"Right In Der Fuehrer's Face!"
There was a secret entrance that led into Tenpenny from the subway tunnels. Rip's mission now was to find the switch that opened it, and Zorin said it had to be some kind of underground utility room below the building.
Rip was let back into the Tenpenny compound, and the guard seemed shocked to see her.
"Miss Van Winkle! I- I didn't expect to see you back so soon!" he stammered. He must have been in on the Major's plan.
"Is that so?" Rip responded, still smiling. "Well, people have a way of surprising you, don't they?" She put her hand on his shoulder, making it look like friendly guidance in front of the residents sipping tea on the outdoor picnic tables. "Pray tell, I've always been so curious about the basic function of the generator rooms here. Could you show me?" She made a cute, doll-like face as if flirting, but her grip on his shoulder tightened immensely as if she was ready to crush his bones like a twig. He had no choice but to follow her.
Around the right side of the building he pointed her to an underground entrance, and she took him with her.
The generator room was small and basic, and the necessary switch she needed was conspicuous and on the other side of the room.
The guard took advantage of the few seconds he had and maneuvered away to get Rip's hand off of him. He reached for his gun as she reached for hers, he fired and missed her head, but she didn't miss his.
"I was going to let you live in exchange for your cooperation," she said to the corpse in an irritated manner. "But we can't all have nice things, can we?"
She stepped over to the switch, pulled it, and a slot in the wall opened up showing Zorin's eyes.
"Good job, kid!" said Zorin. "Hurry inside or you'll miss all the fun! The Major is all yours!" The hisses and growls of Ferals could be heard as Zorin marched into battle.
Rip got back outside and the picnickers did not yet know what was going on. There were all kinds of noises coming from inside the tower including objects being smashed, and the picnickers were becoming alarmed one by one. They all rushed towards the entrance with Rip calmly following behind them.
She got inside and most of the lights had been shut off. All over people were screaming as the Ferals had been let loose and were running amok, swinging their clawed hands at non-Ghouls left and right.
Rip walked through the lobby as if she was strolling through the park, residents and Ferals running past her as if they didn't even notice her there.
Holding and spinning her rifle like it was a baton, she started humming this joyous, triumphant tune she remembered from an old pre-war cartoon. She must have seen it when she was really little, when she was living in the Vault, because she had no clear memory of it but the song was still there.
She looked up on the second floor landing and saw Zorin Blitz armed with a large scythe, and she sliced through a fleeing man's back.
Rip took the elevator to the top floor. There were blood stains on the inside already.
The elevator rang and its doors opened, and right outside the Major was issuing an order to one of the guards.
"I demand you to go down there and find out why we have no power!"
"Yessir!" The guard turned to the elevator and both men finally noticed Rip.
She grinned at them, and fired a shot a point-blank range in the guard's head.
As he fell to the floor the Major was nearly frozen with shock, as if he was seeing a ghost right in front of him. It would be most appropriate for him given the circumstances.
He raised his hands in front of him and stepped back. "Please, mein fraulein, let's be reasonable. What could you possibly gain by killing someone like me?"
"When der Fuehrer says: Kill her without a trace," Rip sang as she stepped in further.
The Major gritted his teeth; he got the picture.
He could see her eyes reflect and glow against the dim lighting and that sharp-toothed demented grin of hers.
With the barrel of her gun right up against the Major's forehead, she felt like a kid on the best of sugar highs.
"We FIRE!" she sang, and she pulled the trigger. "FIRE!" And the Major's head was blown to pieces with his body thrown against the wall. "Right in Der Fuehrer's face!"
Of all the kills she had made, this was probably one among many that she was most proud of. There was a sudden spring in her step as she continued singing. She wanted to celebrate somehow…
She looked about the now late Major's room and found a can of paint with a not-yet-used brush beside it. Apparently he was planning to have his room repainted just when the Ferals were unleashed.
Downstairs she could hear things beginning to calm down. No doubt the rest of the residents had been finished off and it was only a matter of time before Zorin came to meet up with her.
Rip took the brush and mixed it in with the blood that had splattered on the floor. She wanted to write something, she didn't care what.
She only made it as far as to paint a large "M" on the wall when the elevator rang again and Zorin stepped out onto the top floor.
"You know we're going to have to clean all this up anyway, right?" Zorin said sternly. She paused and asked, "Why an 'M'?"
"You know, I don't know."
"Also you should be drinking down that blood. God knows how many blood packs we'll have until next month."
Rip's little sugar high had quickly subsided and she remarked bitterly, "Why would I want to drink HIS blood? Back-stabbing bastard probably has a bloodstream as foul as rotted meat."
At that moment Rip actually noticed something peculiar about the smell of the blood on her paintbrush. Smelled like it was mixed in with motor oil. Most unappetizing.
The lights were still incredibly dim, but she pulled up the Major's body by the shirt collar and looked into his headless neck. There seemed to be computer wires poking out of it along with bone and flesh.
"He was a robot?" Rip cried.
"An android!" Zorin corrected, just as shocked as Rip was. She poked the corpse's belly with her scythe handle and observed, "He's still mostly flesh and bone… You'd think his cranium would have been enforced with some bulletproof metal…"
"I've never seen an android before," said Rip as she dropped the body's shirt collar. "Why do you sound so shocked?"
"It's just that androids are kind of a legend going around. They're not from around here and rumor has it they're regarded up there the same way Ghouls are looked down upon around here. If that's true it's just disturbing how much this guy was a f***ing hypocrite."
Rip had an urge to be perfectly frank. "We just slaughtered a bunch of bigoted humans like cattle, and his hypocrisy is what disturbs you."
Zorin was not pleased. "You're quite a smart-ass, aren't you?"
Rip chuckled.