"Everyday, I watch this world descend into hell. I'm just trying to find a nice comfortable seat with a nice view." - Defender Farsight
Chapter 4 : Sniper
For one sweet, simple moment. Everything in the world narrowed down to a small packet of buildings to the northwest. Light, sound, and the rustle of wind and dust were all secondary concerns. Her mind cleared, emptying the thoughts of hunger, restlessness and anxiety, all her energy and thoughts focused on the building that was Gold Ribbon Grocers.
Unconsciously, she began judging the distance, readjusting the sights, calming her heartbeat.
Kesler, standing by her as her spotter, already had his binoculars trained ahead.
"Target acquired, two meters, subway entrance. You're clear to go."
Silence. The one second pause in time between heartbeats, enough to experience that intense feeling of staring into death itself.
"Bang. You're dead."
A quick blast tore through the air and the rifle recoiled back into Farsight's shoulder, even though she was wearing reinforced T45d power armor, the modifications on the rifle gave it a monstrous kick, tenderizing her shoulders and aching them with pain.
Three hundred yards away, by the Jury Street Metro, a raider was thrown back. Their body falling clumsily off the roof to join the four other lifeless corpses lying there.
"You got 'em, straight through the sternum." Kesler patted Farsight's shoulder in appreciation. Now the area was clear, they could ransack the place for any useful items.
"Alright then," Farsight smirked, taking off her power helmet to relax for a second, taking the time to shake all the sweat off her brown hair. She had been stalking that band of raiders all afternoon, hiding in hundred-degree weather, inside reinforced power armor.
"Let's go Kesler, you too, Charlie." She reattached her power helmet, nodding towards their robotic companion.
"Please believe me... when I say I'm not enjoying this." The Robobrain said in a slightly feminine, montone voice.
'Charlie', the Outcast name for one of their pet Robobrains, an old prewar robot that was simply a cylindrical torso and a hardened glass dome, containing their Central processing unit and an organic brain inside. Like everything else owned by the Outcasts, they were painted black and crimson red.
"At least you don't have legs." Defender Farsight chuckled.
"Trust me ma'am, I'm aware." Charlie replied. The Outcasts had found Charlie by the old Bethesda ruins, his human brain was originally from pre-war days, the question of who he was before was still a mystery. On the plus side, he made a great travel buddy.
Farsight shouldered her rifle, waiting impatiently as Kesler got together his gear, a pre-war Tri-laser rifle. As far as spotter's go, Farsight was grateful for Kesler's company, professional to the core, though even at the best of times, not the best conversationalist. She could not help think back to what he was like when he got out of the tunnels. Though the power helmet covered his face, he gave off the appearance of someone who had stepped through hell and back. Farsight was no fool, she knew that the sort of missions spec ops was assigned were usually the most gritty and deadly ones, that was perhaps one of the reasons she opted to be a sniper instead. To oversee the battle from afar, to be able to see more than any soldier on the field, and when the time was right, to surgically strike the enemy.
It was never personal, just cold, and clinical.
More to the point, she could fell the command structure of her enemies, render their equipment useless and drive fear into the hearts of their fighting men. As far as she was concerned, it was one of the most effective weapons on the field of battle.
She was proud too, of her background, both her parents being part of the Brotherhood 'Hawkeye' squad from out west. Snipers in the Brotherhood forces were rare enough to come by, as each Paladin or Knight preferred to show off their alpha male dominance by wielding the largest heavy weaponry available. But what good would that be when their head was blown off at three hundred yards. One armor piercing round in the hands of an expert was several times more efficient than a whole magazine of elephant killing rounds in the hands of an untrained fool. That was perhaps why Casdin thankful that she stepped over to his side on the day of the schism.
A small dust storm blew across the small Outcast patrol, reminding Farsight just how painfully dull and lonely it was just walking all the way out here.
Farsight watched as the Jury Street Metro station became closer, the backdrop of the far off mountain ranges and urban ruins of DC providing a nice contrast to the bright and colorful grocery store they were about to ransack.
The ancient door shattered as Kesler's power armored kick tore it off its hinges, a split second later, his rifle snapped up, scanning the room for any hostiles.
