Fallout 3 tormented steel chp 4
DISCLAMER: WE'VE DONE THIS BEFORE I DO NOT OWN FALLOUT 3 OR THE CONCEPTS BEHIND IT I DO OWN VINCENT FROST AND THE SUB PLOT OF THE STORY.
Content warning: okay people under 18 you should know by now you don't like what I write then leave and so on and so forth.
AOUTHERS NOTE: Okay my readers I have quite enjoyed writing this so far and judging by the feedback so have you so I will doggedly continue.
Sarah crawled out of the gloom slowly, something felt wrong, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.
She reached out to her left and was confused, when her hand did not feel the reassuring metallic coolness of her bed side lamp, she opened her eyes and saw not the faded grey of her room in the Citadel, but dirty red rust, blinking she rubbed her eyes, trying to dislodge whatever it was that was colouring her vision, when she recalled where she was, Rivet city, in the Weatherly hotel.
Propping herself up on her elbows Sarah looked around the room, taking the time to see the layout of the room, the paint on the walls was faded but still, by some miracle colourful, after years of neglect but most of the details were hard to make out due to the curtain being drawn over the port hole that passed for a window.
The room itself was a decent size, with the a small kitchen tacked onto the right side and a bathroom on the other, as for the bed which Vincent was asleep on, it was tucked in the far corner away from the door, and while it looked durable it seemed like it and the surrounding space had seen a lot of abuse recently, with all the slash marks on the walls.
As she observed the man that, once upon a time she would have laid her life down for, a thought crossed her mind; he was still asleep, what if she just slipped away, it was still a few hours before dawn, she could just grab her gear some caps and trudge back to the Citadel, and he would never be the wiser.
No she couldn't do that she was ordered to bring Vincent back, and if she waited he would go back with her of his own free will, making up her mind Sarah laid her head back down and closed her eyes completely unaware of the set that was watching her.
Vincent, for all his flaws was a patient man, so when he caught the sound of Sarahs bed roll rustling, he allowed his eye to open just a touch, but that was enough to see Sarah up and looking around probably, wagering an internal war as to whether she should up and leave in the middle of the night, and she went and accused him of being an evil son of a bich for doing the same.
Waiting few more moment's Vincent had to fight to keep a grin appearing, as she laid down her head again and closed her eyes.
He waited, until he felt the warm caress of the early morning sun on his face, rolling off the bed he silently made his way over to the chair which his coat was hanging on, but before he slipped into the familiar coat, he pulled on his dark grey vambrace, the reinforced leather halting just before his elbow, he checked on the three straps that held the guard in place and strapped on his medical brace above it, on his right arm, ensuring that the appendage was covered entirely when he rolled his shirt back down, he looked over to where Sarah slept, he walked into the kitchen and retrieved a hard biscuit, and stopped four paces from her.
"If you don't wake up in three seconds I'm going to nail you with this biscuit" he announced loudly, as he pulled back his arm.
"One" grinning he moved back another pace just in case he had miscalculated her reach.
"Two" his only response being a groan he rotated the biscuit in his palm.
"THREE" throwing the dry snack he watched as it sailed through the air and exploded into a shower of brown dust as it impacted with Sarahs shoulder.
At the sudden and unexpected bludging she bolted upright, with a look of fury painted over her beautiful face, a look which shattered as she inhaled the dust left by the cookie, for a few moments, her face scrunched up, and then the sneezing began.
In between bouts of sneezing Vincent made out, multiple curses, directed at him, but he still couldn't help grinning.
When Sarah finally settled down she glared at him and demanded.
"What the hell was that for?" her voice a touch nasally from all of the sneezing.
"It was fun" he replied grinning and ignoring her annoyed glare.
"Oh well time of breakfast, and by breakfast I mean sugar bombs and Macadamia nuts" he said moving to the kitchen.
"Where the hell did you find nuts, of any kind?" she asked staring at the wall and racking her mind for when the last time, she had eaten nuts.
