao run by them. A few thoughts on how to knock out one of my quests before we headed back to New Lordaeron. Specifically, the reg of our first outpost. Between the neylons' cloaking fields and ons, we should be able to sneak a few buildings in right under Arasaka's nose. No muss, no fuss. Then I'd gain a new Hero to add to the roster. My hope was that they would have a set of skills ducive to help me take care of the long list of other quests. Between Megan, Sally, Raynor and myself, we should be able to handle most issues, but we needed a real badass to make absolutely sure that any fight ended in our favor.

  As much as my Padin css had helped me to bulk up physically, I was nowhere near ready for the front line. I required more training and a restructuring of my role in bat. Right now, I was mostly pigeonholed into a supp role. Fixing damage, ing up afterward, and increasing the abilities of my team. While there was nothing shameful in that, being the medic still didn't sit well with me. Not sure why, but I wao be the one in the lead. I wao be the oo protect the dies and my people. I don't think I had a hero plex, but at that moment I wasn't sure what my motivations were. Except perhaps a fear of bei behind.

  However, my time iy with the Probes had taught me that I'm not that guy. It drilled that fa deep. But I had a feeling that with the help of the Great Tree System I could bee that guy, and so much more. All it would take is time and experience.

  Speaking of roles, Raynor and Sally filled the same job in a fight. Ranged overwatch. Though with his Power Armor Raynor serving up ayhem wasn't too much of a problem. I'd have to talk the dies into getting fitted for power armor. Then I'd finish the designs for mine as well.

  When I ran the my idea by everyone, I got a surprising array of responses. Raynor thought it best for him and Amanda to head back to New Lordaeron. Amanda thought it was a great idea, so long as we were slow and careful. Sally and Megan threateo y balls, if I tried not to take them. Alright, I had no problems with any of those stances. Except the cutting off my balls part, I hose.

  A few hours ter, we were sitting in the Maaw about half a mile from the ridge line surrounding the old cybernt. Rick, Mort and Glen had detached from the vehicle, already scouting the immediate area for trouble. Buzz and Jitters had returned along with my van back to New Lordaeron.

  The w pn was that the girls and I would be och, while Mort and Glen would sneak with Rick to pce the first ylon. The Sentry's shield ability should be able to protect the Pylon long enough to finish f if they were spotted. Though if everythi well, Rick's abilities would never be needed. Unfortunately, I was stuck watg the rear again. Heh.

  Strangely enough, no Arasaka employee was visible anywhere he pnt, but the remains of their efforts to sterilize the area were. Which served as a grim reminder of how quickly things could g. I took up the task of watg the desert and pretehat I didn't want to watch Sally squeeze off a few rounds just to observe the effe her "assets". There was something fasating to me about a woman with a big gun. Ugh, what am I, a fug teenager? Focus up moron. Silly jokes about anatomy e ter.

  I've noticed that events seemed to repeat, if you don't make signifit ges between cycles. eople sider asymmetric or abnormal professions, with exg jobs such as merc work, still developed into routines. "This job" looked a lot like "that job" from five years ago. That would bother some people, but me, I liked routine. I enjoyed having a nicely anized pn. Everything acc to a schedule. Sally did not, She was stantly trying to "Shake things up". Starting fights and arguments with a of boredom. A real shit stirrer as my Dad would have said. She was your best friend. Right up until there was nothing else to do, and then she'd punch you in the nose, just to break up the quiet.

  Where Sally's motives were an effort to keep thing iing, Megan erson that loved chaos for its own sake. On the surface, she seemed anized and well put together, but underh that image, she sought out trouble. She delighted in impish behavior, moving things out of their proper pces, dropping unfortable facts at the worst possible time. She was aloking her o every little tidbit of info, just so she'd have ammunition to fuck with you more. It was one of the biggest reasons why these two women came as a set. Other folks had a hard time dealing with all their messes. I was still figuring out how we fit together, but I was learning to dig their quirks. As long as they didn't point that shit at me.

