Chapter Six
It took Tigress and David several hours to reach the Lincoln Memorial, where they discovered it to be as empty as Alexandria Arms. The Enclave presence was nonexistent, but their equipment was still scattered about the area, as though they had suddenly dropped everything and left. It was an eerily quiet scene.
Since the sun was setting, Tigress and David made their way to another of David's hideouts – an office building overlooking the Lincoln Memorial – and made camp there. David kept an eye on the memorial to see if the Enclave forces would return. So far, they hadn't. It was while Tigress and David were eating dinner that Tigress asked,
"David... what happened in New York that put you in debt with Dusty?"
"It was one of those rare incidents that someone had to pull my ass out of the fire," David responded. He stabbed his fork into his Brahmin Steak and cut around it with his knife, then munched the piece of meat he'd cut off. "I met Dusty prior to my stint in New York City; he was the one who ferried me to NYC in the first place. He and I helped a New California Republic expedition go there; Dusty drove the truck, I handled on-board security, and the NCR troops handled the escort."
"Who are the New California Republic? Are they good guys?" Tigress asked.
"They're like the Enclave, dedicated to the ideals of democracy, freedom, and rule of law, but absent of the Enclave's corruption and immoralities," David explained, "So yes, they're good guys."
"So... what happened in New York?" Tigress inquired, taking a bite of her noodles with traditional chop sticks.
"Well, we got to the city, thought it looked like hell, and went about setting up an outpost. What we didn't know was that there were a lot of hostiles in there – ghouls, raiders, and, best of all, descendants of Russian Communists that had survived in the New York Metro tunnels," David elaborated, "We had to tangle with the Ghouls and Raiders to get anywhere – supplies, weapons, parts, you name it. It wasn't until the Commies attacked that things really started falling apart."
"How long were you and Dusty in New York with the NCR?" Tigress inquired. She took a drink from the cola that she'd nabbed from the raiders back at the shopping store outside Megaton as David made his response.
"I met Dusty at the start of that journey, which took two months because of the deplorable conditions of the roads, and then we stayed there for five months before the NCR expedition was slaughtered in a Communist attack," David said. "Dusty and I were the only survivors. He pulled my ass out of the fire during the attack, drove me to a depot, where we commandeered an old MI24 Hind that, somehow, was still working, and got the hell out of there."
"That's... terrible," Tigress said, placing a hand on David's. "But I won't force you to say any more."
"Not much more to tell – as I said, that's one of those rare incidents where someone else had to pull my ass out of the fire. At any rate, Dusty and I stuck together – so to speak – ever since," David responded, "And I'm wondering why, all of a sudden, he's calling that old debt in now. What does he need with-" David stopped midsentence, noticing Tigress's hand holding his. He looked between Tigress and their interlocked hands, and back. "You realize, you're the first woman since Sylvie to hold my hand like that?"
"So?" Tigress asked. "Everyone needs a little comfort now and then – even an ageless warrior like you. If you ever need a shoulder to cry on, I'm right here."
David smiled and chuckled. "You are kind to offer, Tigress. But I got over the incident in New York years ago."
Tigress smiled and chuckled herself. He was so much like her. Strong. Tough. Resilient. Intelligent. She wondered what fate had in store for the two of them – would they be...? She was surprised to feel him tighten his grip on her hand.
"You're a kind woman, Tigress," He said softly. "And I am sorry if I seem... volatile. Violent. Living in the wasteland for two hundred-"
Tigress silenced him with a finger to his lips. "You are no more volatile or violent than I was, long ago. The longer I stay with you, the more I realize we have in common," she said. David was about to speak when he and Tigress both looked to the doorway. Tigress felt an ominous sense that something was wrong.
"I sense it, too," David told Tigress, feeling the same sense of approaching danger. They both materialized their armor and their rifles loaded with depleted-uranium rounds. No sooner than this did a plasma explosion downstairs rock the building. Tigress and David moved into the hall, weapons ready, fully expecting an Enclave ambush. They waited no more than ten seconds on opposite sides of the hall when two Enclave troopers came around a corner, one armed with a flamethrower, the other a plasma rifle. Tigress, seeing that the one soldier's flamethrower could potentially cause her and David problems, even with their energy shielding, took aim for it and fired. The depleted-uranium rounds burst through the weapon, not only rendering it useless, but igniting it and causing it to explode. The force of the explosion knocked both the soldiers out, and sprayed the immediate area with fire.
"Nice shot," David commented, "But now we have to get out of here before we're burned alive."
Tigress said nothing as she and David took a detour around the flames, making their way to the door and shooting any Enclave bastard that came near them. Once outside, they were faced with a contingent of Enclave troops and an antenna array. Tigress was suddenly hit with an instinct, deep in her mind. She activated the black plasma katana she had picked up at Alexandria Arms, dispatching the Enclave forces with machine efficiency, and the last soldier defied her advance on the antenna array. Acting on her instinct, she launched her hand forward, fingers outstretched, and sent a blast of lightning into the man and the array. The electric attack fried the array, and the Enclave soldier, wearing all metal armor, shook and writhed violently in pain, and collapsed. It was then that the instinct ended, and Tigress finally looked around, seeing herself standing amongst one-and-a-half dozen corpses. David stood at the edge of the battle, clapping his hands softly, as though amused.
"Congratulations, Tigress – you've discovered the power of electrokenisis... the ability to manipulate and emit electricity from your body," he said.
