Here is the newest installment of the story, hope everyone likes it. Please review!
Noah led Sentinel Lyons, Paladin Glade and four knights into the bunker. There was little light to be had in the enormous bunker discussing a hidden danger lurking in the shadows. Two hundred year old office furniture scattered across the floor and a few destroyed robots were perched on the loading dock. Almost immediately everyone's Geiger counters started to make their heart stopping tick beckoning them to turn around.
"The room is almost completely saturated in radiation." The Wander said from behind a microphone on his radiation suit. "Be sure you take some Rad-Away for good measure when we leave and don't take off your helmets while inside the bunker."
Against one side of the room was an enormous storage rack of nuclear bombs that rose nearly to the ceiling forty feet up. In the center of the room was an old smashed bomb that looked like it had fallen off the storage rack. It was half disassembled with its top shell off revealing the atomic device inside. The Wanderer walked out into the middle of the room motioning the others to follow him. As they walked into the room their counters spiked from the increase in radiation startling everyone in the group except the Wanderer.
"When I took off the top panel from the bomb I saw that the core had been damaged and I couldn't get another one down because of their weight. It took a little work but it should still function but will not have the same yield before but ultimately it should do the job."
Sentinel Lyons stared out at the room through the visor on her heavily armored helmet and it felt unreal seeing what was before her. She remembered learning about these weapons in her lessons and how they were used during the Great War which destroyed everything. Now they were planning to use it on their enemies themselves …..
"Wait, how do you know anything about nuclear weapons or for that matter if it will even work?" asked Sarah suspiciously. The Wanderer shifted in his suit and glanced back at her. Although she couldn't see his eyes she could feel that it was a uncomfortable subject. "Well if the fact that I was born and raised in a Vault isn't a good enough answer then let's just leave it at that I have learned a lot in my explorations of the ruins and learned a lot about the world before the Great War." He then turned back and walked over the bomb.
Paladin Glade stepped up beside Sarah. She already knew what he was thinking without even saying anything. Glade had practically raised her after her mother died so they could read each other's thoughts without so-much as a glance or gesture. He was worried like she was about this mission. Her father had told her everything that he, the Wanderer, and Scribe Rothchild had discussed and what could be at stake but it still didn't feel right. The ending was worth it but the idea of using the vary weapon that caused it all was unsettling. The Wanderer motioned for the Knights to come over to help him. Sarah and Glade glanced at each other through their visors before Sarah keyed her radio, "Knights assist him." And that was it, they were committed and hopefully the outcome will help them win their 20 year war.
Sentinel Lyons followed her team over to the nuclear weapon and could see the work that the Wanderer had done. The top panel of the bomb had been removed revealing the interior. It all looked so simple. Inside the bomb was filled with an enormous sphere that was attached to two plates on the front and back by a few wires. The Wanderer had built a box around the sphere with handles on coming out each side for a team to carry it using the hand rails from a cat walk above them. She then noticed that on one side of the sphere was cracking and falling apart. The two hundred years since the Great War the Wastes had taken their toll on it just like everything else.
"I disconnected the explosives from the proximity fuse and built the cradle to allow us to move the bomb into the Vault more easily. I rigged a small radio transmitter to allow us to remotely detonate it but for obvious reasons don't have it hooked up yet."
"Okay, then if everything is ready lets get going." said Paladin Glade.
The four knights each took up a post on a handle of the bomb carriage and on Glade's command lifted the bomb separating it from its old shell. Their armor's hydraulics whined in complaint of the weight and made the four knights to double take toward each other in surprise thinking that one of them wasn't putting enough into it. After some guidance from the Paladin they began to walk toward the opposite side of the building where there was a loading dock. Nearing the door the Wanderer stopped them.
"What's the hold up?" asked Glade.
"Before we leave, I have to warn you that the bomb is very fragile without its shell. If it gets hit by bullets or damaged in any way, I don't know what could happen. It could detonate or the explosives around the core might get damaged to the point that it won't detonate at all."