"Clear." Kesler said over the radio. Seconds later, Farsight showed up, sniper rifle at the ready, while Charlie followed in after.
Kesler quickly pointed to the boxes of cram and dandy's apples on the shelves, while he gestured at a nearby fridge with Farsight. Several arrows were scrawled to the floor, leading up to a circular platform. It was only now that they also noticed the neat domino stacks of abraxo cleaner and food on the shelves.
"Hmm, that looks like fun." Farsight smirked, reminding her of the old games she used to play with the Brotherhood children on the journey west.
"Don't touch it." Kesler warned, gesturing towards the hidden cache of explosives and incendiaries on the rooftop, whoever had made this entire set up obviously put a lot of effort into it. "Just focus on the food."
"Party pooper." She whispered. Then unhappily began tearing the hinges off a nearby fridge
"All the way out here...we could be scrounging for technology, but instead Casdin sends us on a food run." Farsight sighed, this was quite unbecoming, definitely not the best of assignments she had.
"Do you prefer to starve to death in the security of the fort?" Kesler asked in a rather uncharacteristically light fashion as he began storing food inside Charlie's capsules.
"They could have programmed me to love, to forgive; but noooooo..."
Leaving the strange set up where it was, the Outcast patrol soon finished their work, shouldering their weapons and heading out the door. Kesler already pushing the battered door out of the way with his power armored glove.
The air shattered.
Farsight involuntarily jumped, and watched in horror as a spray of blood slapped her on the face of her power armor. Kesler's armored body being thrown back into the store, crashing into Charlie.
Oh Shit
"Kes!" Farsight ran towards her Outcast, just as a second shot pierced the window, hitting her directly in the shoulder and throwing her down onto the ground.
"There's no use in hiding. I am programmed to be quite relentless, you know." Charlie rolled outside against their invisible assailants, buying Farsight enough time to drag Kesler's limp body away from the doorway, and lean him against the wall. Working through the adrenaline, the fear pumping in her vains, she unhitched Kesler's helmet, watching with horror as she saw a clean bullet wound go straight through the armor plating on his chest. Blood dripped from Kesler's mouth.
"Cough Kes, Come on, Cough!" Farsight shouted.
Kesler gurgled a response, but eventually coughed out spit into Farsight's palm. Good, no blood, he wasn't lung shot.
"Sniper." Kesler said weakly.
"I figured. Just stay put, I'll be back." Farsight unholstered her rifle, then began making her way to the back of the store, just in time to hear a small explosion from outside as the enemy sniper blew up what was left of Charlie's Chasis.
"Goodbye...friennd. I'll miss...yoooo#*4374U..."
Damnit Charlie. Farsight thought with grim anger, before slipping a fresh magazine into her gun and exiting from the back. Defender Kesler meanwhile, slowly dragged himself to cover, laser rifle already in hand.
Four hundred yards away, in an undisclosed house, two soldiers watched.
"Good shot. Hit him through the chest." The officer nodded with approval.
"Wish I hit his head though, stupid wind." The second soldier, a man in advanced power armor mark II, said disappointingly. The advanced power armor, one of the few post-war models, was composed of lightweight metal alloys, reinforced with ceramic castings at key stress points. Looking nothing like the gray T45ds, the black armor made them look almost like armored aliens from those pre-war outer space movies.
"This is Echo Delta. I have the targets pinned down." The man said quietly, professionally through his helmet. It was not every day that the Enclave sent its sniper teams out into the wastes, but when reports of a Brotherhood patrol popped up in the area, far away from their nearest bases, Enclave Command wasted no time in jumping at the opportunity to reduce Brotherhood numbers even by three. So long as the Brotherhood of Steel held the urban terrain, any assault in the city would result in needless casualties, casualties the Enclave could not afford. This was the safer approach, whittling down their numbers until it was time to strike.
He eyed through the scope again, ignoring the smoking remnants of the robobrain he had just dispatched, instead focusing on the pile of fresh blood by the doorway of the grocery store. He was on the second story window of an old dilapidated pre-war ruin, giving him a clear field of fire into the grocery store and town.
