Hello, I'm new to Fanfiction and I spent a while writing this and I decided to put it on here. I'm open to your comments, suggestions, etc., but please, constructive criticism, no hate. This chapter is pretty much about The Lone Wanderer and just how evil he is, I plan on delving into further chapters if your responses are positive, and I hope you enjoy! Rated M for gore and language.
Chapter 1
I stared through the scope of my rifle, glaring at a small man climbing out of the back of a truck. "PaIadin James updating, Elizior Marzonier, I.D. confirmed , awaiting further orders, over", I said through the small microphone in my helmet, and I heard static, then a voice, "Paladin James, this is Citadel 1, standby for permission to fire, over", said the voice. I wrapped my finger around the trigger, and held my breath, putting the crosshairs over his head. "Paladin James, you have permission to fire, over", said the voice and I slowly began to squeeze the trigger, "Touch that trigger, and you die!", hissed a voice, and a shiver went down my spine, "Who is this?", I demanded, "My name doesn't matter, but you'd know me as The Lone Wanderer", said the voice, and I froze.
Everyone had heard of The Lone Wanderer, he had crawled out of Vault 101 in 2277, and had wreaked havoc on the Capital Wasteland ever since. I had heard of some of the things he had done, detonating the nuke in Megaton, slaughtering entire towns just because he could, I had even heard the Regulators didn't bother him any more because of the heavy losses.
"I have one scope on your head, and one scope on his, I can pull both triggers, I don't care, but one way or another, my bullet his finding a home inside his skull!", he said fiercely, and I put my gun to the side. "Take the shot, but please, don't kill me", I said and I heard a blood-chilling laugh, and I saw Elizior crumble. But I didn't hear the shot, he must have a silencer, I thought, and I began to get my things together, when I felt a burning in my shoulder. "Now they'll have a killer", said the voice, and I heard static, and Citadel 1's chatter over the radio once again, "Citadel 1, mission failed, another assassin beat me to it!", I yelled as I ran, and I began hearing gunfire behind me, "I see him, kill him!", yelled a voice, and I felt another sharp burning in my leg, and I fell over, crawling away. "They hacked into our communications, it...it was The Lone Wanderer", I said, and I could feel the shocked silence from the other end.
The men behind me were catching up, and I took out my gun, "Cidadel 1, I'm at the north ridge a half-mile off of enemy territory, please, let them know I died with honor", I said, and I heard the thumps of the boots as they approached, "We salute you, Paladin James, thank you for your service", said Citadel 1, and a boot flipped me over, "It was an honor", I said, and closed my eyes, I heard a loud bang.
I was extatic, clean kill, and the blame was on the Brotherhood soldier. Not that it mattered, I like the attention I get when the leader of a gang gets killed. It's always the same, a squad of unorganized pieces of shit decide to take action and find me, and slowly but surely, as more and more heads get sent to their base, they keep coming in fewer and fewer numbers, until they just stop coming at all, it happened with the Regulators, and it happens every other time. But caps are caps, and I get to enjoy another kill, I had come to like the contract killer that had built his area of operations in the middle of a junkyard, he respected me, and I respected him. It had been made known immediately that I would not be assigned weapons, I would use my own. Silencers weren't my style, I had a flare for the theatrical, but at times, they were necessary.
For instance, it was pleasurable to watch the Brotherhood soldier get shot in the face for what I did. No one even suspected my involvement, and I got to watch the show. Over time, I had developed a sense of immunity. I had had a few close calls, but a few Stimpacs later they were distant memories, I liked to live in the present so there would be no risk of guilt. Guilt would prevent me doing what I love, and standing elbow deep in caps.
Walking through the Capital Wasteland was once a difficult task, mainly because of the Raiders, but now, no one bothered me. I've seen Raiders bow down to me and ask to join me, which proved a simple task putting them down. The Enclave never even tried to bother me, they had offered me several million caps to take down the Brotherhood of Steel, but I had declined. Even I couldn't take down such an organized military. I had been inside the Citadel before, and their weapons were very tempting, but they always kept an extremely close eye on me, smart bastards, I thought.
The Brotherhood despised me, the Enclave idolized me, and President Eden had done me plenty of favors. He gave me the equipment to hack into Brotherhood comms, which proved very useful, and since he was a computer system, and was in control of the entire Enclave military, he was a very powerful figure, and a good ally. There was one person in the Enclave that hated me, and the feeling was mutual, the Colonel, Augustus Autumn. His hatred wasn't derived so much by what I've done, but by his jealousy that his successor loved me so much. He felt that "his position as dynast of the Enclave was at risk", whatever the hell that meant, its not like President Eden was going anywhere, a computer isn't gonna die of age, dumbass, I thought. It wasn't like President Eden had any intention of stepping down, perhaps Autumn believed the crock of shit he said over their broadcast, like I said, dumbass.
The Enclave broadcast stated that President Eden was elected and intended on serving a full, constitutional term, then stepping down and allowing someone else to take his place, and everyone in the Capital Wasteland knew that broadcast was, like I said, a crock of shit. It was obvious that the Enclave didn't give a shit about the "greater good" of the Wasteland, and if they were trying to fool anyone, slaughtering entire towns of innocent people wasn't the best approach.
