[December 27th, 2289.]
[Terminus, Georgia.]
The cityscape of Atlanta seemed virtually untouched by the bombs. The hustle and bustle of the prewar City remained even 212 years later. Pavement barely chipped and overgrown plants cleared away by several years of restoration. All thanks to a greaser who grew up in a Vault.
Nate was impressed, but not by much. Holding a cigarette up to his lips, he took a final puff before grinding it out in an Ashtray.
"Ready?" Hades smirked, waving his rifle. "We'll check out the Underground for some Passports into Ami. Catherine and Bray will stick with the big man."
The Sole Survivor nodded, following closely behind the Defacto co-leader of the newly dubbed Terminus. They nearly dodged cars and shop criers as they descended into the bowels on the city, closer and closer to Five Points, where the entrance to the Underground was.
Nate occasionally noticed entire Squads of black armored Soldiers from the so called Terminus Task Force. They marched in uniform, much like the Minutemen, but most rushed past him, Laser Rifles read to fire. They wore full helmets, which seemed quite familiar.
"See that?" Hades pointed as they crossed the bridge into the chimerical district. Nate looked over the rail to the expansive highway that twisted through and under Terminus. "That's the Killbox, Ferals and other morons will take this route. We just line 'em up and fire."
Right on cue, another squad of black-armor soldiers showed up to replace an idle group on guard duty. When Nate pointed them out, Hades was all too happy to explain.
"A city as big as Terminus is bound ta have Trouble." Hades explained, waiving the Squad past. "We're the SWAT team basically, I call us Death Troopers."
"I Knew that armor was familiar!" Nate snapped his fingers in realization.
"Hell yeah! There used to be this Huge convention down here called DragonCon. Funny thing is, We found a bunch of Star Wars costumes, refitted them with actual armor, and distributed them as needed."
He scratched his chin, the small stubble barely noticeable. "I actually wanna give Catherine some Death Trooper Armor for her crew on Mothership Zeta. That'd be fuckin Awesome!"
Nate grinned, he liked Hades, he was a good soldier with crazy ideas...Much like him.
A chuckle caught in his throat as a loud alarm began blaring, like the screams of the damned, people stopping what they were doing to hit the dirt as fast as they can.
Hades stiffened up, eyes wide with alarm, throwing an arm back and slowly backing him up to a wall with an overhang. "Today of all fuckin days, stay against the wall."
The alarm was deafening, Nate shut his helmet instinctively, it's systems tuning out the noise before picking up another. A high pitched whine coming from overhead that soon turned into a roar. He glanced out to see two flashes of gray then black against the sky.
Two Jets and Two Stealth Bombers.
His HUD didn't detect any bombs being dropped, aside from a quiet F-Bomb courtesy of Hades. But the City defenses didn't seem to care, especially when several Anti-Air turrets adorning various skyscrapers opened fire on the aircraft.
In the shade of the building, he watched the fighters make several passing runs, narrowly dodging the rounds shot their way. Suddenly, one of the jets strafed left instead of right, it's cockpit consumed in flames as it spiraled out of control, missing buildings and crashing just outside of the city in a ball of fire.
Upon realizing they were down a man, the rest of the planes made swift turn, breaking off their current run and shooting off to the West.
Beside him, Hades let out a sigh. "That's what happens when you PRACTICE, ya idiots!" He yelled up to a nearby AA group, waving with his rifle. "Let's move on, shall we?"
"What was that all about?" Nate's helmet opened up and folded back into his hood. "I haven't seen many Fighter jets, much less Stealth Bombers."
"Ah." He waved a hand. "It's just those bastards in Orleans, real fuckers they are."
Nate's eyebrows raised in interest, obviously seeking more information on the topic. Hades rolled his eyes.
"Bastards believe Voodoo caused the War, whole city is flooded like Venice because of the sins of mankind." He scratched his head. "They've got good weaponry, like those jets, but they're actually friendly most of the time. Until the assholes in Ami told them we worshiped Bad Voodoo."
"They don't like that?" Nate asked.
"I reckon so, considering they bombed the hell out of the convention center without warning." He stopped walking, staring at his feet. "We lost alot of people that day, my brother included."
Nate frowned. "I'm sorry for your loss."
He waved a hand. "Forget it, I shot down the planes that did it by myself. He's been avenged." He resumed his pace. "Now, let's get ya that passport, Five Points is right up here."
The Underground was the definition of slums, with old Arcade machines and shops littered about. Groups of kids ran about, with parents nearby. A pit formed in Nate's chest upon seeing that.
They were offered Jet, Psycho, and various other drugs on their way through, before reaching a...Tropical-themed store, obviously a Hawaiian themed guide booth before the war.
The desk clerk had short hair in a ponytail and wore a red Hawaiian shirt, he stood in between two plastic palm trees, a nearby radio playing some upbeat drums as he read a magazine and smoked a pipe.
"Akoni." Hades greeted with a nod, the clerk looking up from his reading material, smoking wafting into their faces. "We need three passports to Ami."
His eyes glanced to Nate, then back to Hades. "i kekahi koa?" He murmured, just low enough for Nate to barely hear it. "Au e i makemake koa ma kou hale kai."
"Yet you deal me?" Hades replied to his phrase.
"Huh?" Nate looked confused. "Is...He speaking...Hawaiian?"
"Ole, ka mea, ka L kini oe hupo." Akoni retorted, taking a puff from his pipe.
"What?"
"Oh no ka pono o ka haku!" He rolled his eyes, blowing out smoke and reaching under his desk, pulling out 3 passports. "Au e waiho ia ma ia. E hawi mai iau i kekahi 'ike no kia mau mea."
"Nate Logan, Bray Riley, and Catherine McCarthy." Hades instructed. "Stay is indefinite."
Akoni's hands flew over the documents, marking each one precisely, along with an official signature at the bottom. He carefully folded each paper into a leather pouch, handing it off to Nate when he was done.
Hades slid over three bags of caps. "Pleasure doing business with you."
"ai shit a me ka make." Akoni deadpanned.
"What?" Nate said once more.
"Eat Shit. Die." He went back to his magazine.
Before he could say anymore, Hades was ushering him away. Just as they stepped out, he whispered.
"You owe me three thousand caps."
Nate gave a grin, stepping out in the daylight...The sound of gunfire in the distance...
Akoni Translation: (Looking this up on Google Translate will screw the sentences up.)
"i kekahi koa?" = "A Soldier?"
"Au e i makemake koa ma kou hale kai." = "I don't like Military at my Booth, Hades."
"Ole, ka mea, ka L kini oe hupo." = "No, It's Russian you moron."
"Oh no ka pono o ka haku!" = "Oh for the love of the Maker!"
"Au e waiho ia ma ia. E hawi mai iau i kekahi 'ike no kia mau mea." = "I'll leave it at that, What's the Identification?"
"ai shit a me ka make." = "Eat shit and Die."
Fun fact: Akoni means "Invaluable" in Hawaiian.
I am NOT DEAD! Hallelujah!
But updates are getting Ssssssllllllllllllllooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwww...
I was in Atlanta the other day, in the Underground, I ended up being heckled by this guy speaking Native Hawaiian. It was freaky as shit, cause I thought it was Latin, so I started speaking Latin to him and we just confused one another.
