Funny thing about plans, you assume one thing will happen, and what do you know? Something very fucking different happens instead. Take for example this chapter; I originally planned for it to be around 5,000 words long, what I wound up with was over 20,000, yes, you read correctly. So now I've been forced to break the chapter up into three parts. This is part one and parts two and three will be uploaded once I've put the finishing touches on them.
As usual you can find some awesome tuneage to go along with this chapter by going to my author's page and clicking on the link to this chapter's playlist. I'm not going to lie to you; the vast majority of this three part arc is composed of epic fight scenes, so if you want to feel the full adrenaline rush I strongly advise you to listen to the playlists.
Sarah Lyons placed her boot on the corpse of the Enclave officer and kicked him over, wrinkling her nose at the stench that wafted up to hit her. Leaning down she examined the body; it was difficult to tell that it had ever been human. The officer and been cut right down the middle with something sharp and jagged and maggots were spilling out of the gaping wound. Sarah reached into the man's pockets looking for something that would explain his presence this far from Raven Rock. Nothing. She sighed and placed her hand over the man's milky white eyes, sliding them shut.
"Looks like your desert rat was actually telling us the truth for once Kodiak," stated Sarah looking around at the two dozen Enclave corpses littered throughout the abandoned building.
Kodiak nodded, "Yeah, his intel has gotten a lot better since Gallows gave him that heart to heart."
Sarah smirked; a conversation with Irving Gallows would cause a deathclaw to piss itself and reconsider its life choices.
Sarah turned to Vargas, "What do you think? 4 days?"
"Probably," he agreed.
"Looks like they came in here to get away from whatever was attacking them and it followed them in," he said, nodding toward the massive gap that had been knocked into the wall of the building.
Sarah walked towards the breach and examined the thickness of the wall and the edges of the gap.
"No blast residue. Looks like whatever done these boys in punched its way straight through the fucking wall," she mused.
"Pack Raptors?" suggested Vargas.
Sarah shook her head, "Pack Raptors eat what they kill, and they don't strip their prey of armor and weapons when they're done."
Sarah took another moment to survey the scene trying to think of what could have created it.
"Maybe it was the Super Mutants," suggested Kodiak.
"It's possible…" said Sarah slowly.
"But what would they be doing this deep in Virginia? Even they aren't dumb enough to go prancing their ugly asses around in our own backyard."
"We should report our findings to the Citadel," stated Vargas.
Sarah nodded, "You and Kodiak set the charges and meet us outside; we're wheels up in 10."
Sarah exited the building and walked over to the three Humvees parked outside.
"So did one that asshole's stories finally pan out?" asked Dusk sitting in one of the gun turrets.
"The building was filled with corpsified Enclave, didn't find any usable intel but at least the son of a bitch wasn't lying to us this time, saves me from having to waste a bullet on his sorry ass for sending us on another goose chase."
Dusk chuckled.
Sarah climbed into the passenger seat of the Humvee and picked up the mike.
"Citadel Control. Lyon's Pride. Come in, over."
"Lyon's Pride. Citadel Control. What's your SitRep, over?"
"Location is full of dead Enclave, but it's unclear how they came to be in their present condition. I'm recommending we step up patrols in the area until we are enlightened on the subject. We're blowing the building now. E.T.A. 2 hours, over."
"Sorry Lyon's Pride, that's a negative E.T.A."
Sarah sighed, it's going to be one of those days, I just fucking know it
"One of our relay stations received an Outcast distress beacon; we've tracked the origin of the signal to Charlottesville and the Old Man is sending you to investigate, over."
Sarah made no attempt to hide her incredulity.
"Are you fucking kidding me? Those assholes aren't our problem anymore, let that dickhead Casdin take care of it, if he even fucking cares. They made their bed and it's about god damn time they slept in it," she growled.
The voice over the radio let out a sigh, he hated having to reason with Sarah when she had her claws were out.
"The Old Man said that if that was your response to remind you that we don't abandon our brothers, especially when they're walking down a bad path."
"Well you tell him, that my brothers don't leave me to deal with Enclave and Super Mutants on my fucking own while they scavenge through ruins."
"We are sworn -"
Sarah cut him off.
"Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, I fucking get it! I'll investigate the god damn beacon!" she snapped.
"Your effort is appreciated. Beacon is running off an FM Radio Frequency. Tune to 1077 and you should be able to pick it up when you reach the outskirts of the city."
"Anything else I should know?"
"Just be careful, there's a reason why Charlottesville has been empty for 200 years. That place is bad luck."
Sarah snorted, "Yeah, well apparently so is my fucking life,"
Sarah ran a hand through her hair.
"Hey Doyle, if the boss feels like having a chat with me go ahead and let him know I'm requesting radio silence, will you?
