Fresh Blood for the Gauntlet
"Get this thing off of me!"
Caitlin was struggling with the Mirelurk bearing down on her. Its pincers were clamped around a board that she'd managed to grab, but it still tried to take her head off. She was completely drenched and slowly, she could feel her strength failing her.
Shaun and the dogs were stamping out the hatchlings, while X6 was clearing out the other Mirelurk.
Once it was dead, he quickly circled around Cait and shot the sea beast in the face. It recoiled, and two more shots finished it off.
The Synth pulled Caitlin to her feet, receiving a grateful smile from his friend.
Shaun cornered the last hissing hatchling and instead of wasting a bullet, simply stepped on it.
The boy was having the time of his life. This place was dangerous, sure, but it was fun. He was disarming traps, got to watch his mom and X6 fight; it was a real adventure!
He was a bit scared of leaving the Institute when they did, but now, trailing after his mother up the small tunnel, it was the best thing that ever happened to him.
Through the door atop the small tunnel the next surprise waited. A long, narrow hallway, littered with explosives. With an uneasy start, Cait noted there was something shiny spilled all over the floor. Gasoline, if she had to guess by the smell.
"Shaun? You think you can do this?"
Her son nodded confidently. Technology was his thing. He could take anything apart, and he was light enough to get close enough to mines to disarm them.
It was his modest contribution to his Mom's and X6's work and Shaun was extremely proud to help.
As Shaun inched toward the first mine, X6 reached down just in time to stop Dogmeat the wandering Danger Magnet from following his little friend.
The Synth kept an iron hold on the mutt's bandana.
Mishka simply sat down and waited beside Cait.
The tunnel was slow going, but Shaun acted like a real professional and ignored the heckling over the intercom and worked diligently, but as quickly as he could.
All the while, Cait hovered over him worriedly. She knew if he made a mistake, she wouldn't be able to save her boy, but she still wanted to let him know she was there.
They left the mines behind, but every grenade that was dangling from a string went into Caitlin's bag.
Once they reached the door, she gently pushed her son out of the way and went first.
But before her boys could follow, the door slammed shut.
"What's that? Someone lock you in? Just take a nice, deep breath. It'll all be over soon!"
Cait only had a second to be puzzled before an ominous hissing filled the room. Panic wanted to set it, but she forced herself to remain calm and take shallow breaths. On the other side of the door, X6 was pounding against it and yelling, but Cait couldn't understand what he was saying.
The gas was already making it harder to breath.
"Let's see if this vic can kill the gas before the gas kills her!"
"And once I'm outta here, I'm going to kill you..." she muttered under her breath.
Against all hope, she first tried to kill the gas via the valves, but it was no use, as the snarky commentary from the unseen announcer let her know.
She searched around the room, trying to breathe in as little of the fumes as possible. A few radroaches crawled out of the rubble and Cait's first impulse was to shoot them, but that wasn't smart in a room full of gas.
She made short work of the vermin with her knife.
In one of the desks, she found a holotape labelled 'substation terminal control'.
She might not be able to turn off the gas, but maglocks needed to be controlled via terminal.
Some searching yielded the terminal, and as the holotape loaded, Cait could feel her head starting to spin.
The letters on the screen went fuzzy, but Cait concentrated as much as she could. The command was right there, and she pushed the buttons with heavy fingers.
They heavy locks snapped open and seconds later, strong arms wrapped around her.
X6 helped an unsteady Caitlin, Shaun trotting along behind, covering mouth and nose with his sleeve.
Through the next door, fresh air filled Cait's lung, and an ominous buzzing grew in her ears.
She made a grab for her gun, but X6 very firmly shoved her to the ground and told her to breathe.
"Shaun. It's just ants. Get in some target practice with the bugs." He waited with Cait, his Institute rifle ready, just in case. But he needn't have worried.
The small boy was having the time of his life.
X6 had been training him, and Shaun was a good shot.
Dogmeat was grabbing flying ants out of the sky, making it a competition with Mishka.
It was only minutes before they were done, but they couldn't catch a breath before the intercom cracked to life again.
"Goddamn, look who's in the homestretch! Time for a little audience participation! That's right, vic. Breathe in that fresh air... while you can."
Even over the static of the ancient tech, that sounded ominous. Cait pushed herself up from the ground. They heard clattering and jeering, so she tried to assess the situation.
The only way from this old shed was a hallway and the way light filtered down from it, there was a at least partially open roof. Audience participation made her weary.
She motioned for Shaun and X6 to come closer.
"I don't like the sound of this. But we need to get out of here, so I say we book it. Shaun, you use the stealth boy I gave you and stay close. X6, we both just run like hell. We're fast enough."
"We are, but Shaun isn't, Ma'am. Use your stealthboy, and then you hang on to me. But from the front. You will have to hold on tight, because I can't carry you and run at the same time. Understood?"
"A reverse piggy back ride? Awesome!"
X6 threw Caitlin a suffering look but she just shrugged, too tense to smile.
With a little swishing noise, Shaun dissappeared, but the way X6's coat shifted, one could see where he climbed.