Noah knew the likelihood of a bullet causing the bomb to explode accidentally was slim to none but there was a real danger that the bomb could be damaged. He decided to be cautious and make them believe there was a potential danger to themselves to make them handle the bomb more carefully. Glade understood and opened the overhead door on the loading dock. Light spilled into the room momentarily blinding the men. They moved the bomb over to one of the Vertibirds and caused everyone's Geiger counters to spike from the radiation emitting from it. Hooking a sling to it for transport they were almost ready to go.
Red walked over to Noah and gave him his bag and cloths. He stripped off his radiation suit exposing the stealth suit underneath. The knights near him stared at him looking at the odd suit up and down. He quickly covered up with his brown duster ending any possible questions the Brotherhood might ask about his choice of clothing. Finishing up he then noticed that Red was staring at him with a puzzled look on her face.
"What's the matter Red?"
"Well this morning you had a small red mark on your face from the wound you got from the robot but it's gone now."
He looked sheepishly at the ground for a second or two and finally responded. "Well it wasn't much of a wound it could have healed or faded since then."
He could have been telling the truth but Red felt like he was hiding something. She could have sworn that there had been a mark on his cheek. But that was the end of the conversation as he grabbed up his items and headed towards the nearest Vertibird. "You coming?" he called back to her. She picked up her stuff and followed him. Soon after they finished loading up everyone without incident they took off with the bomb slung from beneath one of the aircraft.
Red thought it was exhilarating being in the air. She had seen Vertibirds before but never thought she would actually get to ride one. At first she was a little hesitant about the whole thing but once they were in the air she couldn't believe how wonderful it was. She could see so far and everything looked so small on the ground. The novelty of it was lost on Noah from the few times that he had flown and he had a lot on his mind. Besides it was only going to be a short fifteen minute flight to Little Lamplight. He just sat back and closed his eyes listening to the engines.
The Vertibirds settled down on a small bluff just outside the entrance to the Little Lamplight Caverns. Dead trees littered the scenery and an old pre-war camp ground could be seen just to the south. The party exited the aircraft with Paladin Vargas immediately putting his attention to setting up security for the landing zone. All the other knights and Pride members not being ordered by Vargas gawked at the sight of the mountains which few of them had ever seen before. The exception to that was Knight Captain Gallows who had done several long range recons into the mountains for the Brotherhood. For Noah and Red the area was all too familiar. Red looked around with a sense of nostalgia sweeping over her as tears began to well up in her eyes. It had been years since she had been forced to leave her home for Big Town with the knowledge that she would never be allowed to return but here she was, back again.
Noah walked up beside her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders and held her still looking out at the view. His embrace felt good but the situation wouldn't allow her to feel better. Red looked over at him with tear filled eyes. "We are really going to do this aren't we…?" she said in a low sad voice. He turned his heah meeting her gaze with his green eyes betraying all his thoughts and emotions. In them were empathy and sadness but also determination and what she could only describe as foresight beyond any she had encountered before. Her dark brown eyes drank in every emotion within him and allowed herself to feel somewhat comforted, finding strength in their cause.
After a few moments reassuring Red, the Wanderer left her so he could take stock of what was happening in the camp. Paladin Vargas had been busy setting up a perimeter by sending Knight Captain Gallows on a recon of the area, Knight Captain Colvin and Knight Captain Dusk could be seen climbing to perch on a high out crop of rock to serve as lookouts, and the co-pilots had been pulled from their seats and were now being used as security to free up more men for the fight ahead. The rest of the site was a flurry of activity with weapons being calibrated, ammo being handed out and doing system checks on their power armor. Sentinel Lyons was huddled together with the remaining Lyons' Pride and Paladin Bael who was serving as the commanding officer for the contingent of knights that had been brought to support the Pride.