The voice on the other side of the conversation chuckled, "The silent treatment? Seriously? Fine, but when you get back you and him need to work out your issues, this is getting ridiculous."
"I'm not the one with the issues, dickhead. Lyon's Pride. Over and Out."
Sarah dropped the mike and shouted out the window.
"Vargas, Kodiak, hurry the hell up we got us a new mission!"
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Charlottesville was quiet; in fact, to quote an old expression the place was "too quiet," it was the kind of quiet that set people like Sarah on edge. Sarah turned to Gallows who was sitting behind the wheel and staring out at the decaying city around them.
"You getting the feeling we're about to get our asses blown off?" she asked dryly.
Gallows cocked his head slightly, something Sarah had long since learned was his version of a smirk, "I'm not worried, I like new and exciting adventures, and I got a few new toys I been aching to try out, maybe someone out here will want to play with me."
"Yeah Gallows, you're a real fucking people person," growled Dusk from the gunner turret.
Glade and Kodiak chuckled from the backseat.
"Who knows Sugar, maybe underneath all that power armor beats the heart of a sweet sensitive man who likes scented candles, long walks on the beach, and cuddling by the fireside with that oh so special someone." said Glade positively.
Gallows looked into the rearview mirror.
"You're a heavy weapons specialist right? Because for a moment there it sounded like you were a comedian…I don't like comedians. You should just stick to things that go boom." advised Gallows coldly.
Glade raised an eyebrow, "Look at Mr. Sensitive, what's the matter Sunshine, can't take a joke?" he asked tauntingly.
"Everyone shut the fuck up! The next person who talks out of turn is getting my boot up their ass and walking home."
All eyes turned to Sarah, it was common knowledge that she had an uncanny sixth sense for danger. If she ever started acting tense or nervous it was usually a good idea to check your rifle and settle your grievances with God.
Glade's eyes darted towards Sarah, yep, eyebrows furrowed, eyes narrowed, nostrils flared; okay then…let the good times roll!
Glade grabbed his combat shotgun and started loading it with his favorite ammo: high explosive incendiary rounds. Sure, they were expensive and hard to come by, but they could barbeque a Super Mutant in one hit; so if there were any bad guys lurking around the corners Glade was confident in his ability to ruin their fucking day.
Sarah reached for the radio and addressed the convoy, "We're coming up on the beacon, everyone stay frosty; something about this situation screams seriously fucking off."
The Humvee turned the corner and entered a wide street filled with overturned decaying cars and collapsed lamp posts, the cars had old scorch marks and bullet holes and the buildings on either side of the street had taken some heavy damage along their base. Sarah had seen similar sights in towns all across the former United States; they were the telltale indicators of the massive rioting that took place all across the country after the bombs fell.
Charlottesville was never hit by any bombs, but it definitely felt the effects of their impact. The Brotherhood had scouted the ghost city a few years back; the team that was sent in came back with video footage taken by a news crew three days after the bombs dropped. Sarah had watched in horrified fascination as thousands of panicked civilians took to the streets, smashing store windows, breaking into cars, and basically try to get their hands on anything that could help them survive the approaching fallout. She saw police officers who hadn't slept in days and hanging by a thread completely lose their shit and open fire on terrified men, women and children. The last of the videos showed people vomiting and bleeding from their eyes and ears as blood red storm clouds descended upon the city raining down a relentless torrent of radiation.
There had been a couple of attempts to breathe life back into the ghost city over the years, but they had all ended badly, very badly. The locals, even the raiders, believed the city was cursed and gave the place as wide a berth as possible. Personally Sarah thought it was a bunch of crap, but even so, she really didn't want to stay longer than was absolutely necessary; the place may not be cursed but something was definitely off about it.
At the end of the street was a building marked GBC29 on Sarah's map of the city. It was a pre-war news station and according to her frequency scanner, the location of Outcast beacon. Unfortunately they had gone as far as they could in the humvee; between her and the building the street was literally covered with wreckage from overturned vehicles and past battles.
She signaled the convoy to stop and got out of the car.
"Alright, looks like we're doing this on foot. Gallows, Colvin, Kodiak; you're with me," said Sarah unslinging the Laser Rifle from her back.
She turned towards the building and paused for a moment giving the structure a long calculating gaze, "Glade take Dusk and a humvee and see if you can circle around the back of the building."
Glade threw Sarah a two finger salute, "No problemo little lady,"
"I will neuter you," threatened Sarah coldly.
Glade opened the driver side door chuckling, "Whoa! Cool your jets, I ain't that kinky."
"Gallows, feel free to kick his ass anytime you like," stated Sarah.
Gallows cocked his head, "I appreciate that, thanks."
