A:N/ I've been working on a story that follows up Iconoclash for a while now and I've decided that it's time to start it. I've been figuring out how to start it and I originally going to make this the opening/prologue of that story but I feel it works as it's own piece. I hope you lot agree. :)/
Elder Sarah Lyons...
It still sounded wrong, no matter how many times she said it to herself or other people said it to her. The entire world had just moved on by now and yet, here she was, staring down at her Father's robes and despite training her whole life for this moment she found herself full of... uncertainty.
She was a soldier, a Sentinal and despite her Father's withering state she never pictured it coming to this...
"Elder Lyons?"
She turned around, with a raised brow, looking somewhat confused for a moment before realising that that was her. Before her stood Paladin Kodiak, the child of the Pitt... Kodiak was a difficult man, when it came to staying in his good graces. Not that he was unreasonable in any way but he was a rather proud man, who didn't like to be mocked or insulted in any way.
If he didn't like you, then conversations were short lived and he wouldn't be afraid to admit it either. Thankfully, Sarah had stayed in his good graces.
"I see you find that as odd to hear as I find it odd to say... Still, are you ready to roll out?"
Sarah paused as her eyes fell down to her Helmet, she wondered if she'd be allowed out after this...
"Once more into the Breach, huh?"
"Most likely 'one last time' into the Breach, Elder. I hear Peabody and Bowditch mumbling in their little labs, sounds like they're shitting it. Just the thought of an Elder, actually leaving the Citadel, the risks and..."
"I've left hundreds of times, this is nothing new. Besides, this is who I am. Who I always will be... It's like trying to domesticate an outdoor cat."
"Well, who knows... Just wait a few years and you might be able to dump the responsibility onto the Maxson boy." Kodiak shrugged, looking around to make sure he wasn't around.
"He's nowhere near ready..."
"Too timid?" Kodiak asked, with a knowing smirk as he folded his arms, however, Lyons simply shook her head.
"Too brash... He's trying to grow up too fast, he's gone from that little boy, who wandered around the B-Ring to this combat hungry soldier, ever since my Father passed, he's just been so..."
"Sounds to me, like he's desperate to prove himself, to step up." Kodiak observed, glancing away.
"You talked to him about it?"
"No... Haven't had the chance. I will, eventually." Lyons sighed, falling silent as she noticed another figure in Lyons Pride Power Armour step in, even with his Helmet on, she recognised him as Knight Captain Irving Gallows.
"Elder, it's time to go." He said, looking to Kodiak with a furrowed brow, it would seem that it was his job to get the Elder out there and now he needed backup.
"I know, I was just on my way." Sarah explained, turning her attention back to Kodiak.
"Bring your helmet this time. We're heading right into the Super Mutant nest, leaving your head jutting out is not advised."
"Yes Ma'am." Kodiak said, with a quick nod, he never wore his helmet, it got in the way when he was trying to shoot.
The Elder stepped out of her quarters and marched down the dingy corridors of what used to be the Pentagon. Now it was the Fortress of a new army, one with a different goal to their ancestors but one deemed just as important by the base's new occupants.
Today was a landmark day in the DC Chapter's history, today would be the day that the Supermutant threat would be wiped off the face of the earth... Well, Vault 87's mutants anyway, there were more of those abominations on the West Coast but those are less hostile towards non-mutants than these other perversions of nature.
As the Elder stepped up, into the central courtyard, she had quite a bit to consider. There was only one possible entrance to Vault 87 and that was through Murder Pass, down in Little Lamplight. It took quite a lot of convincing to get down there.
Paladin Callaghan... The Lone Wanderer, he managed to secure his own passage and he informed the Brotherhood of the Mutant nest but never told them that there was a whole conglomeration of children living down there, hostile towards anyone who was over the age of fifteen.
The Scouts were a little less than civil with them as well, quickly finding themselves aggravated by the unreasonable demands of the mayor. The Mayor looked like he was on his way out, somewhere between twelve and fifteen, from the description she got. On his sixteenth birthday, he'd be booted out and sent to Big Town, forced to fend for himself with the rest of the poor slobs.
Denis would have made the perfect ambassador, if he'd have found the time. Sadly, he barely found the time to get the blood samples that the scribes had asked for. They had to surrender some of their weapons and food and medical supplies to get in, that Mayor thought he was taking a lot more from us than he actually was. He believed he was getting around 40% of their overall stock, when actually they were barely getting 10%...