"We'd better clear out of here – before the Enclave comes looking for these bastards," Tigress stated. She deactivated the black plasma katana, dematerialized it, and materialized her Kalashnikov rifle, then followed David away from the Lincoln Memorial, never once casting a glance back to see the building she inadvertently set fire to collapse on itself. And standing before it was a man in a lightly-colored coat with a weathered pistol in a custom holster. He smiled and chuckled as he watched them leave the area.
"We will meet soon enough, Master Tigress. Soon enough," he said to her, as though she could hear him.
Tigress and David moved through the ruins of DC under cover of darkness, never stopping to rest. With the memory of the Enclave ambush fresh on their minds, they headed for the abandoned lot, where they were greeted by the sight of multiple trailers, several of them orange. Several of them were labeled "Schneider National", and only a handful of them had the words barely visible. One of them had a truck still attached.
"What the hell...?" David murmured.
"What's wrong?" Tigress asked.
"That's Dusty's truck," David said. "What is he-" He stopped midsentence when he saw the truck's headlights flashing seemingly at random. "... Dusty, you clever bastard," David said.
"What is it?" Tigress asked.
"The truck's lights aren't flashing at random – it's Morse code," David said. "Dusty's sending us a message."
"What's it say?" Tigress queried. David was silent, working to translate the code, then responded,
"He's telling us to turn on GNR," David said. Both Tigress and David turned on their radios, tuning in to GNR, where Three Dog's voice was immediately heard:
"... It is I, Three Dog, your ruler! Hear me and obey! Oh, that's that otherradio station. You kids ready for the Capital Wasteland's latest news? Me neither, but it's that time again... I've been getting reports of armor-clad stormtroopers moving all over the wasteland; they mobilized right around noon today, and according to reports, one group is on a manhunt for a gal known as T. Priznat, while the other group headed for one Vault 82. Hope they don't mind the muties that have taken up residence there!"
"Damn, that's not good," David said. "They're onto us; we need to hit Vault 82 ASAP. If the Enclave is aware of our plans, they'll be scrambling over each other to get to Vault 82 before us." David went over to Dusty's truck and trailer, and he and Tigress hurriedly deposited the weapons they lifted from Alexandria Arms and made for Vault 82 double-time.
David and Tigress hurried to Vault 82, fearing they were already too late. They arrived at Lamplight Caverns, only to find that the children that reportedly ran the place weren't there. Tigress and David moved through the children's town, to the rear gate, which had been left open. Damn. They headed through the area of the cavern which had apparently been infested with Super Mutants, all of whom were dead, and toward the underground entrance to Vault 82. It was as they came upon the entrance that they came across a pitched firefight between Enclave forces and the super mutants guarding the entrance.
Tigress and David wasted little time dispatching both groups, then entering Vault 82. Tigress saw extensive damage, but was David who said what they both were thinking:
"Well, this vault's gone to hell."
"Where do we start looking for the power supply?" Tigress asked.
"It'll likely be down by the reactor," David said, approaching one door with the words "Reactor" posted above the doorway. He accessed a control panel, then groaned in irritation. "This door's been sealed due to a radiation leak; if I remember correctly, the only way to override the seal is from the computer in the Overseer's office; come on."
Tigress followed David into the dimly-lit depths of Vault 82, neutralizing one super mutant after another. They moved into the upper levels, where there was another complication: The overseer's office door was locked. While David looked around for a key to open it, Tigress was hit with that same instinct she felt when she found her electrokenisis. She tapped into that power, manipulated the door circuitry, and found and released the door lock.
David looked from the now-open door to Tigress and back. "Okay, now I'm impressed." As the two headed into the overseer's office, and David accessed the computer, David asked, "If you can do that to the overseer's office, why didn't you do that at the reactor door?"
Tigress chuckled in response, "It didn't occur to me at the time that I could do that."
"Got it!" David proclaimed. "Reactor level door's open; let's get in there, nab that power supply, and get the hell out of dodge!"
Tigress and David doubled back, headed through the open door to the reactor level, killing off the few super mutants remaining in that level, and finally arrived at another door. David accessed a nearby computer, then commented, "Good thing you and I are immune to radiation; the room where the power supply is located is flooded with lethal levels of radiation."
"Well, let's go get it – this place gives me the creeps," Tigress suggested. David opened the door, and he and Tigress moved through the halls of radiation, into the main reactor room, where Tigress followed David as he went to and removed the power supply they needed. Tigress stored the cylindrical item in her emitters, and she and David headed back the way they came. It wasn't until they reached the antechamber before the reactor room door that they ran into a serious problem:
Before they could react, a device dropped onto the floor and detonated in a blinding flash of light. Tigress and David both were caught off-guard by the blast. But the device was designed to incapacitate – they felt no pain, but were rendered motionless. Tigress could only watch helplessly as a feline man with a lightly-colored coat and a weathered pistol in a custom holster came striding through a nearby door, kneeling beside Tigress.
"Master Tigress, I presume?" he asked, his accent having something of a slang drawl to it. "It's high time we met. President Eden has been itching to make your acquaintance, as well." He looked to the soldiers in power armor now arriving. "Get that power supply, and make sure it is secured aboard my Vertibird. And secure these two there, as well."
As Tigress began to lose consciousness, she looked to David. To her shame, she failed him, and they both now were in the hands of their hated enemy.
Captured by the Enclave...