No way in hell would the other soldier try for the roof, or the car. Those pre-war fusion batteries would make that a death trap.
The officer spotter, obviously getting too impatient for his own good, nudged the sniper on the back.
"I'll order a squad into town. This shouldn't take too-"
The Enclave officer's head exploded in that instant, thrown backwards onto a bed. The window that he had been sniping out of shattered too, showering him with glass shards and wooden splinters that bounced off his armor.
"A fellow sniper. This should get interesting." The Enclave sniper smirked as he jumped down the old pre-war stairs, changing his location. I love it when they fight back. Part of him thrilled at a fight that would actually challenge his skills, the disciplined part of him told him to get to work.
"Agent Echo Delta, report." Enclave command asked through the radio.
"Lieutenant Synder is down," Agent Delta said nonchalantly as he sprinted towards his new position. "Currently pinned down by hostiles, requesting permission for freedom of movement."
"Permission granted. Eliminate all Brotherhood assets in the area. Vertibird, call sign Haven One is on standby if you require assistance." Agent Delta smiled, Enclave Comm was being unusually generous today, granting him access to a vertibird and squad. Usually one vertibird was enough, carrying enough heavy ordinance to flatten a whole town, but for Agent Delta, who was enjoying his first sniper duel in a while, there would be no need of that.
Time passed slowly in the area of Judy Metro as both snipers prepared themselves for their shots. Farsight slowly made her way through the parking lot, crawling on her front as she slowly scraped her way past the ruined cars. She already had an idea where the sniper was, two dilapidated houses immediately in front of the grocers, only one with an intact second story window. The sound delay between the bang of the shot and the low rumble of the bullet's sonic boom also gave her an idea of the range of how far the sniper was. That eliminated the possible hiding spots and pointed towards the houses.
It did not take her long to find the first shot, an enclave officer who was too cocky for his own good. But his partner was better, drilling a hole through the window and slyly poking his scope and rifle through it. She didn't have a chance to find him, no doubt he would move to another position.
She carefully contemplated her own predicament. There were four main buildings in the area. The electronics store attached to another building on the North part of the lot, while the grocery store stood by itself, across from an abandoned diner. All doors and windows faced south, where her attacker was. To the North, directly in front of her, was a water tower, overlooking the entire area and giving her clear fields of fire, but she quickly ruled that out. She would be too exposed climbing up to it. The hills by the water tower were elevated slightly compared to the terrain to the south, so that may give her some advantage...but getting there was another thing.
"Just hang on for a bit Kesler." Time. That was the other variable in this. Kesler was not lung shot, but if she didn't get back to him in time, he could very well bleed out. She remembered the extra stimpacks they had stored inside poor Charlie, but she couldn't get to him. Damnit
The western approach was ruled out, there was a brief space of open terrain perhaps ten meters wide between the two buildings, but she would have been shot down before she could clear it. That left the eastern side of town, where the Jury Street Metro station entrance was, along with the diner. That was her best bet, having the diner shield her from the sniper while at the same time, gaining access to cover.
Pulling a sheet of metal she found off a rubble of garbage behind the building, the Outcast moved slowly eastwards through the parking lot, scraping her armor as she moved. Slowly.
Meanwhile in the building, defender Kesler gasped in pain as he took another syringe of med-x into his arm. The painkillers were working, but it did not staunch the bleeding like a stimpack would. He knew he was on borrowed time, but hell if he went down without a fight. Farsight was dueling with an enemy sniper, but Jury Street was a well known gathering spot for Raiders and Talons. They had to finish quick before one of the wasteland gangs or talon patrols happened to pay the town a visit. Or worse, an Enclave patrol.
He looked to the grocery store, the obvious trap being set up. And suddenly Defender Kesler had an idea.
"Breath easy. That's it." Agent Delta spoke to himself, calming his nerves. Doing something his spotter should be reminding him of, but he had done this enough times to get used to it. Usually a sniper needed a full team, at least a spotter to back him up, but he prided himself on being able to work outside the pack.
He scanned the area directly in front of him. Two buildings to his left, a water tower in the distance. No way the Outcast would be dumb enough to try for that. To the right, was a diner obstructing his view, but he had just enough room to glance the entrance of the Jury Street metro station, where several spiked raider bodies hung freely from chains.
