"Tartarus isn't radiation infested, the Tartuleus are home here in this rocky setting, here I'll show you," Yank said as pointing to a molerat in the distance getting close to the rocky outcropping of the Gates. It seemed to smell something and was slowly making it's way towards the rock wall. It waddled over closer, and than bam, quicker than anyone could see clearly, it was gone. "Well I guess I can't show you, but you get the point, I've only ever seen on dead Tartuleus, and it wasn't pretty, it's like a gaint spider, a tarantula I think or trap door spider, well that's what the signs pointed to, they crawl all over the place and some have burrows they strike from, you won't see it until it's too late, they're just to well hidden, and there's something that's not normal, it's not like a giant version of those spiders either, like a radscorpion of radroach, there are passes that they don't inhabit, and that's the only way to get through the gates, I'm not sure why they don't like the passes but they just don't.," Yank explained.

*****

"Well, my locater says the robots should be somewhere in this canyon, though the signal is weak, it could be interference, just keep an eye out Ollie," Ermy stated as he primed his Gattling Laser.

Jak eyes quickly darted over at Yank. "It's a fucking big ass spider? Oh hell..." Jak trailed off. He hated normal sized spiders... But fast and big spiders. Damn. "I really need a better weapon." He said pulling out his razor sharp combat knife. "Her name is Isabelle... But I suppose it's time she got a partner. What's the chances of finding a gun in there?" He asked Yank. Of course he wanted something to fit his style. Quick, fast, and efficient.

"We might be able to scavenge from the corpses, but you'll have to be carefull of the Tartulues, where ever the bodies are, there are their dens, you might be able to sneak close enough to get something, but I would warn you to watch were you step, I've seen them pull a whole brahmin down one of those holes, there aint no stopping them from pulling you in, and watch above you as well, they've been known to attack from above," Yank warned Jak.

Radrat popped his head over the large sand rock he was prone behind to watch as the two supposed Steelies wandered into the mouth of the small canyon, and immediately popped his "Well, one of em looks like a Steelie. The other don't got the power armor." The wastelander commented in a whisper as he propped his large body over his Incinerator, the barrel of the weapon pointed slightly above his cover.

"3"
Radrat poked the top of his head over the large sandy rock, getting an estimate on where he should aim his mortar like weapon.
"2"
The chipped brown barrel of his weapon followed in his head's actions, and was propped up slightly over the rock.
"1"
Within half a second of that last countdown, Radrat squeezed the trigger of his weapon. Unleashing a fury of molten flame arcing over to the pair of Steelies at breakneck speeds. Three of the shots blasted into the already abused sands of the canyon, melting into a bubbling mess of heat directly in the path of his two targets.

The purpose of the fire show was to lure his targets into the only source of cover in this canyon, a small opening located on the side of the brown canyon wall that would put any who dared to take shelter there in the firing line for the 3 hidden robots.

"Your move Steelie." Radrat muttered as he continued to send a barrage of flame down at his targets.

Ollie nodded, his eye switching to infared as he sweeped the area. If there were fresh marks from a laser, he would see it. He could feel that someone was nearby, but he couldn't see anyone, either this person was incredibly small or a damn good hider. That's when he saw it, his eyes widening. "Holy shit!" Yelled Ollie as he shoved Paladin one way, leaping out of harm's way in the other direction, laying in the sand for perhaps too long, but he had to give it to the guy, he caught him off guard.

Clive continued walking on towards the Gates. "I wonder what the odds are of getting an egg. I'd like one of these fuckers as a pet," he said jokingly. "So we have to watch our step and watch our heads. Nothing too new. I like spiders, anyway. At least I like the big ones, but I hate small ones. Those ones just kinda creep me out."

"The path we'll be traveling is free of the Tartulues, I'm not sure why but they stay away from them," Yank commented as he lead the group into a crevas, he pointed to a mossy growth, "where ever this is, they aint, I think it has to due with the spores, that dead Tartulues I mentioned earlier was covered with this stuff." The path way was narrow, and in some places hard for Clive and Yank to get through because of their armor, Clive's power suit and Yank's scavenged T-51b armor. The wind blew through the cracks, howling as it did. The path forked into three seperate directions. "This one," Yank said pointing to the moss covered path to the right. All around them scuttling could be heard, the nashing of "teeth" as the Tartulues watched their potential prey.