Walking over to the leaders huddle the Wanderer couldn't help but notice the stark difference in combat gear that he and the Brotherhood wore. All were wearing their bulky T-45d power armor and were loaded down with laser and plasma rifles with only Paladin Glade choosing to carry a Minigun instead. He on the other hand was wearing his stealth suit with his choice of armament being his deathly quiet Perforator rifle and in the event that that was not enough he had his trusty .44 magnum pistol and an array of grenades and mines in his knap sack. Looking around he could see that the rest of the knights were ready for a heavy fight with lots of heavy weapons like Miniguns and flamers.
One of the few times that their fire power is actually needed…..
"Wanderer!" Sentinel Lyons said with a raised voice to get his attention. "We will be ready in a few moments. I suggest you go and talk to the town's folk so we can get this mission under way."
"You do understand that these aren't your average waste landers right?"
"There children, I think you can handle them…" Lyons scoffed.
"Well you are right, they are children. Children, who have been able to survive all by themselves with no help from parents or adults. Children, who have lived and surviving next to the Super Mutant base camp. Children, who are probably as much, if not more ruthless than a band of raiders. Yes Sentinel, I will get right on it."
Lyons rolled her eyes at Noah.
"Just say up here until Red and I return with the Children. I am being serious about this, stay up here." Noah said with emphasis. "Red, are you ready?" Red nodded that she was ready and slung her hunting rifle over her shoulder and they both headed off in the direction of the caves.
Noah and Red entered the cavern, walking the short distance to the front gates and seeing the town's mayor, MacCready on gate duty. They were met by the familiar sound of MacCready shouting at them to halt. Even though it had been over a year since he had first met MacCready, Noah thought he still sounded the same with a low whiny voice that made him want to punch MacCready in the face in the face. Although he never actually fought with him the two of them had never really got along either. It was going to be a long next hour or so and Noah was not looking forward to it.
"MacCready it's me, Noah."
"Who's that with you Mungo?"
"This is Red, she used to live her. We just came from Big Town and we need to talk with everyone here."
"I don't ever remember anyone by the name of Red. Are you trying to trick me Mungo!?" MacCready said raising his rifle to aim it at the pair.
"RJ, I remember you." Red interjected trying to ease the situation. "I was the old doctor who trained Lucy. You had just come to us before I left. I am happy to see that someone with some sense became mayor and is taking care of the place. If you don't remember me or don't trust me, go get Lucy and she can vouched for me."
It was too dark to see his expression but Noah could see his head moving side to side like he was debating with himself and he could see that MacCready had lowered his weapon so they were out of immediate danger. "Princess, go get Lucy, right now!" MacCready shouted. They heard a unintelligible response but could hear MacCready as clear as day, "I don't care what you are doing! Go get Lucy, now! Hurry up, I don't have all day your highness!"
It took a few minutes for Princess to find and fetch Lucy but she eventually did. They saw a figure of a small girl run up to MacCready on the side of the main gate. Instantly Lucy recognized her adopted older sister and berated MacCready for not knowing her and allow them in. Noah had to laugh to himself that it was the first time that he had ever seen RJ on the receiving end of one of his tantrums. The ancient gate made from an old bill board creaked and moaned as it was lifted revealing Lucy jumping excitedly. As soon as she could, Lucy bolted to Red and lunged at her with excitement. "YOU'RE BACK, YOU'RE BACK, YOU'RE BACK!" Red laughed and smiled at the girl who she knew so long ago.
Lucy led Noah and Red into the area just beyond the gate meeting up with MacCready. Red looked at MacCready up and down seeing that the young boy before her wearing an old army helmet too big for his head and a large jacket was not the boy she remembered. When he had first been brought to Little Lamplight he had been a small nine year old boy covered head to toe in filth and was extremely malnourished. All she could remember was that his parents were taken by slavers and he had gotten away by hiding under the floor boards of their home. It was a shame that he was wearing that old army helmet because he had such wonderful sandy blonde hair.
"I don't know what the fuck you are up to Mungo but I don't like it."
"MacCready, we need to talk to everyone who lives in Little Lamplight. There is something important we need to discuss." Noah said trying to be as diplomatic as possible.
"If it's that fucking important you can tell me and I will make the decision if we need to talk about it or not."