They just had to look a bit disheartened as they walked through the place, giving the little shitter his false victory...
"Elder Lyons, the vertibird is ready for take-off!" The Co-Pilot informed them, rushing over to her side.
"Just three passengers to go."
"Yes, sorry about the delay... I had to make some last-minute preparations." Sarah admitted, stepping up to the vertitbird and resting her power armoured foot onto, taking in a deep breath. The propellers kicked up quite a dirt storm, inside the Citadel, just what to expect from a crumbling old building that hasn't seen a brush in two hundred or so years...
Paladin Kodiak stepped up, out of the stairway behind her, predictably not wearing his helmet. She didn't want or need to tell him again; his decision had been made.
"Elder!" A young voice called, the voice of her youngest recruit, Arthur. She paused and fell silent, quickly kneeling down as he rushed over. He seemed quite desperate to catch up, moving quickly but due to rigorous training, he didn't find himself breathless.
"You didn't wake me, like you said you would." Squire Maxson sighed, coming to a stop in front of her and getting her to smile a little. To say that those two had a soft spot for eachother would be an under-statement. Arthur had a mad crush on her, practically aching for her as he lay in his barracks bed, staring up at the ceiling and she often treated him with a little more leniency than she would most.
She even forgave him for shooting her...
"Sorry... I meant to, I just... Well, I got wrapped up with a few things." She admitted, it was true, lately she was so forgetful when it came to this kind of stuff, not her duties of course but everything else. She'd work for hours and then just forget that she was supposed to eat six hours ago and Christ alone knew how much R&R she had forgotten to take.
"It's the Supermutants, isn't it? Do you think they'll be wiped out at the end of all this?"
"Not wiped out." Sarah sighed, glancing away before looking back to him with an intense glare.
"We'll have to pick off what's left, after we're done but there won't be any more being made and we'll have taken out their strongest members, if they decided to move back in."
"Paladin Callaghan wiped them out, are there any masters even left?"
"I think a few Overlords will have found their way back in... Not to mention that there are always dozens to replace the fallen. Each one is stronger than the last..." Sarah explained, not wanting to get the lad's hopes up. In truth, he wasn't the only one with such hopes, just the most vocal.
"Well, we'll wipe them out together, when you get back. You, me and the Pride? We'll wipe them off the face of the Wasteland!"
Sarah couldn't help but chuckle faintly, admiring his determination but finding fault in how little restraint he had.
"I'm afraid this'll be my last outing... They're barely happy with me going out as it is... Still, I'll do my best to make sure that you see some action, I think you're almost old enough for advanced training. Maybe some supervised missions..."
"Y-Yes Ma'am. I can't wait to get out there, to serve the Brotherhood." She could tell that there was more to that sentence, something along the lines of 'instead of being a hindrance.'
Still, she didn't want to make her presumptions and re-enforce his self-doubts so she nodded firmly.
"You will, Squire. In fact, don't get too attached to that title... You might lose it when I get back."
Arthur couldn't help but give her a smile of hope and heavily smothered anticipation as she rose to her feet.
"Elder Lyons!"
"We can talk more later." She said, seeming incredibly calm as she did so, turning her way back to the vertibird and stepping inside as the door slid shut behind her. The red lighting messed with her eyes at first but she knew from experience that you quickly adjust.
She slid into her seat, just next to the doorway, already she felt the vertibird taking off as she held onto the handle bars. She could feel Arthur's wondrous eyes remaining fixated on the vertibird, encompassing his hopes and wishes as it flew above the Capital.
"Alright Pride! Ensure that all weapons are properly locked and loaded, we've been given access into Murder Pass but expect heavy resistance as soon as we're inside. Remember the plan, stick to it and if you get separated, play it safe and head back to the entrance. If you cannot find us or the entrance, then stay where you are and activate your distress beacons."
"Denis mentioned encountering non-hostile mutants before, how do we engage with them? Or any other prisoners we find?" Kodiak asked, knowing fully well that not every resident of hell could be a monster or else the monsters would starve.
"Supermutants aren't very deceptive, if the mutants don't attack you instantly? Advise them to go to the front entrance. Any prisoners should be left in their cells until all hostiles are dealt with but according to Denis, the prisoners have been all been released or neutralised."