  In moments like these, they put all of that aside and did their jobs with resolute focus. Because their preferred behaviors could get them killed, especially out here in the Badnds. They had learo block out their impulses, just as I was now having to learn that same lesson. Here I was again, fighting boredom, while somehow feeling stressed out. My mind was running a million miles an hour while my eyes sed the sds attempting not to miss the slightest detail. Nothing moved, even the usual shimmer in the air from the hot breezes were missing. Something about that bothered me.

  I started trating even harder on my task, I couldn't quite put my finger on it but something was wrong. 'I 't see anything, but something's off.' I messaged the dies. I pulled my pistol and sed around the area, fruitlessly. Still nothing, but that feeling wasn't going away. Fuck it, I cast aangle, ging the standard shape of the spell so that a small wall of grasping vines rose out of the baked ground. I repeated the process a few times, quickly we had a solid living roteg us from anything that might be in the desert.

  My suspi was that there was an asshole using some form of optical camoufge creeping up on us. I cast Growth on the walls I had surrounded us with, the masses of vegetatioed into giant edifices of pnt life. Every branch was reag out and probing the area all in the drive to gather prey.

  "Ahhhh! What the fuck is this shit?" The voice came from off to my right and I hustled over to get a look at our peeping tom. The vines of the entangling walls instinctively ko avoid grabbihough they did rub against me a few times. What was that about? Getting to know me? When I caught sight of our voyeur, he was hanging upside down and cursing up a storm. It looked so stupid that I couldn't help but start ughing my head off.

  "Hey! You rusting Gohis thing off me. Stop fug ughing a me out, you fug suncher." His gear covered his whole body, including his face. All bd obviously high-end.

  "Yeah, I don't think so slick. You stay right there until we're done." Speaking of. 'How are we doing dies?' I sent.

  'Almost finished.' Megaurned. I ducked back around the leafy wall for a few more mihere was no sense in standing out in the open.

  I felt the ges in the enviro as the Pylon finished. Haha, now it didn't matter. I let my spells go and while the giant shrubs remaihey'd lost their animated qualities. Which meant that ol' lookie-loo could stay right where he was. Hmm. Maybe we should take him with us, when we headed back, dig into him for any info from his employer. Nah, that'd probably end up being more hassle than it was worth.

  Sino one could see or hear us any longer, I rejoihe girls. I ordered Mort and Glen to yout a Fe, a Cyberics Core and Robotics Facility. That should be enough to t as an Outpost. I'll also queue up a few Sentries before we leave.

  We cuddled in the shade of the bushes, while the rest of the buildings were f. Half and hour ter, I received 3000 ts and a Hero Token.

  I had a damned good feeling about this token.

  Once we made it back to New Lordaeron, the dies ran off to see if my pet Bath House project was finished. I'd based the design off my, admittedly limited, studies of Roman, Turkish and Japayle baths. The process was simple, yourself off in the showers, then you could choose your temperature of pool to rex in. There were ten poing from just shy of boiling to just shy of freezing. I liked to take a dunk in the coldest pool at the end to really shock my system, but most folks would just act like a normal person and proceed straight t off. We had built giant air dryers, if you didn't like towels, though lenty of those as well. We left it all up to personal preferehe best part was that the Moon Well water had all kinds of health bes, like making one's skin super smooth and silky to the touch. The regeive properties alone where worth the effort to visit daily.

  What was I doing again? ht my okens. First let's try the Adjutant so that maybe I would no longer have to deal with any of the day to day operations. Or at least I could stop feeling bad when I ran off to take care of other problems.

  [ Do you wish to use Adjutant token? Y/N ]

  "Yes."