Glade leaned out the window and blew him a kiss, "Anytime, anywhere Big Boy,"
Gallows turned to Sarah, "I'd really like to do it now,"
"I'd prefer you wait till we get home, but if you absolutely must…"
Glade revved the engine laughing, "No way, no how, too late; you'll just have to wait."
"Man's a fucking poet," said Gallows dryly, watching the humvee drive away.
Sarah looked to her remaining knights.
"Vargas, you're in command; try not to let it go to your head," she said coolly.
Vargas chuckled along with the rest of the knights
Sarah checked the charge on her rifle and turned back towards the abandoned news station, "Let's move out,"
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Sarah kicked the door open and burst into the room sweeping left while Kodiak swept right. She narrowed her eyes as she pointed her rifle down the poorly lit hallway and saw no hint of movement.
"Clear," she said
"Clear," echoed Kodiak
The team was more than half way into the news station and they had yet to make contact with so much as a radroach. Judging by the flickering lights scattered throughout the station the Outcasts had definitely been here and got a generator up and running somewhere in the building; the only problem with that was where the fuck were they now?"
Gallows and Colvin followed them through the door and took up position around the next doorway, exchanging a nod they rushed in, Colvin right, Gallows left.
There was a moment of silence then…"Clear,"
Something's wrong.
Sarah and Kodiak walked towards Colvin and Gallows.
"This isn't right. We should have encountered sentries by now," stated Sarah.
Colvin nodded, "Death lingers in the air," he said softly.
Kodiak snorted, "Turn down the brooding; we still got one room left to clear maybe we'll catch those useless assholes napping,"
Sarah gestured for Kodiak to take point and the team moved deeper into the station, towards the news studio. Kodiak came to a stop by the side of a heavy door and waited while Sarah and Gallows lined up on the other side. Once they were in position he kicked the door in and the team rushed into the studio; stopping dead at the sight that confronted them.
"Jesus Christ…" whispered Sarah.
"Yep," agreed Gallows.
Hanging by their arms and chained to the ceiling were the bodies of eight Outcasts who had been ripped from their power armor and tortured until dead. Sarah walked over to one of the hanging corpses and examined the body, it was raw and bloody, completely covered with bruises, but there was something else, something…wrong about it.
Sarah turned to her squad, "Cut them down,"
Kodiak reached into his pack and pulled out a blow torch then went to work on the chains, as the chains snapped Colvin and Gallows caught the bodies and lowered them gently to the ground. Sarah took out a flashlight and began examining the corpses under the light.
She signaled for Gallows to kneel down with her, "These bodies are wrong," she stated.
"The muscles in the arms and the neck are deformed and bulging,"
Gallows leaned down and examined the body; the bicep in the left arm had grown to the point of ripping the skin. Ouch.
"They've been exposed to a mutagen," stated Gallows.
"Yes, and who do we know who likes going around capturing people and dosing them with green goo?"
"Super Mutants this close to the Citadel? Well that's something new."
"There's something else," continued Sarah, "These bodies weren't exposed to the usual FEV strain, the coloration and muscular deformation is wrong, this is something new, that means those big green bastards are experimenting."
"That's cheerful news," stated Gallows dryly
Sarah turned to the rest of her squad. Kodiak had finished cutting down the last of the Outcasts, and Colvin was kneeling next to the bodies speaking a prayer.
"Lord, allow my brothers entrance into your kingdom, may you free them from the darkness that plagues their souls, and may they find in the next life the peace they have been denied in this one."
Colvin drew a cross over his chest, "Amen,"
"Amen," echoed Sarah standing up.
Kodiak shook his head, "They were traitors, every one of them, but they sure as hell didn't deserve this," he said, hissing the last word.
Sarah nodded, "Contact Citadel Control. Let them know we need Gun Ships and a biological containment team on location ASAP. Maybe we can still hunt down the bastards who did this."
Kodiak nodded and switched on the radio, "Citadel Control. Lyon's Pride. We- Fuck!"
Kodiak dropped the radio and rubbed his ears as shrilling static emitted from the head set.
They were being jammed.
Gallows cocked his head, "Well my day just got a whole lot more interesting,"
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Vargas's gaze swept towards the news station again, he might not have had Sarah Lyon's freakishly well-tuned sense for danger, but he was far from clueless. He recognized the calm before the storm when he felt it; people were going to be dying here today, only question was when and where the shit would hit the fan.
Vargas looked out over the buildings on either side of the street; they looked empty and completely devoid of life, but then again…
"Riggs, Hazuki. Take your teams and patrol down the street. Let me know what you see." he ordered.
"Yes sir!"
Vargas watched as the eight initiates marched off to scout the street. After a minute they gave him the all clear sign. Still, something felt…off. Vargas selected two more teams and ordered them to clear the buildings, then picked up his canteen and took a gulp of water.