Already, they were nearing the landing zone, prompting Sarah to ready her plasma rifle, after taking a deep breath. By now the doors were quickly opening, allowing the Pride to disembark as soon as possible.
They could already see the Lamplight caverns, prompting Sarah to stand up, knowing full well that the mutants have probably seen them coming and were hoping to return to their home base to eliminate the threat.
"Alright Pride! Move out!" Sarah yelled, at the top of her voice as she hopped out, landing with a heavy thud on the floor as her power armoured boots hit the floor, shaking it furiously on impact.
The Vault was worse than Denis had described it, to think that her Father had sent him in alone... No wonder he hated the Brotherhood. The unsettling sound of the alarms and the unsettling sights of the rustic Vault walls and flashing red lights didn't help the unease at all.
Every few steps, the Pride found something else to turn their stomachs, bits of bodies left lying around, organ matter and limbs that would be impossible to identify without an operating table. Thankfully the helmets protected them from the smell, well, everyone but Paladin Kodiak, who just tried not to breathe.
"I was expecting resistance by now..." Sarah admitted as she peered around, again, she saw nothing.
"What do you call that outside?" Dusk asked, looking back over her shoulder as she still expected the mutties to jump out and ambush them at any moment.
"Yeah, they gave up a little too easily." Glade grumbled, lifting his gatling-laser again as he took a deep breath, constantly looking around for any signs of mutant activity. It was almost as if this place was completely abandoned, the caverns were completely deserted and by now.
"You think this is a trap?" Paladin Vargas asked, peering over Sarah as she scouted the room.
"An... Ambush?"
"Mutants don't ambush though, they're too brash for that." She whispered, hurriedly.
"Maybe they ran out of FEV and decided to abandon the place?"
"Maybe they just never bothered to repopulate after the Wanderer cleaned house the first time..." Dusk suggested, with a shrug.
Sarah sighed heavily as she shuffled into the Atrium, plasma rifle at the ready, again, there was nothing.
Things were starting to spook her now.
The lack of mutant activity or any activity at all made her feel even more uneasy with every step, as she entered the Atrium. She quickly motioned for her squad to follow her through, keeping her eyes fixated on the path ahead.
She quickly hopped up onto the atrium balcony's railing, leaping up into the air and dropping down to the lower level of the atrium, doing her best to avoid the hanging mutant organ sacks that decorated the room so grotesquely.
She let the suit absorb the height of the drop, slowly looking up and around as it adjusted and moving aside so that her squad could follow. It was at this point that she saw how strange the Atrium looked, the lower floor looked anything but abandoned, with small flaming track cans in the corner of the room and beds kicking about the place.
It looked like there were more mutants living here than ever before… If she didn't know better, she would think that this place was civilized…
What the…?
Her train of thought was derailed as she heard a sharp 'bang' coming from upstairs, prompting her to look around as she heard a hail of gatling-lasers fire on the upper levels, coming from a number of different directions. At first, she assumed that the Pride had targeted something, prompting her to raise her weapon.
However, she quickly noticed that plasma-fire was now visible, coming from the doors, opposite the balcony on the Atrium. Holding the monstrously large weapon was a Super Mutant Master, screaming his lungs out and firing some sort of modified gatling-laser that shot plasma.
Seeing the creature prompted Sarah to take a shot at him, hitting him in the side of the head but only managing to get him to stumble a little, out of view as the hot plasma burned half of his face off, it most definitely hurt but it didn't seem to discourage him.
"Grab the lead female! Shephard wants her!" One of the Mutants growled as the doors opened up, prompting four unarmed super mutants to rush out, into the hallway. Sarah fired at one of them, shooting him in the face with her plasma rifle and shooting his head in half, sending the top half of his head flying back into the room, from which he'd come.
Sarah was immediately grabbed from behind and from the sides, both of her arms were immediately secured in a tight, vice-like grip as the Mutant on her back pried at her power armour and one of the Masters emerged from the corridor to her left, brandishing a Super-Sledge.
Sarah tried firing her plasma rifle, repeatedly, hoping to shoot one of her captors in the foot but was unable to, due to the awkward positioning of the rifle. After firing off six or seven shots, she felt the Super-Sledge smash into her breastplate, alarms whirred inside her head to indicate that her torso had gone from 100% durability to 75% and that was just one strike.
She shunted a little to the side as the arm guards on her right had fallen off, due to the impact, combined with the rough handling from the two mutants clutching onto them. Sarah tried to use her feet to kick them away but found that her foot was caught up by the mutant behind her, just as her torso was hit, once more, with the Super-Sledge.