*****

Paladin Ermy crawled towards the opening in the side of the cave. Once inside, he hefted him self into a crouch next the opening, prepair to give cover fire for Ollie to get inside. Before he could though, he was raked with laser fire from the hidden protectatrons. His armor abosorbed the fire, though he could still feel the heat. He turned towards the laser fire and opened up with his Gattling Laser. Sweeping the gun back and forth, chips of rock and metal went flying as the gattling laser destroyed the three protectatrons. Who ever did this would have to do better, Paladin Ermy's gattling laser had fallen more Deathclaws than these three protectatrons.

Paladin Ermy turned to the opening again. "Ollie, where are you, I'll provide cover fire for you," Ermy shouted, not really knowning if Ollie made his way into the opening or not.

"Tch." Radrat muttered against the noise of his weapon, he hadn't expected the three robots to actually do any damage to his targets but it still annoyed him how quickly the distraction was dispatched considering the amount of work put into them.

Firing another volley of shots, the Wastelander would reach down to his right leg as the recoil of the incinerator buried itself within his left shoulder. Within a second, he would pull out a butchered metal slab connected loosely to an energy cell for a power armor system. The metal slab was the right laser hand of one of the botties he ambushed, and the power cell came from the mess of components Radrat tried to sell earlier.

"I can't believe I'm doing all this for a bunch of damn bottie shit!" Radrat cursed aloud, his Hispanic accent giving an odd flair to his words. As he spoke, he let the still firing incinerator and made a leftwards roll away from his weapon. The incinerator immediately pointed it's barrel upward, sending it's flaming fireworks arcing in erratic directions.

Radrat took a total of three seconds rolling before coming to a stop a good 15 feet away from his original position, only to place the arm and power cell behind yet another large rock. He purposely poked his head into obvious view of the Steelie's to give the impression of a second shooter, before activating the power cell and pointing the makeshift weapon down at his target's cover.

The extra power from the rather large power cell caused a surge of white hot energy to be blasted out from the frail metal arm, which bolted inches away from the metal helmet of the first Steelie, melting into the rock solid wall directly behind him.

"I hate spiders period... With their eight legs and 'don't fuck with me' fangs." Jak shuddered a bit. He absolutely hated spiders. He slowly continued down the path, carefully on guard in case one of them decided to take a stab at him... It would be the last thing it took a stab at.

Just then something sparkly caught Jak's eyes. He looked over and say what to seem be a Rifle with silencer and scope... "Hey... That seems neat!" he said pointing at the infiltrator. "I've heard of those! It's an infiltrator! It's like a silenced assault rifle. Doesn't pack a punch as an AK, but is deadly silent... I can probably tinker with it to get it back into satisfactory condition..." He said reaching out for the rifle.

Clive looked over at Jak reaching out for the weapon he had just described. He noticed slight movement on the side. Quickly, he grabbed Jak by the back of his shirt, pelling him back. "Wach it!" He lowered his voice to a whisper. "You don't like spiders? Well, look right there." He pointed to where he ahd seen the movement. Everything was still now. There was no noise or movement at all. There weren't even the signs of a tartulu. "Ya can't see it now, but I just saw something there. You need to be more careful."

Jak looked at Clive, then the spot where he pointed. "... And why didn't you just shoot it instead of pulling me back?" He asked in a matter-of-factly way. He then sighed. Jak was planning on getting the rifle. He wanted it so bad he could taste it. It tasted like victory.

"Does anyone have any rope or a piece of string? A shoe lace perhaps? Something?... How about an idea?" He asked to both companions. First thing he was going to do when he retrieved the infiltrator was shoot one of those Tartulu thingys... Right between the eyes. All eight of them.

"No moss, becarefull," Yank commented at the fact that the white growth was no where to been seen near the infiltrator. Yank grabbed a huge patch of the moss, tossing it over Jak's shoulder. "Here, they're smart enough to stay away from this, these bastards are smart but they're cautious when it comes to this stuff," Yank said as he secured the moss with a belt, making sure it didn't fall off.