Turning his gaze back to the news station he allowed his brooding to resume, so where is the trap here or in the station? If it was the station then Sarah and the people with her were more than capable of handling themselves, but if it was here…
Vargas turned and looked at the troops around him and sighed, calling them troops was being pretty god damned generous. They were initiates, barely out of basic training and only along for the ride because this was supposed to be a milk run, a chance for them to gain experience without being killed in the process.
Vargas really hoped he was wrong about what was about to happen because if he wasn't he was going to have a whole shitload of dead kids on his hands.
BOOM!
There was an explosion of gunfire from one of the buildings he had sent knights into.
"Enemy Contact! All teams! Fall back!"
Vargas pointed to the soldiers closest to him, "You two! With me!" he shouted.
Vargas turned and ran towards the building where the gun fire was coming from. He hadn't taken more than three steps from the Humvees when he heard a loud crack and then suddenly one of the soldiers he had sent in came crashing through the wall of the building; his body landing sprawled and prone on the ground.
Vargas stared through the newly created opening. Standing there at the foot of the breach was a Super Mutant, over seven feet tall and built like a god damn tank. In its hands was a massive sledge hammer, and in it eyes was an all-consuming murderous rage. The big green bastard let loose a roar and charged at Vargas through the opening. Raising his assault rifle he emptied his magazine into the charging mass of snarling ugly. After a few seconds of sustained fire the Super Mutant collapsed to the ground, sledgehammer flying free of its hands.
Okay Sarah time to stop sightseeing and get the fuck out of here.
Vargas activated his shortwave headset and got a shrilling blast of static in his ears.
"Fuck!" he snapped switching it off.
They were being jammed, and the only reason for someone to do that was to sling a noose around their neck and prevent them for calling for help when they yanked it tight.
More super mutants came pouring out of the opening and charged at the two Humvees.
Vargas roared at the two initiates on the 50 cals, "LIGHT EM UP!"
The air exploded in cacophony of violence as the Humvees two machine guns tore into the charging mass of ugly.
"Standard defensive formation! Use the Humvees for cover!" roared Vargas
Most of the initiates still hadn't received advanced infantry training; that would severely limit the plays he could call. He still had one advantage though; Super Mutants were stupid, had zero tactical awareness, and traveled in small groups because they lacked the discipline and organization to maintain larger ones. If they stuck to that play book Vargas knew he could win this fight.
As if on cue the air filled with the sounds of hundreds of vicious, angry roars. All moving in on his position.
Vargas's eyes narrowed, "There is no fucking way my luck is that bad," he hissed.
Dozens more super mutants came pouring into the street and rushed at the Humvees.
Vargas raised his assault rifle and shouted at the initiates, "Drop some lead on those motherfuckers! If they get within so much as 30 feet of us I will permanently bury my boot up your fucking ass!"
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"We're being jammed, which is fucked up, but it tells me two things: Something in this city wants us dead, and it's time for us to get the fuck out of here." stated Sarah, summarizing the situation.
Colvin knelt down by one of the bodies and placed the dead woman's hands over her chest, "We should put them to rest," he said softly
Kodiak rolled his eyes; if his friend wanted to believe in a higher power then yay for him, Kodiak on the other hand believed in being practical, "Colvin, they're dead, by the very definition of that word they are at rest, besides I would think their spirits would care more about us killing the fuckers that did this to them than what happens to the empty meat suits they left behind," he commented dryly.
Sarah knelt next to Colvin, "We'll be back, but right now we need to start hauling ass immediately, understand?"
Colvin turned his head to her, "Of course I do Sentinel Lyons I'm not a fool; it's just sometimes I hate what this job forces me to be." he said rising to his feet.
Sarah smiled knowingly, "Yeah, some career choice we made; I just wanted to shoot big guns and hang out with pretty boys; I should kill my student advisor."
Kodiak and Colvin both gave a dry chuckle.
"Are you done whining like school girls, or would you like me to ask whatever is trying to kill us if it wouldn't mind taking a timeout while you finish up?" demanded Gallows coldly.
"Ease up Grumpy, we're moving," stated Sarah ushering the squad out the door.
Gallows was the deadliest warrior in the Brotherhood of Steel, but in the 14 years he had been with them he hadn't really taken part in the traditional camaraderie. In fact he had done everything he could to keep his distance from his new comrades, from going out on solo ops for six months at a time, to allowing rumors to spread that he was a psychotic killer and growling when people got too close to him. If you even tried to broach the topic of his past he would tell you in no uncertain terms to fuck off, although if it was Elder Lyons who asked the question he was kind enough to make it fuck off sir.
Sarah rounded a corner and paused, holding up a fist. The squad came to a stop behind her and crouched down, weapons ready.