She gasped as she felt the armour tremble from the impact, by now she knew that they were going to find a way to force her out of this thing or kill her trying, still, she didn't want to give them the satisfaction of just surrendering her armour.
She then noticed two large green hands slip over her visor, wrapping their fingers firmly around it and yanking it upwards, she growled in defiance as her head was thrown back, thankfully it had been defended from the brunt of the attack.
The Super-Sledge came back around for one more strike, with one gargantuan swing, the hammer struck her T-45 powered chest and shattered it like clay, exposing the lower level of power armour underneath.
She panted heavily, glancing up to the Master, with a look of distain.
"If you think that'll kill me, you're not trying hard enough…"
"The Shephard doesn't want you dead! He needs you alive!" The Master clarified.
"Stupid robot woman!" Growled the mutant to her right, forcing her arm upward.
"Get out of your suit!"
"Go to hell, you lipless savage! I don't take orders from you!"
"Argh, stupid woman! We kill her now!" The Mutant snarled, growing restless as he wrapped his hands around her head as the door quickly slid open and another kind of mutant, everything about him was… different to any other kind of mutant she'd seen before.
He had grey skin, as oppose to the yellow-green skin that most Supermutants had and he wore a strange combination of leathers and furs. It looked like his face was held back with straps, oddly enough, rather than resting in a permanent snarl and he seemed to be carrying a rather elegantly fashioned blade, made from a vertibird propeller.
"Kill her and I'll have your hands!" The Nightkin interrupted, getting the mutant to stand down as he stepped into the room, looking down on Sarah, with a look of curiosity.
"Why is she still in her suit?"
"Shephard! She refuses to get out of it!" The Master, with the Super Sledge, explained, seeming rather furious about that fact.
"Obviously, it's the only thing keeping her alive. You need to shoot out her fusion core, leaving her no choice but to evacuate it, if she doesn't want to die in a nuclear blast."
"Wh-What!? How did… N-No, you don't want to…"
Shephard drew his blade and swung it, hitting her across the face with the flat surface.
"Do not insult my intelligence. I will warn you only once, disembark from your suit or I will force you out."
Sarah paused, looking to the floor, with a deep breath, she knew that this wasn't going to end well, no matter what she did, she figured that she might as well make it as difficult as possible for them to claim their victory.
"You do what you have to…
Then go to hell."
"Brave words." The Nightkin said, rather indifferently before nodding to the Mutant at her back.
"But foolish." The Mutant behind her pressed his tri-beam laser rifle to her back and fired, ensuring that the fusion core took the brunt of the blast and causing it severe damage.
Almost instantly, it went red…
Sarah was released as the mutants backed away, none of them wanted to be there, now that they could see that she was a ticking nuclear time bomb.
"Shephard!"
"Get to cover!" The Nightkin snapped, turning back and rushing towards the door, from which he'd come from. He dashed inside, hitting the switch the put the six-inch door between himself and the explosion, shielding himself from the blast.
The core bleeped violently with each passing second, until it eventually detonated, with a loud, thunderous explosion. The entire Atrium rocked, furiously as it went off, with a blinding flash of nuclear light and an intense heat.
Shephard gave it a second, taking a deep breath before touching the control panel and opening the door. There, at the center of the room, was the burned-out Power Armour frame and the scorch marks left by detonation but a troubling lack of human remains.
He furrowed his brow as the doors opened, his brethren emerged and drew up the same conclusion…
Sarah took one deep breath as she heard the doors open, knowing that the element of surprise was swiftly fading. She quickly revealed herself, swinging around from the doorway in which she was hiding.
She had managed to grab her Plasma Rifle and rushed ahead, taking refuge in the room, opposite her. She was now sharing the room that the Super-Sledge Master was hiding in before, now the resident of his buddy's crown…
The time for hiding was over, she had one chance to kill as many as possible and run and that was exactly as she intended to do. She spun around and raised her plasma rifle, seeing three mutants in front of her and firing off round after round. Three shots was all it took to take down each of the lesser mutants, however, the Master just seemed to be getting pissed off by the shots and was now coming towards her, brandishing his giant Super-Sledge.