"I know where to look for what I need" called Vincent emerging with a bowl which was surprisingly clean, filled with Sugar bombs; Sarah took the bowel and began to eat the surgery bites.
While Sarah munched on her breakfast, he ran his mind over how he planned to deal with the promise he made to her, returning to the Citadel in and of itself was, a dangerous under taking equipped as he currently was, coupled with the fact that he really didn't want to go back there, especially since he had managed to walk away from the wasteland and all of its problems years ago.
His fingers rubbing his temples, he looked over at the faded panel on the far wall.
Why am I doing this, am I trying to earn forgiveness, or am I just that goddamn board.
With that grim question hanging over him Vincent, waited for Sarah to finish her food before he opened his mouth, and he took one last swig from his whiskey bottle before speaking.
"Are you sure that I can't convince you to just let a sleeping Vincent lie?" he asked as he cradled the empty bottle in his hands.
"Chain that binds" she replied absently placing her empty bowel on the ground.
"Ah yes I had hoped that you would turn a blind eye, but oh well I guess I'm going back with you, allow me a moment to gather my effects" he mumbled walking over to the panel, he drew back the bottle and smashed it into the wall, he picked up one of the smaller glass shards, and began using it as a screw driver on the screws, coming to the final screw he side stepped.
"Duck" as she moved out of the way he wrenched the panel open, and suppressed the urge to chuckle as a tight grouping of bullet holes appeared in the opposite wall.
"You trapped it" she asked her eyes darting between the bullet holes and the hidden safe.
"Of course I bloody trapped it, the item inside of here is more important than any other one thing that I own" he said turning the dial until it clicked into place, with that he turned to Sarah.
"Could you open the window in case I'm not fast enough to grab the spoon, so we don't explode" he asked, at his choice of words Sarah scrambled over to the port hole and pulled it open, with a quick grin Vincent, ripped open the safe and dove his hand into it grabbing for the grenade.
He felt his hand grasping the explosive just in time to see the spoon fly off.
"SHIT MOVE!" he yelled as he sprinted to the window, pegging the grenade and ducking behind the hull, in time to hear the resulting boom from the explosive, and the slight pinging as steel fragments from the grenade impacted the ship, Sarah looked over to him.
"WHAT THE FUCK, you rigged up a grenade to the inside of the safe, are you trying to kill yourself?" she yelled, he just grinned in response and moved back to the safe.
Hesitating for a moment, Vincent looked inside the steel box and saw it, the one thing that marked him out among the people of the wasteland, tucked into the back of that black metal box, was his pip boy, slowly he grasped the device and observed it for a moment, taking in all of the dust and scratches that marred it.
Letting out a shaky breath, he rolled up his left sleeve, and slid the pip boy onto his forearm, frowning as he felt a slight pinch as it readjusted to the size of his arm, Vincent pulled on the glove that came with it, and held it up to his eyes fiddling with the settings, until it was to his liking.
"We need to make a quick stop over at the broken side of the ship" he said looking over to her as he rolled his sleeve back down.
"Is it important?" she asked feeling weary and wanting to return to the Citadel as fast as possible.
"I'm not going to be much use without a gun that shoots bullets and not warm peas" he grumbled strapping his trench knife to the inside of his boot and dragging his pack out from under the bed, he went to the drug cabinet, he began placing the med-x, Buffout and stimpacks into the black lather bag he kept his medical supplies in, double checking that everything was in the right place Vincent, stood up and made his way out the door Sarah following behind him.
"This is where you left your gear?" Sarah asked in disbelief looking over the partially submerged door of the ship, it wasn't so much the location that was surprising but that the entrance was right out in the open.
"Trust me you'd need a fat man to bust through this" he replied fishing a key from his pocket, he turned the key in the lock, with a final rotation of the key a series of heavy clunks came from the door, before it lurched inwards slightly.