The older synth adjusted the boy a bit, then signalled Cait with a nod that they were ready to go.
It was absolute chaos. They ran, Cait in front, then the dogs, then X6 with Shaun.
Cait had been right, there was a chainlink roof, with raiders shooting down on them. The limb accentuator was saving her life right now, as was the pain inhibitor.
There was no time to look back, but Cait knew she was being grazed with bullets.
Careening around a tight corner, she barrelled into a turret, successfully managing to topple it. She felt a heavy thud in her arm, heard the laughter of the raiders above.
But the laughter stopped when the heavy turret smashed to ground and kept firing through the chainlink.
Cait kept moving till she reached the door and shouldered it open.
X6 and the dogs rushed in after her, and she threw the door shut, leaning against it.
Looking around, they found themselves in an old locker room, decorated richly in bodies, blood and rusty metal.
"Homey. Really," Cait muttered as she caught her breath. There was a dull ache in her shoulder, but before she could inspect it properly, someone called over from the intercom.
"You made it through. Impressive. Now listen up, because I'm the only one who can get you out of here alive. You'll be fightin Overboss Colter in the Arena. His power armour is set up to draw energy from the electric grid in the arena. Damn thing's invincible. You name it, someone's tried it.. Miniguns, grenades. Not a scratch. You get what I'm saying?"
"I get that this son of a bitch is gonna die, and if I have to take a ride on Old Sparky to do it," Cait replied coldly.
"I have no idea who you wanna lay, but I stashed a weapon in one of the lockers that can help you achieve your goal. Go find it."
Cait groaned exasperatedly, but then went in search of the mystery weapon.
Absentmindedly pushing Shaun to X6 to stop him from examining the body impaled on a spike, the young woman begin riffling through the lockers. With a snort of disbelief she found...
"A squirtgun!" Cait yelled as she stomped back over to the intercom.
"What in the everloving fuck am I supposed to do with a damn squirt gun? Drown him? Or does your bloody overboss have an aversion to bathing?"
"Well aren't you just a real joker," It was clearly meant to sound sarcastic, but Cait could hear the amusement in the man's voice.
"Anyway, once the water hits the armour, the circuits will short out and you can go on the offensive. It's time, audience is here. I'm gonna open the door to the arena. But this is one on one. Only you, not your friend or your mutts."
She didn't care. This was her fight and her fury and she didn't want any help. Cait didn't hear X6 as she shoved her bag at him.
All she heard was the jeering from the crowd of raiders as she stepped into the Arena.
"..and you, Vic. Are you ready to die?"
"You made me run the Gauntlet with my son. He's ten and he could have died. You're finished, cunt."
The man in the electric power armour laughed at her, but Cait didn't care. There was wrath boiling beneath the surface, ready to be released.
She didn't even bother with her gun, and pulled her murderously sharp knife from its sheath on her thigh.
Cait didn't wait for the Overboss to make his move, but launched herself at the man with all the force of her anger and the power of her implants.
He laughed, until she pulled the squirt gun from behind her back. Cait sprayed her opponent with water and he swore horribly when the suit started sparking and shorting out.
Caitlin lunged forward, her knife ready, but Colter was battle-proven.
A huge armoured arm came swinging out of nowhere, knocking the slight woman into one of the broken down bumper cars.
The impact knocked the wind out of Cait, but she managed to scamper behind the obstacle before she got shot.
The dull pain in her arm had escalated to a steady burning, but Colter's mocking laugh, his taunts pushed Caitlin over the edge and she gave in to her anger.
When the salve stopped, presumably to reload, the former director of the Institute emerge from behind the car and broke into a run.
The blood pounded in her ears, drowning out everything but her target.
She blasted him with another spout of water, and when Colter made to block her in the same way he did before, Cait threw the squirt gun at his face.
This was it, she wouldn't need another chance.
Colter, momentarily distracted by the red plastic zooming at his face, swatted it out of the air.
A split second later, Cait, smaller, thinner and weaker than him, flew at him with the force of a missile.
With her free hand, she grabbed hold of the edge of the armour.
Her blade sang through the air as it sliced into Colter's cheek.
He stumbled, Cait's weight pushing him off balance.
The Overboss of Nuka World fell amidst screams and blood.
But Cait was not done with him yet.
From behind the door to the Arena, X6 and Shaun watched as she let out a hawk-like shriek, driving the blade into the man's face again and again.
They had both seen this Cait before. The woman made of steel, cloaked in wrath and blood.
Finally, staggering and breathing hard, she stood.
The blade at her side dripped blood, her face was smeared in it, suddenly there didn't stand the Mother, the Friend, but an eldritch creature. A Death Bringer.
The Raiders were screaming and cheering and Cait's amber eyes flashed with quiet pride as she gazed over the crowd. The announcer, who'd annoyed her all through the Gauntlet, now sounded like music in her ears.
"Holy shit! COLTER IS DOWN! Man, I wouldn't even recognise him any more! Raiders and assorted psychopaths, the Gauntlet has finally met its match!"