  [ You have Obtaihe Adjutant, Jaina Proudmoore ]

  [ Note: Adjutants access the pany Store, and may spent any points you have grahem access to. Addendum; this Adjutant is also a Hero, they are a potent Archmage. To prevent abuse of the token system Adjutants are not allowed to fight except in defense of themselves or your Main Base. ]

  "Hello My Lord." Said the Lady that had just popped ience. She was tall and blonde, wearing fancy robes in blues and whites with golden trim. Between her clothes and her carriage, and her posture everything about her spoke of nobility. I had a sehat this was someone used to getting their way. Her staff was a work of art with a rge blue gem shaped almost like a spear's bde and point. Mana flowed and swirled around her, but her mana was different. There was something more strained about it than the mana I used, more structured maybe. It felt like the o and the rain, also rivers and kes. However, a deep feeling of ess permeated it as if her mana was trying to drain all the heat from the enviro and it was just enough fur people to notice the chill.

  "Lady Proudmoore. Wele to New Lordaeron." What was ing out of my mouth? "This is a humble pce for now, but we are growing rapidly." Did my back just straighten? Was I putting on airs? What the...

  "New Lordaeron? Are we still oh then?" She was looking around taking it all in. To her credit, no disdain crossed her features. There was, instead, a sense of protectiveness about her.

  "No, this is Earth." I gave her the a brief run down of this version's of Earth's history and major events, as I guided her around the town and the Valley. Then I expined my part in all of this, as well as my current goals, limited though they were. I introduced her to Raynor and Amanda, who it seemed were enjoying each other's pany over dinner. Non, Guzman and Marshall Dughahe o be met. Dughan eve down on a ko greet her, ever the proper knight. Their versation if you call it that, showed they had a lot of shared knowledge, though some events differed great between their versions of Azeroth. So they came from simir background? That was very Iing.

  Finally, we ran into Megan and Sally who were just ing out of the Bath House. I took my leave of them while they were chatting in that way women have, that switches subjects way too fast for me to keep up with. That should be fine, right? They seemed to be getting along famously. I had other busio attend to.

  I flipped the Hero token out. Yes, I could feel that this one ecial. Here we go.

  [ Do you wish to use Hero token? Y/N ]

  "Yes."

  [ You have Obtaihe Hero, John Wick ]

  My brain stopped dead. John Wick, THE John Wick. Perhaps the most gloriously badass movie assassin, ever. Holy. Fug. Shit! That's it boys, we go home now, because Mr. Wick will ha.

  Dayum!

  There he was in all his dark brooding glory. Impeccable suit and all. I could immediately tell that this wasn't the Wick of the movies I was familiar with. He was younger for ohing, maybe in his te thirties. Somehow he was gaunter, harder, and grimmer looking that any version of Mr. Wick that I'd ever seen before. Yet he was still unmistakably the same deadly man. Calm down, fool you'll get us killed.

  "Mr. Wick, thank you for joining us." I held out my hand to shake, trying not to think of all the ways he could kill me. He shook my hand and I could feel all the callouses of eraining and hard work. Yeesh, made me feel like I o hit the gym more, and that was after my Padin upgrade.

  "Yeah." That's it. A man of few words, Mr. Wick was. He sed the area and probably had instantly plotted how everyone nearby would die if that was his mission.

  It might have been more fortable to stao Thanatos himself, because Death was never supposed to be a ma here he was, reeking of all the folks he had sin. He even had a torrent of shadowy mana surging around him, it carried a feeling of precise, cold, and calcuted killing. He erfect for our needs. Once we geared him up, we merely had to point out a target and that was it. No more target.

  I gave him the same spiel as Jaina, but I could tell he didn't really care. Make no mistake, he absorbed the information, so that it could be used to better elimiargets. But he wasn't ed over the politics of the Corpos or the squabbling of the Gangs. He had no loyalties to a me. Suddenly, I uood Gandalf's statements about the a little better. This was indeed a power too great and terrible. Yet, uhers, I was going to fug use it.

  If it wasn't for the o check ba with the dies, I would have already been in the Fe with him right theing him armed and armored.

  Most of my people, hardly reacted to Mr. Wick's presence. In fact, only Raynor really uood what Mr. Wick was. And Jim was not a happy camper about the assassin joining our forces.

  "Hoss, that's not a man. That's a gun that walks."

  Yeah, my gun.