Proceeding onwards Vincent, confidently marched down the slanted hall and into a wide room with another door on the far wall, noticing the computer next to it Sarah took a step forward and into Vincent's arm, momentarily confused she stepped back, as he went to the opposite wall and pushed a switch, as the dim light flicked from red to green, the doors frame swung forward reviling a room full of laboratory equipment, and computers.
Casually striding in Vincent looked around before shouting.
"PINKERTON ya grumpy old bastard, you still alive?" there was a sound of metal crashing before someone began swearing profusely, as the cursing died down, an old man appeared from behind a set of filling cabinets, seeing Vincent the man frowned, a frown which only depend when he spotted Sarah.
"What are you doing back here?" he snipped turning his attention back to Vincent.
"I told you to hold onto some supplies for me I'll grab them and leave you in peace" he replied, the old man shuffled a bit and pointed to a set of lockers, and retuned to whatever it was that he was doing beforehand.
Opening the first locker Vincent retrieved a rifle, sword, revolver, and large back pack.
With that he turned back to Sarah nodding that they could leave, not sparing a glance at Pinkerton, they left traveling west until they came to the bridge which lead to the Citadel.
"We should make camp there" said Vincent, pointing to the underbelly on the bridge, with the sun hanging low Sarah, was reluctant to go one any further, in any case.
Nodding her approval he set to making a fire, while she unrolled the sleeping bags, by the time she had set everything to her satisfaction Vincent had set up a billy pot and was cooking what looked like Cram and insta mash mixed with carrot and water.
As the soup can to a boil he dolled it out equally into two tins, picking up her spoon Sarah began eat the meal in silence and was soon asleep listening to Vincent rummaging around in his pack, followed by the sound of metal on metal as he sharpened his katana, as the sound lulled her to sleep.
Darkness, a crushing sea of inky black, am I dead he wondered incoherently.
For a time he floated in the deep abyss, and he welcomed, it.
No more wasteland needing to be saved, no more need to find his father only sweet oblivion, only to be pulled from its sweet embrace by pain unlike any other the burning red hot agony shooting through his right arm, then numbness in its place, all of the time listening to the incessant chittering from the blurry white figures around him.
He bolted up right gasping for breath, Vincent rubbed his eyes still waking from the hellish memory, after a moment he looked around they were still where he had set up camp under the bridge just outside of the purifier, Sarah was sound asleep on the other side of the now cold fire pit, looking at her he had to resist the temptation to brush a strand of hair out of her eyes.
Why the hell was he doing this? Sending her back to the Citadel would have been fine, but no he had to go with her, what should he do if they decide to be less than good willed, it was likely he would have to shoot his way out not an easy task then what would he disappear again perhaps?
He sighed no that wouldn't have worked anyway the same trick never works twice, besides now he had to go back, since Sarah would sooner shoot herself before disobeying an order given by her precious father, which brought him back to the million cap question what was going to happen when they arrived at the Citadel, a trial he scoffed at the idea what would be the purpose, to find the why of things as an old friend had once told him.
What would most of them feel about the deserter Vincent, retuning anger mostly.
He thought as he fished around in his pack for something to eat, eventually he settled for some Macadamia nuts, he absently munched on them as he watched the sun rise, its glow chasing away the shadows of the night, time to move he thought as he rose and began rolling up his sleeping bag before walking over to Sarah, giving her a slight nudge with his boot.
"Come on Blondie sleeps for the dead" he said poking her with the tip of his boot again, all that he got in response was her rolling away from him and growling.
"Bugger off" giving a slight snort he quickly looked around and spotted a suitable garbage bin which was thankful empty he lifted it up and unsheathed his sword, grinning he began to hit the bin with the hilt of the weapon the noise echoing off of the underside off the bridge, amplifying the sound.
She groaned and sat up glaring bloody daggers at Vincent.