My thoughts were interrupted when a Mole Rat jumped at me, and I grabbed his throat, suspending him in the air. He struggled, but my strength and the Power Armor I wore gave him no chance of escape, I threw him onto the ground as hard as I could, and took out my combat knife. I shoved it into his eye, and twisted, then pulled it out, taking his eye with it. I slipped it's eye off and cut open it's stomache, cutting out some meat and putting it in my bag, slightly irradiated, but what isn't these days, I thought, and kept walking. I reached a small shack, and kicked down the door, I heard a muffled shriek, and heavy stomping, Super Mutants, finally, a little bit of a challenge, I thought, and pulled out my 10mm submachine gun. The gigantic yellow creature towered over me as he squeezed through the bedroom opening and saw me, "This is my lucky day!", he yelled and took out a sledgehammer from his belt. "You are one ugly piece of shit, aren't you", I said and he snarled, "You'll pay for that!", he said, and swung, missing me by a mile, "Yeah, good luck with that, "I said, and dodged easily.
He kept swinging, getting angrier and angrier, until he swung directly in front of me, and I grabbed the handle. This unbalanced him, and I pulled the sledgehammer from his hands, flipping it around. I swung as hard as I could, and I felt his jaw break. He screamed in pain, clutching his jaw, and he ran into the bedroom, coming back out with a minigun. "Now you'll pay!", he screamed, and it started warming up, I slipped under his legs, and he started firing at the air, "Where is he, where is he!?", he screamed and I jumped on his back. He started thrashing frantically, but I held on easily, and I pulled out my combat knife, sticking it in his throat. I jumped down, and he gagged, he thrashed around the room wildly, trying to connect with my face. I just leaned against the wall and watched the show, watching him as he pulled the knife out of his throat, bad idea, I thought. Blood splattered out of his neck, and he tried to scream in pain, but nothing came out but a gurgle. He fell to his knees, and clutched the coffee table for support, blood splurted out of his neck, covering the coffee table, and his head fell onto it, his arms spasming slightly as he slipped out of consciousness. Blood dribbled off the coffee table, and it continued splattering out of his neck, I went over to the entrance and grabbed my submachine gun, and my knife, I'll have to wash this after, I thought, the blood was already drying.
I walked into the bedroom and saw two bodies, and two people tied up on the bed. The two dead people were mutilated, and looked like children, and the two people on the bed were a man and a woman. The woman was ghostly pale and the bed was covered in blood. Her leg was on the floor, it had been chopped off, and it looked like her stump was already infected. The man was staring off into space, obviously in shock, they must be his kids, I thought and raised my gun. I shot the woman in the head, and the man didn't even move, he isn't aware of anything anymore, I thought, and shot him. Then I searched the house, I found some leather armor in the dresser in pretty good condition, I can sell that, I thought and put it in my bag. I found a small revolver under the bed, which the man was probably trying to reach before his children were slaughtered and his wife got her leg cut off.
I found some Nuka Cola in the fridge, and some Brahmin steak, but other than that, there was nothing of value left. I searched the Super Mutant, and found a shotgun, along with some Stimpaks, and Rad-X. I took the sledgehammer, but decided to leave the minigun, I have enough of those back at the suite, I thought, and left the shack.
I walked to Tenpenny Tower, one of the only places I've been in which I hadn't decided to kill everyone. The place was filled with sick, sadistic people, and I respected them, they tried to consider themselves "civilized people", but I knew better, they were just as bad, if not worse, then everyone else in the Wasteland. I walked up to Security Chief Gustavo, and put the sledgehammer on the desk, "What can you give me for this?", I asked, and he picked it up, weighing it, "Sixty caps", he said, and I nodded. He put the sledgehammer under his feet, and counted out the caps, "Do you ever take that helmet off?", he asked, and I shook my head. He handed me the caps, and I put them in my bag, he respected me, I could tell he had as soon as I had taken care of their "Ghoul problem".
A handful of Ghouls had been trying to gain access to Tenpenny Tower for several months, and the residents were starting to get fired up. Mr. Burke had recommended my employment after I had taken care of Megaton for him, and he hadn't taken me seriously. But after I came back with barely twenty bullets lost, he never questioned me again. I headed up in the elevator, and opened the door to my suite, I never locked it, people knew better than to steal from me. I passed by the crumpled robot on the floor, and put my newly aquired caps in my safe. I had destroyed the robot almost instantly because of his constant annoyance, "May I help you sir", "Would you like to hear a joke, sir", shut the fuck up! I put the shotgun on the shelf, and the Nuka Cola, the Brahmin steak, and the Mole Rat meat in the fridge. I took off my helmet and bag, and threw them in the corner, then I layed down on the bed, I turned on Galaxy News on my Pip Boy 3000, and fell asleep to the sound of Cole Porter, as he sang "Anything Goes". I didn't hear the door open, or the gasoline get poured onto the floor, I didn't hear the lighter flick.