Penelope Velasquez's Story

The young freelancer calmly pulled back the arrow in his compound bow with the tips of his index, middle, and ring fingers as he took aim at a rather large buck in a clearing next to a stream in some forest in the middle of the corpse that used to be Pennsylvania. He pulled the string back and held it to his right canine tooth. He straightened up his right elbow, pulled his shoulders back, and took a deep breath in. His eyes followed the buck with every step it took as it strolled it's way to the stream to take a drink of the water. Travis exhaled and released the arrow. The arrow hit the buck directly in it's neck, right on the money. Travis quickly ran over to the buck to check out his kill. The buck was still alive, just barely. "Sorry buddy. Shit happens." Travis said to the dying deer as it started squirming on the ground. Travis took out his hunting knife and put the deer out of his misery. "Could be worst. You could have been killed by someone else. You should feel honored." Travis smirked as he took the buck by it's hind legs and started dragging it towards the current Rebel camp.

The camp was a few miles away, he'd been tracking that buck all morning long and it took him farther in the forest then he thought. "Well, well, what do we have here boys?" Some scruffy looking man with a crossbow said as he and five other men came upon Travis. "Just keep moving boys. I don't want to hurt you unless I have too, or preferably get paid." Travis said as he dropped the buck's legs. He felt a little naked without his guns, it isn't the best idea to go around the heart of the Monroe Republic with a bunch of guns. The Baltimore act and all. "Yeah, we're not going to do that. We're hungry, and that is some mighty fine venison." the obvious leader said as aimed his crossbow at Travis. The other men was armed with knives, some farming equipment, and one had a bow. "Have it your way. Don't say I didn't warn you." Travis said with a maniacal grin.

In one swift move Travis unsheathed his knife and threw it directly into the leader's chest. The leader accidently shot his crossbow in pain, and the arrow hit one of his followers, leaving the others in shock. Travis quickly ducked as the one with the bow started to fire at him. Travis did a combat roll towards the archer, and when he was within arm's length, Travis punched him directly in his throat. The freelance rebel quickly took out his cutlass and slashed the archer's chest. The rest of the men finally snapped out of their shock and attacked him. Travis cut through the first two men like they were nothing as the rushed him, now leaving only two. One was armed with a sickle, and the other a hatchet. They both attacked him at the same time, swinging their respected weapons. Travis just effortlessly dodged their attacks. Travis fought back with a flurry of slashes. But these guys were much better then the rest of the Lemmings he just fought, and were able to dodge his attacks.

Travis backed away from them to assess the situation. "Darwinism at it's finest huh? Survival of the fittest and all that. The weak and stupid are dead, and that leaves the smart and strong." Travis said, commenting on their skill as they began circling around each other. Travis stopped when he reached the corpse of the marauder's leader. "But then again, letting me over here was pretty stupid." Travis smirked as he yanked his knife out of the corpse's chest. Travis attacked them with his knife in his left hand, and sword in his right. They were barely able to block and dodge his strikes, but they did get some cuts. The one with the hatchet gave Travis a swift, and powerful kick to his stomach that interrupted his steady stream of attacks, and forced him back. They matched his flurry of strikes with their own. Travis did his best to block them, but they were just to overwhelming, and got in a few cuts on him. Travis backed up, and began breathing heavily.

Sam came up from behind and placed the sickle wielder in a sleeper hold. The hatchet wielder was distracted, and Travis took this opportunity. Travis used his sword to push his hatchet aside, and drove his knife deep into his chest. Sam gently placed the sickle wielder down on the ground, and he looked around at the carnage. Travis took his knife back and started his way over to the unconscious marauder. "That's enough Merc!" Sam ordered as he grabbed Travis by his right arm. "Screw you! They tried to kill me! I gave them a chance to walk away, and they didn't. His life is null and void! Now let me go!" Travis shouted as he pushed him away. The two stared each other down for a solid minute, nether one blinking. Sam took out a small, brown pouch from his pocket. "This is yours, if you do what I say and leave him alone. I hired you to kill Militia, not random thugs." Sam said as he tossed the pouch to him. Travis caught in and dumped it's contents in the palm of his hand. The contents were several flawless diamonds. "Fine. But next time, let me kill who I want." Travis said as he spat on the man. "Killing trash like him isn't murder, it's a service to the world." Travis said as he took the legs of his buck, and continued to drag him to the camp.

Sam sighed, what was he going to do with him. He was good, really good, but his unruliness, and temper may prove to be more trouble then he's worth. Time will tell. Sam went around the corpses, and closed their eyes, and rested their hands on their chest. While killing these guys was probably justified, still there are other ways to deal with things other then killing. Sam looked down at the unconscious man. "Great, what am I going to do with you?" Sam sighed. He picked the man up and tossed him over his shoulders in a fireman's carry.