"Bastard" she grumbled as she began to crawl out of her sleeping bag, looking up at the bright orange yellow sky within the day they should arrive at the Citadel, her face fell into a frown as she thought of what her father would do to Vincent let alone what the rest of the brotherhood, might do none of them had taken his desertion lightly.
"I can't guarantee your safety you know" she said turning to face him.
"I've killed too many outcasts of your order for that to worry me, and I've faced worse things than men made of flesh and blood now have breakfast and let's get moving" he said tossing her a can of pork and beans which she dug into and was pleasantly surprised that the contents didn't possess the same bland metallic taste that most foods in the wasteland did.
"How do you always manage to find food that doesn't make a Geiger counter start screaming? She asked spooning through the cold soup looking for any chunky bits of meat.
"I'm a better scrounger then the rest of you" he replied smugly uncorking a bottle of whiskey.
They made a decent pace moving through the back streets of DC.
Vincent's alarmingly effective methods of avoiding any Brotherhood patrols routes, had Sarah contemplateing if they could ever truly hold this man against his will, and as for super mutants they all seemed to be uninterested in two lone individuals, which wasn't such a surprise since they stayed well away from their territory.
Throughout the entire trip Sarah had been on edge the Capital rarely allowed people to slip through so easily, her musing were interrupted by Vincent coming to a halt on the edge on the ruins overlooking the Potomac river.
"Do you hear that"? He asked, Sarah stood still and listened nothing dead silence.
"Hear what?" she asked confused, half thinking that perhaps that the whiskey had finely gotten to him.
"Exactly no gun fire, no explosions, no screaming, nothing, something's wrong" he said his eyes roaming the area around them.
"Maybe we're just having a good day for once let's get going" she said having finally fed up with his paranoia.
"You don't have good days I think It's time for a detour" he said turning marching in the general direction of the purifier.
"What so you think that since no good men and women are dying that something's wrong"? She yelled to his back.
"Damn straight" he called over the shoulder, briefly Sarah was rooted to the ground as she asked herself again why was she following this man she then remember because she had been ordered to so clearing her mind Sarah Progressed onwards following the navy blue coat that was flapping in the wind.
"Why the hell are we going the long way around?" Sarah asked her frustration finally getting the better of her.
"Because I don't want to waste bullets on raiders and this way your bloody sentry's won't see me coming" he said keeping his stride regular as he scanned the surrounding rubble for any threats.
"What and doubling our travel time is a smart thing because you want the element of surprise on people who aren't you're enemy?" she asked tiered of his petty excuses, he spun around at her statement with the signs of barely controlled rage written over his body.
"Do allies hunt each other, do they kick in your doors and shatter your hopes for peace, huh was my "Abandonment" so terrible, I wanted to leave all of this shit behind" he spat gesturing all around them at the ruined city.
"I didn't know I was a fucking prisoner oh yeah honorary knight of Lyons pride, hah if I had known that accepting that title bound me to the brotherhood I would never have said yes, besides you lot did fine before I came around I made you all soft by helping you and now you're paying the price for relying on one man" he snarled turning away he unstrapped his rife wanting to take his anger out on something small and defenceless.
Sarah was horrified as her mind shifted through his words and found that he was in some ways right refusing to accept it she retorted angrily.
"Bullshit, you had all the things you needed with the brotherhood, you left and we all suffered…" Vincent stopped mid step and turned around.
"What the fuck have you been smoking woman I had everything besides freedom the one thing I need, I think it would be best for you to stop moving your mouth before I sow it shut" he growled not in the mood to put up with Sarah trying to defend her order any further.
Vincent began trudging forward again Sarah silently following behind him.
By the time they came within spitting distance of the Jefferson Memorial, Vincent stopped again, kneeling down to peer into the distance, frowning he unslung his rife, which in Sarah's opinion looked like some old back water thing, that he picked up out of a swamp and welded a scope to.
"What is there a pissed off looking Brahmin on the road that might blow up if we get too close to it?"