Red looked down at Lucy who was still clinging to her leg. Lucy got the message instantly, "RJ! Red needs everyone here right now! Whatever it is, it is important and you can't decide for us, now go git everyone before I git mad and start screaming!"
MacCready hated being told what to do and hated even more being told what to do from someone younger than himself. He was the mayor, damn it! Where did Lucy and for that matter, these Mungos get off telling him what to do. But if he didn't do what Lucy wanted she would start screaming and crying and in general be annoying until he did what she wanted.
He sighed in defeat. "Fine!" MacCready said in his high pitched voice. "I will hold a town meeting here in a half an hour. I hope this better be good." With that he stomped off into the caverns to collect everyone.
It took every bit of a half an hour and more to finally get all the kids to show up to the meeting. Noah looked out at the small crowd from this perch on the deck of the mayor's house adjacent to the front gate. There couldn't have been more than twenty five kids recognizing most of them like Knock Knock, Éclair, and Joseph. He even saw Penny, Sammy and Squirrel whom he saved from Paradise Falls. But in the crowd were new faces that he had not seen before. It shook him a bit to think about how many kids were being orphaned in the wastes and how many more were not lucky enough to find a place of refuge like Little Lamplight. Aaugh! He needed to not think about that right now.
Everyone in the room was restless with curiosity from the sight of their two visitors and the fact that they got MacCready to hold a town meeting. Most of them had seen the Wanderer before but only the oldest of the kids recognized Red and even then they were hard pressed to remember her. It had been years since she had left to go to Big Town and in that time in between she had changed a lot. She now kept her hair short and her face seemed darker and worn since she had left the safety of the caverns, however, she still wore her old red bandana which was her name sake. Although despite the baggy merchant outfit some of the older boys thought that she kind of looked cute, in a grown up kind of way.
MacCready brought the meeting to a sudden start with, "Everyone, shut the fuck up!" Some kids quieted down but most continued on with their chatter for a few more seconds while MacCready yelled some more and threaten to beat their asses if they didn't cooperate.
Ahhh! Good old brute force and intimation! Works in here just as much as it does everywhere else….
Noah looked over to Red to start off. She took a deep breath and paused for just a second to collect her thoughts.
"Hi there! For those of you who don't know me, my name is Red and I used to live here too. I moved to Big Town several years ago and I came back here today because we need to talk to you about some very important things."
That sounded a little childish for this crowd seeing as how most haven't been real kids for a very long time but I can understand her trying to sound less like an adult, Noah thought to himself.
"First is about the Muties. You all know that there are a lot of them who live in the back of the caves but it is actually the Muties home. They steal people from around the wastes and bring them here to turn them into more Muties."
That got their attention. Looking around the room all their eyes went wide with surprise at hearing that and for the few that realized what that meant he could see a small amount of fear creep up into them.
"The Wanderer here has found a way to destroy the Muties home and stop them from making more in the future."
Now comes the hard part….
"However, to destroy the Muties home there is a good chance that it will destroy Little Lamplight at the same time. That's why I have come here to invite you to live with me and everyone else in Big…."
She couldn't even finish before the sound of screaming kids drowned her out. Panic started to spread through the small gathering and was gaining steam. In a split second Noah observed a significant difference in the reactions of the kids and lumped them all into two categories. The ones that had been in the caverns for a long time were experiencing a mixed bag of rage and sadness which was being outwardly expressed by crying or a growing fit. The kids who had more recently come to the caverns looked to be very fearful and were starting to sink into a protective shell of disengagement. Noah looked down at MacCready next to him and he could see the rage building in the small boy. He had to intervene and fast.
Reaching up to his mouth he used his hand to whistle as loud as his lungs would allow. The sound reverberated through the cave and made it almost deafening. All chatter stopped and all but the oldest of the group were in a state of shock.
MacCready recovered in a second and the fight was on. "What the FUCK Mungo?! You want to destroy Little Lamplight?!"