He carried him deep into the woods, far enough for him not to accidently stumble across the camp. Sam tossed him next to the base of a tree. Sam quickly left before he could come too. Days like this is when he missed his brother Matt, he just seemed to have a way with trouble makers such as Travis. Much better then him anyway. The trek back to the camp just seemed to fly by, and before he knew it he was back at the camp. There someone was already starting to cook the deer Travis killed. "Where's the Merc?" Sam asked the cook. Without a word the cook pointed him towards a tent Travis went to.

Travis was cleaning the blood off his face with a wet washcloth. "What do you want Sammy?" Travis said, not even looking at him, he just assumed it was Sam. "Don't call me that, Sammy is a chubby 12 year old. It's Sam." Sam responded. Travis turned around and faced Sam. "What?" He asked in confusion. "It's from a TV.....never mind." Sam answered with irritation. He really hated the Blackout. "Look, I get why you killed those men. They had it coming. But there are other ways to deal with someone other then killing them." Sam said calmly. "Riiiiiiggggggghhhhhhhhttttttttttt. We can't exactly dial 911. But when you find another way, let me know." Travis said in a smug tone.

General Monroe sat in his office as he waited his men to bring someone to him. His men busted through his office door, dragging along a beaten, and bloody late 40ish black man. "Well, well, well. It's about time." Bass said as he calmly got up from his chair and strolled over to the man.

"Major Donald Michaels. It has been far too long hasn't it." Bass said as he circled the man like a shark. "Tell me, how did those rebels get past your blockage a few days ago?" Bass asked as he stopped behind him. "I-I-I don't know!" Michaels answered with obvious fear in his voice. "Now that's a lie isn't it? They got through because of your incompetency." Bass quickly stated.

"Sir, please have mercy! I-I-I didn't mean for them to get away!" Michaels pleaded, as Bass silently drew his sidearm. "Oh shut up! Have some self-respect!" Bass said as he shot him in the back of the head. "Let that be a lesson to you boys. Failure is not an option in war." Bass said as he wiped away the blood off his face. "Now someone get me Commander Velasquez!" Bass ordered as his men scrambled to get the dead body out of his office and to follow his orders.

"Yes, well I just had a 'chat' with Major Michaels. I'm sure you heard of his little fiasco the other day. He was supposed to had put a blockade up to capture Sam Conway. But the fool put the blockade in the wrong place." Bass replied to Penelope as he poured himself a stiff drink. "Incompetency such as that can't be tolerated Miss Velasquez." Bass said as he poured another drink for the Commander. Bass then quickly downed the liquor, with it burning all the way down his throat, but he didn't show any discomfort. "This is why I brought you here today."

Bass then sat down in his large, very presidential chair behind his desk. "I don't know if you're aware or not, but Michaels was in change of a special task force that was meant to bring Conway to justice. To take the head off the snake. I want you to take his place." Bass said as he pushed the other drink across his desk. "With all the problems we've had with the Peach-Eaters, and those Texan Savages, we need to get our house in order. And the first step is taking out Mr. Conway wouldn't you agree?" Bass asked. "I asked for you specifically and not someone like Baker, Neville, Hudson, or Strausser because I have confidence in your ability. You'll have the best men, and equipment at your disposal."
OOC: Sorry, I don't have the time to do a Rebels post right now. :( But I'll get one up tomorrow! Scout's honor!

Travis grunted in pain as Renya punched his injured arm. "Crazy bitch." Travis mumbled under his breath so she wouldn't hear, he didn't want to get punched again. Admittedly he did have a lot more fun with her then most of the other rebels. Maybe because she's one of the few people here that challenge him. "I make no promises." Travis sarcastically answered to her asking him not to kill anyone. "Besides, it was more....housecleaning then it was murder." Travis smirked.

"Yeah I could eat." Travis said as he got up and exited his tent behind her. As they exited the tent Cal, a rebel commander came up to Renya. "And yet I still haven't gotten a thank you." Travis said, yeah he won't let that go. "And not to toot my own horn, I had to deal with like 20 marauders. No wait it was closer to 40! And a bear! No 2 bears! And a tiger!" Travis smirked, obviously embellishing the details. "But that's ok. I live to please. Or be pleased, depending on the day." He said with a bit of a chuckle. "So how are you muscles?"


Once the scouts left, and Sam was done planning the routes, he left his tent. He looked around and saw Cal talking with the freelancers. "Alright, people get your breakfast ate and meet me at my tent. I've got a few missions for us." Sam said addressing his people in a commanding voice and returned to his tent, the closest thing he has to a command center. It's no office in the heart of Philly, and stocked full with liquor, but it gets the job done.


"Well that's good to hear." Bass said as he took the drink she poured. "I'm doing ok. I'm just ready for these rebels to be dealt with." Bass said he started to sip on his drink. "Speaking of which, I've got a plan in motion." He said as he took a big gulp. "I've made sure the rebels have some false information. They believe that a caravan carrying weapons will be going by near some rebel sightings. But what they'll get is a nice little ambush."