She asked sarcastically throwing her hands up in the air.
"How long are they?" he murmured the scope of the rife roaming over the compound, taken aback by the question it took Sarah a moment to reply.
"How long are what?"
"The guards how long are their brakes?" he asked again as he searched through the scope finding a target.
"They don't have breaks it's a twelve hour rotational shift not a second goes by without guards being on duty" she replied her voice filled with concern.
"How many, guards in a shift?" he asked as he adjusted for wind and target movement, feeling a pit form in her stomach Sarah answered.
"Fifteen men"
"Ah good" he said firing a shot into the distance.
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?" screamed Sarah diving forwards to snatch the gun away.
"Getting a tiny bit of vengeance on whomever murdered your brothers, look closely, one man alone out there and the way he was walking he's not used to power armour, the purifier's under attack" he finished pushing her away and ignoring the look of horror on her face.
"The first day I get back and the goddamn steel suits are stuck knee deep in shit again" he muttered, as he looked around checking to see if the shot had attracted any unwanted attention, after waiting a minute Vincent slung the rifle back over his shoulder and faced Sarah.
"Much as I may want to I won't shoot one of your precious brothers unless they shoot first" he said annoyed at her continued lack of faith in him.
Pushing aside his feelings he slowly inched forward, and looked over the figure that he had shot his hands roamed around the man's neck and was unsurprised when he didn't find a set of holo tags.
"You've got to love armour piercing rounds, oh and no holo tags, definitely not one of yours" he said smugly, not waiting for a reply he snuck forward.
Hearing nothing besides his boots crunching on the gravel he ran to the doors leading into the complex, flexing his fingers he threw the doors checking the corridor before a shot rang out and pain shot through his leg.
Letting out a curse he rolled behind the door again, and returned five shots from his revolver, before darting behind it again, looking down he summarised that no arteries were cut but it still hurt like a bitch, looking around he saw the barrel of a sniper rifle poking out from around the corner, whipping his head around he saw Sarah firing towards at the enemy, reloading he aimed at the glint of light from the scope and fired until his gun clicked empty, reloading and counting to ten he looked around again, and saw to his great delight a body crumpled on the floor.
Checking over his leg again he jammed a stimpack into the wound and wrapped a bandage around before he carefully he walked over to the corpse ignoring the throbbing from his leg, seeing the young man up close his frown deepened, average build, muscular by the looks of it, pulling the helmet off he saw his hair cut back to his scalp, but what was most worrying was that he was wearing combat armour that gave him an eerie sense of deja vu , matte black breast plate, with a leather duster coat, worn and torn in strange places, mostly from bullet holes by the looks of it, the same could be said of most of the outfit and yet he couldn't place where he had last seen it and strangely it felt familiar at the same time, filing it away for a later time he stripped the man of his ammo and grenades.
Looking back at Sarah he allowed her to take lead since he didn't feel like getting shot again, at the end of the hall were a set of double doors which if they could get through it would only be a short sprint to the man hole which led to sewers and eventually the Citadel.
Sarah positioned herself on one side of the door and he on the other, raising his hand, he counted down from three, before kicking the door in with his good leg.
He scanned the room in an instant and narrowed his eyes when he saw that it was empty, he didn't like this it was never this easy, carefully he checked the man hole for any sign that it may be rigged in some way, once satisfied he slowly lifted the iron circle, and proceeded down the ladder.
Then the high pitched screeching rang out from all directions, he knew it was too easy with that alarm being so loud they had to hurry, because Vincent had no doubt that there would be more from where that one man at the entrance came from, grabbing Sarahs hand he rushed down the tunnel.
Authors note: yes folks I know it's evil leaving you guys on a cliff like this but I've ran into a solid wall of writers block so what I'm going to do is put this fic on back burner for the moment you know work on it in my spare time but good news I will start working on something a bit different in the meantime so please keep an eye on what I'm putting up and as always thank you :)