Have to admit, I was not expecting the reception from Welcome to the Castle. Skyrim seems to be a dead fandom so I was getting nothing over there, but lo and behold there are many Fallout readers. I was rather surprised, so thank you everyone who is still reading my work here.
Much like my other work "The Last Bullet", this does take place within the timeline of my other Fallout works, but is not part of the official 'cannon'. I originally had another one planned instead of this one, but this kinda grabbed hold and refused to let go.
Be warned, this will be unpleasant.
Enjoy.
Another day in the Commonwealth, another kidnapped person to rescue.
At least, Nathaniel told himself that again and again. It made the sheer pressure of such a high profile target a tiny bit easier to manage.
"Preston, how many we got on patrol?" Nathaniel moved to the side of his lieutenant.
"Just one." Preston moved his laser musket about, his eye locked into the scope so he survey the space before them. "How we playing this, general?"
"Quick and quiet." Nathaniel pulled off his armored battlecoat and shifted his own gun to hang by its strap over his back. "Let's get her out, then we can go guns hot."
While the two men spoke, Piper sat nearby. The reporter was quiet, a freaky occurrence in of itself. She said nothing, but Nathaniel knew enough of her tells to recognize her unease and borderline panic. If Nathaniel wasn't here, the woman would already be losing it.
It wasn't every day your sister and literally only remaining family was abducted by raiders.
"Provide overwatch from up here." Nathaniel tapped Preston on the shoulder as he moved over to Piper.
"Blue."
"Don't worry." Nathaniel planted a quick kiss to the top of his girlfriend's head. "I'll be right back with Nat. We won't be long."
Piper said nothing as Nathaniel departed from their vantage point.
Nathaniel couldn't believe he was thinking it, but he really wished it had been the Gunners who took Nat. Unscrupulous though they may be, they were businessmen at heart. It made them much easier to bargain with. Raiders? Not so much, usually an approach of 'shoot first and don't bother asking' was much more appropriate.
Most of the time, nobody dared hold a prisoner when Nathaniel got involved. The last several times, all he had to do was show his face and the kidnappers would fall all over themselves to hand the hostage over free of charge.
There were two types of people inhabiting the Commonwealth. Those who knew of Nathaniel has the general of the Minutemen, and those who knew of him as the Grim Reaper of the Commonwealth. A trait Nathaniel was not above exploiting.
A time like this, Nathaniel would have happily paid any price for the safe return of Piper's sister. At least he would have, if there were any. The raiders had taken the younger Wright without a word. No ransom, no demands, nothing.
It was Nick who brought the idea up first. The raiders were middlemen, merely sent to get the girl for someone else. Considering they had to sneak into Diamond City to do so, it wasn't random. They were hired to get Nat specifically. The only group Nathaniel could think of that would want Nat had to be the Institute. As for why, he wasn't going to wait to find out.
Just as Preston said, there was only a single guard on patrol around the perimeter. Nathaniel waited until the idiot was distracted by taking an inhale of jet before coming up behind him. The raider had just sucked in a breath and tossed the inhaler down when Nathaniel seized him from behind and snapped his neck in one smooth motion.
After dragging the body out of sight, Nathaniel slipped into the building itself. Ironically enough, it was one he recognized from his pre-war days. It used to be a small police precinct, but over half the structure had been reduced to rubble. The intact half housed the jail cells, making it Nat's most likely location.
With time being a factor, Nathaniel hadn't been able to scrape together much help. Preston just happened to be with him while they scouted a new settlement location, and Piper's presence was self-explanatory. They would have grabbed Nick, but the detective was out of town on a case. There were no Minutemen squads close either.
Nathaniel really needed to get those portable radios working properly to outfit his troops with.
Upon hearing the sounds of barking dogs, Nathaniel ducked back into the shadows. After a brief pause, he risked a look out a nearby window.
Most of the raider gang were situated around an arena of some sort. Nathaniel could just barely see through the throng enough to see the snarling dogs fighting each other. The raiders around them cheering the animals on.
That explained the lack of guards.
Making his way further into the building, Nathaniel could make out two voices.
"How could you be so stupid!"
"I didn't mean to!"
Nathaniel drew his knife and peered into the doorway. There were the cells, along with two raiders. One right next to the door and the second on the other side of the room. Both had their back to Nathaniel, making them easy targets.
The distant raider was too busy having a borderline breakdown over something. He was refusing to even look at his comrade while being scolded.
Taking advantage of the opening, Nathaniel slipped up and slit the raiders throat with his knife. Even while his fellow gurgled and choked on his own blood, the panicking raider was too distracted to notice the intruder.
Easing the still raider to the floor, Nathaniel moved closer to the second.
Upon doing so, Nathaniel could see the form of Nat inside one of the cells. She lay on her side, seemingly asleep. Inwardly, it made Nathaniel want to chuckle. The girl could sleep anywhere, truly.
The raider continued babbling to himself, unaware of the man coming up on his blind spot. By the time he turned around, Nathaniel was already upon him.