"No, I want to destroy the Super Mutant's base and make the Capital Wasteland a safer place but in doing that it will destroy the caverns too." Noah said in a calm even voice.
"Bullshit! You fucking Mungos are all the same! You always kick us around and destroy everything we care about! We are not going to fucking leave and you are not going to fucking blow it up! Now git the fuck out before I get…"
MacCready started to lift his assault rifle which to that point had been resting against the building next to him. The Wanderer wasn't going to have any of it today and especially from MacCready. He swung around slapping his hand down onto MacCready's shoulder stopping him from picking up his weapon and bent down so that his face was only a few inches from MacCready's.
"What can this place possibly give you except safety!? Despite your plans this place is growing and you're going to run out of food. What's holding you back from finding a new hom!?"
"This is our home, not exactly something you fucking Mungos would understand!"
"Really!? You don't think that I had a home that I loved? What about Red? She used to live here. In fact you kick out everyone over the age of 16 not allowing any to come back. What kind of home is that if you can never return!?" Noah said pointing at Red. MacCready 's gaze moved to the ground trying to find the words to fight back. "What!? You can't think of anything to say!?"
"This is the only place that any of us have!"
"Bullshit! There is Big Town, a place where everyone knows you and has lived like you. If that wasn't enough there are other places you can go and be just as safe without the risk of starvation."
"What do you know about any of this Mungo!? We are all orphans who have had to survive by ourselves!"
"MacCready, you are not the only orphans in this world. There are hundreds of other kids and other Mungos who are orphans too. Including me…" MacCready looked up at Noah with the saddest look that he had ever seen the boy have. Everyone in the room was silent while watching the two fight it out. Then a single voice came from the crowd of children. It was from Joseph who's sister Penny he had saved from becoming a slave.
"You are an orphan too?" Joseph asked.
"Yes, I lost my mother before I can remember and my father was killed almost a year ago. Since then I have wandered the wastes looking for a new home. "
MacCready's expression suddenly went from sadness to being full of rage. "Well boo hoo fucking hoo! We all lost our families and now we are all we got! We are not fucking leaving!"
"Stop being so selfish MacCready! You aren't doing this for them, you are doing it for you! There is nothing here for you. You barely have enough food to feed yourselves and with more kids coming in it will get harder and harder. Just because you want to stay top dog doesn't permit you to be selfish with other people's lives. Now, there is place out there where you will be safe and will be welcomed with open arms."
"I am not doing this for power! I am doing it for everyone here and protecting them!"
"Again, bullshit! Besides it doesn't matter, you don't have a choice anymore. You have to find a new home or you will all die."
Noah could see it in MacCready's eyes that he knew all this but was still too stubborn to admit when he was wrong or that something had to change. Finally MacCready relaxed. "Fine, we will go to Big Town…" He almost sounded defeated but Noah knew after some time he would be back to his normal annoyingly stubborn self.
He stood up and turned to walk towards Red when they heard a thump near the gate. Noah stopped to see what the sound was and saw Sentinel Lyons standing in the gateway in full power armor.
Oh damn it…
They had been so wrapped up in arguing with MacCready that Sarah had been able to walkup right on them without anyone noticing. A little girl saw her and screamed at the site of the armored figure suddenly appearing. MacCready reflexively whipped around with his rifle and fired at Sentinel Lyons without any thought. Four rounds erupted from the weapon and flew at her and bounced harmlessly off her breast plate. Simultaneously, Noah spun around on his heel and with his left hand slammed MacCready in the face sending him flying and snatched his rifle with his right. The boy collapsed flat on his back unconscious with a bloody nose that was oozing blood all across his face. The younger kids shrieked and bolted into the caverns for safety while most of the older kids looked to Red to see what she would do. Shocked at what had happened Red ran over to the kids and tried to calm and reassure them.
"What's going on Red?" Lucy cried.
"It's okay Lucy, they are friends." Red said reassuringly while checking on the kids.
"What the fuck was that about!" Sarah screamed through the voice box on her power armor helmet.