There's that fucking quiet again
Sarah moved slowly down the hall and came to a stop just short of the doorway leading to the next room. Sarah removed a small mirror from her belt and crouched down next to the door. Positioning the mirror next to the floor she checked the contents of the next room. Crouching behind a heavy desk were two large super mutants that were trying to look inconspicuous and failing magnificently.
Super Mutants laying a trap; that's something new, even if they are going about it like hippos in a china shop.
Sarah turned to her team holding up two fingers and pointed towards the room. They nodded and Sarah removed a flash grenade from her belt and tossed it around the corner and into the room. There was an explosion of loud noise and bright white light and the Pride burst into the room and let loose a firestorm of bullets, plasma, and laser beams on the Super Mutants. A four second fire fight ensued in which the Super Mutants took over a dozen shots before finally taking a hint and dropping dead.
"Fuckers never go down easy," muttered Sarah.
"Keep moving," she ordered.
Before the Pride could exit the room however one of the walls came crashing down and three more Super Mutants surged through the newly created opening. One tackled Gallows, driving him to the ground. The ugly bastard let loose a roar and began pounding on Gallows chest with its fists creating a loud metallic clang and putting a dent in his power armor. Gallows thrust his hips upwards; bucking the big green bastard off. He then brought his legs up and wrapped them around the super mutant's neck and pulling the mutant back down towards him where he immediately began punching it in the face, the mutant screamed in terror until the third punch caved in its skull and its body went limp.
One of the other two beauty contest winners came charging at Sarah with a rusty sword. She fired her laser rifle into its chest; the beam ripped through the ugly bastard's chest plate and the smell of burned meat filled the room, but Mr. Hideous just kept coming. Too close now to squeeze off another shot Sarah snatched the trench knife from her belt and brought it up, blocking the blow of the sword. The gears of her power armor groaned and whined as her suit matched the strength of the sword's impact. Sarah lashed out with her leg, ramming her boot into the mutant's chest and driving it back. The beast stumbled back several steps and Sarah lined up another shot with her laser rifle, firing a beam straight into the big green bastards face, and splattering the contents of its head across the room.
The final Super Mutant was firing a sawed off shotgun at Kodiak; the gun must have seen better days however because the shots just bounced off his power armor. Colvin raised his sniper rifle and sent a bullet into the mutant's brain.
"One more mutant released from its torment," he said softly.
"Move!" shouted Sarah.
The team ran from the room and towards the building's exit.
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Vargas ducked down as a stream of bullets zipped overhead, as soon as the bullets stopped he popped back up and emptied the contents of his assault rifle into a second story landing; a few seconds later three mutants fell from the building dead.
Vargas quickly took note of the state of his troops; they were doing extraordinarily well considering they had never actually been trained to handle a situation like this; Vargas was dangerously close to being proud.
Still the pride he almost felt wasn't much consolation when you considered the fact that they were surrounded by big ugly green bastards, cut off from reinforcements, and without air support.
Vargas watched as the 50 cals on the Humvees ripped into a charging mass of ugly, filling the green bastards with holes and dropping them to the ground dead.
He slammed a new magazine into his assault rifle and took aim at the mutant trying to play sniper on the roof of the adjacent building. He sent a stream of bullets into the beast's face and it dropped like a ton of rocks.
They may be outnumbered and surrounded but with the losses the mutants were taking it wouldn't be long before they broke and run. The ugly bastards may be making changes to their strategy, but Vargas doubted that one of those changes involved marching their big green asses straight into mutie heaven.
"REEEEEEER!"
Vargas flinched as a shrill shrieking roar filled the early morning air.
Right now I think I have a fairly good idea how Custer felt when he and his men were being hacked limb from limb by a couple thousand pissed off tribal warriors.
Vargas turned to his troops, "We got a Behemoth! Prep the missile launcher!"
The initiates frantically rummaged through the stockpile of weapons, "Fuck! It must have been in the other Humvee!"
They turned to Vargas, "What do we do sir!"
"Calm down and breathe. What do we have that's big, flashy, and makes a real nice bang?"
The initiates turned back to the weapons stock pile, "Umm, two gatling lasers, four mini guns, and a mortar."
"REEEEEEER!"
The initiates flinched under the roar of the approaching monster.
Vargas forced calm into his voice and snapped his fingers grabbing his troops' attention, "We got a mortar, and I like mortars, so bring up the mortar and let's teach this big ugly bastard a lesson," he said coolly.
"Yes sir!"
Vargas took the mortar and loaded it, placing it on the ground as he waited for Big Ugly to come calling. He didn't need to wait long, the 25 foot tall 40,000 pounds of green killing power soon poked its head around the corner at the far end of the street.
"Easy knights; he's green, ugly, and has a disproportionate package; we're the real bad asses on this block and we're much prettier to boot."
The initiates chuckled as Vargas lined up his shot.
500 feet he judged.