A gust of wind blew by, creating a nice distracting dust tornado. Delta smiled at that thought.
I can wait all day.
Agent Delta smirked, thanking god that Enclave engineers were smart enough to outfit the Mark II suit with waste recycling systems. With that happy thought, he relieved himself, and took a nice clean sip of water from his built in gator pack.
Then. He saw movement. A distant glitter in the far off mirage.
Gotcha.
He squeezed the trigger on his rifle.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Miles away, inside the old Robco Factory. Defender Colt sighed with boredom as he threw away another useless Robot part from a decades old Protectron. They had been spending the last three hours sorting through a mountain of dead robots.
"I bet Farsight and Kesler are having fun out there...instead of rummaging through this shit." He grumbled
Protector Fitts sighed. "Shut the fuck up Colt."
The wind blew through the station area, rustling several chains and mangled corpses as Defender Farsight crawled to her next spot.
*BANG*
She shuttered as a geyser of dirt and concrete shot up next to her, the armor piercing round missing her just by several feet.
Another shot glanced her helmet visor, temporarily cracking the glass in her eye holes. By all rights she should have been dead, but the distance and wind had blown the bullet slightly off course, simply grazing her head and knocking her back.
Thanking god for the wind factor, she quickly rolled to her side, hiding behind the concrete blocks of the subway street. The Metallic sheet rolled over her, providing her with cover, and camouflage. Quickly discarding the helmet, She took aim. Kill that fucking asshole. Kill that fucking asshole.
She squinted, catching the silouette of the armored soldier by a rubble piled near the burnt out house.
Twenty meters to the left...
She squeezed the trigger, sending a .308 bullet to her target. She swore silently as the door frame next to the sniper splintered, sending the Enclave trooper packing. The man ran exceptionally fast, his power armored steps granting him a speed which exceeded even a super mutant. But she had him.
She pulled the trigger again, recoil hitting her shoulder as the bullet pinged off his armor just beneath his thigh.
Fuck
This guy was packing Mark 2 composite armor. It would take several shots to pierce. The .308 caliber bullets she was using was known for accuracy, but at her distance she couldn't hope to penetrate that armor, unless it was a kill shot through the eyes or the weaker spots of the armor.
"OW." Agent Delta grunted as the bullet pinged off his thigh, jumping towards the nearest trash pile and rolling unceremoniously down the hill. His .50 cal rifle still clutched in his arms, he laughed as he saw the whole episode play out, with the Brotherhood sniper discarding her helmet after she was shot. That was a chick! No one told me the brotherhood employed female snipers.
That didn't change anything of course. Be a shame though, to put a bullet into that pretty face.
He limped towards East part of town, giving him a view down both streets, this would limit the number of places she could hide, and at the same time, give him clear fields of fire between the two buildings. He quickly calmed down his breathing, kneeling slightly underneath a rock boulder on the slope of the hill. It was annoying though, since that giant toy rocket statue was obscuring his view of the subway entrance. He kneeled down. closer...
There she is.
There was the Brotherhood soldier, lying down under a sheet of metal in the parking lot, between two cars.
He squeezed the trigger and fired.
The Enclave's bullet landed just feet from her shoulder, throwing more dirt into her face. She saw the man, kneeling just under the base of the hill, casually pulling back the bolt of his rifle as he prepped another shot. Not going to give him the chance, Farsight aimed straight for his head and squeezed the trigger.
CLICK.
For one sick, horrifying second, her eyes widened in realization. I'm outta ammo, i'm outta ammo...!
The training kicked in.
Keep calm. Keep calm. KEEP CALM. Supressing a curse, she clicked her rifle, letting the empty magazine drop onto the ground before reaching into her armor's torso compartment for more ammo. She calmly slid the magazine into the gun, pulling back the bolt but realizing that it jammed.
"Come on...Come on..." She said quietly even as the Enclave sniper prepped another shot. This one bullet slamming into a pre-war car behind her. The bullet had hit the car's engine, starting several small flames that flickered towards the microfusion cell.