She took as many shots as possible at the large creature's head as he ran towards her, ready to bring his large hammer down on her own head and split it like a water melon. She'd weakened him significantly, she could tell that much but not enough to kill him or even slow him down. This prompted her to duck and roll off to the side, shooting at his knees and shins before she was eventually grabbed from behind by Shephard's firm hands.
He snatched her shooting arm, yanking it away and twisting her wrist with as much force as inhumanly possible, resulting in a sickening crunch as the forearm twisted, so that her hand and wrist were both facing the wrong way, dislocated and broken, to the point that she couldn't even move her fingers.
She tried to growl, loudly as she normally would but it eventually turned into a pained howl as her plasma rifle dropped from her now lifeless fingers. The pain made her faint, dizzy even. Her hearing was now a tinny echo and her vision was tunnelled.
Sarah was now acting on instinct alone, grabbing at her knife, by her belt and stabbing over her shoulder, straight into Shephard's. This got little but an irritated growl from Shephard, prompting him to snatch her up by her neck, finding himself unaffected by her furiously squirming form.
He lifted her up, rather quickly, choking her in his large hand as he looked to her desperate gasps for breath with some degree of fascination as he watched her struggle. Out of weapons, her team mates dead and left to the mercy of her enemies, this Elder had been vanquished far too easily for Shephard's liking…
"Pitiful…" He murmured before snatching up her left leg and driving her down onto his knee, breaking her over it like one would a 2x4. Her spine snapped in a similar fashion, however, unlike a piece of wood, she shivered furiously, gasping on impact and choking on the pain as she was dropped to the floor.
The pain of having her lower vertebra shattered was overwhelming alone but combined with the sudden nature of the injury and her previously inflicted injuries and the Elder found herself completely and utterly overwhelmed by pain.
She lay still on the floor, shivering furiously as Shephard rose to his feet, looking up to the mutant Master, whose face was still burning with hot, sticky plasma.
"Bring her and any survivors to my throne room… I wish to execute them, personally."
"Yes, Shephard." The Master declared, kneeling down before him and hanging his head in awe as the Nightkin walked away.
He'd need time to sharpen his blade…
Sarah lay at the center of the, now designated, throne room. It stood at the end of the corridor, that began with a cluster of containment cells.
Her breathing was incredibly weak, the pain overwhelmed her to the point that she couldn't move or speak, she could only listen and anticipate what was coming next.
"We have done it, Bretheren! We have crippled the Brotherhood of Steel!" Shephard's voice echoed throughout the chamber as the Nightkin stepped over the fallen Elder, glaring down on her, with his sword in hand.
"The New Unity has taken its first major leap into destroying the purist, humanist scum of the Capital Wasteland!"
This got a thunderous cheer from the mutants in his command as they stood around him, it was almost deafening. It really didn't help her injuries, hearing this audial bombardment as she lay, struggling for breath. She choked a little, coughing weakly but finding her coughs drowned out by the cheers of the Mutant horde.
"For Unity!" They cheered, thrusting their fists into the air repeatedly, chanting it over and over as Rock readied his sword, taking a few deep breaths as he tightened his fist around the sword.
"Rest well, warrior." Shephard muttered, bringing his sword up and immediately driving it back down again, Sarah flinched as she saw it come down, hundreds of tiny flashes hit her. Spending her time with Arthur, meeting Denis in that alleyway that fateful day, project purity...
These memories acted as a shield, to eject her from this new, harsh reality of staring death in the face. Thoughts vanished within an instance, her entire consciousness was now completely vacant as she went back to the shooting range with her Father, went back to her first flesh wound, received another one from Arthur...
There were so many things that made this one life, this short lived but accomplished life.
Then there was nothing, no pain or consciousness, just a vacant stare from her now detached head as the sword cleaved right through her neck. All that muscle put up very little resistance, to the point that she felt nothing at the end.
A final mercy...
Shephard snatched her head up and held it above her corpse, seeming rather unfazed by the blood, still leaking out of it. The sight of Elder Lyon's severed head got a thunderous cheer as nearly one hundred mutants stood around her mutilated corpse, chanting the word 'unity' repeatedly in rapid succession.
With the Pride of the Brotherhood crushed, a dark, sombre feeling of fear hung over the Capital Wasteland and for the first time, in two years.
The Lone Wanderer was gone, Lyon's Pride had fallen and the Brotherhood was without leadership.
The Supermutants had hope and to celebrate this new-found hope, they had a glorious feast of the vanquished.