Vargas fired the mortar and the top of the building next to the Behemoth exploded and rained down shrapnel. A little to the right. Vargas fired again and this time scored a hit on the Behemoth's shoulder. The creature roared in pain but it was far from out of the fight, its eyes swept the street looking for its attacker. Catching sight of the knights crouched behind the two humvees it charged. Vargas fired the mortar again, this time the ground in front of the Behemoth exploded and the creature stumbled and tripped to the ground.
Still not dead
"Give me another shell!" shouted Vargas.
The knights rummaged in the ammo boxes, "Jesus! That was the last one!"
Who the fuck packs a mortar with just three shells? If I survive this someone's getting their ass kicked
"Then hit that big bastard with everything we do have!" he barked.
The soldiers opened up with the lasers and mini guns along with the 50 cals from the humvees. The Behemoth shrieked in agony as the Brotherhood rained hell down upon it, but it still managed to get to its feet, even under the cloak of fire. The monster shook off the bullets, releasing a defiant roar as it charged its attackers.
Huh…so this is how it ends, thought Vargas as he stared into that big green bastard's fiery eyes.
The world seemed to slow down for Vargas as the reality of his situation hit home, he watched as his troops fearlessly ripped into the Behemoth with everything they had, and knew with certainty that they did not have enough.
I'm sorry Sarah; I know this is going to piss you off, but it looks like you're going to have to finish this one on your own
The world began to pick up speed again as the Behemoth got closer and before he knew it Vargas found himself staring up at the charging mass of ugly as it came barreling down on the Humvees.
Well one thing is for sure; this asshole is sure as shit going to know it was in a fight with Brotherhood Knights.
Vargas raised his assault rifle and pointed it at the Behemoth; the Big Ugly Bastard actually seemed to take notice as Vargas could swear to God its next roar was aimed directly at him.
"REEEEEEEER!"
"Yeah? Well fuck you too," replied Vargas pulling the trigger.
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Glade slithered around the Super Mutants who were flooding the street trying to get at his Humvee.
"DIE! YOU FUCKERS! DIE!" screamed Dusk, ripping into them with the Humvee's 50 cal.
Glade grinned, "I do love me a screamer," he said loud enough for her to hear.
"Freak," she retorted.
Glade chuckled.
He pulled the hand brake and spun the Humvee around the corner. As he did so he noticed a Super Mutant standing in the road. Smiling like a mad man Glade gunned the engine and splattered its green ugly ass across the street.
You just got schooled, Glade Style!
"Nice!" shouted Dusk appreciatively.
"Thanks, how many points for this asshole?" asked Glade, gesturing to the Super Mutant dangerously close to the side of the street.
"Two for an arm, five for a leg, ten for sending him to mutie heaven,"
"You're on!"
Glade let the Humvee drift to the right and popped open the passenger side door, laughing as it smashed into the mutant's head, snapping its neck.
"And he's down folks!" shouted Glade theatrically.
"So what do I win?" he asked slyly.
"Me, not kicking your ass for the tone of that question," replied Dusk.
Glade laughed, "We're coming up on our twenty," he said, giving her a heads up.
Glade spun around the next corner and arrived at the back of the news station, he could hear weapons fire in the distance.
Guess Old Vargas is teaching the initiates the finer points of kicking the shit out of Super Mutants.
"I'm going to circle around,"
Glade drove around to the side of the station where he was able to view the entrance, and off in the distance, a Super Mutant Behemoth tearing into his brothers in arms and tossing their Humvees in the air like fucking rag dolls.
Dusk's face went white beneath her helmet, "NO!"
Glade stared at the slaughter for a moment, his face expressionless. A very dangerous switch had just been flipped in his mind, and Glade could feel his humor being drained from his body and replaced by something else, something dark.
The reason Glade could take anything his enemies threw at him and just laugh it the fuck off was because too him it wasn't personal, it was survival, kill or be killed, they tried to kill him, he tried to kill them right back; that was how things worked. But the second someone fucked with his friends he would stop at nothing to make sure the son of a bitch who did it died screaming.
Glade allowed the rage and hatred that he kept buried under miles of sarcasm to come rushing to the surface; he bared his teeth into a snarl, I'm gonna make you pay for that you son of a bitch, count on it!
"Get me the fucking missile launcher," he growled at Dusk.
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Sarah and her team came crashing through GBC29's front entrance, a couple dozen super mutants hot on their asses.
Gallows and Kodiak raised their weapons and poured bullets and plasma back through the entrance at the charging mass of green fury not twenty feet behind them.
Sarah ripped four grenades from her belt and started keying the detonators, "FRAG OUT!" she roared.
Sarah hurled the grenades as far into the building as she could and hit the ground along with the rest of the Pride. A split second later a massive fiery explosion emanated from inside the building followed by the agonized screams of a dozen or so super mutants caught in the blast.