The bullets hadn't even fazed her while she was in her power armor. She shook off the adrenaline from being shot at and stepped through the gate looking at the children. They looked half-starved but looked almost fearless in the way they were looking at her, some even could have made good squires if given some food and training. From behind her the familiar sound of heavy boots tromped through the darkness of the cave. It must be the rest of the men coming to see what happened after hearing the gun fire.
The Wanderer turned away from MacCready and marched toward Sarah unloading the rifle at the same time without ever looking down at the weapon.
"What the fuck are you doing here!? Why didn't you wait like I said to, you fucking idiot!?" Noah shouted at Sarah.
"We don't have all day to play around with kids! I came to find out how much longer you were going to take!" she said ripping off her helmet.
"Well thanks for the sentiment but now we have to go chase down some kids in a cave because you can't exercise tactical patience! Damn, no wonder you haven't been able to win this war over twenty years!"
"You have no right to say that, you ignorant Vaultboy!"
At that same time Paladin Glade and a few knights came running up behind their captain.
Taking a deep breath, "Well you are right about one thing, we don't have time for this crap! Now, go get the bomb and escort these kids to the aircraft. Red will go with the kids while I take two of the kids, Joseph and Penny, to search the cave for the kids that ran off."
"Like hell! You don't order me….."
"Sentinel Lyons! On any other occasion I would agree with you but right now if you want any chance of this mission succeeding you will do as I say when I say it! Now get on with it!"
Noah could visibly see her anger on her face and eyes. She had probably not been talked to in that way since she was a child by her father or teacher. She looked at the ground once or twice searching for something to say but then glanced at Paladin Glade. He understood immediately and barked out orders to the knights behind him.
"This fight isn't done with Wanderer." Sarah said low and full of distain.
"I'm sure Sentinel." the Wanderer said turning to get Joseph and Penny.
Red gathered up the rest of the children and started to move them towards the gate. "What about Bandit, Muttface and Rex ?" a little girl asked Red. She looked up at Noah before he could walk away. Looking back at Sarah Lyons "the dogs are going too, no choice." She sighed and frustratingly grinned in his direction and that was that.
Over the next hour the Brotherhood moved the bomb into the caverns and maneuvered it through the narrow spaces and over the rickety cat walks. On several occasions they had to go completely go around areas because there was no way to move the bomb safely over the old wooden paths. Noah was helping navigate the bomb through the last part of the trek over the old fence near the entrance door when Joseph came running up to him.
"Noah, Noah…." Joseph said out of breath.
"It's okay calm down, what's the matter?" he said kneeling down next to the boy.
"We are still missing three!"
"Have you looked all over the caverns?"
"Yea! We can't find Jenny, Dip Stick, and Rufio. They aren't anywhere in the caves and they didn't go up with Red and the other kids."
Trying to hide his thoughts he looked up to the elevated metal catwalk where the Vault entrance was. "Joseph, you guys didn't check down here yet did you?"
"No, why would we? Only I ever come down here. Everyone else is too afraid to come down here."
Oh no….. Why can't anything be easy for me?
The Wanderer left the Brotherhood with the bomb and rushed up the stairs with Joseph on his heels. Rounding the top of the stair case he stopped in his tracks. In front of him was the Vault 87 door wide open with a low ghostly red light emitting from it. The room beyond was still the mess that he remembered from the first time he had come down here in search of the G.E.C.K.
Noah looked back at Joseph, "Why wasn't this door locked?"
"I don't know how you unlocked it! What makes you think I know how to relock it!? No one ever comes down here so I was never worried about someone opening the door!"
Noah sighed and took out the mask with a golden face from his pocket and unslung his Perforator rifle.
"Sentinel Lyons, I need to see you up here, now." he said with dread.
I have been really excited about this last chapter because it really starts getting into the action part of the story.
Also to answer a question about where the romantic part of the story will lead. I have some ideas where I want to take it but I don't know if there will be a set pairing of the Wanderer and a female character. The Wanderer's life is complex and any relationships he will have will be as equally complex.