"Drop it, now." Nathaniel's knife, still coated with the blood of the other raider, pressed to the jugular was all the motivation this own needed to obey. The pipe shotgun clattered to the floor instantly.
Kicking the weapon away, Nathaniel paused for a moment to take in the appearance of this raider. He couldn't have been more than eighteen. Another boy, just like Jake Finch, making a stupid mistake. If he played his cards right, he might just make it out of this alive.
"What's your name?" Nathaniel eased up on the blade now that he was disarmed, but he didn't pull it from the raider's throat.
"A…Alex."
"Okay, Alex. Keys?" Nathaniel motioned with his head to the cell holding Nat.
"Here." Alex patted his belt, the jingling of metal snagging Nathaniel's attention.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Nathaniel seized Alex by the shoulder and pushed him toward the cell door. "Open it up."
Alex fumbled several times trying to get the key into the lock, but eventually managed it. With the door open, Nathaniel knocked him inside and drew his handgun, replacing his knife in its sheath. The sound of a gunshot would alert other raiders, but Alex was far too frightened to realize that.
Keeping the gun trained on Alex, Nathaniel approached Nat and gently shook her shoulder. "Hey, kid. Come on, wake up. We have to go, your sister's worried sick."
When Nat still didn't stir, Nathaniel turned the young girl over. Making sure to keep one eye on Alex at the same time, Nathaniel didn't miss the way Alex grew even paler. Something had the boy more scared of Nathaniel than the devil himself.
The first clue something was amiss was the wounds on the girl's hands. Nothing that noteworthy there, she wouldn't have been taken quietly. The heavy bruising on Nat's temple, along with the blood on her face told a whole different story.
Nathaniel felt his heart sinking as he moved a slightly shaking pair of fingers to a spot beneath Nat's jaw to feel for her pulse. If she was hurt, he needed to get her out of here even quicker.
As it turned out, Nat didn't need help.
She was already dead.
"You have ten seconds." Nathaniel stood up slowly, voice icier than the coldest chill. "Tell me what happened, or you're going to wish it was a feral ghoul about to kill you."
"I…I…" If Alex had been afraid before, he was downright soiling himself now.
Nathaniel had crossed the room in the time it took Alex to blink. Gripping the raider by the collar of his ratty shirt, Nathaniel pressed the muzzle of the handgun to his chin. "Eight seconds."
"It was an accident!"
"Five."
"I wasn't trying to hurt her!"
"Two."
"I hit her!" Alex was in full blown tears now. "She wouldn't shut up. I… must have hit her too hard… Please… don't…"
It was far from the first time somebody begged Nathaniel for their life. Usually, if it was some kid making a dumb mistake, Nathaniel would be willing to listen and offer mercy. Perhaps even offer a second chance, like he had done for Jake.
Too bad for Alex, Nathaniel was fresh out of such notions.
Pulling on Alex collar, Nathaniel roughly shoved the raider against the bars of the cell. The blow left Alex dazed and unable to focus. Moving his grip to his neck, Nathaniel slammed his head against the cold steel again and again.
"I'm sorry, did I hit you too hard?" Nathaniel pulled the barely conscious Alex back for a moment before resuming the beating. He didn't stop until the wet crunch of bone was to his satisfaction.
Letting the now dead Alex slump to the floor, Nathaniel turned his attentions back to Nat.
Nathaniel had learned long ago just how common death was in the Commonwealth. He could fight for a thousand years and still only save so many. Try as hard as a person might, you couldn't save everyone. It was what Nathaniel repeated every single day to help him keep going.
It never made it any easier.
"C'mon, kiddo." Holstering his handgun, Nathaniel lifted the lifeless girl into his arms as gently as possible. "Let's get you home."
It was a quick exit, even carrying the body of a child. The few raiders on guard duty were dead, and the others were too caught up in their dogfighting to notice anything wrong.
Nathaniel had to force his face to remain stoic when he returned to where he left the others.
The look of relief and joy on Piper's face lasted a whole two seconds before caving completely. She tried several times to speak as she took her sister's body from Nathaniel, but no sounds would come out. No tears fell either, her countenance was simply… dead.
Preston had abandoned his perch to kneel beside Piper. Taking his hat off was all he did, he knew what it was like to lose people you promised to protect. Not only that, he knew when words would be hollow comfort.
"Preston." Nathaniel picked up his heavy coat and flung the garment back over his lean frame. His tone every bit as empty as the look on Piper's face. "Look after Piper for a minute for me."
"What are you going to do?" Preston looked up from the Wright sisters.
Nathaniel ejected the magazine from his rifle and checked his ammunition count. After making sure it was fully loaded, he did a mental count of how many clips he had as well as his number of grenades and other equipment.
"I think I feel a rampage coming on." Nathaniel didn't even wait for Preston to say anything more. He simply flicked the safety off his rifle and once again made the trek back down to the raider camp.
The reaper had visited once and claimed three souls, but he was only just getting started.
This was originally going to be longer, but I underestimated how long it would be. Not to mention, I'm having trouble finding time to work, been a really busy week. So, there will be a second follow up chapter.
If anyone has ideas of stories they'd like to see, I'd love to hear them.