"So… Jar… How's it going?"
The burly security guard gave Leon a look that spoke volumes about how he felt about the young man.
"My name is Jaroslav. You may address me as Officer Palmer and nothing else."
"Sheesh. Not one for light hearted moods."
The group had geared up while Jaroslav was being sent on his new mission. Vincent imagined that Jaroslav believed Harkness to be playing an elaborate prank on him, but that sadly was not the case.
While they were waiting the two new recruits showed off their armor:
Mirza was wearing a hideous blue suit with a gorget similar to Leon's, but the suit also came with black boots, leather gloves and…
"Is that a fucking cod piece?" Ginny half asked, half snorted.
Mirza looked at her with mock offense. "How dare you insult this fine garment! It was crafted by Bannon himself! I paid top dollar for this 'fucking codpiece!'"
Ginny laughed. "I hope not, because short of BB's, there isn't much that cod piece will protect you from!"
Mirza laughed with her. Vincent was glad to see the Scientist unwind a little. The previous night they had purchased a hunting rifle, handgun and combat knife for Mirza, and had spent the night taking practice shots on the flight deck. Around 1 am they called it quits and went inside and went to their respective rooms.
Siobhan was wearing a one piece suit jacket-skirt with fishnet stockings and boots on underneath. She had a well-worn power fist equipped on one fist and an N99 pistol on her hip.
By the time Jaroslav had emerged from Rivet City, he was equipped in his security armor, and wielded his trusty laser rifle. He grudgingly joined up with the Mercenaries and the group set off for Anacostia Crossing.
Vincent had never used a subway before. During his time spent in the north with Lazarus the two of them had never gotten to use a metro system. They had, for the most part, remained far enough away from the Metropolitan area of New York City and had instead chosen to stick to upstate New York.
So he wasn't quite prepared to deal with the dark and rotting underbelly that was the DC Metro Tunnels.
"Flashlights on." Jaroslav commanded.
Leon and Mirza each activated flashlights that they had on their persons. Siobhan reached into her pocket and pulled out a pill container.
"What are you using?" Jaroslav asked immediately. Waste landers often took chems before going into battle. The last thing he needed was some junkie bitch on psycho-
"Cateye. Expensive as balls but worth every cap."
Jaroslav nodded and flipped on his own flashlight which was attached to his belt.
The group slowly moved through the hallways of the metro tunnel, keeping an eye out for anything conspicuous.
A cantankerous Mole Rat proved to be the worst thing they had to deal with.
"I don't get it. Where are the raiders? We've been traveling through these tunnels for hours now and we have yet to find anything out of the ordinary." Ginny commented.
"We have miles of tunnels to go, don't get too sad just yet girl." Jaroslav said.
Vincent was trudging carefully through the debris, keeping note of anything of value that he might be able to pocket. The thought of it was somewhat ridiculous, but old habits die hard.
"Hey Jaroslav?" Vincent asked.
The big man sighed but nonetheless answered Vincent. "Yes?"
"If these tunnels go on for miles, how on earth are we expected to clear them?"
"Well the tunnels may be long, but they are very linear. There aren't a lot of side tunnels to go down. Anacostia Station, which we are coming up on, has only one other line besides the Museum line. We just need to make sure that entrance is bloc-"
Jaroslav stopped talking and ducked down, with the group either standing back or following suit. Five feet away from them was the upper level of the station, and a large group of raiders were milling about. Some were eating, others were getting high. Two raiders were loudly fucking in a dingy corner. Jaroslav grunted his disgust and drew his laser rifle.
Vincent, still crouched, moved to the adjacent wall and slunk along it, creeping silently until he reached the juncture of the wall and the Station entrance. Vincent motioned for the others to take point.
Jaroslav had already sighted his first raider. Ginny had her revolver drawn and was lining up targets. Leon did the same with his Chinese Assault Rifle, while Mirza picked a single raider to shoot.
Siobhan simply cracked her neck and prepared to strike.
A single laser struck a stationary raider, and all hell broke loose.
Every raider in the room stood up and ran towards the front entrance. Mirza got off a shot while Leon got off several volleys. Ginny was terrifying: She had downed three raiders with three shots.
Vincent and Siobhan had jumped out from the entrance and raced towards the raiders. Vincent had unsheathed his shotgun and took out a raider less than two feet away from him, while Siobhan tackled another. Straddling him to the ground she put her Power Fist into his face.
Another raider had drawn a pistol and was firing down the hallway before a combat knife was flung out of the entrance and struck the man in the chest. Not stopped, the raider tried to raise his gun but Leon had raced towards him and butted him in the face with his rifle.
Several raiders on the lower part of the Station were more cautious in their approach: The raiders took to shooting at anything with range. Vincent tackled Leon to the ground to prevent him from taking a round to the chest.
Ginny crouch-walked along the small wall that separated the edge of the upper level from the air. While calmly reloading her revolver she motioned Jaroslav to cover her.
The big guard nodded and pulled a frag grenade out from his belt. Crouch-walking towards her, Jaroslav was right next to her before he tossed the grenade over his head and waited a second before it exploded.