"Keep moving!" she shouted, rising to her feet.
"Where too?" demanded Gallows coldly, already back on his feet and staring behind them to where Vargas and the initiates were entrenched.
Sarah turned and watched as a Super Mutant Behemoth tore into Vargas's position. The hideous creature latched on to one of the Humvees and tossed it into the air, then proceeded to rip apart the initiates who had been taking cover behind it.
"VARGAS!"
Sarah's laser rifle was in her hands and raised, but before she could take three steps Gallows was behind her, one hand on the rifle shoving it down and against her hip, the other grabbing her right hand and twisting it behind her in an arm lock.
"You might want to rethink that," he hissed in her ears.
Rage flared up inside her, "Get…your…hands…off…of…me…NOW!" she growled.
Gallows grunted and released the arm lock and stepped back, "We go charging into that mess we're all dead, we need to regroup and blow the fuck out of town before any more of these assholes start showing up,"
"WE DON'T LEAVE PEOPLE BEHIND!" snarled Sarah.
She turned to Kodiak and Colvin, "Are you fucking with me or not?"
"You really have to ask?" demanded Kodiak, loading a fresh micro fusion cell and fixing Gallows with a glare.
"It's too late," stated Colvin softly, staring through the scope of his rifle "They're all dead,"
Sarah had to close her eyes for a second to process that, all dead, Vargas, the initiates, all of them.
Sarah shook her head and bared her teeth, "We're going to make these fuckers pay," she said in a growl.
Forcing calm into her voice she turned to Gallows, "But not today, we're moving out, Control needs to know what happened here."
The Pride nodded in confirmation and proceeded to make their way away from the building, they didn't get far.
The Behemoth had apparently finished dancing on the corpses of their comrades as it had now decided to take notice of the four knights moving slowly away from it. It let loose an ear splitting roar and charged, knocking aside the overturned cars in between it and the Pride. Its charge fell short however as a missile collided with its chest plate, sending it crashing to the ground. But it still wasn't dead; the beast was groaning and slowly trying to get back up.
Sarah's attention was drawn to a rapidly honking horn; she turned her gaze and saw Glade leaning out the door of a Humvee with a missile launcher in his hands.
"Jesus Christ! Take a fucking picture already we need to move!" he roared.
Sarah and what was left of Lyon's Pride ran to the Humvee and hopped inside; once the doors were closed Glade spun the wheels and took off.
:RGFyZSB0byBiZSBBd2Vzb21l:
Jason brought the hover bike to a stop and listened to the wind, it was nearing daybreak and he was still a few hours away from Washington Naval Yard. The broken terrain was making it difficult to travel and even on a hover bike the best he could manage was 30 miles an hour, but Jason wasn't in a hurry. He was taking the time to familiarize himself with the new terrain, having had a few days to adjust it didn't quite fill him with as much grief and murderous rage as it had when he first lain eyes on it. Most of the Capital Wasteland was in an advanced stage of desertification, the days were too hot and the nights were too cold, and the only wildlife he had seen were rats the size of cats that ran away at the sight of him and gigantic scorpions that tried like hell to kill him whenever he stopped for a break.
He absentmindedly twirled a stinger in his hand, the things were sharp and he was pretty sure he could find a use for his growing collection, if nothing else he could always toss them into an IED. Jason had the unusual distinction of being one of the few Delta Operators that actually enjoyed the hellacious survival courses the Army tortured them with as part of their yearlong training regimen. There wasn't an environment on the planet, nuclear wasteland included, that he couldn't bend to his will and make work for him.
Jason closed his eyes and focused in on the noise that had made him stop the bike, it was distant but he could still hear the distinctive rat-a-tat-tat of machine gun fire on the wind.
Nine miles…South East
He brought up his Pip-Boy and viewed the satellite imaging of the area checking for the location.
"Charlottesville," he muttered.
Jason zoomed in on the city and repositioned the satellite to scan over it until finally he saw the flash of an explosion. He marked the location on his Pip-Boy and set off on his bike. It took him about 25 minutes to reach the city, and by the time he passed the "Welcome to Charlottesville!" sign it was pretty damn obvious there was a serious battle raging somewhere inside the township.
As he entered the town he could see that even though Charlottesville didn't appear to have been hit by any bombs it was most definitely suffering the effects of 200 years of neglect. The buildings were still mostly standing but the streets were covered with a layer of sand two feet deep and filled with the decaying wreckage of overturned cars. It looked like massive rioting had taken place in the city before it had been abandoned, either emptied out when the radiation had swept down or possibly evacuated beforehand.