Before Farsight could even swear, the car behind her was lifted to the heavens as a miniature nuclear explosion shook the entire parking lot. Scraps of flaming metal and slabs of concrete shot into the air, blasting and shredding everything with a few metre radius. Farsight felt the entire pressure of the blast behind her, but the metal sheet she had thrown over herself had protected her from the brunt of the blast.
Is that fucker fooling around with me?
CLICK.
The magazine was still protesting at being shoved into the gun, and Farsight made a mental note to replace this rifle when she got out of here. IF she got out of here. The Enclave trooper was doing the same, casually pulling out a spare magazine from his armor and reloading with minimal effort.
It was a farce almost, both opponents eyeing each other while seeing who could reload the fastest. Sweat ran down her forehead as she realized she was literally staring death right in its face. The Magazine finally clicked in, and she aimed down wind once again.
The little scuffle had been going on for several hours by now, and though she had no helmet and was exposed. Farsight knew the battle was nearing its end.
She angled her rifle slightly, catching the dying glares of the sun as it set in the West...
And squeezed the trigger.
This time the Outcast bullet flew true, shattering the scope of Agent Delta's rifle and sending his head flying back.
He tumbled backwards, cursing himself but thanking his reinforced armor. His helmet was cracked, and his optics were fried. He hit his helmet, trying to regain a visual, but to no avail, and he recalled quietly the moment just seconds ago, when the glint of light off of the Outcast's scope and the sheet of metal she was lying under caught him off guard.
"That little bitch." Agent Delta said slyly with a hint of appreciation, realizing that the Brotherhood soldier had spent all this time manuvering him off the hills to face West, just as the sun was setting. Now, she was lying in cover, sun at her back, while Delta had to stare into it to even glint at her. That was why she took her sweet time.
"Haven One." The Agent Delta called out.
"This is Haven One, come in Delta." The voice over the radio called out.
"Haven One. This is Delta. I'm tired of walking. Over." The Enclave pilot radioed, over the heavy roar of vertibird engines.
"This is Vector Sigma." A new, more menacing voice echoed through the radio waves. "Is the target down? I have Hellfire troops on route, they can land within two minutes."
Agent Delta considered that thought, burning the entire town and the Brotherhood troops in it with a squad of shock troops.
Nah.
"Belay the order sir. Hostiles are down. Requesting extraction."
A slight pause. "Roger that, making our way to you. Report to these coordinates for extraction."
Agent Delta smiled, inputing the coordinates in his armor before setting off to the East, away from Judy Metro.
"Another day lady sniper." He smirked as he waved in the direction of the Outcast, throwing away his useless rifle. Delta then limped Eastwards towards the Vertibird landing site, content that he had at least taken out one Brotherhood soldier.
Farsight watched sullenly, exhausted and numb as she saw the Enclave trooper wave to her. She considered sending another bullet towards him, ending him, but the mere fact that he was retreating was enough.
Kesler
She quickly sprinted back to the Grocer's store, rummaging by the battered husk of Charlie the Robobrain and taking the stimpacks with her into the store.
As the door opened, she saw Kesler leaning against the wall, semi-conscious but alive. A tri-laser rifle at his side.
"Wanted to go down fighting." He smirked at Farsight.
"Well, right now I'm looking forward to being safe in our secure little fort." Farsight smiled weakly, slowly stripping Kesler of his chest plate and applying the stimpack on his open wound. Crusted blood soaked the floor, but she was thankful that she had reached him just in time.
"You'll need rest. We'll move out in the morning." Farsight herself nearly collapsed against the wall, setting her rifle down and letting out a relaxed breath, watching as the afternoon sun quietly set over the mountains, plunging Judy Metro in a quiet darkness.
Kesler nodded, but before he could even say anything else, more voices emerged from outside.
.
.
.
"Well, looks like Chief's gang got wasted. You saw that? BOOM! HAHA, now this place is ours!"
Great. Raiders. It had to be raiders.
Thanks all for reading ! And to answer one question about the LW. Yes i'm planning an appearance, but the Outcasts will probably be more affected by the aftermath of his/her actions in the wasteland rather than meeting the LW personally...