Ginny stood up from cover and quickly picked off a dazed raider.
Behind her a different raider had crept of the stairs and had leveled her shotgun at Ginny. Siobhan unholstered her pistol and put three 10mm rounds into her chest, quickly and efficiently.
Vincent and Leon moved down the two different staircases and began picking off any raiders that were left standing, while Ginny, Jaroslav and Mirza covered them from the balcony.
As Vincent slammed the front of his shotgun into the last raider and pulled the trigger, the fighting had ceased.
The six companions looted the bodies from Ammunition. Vincent, Leon, Ginny, and Siobhan were all used to looting bodies. The group knew Jaroslav was taking no pleasure in the matter, but he did it nonetheless. Mirza was utterly shocked by the looting of the corpses.
"What the hell are you doing?!" he asked, dumbfounded by his companions actions.
"Fact of life Mirza. Every bullet we leave behind is another bullet for another asshole to use on one of us." Leon replied.
"These men and women chose to live as they did. Capital Raiders are practically savage Tribals." Siobhan muttered, as if that made it okay to loot their bodies.
Ginny nodded her head in assent. Mirza was still stunned by their words.
The group picked through the remaining bodies and loot stashes. Without another word.
They spent the rest of the day clearing out the tunnels. Mostly it would just be a Mole Rat or a cluster of Radroaches. One tunnel gave way to a pack of vicious dogs, but they were disposed of quickly and without incident.
When the group arrived at Museum Station they prepared for a gunfight but they were greeted to the sounds of silence.
The group moved quietly through the station, but there was no sound of life.
"I don't get it, intelligence reported two gangs of Raiders." Jaroslav said, unaware of how tense his doubts made the rest of the group.
Leon attempted to lighten the mood. "Perhaps the scouts were wrong. You know they don't do the most thorough of jobs right?"
Jaroslav glared at Leon, but Leon held up his hands in neutrality. Mirza nodded his agreement.
"Leon's right Officer Palmer, the scouts do a pretty atrocious job of tracking enemy movements."
Siobhan was scanning the room slowly when she stopped and her body went rigid:
Lain out near the back of the station were several raider bodies, all torn up. The rest of the group couldn't see them because they fell outside the range of their lights. While the sight was grisly, more grisly were the bodies which looked partially eaten.
One of the raiders was on its back, head on the pavement and dead eyes staring straight at Siobhan.
They stared at her even as it was pulled further into the tunnel, beyond her line of sight.
"Oh fuck!" She withdrew her pistol and aimed it in the direction of the bodies.
The remaining members of the group turned in the direction Siobhan was pointing her weapon at.
"Siobhan what is wrong?" Leon asked.
A loud growl coming from the edge of the Tunnel clued them in.
"Ferals, 12 o'clock!" Vincent shouted.
More than a dozen Feral Ghouls came racing out of the darkness towards the group.
Five guns came out and the group began to fire ballistically at anything moving towards them.
Three ghouls in the first wave survived the initial attack and lunged at the group.
Vincent took down one with his shotgun, while Siobhan swatted one away with her Power Fist.
The third tackled Jaroslav to the ground, where the two grappled and wrestled.
There were still near ten ghouls moving towards the group. Virginia had drawn SMG and was busy plugging away at two ghouls who came near her. Mirza had switched to his pistol and was firing at every ghoul in the crowd.
Leon moved over to the Feral who grappled Palmer to the ground. The two were still wrestling with the ghoul trying to tear off Palmers armor and Palmer punching any and every part of the ghoul. Eventually the ghoul was on top of Palmer and was gearing to strike the Guard's face.
Leon tackled the ghoul with his knife drawn and began stabbing it all over. Palmer scrambled up and grabbed his laser rifle.
The ghoul had knocked the knife out of Leon's hand was about to claw at him.
Palmer took the shot, hitting the ghoul in the chest and vaporizing it.
Siobhan dispatched the last ghoul with a traumatic kick to its face.
Palmer extended a hand to Leon, who was shocked but grateful for it. The group gathered themselves and checked for injuries. Leon has gotten a nasty cut across his hand from the ghoul, and Palmer was covered in scratches.
After the Stims were successfully distributed to Leon and Jaroslav, the group moved upwards to the topmost level and out into the street.
A female ghoul sentry greeted them. "We need to get inside now, Paradise Slavers are making their rounds today. Slavers are bad for business."
The group nodded and entered a large stone building located off to the side of the mall, which Vincent only had a few seconds to survey.
It was just as fucked up as the other Metros he had seen in his time. New York, Buffalo, Dover,…
…The bridge was always covered in mines, so he had to get out another way. The River was filthy and would kill him. But where? The teeth were behind him, jumping off of buildings and skittering along the streets. All he had to do was keep running…"
Ginny was shaking him vigorously. "SNAP THE HELL OUT OF IT VINCENT!"
"I'm here. We can go inside."
"The others have, you were lagging behind. We need to get you…" Her voice trailed off as she looked down at his abdomen.
"Ginny?" Vincent asked, looking down.
He froze. A red stain was spreading by his side. He began to feel light headed.
The last thing he heard was Ginny's frantic pleading before the world spun to black.