It must have been Hell on Earth, thought Jason, imagining the kind of horror the people in this town must have faced. They were all long dead, but it didn't really feel that way to him, from his perspective it was only last week that the people here had been going about their lives, going to work in the morning, bitching about their boss with friends around lunch, dinner with the family in the evening…nuclear holocaust on the weekend.
Just when Jason thought he couldn't possibly feel anymore shame or anger about what had happened to this planet, he stumbled upon a nice subtle reminder like this. He was slowly discovering that there was no limit on the amount of rage and hatred a person could carry in their heart; there was always room for more.
Jason mentally shook off the feeling of blood on his hands and slowed the bike to a crawl as he approached the next corner; he could smell smoke and charred flesh on the wind. He rounded the bend and entered a street littered with smoking craters and the corpses of big green monsters. Near the end of the street was the smoking wreckage of two beat up Humvees, and scattered around the vehicles were the limp bodies of soldiers in beat up T-45 power armor.
He hopped off the bike and moved among the soldiers, flipping over bodies and checking for signs of life; there didn't appear to be any.
"Arrgh!"
Jason pulled his pistol and walked around one of the overturned Humvees. Leaning against the broken down vehicle was a soldier with a large piece of shrapnel sticking out of the side of his chest. The man had lost his helmet, so Jason could see he was in his late thirties, and judging from the blood leaking from his mouth, dying fast.
"How's it going?" asked Jason, lowering the gun.
"Who the fuck are you?" grunted the soldier.
"Jason Wolfe, you got a name or shall I make one up for you? 'Asshole bleeding in the street' kind of has a nice ring to it," said Jason conversationally, holstering his revolver, and popping open the supply trunk on the Humvee.
"Adam Vargas," replied the soldier, chuckling painfully.
Jason sorted through the various boxes in the supply trunk until he found what he was looking for. He pulled out a blow torch and a white case and then knelt down next to Vargas.
"Nice to meet you Mr. Vargas,"
Jason ignited the blow torch and went to work cutting through the hinges of Vargas's Power Armor.
"I take it you're one of those Brotherhood of Steel bad asses I've been hearing about," said Jason, making an effort to keep the man talking.
"Your powers of observation are simply astounding," replied Vargas dryly.
Jason was through the first three hinges, "Oh, I got a smart ass on my hands…wonderful."
"So what happened here? Looks like you had one hell of a party."
"What this?" asked Vargas, weakly gesturing around at the massacre.
"What can I say, when super mutants crash the picnic shit gets fucking wild," he said wearily.
Jason cut through the last of the hinges then popped open the case and took out a syringe and a bottle of Med-X.
"You do realize you're wasting your time right?" said Vargas tiredly, "I can practically smell the damn buzzards circling up above, no sense wasting drugs on a corpse."
"Mind if I confirm that one for myself?" said Jason dryly.
Vargas shrugged, "Knock yourself out,"
"Thanks, this is going to hurt like hell, so here's something to take away the sting," he said filling the syringe.
Jason injected the syringe into the man's neck.
"Huh, the sky's actually blue today," chuckled Vargas staring up at the heavens.
The sky was actually its usual depressing shade of grey but Jason decided to let the man enjoy his drug induced illusions.
"That's right buddy, ride that bus all the way to Neverland."
Jason gripped the piece of shrapnel and pulled it out, he then removed the man's armor. Blood poured from the gaping wound. Jason grabbed a stimpack from the case and injected it into the man's stomach, the flow of blood slowed, but it didn't stop. Not good. Jason examined the wound more closely; the shrapnel had pierced a kidney which meant there was nothing to do now but watch the man die.
"Told you…I was…dead." grunted Vargas.
"So you did, do you want a prize for being right?" asked Jason filling another syringe with Med-X, enough for an overdose.
Vargas stared off into the distance, "I think some might have survived," he said softly.
Jason could still hear explosions and machine gun fire somewhere in the city, "I think you may be right," he agreed.
"Do you …think you could…do me a favor?" asked the soldier.
"Maybe, what do you want?" asked Jason.
"Could you…help them out?" asked Vargas his voice becoming a whisper.
Jason turned towards the gun fire and thought it over for a few seconds, then turned back and smiled at Vargas "Yeah, I guess I can lend a helping hand if you want,"
"Appreciate it…" said Vargas grimacing from a sudden flash of pain
"Here, this will help you get some sleep," said Jason injecting the syringe into Vargas's arm.
Vargas's eyes closed and his breathing slowed.
"Happy travels soldier," whispered Jason
Jason reached into the med kit and pulled out a few packaged syringes of Psycho and stored them in a pouch on his belt. He then stood and faced the direction of the ongoing battle, listening for some indication of what the hell was going on.
To Be Continued…
Let me known what you think of part one! Work of brilliance? Its okay, but you really just like it as a friend? Or is it the worse tragedy since George Bush's reelection? Praise me, Flame me, don't care just let me know in your review.